St Davids Clergy Conference Church is a changing community Change or decay in all around I see

As it was in the beginning, is now and shall be for ever. Amen?????????

Changing culture Modernity to Postmodernity I tell my story I choose my beliefs I buy my identity The logic of consumerism

Changing Church – shrinking and marginalised 4

Changing Mission? From: sharing the Gospel in “come to us” mode From: sharing the Gospel in “come to us” mode To: Exploring Church in “go to them” mode To: Exploring Church in “go to them” mode Church Missions Courses ‘Seeker’ Services To boldly go where no church has gone before

The changing Anglican self-understanding From a pastoral church for a Christian nation To a missionary church to a non-Christian culture

Changing clergy job description From parish pastor or congregational chaplain to leader in mission and enabler of other people’s ministries From single church leadership to multiple church oversight eg Ministry Area Leaders From an individual, personal ministry to being part of a team leading churches

We are living through big changes Changing context – christendom to secularism Changing culture - modernism to post-modernism Changing church – smaller, more on the edge, incarnational as well as attractional, pastoral to missional Changing clergy - chaplain to mission leader, single church leader to multi-church overseer, personal ministry to developing others Changing community – from ‘the flock of the pastor’ receiving the ministry to ‘the whole people of God’ doing the ministry

Change or Decay in all around I see We can’t escape change – it happens to us So can we become the masters of change rather than the victims? Being passive in the face of change often leads to being a victim Being pro-active in taking on the change agenda often leads to mastery of it

Does your church have a written Parish Development Strategy? 20 churches said ‘yes’ Their attendance grew 6% Compared with a drop of 1% in other churches A process for developing a strategy – “What is God saying to us about the future?”

Change or Decay in all around I see “Oh Thou who changest not abide with me” “When Revd Oldman was vicar and we had the Prayer Book the church was full every week” We can settle the argument about whether intentional change is the cause of decline or the remedy for it by looking at real churches And we can find out what sort of changes work

Change or decay? Diocese of Monmouth – have you made significant changes to your service styles or patterns between 2002 & 2005? 39 Churches making changes grew 10% 33 Churches with no changes shrank 3%

Survey Results – innovation & electoral roll change – Diocese of Lichfield Churches number of % change to Making churches ER No innovation % Min one change %

St Davids – What significant changes have been made to church life in the last three years? No change: 92 churches attendance down 9% At least one change: 67 churches attendance up 16% It is clear that where churches make changes the impact on church growth is the same as elsewhere. The difference is that in St Davids less than one third of churches reported a positive change to church life whereas in other dioceses it tends to be half or two thirds.

Types of change reported Negative changes (eg loss of church hall, fewer services) 12 churches No changes 92 churches Tiny changes (eg change to an annual service) 27 churches Clergy changes (eg losing or gaining an incumbent) 26 churches Church life changes (eg to services, welcome, leadership, children’s ministry, nurture courses) 67 churches

% change in adult and child attendance adults children total Negative -4% -44% -9% No changes -9% -17% -9% Tiny changes -9% -25% -11% Clergy changes 0% 24% 2% Church life changes 11% 64% 16%

Eight changes that lead to church growth Planting new congregations

Church attendance in London – a census one Sunday in October 2005: 620, : 720,000 Number of churches The number of people per church has remained the same (about 150) - attendance has gone up through there being more churches

Planting new congregations 33 churches reported starting something new, usually monthly, usually for families. Most were probably new events, some may have been radical style-changes: 2010 attendance 898 adults & 72 children 2013 attendance 1041 adults & 189 children An increase of 16% among adults and 176% among children! An all age attendance growth of 27% Compared with an average drop in other churches of 6%

Eight changes that lead to church growth Planting new congregations Making worship less formal, more relaxed – joy & laughter

Making worship less formal, more relaxed, more contemporary 16 churches reported changing the style of at least some of their services in this sort of way 2010 attendance 335 adults & 23 children 2013 attendance 419 adults & 58 children An increase of 25% among adults & 152% among children! An all-age attendance growth of 33% Compared with an average drop in other churches of 3%

Eight changes that lead to church growth Planting new congregations Making worship less formal, more relaxed Better provision for children and young people (Family Services, Sunday Schools, Youth provision)

Better provision for children & young people 12 churches reported improving their provision in their ‘changes’ and ‘growth forces’ answers, though answers to other questions suggested they were by no means the only ones! 2010 attendance 219 adults & 19 children 2013 attendance 255 adults & 69 children An increase of 16% among adults and 263% among children!! An all-age attendance growth of 36% Compared with an average drop in other churches of 2%

Eight changes that lead to church growth Planting new congregations Making worship less formal, more relaxed Better provision for children and young people (Family Services, Sunday Schools, Youth provision) Improving welcome & integration

10 churches reported that better invitation & welcome was a growth factor – too small a sample to be confident but the result are: 2010 attendance 308 adults & 36 children 2013 attendance 335 adults & 45 children An increase of 9% among adults and 25% among children An all-age attendance growth of 11% Compared with an average drop in other churches of 1%

Eight changes that lead to church growth Planting new congregations Making worship less formal, more relaxed Better provision for children and young people (Family Services, Sunday Schools, Youth provision) Improving welcome & integration Better quality, more varied, contemporary music

Four churches reported an improvement in the music – too small a sample. But, for what it is worth, attendance rose from 105 in 2010 to 118 in 2013

Eight changes that lead to church growth Planting new congregations Making worship less formal, more relaxed Better provision for children and young people (Family Services, Sunday Schools, Youth provision) Improving welcome & integration Better quality, more varied, contemporary music More lay involvement in leadership

Six churches reported developments in lay leadership - too small a sample. But, for what it is worth, attendance dropped from 121 to 113

Eight changes that lead to church growth Planting new congregations Making worship less formal, more relaxed Better provision for children and young people (Family Services, Sunday Schools, Youth provision) Improving welcome & integration Better quality, more varied, contemporary music More lay involvement in leadership Better small groups & pastoral care

Better small groups and pastoral care Very few churches reported improvements in regular small groups However, 45 churches reported that they held a nurture course (Alpha was most commonly mentioned) at least annually 2010 attendance 1296 adults & 144 children 2013 attendance 1369 adults & 213 children An increase of 6% among adults & 48% among children An all-age attendance growth of 10% Compared with an average drop in other churches of 3%

Eight changes that lead to church growth Planting new congregations Making worship less formal, more relaxed Better provision for children and young people (Family Services, Sunday Schools, Youth provision) Improving welcome & integration Better quality, more varied, contemporary music More lay involvement in leadership Better small groups & pastoral care Improvements to buildings

Improvement to buildings Nine churches reported improvements to their buildings, though some seemed simply to be about repairing dodgy bits of the structure, others about taking out a few pews. So we do not have a usable sample. For what it is worth, attendance rose from 366 to 368, 1%

Some Hints for getting rid of congregations Make the teens do action songs in the Family Service Cling on to the traditional evensong In fact, never make changes of any sort To keep everyone happy make the service trad one week and contemporary the next Ensure the building is cold, the pews uncomfy and never serve coffee after – they may get to know each other Put an ‘out of order’ sign outside the church toilet

Some Hints for getting rid of congregations Have groups for junior children but not secondary – they soon get the message they should leave at 11 Keep a very narrow music and worship culture and keep it the same for all services Make every service a formal eucharist – its really inaccessible to strangers & they feel excluded Control the service and keep them busy – never give them space to encounter God Ensure the church activities all suit pensioners

Some Hints for getting rid of congregations Don’t notice newcomers Or say ‘you can’t sit there, that’s Mrs Jones’s pew’ Don’t follow people up when they seem to be drifting away Never set up small groups – they create dangerous relational glue Allow conflict to fester under the surface

Some Hints for getting rid of congregations Create a Rectorial Benefice and invest a lot of time hammering out your differences with the other team members Tell the student enquiring about ordination to go away, get a proper job and come back when they have some experience of real life Never preach about giving – encourage people to spend their time fund-raising

Some Hints for getting rid of congregations Leave unexpectedly – the best time for shrinking congregations is in vacancies that last longer than 6 months I could give you statistical evidence for all of these – but if you want that you’ll have to buy my books!!

The Notice Board can be used to put people off

The notice board can be used to put people off SACRED MYSTERIES SLEEPY HOLLOW SUNDAY SERVICES Starting 11 th May :. C…mu_o. 145 Fa\’.,y …….one welc……

Welcome to St Isosceles and All Angles 1 st Sunday Family Service with Sandpit 2 nd Sunday Solemn High Mass 3 rd Sunday ‘Old Hymns’ Songs of Praise 4 th Sunday Extra-loud Eucharist with rock band ‘Terminal Explosion’ 5 th Sunday Baptisms by the riverbank – whatever the weather! Come every week!

Welcome to St Wooldyed Come to St Wooldyed’s for reverence and tradition: 8.00 Early Mass Morning Mass 6.30 Evening Mass We always use the proper Prayer Book at St Wooldyed Three similar services – one type of person

THE UPPER CREEK GROUP OF PARISHES Our services are as follows: St Without’s 9.30am alternate Sundays St Paddle’s 11am Family Service 1 st & 3 rd Sundays, otherwise eucharist Little Snoring 8am Holy Communion (1 st Sunday) 6.30(2 nd & 4 th Sundays) Great Creek 9am (summertime) 11am (wintertime) – see church notice board for local variations Joint Services 5 th Sundays and other feast days – location varies Come and join us!

Welcome to All Saints Our service every week are: 9.30 Holy Eucharist with Choir Family Service with groups for children 4.00 Service in Urdu 7.00 Contemporary Praise Four distinct services-four types of people

Church is a changing community What sorts of changes help grow the church where you are? What changes might grow the churches in the future?