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Let Us Talk – A First Response

You are God’s people proclaiming the mighty acts

of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

Bishop Nicholas HoltamSALISBURY DIOCESAN SYNOD

13TH JUNE 2013

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1 Peter 2.9

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Let Us Talk

Responses from

61 benefices and 29 parishes,

236 parishes in total,

2 deaneries

and 7 individuals.

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Let Us Talk – First Impressions

• Impressive, exciting, honest and diverse.• Responses reflect great thought and effort.• Working together, sharing ideas.• Hours of prayer and transformed lives.• “Nurture the young and value the aged.”• Good work with children and young people.• Value of Diocesan resources.• Deeply committed to our communities.• This material will underpin our thinking and our

work for a long time.

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Let Us Talk – Big Challenges

• Survival.• Too much to do. It’s difficult to prioritise.• How do we evaluate?• Lack of confidence – we need to build it.• Emphasis on worship, community,

buildings, finance. Discipleship is not high on agendas.

• Sometimes we have to ask what is the core purpose of the church.

• Whatever we do, we should do it well.

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What is the personality and What is the personality and character of yourcharacter of your

local church?local church?

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What is the personality and character of your local church?

• “A typical parish church”.

• “People who want to have fun.”

• “Continuous Christian worship since the 9th Century.”

• “Congregations predominantly over 65.”

• “Long tradition of social responsibility.”

• “Embrace most innovations readily.”

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What is the personality and character of your local church?

• “BCP meets many people’s needs.”

• “Trying to reach scattered communities.”

• “Church as the focus of village life.”

• Perception is we are welcoming, warm, inclusive but can be difficult to break in. People can feel unwelcome if they “rock the boat”.

“We wish to see Jesus” (John 12.21)

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What are the prioritiesWhat are the prioritiesof your local church?of your local church?

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What are the priorities of your local church?

• “Worship –regular, different, good.”

• “Be attractive to young people and families.”

• “Be an active part of the community.”

• “Increasing the congregation.”

• “Going out to where young people are.”

• “Maintaining the church buildings.”

• “Starting a café.”

• “Developing our giving, overseas and at home.”

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One thing to take on or One thing to take on or develop in the currentdevelop in the currentyear?year?

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One thing to take on or develop in the current year

• “Keep the church open.”

• “Welcome pack, events for those new to the area.”

• “Sustain and grow fellowship.”

• “Carols in the pub.”

• “Stewardship campaign.”

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One thing to take on or develop in the current year

• “Improve our local communications.”

• “Encourage those exploring their faith.”

• “No – we have enough going on already!”

Do one thing well.

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How can we work together to How can we work together to achieve more?achieve more?

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How can we work together to achieve more?

• Build on the work with other denominations.”

• “Hold team services.”

• “Continue partnerships with schools and community projects.”

• “Strengthen the Messy Church Network.”

• “Create smaller deaneries as units of mission.”

• “We already do work together.”

• “Anything outside the parish is a task too far.”

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How can we best measure the How can we best measure the quality and impact of church quality and impact of church

life?life?

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How can we best measure the quality and impact of church life?

Growth in numbers• Congregation as a percentage of population.• Number of people involved in church projects

and roles.• How many new members?• Baptisms, confirmations, marriages, funerals.• Age profile in congregation reflects age profile

of the surrounding community.• A small church is not a failing church.• Numbers at big services.

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How can we best measure the quality and impact of church life?

Growth in numbers (contd.)• Electoral Roll.• Number of vocations realised - lay and

ordained.• Hours of prayer. What & who do you pray for?

Finances• If your finances don’t add up you spend your

life talking about it.• Fairer Share members.• Amount given to other charities.

Don’t just use money and numbers!

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How else can we measure?

• Stories of transformed lives.• Presence felt in community and reputation.• Deepening faith.• Quality of Church.• Environmental awareness.• Work in schools and youth centres.• Use of church by others and length of time open.• Time spent on internal and external business on

PCC agendas.• Time given to overseas initiatives.

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What next?

• All respondents will receive an individual reply. • We don’t want to cut across local or deanery

plans.• We shouldn’t impose uniformity. We want to

encourage diversity. • What are the core purposes of the Church?• The Bishops will articulate the core purposes of

the Diocese.• The Bishop’s staff are identifying and agreeing

our core values.

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Conclusion

• Let Us Talk is a resource which will be useful for some time.

• Responses are on the web-site.• I am looking for excellence, energy and

engagement.• Keep the conversation going. • If you do something you want to share make

sure your Rural Dean and Archdeacon know.