St Davids Clergy Conference Church is a Christ-centred community What is church and how do you measure it?

St Davids Clergy Conference

Church is a Christ-centred community

What is ‘church’ and how do you measure it?

The St Davids Growth Strategy

•Re-structure the diocese and re-imagine the ministry

•Revitalise the churches and rejuvenate the people

The conference emphasis

Revitalise the churches and rejuvenate the people

(whatever structures & ministries we happen to have)

But if you decide to have a Church-Growth Strategy

• You need to know what ‘church’ is and how to measure it!!• We normally measure the size of our churches by attendance at services• But is ‘church’ an ongoing community or a periodic attendance event?• Edhah and Qahal• At first, the church was both – “All the believers were together and had

everything in common” Acts 2v44• But soon ‘church’ came to mean the whole circle of believers, the whole

ongoing community eg Acts 9v31 – “The church throughout Judea, Galilee & Samaria enjoyed a time of peace" - this is Edhah not Qahal!

Church as attendance event v church as community

• When ‘everyone came every week’ attendance & membership were similar• But now, on average, people come 3 weeks in 5• Many new styles and services are monthly• People receiving home or care-home communion belong to the church• In the C of E we have started counting the size of the church community

plus its joiners & leavers as well as average attendance – these are set to take over from attendance as our size and growth measure• The size of the church community is nearly double ‘usual Sunday

attendance’• In the trial dioceses there have been far more joiners than leavers

Keeping a register of ‘attending members’

• Measuring church by membership is also good for pastoral care• Every church should keep an up to date list of its ‘attending members’

in order to care for them pastorally• Take care to include all the occasionals• Devise a method whereby the church community always notices &

responds when someone is drifting away• A couple of deaneries are trialling this new method of counting

ourselves at the moment• Do your churches have a full & up to date pastoral list?

How do you measure the size of a church?

•How do you measure the size of a lake? •Circumference •Depth•Power

How do you measure the size of a church? • Numbers of people – depth of faith & spirituality – ministry vitality“All the believers were together….they devoted themselves to …..prayer…..they gave to anyone as had need……and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2v42-47) DEPTH: Community & PrayerVITALITY: Giving to the needyNUMBERS: The Lord added daily to their number

Healthy churches grow in all three dimensions at once

The Church of England’s threefold priority aim

Set out by +Rowan and endorsed by +Justin:

“To take forward the spiritual and numerical growth of the Church of England including the growth of its capacity to serve the whole community of the country”

The St Davids priorities

“Go and make disciples”

• To grow as disciples – spiritual growth deepening our walk with God• To make new disciples – numerical growth in the Body of Christ • To live as disciples – vitality growth transforming local communities

The main focus for this conference

• Is on numerical growth – the circumference of the Church’s circle• Though the book of hopeful stories contains examples of all three

dimensions of growth• And it is rare to find a numerically growing church that is becoming

shallower or less effective in its local community• Often it is spiritual and vitality growth that lead to numerical growth

Who grows the church?

• Jesus: “I will build my church and the powers of death will not overcome it” • Paul: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow”

• God makes churches grow, like he makes flowers grow• But he wants us to plant and water the seeds so they can grow

What type of churches grow?

• Healthy churches grow• Churches well planted, weeded, fed and watered grow• Numbers respond to the quality of what we do and who we are• If you want your churches to be bigger focus on making them better• God will do the rest

We want to grow numerically – so what is the recent trend? •Many thanks for 250 church questionnaires returned•We are still using attendance measures – perhaps

membership measures would show a better trend•Overall you told me that average weekly attendance is

the same today as it was three years ago

We want to grow numerically – so what is the recent trend? • The number of adults was down about 1% • The number of children was up about 6% •Half the churches said adult attendance was down, a

fifth said it was the same and a third said it was up• Some of the attendance increases were quite large

1 2 3 4 50

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

All age average attendance in some growing churches

2010 2013

1 2 3 4 50

5

10

15

20

25

30

35


2010 2013

1 2 3 4 50

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80


2010 2013

1 2 30

20

40

60

80

100

120


2010 2013

0 to 9 10 to 49 50 plus

-8%

-6%

-4%

-2%

0%

2%

4%

6%

All age attendance change 2010-2013 by start size of church

Pruning for growth?

• A Beeching Plan to close the tiny ‘branch line’ churches would not help growth• Though there may always be individual churches that have come to

the end of their natural lives• The trick is to prune for growth, not just to hack away!• What resources or opportunities can you release through a closure to

help grow the church elsewhere?

So, small churches are more likely to grow than big ones – what about other features? • Tradition – no significant trend difference between catholic, central

and evangelical traditions• Location – no significant trend difference between rural and urban

settings• Age of congregation – churches with some adults aged under 45 are

more likely to be growing. This is important because St Davids has far fewer adults aged under 45 than most dioceses

0% to 5% 6% to 10% 11% plus

-8%

-6%

-4%

-2%

0%

2%

4%

6%

Change in all age attendance 2010 to 2013 by % of adults aged under 45

What are the main forces causing your church to shrink? deaths, ageing congregations, illness 86apathy, secularism in parish 22poor or badly sited buildings 12members moving away 10Depopulation, small population, elderly population 10Vacancy, no vicar, lack of pastoral care 10Finances, Parish Share 9Can't attract younger people 9Competing Sunday activities, sports, busy lives 8Attitudes, fear of change 4Few people moving in to the area 4

Three types of decline force:

1. Death (86) – the main driver of decline in the church on earth – though the faithful dead merely join the church triumphant, which is a rather better branch – no PCC meetings!

2. Society (49) – secularism, younger generations uninterested, competing Sunday attractions, demography

3. The Church (49) – buildings, more people moving away than in, vacancies, finances, attitudes

We can’t do a lot about 1, but we can adjust to 2 and sort out 3!

What are the main forces causing your church to grow? New family services or families ministry 11Good welcome 9Good atmosphere, better relationships 9Congregational attitudes and desire 8Better children's ministry 8Holy Spirit & Prayer 8Personal friendship & invitation 6More local community engagement 5

What are the main forces causing your church to grow?

Good worship 5New clergy 4Alpha and other nurture courses 4People moving into the area 4Schools links 3Attractive social events 3Weddings 3More lay ministry 3

One type of growth force:

The church!!

All the factors you mentioned are about the response of the church to a challenging

situation

Church is a Christ-centred community

•Most of the positive factors come under the heading of developing the Christ-centred community of the church• Improvements to worship, welcome, nurture, atmosphere,

attitudes, & attractiveness to families under the influence of prayer & the Holy Spirit•When we improve the quality of who we are, our

relationship to God and what we do then the numbers tend to go up

Is your glass half full or half empty?

• You mentioned 166 forces of decline but only 64 forces of growth• Yet overall numbers remained about the same• 40% of the growing churches only mentioned decline forces!• So you look like half empty people to me!!!• Assuming you got your attendance numbers right, the overall

situation is better than you feel it is• Reading through the book of stories and photos should make you

even more optimistic!

What church-growth advantages do smaller churches have?

• It is easier to join & belong to a small community & harder to leave it unnoticed• Loyalty & identification levels are higher in an

informal community than an impersonal organisation - corner shop v supermarket•Being an informal community can be less draining

than running a complicated organisation• Smaller losses in vacancies


• Absorptive capacity often does not grow fast enough as churches get bigger. It is easier to replace the 2 people pa who leave a small church than the 50 who leave a large one• Having to share a vicar encourages lay members to be active

rather than let the vicar do it all• Your church may be bigger than you think – average

attendance of 20 often implies a church community of around 35 or 40


• In smaller churches people are more forgiving if the music is not high class, or the building is badly lit • These things still matter in small churches – you need

a warm building and nice toilets but a warm and welcoming community makes up for most things

Five pieces of wisdom for growth

1. Be intentional – don’t just wander aimlessly through the church’s year, have a plan!!!

Growth and mission planning

Does your church have an intentional church development strategy?

Growing ShrinkingYes 8 2

No 1 7

Does your church have a written Parish Development Strategy? •20 churches said ‘yes’• Their attendance grew 6% 2010-2013•Compared with a drop of 1% in other churches

•A process for developing a strategy – “What is God saying to us about the future?”

Are you aMagic Roundabout Church

Or aGospel Train Church?



2. Be prayerful – it is God who grows the church, not us. Like good gardeners, what we do is provide the conditions in which God can cause the plant to grow.

“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it,

but God made it grow”(St Paul 1 Corinthians ch 3 v6)

The Diocesan Strategy Prayer – coming on bookmarks very soon!O God our Father, you lead us on ways both new and unknown:teach your church in our Diocese of St Davidsto live the Good Newsgiven to us in Jesus Christ, Lord and Saviour;make us to be light in your worldand equip us to be partners in your missionso that others may find their way to you. Amen

And/or write your own church or benefice prayer, eg St Alphege Seasalter

God our Father, you grow your church as we proclaim the kingdom of your Son. Increase in number your church at Seasalter as you deepen us as followers and learners of Christ, in the power of your Spirit, to the glory of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.




3. Be focussed on quality not quantity. If you want your church to get bigger then try and help it get better, deeper. God will do the rest – your church will grow naturally.

Reported recently in ‘The Times’

Journalist: “How important is your target of selling 10 million cars this year?”

Toyota Spokesman: “Rather than going after numbers, we hope to make fine products. The numbers are just the result of our policy.”





4. Offer friendship not just friendliness

Invitation, welcome and integration are the three keys• Only 1 person in 10 who tries out a church succeeds in joining• Joining a church is more than attending a service – it is about joining a

community• Why a friendly church is the worst sort!• “I don’t want a friendly church, I want a church where I can make

friends”• “None of them spoke to me”





4. Offer friendship not just friendliness. 5. Offer deep spiritual wells to satisfy the thirsty – you are far more than a local

club!

Deep Wells

• Help people experience prayer – is the building kept unlocked? • Church services are about encountering the living God as

well as each other• Be prepared to tells your Christian stories – for many people

today truth is not about facts but about experience• Go deeper yourself, meet in small groups, study the Bible,

grow in prayer

What do you think?

How does your church grow and shrink?

How do people join and leave your church’s worshipping community?

Documents

St Davids Clergy Conference Church is a Christ-centred community What is church and how do you measure it?