The Journey from Mission Project to Missional Congregation WITH THE REVEREND GRAYHAME BOWCOTT...

ALL PRESENTATION MATERIAL COPYRIGHT OF REV. GRAYHAME BOWCOTT 2015

The Journey from Mission Projectto Missional CongregationWITH THE REVEREND GRAYHAME BOWCOTT

FOUNDING RECTOR TO THE REGIONAL MINISTRY OF SOUTH HURON

REGIONAL DEAN OF HURON AND PERTH IN THE ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF HURON


PART ONE: WHERE TO START WHEN A CHURCH CLOSESEvaluating and engaging the ministry needs of a rural community.


A Tale of Two Church Closures


Case Study:Two Recently Closed Rural ParishesTHE CHURCH OF ST. ANNE, PORT FRANKS• Rural church situated in the center of the community.

• Church was closed to force the membership to amalgamate with a neighbouring congregation.

• Membership refused to join.

• Both churches end up closing.

CHRIST CHURCH, CAMLACHIE

Rural church situated on a country road, off primary routes. Attendance down to 3 people on a Sunday. Complete rural depopulation. Remaining members decided to join a neighbouring congregation.


Case Study:Two Recently Closed Rural ParishesTHE CHURCH OF ST. ANNE, PORT FRANKS• Resulting emotion: anger, specifically directed towards the administration of the Diocese.

• Membership from both closed churches (Port Franks and Thedford) was displaced.

• Many stop going to church altogether.

• Ministry outreach to the area was discontinued.

CHRIST CHURCH, CAMLACHIE

Resulting emotion: sadness, but also joy that God was leading the remaining membership in a new and sustainable direction. Ministry to the area will continue through the outreach of a neighbouring church.


The Story of Pissed-Off Pat


The Closing of St. Anne’s: Pat’s Promise When a church closes, is there still residual energy? Anger is evidence of residual energy. This energy might be channeled into new ministry and faith possibilities. Is there still a community with underserviced ministry needs? Before the church closed, what was the ratio of resources spent on outreach vs. maintenance? Are there still members of the community interested in Christian ministry? Would they be willing to try something new and different? Pat’s promise: “I will fill this church one day!” As a result of reopening St. Anne’s as a mission, Pat had a place to host his funeral. The church overflowed that day and many new ministry relationships were made.


Discussion Questions1. Have you experienced the residual energy of a closed church?

Was this energy directed towards new ministry possibilities or left untapped?

2. Does your Christian denomination have a process of re-evaluating ministry following a closed mission site?

3. Sometimes churches close for the wrong reasons. What might some examples be?


PART TWO: FOSTERING A GOSPEL-CENTRED COMMUNITY OF HOSPITALITY AND GENEROSITYWORSHIP, TALKING ABOUT CHRIST AND WELCOMING THE WIDER COMMUNITY


“A Community of Faith to Call Home”:Inviting Others to Be Followers of Jesus

A HEALTHY CHURCH

• Is sustained by a call to live out the Gospel and follow Jesus.

• Works toward making each guest, community partner and members know that they are loved, appreciated and needed.

• Seeks to have its doors open to anyone from the community.

A FAILING CHURCH Seems to prioritize just about everything else before getting around to worship. Fixates on the personal preferences of its members and often caters to the personalities of a few people. May talk about wanting new members but only for the wrong reasons, (ie. $$$).


“A Community of Faith to Call Home”:Inviting Others to Be Followers of Jesus

A HEALTHY CHURCH

• Hosts community events for the sole purpose of seeking new relationships.

• Is excited by and supportive of Christian teaching ministries.

• Readily expresses appreciation for the faithfulness of its members and volunteers.

A FAILING CHURCH

Is always asking the question: what is in it for us? Or, why should we bother? Doesn’t talk about Jesus or teach others about Gospel living. Allows for divisions to occur in the community due to lack of support and appreciation.


St. Anne’s Mission:Starting from scratch!• Step One: with the blessing of the Diocese, establish weekly worship services and invite others to join us.

• Step Two: assess our physical (building needs) and set small, obtainable renovation goals to create a safe and inviting place for worship.

• Step Three: regularly celebrate our progress and share our news with the wider community.

Step Four: regularly host community events to seek new relationships with local people (twice weekly coffee house, lunches and dinner events, book studies, concerts and teaching ministries). Step Five: Offer our church facilities to any organization that can relate to our vision and community goals. Donations are always welcome! Step Six: begin to formalize the administrative operations of the church through the formation of a missional council (Parish Council).


STEP SEVEN: The Historical Re-opening and Consecration of St. Anne’s Mission Church”


NEWS UPDATE: At the time of the creation of this presentation, St. Anne’s Mission was approached by a non-denominational minister seeking to host weekly worship services from our church. A new Christian partnership has begun!


Discussion Questions1. What are the number one priorities in your faith community?

Where does evangelism and hospitality rank?

2. How often are new people coming through your doors? How often are your doors open to new people?

3. When people talk about your church in your community, what do they say? Are you known for being faithful? Welcoming? Generous? Or something else?


PART THREE: CONTINUING TO GROW WHEN THE HONEYMOON IS OVER


It’s Easy to Get Onboard with a New Project, But What Happens When a Project Has to Take on The Responsibility of Being a Church? A church plant can become a church fad. Not all supporters of a church plant are always interested in the long-haul. Some disappear when the “new church smell” wears off. Each person who joins a church congregation changes the dynamics of that community. The larger the group, the greater the diplomacy required to engage all members and the more difficult it is to make each person feel valued and appreciated. Your initial volunteers can easily become burned out and will need to be given permission to rest. Other volunteers must be cultivated to take their place.


It’s Easy to Get Onboard with a New Project, But What Happens When a Project Has to Take on The Responsibility of Being a Church? After a year or two the community will have to enter into a process of re-visioning and setting new goals. All members of the community need to be enabled to participate and commit themselves. Administrative entities such as a Diocese or Presbytery will wish to normalize the operations of your Mission Church. (So, when are you going to pay apportionment?) Sometimes there can be resistance to this in the congregation. As a Mission Project turns into a Missional Congregation the largest challenge will be achieving a self-sustaining ministry operating budget. (More about this a little later…)


It’s Easy to Get Onboard with a New Project, But What Happens When a Project Has to Take on The Responsibility of Being a Church? The key to healthy formation of a growing church mission is to seek to foster followers of Jesus – members who want to learn more about Christ, wish to serve him and others, and identify with worship as a core component of their lives. If discipleship is neglected in a Church Plant, then interest will drop off when all the mission goals have been accomplished. There is also a significant danger when a community’s identity is founded on saving a building or a congregation. We don’t save churches. Jesus saves us! We become church as a response to this grace. Church is the way in which we say “thank you Jesus!” Churches that don’t express their “thank you” through worship and service to others are frequently the ones who are in decline.


St. Anne’s Mission members living out their faith by literally serving others.


Discussion Questions1. What disappointments might you have experienced in the

transition of Mission Project to Missional Congregation?

2. Do you have any insights to share from a successful transition from Mission to Congregation?

3. How might we be able to extend the honeymoon period of Church Planting so that it lasts forever?


PART FOUR: STUMBLING BLOCKS THAT CAN KILL YOUR MISSION CHURCH


Praying While We Serve& Inviting Others to Pray with UsA SPIRIT-LED CHURCH

• Develops its planning, goals and actions around prayer life and worship.

• Everything that they do, they do because they seek to follow Jesus.

• Constantly invites others into a relationship with God and community.

A STUMBLING CHURCH Compartmentalizes business, administration, finances and worship. May set goals based on personal preferences and agendas. May become quite upset when things don’t work out ‘their’ way. May have members who talk about inviting others, but never actually get around to doing it.


Communicating in order to Build UpThe Community of ChristA SPIRIT-LED CHURCH

• Draws on the strengths of all it members. Everyone has their own say and share in the community’s ministry.

• Seeks to communicate in respectful, appreciative, healthy ways and discourages closed meetings and conversations.

A STUMBLING CHURCH

Utilizes the gifts of only a small portion of its members. These may quickly burn out or become frustrated and bitter that they are not being supported. May allow for triangulation to run rampant where some members deliberately hijack lines of communications.


Remember: God Owns the Church,Our Job is to Invite All People Into a Relationship With ChristA SPIRIT-LED CHURCH

• Believes that since Christ calls each of us into relationship with one another, then it is God who is the Head and Owner of the church.

• Generously and extravagantly opens their doors to other Christians groups and community partners. All are truly welcome.

A STUMBLING CHURCH

May believe that since they pay for the building, they are the ones who own the building. May place multiple barriers in the way of allowing others to use the building or facilities. Because of these restrictions, others may never truly feel welcome in their community.


When Our Church Building Becomes the Stumbling BlockA SPIRIT-LED CHURCH

• Knows that the Church is the people of God.

• Regularly supports ministry and worship that take place outside of their own walls.

• Relates the wider body of Christ that is the larger denominational body and fellowship with all other Christians.

A STUMBLING CHURCH

Fixates on the bricks and mortar. Spends the majority of its time and resources on physical projects instead of community relationships. Fosters a Congregationalist mindset. Does not reach out to and support other neighbouring churches or Christian communities.


When We Become the Stumbling BlockA SPIRIT-LED CHURCH

• Is comfortable knowing that each new member in the faith community will bring change and new ideas about how to minister to others.

• Is flexible in sharing leadership roles to embrace both the old and the new.

• Celebrates diversity, is quick to forgive mistakes and seeks the very best for all its members.

A STUMBLING CHURCH May be happy with new members as long as they ‘play by our rules’. May have very fixed ideas of how things should be run and who should be in charge of them. May fear the change that newcomers bring and strongly resist it. May say they support diversity but then boycott it by withdrawing their financial support, participation or commitment.


When Our Church Budget Becomes the Stumbling BlockA SPIRIT-LED CHURCH

• Ranks worship, evangelism, Christian teaching, fellowship and outreach as their #1 priorities.

• They spend the majority of their resources supporting these areas.

• Members see their financial contribution as a thanksgiving gift to God that is then used to enable His caring for those outside of the church community.

A STUMBLING CHURCH

Thinks about their own needs first and the needs of others second. Despairs about the financial future of the church and cannot see God working through their financial planning and goal setting. Bills are seen as obligations that are only paid with great reluctance.


Avoiding the Stumbling Blocks1. Have you ever had a conversation about potential stumbling

blocks with your faith community? If so, do you have a mutually agreed upon plan to negotiate them?

2. Have you experienced have a mission project derailed by one of the stumbling blocks mentioned today? If so, what might you do differently in the future?

3. The most concerning disruptions for missional communities are any distractions or conflicts that take our focus away from serving Christ. What are ways to prevent these from happening?


PART FIVE: ACHIEVING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE“DREAM BIG, THINK SMART”


Dream Big, Think Smart!The St. Anne’s Mission Approach to Budgeting Budgets are one way of expressing what our ministry priorities are. They reveal to us what our faith communities consider to be most important. St. Anne’s Mission began its Missional Journey by using a Percentages System for our budgeting process:

-> 60 % of every donation dollar went to pastoral care/outreach ministry.

-> 30% of every donation dollar was used to pay bills and capital improvements.

-> 10% of every donation dollar was given as a gift to the Diocese towards the Diocesan Apportionment Budget.


Dream Big, Think Smart!The St. Anne’s Mission Approach to Budgeting Since the majority of donations were directly applied towards worship, evangelism, outreach and teaching ministries the majority of contributors were exceedingly generous in their giving. Did you notice that this approach does not contain any budget totals, expectations or even deadlines? In the past four years our revenue has grown from $8,000 annually to over $26,000 annually. This does not include numerous fundraising projects where resources were directly applied to capital improvements. Initially this work was done outside of our ministry budget.


Dream Big, Think Smart!The St. Anne’s Mission Approach to Budgeting One of the contributing elements of success in the St. Anne’s Mission Budget was to keep the majority of our community’s resources focused on expanding both clerical and lay-led ministries. At the beginning we didn’t have any money to pay a minister. A neighbouring Anglican church, St. John’s-by-the-Lake in Grand Bend, permitted me to spend time on Sunday mornings and one other morning a week to host worship services and community outreach meetings. When St. Anne’s was able to afford clerical ministry, they donated these resources to offset the ministry costs of St. john’s-by-the-Lake.


Dream Big, Think Smart!The St. Anne’s Mission Approach to Budgeting St. Anne’s adopted a pay as you can approach to covering their costs of pastoral ministry. Each year as they have grown, they have been able to offer to cover more of the shared ministry costs. Last year they contributed almost $8,000 to the cost of clerical stipends and housing. This ministry gift to St. John’s-by-the-Lake has allowed them to expand their own outreach ministries. A significant element to the survival of St. Anne’s Mission was to continue to provide expanding pastoral resources in a way that was sustainable in the long run. So, who could they partner with in the long run?


We are Stronger Together In November 2012, St. Anne’s Mission Church partnered with St. John’s-by-the-Lake, Grand Bend and the Trivitt Memorial Church in Exeter to enter into a One Year Trial of Regional Ministry.With the appointments of The Rev. Grayhame Bowcott as the Founding Rector and The Rev. Andrew Wilson as an Assistant Curate, we created a clergy team that now serves three neighbouring rural communities.Our Regional Ministry has opened a new Curacy within the Diocese of Huron in addition to bringing pastoral stability to all three of its congregations.


Keep it Cheap! In order to maintain the lowest possible operating costs, St. Anne’s Mission regularly reviews its building maintenance costs. Each renovation project has two purposes: 1) make the building more user friendly for ministry groups, and 2) drop the cost of utilities. Two new high efficiency natural gas furnaces have been installed. Lights and heating are on programmed timers. The sanctuary insulation has been replaced in the ceiling and wrap-around insulated siding was installed. Water saving techniques have also been employed. The annual cost of utilities has been reduced to less than $6,000.


Achieving a Sustainable Future1. Have you experienced a Mission Project (a Fresh Expression,

Mission Plant or Reboot) that has transitioned to become a Missional Congregation? If so, what did that look like?

2. What insights from your own experience might you be able to share regarding the budgeting process for a Mission Church or Missional Project?

3. Does your faith community have a support network for Missional Projects? If so, how might they assist a newly-formed faith community from transitioning into a self-sustaining Missional Congregation?


Closing Prayer

Gracious and loving God, Lord of Resurrection and new beginnings, we give thanks for our calling to follow your Son Jesus in our worship, our outreach and our service to others.

By your Spirit enable each Mission for Jesus to be a place of radical Christian generosity and hospitality.

May our doors be as open as our hearts in sharing Your love with others. May we be bold in proclaiming the Gospel and living out our faith through action.

Make us flexible in our outreach to a quickly changing world and may each step in our faith journey bring us one step closer to you.

Together we pray, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Journey from Mission Project to Missional Congregation WITH THE REVEREND GRAYHAME BOWCOTT...

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