Ashby and Coalville Methodist Circuit

Circuit Away Day
The Challenge of 21^st Century Church

Saturday 12^th April

Over 50 key people from the Ashby and Coalville Circuit travelled to Melbourne Methodist Church to attend the circuit away day. As the coach travelled around the Circuit picking people up along the way, the buzz of expectant chatter filled the air by people looking forward to a productive day.

Circuit Away Day After some worship songs to start the day off, Roger Johnson, District Evangelism Enabler, showed a video clip of the well known character, Mr Bean, attending church for the first time. The gist of the clip was that Mr Bean didn’t know what to do whilst in church – he didn’t know where to find a hymn book, he didn’t know when to stand up and sit down, he found the sermon boring and fidgeted with sweet papers and he nearly fell to sleep. However, the clip showed that no one had welcomed Mr Bean and explained to him what to do and certainly no one was prepared to help him out during the service. The experience was completely alien to someone from outside the church environment! This was a good start to set the scene for the day.

Rev Julie Coates, minister in The Burton upon Trent Circuit and Co-ordinator for the Know and Grow process and also Bob Weir, Accompanist for the Know and Grow process were introduced to everyone. Both Julie and Bob will be helping the Ashby and Coalville Circuit with Know and Grow so it was good to put names to faces.

Roger then gave a presentation which included some startling facts and figures.

Society has changed. Some of the change is for the better but some is not. Think about computers – thirty years ago a computer with 20MB of memory would have filled a room whereas today an average laptop computer has thousands of times more memory, yet happily sits on your knee. However thirty years ago young people had complete respect for the police and other authoritative figures, that is not quite the state of today’s situation. Things are changing around us and the church isn’t immune:

72% people say they are Christians but only 7.5% attend church in any way
3-4% children go to Sunday School compared to 33% in the past
76% people claim to have had a religious experience
There is an increase in popularity of spirituality
There is a large increase in the dislike of the church

Another illustration showed:

10% population are churchgoers

10% population are on the fringe ie attend irregularly

40% population are de-churched ie used to attend church but have stopped going for a variety of reasons. This group can be split into those that may be open to going back and those that will never consider going back

40% population are unchurched – never have been to church and haven’t ever had any connection

MORE EFFORT is put into the top 10% that already attend church and LEAST EFFORT is put into those that have never attended church.

Generally, the top 10% who do attend church are of an older generation and the bottom 40% that have never had any connection with church are the younger generation and are probably three generations from family that have been connected to a church.

Here are some PERCEPTIONS about the differences between religion and spirituality (by Nick Spencer):

RELIGION	SPIRITUALITY
Controlling	Freedom
Narrow minded	Open minded
Judgemental	Offers advice
Brainwashes you	Gives you options
Makes you join	Empowers you

The above perceptions and facts and figures are rightly worrying and the Ashby and Coalville Circuit isn’t immune to the national trends. This is why the Circuit has decided to start the Know and Grow process. Over the next few weeks the first sessions will have taken place in all churches taking part.

Here are a few suggestions for further discussion:

Start at the bottom
Remember people must start out on a journey before there will be a conversion
Set an example by discussing experience rather than doctrine
Think Community rather than Congregation

Our main challenges are:

To understand our communities
Learn how the church can serve these communities
Learn to get alongside the community instead of being aloof with them

During the day there were four workshops and everyone had the opportunity to attend two. The subjects were:

Mission – led by Jill Bryant

Sharing our Faith without Fear – led by Tony Perry

Fresh Expressions of Church – led by Roger Johnson

Worship for those who don’t attend church … yet – led by Barbara Crockett

WORKSHOP 1

Mission

Led by Jill Bryant

This session looked at Nehemiah in the Old Testament and how God enables him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and how he went about it. Key points to take from the story and to remember are:

Listen to other people’s views
Listen to what is needed
Pray
Be open to God’s way
Be brave and face risks that will help with mission
Be prepared for problems – there is no promise that everything will go smoothly
Be sensitive – not everyone will agree with your ideas
Remember no one is perfect, you won’t have all the answers
Dedication must be there
Plan carefully and involve everyone in the plans – this will help with ownership of the plan
Be persistent and pray
Be prepared to ‘read the riot act’
Set an example to others by how you act

Remember:

If you dare great things for God, you can expect great things from God

WORKSHOP 2

Sharing our Faith without Fear

Led by Tony Perry

Circuit Away Day This workshop was based on the experiences of Phillip in the New Testament and how his story can show us that with God’s help we shouldn’t be cowards when it comes to sharing our faith with others.

What does a mission shaped church look like? Go and look in a mirror and you will find your answer!

In Acts, Phillip was told to go and speak to someone he didn’t know – someone who was obviously of high status – he also didn’t know what he was being sent to do or say. He was sent to explain a passage in the bible. Phillip was given an opportunity to tell about the good news of Jesus and he did so.

We must listen to God and not reject opportunities to talk to people – whether we know them or not – about Jesus. We must always be thinking ‘What can I do or say that will enable people to want to know Jesus’.

A good way to practice talking about our faith is to start talking to other Christians about our faith. Join a housegroup or bible study group. Start a discussion after worship. Discuss that day’s sermon with the preacher.

Here are some resources for you to look out for:

Evangelism Among Retired People by Arthur Creber

Presence, a workbook to help promote and sustain an effective Christian presence in villages. Questions for group study and discussion and everyday stories from the rural Church.

Launching a Missionary Congregation by Robert Warren

Time to Talk of God, subtitled Recovering Christian conversation as a way of nurturing discipleship, is aimed at ordinary Christians. The book honestly addresses the reasons why Christians can find it hard to talk about their faith, and how easy it is for churches and congregations to develop habits that make Christian conversation hard

WORKSHOP 3

Fresh Expressions of Church

Led by Roger Johnson

This workshop showed insights into different Fresh Expressions that have worked around the country. It included video clips of ‘Messy Church’ which showed how families can be brought into the church in a child friendly manner. It showed examples of how food and drink can be used to encourage different age groups to come together in a Christian environment. It showed how important it was to listen to the community and looking to see how the church can meet their needs.

For more examples of Fresh Expressions visit the website: http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk

WORKSHOP 4

Worship for those who don’t attend church … yet

Led by Barbara Crockett

Circuit Away Day Barbara asked her group what were the reasons why people didn’t attend church. Is it because they are afraid to? Is the church threshold too much like a barrier? Is your church welcoming? Or do people think the act of worship is just too intimidating?

What else happens on a Sunday morning to keep people away? Shops are now open on Sundays, football and other sports take place on Sundays. Often it is the only time when families come together, perhaps for Sunday lunch. Or is it the day for a lie in? There are so many demands on people’s time – how can we make church attractive? Should we go out to the community instead of expecting people to come to us?

Two video clips from church leaders were played during the workshop showing views from people such as Graham Horsley, Minister and Connexional Evangelism and Church Planting Secretary, who have been involved with Fresh Expressions. Above all the message was to listen to people around you – in the supermarket queue, in the local pub or in the bus queue. We all have contact with people who don’t go to church – we must ask ourselves why they don’t come to church and see what those people might be looking for in their lives.

Everyone came together at the end of the day for a question and answer session with each of the leaders of the workshops so that people could hear about the sessions that they hadn’t been able to attend.

It had been a thought provoking day for everyone and lots of prayer is now needed as the Circuit goes forward with the Know and Grow project.