WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD
DIOCESAN MISSION
STRATEGY?
A paper by Venerable Bob Jackson
WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD
DIOCESAN MISSION
STRATEGY?
A paper from the
This template of good practice arises from consultations
Nottingham in September 2012 & High Leigh in May 2013. About eighty representatives of thirty four
dioceses were present in total, including bishops, archdeacons, missioners, directors of mission and
ministry, church growth officers, DBF chair, Diocesan Secretaries etc.
Although many people have contributed to this good practice guide, and although together they
built up a consensus, I have been the author of this final document so any failings in it are entirely my
fault,
Ven Bob Jackson
September 2013
“We all want growth, in depth and breadth, and it is happening in many places. It is
never accidental, and always through the grace of God. But we still need to think
clearly about it. This is an important resource in a moment of huge opportunity.”
Archbishop Justin
CONTENTS
Preface _________________________________________________________________ 6
Summary _______________________________________________________________ 7
Part 1 Ten General Principles _______________________________________________ 8
Part 2 Sixteen elements of a good strategy __________________________________ 21
_
Appendix 1 Strategy Flow Chart ____________________________________________ 37
Appendix 2 Strategy elements supported by statistical evidence _________________ 38
Appendix 3 Evidence for the general impact of strategies _______________________ 40
Appendix 4 Seven principles of evangelisation _______________________________ 45
(A paper from Bishop Steven Croft reproduced with permission)
Preface
Until quite recently most dioceses did not consciously adopt policies or strategies to aid the growth of
the churches. But the times are changing. It is becoming widely accepted that stimulating the growth
of the churches should be a core function for central dioceses.
So, gradually and patchily, Anglican dioceses have begun to change attitudes & culture, adopting
individual policies & overall strategies designed to reverse a century of decline and provoke the overall
spiritual and numerical growth of the churches. Beginning with the Diocese of London in the 1990s a
few pioneer dioceses generated a trickle of diocesan growth strategies that, in the most recent years,
have become, if not a flood, at least a steady stream. However, as is the way in the Anglican Church,
these have largely been developed and implemented in isolation from each other.
So, in order to help dioceses learn from each other and grow together, the Centre for Church Growth at
ity for developing or implementing
strategies to two consultations one in Nottingham in September 2012 and one at High Leigh in May
2013. This document pulls together the wisdom of the eighty or so delegates to these consultations in
an attempt to offer a general template of good practice that every diocese can benefit from. It is hoped
diocesan synods. Whether your diocese is just starting to think about developing a strategic approach
or has been doing so for years, I hope that you will find this good-practice guide to be informative and
helpful,
Bob Jackson
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WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD DIOCESAN MISSION STRATEGY?
SUMMARY
This is a summary of the main points of the paper that came out of a consultation for northern dioceses
held in Nottingham in September 2012 and for southern dioceses held at High Leigh in May 2013.
About 34 dioceses were represented at some level at the two conferences, together with a range of
specialist speakers.
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Ten Principles of Good Practice
1. The first thing is to discern the vision. Vision is where you want to go, strategy is how to get
there. An inspiring vision for the future should generate passion and focus a diocese on the
strategy for achieving it.
2. Mission is always at the core.
in. Mission is not a department of the church, it is core task and priority for the whole of the
church.
3. Listening is key. Vision and strategy should emerge out of a process of listening to God, to the
national church, to the members of the churches of the diocese, to the population of the
diocese, to ecumenical partners, and to the current situation. There is a growing consensus, led
by past and present Archbishops, around a three-fold growth objective our priority is to
encourage the spiritual and numerical growth of the church plus its ability to serve its
communities.
4. Having a strategy is always a good idea. In a fast changing world the alternative is chaos.
Diocesan strategy is about empowering churches not controlling them.
5. Good strategy is long term. It should be corporate not personal to the bishop, should take a
long perspective and be consistently applied.
6. Good strategy is SMART Specific-measurable-achievable-realistic-timed. If it is just holy
generalities it cannot be evaluated.
7. Effective strategy needs a measure of unity. Mission and growth strategy should be couched
in terms that unite a broad church we aim to grow spiritually, numerically, and in our capacity
to serve the nation. All diocesan appointments need to find people genuinely committed to the
vision and strategy.
8. Good strategy goes for high quality. If a diocese wants the churches to be bigger it should
concentrate on helping them be better churches, and trust God to give the numerical growth.
9. Good strategy needs good process as well as good content. The process should involve as
many people as possible and help them own the outcomes.
10. It helps to be clear about categories of strategy elements. The central diocese has three
main types of opportunity to help the churches grow: Changing the way it operates itself;
changing the way it deals with the clergy it employs; and changing the way it makes direct
interventions in parish life.
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Sixteen elements of a good strategy
life. The substance of a strategy is what the diocese does, not what it says:
1. Prayer hit the ground kneeling. It is God who grows the church so we must pray for him to
act, and pray that he will guide the church to play its part. Strategy is born out of prayer and is
effective because of prayer. The diocese should have a programme of intentional prayer and
encourage the praying heart of every church.
2. Head for the hearts and transform the culture. As well as specific actions there must be
cultural transformation. In some diocese this process of transformation will include getting the
central diocese to be accepted and valued by the churches as a partner in mission and growth.
3. Good uniting theology. Theology should drive strategy rather than be brought in as a
justification for something decided for practical reasons. Uniting theology is not bland but
dimensions of growth spiritual, numerical and kingdom-service.
4. A common strategy should unite the team. Everyone who works for the diocese should
overall responsibility for delivery. The strategy should be the core agenda item of meetings.
5. Celebrate what is being achieved. Look for churches that are growing, learn from them, and
spread their good practice.
6. Recruit the right people to the right jobs. Clergy job descriptions should not be about
personal ministries but about church leadership. In general the role is to be a leader in mission
position but at achieving a task within the strategy.
7. Support, train, empower & resource the whole people of God. There should be a major
emphasis on training whole churches, lay and ordained together, to be missional communities.
There are increasing numbers of good resources a diocese can help churches to access.
8. Engage with every church through Mission Action Planning. MAP is a process with no fixed
content. It is not a mechanism for diocesan control of parish life but for helping churches focus
on achieving their main priorities. MAPs stimulate growth.
9. Prioritise areas of need and opportunity. Re-connecting with younger generations is
probably the main area of both need and opportunity. Diocesan resources of money and time
are limited and so should be rationed according to where they can make the most difference.
10. Communicate well. Without good communication the personal aspirations of those at the
centre of a diocese stay private. But communication should be bottom up as well as top down.
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11. Re-shape structures and re-imagine ministry. Boards, committees and job descriptions may
need re-shaping to focus on achieving elements of the strategy. There should no longer be a
need to be mobilised.
12. Pioneer and encourage church planting & fresh expressions. The diocese may wish to
pioneer a few new churches & fresh expressions, but the parishes will pioneer most of them. So
the main role of the diocese is to empower and encourage the parishes in their creative work.
13. Minimise vacancy losses. On the whole, churches have been shrinking not when incumbents
are in place but during vacancies. Vacancy lengths should be restricted and good practice
training offered to churches to help them thrive in vacancies.
14. Make financial policy the servant of strategy not the master. The role of the DBF is to find
the money the diocese needs to implement its strategy. Budgets should be constructed from
scratch rather than simply being slightly inflated versions of historic spending patterns. Money
should be spent to encourage entrepreneurship in the churches.
15. Be guided by research findings. Adopt strategy elements about which there is some evidence
16. Measure growth properly. Churches are communities not attendance events. The new
membership, joiners and leavers questions on the annual Statistics for Mission forms should
become the principle indicators measuring numerical growth and decline. Other indicators
should be developed to measure spiritual and kingdom-service growth.
Church Growth Sept 2013
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PART 1 TEN GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1.
THE FIRST THING IS TO DISCERN THE VISION
Strategy serves vision there is no point in dreaming up a strategy if you do not know what you want
to achieve. Vision is where you want to go, strategy is how to get there. The aim is to achieve the vision,
the objectives are to get each of the strategy elements in place for achieving it.
So the place to start is to identify the key strategic aim to discern the vision. The vision should be a
compelling picture that draws people forward, lights them up. It should change their perspective on
where the diocese is today such that this is no longer the place to be. The vision should capture what
we long for, make us believe we can get there and excite us about our own role in the process. Vision is
a picture that excites passion.
The aim or vision should not be a carefully balanced statement of everything dioceses can or should be
and do. A long or complex vision means there is no vision because when everything is a priority
nothing is. The key question is: What is the core priority and distinctive calling we discern from God for
Or, put another wa
when our
strategy has enabled us to
Ingredients in a vision document might include:
Title: A vision needs to be expressed in a short memorable
phrase that captures the essence and
conveys it in tabloid fashion so all can grasp and remember it. It should probably have a visual logo. It is
likely to carry in it the idea of a journey from where we are to where we want to be. Examples include:
growing churches at t
Strap lines: A short series of fairly brief strap lines can then explain the title
lines:
Capital Vision 2020
Confident in speaking and living the gospel of Jesus Christ
Compassionate in serving communities with the love of God the Father
Creative in reaching new people with the power of the Spirit
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Prayer: A prayer for all to use for the realisation of the vision will help people understand and identify
with it
Affirmation: That, under God, we can do this!
Outline & Explanation: This may be a separate paper of moderate length containing a theological
explanation and a description of the practical out-workings of the vision
Once a vision has been discerned and agreed by synods and councils it has to be shared and
communicated so that the whole diocese and whole churches cohere around it.
up of one diocese looked at their diocesan website one day and discovered a
diocesan vision statement that none of them knew about written by a committee they were not on. A
vision statement only becomes vision when it is known and owned by most of the people involved.
Having a good coordinated process is essential to developing a vision owned by all.
Also, it is not enough for churches to agree with the aim the
catch phrase is. Many churches will agree with the aim but simply want more people to join
them without anything changing. The Vision should be about changing for growth not just aspiring to
it.
2.
MISSION IS ALWAYS CORE ACTIVITY
We could argue that the absolute core activity of the church is to worship and draw close to God the
Holy Trinity. But mission is not a second order optional extra to knowing God. If we are overwhelmed by
the love of God for the world then immediately we overflow with the love of God to the world. What is
poured into us pours out of us. That is why it is not primarily that the church of God has a mission in the
world. It is the God of mission who has a church in the world. His mission of saving love to the whole of
creation is the
both to and through his Church.
chosen and appointed the Church for this purpose. A diocese is not a financial organisation or an
employment vehicle, it is a mission organisation serving the extension of the kingdom of heaven on
earth. Dioces
preserve an institution or fight internal
ecclesiastical battles, but to lead the mission of the church out
rld. It is the very DNA of
the Bride of Christ to pour out the love Christ pours into her over the world Christ poured out his blood
to save.
It is said that when Archbishop Fisher succeeded William Temple the priority changed
Conversion of Eng
eform of Canon Law . We should never again make that mistake the main
thing must be the main thing until Christ returns.
around polluting the atmosphere and causing global warming but to feel better about it. It is similarly
possible to renew mission-culture. New strategy is about changing what we actually do, not about how we re-label
what we do already.
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3.
LISTENING IS KEY
The core strategic objective or vision, and some of the strategy for achieving it, will be found through a
process of listening:
1. To God. Revelation chs 2 & 3 keep repeating
who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
the anointed ones. Some appointed to diocesan leadership positions may not be natural
listeners or have any obvious anointing for visionary leadership. Others who will never be
appointed to diocesan leadership position may nevertheless be gifted in the area of listening
prayer or anointed for prophetic leadership. Some will be both appointed and anointed. A
group of the appointed and anointed should be called together by the Diocesan Bishop to
listen to God to discern vision and strategy and keep them under review. The Bishop may wish
to invite the contemplatives and listeners in a diocese to let him know what they believe they
have heard from God. There may be members of religious orders who can do this on behalf of a
diocese but there will always be lay members of congregations with a similar gifting or calling.
2. To the national church. Dioceses and the people who live in them are not completely different
from each other. It is likely that God-given vision and strategy will not be very different from
each other in different parts of the country. There is both the universal calling given in Scripture
(for example Matthew ch 28
a national church struggling to emerge from long term decline while changing from a pastoral
church caring for a Christendom nation into a missionary church reaching a post-Christian
culture.
The Church of England also has national leaders in the shape of the Archbishops. Archbishop
Rowan in his presidential address to Synod in November 2010 set out his priority objective or
vision for the next five years
spiritual and numerical growth of the Church
of England including the
growth of
et out a couple of key
elements of strategy for achieving this three-fold
growth vision
-shape or rewhere there is both greatest need and
There seems to be a growing
consensus around the threefold growth vision as the core national and diocesan strategic
representatives of 12 out of 15 dioceses
graded their diocese at 1 or 2 where
There will always
be local variations but it seems that diocesan visions are increasingly modelled on this threefold
objective. One diocese, for example, even though it does not have an explicit Growth Strategy,
As modelled in the consultation that resulted in this document, it is important for those
responsible for devising and implementing diocesan strategies to meet & pray with each other,
compare notes, listen to national leaders, find common ground and inspire each other.
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Archbi
in May 2013 re-affirmed Archbishop
three-fold growth goal. The priority of the growth of the church spiritually, numerically
and in its service of the nation should remain. He suggested three developments needed to
bring this about:
a) Renewal of prayer & the Religious life
We should focus ourselves on Jesus, being overwhelmed by the love of Christ so that we can
overflow into the world. We need renewal in our praying, individually and corporately. And
history shows that the Church does not renew without renewal in Religious communities with
their rules of life and disciplined prayer. The renewal of our spirituality to enable evangelism also
requires renewal in our worship. Too much of our worship is boring worship needs to be an
encounter with Christ that strengthens our confidence in the Gospel.
b) Reconciliation within the Church and beyond it
We must be an ethical institution in which we united deeply and disagree lovingly. The
vulnerable must be safe in the Church & our safeguarding practices have to be effective. We
should respond to where we have gone wrong with repentance and lament. A united and
ethical Church can itself be an effective agent of reconciliation in the wider world.
c) Refocussing the priority to Evangelism
Our diaries, agendas and budgets reveal our deep institutional resistance to the priority of evangelism
and growth. If we want church growth it has to be a priority. This means a steady, ongoing
commitment, evangelism becoming part of our DNA. Every Christian should routinely invite people to
their church, should be informed and confident in their faith, and should be capable of witnessing to it.
He concluded that there is no reason why a church with renewed spirituality, unity and priorities could
not be twice the size it is today in 15-
3. To the members of the churches of the diocese. Good vision and strategy should be formed
both top down and bottom up from both visionary leadership and wide consultation. A
strategy that is simply the brainchild of the bishop is unlikely to outlast his appointment and
may well founder more quickly than that because the people asked to implement it have had
no part in developing it and so no ownership of it or commitment towards it. In one diocese,
previous bishops had all unveiled strategies for reversing decline that got nowhere because
they appeared to be imposed from on high. The present bishop has been out and about to
listen to the people and is now shaping strategy around what he has heard. There is always a
risk when asking the people to shape the vision that they may come up with something
diocesan leaders are uncomfortable with. But there may be a bigger risk in restricting vision
building and strategy creation to a small group behind closed doors. We should trust the Holy
Spirit to be working in the people of the churches as well as in the leaders of the diocese. And if
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what the people have to say makes uncomfortable listening this should be incorporated
honestly into the strategy process. In one diocese the bishop toured the deaneries, listening,
and the distressingly honest assessments of the current situation he heard became the starting
point for the new strategy. * Simply giving people permission to talk honestly, and then naming
and owning up to the issues in an official diocesan document, were the first steps in tackling
them. However, simply going with the majority view in an ageing diocese may simply shape
strategy to the thought forms and preferences of older generations, missing the very people the
strategy is supposed to address. Every diocese, for example, should have a strategy for reaching
Generation Y (born 1980-2000) but such strategy should largely be developed by Gen Y
Christians themselves. Tribal members are usually better at reaching their own people than are
foreign missionaries.
r children & virtually no teenagers
and young adults. Our church culture is tradition-bound and inward-looking, much of our worship is
formal, book-bound, unimaginative and out of touch. We have little interest in or energy for outreach
and evangelism. The clergy are overworked and dwindling in number, worship and ministry are too
clergyvitality. We have many millstone buildings with poor facilities. Our processes for change are poor and
4. To the people of the area. The Church can easily seem to address the questions that the
they want from their churches, and what their spiritual and other needs and questions are. The
Church in this country is now engaged in cross cultural mission. To do this effectively the
Church has to know the local cultures, how to serve them and how to share the good news
with them.
5. To our partners in other churches. It is important to coordinate the mission effort with our
partners, probably not through formal ecumenical bodies but through informal friendshiprelationships. It is helpful to work out what can be done together and how visions and strategies
can tie in together. We must learn from each other, pray with each other and work with each
other.
6. To the current situation. It is important to identify the current strengths, weaknesses and
situation of the diocese. We do not want to damage what is working well or preserve what is
not. We should be realistic about our starting point and the potential contained within it for
change and growth. For example, a strategy to restore the numbers of stipendiary clergy may
sound superficially worthy, but if either the numbers of good candidates or the money to pay
for them is not there then the strategy is doomed to fail.
4. HAVING A STRATEGY IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA
Dioceses have been led non-strategically for decades. Our common understanding was that dioceses
were instruments of order not change. The Church served and shaped society but did not need to
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struggle to maintain its own existence or change its own culture. The bishop and the central diocese
had neither the remit nor the resources to stimulate the growth of the churches other than to appoint
good clergy to deliver the goods.
But then, as central funds dried up and costs escalated, dioceses began inevitably to be dragged into
closer engagement with the parishes in order to extract from them the money needed to sustain the
system. And the management of decline became a complex and time consuming business pastoral
reorganisation, redundant churches, tighter budgets, an ageing & shrinking clergy workforce, unfilled
posts, plummeting morale, and damaging arguments about how to respond to a changing world,
became the chief preoccupations of senior staff and central dioceses.
More recently a consensus has emerged that it is better to fight decline than simply to manage it. Ad
hoc measures are helpful, but it has become accepted across much of the Church that a well thoughtthrough coordinated approach is always likely to be more effective.
So there has been a threefold realisation:
1. A central diocese cannot escape from involvement in the life and death struggles of the
churches
2. It is better to help churches live than simply to manage their demise
3. It is possible to help churches grow their mission, ministry and numbers through policies
designed to support and stimulate them
Of course things do not always run smoothly. In one diocese, previous top-down policies imposing
actions on parishes had discredited the concept of strategy. The present bishop therefore has no public
strategy or written document but nevertheless quietly has put in place some interlocking initiatives that
more or less amount to the same thing.
Some are wary of strategy because it sounds like telling everyone to do the same thing, imposing
priorities, formats and changes on unwilling parishes. Others have experienced initiatives, marketed as
new diocesan strategies for mission, that are actually cost cutting exercises.
But the alternative to doing strategy badly is not to abandon strategy it is to do strategy well. Stability
now that the pace of imposed change is so rapid is not an option. One diocesan strategy document
concentrate our thinking. Change is going to come whether we like it or not. Our challenge is to be
So it is not stability that is the alternative to strategy, it is chaos.
A strategy can be defined as an intentional set of interlocking changes, actions and policies intended to
achieve the strategic objective or vision. A diocesan strategy for growth in numbers, spirituality and
effectiveness will probably fail if it is actually about uniformity, control or cost cutting. But, if it is about
the diocese providing a supportive environment in which the churches can flourish in their own ways
then it may well succeed. Good strategy provides a framework for the churches not a blueprint. The
central diocese is not the master, it is the servant of the churches. The bishop and his staff should model
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servant-leadership that supports and encourages the churches but does not control them or constrain
the Holy Spirit.
Anyone interested in comparing directive central planning with the encouragement of enterprise as
ways of delivering growth should study the contrasting fortunes of North and South Korea. Good
strategy is not about command and control, it is about providing a helpful environment within which
the churches can flourish.
5.
GOOD STRATEGY IS LONG TERM
One d
limited to time scales too short to initiate meaningful change. We expect too much to happen too soon
and end up either disappointed or disillusioned. Instead of a five year plan we need a fifteen year plan.
We need to re-
Parishes across th
never be undertaken lightly. The most successful strategies appear to be those that have been
consistently maintained over many years. It may, for example, take five to ten years before the impact of
One diocese
2004 but it was 2011 before it had a year in which every growth
indicator went up.
It ma
should not be time limited by the tenure of the diocesan bishop. Like parish Mission Action Plans, they
should be corporate documents not personal initiatives. If a diocese has an existing strategy it wishes to
pursue then it needs to recruit a new bishop happy to pursue it rather than invent his own new one. At
the same time, though, a strategy will always need the leadership and identification of the current
diocesan bishop to make it effective.
An initial strategic document is not subject to the la
As with parish MAPs, revised versions of strategy documents should appear from time to time, and the
diocese should always be open to new ideas and tools for growth in mission. The different elements in
a strategy should be subject to evaluation and review. For example, the impact of grants out of a
nts can be evaluated and changes made to
optimise the effectiveness of the limited funds available. But this can all be done within a long term
overall strategic framework that provides continuity and security for all involved.
6.
should be couched in terms of holy platitudes or generalities. It should be possible to know whether
prayers are being answered, whether aims and objectives are being achieved, how well a strategy is
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working and what are the successes and failures. There should be openness and honesty in evaluating
how things are going.
The usual temptation when a strategy appears not to be working is to quietly drop it and never face the
now let
This is only possible if there are targets in the plans and if they are reasonably SMART ones. One diocese
introduced Mission Action Planning to the churches but recognised after a couple of years that their
approach was too top-down, too prescriptive. Owning up to this, they changed their approach to MAPs
but did not abandon them. Now it is clear from the statistical returns that MAPs are helping to stem the
decline of the churches. This partly happened because the diocese has started to be a learning
organisation, learning how to implement a long term strategy better rather than lurch in a state of
denial from one botched initiative to another.
7.
EFFECTIVE STRATEGY NEEDS A MEASURE OF UNITY
Sometimes dioceses become dysfunctional because of disunity at the top. Whatever is said in official
documents, it is very hard for the whole diocese to pull in one strategic direction when its leaders are
pulling in several. This was seen as an important reason for the absence of coherent mission and
growth strategy in one of the dioceses represented in the consultation.
Unity is so important that it is worth sacrificing a measure of crispness in a strategy to achieve it, and, up
to a point, a variety of perspectives is healthy. The Church of England is a broad church and no strategy
should look like a takeover by one tradition or another but should encompass and honour all. The
threefold growth objective (spiritual numerical service) should be a broad enough church to
encompass most Anglicans. In one diocese,
is hesitant about the
numerical growth objective, but accepts that the church has to grow numerically in order to achieve his
own passion to reach those who are vulnerable on the margins of society.
There are, however, limits. Those in senior positions in leadership teams need to play for the team,
otherwise it is better for all that they leave it. And new leaders should be recruited who have a passion
for the strategy not just a nodding acquiescence.
then it will be concerned to maintain balance in senior appointments, but if the priority is to realise a
vision the diocese needs to appoint the best people to achieve this.
Attempts to grow the church at local level can be undermined by poor publicity in relation to divisions
over women bishops or sexuality attitudes. It is sometimes not just the disagreements themselves but
the way in which we disagree that is the problem. The Body of Christ needs unity not uniformity.
8. GOOD STRATEGY GOES FOR HIGH QUALITY
The horticultural metaphor for church in 1 Corinthians ch 3 points out that we do not ourselves have
the power to grow things. The growth potential is built in by the creative and sustaining work of God.
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which it can grow. So a principle of obliquity applies. If we want the church to grow numerically we do
not attempt to achieve this through growththe church. Instead we concentrate on quality, on making the church better. Numerical growth will
result naturally from quality growth. Or, put another way, it is healthy plants that grow. So diocesan
strategy should encourage healthy churches and then trust God to give the growth. Diocesan strategy
for growth is primarily about helping churches be the best they can in each dimension of their lives,
and relying on God for the rest.
9.
STRATEGY NEEDS GOOD PROCESS AS WELL AS GOOD CONTENT
An open process that allows everyone in the diocese to contribute is usually preferable to a closed
process conducted by an elite. One diocesan bishop floated the outline of a strategy around his diocese
and then spent a year allowing people time to critique, contribute and absorb it before asking the
Synod to approve a version that they already knew would get buy-in across the diocese. A process that
gives consideration to all aspects, alternatives and models from other dioceses is more likely to yield a
robust strategy than the personal vision of one or two individuals who have not looked around. A
logical, considered approach is more likely to be coherent than a scattergun of off the cuff ideas.
Processes that value individuals and promote healthy relationships are likely to cement dioceses
positively together. Steamroller processes cutting across parish life may do more harm than good.
-create than ask for buy-in at a later stage.
A flow chart of the process of devising or revising a diocesan growth strategy can offer a helpful outline
and checklist an example is offered in Appendix 1.
10.
IT HELPS TO BE CLEAR ABOUT CATEGORIES OF STRATEGY ELEMENTS
One reason why this is helpful is that there are limits to what a central diocese can achieve. It may have
more power to reform itself that to change parish life. The following category breakdown of elements
should aid clear thinking:
Category 1
Changing the central diocese to make it more helpful to the growth of the churches
A) Reforming the things that hold the churches back
Reforms might include attending to long vacancies; poll tax share systems; control cultures;
uniformity attempts; big bureaucracies; large & ineffective boards and committees, endless
meetings; expensive staff lists not contributing to the core agenda; hoarding mentality in DBF; rigid
conservation-minded DACs.
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Adding new and helpful things
Examples might include diocesan mission and growth people; growth grants and funds;
planting advisers; good practice exchanges; encouraging bishops; spreading good practice &
holding up growing churches as good examples.
Category 2
Improving the way the diocese deals with the clergy it employs
This involves the way the diocese finds ordinands, is involved in initial training, trains its curates, recruits
and appoints clergy, shapes job descriptions, and offers in-service support and training.
Category 3
Direct Parish Interventions
A) Compulsory or universal processes
Examples could include asking every parish to produce a Mission Action Plan or to conduct a
B) Optional opportunities taken up by churches on an individual basis
Examples could include funding and encouragement to go on training courses like LYCIG; making
materials such as
elping
churches make the most of Back to Church Sunday; offering grants out of a Growth Fund.
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PART 2 SIXTEEN ELEMENTS OF A GOOD STRATEGY
Strategy is partly about what you say an inspiring vision statement and strategy document can
influence the real world. But mainly it is about what you do. For example a diocesan document might
encourage parishes to re-order their churches for multi use in the contemporary world, but if the DAC
refuses applications to remove pews then the effective diocesan policy is the opposite of the declared
strategy. It is changing the culture and personnel of the DAC that will constitute the substance of the
strategy. If a diocese says that its strategy is to empower churches to grow but parish share still rises
with attendance, it is not telling the truth. Only when it has changed the system so that there are
financial incentives to grow rather than shrink can the diocese plausibly claim to have a growth strategy
on the ground.
Single actions can always be helpful, but it is the coordination of a wide set of elements in a coherent
strategy that will bear the most fruit. The list of elements below is long and may not be exhaustive.
Good vision is characterised by startling simplicity, coordinated strategy by many sided complexity. It is
not enough to focus on a necessary condition for growth to occur for it may not be a sufficient
condition. All the conditions should be identified and worked on together.
Element 1 Prayer hit the ground kneeling
In 1 Corinthians ch 3 it is made quite clear that, though humans have a part to play in creating the right
conditions, it is God who grows the church
A combination of
listening prayer to discern how we can best play our part and intercession to ask God to grow his
church would seem to be the essential foundation of any strategy. Such prayer should be at the heart
of the central diocesan effort but also be encouraged in every church and Christian community. Prayer
but a way of engaging with God and being changed by him. Functional strategy processes must never
squeeze God out of the picture. Growth emerges out of lives drenched in the grace of God.
Those at the centre of a diocese cannot reasonably ask church members to pray if they are not doing it
themselves. Praying together for the God-given vision and strategy, as well as simply to grow in
diocesan life in general. So, diocesan leaders should model and cascade lives of prayer and listening to
God. Too many meetings begin with a cursory nod to God in a brief opening prayer then we get on
with our agenda. Unless diocesan leaders themselves spend serious time praying together and being
transformed by the experience they cannot with integrity call clergy and congregations to serious
prayer.
It is therefore no surprise that most diocesan strategy documents seem to make prayer the number one
priority. For example one diocese
aim and then has five themes of growth that together make up its delivery strategy. Four of those
Reaching New Generations Transforming Communities and
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circles of prayer and spiritual nurture using resources old and new; taking seriously the need for a Rule
of Life; and making reliance on the Holy
resources, the permission and the direction to think and act missionally in order to see spiritual and
numerical growth across the Diocese, and churches growing in their capacity to love, serve and
In a third diocese the strategy document begins with prayer as the foundation for inner spiritual
create the fertile ground in which the Spirit can bring our faith to life, enabling us to live out our faith
and give a reason for the hope that is in us. First among these is prayer. More than anything else, we
need to place a new priority on becoming a people of prayer, whose daily lives are formed and
punctuated by our rela
The draft national strategy soon to be considered by the House of Bishops and General Synod is
help bring about this required shift towards a dynamic missionary emphasis within the Church which is
focussed on making new disciples? As the shift is a spiritual issue, then the starting point and
continuing need is prayer: both for the necessary transformation within the Church to capture the
So strategy begins with prayer, with dioceses encouraging churches to pray expectantly for the inbreaking of heaven. Where a church or a group of Christian leaders in an area passes the following three
tests then the conditions for growth exist and resources for growth should be focussed:
a) There is a group of leaders praying regularly together
b) There is already some evidence of the Holy Spirit working in transformed lives
c) There are people who are willing to pay the cost of mission and growth
Resources to invest in churches passing these tests include financial resources, for example grants from
a mission or growth fund, and human resources, for example the time of diocesan staff. Archbishop
Rowan said that his threefold growth vision should in part be achieved through applying resources to
places of greatest opportunity by and large the places of greatest opportunity for spiritual, numerical
and ministry growth are where the people are praying for it.
Specific initiatives the central diocese can organise itself and encourage others into include:
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Whole days of prayer
Spiritual MoTs for individuals
for a broken world
Diocesan email prayer going out to a network of intercessors in each church
Central or area prayer meetings including waiting on God, scope for prophetic words, praying
for renewal and revival
f) A prayer card (bookmark style?) to give to every church member with the diocesan prayer for
the strategic vision. Ask everyone to use the prayer at home. Ask every church to use it in the
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public intercessions at every service. Renew the prayer every year or two. The draft national
mission strategy includes just such a prayer*
g) Encourage special prayer initiatives such as a day of fasting or a week when everything else in
church life shuts down in order for everyone to pray
* God our Creator and Redeemer, help your Church to grow in holiness, unity, effectiveness and
numbers. Draw us closer to you and to those around us. Give us enthusiasm in our faith, and wisdom in
sharing it with young and old. Open our eyes to new opportunities, our lips to sing and speak of you,
and our hearts to welcome the stranger. Grow your kingdom in us and in the world, through the
intercession of our Lord Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Element 2 Head for the hearts and transform the culture
Underneath the specific actions required to implement a strategy lie the fundamental factors of the
hearts of the people & clergy and the culture of the churches and diocese. Simply by articulating a
strategy and encouraging change a bishop can inspire people to begin implementing it. Permission
giving and exhortation can empower the entrepreneurs. Appointing dynamic people rather than safe
people to key roles can steadily change diocesan culture. A number of bishops have found that simply
change of culture.
In some dioceses a culture of suspicion of the centre has grown up through long years of parish share
rises and clergy cuts in which the parishes have rarely seen the centre of the diocese as their friend, or
even as an outfit to be trusted. This culture has to be transformed if there is to be fruitful cooperation
Development Funding has greatly helped change the culture. Over the years a high proportion of
parishes have received a grant plus the human support of the grant making group and diocesan posts
who help us realise our dreams with grants and encouragement from the Growth
Good communications are essential not just in relation to nuts and bolts but also in relation to cultural
transformation. The new message of a coherent strategy for growth needs to be got across through
high quality written materials, DVDs, diocesan website, networking, conferences and so on.
In most dioceses there will be some who will not cooperate with the strategy for one reason or another.
People should always be listened to and respected as well as helped to come on board. But if they are a
small minority they should not be allowed to slow down or divert the strategy.
The enduring culture of an organisation can easily strangle a change in the strategy. Cultural
transformation is difficult but essential. Good strategy is built on trust and honesty not on power and
competition. People buy into the leader before they buy into the strategy. Unspoken communication is
powerful, the way we do things may be more important than the things we do. Leaders today cannot
bank on a great deal of loyalty simply by virtue of their position. They have to earn loyalty through who
they are as Christian human beings.
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Large churches are often unpopular among their neighbours. Growing churches can be undermined by
jealousy and snide remarks. The culture of Deanery Chapters can be dysfunctional, defensive, and
competitive. But diocesan culture should celebrate growth stories and disseminate them so others can
learn. A lead needs to be given in this by diocesan leaders.
cultures of openness and mutual support across all types and conditions of churches.
Element 3 Good uniting theology
Strategy should arise out of theology rather than theology be used to justify strategy.
The theology should not dominate practical strategy documents but it should underpin them and be
credible and inspiring. It should not be an afterthought dreamt up to add credibility to practical polices
like pastoral reorganisation enforced by financial constraints. People tend to see through titles such as
pruning is the aim and growth the fig leaf.
Careful nuanced theology that all traditions and streams can sign up to is likely to be pretty bland.
There needs to be passion in the theology as well as in the vision. But it is possible to unite all those
who believe in the church as kingdom agent around the mission imperative even if some will need to
refocus away from other doctrinal and church order debates back on to the main thing. The threat of
other issues taking priority is very real the Decade of Evangelism, for instance, in the 1990s was partly
The language most likely to unite the main traditions and streams around the core mission imperative
three dimensions of growth may also be unifying not only between dioceses but also within them as
they equally honour church growth, evangelism, spiritual deepening and social gospel. One diocese is
disciples and becoming more effective
New Disciples
The theology underpinning the vision and strategy should express in clear and exciting ways the good
news that the church has to share. It should focus on Jesus, not the church. It should clearly fit with and
acknowledge the challenging contemporary context but confidently assert a timeless faith in the
person, work, death, resurrection and reign of Jesus Christ.
Although there has been a revolution within the Church in recent years towards a strong and positive
growth aspiration, the theological argument that it is right and proper for the church to focus on its
own growth has not yet been fully and clearly won. More work should be done on constructing solid
theological foundations to mission and growth strategies. New Testament sources for growth theology
include:
Luke-Acts: The whole story demonstrates how much God really wants the numerical growth of his
church. Growth keeps being described both numerically and qualitatively.
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1 Corinthians 15:
. Our aim is to share this good
news with all the growth of the church is the result and measure of good news
shared
Acts 17:
Repentance and judgement will come. We call people to repentance not to get
them to join our club but for their own sakes in the light of coming judgement
Romans 12:
The church is called not to conform to the prevailing culture but to transform it
through renewing its being. A renewed and growing church stands a better chance
of transforming the world around it.
1 Corinthians 3:
Nobody should boast about leading the growth of the church because it is God
who grows it. Growth is not about status and success but about service and
sacrifice.
Element 4 A common strategy should unite the team
The strategy is not simply something that the mission people do while everyone else carries on as
normal. Every member of the central diocesan structure should have their part to play and every person
helped to see their role in the whole. Having all elements of a diocese focussing on the core objective
brings clarity, purpose, direction of travel, transparency and meaning and it binds diocesan leaders,
employees and representatives together into a single team.
For example, the role of the DAC in a diocese with a threefold growth strategy becomes something like,
respond well spiritually, and which can serve the local communities
money and generosity, and to help churches develop the resources they need for evangelism and
service to their local communitie
member, board, committee and synod so that everyone is clear about their role in the strategy to
achieve the vision they all subscribe to.
It is important that the Diocesan Bishop oversees and embodies the strategy and that the staff team
and Diocesan Synod are fully behind it. However, the Bishop may well wish to appoint a member of his
staff team to head up the strategy on a day to day basis. In one diocese this role has been given to a
in others to the Suffragan
Bishop.
Otherwise the signal is given out that this is of only secondary importance, and the staff team cannot
properly discuss progress at each meeting.
It will be the designated
implementing the strategy is on the agenda in some form or another of every meeting. With the
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to leave it off their agenda for months at a time thereafter. The main thing should be the main thing on
their meeting agendas as well as in the ministries and working lives of all those with diocesan roles.
It is also helpful to cultivate a culture in which it is normal for everyone involved to come to the
Diocesan Bishop or their appointed strategy coordinator and ask how they can help.
Element 5 Celebrate what is being achieved
It is important not to try to galvanise people for the future vision by rubbishing the past (or the present)
too enthusiastically. It is sometimes helpful to be honest about past shortcomings in order to put them
right. But there is no point causing unnecessary offence to those who honestly gave their best in the
past. What is really important is to celebrate, promote and spread the growth that has been achieved.
On
in a diocese that has shrunk numerically more than almost any other. Yet until our new Diocesan Bishop
called on me the other week nobody from the diocese had ever shown the slightest interest in how or
So one key strategy element should be to identify, honour and learn from churches that have been
growing numerically, spiritually or in effective service of their community. Bishops and others should
seek to learn the lessons and pass them on, and diocesan communications should tell the story and
highlight the lessons for the rest of the diocese. Stories should be told in diocesan conferences and
synods. All this changes the culture through highlighting what is now seen to be important, improves
morale through celebrating what is going well, and spreads good practice through inspiring others.
A summary of this diocesan approach might be:
spread good practice
Element 6 Recruit the right people to the right jobs
Framing appropriate job descriptions and recruiting the best possible clergy to fulfil them may be the
single most important contribution bishops and archdeacons can make to the growth of the churches.
y personal ministries are a luxury a
diocese can now ill afford. The clergy will always have to be role models as disciples but their main role
must be to grow more disciples and to deepen discipleship in others.
Vocations criteria applying to DDOs and selection conferences need a fresh look. We should be looking
to recruit people who are able to grow a church and to train others. These people are likely to be
relatively young, and may be less safe and more entrepreneurial than previous generations of clergy.
They are most likely to have caught a vision for leading churches through being members of growing
and thriving churches themselves.
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Their initial training should focus on how to be a missional leader, grow a church, mentor and develop
disciples. All curacies should be spent in growing churches so that curates can absorb how it is done,
When the Diocese of London began its pioneer strategy for turning decline into growth in the early
1990s job descriptions for parochial clergy began to appear in parish profiles. In general, these defined
tended to indicate that the new vicar would be expect
on the basis of their track record or, if currently a curate, their potential, in leading mission, developing
the ministries of the whole people of God, and growing the church.
In another diocese with a growth strategy every candidate was asked their view of the strategy and
how they would implement it in the local church. Only clergy who appeared to be personally
committed to the strategy and to have a good idea of how the church might grow would be
appointed.
There is a danger of appointing clergy who can talk the talk in an interview but are less able to walk the
walk in the parish. This elevates the importance of references in the selection process. A brief account of
the development of church life and growth in the present position should always be gathered through
the reference system.
The recruitment principles also apply to diocesan appointments. People should be recruited not to fill a
position but to undertake a task. If mission leadership is the key Episcopal task then new Episcopal
appointments should be made of people with a track record of growing the outward facing mission of
the church. Archdeacons and Bishops are unlikely to be able to help churches grow unless they have
been leaders of growing churches themselves. Job descriptions for diocesan secretaries and other
senior roles should be focussed on delivery of the strategy, and the most able and enthusiastic
candidate in relation to strategy delivery should be appointed.
It is vitally important to recruit the right diocesan bishops who will both focus on the growth priority
and have a track record and expertise in delivering growth. The fact that bishops are increasingly being
appointed from a mission background can only be a good thing.
Element 7 Support, train, empower & resource the whole people of God to
achieve the strategic objectives.
responsibility and opportunity to generate their own growth in partnership with Christ the head of the
Church. Clergy and dioceses are simply there to help them grow spiritually, numerically and in serving
the local community.
The first step with some congregations is to help them understand the gospel and become go
disciples. Apologetics plus stories of life-transformations are needed to give people confidence in the
gospel. Small groups should focus on personal formation. Other Christians have a strong faith but need
help in learning how to pray effectively, share their Christian story well, and lead others into faith.
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Churches need cultures of authenticity in which people own up to problems or faith-confusions and
are able to find help. Throughout church life we should affirm the fruitful, celebrate the good, build
confidence, spread good news stories, commend good practice and stimulate networks of mutual
learning. Local good news stories should go viral through electronic media.
The most effective training for growth may be that which is offered to the whole church, or at least to
the whole of the church leadership team, together. If this is so then many dioceses will need to re-focus
their main training effort away from the model of training selected individuals for qualifications and
status towards a model of training larger numbers of people for mission and ministry without worrying
about awarding titles and accreditation or course-marks. And they will need to move away from
separate lay and clergy training departments towards training whole church communities together for
mission and growth.
Examples of helpful training include:
a) Many dioceses have discovered that it is their larger churches that have been in the steepest
numerical decline so they have convened conferences for clergy and PCCs to consider the
reasons and remedies for this. The stimulation offered has often helped churches to turn round
into growth again.
b) One diocese offered training events and materials on how to make the most of Back to Church
Sunday. It also bought and distributed materials on behalf of churches that registered with
them and organised good local media publicity. Around 6000 people came to church by
invitation in that diocese on the day and six months later around 750 were still coming at least
monthly.
c) Many chu
of those who try them out who stay. One diocese bought course materials in bulk, invited every
church to do it as their Lent Course, and organised training sessions for course leaders. One
more people. Newcomers started appearing at every service and two thirds of them stayed. This
combination of focussed prayer and good hospitality resulted in rapid numerical growth.
d) A significant percentage of the clergy in the Church of England have been on the 4 day
ourse. This is the core training course for church
leaders in how to lead numerical growth. One diocese invites selected clergy to do the course
each year and offers to pay part of the fee. Other dioceses have arranged a special course just for
their own clergy, and it would seem from data in two dioceses that significant overall growth
can be traced to this cause. Another diocese arranges and pays for its own annual course for
clergy plus their core lay leadership team and is trying to get round all the churches in the
diocese in a five year period. However, the LYCIG team believe that a version of the course for
whole church communities, done locally, will have an even bigger impact. LYCIG Local is now in
course of production and should be available to trial in 2013.
e)
grow and a diagnostic tool that leads to priorities for action.
f)
growth and discipleship
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It may sometimes be helpful in kick starting a process for a diocese to ask every church to take part in a
particular process. However, it is normally best simply to offer a range of flexible tools to every church
and, if necessary, to help each church adapt their chosen tool to their own context and situation. What
works in Whitby might not work in Hull. Resources should go viral, be in eve
churches are well-resourced with the best, most appropriate materials.
There is still a need for specialist in-service training for clergy and other leaders. Residential LYCIG
courses continue to be popular. Increasingly the clergy are leading multiple churches yet few have
received any helpful training in this new oversight role, which is very different from hands on leadership
of just one church. A new training resource on leading multi-church benefices is now available from
CPAS. It is not just the clergy who need help and guidance for this oversight ministry local church
leaderships would also benefit from focussed training in how to make the best of a new situation where
they share a vicar.
As well as training courses, clergy benefit greatly from networking with leaders of similar churches.
Studies suggest that well-connected clergy are more likely to have growing churches than are isolated
clergy. One diocese arranges support groups for clergy in similar sized churches, meeting four times a
year. Each group is convened and helped by an outside consultant paid by the diocese. Groups
consider issues of common interest, learn from, pray for and support each other.
Those responsible for developing and implementing mission strategy in dioceses have largely been
doing this in isolation from other dioceses. As demonstrated by the recent conference from which this
document has emerged, it is vital to bring such people together for mutual learning, inspiration, prayer
and confidence-building.
In many dioceses there are a few parishes where the blockage to empowering congregations is the
incumbent. Dioceses should look at ways of removing blockages and gatekeepers so that churches can
have a chance to flourish. Can we find ways of offering something different to tired or blockage clergy?
Or packages to bring forward retirement?
One rural diocese has a number of key market towns. The church in each of these towns will
style church for its area, but only with the right clergy in post.
Better ways are needed to enable this to happen.
Element 8 Engage with every church through Mission Action Planning
An increasing number of dioceses (perhaps over half) are now channelling their mission support
through the MAP process. There is evidence from a few dioceses that churches with a good MAP
process are growing better than the average. A MAP process is just that a process. It comes with no
fixed content. It provides a framework not a blueprint. Each church must create its own MAP content
but the process helps them to have missional aims, plans and actions. Diocesan encouragement to
growth under Element 7 operate through the individual church MAPs.
In many dioceses churches have accepted and are benefiting from the requirement to have a MAP in
place, though of course the degree to which it runs through church life varies greatly. Sometimes,
however, MAPs can be seen as yet another top-down imposition. One diocese has decided to ask for no
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paperwo
Element 9 Prioritise areas of need and opportunity
As so many churches no longer contain anyone from the younger half of the population and the
average age of Anglicans has risen so high, the area of greatest need, the priority mission field, would
seem to be re-connecting with younger adults, teens and children. In one diocese, for example, the
guidelines for grants from the Growth Fund say that applications should show a plausible route from
the spending of the money to the growth of the church especially among people aged under 40.
There are also geographical areas where the parish church has dwindled away to almost nothing, and
new housing areas where the church has only a small foothold.
It could also be argued that areas of great need include those churches that have dwindled the most,
which normally means ones that used to be large.
Re-connecting with younger generations clearly calls for fairly radical changes in church culture and
approach. Re-establishing a significant presence in areas the church has almost completely lost is
unlikely to be achieved through continuing the same arrangements as before so radical solutions may
be required. For example, a diocese might not wish to make a like for like replacement of a parish priest
but to try a pioneer minister or church planter instead. Even turning round the fast shrinking larger
churches may require fairly radical action. Tackling areas of greatest need, therefore, normally requires
new approaches.
But areas of greatest need are often also those of greatest opportunity. A large proportion of the church
growth we are seeing today is among families. These may be the most responsive group to fresh ways
of doing and being church, as witness the Messy Church phenomenon. One diocese appointed a
apply for start up grants from the
Growth Fund. This diocese now has around 100 Messy Churches, most started in the last two years, and
the number is growing every month.
If radically new styles of being church for families form the area of greatest growth opportunity then
diocesan officer, start up grants, good practice guidance and coordination with the national Messy
Church leadership should enable numerical growth. But further resources in terms of staff
appointments, conference and training programmes, mutual support programmes, and DVD or written
materials may be needed to enable spiritual growth. The major developmental issues for Messy
congregations include how to enable commitment points and discipleship development, and growing
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Element 10 Communicate well
The senior staff in one diocese are very committed to spiritual and numerical growth, but their
perceived weakness is in communicating this to the diocese. Some dioceses have cut communications
budgets or else defined the job description of the communications officer largely in terms of external
communications and relationships with the media. Ideally a diocese should have someone with the
right skill set whose role is to ensure that the strategy is well communicated and understood. This will
sometimes be about communicating from the top down but the communications culture should not
primarily be of the megaphone variety. It should focus on the interface between central diocese and
parish, enabling two way communication, getting the two levels of church to meet, inform each other
and work together fruitfully.
Element 11 Re-shape structures and re-imagine ministry
New wine usually needs new wine skins. If a diocese has a new vision and strategy and wants to focus
on achieving its new growth-aim, then it may hit trouble if there is no re-shaping of its old boards and
committees with their pre-existing cultures, priorities, power bases and well established processes for
avoiding action and change. To stop the structures frustrating the strategy it is better, where possible,
to shape new structures around the new strategy. Instead of committees holding remits for areas of
diocesan church life it may be better to have implementation groups for different elements of the
strategy. Where statutory bodies cannot be replaced by new ones they may need re-invigorating with a
new remit, personnel and ways of working.
In many dioceses the agenda most likely to destipendiary posts
money to pay them, it is likely that dioceses will continue to have to keep cutting the number of paid
clergy for the foreseeable future. In some dioceses the response of asking remaining clergy simply each
to take on more and more churches is reaching the limit of what churches and clergy will accept and
can cope with.
y, and neither should
the two coexist side by side as though they are not relevant to each other. Part of the diocese conducts
a retrenchment strategy while another part works on a growth strategy. Rather, ministry should be reimagined and re-structured as part of the mission strategy in such a way as to encourage the growth of
the churches.
The key element in this is moving from a church model
to one where every church member has a ministry and the whole church is a missionary community.
The fact that an over-clericalised model of ministry is no longer possible may even be good news for
church growth as there is now no alternative to mobilising the whole people of God for active service in
the local mission field.
One diocese, which once had 200 stipendiary clergy, now has 100 and will soon have 60, has decided it
has reached the end of the pastoral reorganisation response. Instead it is planning for a future in which
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the remaining stipendiary clergy will have pastoral charge of just one or two churches each and minibe led by an unpaid
for whole churches to be
missionary communities, for focal ministers to be local church community leaders, and for some clergy
to have oversight leadership.
It is arithmetically inevitable that more and more dioceses will need to re-imagine and re-structure their
ministry in this sort of way as clergy numbers decline to critical levels.
Element 12 Pioneer and encourage church planting and fresh expressions
Diocese by diocese research by the Sheffield Centre for Church Planting is now documenting the
numbers and nature of plants and fresh expressions. It is already clear that these are contributing a very
large proportion of the church growth that is happening on the ground around the country. This is not
surprising as the Christian Church has usually grown best through the planting of new communities
and congregations.
Dioceses may well wish to pioneer some fresh expressions centrally. These will usually be those for
which local churches lack the resources or wider vision. However, diocesan-led models tend to involve
appointing a full time paid pioneer and so are expensive. Their track record is mixed. Most plants and
fresh expressions come from existing parish churches, are low cost, and often are lay led. They emerge
from the enterprise and entrepreneurship of local churches rather than the central planning of a
diocesan mastermind. The role of the diocese is to encourage, guide, resource and assess the parish
initiatives.
It is therefore very helpful if there is an express commitment from the diocesan bishop to support and
encourage planting and fresh expressions. Specific encouragements a diocese can make include:
a) Whenever there is a vacancy or pastoral reorganisation planting opportunities can be surveyed
and possibly added in to the parish profile.
b) Episcopal visitations and articles of enquiry can ask about plants and fresh expressions, if only to
find out what is going on.
c) There can
d) CME can include training on planting and fresh expressions.
e) Diocesan officers can create networks or buddying or mentoring links for planters within or
across diocesan boundaries.
f) A proportion of the diocesan budget can be set aside for start-up grants.
g) Good news stories can be collected and disseminated through diocesan events, publications
and websites.
h) Specific encouragement can be made towards non-evangelical plants.
One diocese, noticing the rise of Messy Church, offers
congregations (currently about 100) and seeks to offer training and networking opportunities. Diocesan
leaders encourage churches to consider whether starting a Messy Church should be an element in their
Mission Action Plan. Mission Statistics are being analysed to estimate the overall impact of Messy
Church. The diocese is now thinking about how it can encourage the development of Messy Churches
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beyond the initial start-up phase so that they become whole of life churches able to grow committed
Christian disciples.
The Diocese of London for some time has had a policy of arranging grafts and transplants as and when
opportunity arises into struggling or dying churches. The diocese is now moving from opportunism to
strategy in its planting operation under the umbrella of the latest incarnation of the diocesan mission &
growth strategy apital Vision
A wider range of planting types has been identified, including
new church buildings, new congregations moving from another parish, new services within parishes,
network churches and new missional communities. Each type has a target number for each year from
2014 to 2019, totalling 100 over six years. A planting oversight team has been formed, clear processes
for exploration, planting and assessment have been identified, budgets set and new funding models
are being explored.
Element 13 Minimise vacancy losses
On average, church attendance is not shrinking in churches with an incumbent in place, but is shrinking
significantly through lengthy vacancies between incumbents.
O
timetable and managed to reduce average vacancy lengths by a couple of months and to halve
vacancy losses.
A new training resource for PCCs put together by a g
Based on the experience and wisdom of a lot of churches that have recently been through a vacancy
the course aims to help churches to thrive and grow through the vacancy period rather than shrink.
There is growing awareness in some dioceses that vacancies can be opportunities for helpful reflection
and change. Job descriptions and person profiles should be shaped by the diocesan vision and
backwardsto find a round peg next time. Special attention can be given to finding good candidates for previously
underperforming parishes. Formal mentoring can be offered to clergy early in post and continuing
reflection can be assisted by the MDR process.
However, using vacancies positively in these ways does not make churches immune to attendance loss.
Medium to large churches that have grown under an able incumbent with a good practice leadership
style appear to be ultra-vulnerable to vacancy losses. Newer church members have shallower roots and
ar
churches start unravelling after six months or so. A diocese that invests in finding and supporting good
clergy can easily undo all the good it does through tolerating or encouraging lengthy vacancies.
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
34
Element 14 Make financial policy the servant of strategy not the master
When dioceses have a financial crisis, short term financial policy tends to become the dominant
agenda. It is the finance people who tell the rest of the diocese what they can and cannot do. Central
dioceses focus on cost cutting, and parishes on paying Parish Share. One diocese was told that things
would be on an even keel again once 50 posts had been cut. But the missioner argued that losing 50
clergy would cause a further reduction in numbers and giving so a second bout of cuts would be
needed after the first, and so on until there was no-one left. The answer was to incorporate the cost
cutting agenda into an overall Growth Strategy. In the event, numerical decline was halted in the same
period that the 50 posts were lost, but only because the growth strategy was beginning to work.
In one diocese, the chairman of the Board of Finance was a retired Building Society executive. He ran
diocesan finances like an old fashioned Building Society, with deep, safe reserves and cautious
sufficient expertise or focus to challenge the approach. Mission was being strangled for lack of funds.
sitting on a lot of assets and our budgets are flexible. How can we help you resource your strategy? You
tel
raining. So I propose we make available £1m out of reserves to spend on local initiatives to grow the
being monitored. It is early days yet but it certainly looks like significant numbers of new people have
already been added to the churches. The investment will yield large returns measured in changed
human lives, and, incidentally, will probably also be more than returned to the diocese financially in the
resultant increased flow of giving.
In another diocese the Diocesan Secretary said
st, strategy comes second and finance
comes third. Finance informs policy, it does not dictate it. And please do not feel constrained by
structures we can change the structures to make them work to serve your vision. The central diocese
In some dioceses it is still surprisingly difficult to bring in new budget heads into the annual budget.
gy numbers
and so work out the parish share needed to maintain the status quo. In a changing world where a
diocese has a strategy, for example, to pioneer new forms of church, to put resources into areas of
opportunity for growth, to employ new categories of people, or to offer grants to churches that wish to
grow, then budgets should be constructed from scratch each year. The absolute starting point for the
construction of the next budget should be a conversation between the finance director and the Bishop
Increasing numbers of dioceses have a parish share system that is either cost based or which comes
from a conversation about what each church can afford and offer. These systems encourage mission
and growth because the new resources they generate are not taken in Share. They carry an incentive to
grow. But formula systems dependant on attendance or membership are like poll taxes. They
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
35
featherbed shrinking churches by reducing their Share and penalise growing ones by increasing it. Any
diocese serious about church growth has to employ a Share system that brings accountability for
shrinkage, gives an incentive to grow and allows growing churches to retain surplus to re-invest in
further growth.
If it is true that growth comes mainly from entrepreneurship in the churches rather than from central
the
diocese as the core of a grants system to local church initiatives. The evidence is beginning to suggest
that this is usually a more efficient way of spending the money than on flagship diocesan projects. The
Church Commissioners have recently commissioned a report on how to evaluate and maximise the
impact of such funding. Some dioceses are now adding some of their own funding to the
-targeted grants.
ELEMENT 15 Be guided by research findings
It has been all too common for the Church to implement a bright idea without first testing it out or
acquiring evidence, and without checking on its impact. The spread of team ministries is one example.
Qualitative and quantitative research are both needed in order to find out which potential strategy
elements actually have positive impacts on the growth of the church. Good quality data bases and
survey information are essential to reliable research findings. Strategy is more likely to work through a
process of evidence-based decision making than through shots in the dark.
There is now some evidence regarding the effectiveness of a number of elements, and the current
research commissioned by the Church Commissioners should add to this. Appendix three lists at least
some elements with evidence behind them. Often the evidence is not conclusive and more needs to
be gathered. But in the kingdom of the blind the one eyed man is king most of the evidence is good
enough to at least suggest the elements are likely to have an impact.
Element 16 Measure growth properly
Any strategy for numerical growth has to have an indicator or set of indicators as the targets being
aimed at. Currently the main measures being used for the size of the church are attendance measures
average attendance on a normal Sunday plus the October count average weekly attendance. These
measures have been going down in part because members have been attending less frequently than in
the past, and they are failing to pick up many of the new fresh expressions. Some churches are
reporting conservatively because of Parish Share fears. Some dioceses may indeed be growing but their
attendance measures are not picking this up.
Theologically, church is not an attendance event, it is a community. Church is measured by
membership of the worshipping community. Electoral Roll is a very poor measure of belonging. What is
needed is a new measure, of the number of participants in the worship activities of the church. One or
two dioceses have pioneered this measure and the national Statistics for Mission form is now including
this measure as from 2012. This will probably begin to take over as the main measure of church size and
growth over the next few years.
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
36
In addition there are two other new questions asking churches to report their number of joiners and
leavers in different categories. The answers to these questions will yield much sharper data on the
nature of growth and decline and gives further indicators to target.
If as much attention is to be paid to spiritual and ministry growth as to numerical growth it is important
that ways be developed for charting and measuring progress in these dimensions also. It should be a
national church function to develop relevant indices.
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
37
Appendix 1
Diocesan Growth Strategy Flow Chart
Prayer,
Worship &
listening
Internal &
external
consultation
Theology
Diocesan
History
& DNA
Shared Vision
Strategy for
realising the
vision
Research &
evidence
Models
from
elsewhere –
good
practice
Checklist
all potential
Strategy
Elements
Authorisation
process
Communication
s strategy
Responsible
individuals for
each strategy
element
Implement the
strategy – long
term process
SMART
targets –
monitor
progress
Celebrate
successes
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
Ongoing
prayer
Re-shape
organisational
structures
38
Appendix 2
Growth strategy elements supported by some statistical evidence
1. Encouraging congregation-planting and fresh expressions. This is the biggest single thing.
Most of our growth comes from starting something new rather than enlarging existing
congregations. Evidence: Messy Church data base; George Lings research; Lichfield & Leicester
joiners data. The whole of church history.
2. Shortening vacancies the main point of decline. Get all vacancies down to 6 months.
Evidence: Surveys of church attendance before through and after vacancies suggest around a
15% decline for an average 12 month vacancy but virtually nothing for a 6 month vacancy.
3. Size specific conference and learning community processes
Evidence: Turnarounds among groups of larger churches in
York, Lichfield and elsewhere.
4. LYCIG clergy renewed and resourced for mission, evangelism and growth. Increasingly this
applies to leadership teams and will soon apply to whole churches. Evidence: Mike Chew
showed data for Blackburn & Leicester at the conferences.
5. MAP and other similar systematic accompanied mission-planning processes for individual
churches. Growth usually comes when it is intentional and locally envisioned and generated.
Evidence: London in 1990s, Mike Chew data on Blackburn & Leicester.
6. Invitation & welcome. Many churches have been selfEvidence: A lot of anecdotes suggest they have increased their retention rates but no
systematic survey yet. New ER members data in London shows hot spots in churches with good
welcome.
7. Back to Church Sunday. Large numbers respond to B2CS but do they stick? Evidence: A
survey in Lichfield found that 720 out of 6000 were still attending 6 months later 12%.
8. Multi-congregation peer group models of church. Eg Young adults look for other young
adults so create a hub in every area. Evidence diocese of London. Many stories.
9. Growth Fund grants enabling churches to invest for growth eg in outreach workers.
Evidence: Good growth evidence found in reports for the Diocese of Lichfield and for the
Church Commissioners.
10. Improving provision for & relevance to families and children. Evidence : Survey findings
on London Diocese; Messy
Church growth.
11. Clergy selection, training, appointments, job descriptions and in service training. Every
major growth story starts with the appointment of a new incumbent. Evidence: London 1991;
LYCIG; age relationship to growth so should look for young ordinands.
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
39
12. Finding better structural arrangements for parishes. Has an impact. Evidence: Teams. New
research for CCs on amalgamations.
13. Working at the internal health of the church community. Churches grow larger when they
grow better. Get them to focus on their limiting factor and churches grow up to the limit
imposed by the next one. Evidence: Christian Schwarz research.
14. Leadership spread & styles. Leadership is always key. Evidence: New evidence on this comes
from the in de
churches with incumbents
having an appropriate leadership style grew better.
15. Buildings contemporary standards, facilities etc. Evidence
Growth Funds and Church Commissioners. Many stories.
16. Share systems poll taxes inhibit, agreements promote growth. Evidence: The turnaround in
London.
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
40
Appendix 3 Is there any evidence yet for the effectiveness of diocesan growth
strategy in turning round numerical decline?
The group of dioceses with a growth strategy already in place
Through the two conferences, and enquires at the 2013 meeting of the chairs of diocesan houses of
clergy, I have identified 11 dioceses that appear to have developed an agreed strategy by 2010.
Together with the estimated start dates of the strategies, the list of dioceses is:
London
Lichfield
Leicester
Bristol
Salisbury
Birmingham
Blackburn
Liverpool
Norwich
Rochester
Southwell
1990s
2004
2005
2008
2008
2009
2009
2010
2010
2010
2010
It is possible I have received inaccurate information about one or two of them, and I may have missed
one or two others. Any updates and corrections would be gratefully received.
2011 is the first year for which it is possible to compare trends in this group of 11 with trends in the
remaining 32 dioceses. If growth strategy is to work in relation to numerical growth then we would
expect to see some sort of difference in the numbers trends even if some of the strategies will take the
next few years to build up a head of steam. Graph 1 shows the difference between the two groups in
2011 in relation to average all week all age attendance in October, all age Usual Sunday Attendance,
and Electoral Rolls.
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
41
Graph 1: Growth indicators 2010-2011
So this group of dioceses with growth strategies up and running certainly seem to have had better
trends in 2011. But perhaps these are the better-led and most promising dioceses that we would
expect to be doing better than the average anyway. Have these dioceses actually turned round or is the
2011 distinction fairly typical?
Graph 2: Changes to October attendance
Prior to 2008 one or two of the dioceses already had an agreed strategy but most did not. Their
combined attendance trend was worse than the average of the others dioceses. So, far from being the
most promising dioceses, some of the 13 looked to be among the most difficult. The gap narrowed in
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
42
2009 as more of the dioceses were developing strategies and disappeared in 2010 as even more came
on stream. And by 2011 the trend in these dioceses had become better than in the others.
Graph 3 Differences in the attendance trend between the 11 and the others
This graph is derived from Graph 2 and shows how the group developing strategies first caught then
overtook the others in terms of growth rate.
These results are more or less what should be expected of strategies that are beginning to work but
they should be treated as no more than provisional. It will be important:
1. To continue the exercise when the 2012 and 2013 statistics become available
2. To add in the extra dioceses that are adopting strategy as each year goes by
3. To compare the new information on joiners and leavers from 2012 onwards
The evidence so far for the effectiveness of agreed diocesan strategy on numerical growth looks
promising, but we will need more evidence yet before becoming confident of the positive impact of
strategy.
Specific Dioceses
The statistical evidence shows a clear and major turnaround in the Diocese of London following the
start of a new strategy for growth under Bishop David Hope in the early 1990s. The new growth since
then continues to this day. This can be seen in the
London and available on their website.
The statistics for Lichfield and Leicester diocese also suggest a positive turnaround following the start of
their growth strategies in 2004 and 2005. Below is the text of a summary report to the clergy of the
diocese of Lichfield on the 2012 Statistics for Mission numbers:
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
43
Diocese of Lichfield Summary of report on Statistics for Mission 2012
Overall trends
For the second year running most of the growth indicators were steady or rose. Headlines include:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Usual Sunday Attendance
no change
October Sunday Attendance up 2%
October Weekday Attendance up 7% (after netting out school services)
Church Participants
up 3%
Joiners minus Leavers
up 3% (implied increase in participants)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------As in 2011, the growth among children looks faster than among adults, so the average age of
congregations continues to come down. It is beginning to look as though we really have reversed the
old trend of shrinking, ageing congregations.
Perhaps the most encouraging finding of all is that the majority of newcomers (1262 adults and 725
children) were brand new to churchgoing. Church communities are not only growing numerically and
growing younger they are also growing through adding previously unchurched people, most of them
children and their parents.
In the Great Commission Jesus told us to make disciples, not just churchgoers. So the great challenge,
now that so many new people are starting to join our congregations, is about integrating them into
church communities, helping them into faith and nurturing their Christian discipleship.
began in 2004. In the last two years it has grown slightly. The difference in attendance between the
2012 actual and what it would have been if the pre 2004 trend had continued is about 3500. As much
of the new growth is on weekdays the total impact is likely to be much more than this but we do not
have a good enough long term indicator to measure it by. We are fairly confident that the turnaround is
churches. Aspects for which there is at least some statistical evidence for their effectiveness include:
-----------------------------------------------------------------group conferences
Shorter vacancies
Mission Action Planning
Growth Fund grants
Back to Church Sunday
Paying attention to the dynamics of team ministries
What sorts of congregations are people joining?
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
44
The biggest single factor appears to be Messy Church, but this is hard to quantify because some
worship events are also attracting newcomers. We are currently asking churches reporting large
numbers of newcomers or big increases in average attendance to explain how this has come about. We
are also surveying the Messy Churches in the diocese to find out how effective they are becoming in
terms of evangelism and discipleship. Any findings will be reported to you when they become
available.
Patterns across archdeaconries
Historically the trends have been worst in Stoke and best in Salop, but this is no longer clearly the case.
For example, adult uSa was up 1% in Stoke in 2012 and down 1% in Salop. Joiners totalled about 8% of
existing participants in each archdeaconry, but varied a lot between deaneries. For example they
totalled 3% in Wem and 12% in Edgmond.
Age structures of congregations
For the first time in 2012 the participants question asked for a breakdown between adults under and
over 70. Only 12% of the national population are aged 70 plus, but 32% of church participants in
Lichfield Diocese. Even though younger people predominate among the joiners, our average age is still
very high and this explains why deaths are the main driver of decline. Also, the percentage of adults
aged 70+ varies a lot between deaneries. For example, 56% of the adults in Ellesmere are aged 70+ but
only 29% of the adults in Wolverhampton. This variation helps explain trend differences between
deaneries those with higher age profiles, and so a higher proportion of deaths each year, tend to have
more negative attendance trends.
Vacancies
Usual Sunday attendance in churches that had been vacant since at least April 2012 fell in 2012 by 15%.
This reduction is in line with that found in previous years so vacancies are still a major occasion of
attendance decline in the diocese. However, the average length of vacancies ended in 2012 was only
8.3 months and there seem to have been rather fewer vacancies overall than usual, so the total impact
was less than in some previous years.
in September 2013. These give good practice guidance in how to have a good vacancy missionally
however long it lasts.
What should we do if we want our church to grow numerically?
This is unlikely to happen unless there is desire and prayer for growth. And every situation is unique so
good advice:
Think strategically and implement a Mission Action Plan
Access good congregational and clergy training courses and conferences
Focus on new generations, especially families
Routinely invite and welcome newcomers
Plant new congregations and forms of church
Negotiate vacancies well
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
45
Appendix 4
Here is reproduced a paper written by the Bishop of Sheffield, originally about
how bishops can give a lead in growing the churches, but now broaden and made
available to all:
The Seven Disciplines of Evangelisation
A discussion paper
Steven Croft
June, 2013.
ne who believes in him may not
In October 2012 I was the Anglican Fraternal Delegate to the Synod of Bishops in Rome: a three week
gathering of Roman Catholic Cardinals and Bishops with Pope Benedict to explore the single theme of
the new evangelization.
The Synod of Bishops was a rich experience of listening to another Church reflect on the challenge of
growing the Church and of the role of Bishops in leading that process.
This paper is a reflection arising from sharing in the Synod and my own experience thus far of
attempting to develop vision and strategy for growth within the Diocese of Sheffield and more widely.
The paper is framed as a series of brief propositions and questions for discussion.
The paper was originally prepared as a discussion paper for the annual meeting of Diocesan Bishops
and Archbishops of the Church of England on 10th April, 2013. I have made some revisions to the paper
following discussion with fellow bishops. The original paper had five disciplines. I have now added a
sixth (placed first) following a suggestion made by the Bishop of London and a seventh (placed last)
taking up a number of suggestions made by colleagues, including the Bishop of Connor whose diocese
I visited the day after the English bishops meeting.
some of the emphasis on the role of bishops specifically in the text of this version of the paper.
However I believe the questions of how to give leadership in this area is relevant to all ordained and lay
number of groups across the Church of England and not only bishops.
1.
Growing the Church in the present context is immensely challenging
I returned from the Synod of Bishops convinced that the Church all over the world is having the same
conversation about the challenge and difficulty of evangelization. I expected to hear about challenge
and difficulty from Europe and North America and about growth and hope from Asia, Africa and South
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
46
America. There were some contrasts but in fact the picture was much more one of challenge in the
face of a uniform, powerful, global secularizing culture.
The difficulty in the transmission of the faith in the face of this secularizing culture is at the root of many
of the other difficulties we grapple with as Churches (apparent lack of finance, vocations, the need to
re-imagine ministry, decreasing resources to serve the common good).
The questions we are grappling with in our dioceses and in the Church of England are not unique to
Anglicans or to Christians in Britain or the Church in Europe. They are global questions and, I would
argue, the single most serious challenge the Church will face in the next generation.
How should we lead and guide the Church in this aspect of our life given this challenging context?
We need to be realistic about the challenges. We need to practice and live hope as a key virtue in leadership.
We need to be deeply rooted in prayer and in the scriptures. We need to be aware that the leadership we offer
individually and bishops, clergy and lay people sets a tone and makes a difference to the whole church. We
need to prioritise thinking and reflection around this issue. We should beware of simplistic rhetoric and easy
solutions.
2.
We need a richer dialogue on evangelization and growing the Church
The Synod of Bishops was able to set aside three whole weeks to deal with a single issue and was itself
part of a longer five year process leading up to and from the Synod. This meant that there was in depth
engagement with the subject over many hours of listening within a coherent and transformational
process. Major theological and practical resources will in due time emerge from this process.
By contrast, many discussions of growing the Church and evangelization at senior level in the Church of
England are superficial, skate over the surface of the issues and make little progress.
Some of the reasons for this are:





The agendas of bishops meetings and other meetings are dominated by questions of gender and
ministry and human sexuality leaving little quality space for deeper engagement with evangelization.
We feel a constant need to balance our agendas between serving the common good on the one hand
and evangelization/growth on the other as if they were in competition (there was no evidence of this in
Rome). It becomes impossible to devote even a whole day to growth and evangelization.
The evangelization and growth agenda is seen as the province of a particular church tradition and which
is regarded with suspicion by those not of that tradition (again there was no evidence of this in Rome).
It is also possible that, as individuals and as a body, we see the complexity of the call to grow the Church
and we are in danger of being overwhelmed by that complexity. It is easier to address the more specific
questions.
At the same time there is a prevailing myth that we ought to be (and perhaps some are) competent at
How can we better develop this richer dialogue on evangelization and growing the Church to nourish
our individual and corporate leadership as bishops?
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
47
We need to cherish humility before one another and before God in this area: this is not something we know
how to do. We need a richer and more precise vocabulary for disciplines which further to the growth of the
Church (see below). Our thinking needs to be nourished both by research and by theological reflection on
evangelization. We need to reserve and protect the agendas of our Synods and other meetings to deepen this
conversation. Our styles of learning in this area need to become much more like learning networks,
intentionally sharing and developing good practice. We perhaps need an ongoing educational and
transformational process to our discussions leading to clear outcomes.
3.
We need a clear, shared understanding of the disciplines and practices which help to
grow the Church.
There have been many attempts to develop comprehensive strategies for growth in the life of dioceses
and the life of the national church in recent years.
Typically these strategies deal with a wide range of presenting issues. However, it is important to
distinguish within these strategies those disciplines and practices which help to grow the church on
the one hand from the elements often included in strategy documents which do not directly
It is important to name the truth that, though it is vital, pastoral re-organisation of parishes into larger
mission partnerships or units with fewer stipendiary clergy in changed roles will not, of itself, lead to the
growth of the church. Nor, by itself, will mission action planning. Nor will the more vigorous
development of lay or self-supporting ordained ministry. Nor will the redrawing of parish, deanery or
diocesan boundaries or the creation of more advisor/coaching posts. Nor will the restructuring of
clergy or lay formation by itself lead to growth.
All of these practices are likely to form part of diocesan strategies. They are all probably necessary and
good developments for the future life of the Church. They need to be happening. I support almost all
of them. We should certainly discuss them together as bishops more than we do.
However, whilst these areas may be vital, they are not the core disciplines and practices which lead to
evangelization and will lead eventually to the growth of the Church. Any of them can become a
distraction insofar as it becomes such a priority that it distracts attention away from the core disciplines
which do produce growth.
I would define the core disciplines and practices for growth as those which invite, encourage and
enable people to become Christians and to grow as disciples of Christ as part of the Church and to fulfill
their calling in serving the common good.
People come to faith by encountering the Christian gospel as children, as young people and as adults,
through being nurtured in that faith and enabled to grow to maturity as disciples through being part of
supportive and missional church communities. Where this is happening, there is likely be new life and
growth in the local church.
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
48
There are, of course, different ways of describing these disciplines and practices. I suggest here that
there are seven such disciplines which have deep roots in Scripture and the tradition and need to be at
the forefront of our thinking in the Church today.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The discipline of prayerful discernment and listening (contemplation)
The discipline of apologetics (defending and commending the faith)
The discipline of evangelism (initial proclamation)
The discipline of catechesis (learning and teaching the faith)
The discipline of ecclesial formation (growing the community of the church)
The discipline of planting and forming new ecclesial communities (fresh expressions of the church)
The discipline of incarnational mission (following the pattern of Jesus)
At present our conversation about growing the church lacks a precise vocabulary. It feels rather like
having a conversation about liturgy without being able to subdivide the subject appropriately (into for
example, the Office, the Eucharist, Initiation and so on).
The names of some of these disciplines are borrowed (with their titles) from the Roman Catholic
vocabulary used in the Propositions from the Synod of Bishops (with some minor variations). The sixth
is at present a distinctively Anglican addition to the disciplines.
These seven disciplines are not the property of a single tradition within the life of the Church nor of a
single denomination. Wherever they are practiced faithfully in the life of the Church throughout the
world, there is growth in the number of disciples and the quality of discipleship.
Developing and recovering these disciplines in the life of the contemporary church is not simply about
excavating a tradition. Each needs to be continuously developed in a dialogue of active listening to
contemporary culture which is where we begin.
The discipline of prayerful discernment and listening. This first discipline is both a distinct set of
practices and the foundation for each of the others. The transmission of the Christian faith is a divine as
well as a human activity. It is only possible in the life of the Spirit. This deep truth is carried in the story
beautiful picture of the vine, where it is the life of Christ which flows into the branches and bears fruit.
The Church is called to abide deeply in Christ continually as the foundation and source of her life
through prayer, worship and the sacraments. Contemplation is the wellspring of evangelism.
This deep abiding in the life of Christ needs to be accompanied by a careful attention to what God is
doing already in each different place, community and context and out of that listening to discern
carefully the best and most helpful place to begin. One of the features of the gospel stories and the
Acts of the Apostles often commented on in the tradition of the Church is the way in which Jesus and
the apostles deal in different ways with different people. There are no repetitive formulas to be
repeated in each place but prayerful and careful openness to the Spirit and discernment in context.
The contextualisation of mission and in the life of the Church flows from this deep and careful listening.
How can we encourage the whole Church in this deep abiding in the life of Christ? How can we encourage
new vocations and new forms of religious life? How can we better encourage the careful attention to context
A paper from the Centre for Church growth at
49
and a willingness to abandon formulaic approaches to mission? How can we together encourage research
and deep listening to our culture as the foundation of evangelization?
The discipline of apologetics is the practice of defending and commending the Christian faith in
dialogue with individuals, with specific communities and ideas and with whole cultural movements. Its
roots are deep in Scripture (in Job and Daniel, in the Acts of the Apostles). It serves to strengthen the
faith of believers, to remove obstacles to faith in hearts and minds and to prepare the ground for the
initial proclamation of the gospel. It is a discipline which is massively under resourced in theological
education and research and in the life of the Church. It is a discipline exercised through a variety of
media: through films, novels, new media and the sciences as well as philosophy and theology. It is a
ministry exercised in the pulpit, in pastoral encounters, in schools, in engagement in the public domain,
in writing and broadcasting.
How can we offer a lead in this area ourselves and be better equipped as apologists for the Christian faith?
How can we ensure that this discipline is better and more systematically resourced in the next generation?
The discipline of evangelism (or initial proclamation of the faith) is the habit and practice of
sowing the seed of the gospel in the lives of those who have not yet heard its life-giving message. The
non-technical term used both for the whole and the parts of the process. We have a similar tension in
the Church of England useage. This discipline is somewhat better resourced in our own life. We have a
College of Evangelists, Church Army Evangelists, a network of Diocesan Missioners and often local
licensed evangelists in dioceses dedicated in different ways to the initial proclamation of the faith in
imaginative and effective ways. Nevertheless as our culture changes and evolves there is a need to
continue to reflect and to develop resources and tools for this initial proclamation of the faith.
How can we lead in this area ourselves and be better equipped as those who announce good news and tell
the gospel to those who have not yet heard its message? How can we ensure that this discipline and set of
practices grows and deepens in the coming years?
The discipline of catechesis is the discipline of teaching and learning faith and especially teaching
the faith to those preparing for baptism (and confirmation) and those who have been recently baptized
as they grow into mature discipleship. This is a discipline where the Roman Catholic Church has done
very significant work over the last two generations (evidenced in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
and the RCIA). This discipline is heavily disguised in our own discourse. We have developed the habit
of referring to it either by the brand names of popular courses (Alpha, Emmaus, Christianity Explored) or
or the range of pastoral practice involved in catechesis.
Catechesis of adults and children and young people is absolutely critical to the growth of the church. It
is the discipline through which new disciples are formed and take their place in the life and witness of
the Christian community. We need urgently to recover a sense of the family as a primary agent of
catechesis in teaching the faith to children and young people.
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Catechesis engages three theological disciplines of doctrine, liturgy and formation/education. As the
Church of England we have done some work in each of these areas but little to bring them together in
a systematic way.
Bishops are central to the development of catechesis. In the early tradition, bishops are at the centre of
baptismal teaching preparation. They are the chief ministers of baptism and lead in Christian formation.
All clergy and licensed ministers need to share in this ministry and its oversight.
How can we lead in this area of catechesis in our own pastoral practice and in the development of our
liturgical and teaching ministry? How can we develop a renewal of training in catechesis for clergy and lay
ministers? Are there initiatives we can take together which will promote and develop effective catechesis?
These might include a renewal and revision of the catechism as well as the development of new resources for
Christian formation.
The House of Bishops and the Archbishops Council have recently taken an initiative to develop new
resources in this area. The Bishops of Chelmsford and Stockport, Dr. Paula Gooder and myself are
developing a new resource, Pilgrim: a course for the Christian journey. The course will be launched in
September.
The discipline of ecclesial formation is the discipline of growing the community of the church as
the number of disciples grows. In many places, church congregations are now primary communities
not subsets of existing communities. By and large, Christian disciples need more intentional support in
living out their discipleship in a more secular environment. This discipline, like the others, has very deep
roots in scripture and the tradition
). However it is a discipline which is undergoing change because of the wider
environment and the changing role of the stipendiary clergy.
This discipline is absolutely vital to the growth of the church. Those who come to faith need to be
incorporated into living, growing, supportive and Christ like Christian communities.
At the Synod of Bishops, one place this discipline was evident was the very significant development of
small ecclesial communities in many parts of the Roman Catholic Church over the last 15 years. At the
turn of the millennium, base ecclesial communities were largely associated with Central and South
America and a particular theological movement. It is clear that in many places they have become a
significant pastoral movement of renewal and support of congregations, actively supported by bishops
and Bishops Conferences.
How can we lead in this area of ecclesial formation? How can we equip clergy and lay people for the
leadership of change in this discipline? How can we develop different and consistent models of good practice
which are faithful to Anglican identity and ecclesiology?
The discipline of planting and forming new ecclesial communities. This is the discipline
discovered in the earliest days of the New Testament Church which has been slowly recovered in the
Church of England through the insights of returning missionaries such as Roland Allen, the church
planting movement, Mission-Shaped church and the development of fresh expressions of church.
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engagement with this discipline to provide positive lessons and direction for the future.
As a Church we have invested significantly in this discipline in recent years. We have recently
committed ourselves, through the General Synod Debate on Fresh Expressions in the Mission of the
Church to continued investment and development. There are very clear indicates that investment here
is leading to the growth in the church. However there remains a significant agenda for the future.
How can we continue to lead the church in the work of planting and forming new ecclesial communities?
How do we continue to encourage the growth of wisdom and pastoral practice? How do we continue to
develop and deploy the gifts of pioneer ministers? How do we integrate the life of fresh expressions of church
into the mixed economy of diocesan life?
The discipline of incarnational mission (following the pattern of Jesus) According to the Gospel of
(20.21). The incarnation and the ministry of Jesus is to be the pattern of all Christian mission, including
the ministry of evangelization and growing the Church. The discipline of patterning our mission on the
life of Christ takes us back to the first discipline of prayerful discernment and attention to context.
However it must also include ensuring that we are church which not only invites people to come to us
but which continually goes, in different ways, in search of the last, the least and the lost, taking the
message of salvation. We must ensure that the evangelization we attempt is not in word only but
supported by our actions and our service of the common good and the wider ministry of reconcilation.
We must ensure that our evangelization is contextual, that the one gospel takes flesh in different forms
with different people and therefore that we must pay attention to questions of inculturation. We must
be alert to particular moments of opportunity both as individuals and as a Church in reading the signs
of the times, not slaves to a single strategy or programme but alert to the movement of the Holy Spirit.
We must be prepared for the untidiness and mess which always accompanies experiment, evangelism
and growth. Above all we must clothe our apologetics, our proclamation, our teaching, and our
planting and building of the churches in love, without which all we do is nothing.
How can we so watch over and lead the Church of England that the Church grows together more deeply into
the likeness of Jesus Christ even as we seek to grow the number of Christian disciples and the number of
church communities? How do we ensure that our ministries remain personal as well as institutional, building
community rather than reinforcing hierarchy?
4.
In conclusion
If bishops, clergy and lay disciples are to lead effectively in growing the church, we need a richer and
more sustained conversation with the whole church about how this task is taken forward. We then
need that conversation to lead to action both within dioceses and action taken on behalf of the Church
of England.
This paper suggests an agenda for that conversation based around seven disciplines which are essential
for evangelization. Each discipline is in a different place in terms of development and pathways
forward.
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The paper feels to the author to be provisional and unfinished. The aim is to help to take a conversation
forward rather than prescribe a programme or a series of projects.
To return to the Synod of Bishops in Rome, the first place we need to come to in our thinking about
evangelization is the place of realizing that we are inadequate to the task before us. It is as we come to
that point, by the grace of God, that we are open to the insights of others, to the guiding of the Spirit
and a renewing encounter with the risen Christ.
+Steven Sheffield
April 2013
You are welcome to reproduce this paper to continue the conversation in whatever forum is helpful.
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