Jody Stowell ViaMedia.News EvangelicAlly
Samuel Cripps The Living Church How to Internet
Rebecca Chapman Church Times There is an alternative to Vision and Strategy
“Chelmsford’s bishop is choosing not to impose plans on dioceses — will others follow this approach, asks Rebecca Chapman”
Rob Hudson Church Times Six ways to retain young people
“Teenagers often drift away, but that need not be the case, argues Rob Hudson”
Neil Patterson ViaMedia.News Ways and Means of Differentiation…
Helen King sharedconversations The wisdom of Solomon (or, that was the week, that was)
These links are in Rebecca Chapman’s article, but I list them here to draw attention to them:
Bishop Guli’s addresses to Synod:
June
https://www.chelmsford.anglican.org/news/article/diocesan-synod-june-2022-presidential-address-by-the-bishop-of-chelmsford
October
https://www.chelmsford.anglican.org/news/article/diocesan-synod-october-2022-presidential-address-by-the-bishop-of-chelmsfor
Webinar: Thinking Theologically about Strategy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttahqfI-lJg
On retaining young people: In provinces where there is no established church, getting too active in the schools can be problematic, as it may violate freedom of religion mandates. However, my parish here in Pennsylvania has managed to do it in ways that do not require anything that might be considered “preaching”. We bought and manned a table at the high school’s homecoming fair. We collected books for the library at one of the elementary schools. We contributed a percentage of the profits from our annual pumpkin patch fundraiser to that school (last year we did the same for a… Read more »
Most organisations are experiencing difficulty in recruiting and retaining the “next generation”; it’s not just a problem for churches. Everyone from climbing clubs to model railway societies to amateur orchestras to constituency Labour parties is experiencing the same thing. At root, most people have wider and shallower interests: in the past people would have one hobby or pastime, and if they then had more spare time than for simply participating they would expand into running or funding it. Now they do multiple things, and more time is an opportunity to do another thing, equally shallowly (I don’t use that word… Read more »
Thank you IO- a prophetic word from the wilderness.
“Most organisations are experiencing difficulty in recruiting and retaining the ‘next generation’; it’s not just a problem for churches. Everyone from climbing clubs to model railway societies to amateur orchestras to constituency Labour parties is experiencing the same thing.” This is not just a British problem. The same problem is found in the U.S., as described 20 years ago by Robert Putnam’s book “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community” (2000). The Wikipedia article on the book (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone) summarizes his argument: “Putnam noted the aggregate loss in membership and number of volunteers in many existing civic organizations such… Read more »
On retaining young people can I suggest something a former youth leader said: “ways in, ways through”. In other words create ways for families and children to become part of the church family, alongside ways for them to continue. It has meant sacrificial giving to support the families, children and youth ministry. It has meant providing facilities in terms of buildings. It has meant employing full time families, children and youth staff. It has meant teams of volunteers. It has meant providing teaching on Sundays and midweek, including youth small groups. It has meant organising youth clubs, toddler groups, new… Read more »
Regarding opportunities for youth to serve:
It has long been common and traditional for youth (starting as young as 8 or 9) to serve on the altar in the Episcopal Church, beginning as torch bearers and then progressing to crucifer and finally as acolytes assisting the presider by presenting the elements for consecration. We have also had youth readers, who rotate with the adults in presenting the lessons from the lectern (usually starting at about 12 or 13).
These are roles I never hear about young people taking in a C of E service.
Pat – when I was a young person in the C of E in the 1970s (I was born in 1958) I was a server, and later a scripture reader and an intercessor. Also, our church started a worship band (those were the days of the Fisherfolk and the early charismatic folk-style music) and I was in it. This was over forty-five years ago. When I was thirteen I was encouraged to make a personal commitment of my life to Christ, which I did, and it stuck. Our church had small fellowship groups. I was part of one of them,… Read more »
I, too, served at the altar in my early teens in the late 1960s in my suburban Oxford Anglican church. I then drifted away from Christianity because sport and work got in the way. But when I found myself called back to a spiritual life in my early 40s then that early experience made it feel like coming home and not entering an alien environment. I think it inevitable that many young people will drift away from the church in their teens, but that need not be a problem if they have been gifted some “muscle memory” of Christianity and… Read more »
Exactly Simon. That’s why I’m sad there are few church choirs now. Putting effort into things like that might well pay dividends later on. And servers etc. The old Anglo Catholic adage of the 50s. “Is it 6 boys holding candles or 6 candles holding boys”
I have noticed in France lately bigger serving teams than 20 yrs ago tho alas an emphasis on boys not a mixed team.
There may be few church choirs, but being in the worship band was just as good for me.
Also, I think we need to pay attention to what we’re forming people for. There’s nothing wrong with forming young people liturgically, by participation, but how do we form them as practitioners of the teachings of Jesus – the Sermon on the Mount, for instance? In as practical and hands-on a way as we train servers?
I don’t think you can do it in a “practical and hands-on way”…other than by demonstrating it in the way you live your own life and treat other people–most especially the young people you are seeking to influence. Make it clear that there’s nothing forced about all this.
It can work the other way round, too. My best friend in high school started coming to our church as a teenager because his three closest friends were part of that church. He wasn’t baptized and had never had anything to do with church. But he encountered Christ there and I had the joy of standing beside him when he was baptized at the age of 16. Today, 49 years later, he’s still a follower of Jesus and an active church member.
Of course, we were low church charismatic, so he didn’t have as many traditions to learn with us…
Authenticity is surely key to successful youthwork, as kids can smell phoneyness a mile off, and are less forgiving of hypocrisies than adults who’ve been worn down by the world (and good on ’em).
Which is why indiscriminate pandering’s a disaster. Kids won’t like authority figures drawing boundaries, but they will respect ’em. Some pandering’s fine: services should be culturally accessible with modern music and presentation; but used to convey Christianity’s unflinching message. To their credit, the emerging church often do this, but how great it’d be if more could follow.
“Authenticity is surely key to successful youthwork, as kids can smell phoneyness a mile off…” Such a good point, James. 25 years as a teacher taught me this. At school, young people have an uncanny knack of telling a ‘goodun’ from a ‘badun’, and that’s not down to a teacher’s strictness, it’s down to young people’s ability to detect fakery and the inner character of a person. The other thing young people yearn for is the ‘space’ and platform to have their own ‘crew’. I watched my three children journey through childhood and teenage years, very supported by a church… Read more »
I can see the purpose of Helen in using the story of the Solomonic judgement of the two women – which still begs the question of “which of the two is inclusive and which might be exclusive of LGBTQI people”. I thought that the comment of someone on her actual article (Tom Downs) needs to be considered. Tom said: – “In the wider Anglican community, the response of the conservatives/traditionalists has been to “walk away”, that is, let the baby die”. This, surely describes the fact that those who have actually ‘walked away’ to join the Gafcon/Acna/Confessing Church conglomerate have… Read more »
I am interested that, given how severe TA comments have often been in response to strategic initiatives announced within the Church of England, Bishop Guli’s ‘post-strategy’ approach to church and leadership has not attracted comment. I have read her June and October presidential addresses. I find it refreshing and want to hear more. My understanding is that she is not abandoning vision and strategy but setting the whole task within a fresh understanding of the being church together. Strategy alone becomes a treadmill. I wish them well.
David, I agree. That is why I added my earlier comment, to try and ensure that the links (which were in the original CT article) were not missed. I hope that other diocesan bishops will also read her addresses and ponder their own approaches.
Many thanks. Your point, and that of the bishop of Chelmsford, are well made. I have been touring extensively one diocese in eastern England which is fully bought into the ‘vision and strategy’ agenda (it is now being copied by another neighbouring diocese which is under ‘joint management’). The strategy in that diocese is being led by a retired bishop and a small panel of consultants. What is being proposed is causing great trepidation and anxiety locally, not merely because of significant rationalisations of headcount (to which Chelmsford is not immune) but also mass closures. The strategy is not about… Read more »
Thanks for this thoughtful and informed piece – but it rather makes my point. TA contributors well able to offer shrewd critiques of strategy based approaches. This is about a diocese that has decided to try a different way. A discussion on the perceived merits of this alternative (as revealed so far) would be genuinely welcome and interesting.
I am in no position to offer an “official” view of the “post-strategy” world of the Diocese of Chelmsford, but that doesn’t hold me back from rashly trying to summarise it, in the hope of fostering the kind of constructive conversation David has in mind. If I understand Bishop Guli correctly, her point on strategy is subtle and two-faceted: On the one hand “there is no diocesan strategy” (or top-down initiatives) – there are local next steps, taken relationally in local contexts (whether by parishes, benefices or other suitable clusters of churches), and the apparatus and personnel of the diocese… Read more »
Andy, you have reminded me of the ‘Caring Evangelism‘ training program produced by Stephen Ministries in the USA. One feature is the identification of the difference between ‘results-oriented evangelism’ and ‘process-oriented evangelism.’ In process-oriented evangelism (which CE encourages), we acknowledge that God is the only one who can save, heal, convert people. The results are in God’s hands. What is in our hands is the process: building relationships, listening, witnessing, and praying. It strikes me that this distinction is important for the conversation we’re having today. Too often, strategic planning is results-oriented. We should pay more attention to the process… Read more »
I am very pleased that someone is trying something different. Part of my thinking in standing for General Synod was “the vision belongs on the front line” and “please don’t take that away” – there are no magic bullets, and these things take time to have any impact. But somehow we need to build some trust into our structures rather than running on implicit distrust (not forgetting, also, that we do have a doctrine of sin – which does not magically disappear because we restructure).
David, I heartily agree. As you know, most of my ministry has been in far flung rural dioceses in western Canada. In most of them, the diocese has seen itself as a support for the ministry of the local parishes. But in recent years there has been more emphasis on centralized mission, with diocesan goals and objectives. I’m much more comfortable with Bishop Guli’s approach. People can theologise all they like about the diocese, not the parish, being the basic unit of the Anglican church, but the reality is that that’s not how most people experience their church life. Mission… Read more »
“Strategy is the posture of the powerful. It sets goals and commits to measurable outcomes. It is not comfortable with uncertainties… Tactics are the tools of the weak” – Emmanuel Katongole in Mirror to the Church: Resurrecting Faith after Genocide in Rwanda
Is this really true? What’s wrong with strategy? Put simply isn’t it the way people and communities make plans and devising approaches for the varied tasks of life we face? Good and bad people do it. I help out in a local debt and housing advice charity. Their work consists precisely in helping very powerless people work out effective strategies (and adopt tactics) for managing their limited resources better. I have not read the book but really need help understanding what leads the author to these very strong assertions.
Katongole speaks of Generals, who have (top-down, power-over) strategy, and guerrillas who have (bottom-up, power-with) tactics. It’s the top-down that he objects to – the only thing you can successfully build top-down is a hole. Of course, it would be possible to use the word strategy in a more neutral way, but I think for both Katongole and +Guli there’s a sense that the church/diocese is tempted to use power to take agency away from the local. It sounds as if, in working with the powerless and giving them strategies, you are doing the opposite of what they fear.