"Going Further - Week 3"

GOING FURTHER

Study (3) Becoming a Healthy Church

There arrived in my home letterbox the other day a coupon book that offers coupons for special deals from a variety of stores and traders in our local area. One was for a "Car Service and Safety Inspection for $99.00." As we all know, our cars need regular maintenance as do our homes, our bodies and our minds. There is a great deal of consciousness today about health and safety and whether or not it is good for us, and even the car. Surely it is essential for our churches to undergo this scrutiny also.

Study (3) focuses on the seven marks of a healthy church. In the study guide space only allowed for a point guide. There now follows much more information under each heading for your information and assistance

 Seven marks of a healthy church
Expressing the life of Christ through the local church.

1.   Energised by faith
                  rather than just keeping things going or trying to survive
* worship and sacramental life move people to experience God's love
* motivation: energy comes from a desire to serve God and one another
* engaging with scripture: in creative ways that connect with life
* nurturing faith in Christ: helping people grow in, and share, their faith.

2   Outward-looking focus
             with a 'whole life' rather than a 'church life' concern
* deeply rooted in the local community, working in partnership with other denominations, faiths, secular groups and networks
* passionate and prophetic about justice and peace, locally and globally
* making connections between faith and daily living
* responding to human need by loving service

3   Seeks to find out what God wants rather than letting our own preferences set the church agenda
Rather than letting our own preferences set the church agenda
* vocation: open to the Spirit's leading about what we should be and do
* vision: developing and communicating a shared sense of where we are going
* mission priorities: consciously setting both immediate and long-term goals
* able to call for and make sacrifices, personal and corporate, in bringing about the above and living out the faith

4  Faces the cost of change and growth
Rather than resisting change and avoiding failure
* while embracing the past, daring to take on new ways of doing things
* taking risks: admitting when things are not working, and learning from experience
* crises: responding creatively to challenges that face the church and community
* positive experiences of change, however small, are affirmed and built on

5   Builds community
rather than functioning as a club or religious organisation

* relationships are nurtured so people know they are a part of a community of faith (often through small groups) with opportunities for service
* leadership: lay and ordained work as a team to develop appropriate expressions of all seven marks of a healthy church
* lay ministry: the different gifts, experiences and faith-journeys of all are valued and given expression in and beyond the life of the church

6   Makes room for others being inclusive rather than exclusive
being inclusive rather than exclusive.
* welcome: works to include newcomers into the life of the church
* children and young people are helped to belong, contribute and be nurtured in their faith
* enquirers are encouraged to explore and experience faith in Christ
* diversities: coming from social and ethnic backgrounds, mental and physical abilities and age differences are seen as a strength and sought after

7   Does a few things - and does them well focused rather than frenetic

* doing the basics well: especially public worship, pastoral care, stewardship and administration
* occasional offices: make sense of life and communicate
* faith being good news as a church in our attitudes and ways of working
* enjoying what we do and being relaxed about what is not being done

Signs of health

Healthy churches are not all the same. Indeed, local creativity is usually evidence of health in a church. However, it is possible to identify the sort of things that are happening in healthy churches. They are given below under each of the seven marks of a healthy church. Some are in the form of observations about what is happening in healthy churches and some are brief reports of particular things that churches have done. They are designed to...
illustrate the seven marks of a healthy church
provide pointers for churches wanting to develop particular Marks
suggest mission priorities for churches that have done the exercise.

Copying what others have done is not necessarily the best approach. We need to find ways of working appropriate to our setting, gifts and available resources. Yet, what others are doing can highlight things that might strengthen the life of our church.

Focusing on one or two priorities at a time is the best way to use energy and enthusiasm in nurturing the health of a church.

1. Energised by faith

Worship and sacramental life: Careful planning and leading of worship, with the inclusion of sufficient space and silence to draw people to God, pays dividends. A church did a survey of their members to find out how their faith was nourished and how far public worship connected with their lives.

Motivation: Pastoral work that helps people address unhealthy motivations, such as the pursuit of power, the need to control, or the desire to please is not easy, but is needed to develop a sense of vocation and a desire to serve God and others.

Engaging with scripture: A church did a Lent course on the Sermon on the Mount as a result of which it became active in the Jubilee 2000 (Debt relief) programme. Study of scripture caused one church to set up a support group for single mothers, and another to organise a lunch and recreational club for the elderly.

Nurturing faith in Christ: Many churches have found the faith of church members renewed, and enquirers have had faith ignited, by the use of courses such as Alpha, Emmaus, Credo, or by developing home-grown materials. Churches have helped members to grow in prayer through running a Parish Quiet Day, holding a School of Prayer, and by encouraging involvement in groups such as Cursillo, Ignatian spirituality and Franciscan Tertiaries, as well as giving people information about Retreats and spiritual directors.

2. Outward-looking focus

Deeply rooted: Many churches have re-ordered their buildings to make them more suited for use by the church and community for activities throughout the week. Some churches have met with representatives of local communities, in order to help them identify ways in which they can best serve the needs of the community. Other churches have developed ecumenical youth work, funded a detached youth worker, initiated a Church Urban or Millennium Fund project, an ecumenical credit union, an ecology project and a children's holiday programme.

Justice and peace: Local and global issues have been given prominence in preaching, in the intercessions in services, by encouragement and affirmation of those with a passion - especially the young - to speak and act prophetically.

Faith and daily living: A questionnaire was used in one church to identify the major concerns of church members - such as stress, parenting, and the environment - so they could be addressed in preaching and in home groups.

Loving service: - befriending asylum seekers, inviting them into homes, offering English lessons, providing clothing and food, caring for the needs of the housebound, the lonely, single mothers, etc. One church ran a drug awareness week for the church and the community another has developed an adult education course to build self-esteem, having identified this as a key issue in the community and the church.

3. Seeks to find out what God wants

Vocation - prayer, engagement with scripture and a conscious effort to discern God's priorities are integral to the way the leadership, including the Church Council, work. Churches take time (at an Away Day or Parish Week-End) to listen to God so that present priorities are a response to the leading of the Spirit.

Vision - Mission statements that make a difference are very brief, memorable and express the longing of the whole church rather than the bright ideas of the leader(s). A church sees its spirituality and its mission as being on pilgrimage together. Worship, home groups, pastoral support are all shaped by that sense of calling. Churches most able to say 'no'are those that have already said a clear 'yes' to 'what God wants us to be and do'.

Mission priorities - A church look over a year to identify itself as 'called to hospitality': this was first explored as God's hospitality to them in the Eucharist then as to how it could be expressed in the local community and in daily living. The Church Council of one group ministry puts their stated priorities on every Church Council agenda so they can continually assess the progress of their commitments.

Makes sacrifices: The courage and confidence to call for and the willingness to make sacrifices of time, effort, money, personal preferences and comfort, are evidence of Christ-like health. One church gave up its buildings and identity and invested its money in the re-ordering of a smaller church better placed to serve the community. Another church completely rethought its theology as a result of engaging with the local 'benefit culture'.

4. Faces the cost of change and growth

New ways - A small group in a church wanted to do parenting courses in the community. Twice they tried - but nobody came. The third time they found a new way of publicising it which led to two dozen couples coming on the course. Having a dialogue-sermon, altering the time of Sunday services, breaking into small groups to generate ideas in the Church Council and starting an orchestra to lead worship have all resulted in positive experiences for churches - but only by facing and working through resistance to change in the congregation.

Taking risks - 'Let's try it', rather than 'Are you sure it will work?' is a healthier approach to life for a church as much as it is for an individual, especially when potential failure is turned into new learning by courageously admitting when things are not working.

Crises - What matters most in the life of a church is not what happens unexpectedly, but how we respond, creatively, courageously and with faith, when confronted by unexpected events. One church in an inner city area turned waste ground into a rose garden, greatly increasing requests for baptisms and weddings.

Positive experiences of change - One church's work with asylum seekers has brought both conflict and blessing, forcing it to have the courage to confront divisions in its midst; another was transformed as a result of responding creatively to a nervous breakdown experienced by the vicar. Many churches have been changed as a result of facing the fact of declining attendance, an extended vacancy or the possibility of closure - and doing something about it.

Welcome
is what happens
after you have
said 'Hello'

5. Builds community

Relationships - Building a sense of community is not only needed in the church, but often describes the mission of the church to its local area. Small groups for study, prayer and/or mutual support foster a sense of community, especially where they are done with an emphasis on listening to each other, affirming people, and addressing conflict.

Leadership - is more about identifying the questions to be addressed than providing all the answers, and more about supporting the whole ministry of the church rather than doing everything - alone. Healthy leadership spots people's gifts and calling, is pleased (rather than threatened) by skills in the congregation and gives people responsibility for making things happen; encouraging teams and small groups to work on projects together.

Lay ministry - is more likely to be developed when people are personally invited to take on a task rather than relying on appeals in notices. One church held a 'Gift Day' when people were invited to offer their skills, time and energy, rather than money: another did an 'energy audit' to uncover people's gifts and passions in order to shape the emphasis of the church.

6. Makes room for others

Welcome - is what happens after you have said 'Hello'. It is about valuing people, discovering what they have to contribute and making the space for them to do so. One church has 'Welcomers' on the door, with name badges on and the word Welcome underneath; they help people up steps, find a place for buggies, introduce newcomers to someone else in the church - so people experience real welcome. Another church has developed a 'street warden' pattern, focused on welcoming newcomers into the community, taking them flowers or a cake and a leaflet about local services (doctors and dentists, not just church services!)

Children and young people - Healthy churches find ways of listening to them, exploring what they want to contribute, what they want from the church and how they can be helped to grow as Christians. Children and young people are passionate about ecology and justice issues and their enthusiasms need to be given expression and seen as a wake up call to the church. Healthy churches invest time, energy and money (including often a specific budget) to develop the ministry to and of children and young people in the life of the church.

Enquirers - Opportunities are provided and relationships established to allow people who want to explore the faith - rather than just join the church - to do so.

Diversities - Vibrant churches are ones in which a variety of ages, abilities, social and ethnic backgrounds are valued for their diverse contributions, One church focuses all its work around being inclusive, fully incorporating the 'differently-abled' and those whose first language is not English into its life.

7. Does a few things - and does them well

Doing the basics well - includes both prayer and paper-work, handling people and money well, maintaining buildings and forwarding mission. Delegating Church Council work on fabric and finance to sub-committees is only productive if there is sufficient trust and self-discipline to accept their decisions and not re-run the discussion every time in the main meeting.

Occasional offices - Many churches have baptism and wedding preparation teams and bereavement visitors and support groups. Many churches hold annual Memorial Services. One such church focused on families who had lost children, providing trained grief counsellors to be present at Memorial Services and a place to leave cards, toys, flowers and messages.

Being good news - A large church stopped all groups for a year in order to discern what should be restarted, what re-formed, what discontinued and what new things should be developed to help people live out their faith. One church focused for over a year on ,creating the sort of church 1 would want to bring a friend to'.

Enjoying what we do - The great themes of sabbath, jubilee and shalom (peace) in the Old Testament are about learning to stop and enjoying celebrating together as central expressions of faith.