Project priorities

Project priorities

Transforming a parish will involve more than getting an increasing number of people to attend declining congregations. It will involve spiritual renewal. Renewal comes when people become passionate about God's word, when they are burdened for those who are spiritually lost, when they show love and care for each other and when they wholeheartedly commit themselves to be obedient to Christ and his commands. When the leadership looks only to a structural or business approach to renewal it may gain short-term success, but lasting results that bring long-term health to the parish will require inward transformation as well as outward reorganisation.

While restructuring is essential, the final determination of the parish's future is the sovereign plan of God. Neither the congregation nor leadership will resurrect a dying church. That remains the responsibility of God.

The task of the leadership is to carefully seek the direction and will of God, making sure they are fulfilling God's purpose for the church. The renewal of a parish is not a matter of numbers and rolls; it is a matter of the heart. It is not an event, but an inward process conducted by the Holy Spirit within the life of each individual involved in the ministry of the church. The task of ARC Project Teams is to develop an environment where the heart may be transformed.

Developing a transforming environment

While the renewing process ultimately stems from the work of the Holy Spirit within the community, the Spirit does use the leadership and congregation to develop the right environment. In accomplishing this task, there are twelve steps the church can follow to help create the atmosphere for parish renewal.

1: Focus on God

Revitalisation begins when people understand the nature and activity of God. When Nehemiah set about the task of rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, his confidence came from the promise and activity of God. It was because God was at work that he could face the insurmountable odds. He was not only convinced of this, but whenever he addressed the people, he carefully reminded them that God was the one working through them, giving success to their task. (Nehemiah 2:20; 4:9, 14, 20, etc.)

As the Parish sets about the process of renewal, the people need to be reminded of God's inexhaustible empowerment. They need to be able to view the ministry as God's work through them rather than their work for God. God does not need us to accomplish his ministry, but he does desire to use us. When this becomes their perspective, people will have lasting enthusiasm for ministry. What are the faith stories of this community? How has God worked in and through this faith community? What promises has God made to this community?

2: Focus on prayer

Since the foundation of revitalising is spiritual rather than organisational, prayer is the cornerstone for action. The desire of God for this parish and the Church is that it will become a house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7). Prayer is the means through which God will accomplish his purpose. The prayer of the church encompasses the need for inward righteousness and holiness within the congregation, the desire to clearly understand God's will and purpose, and willingness to minister to the needs of people within the community. Building the prayer base of the church can involve twenty-four hours of prayer, prayer walks/drives where people go through the towns and district praying for each house/property, special prayer services, and spending more time in prayer each time the church gathers together. The importance of prayer to the revitalisation process can never be overstated.
3: Strengthen lay ministry and call local priests

Pastoral and Liturgical ministries have long been the major focus of rural priests. These are essential ministries in the life of Anglican and rural communities. The reality is that if too much of the Project Priest's time is allocated to these ministries they will not be able to give leadership to new ministry development. A high priority must be given in the early stages of a project to building the capacity of lay persons to delivery highly effective pastoral ministries. A team of lay liturgical/worship leaders must be identified, trained and released to lead in the liturgical life of the parish. In many parishes we have seen God bring forward mature and gifted local persons for ordained ministry in the Diocese as Honorary Priests.

4: Reconnect with the diocese

The wonder of our church is that we are all brothers and sisters in Christ. Throughout the state there are those who love and care for rural parishes and who are only too willing to help. They may be honorary of retired clergy who will serve as faithfully as they are able, Diocesan Officers with resources to offer assistance, other parishes who would willing provide support. These bonds of love and service are God's gift.

5: Strengthen fellowship

The strength of any small congregation is its fellowship and mutual care. When a church declines, tensions and frustrations arise which can fracture relationships within the church.

It is necessary to build unity within the congregations and parish before attempting to reach the community. People are attracted to the small church because of the fellowship that exists within the body of Christ. If the fellowship is strained then it will become difficult to attract new people.

A second reason the fellowship of the congregation must be strong before attempting to renew the ministry has to do with change. If the church is to be revitalised it must do things differently. Previously ineffective ministry must either be altered or dropped altogether. All this requires change. Critical before change can be effectively made is for trust to be built up within the congregations and between the people affected by the change and those seeking to implement the change. Trust hinges upon the strength of the relationships existing between people. If there is conflict and tension, suspicion replaces trust. Consequently before the ARC Project Team and Parish Council can suggest and implement change they must first focus upon the cohesion within the parish.

6: Address decline

When a specific reason is identified for the decline and if that reason is within the control of the congregation, then steps should be taken to correct the problems. Some of the causes of the decline reside outside the control of the church (i.e. declining population within the community). The church needs to develop creative strategies to work within these limitations. Others the church can address (i.e. loss of evangelistic vision, conflicts within the church, lack of unity between congregations, loss of local identity). If a church attempts to bring renewal without addressing these issues, then the future success will be hindered by the past mistakes of the congregation.

Perhaps the most critical is sinful behaviour that hinders the effectiveness and growth of the congregation. The story of Achan in Joshua 7 illustrates that the actions of one can have an adverse affect upon the whole community. When this happens, the whole community must address the issue (see Matthew 18:15-17).

7: Build lay/clergy ministry partnership

It is crucial for renewal for the parish that the lay people be involved at every step in the journey of renewal. Without their involvement they will not gain ownership of the renewal, and without ownership there will not be any commitment or willingness to sacrifice their time and resources to bring about renewal. Central to involvement remains clear communication. Communication is more than sharing what is being done and what needs to be done. It involves constant listening. To gain the trust and commitment of the people, the leadership needs to carefully listen to what the people are thinking. It involves gaining their ideas and input from the very beginning of the renewal process, not only on what they would like to see happen, but what would be the best method to achieve it. When people feel that they have been heard and their contribution valued, they will develop trust for the leadership and a strong sense of identity with the ministry. When that happens then they will devote their time and energy to the task.

8: Develop a clear vision

Long before the church actually dies, the vision for what God can do through the church dies. Churches do not close their doors because of a lack of finances or people, but because they no longer see what God desires to accomplish through them. Vision is the awareness of God's plan for the present and future ministry of the church based upon its sociological, theological and cultural setting that enables the congregation to accomplish their Biblical purpose and mission.

The vision that the church develops must be based upon the needs and ministry opportunities within the community. Dying churches can easily become inward focused. In order to maintain the core ministries of the church (Pastoral Care, Worship service, Children's/Youth Ministry etc), as resources decline, often the first ministries dropped are those directed towards the community. Instead of preventing further decline it contributes to the erosion of the ministry. When renewing the ministry of a dying church the congregation must develop a missionary mentality rather than a survivalist mentality. Missionaries are willing to risk the present to build the future while survivalists risk the future to maintain the present. Survivalists try to resurrect the past; missionaries try to build toward the future by ministering to the needs of the people within the community. Survivalists appropriate all their finances to maintaining the present structure.

9: Simplify structures

When a parish has declined it can mistakenly maintain the past organisational structure. This hinders the ministry as people spend their time keeping the structure running, rather than spending time reaching their neighbours and ministering to people in the community. One of the ways to assist people is to simplify the organisational structure so that they spend less time running the church and more time being with people. This may require restructuring parish council, committees and ministry teams. It may involve dropping programs that no longer attract new people. It might entail combining programs, changing service times, or even a radical rethink of how and where we meet.

10: Set goals

Achieving goals gives people a sense of accomplishment and purpose. When establishing goals it is important to plan and celebrate small victories (such as painting the church). When tangible goals are achieved people have a greater sense of God's blessing upon their life and ministry. The congregation gains a sense of the future. People without hope are people who stop making goals. Because of the decline within the church, people sense only the frustration of failure. Setting and accomplishing easily attained short-term goals gives people a feeling of success, that there is a future for the congregation. As these goals are attained, the congregation develops greater confidence to set more challenging and long-term goals.

Goals define what the church needs to do and how it will go about accomplishing it. Goals enable people to measure their efforts and organize their efforts into a coherent plan.

11: Becoming visible in the community

People in the community need to be aware of what the church is doing differently and the new ministries being planned. Send letters into the whole community to let people know that we are beginning a whole new work. Plan special services in the local community events, invite people to special events, encourage other groups to use church buildings. In this way the people in the community are able to gain a fresh look and see what's really going on.

12: Understanding and celebrating the past

For many people who have laboured in a church for a number of years, having ties to the church that span generations, the idea of change can be frightening. For them, change is not just a departure from the previous methodology; it is a break from the past generations that built the church. Change alters the symbols that define the church. Many of these symbols are representatives of past family members. To alter the symbols is to break a relational tie to the previous members.

To overcome this fear, the leadership needs to carefully build upon the past , helping members deal with and perhaps leave behind dome features of their history, and celebrate many of the past contributions that people have made. Recognising the past contributions of people can give assurance that the church is not breaking from the past but building upon it, that they are not rejecting what others have done, but continuing the long history of the church. Recognising what others have done in the past enables new people to learn the story of the church and identify with that story so that new people are united with the older members in a common history. It enables the new people to value the contributions of others.