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Our church, the future together

Saturday 15th January 2005 saw the South Bristol Deanery Church Mission Audit. Members from St Aldhelm's, St Francis' and St Paul's gathered at the Salvation Army citadel in Easton, along with teams from churches across the Bristol South Deanery. An interesting, challenging and rewarding time was had as we shared the 'story' of the anglican church in South Bristol, and our dreams for it's future.

Storyboards

We were among 21 churches in the Deanery, who had been asked to put together a 'storyboard' to illustrate the life, work, successes and challenges of each church. These were viewed and discussed at a 'market' where the storyboard teams shared their church's story with around ten members from each of the churches represented. The variety of the stories, and the creative ways in which they were told made for a very engaging start to the day. Many common themes were apparent, but each church had it's own unique focus, style and character.

Jigsaws

Next the work of the teams who had undertaken a 'community audit' across the Deanery was presented in the form of an enormous jigsaw puzzle. A representative from each parish came forward and placed a parish-shaped piece of map, on which was detailed schools, healthcare provision, community centres, shopping and a great deal of other information about  the communities in which our churches are placed and which we serve. We  then considered the networks from neighbourhood to nation which connect our churches and individual lives.

Dreams

After a delicious, simple lunch, we formed into groups by church and sat in circles. Following a drama presentation and short message we were set the challenge of taking what we had seen and heard during the day, and turning it into 'dreams' for the future of the church. The members of each church then shared and discussed their individual visions of the future, before choosing three of them to be written onto cloud shapes which were pinned up around the hall. Everyone was then given a strip of stickers and asked to browse the 63 'dreams' and indicate their support for any of them with a dot.

From this process, we arrived as a body at ten key dreams for the future of the church in South Bristol. But this was not the end... we then had to review these key dreams and suggest how our own churches might begin to make them a reality.

Key messages from the day

The day was, by turns, interesting, exciting, challenging, encouraging and even slightly scary. These are the key messages that occured to me as the day wore on:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
John 15:1-8


Challenge
  • There is to be a reduction of three clergy posts across the Deanery.
  • We are living in a post-Christian culture, where the church is seen to be at the margins, rather than at the heart of the community
  • The church can appear to be exclusive, unwelcoming, irrelevant and, more often than not, closed
  • The parish structure, originally conceived as a 'mission-strategy' to spread the good news in the community, no longer fits with the way people live their lives across wider and more fragmented 'networks'
  • 90% of what we 'celebrated' as successful on the storyboards was internal (for those within rather than outside the churches)

Opportunity
In the latest census Bristol had a population of 400,000.

Of these 160,000 live in the Bristol South Deanery, of which 70% declared themselves as Christian.

This equates to 98,000 people.

There are 72 places of worship, if one assumed a worshipping population of 100 in each this works out at about 7,200 regular churchgoers.

So there are another 90,000 people who describe themselves as Christian that we can reach out to, and gather into our church families.

In reaching out we need to ask ourselves tough questions about whether and how we need to change our habits, structures and traditions in order to appear relevant, vibrant, alive and open.

This will be no quick-fix, more like stepping stones. A gradual process.

The dreams

That the church (and hall) would be open more, and to a fuller use

To have the courage to explore and share our faith

To find ways to make faith relevant to a wider (and younger) group of people

Our response

  • To structure worship at different times and in different styles to suit non-church goers (see St Aldhelm's 'exhale' page)
  • To have clubs/evenings/activities/events without necessarily a Christian message, but in a church environment, and to which non-churchgoers can be actively invited
  • That all the churches in the Deanery might be open for an hour or so, one night a week, lights on and with two or three people there. So that passers-by can drop in, pray, light a candle, chat etc.

As a group St Francis felt that we had the 'people' to achieve these dreams. What we needed was a little organisation, direction, focus and leading.

South Bristol Strategy and Deanery Partnership

November 2005

Following the audit process, a Deanery 'Partnership' has been agreed upon organisationally, through Deanery Synod discussion and PCC involvement around South Bristol.



As pointed out in discussion documents this is in response to both
  • financial pressures – the Diocese is to shed 21 stipendiary posts to break even; in the South this represents a loss of 3 and re deployment of 2 stipendiary posts.
  • hopefully to reflect upon societal change over the last 50 years; church congregations are smaller, as we are perceived 'as one voice and one choice amongst many'

The Deanery partnership Idea is described currently in a Deanery White paper. In Summary

The vision is that
We are called to create thriving, worshipping, learning, missionary communities reflecting God's reconciling love in Christ and serving God's kingdom in South Bristol.


In five areas
  1. The Deanery of south Bristol functions as a single partnership
  2. Each congregation explore in depth what it means to work in a collaborative way based on an every member ministry perspective
  3. Each congregation in the partnership has a designated stipendiary minister ...Some clergy will serve more than one congregation/parish ...The new appointments will be made in full knowledge of the partnership and appointees with agreed to function within it (note paid individuals may work in roles across Deanery)
  4. Within the south Deanery partnership ‘Purpose driven’ Clusters be formed in response to the demands of mission and the growth of the vibrant ministry communities
  5. The deployment of stipendiary clergy and paid lay ministers The approached in a creative way in response to agreed to mission and ministry priorities
In response to the change the following processes have/are to inform this;
  • A Deanery wide community audit process was undertaken which culminating in the Mission audit day 15 January 2005;
    • -(For interest the Bedminster parish report was collated December 2004 and has been forwarded to Dawn Primarolo MP and been discussed informally)
    -A South Bristol document was produced from the audit day (2) – This represents a resource to inform local/area change
  • The 'Total Ministry' investigation took place in August 2005, where 12 people went to New Zealand to investigate how the church there operates. Feedback highlighted
    • -Churches there don't have a parish system
    -'Ministry Of all'
    -A flattened hierarchy
    -Churches represent a learning community/networks with every day life

Clearly the context of these change will directly effect the Parish. This may need discussion at individual, group and church levels

For further interest
(1)  Implementing the Diocesan Strategy in the Deanery of South Bristol; Alistair Palmer.
(2)  'Our church :The future together. Bristol South Deanery Day'. The mission support team at the church's council for industry and social responsibility .
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