Mission Action Planning Harlow Archdeaconry Sept 18 th 2010
Who is Mike Chew? • Self employed Church Growth Consultant, working with several Dioceses • Acting as MAP and Growth Strategy Facilitator for the Blackburn diocese (6 years so far) • Was Churchwarden of an Anglican church in Lancashire which increased attendance from 50 to 300 • Co-author of the book “How to do Mission Action Planning” together with Mark Ireland, for many years the Vicar of the above church • Teaches on the “Mission Shaped Ministry” and “Leading your Church into Growth” courses • Until 2000, was Philips Electronics Director of Quality and Business Excellence
Programme for Today • Introducing Church Growth • Introducing MAP and Stages – Review – Choose • Lunch – Planning • Leadership and Teamwork • Q&A • Next Steps • Finish by 3pm
Church growth fundamentals • The church in decline is faced with three options: 1. To manage decline 2. To ignore the downward trend 3. To work out a strategy for growth
Bob Jackson “The world in which many Anglicans are still living – where the strains and stresses of diminishing attendance, deteriorating finances and a decreasing paid workforce puts us in the grip of a spiral of decline that we may have learned to manage but not to reverse”.
What do we mean by Growth? • Growing up - Growing as Disciples • Growing out - into Communities and Networks • Growing in Quality, and therefore … • Growing in Numbers Attendance or Membership numbers are usually a good measure of healthy growth
Are there any signs of Growth? • One third of all dioceses are growing • One third of all churches are growing • In most cases, growth follows an emphasis on Mission and Focussed Actions. – Growing dioceses usually have a growth initiative – Growing churches in Blackburn diocese usually have a well produced Mission Action Plan. – Attending the “Leading your Church into Growth” course resulted in average growth.
Diocesan MAP/Growth Initiatives ������� ���������� ������������������� ���������������� ������ ���� ����������������� ��� ���� ���� ����������������� ��� ��������� ���� ���������������� ��� �������� ���� ����������������������� ��� ����!"�� ���� ���������������� ��� �����#�"�� ���� $����� $������������� %������& ���' (�������������"��������������� )�����*"������� )+���� ���' ����������������������� ��� ��������� ���' �������������������� �������������������� (�"������ ���' (�����������,"�"�� ��������-��"��.�%��������������*"�������� /�������� ���0 ����������������������� ��� %������� ���0 ("����������1������ 2�����&�2����&#������������ %��������� ���3 �"������#���������������������%��������� ��� /������ ���3 %�##��������������� ����������� 1����4����� ���3 5������������������������� 5������������������ )�& ���6 ����������������������� ��� 7�������� ���6 5�������#�������������7���������2������ 5������#������������ %������ ���� ������������������ ��� ��#�����# ���� ��������(������& ��� �"������� ���� ��������%�##"����������,�����8�)�����#��� (��������"����������"��� 2��!& ���� ����������������������� ��� (�������� ���� ����������������������� ���
What seems to be working? • Local Church Mission Work – Education about Mission and Faith Journeys – Training – Desire – Listening to God and the People – Vision and Priorities – Plans – Actions – Learning • Diocesan policies and processes to encourage and support this work
What is Mission? ����������������������������������� ��������������������������������������� ������������������������������������� ������������������������������������ ������������� �������������������������������� �������������������� ������������������ ������������������ ���������������������� ��������������������� ��������������� ������������������ ������������������ ������������ �������������������� �����������
What is Mission? • The Five marks of Mission* • Tell - To proclaim the good news of the kingdom • Teach - To teach, baptize and nurture new believers • Tend - To respond to human need by loving service • Transform - To seek to transform unjust structures of society • Treasure - To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the earth * from the 1988 Lambeth Conference
So Mission is Not an Option!
A ship in harbour is safe -- but that is not what ships are built for. (John A. Shedd, Thouhts from my attic” 1928)
God Stimulates Growth • The growth principle – Growth takes place spontaneously – There is order and process in this growth – We can remove the obstacles to growth – We can work out how to optimise growth potential
1 Corinthians 3:5-7 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe – as the Lord has assigned to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow
Reflection • Buzz with your neighbours in 2’s or 3’s: – Does God want His church to grow? – Does God want our church to grow?
Gospel Teaching about Action Planning • ‘For which of you, wanting to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?’ • ‘Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?’ Luke 14.28,31
Steps to Plan 1. Want to 2. Vision 3. Plan 4. Action
The Mission Journey DESTINATION Personal Church Vocation Faith Journeys Shared Vision START! How? Do we want to do Prayer more Mission work? Priorities Why are we here? Plan Who do we SERVE? Tools How are we doing?
The MAP Cycle �� �� ������������� ������������� � � � � � � � � �� ��
Prayer and Desire: What does God Expect from Us? • A Sower went out to sow …. (Matthew 13:1) – Response: “I can do the best I can and it is in God’s mystery and grace whether it is thirty-fold or sixty-fold or a hundred-fold or if it seems to be strangled by the weeds.” • Fig Tree - Pruning or digging around …. (Luke 13:8) – Response: “I will try and be better organised to do the best I can” • Parable of the Talents …. (Matthew 25:14) – Response: “I can make a conscious choice to find the best way to use resources and gifts.” • Cast you net on the right side … (John 21:6) – Response: “I can make strategic interventions to make transformations.”
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