Australian College of Ministries

 

Student’s Name:         Grant A Mitchell

 

Student’s ID:              C9901028

 

Item Of Work:            Project, 2000 words: Select a church you know well and, on the basis of principles learned in this course, develop a strategy for increasing its conversion rate over the next five years.

Words:            2400    2584

 

Worth: 60% of subject mark

 

Date Submitted:

 

Due Date:       Friday 20th October 2000

 

 

Signed:_____________________________  Date:______________

 

Table of Contents

Table of Contents........................................................................................................ 2

Introduction................................................................................................................. 3

History........................................................................................................................ 3

Present........................................................................................................................ 4

Purpose....................................................................................................................... 5

Structure and Goals..................................................................................................... 6

Leaders..................................................................................................................... 10

Secular People and Evangelism.................................................................................. 11

Monitoring and Reaching the Goal.............................................................................. 12

Conclusion................................................................................................................. 12

Bibliography.............................................................................................................. 14

Introduction

In relating this assignment to a realistic focus, I believe it pertinent to focus on a single service of an existing church, rather than all services of a single church. The church service I will be analysing is the 9.30am service of Epping Church of Christ. The reason for this choice comes from not only personally wanting to see similar results from the evening service of Epping Church of Christ occurring in the morning service, but it is a service that is currently under review by the church leadership. This assignment will hopefully contribute positively to this review.

History

The history of the 9.30am service has some positive, and some negative elements.

In the 1980s there were some elements that contributed to the growth of Epping Church of Christ. New families were moving into the area. A strategic mission was organised under the evangelist Gordon Moyes. Specific programs, such as Men’s Breakfasts, and Women’s Coffee Morning Teas, combined with a loving and accepting atmosphere fostered by Keith Farmer, and a strong follow-up system, growth in numbers occurred. However, the tension between culture and evangelism soon brought some of these efforts undone. New people brought their own ideas of what to do in the new social groups, and the church responded quite ruthlessly in closing some of those groups.

In the 1990s there was still a move of young families into the area, and under the highly relational ministry of David Moyes, these people were attracted to Epping Church. The numbers in the 9.30am service became too large to accommodate in the building, so it was decided to trial a second service. The two new services were to have different worship styles to appeal to two different groups. However, some in the church saw this as divisive, and raised objections relating to logistics, such as communication across the groups, and parking. Using this period as a trial set up the change for failure, and the two services became identical. The other service, the 8.00am, was then set-up as an identical alternative, and as such has a very small attendance. However, some of the young families did not raise their objections with their voice – they departed instead.

Present

This recent past has shown a lack of excitement at being big enough to change. Suggestions of change have often brought an atmosphere of negativity and unhappiness. Unfortunately, these feelings and this decline has continued. The energy level of the people and the service is much lower. The up-front leaders and preachers have much less expectation to see the people respond. The opportunities for lay involvement have appeared to decrease; and the observation of “kingdom-success” has almost evaporated (that is, seeing newcomers give their lives to Christ for the first time, and seeing new believer baptisms).

It appears that the members of the 9.30am service do not know the focus and goal of their group, other than to “keep having a 9.30am service.” This really is no goal at all. Some people, particularly young parents, who relate to a more contemporary style of worship, have made a transition to the 6.30pm service, which has shown “kingdom-success” and the use of a different style without causing division in the church. This service has served as a model of what is possible, particularly through young people.

A consideration for change for numerical growth comes from the present make-up of the generations within the 9.30am service. These are currently:

1)      Kids

2)      Teenager

3)      Young Adults – both single and married

4)      Adults of young children

5)      Adults of older children

6)      Seniors and adults of adult children

A single style of service cannot be expected to meet the worship, fellowship, and discipleship needs of these six groups. Currently the KidZone and AM Teens programs accommodate the needs of the kids and the teenagers; however, this fragments the worship experiences of these two groups from the others, and there is still no success in meeting the needs of the other four groups.

 

Purpose

Before making any decisions regarding plans and goals, the purpose of the 9.30am service needs to be clearly defined. Why does the 9.30am service exist? Why does the church exist?[1] Rick Warren’s answer stems from the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40) and the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20). Epping Church of Christ’s summarised Vision statement is an expression of what the 9.30am service exists for:

“Epping church of Christ seeks to become a network of bridge-building communities in which people encounter Jesus – the bridge to life – and are equipped to become bridge-builders.”

The purpose of the 9.30am service is to be a part of the network of communities that build bridges: between Jesus and church people, between church people and church people, between Jesus and secular people, and between church people and secular people.

To build these bridges, particularly those with secular people (but even amongst church people), we need to acknowledge that society has diversity and difference.[2] This will mean that diversity between the different communities within Epping Church of Christ is necessary. A secular person needs to be able to enter the church service and ask, “Are they my kind of people?” and upon saying yes, they will hear the gospel.[3] This will be achieved through diversity.

One of the main objections to this issue of diversity is losing the unity of the local church. I believe there is confusion between unity and uniformity. Having services with similar styles and reaching similar people brings uniformity. What will bring unity is if the people of Epping Church of Christ follow Jesus Christ and glorify God:

“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

-- Romans 15:5

Structure and Goals

Before setting numerical goals, a structural goal needs to be set. Figure 1 shows a representation of how the whole of Epping Church of Christ may appear in five years time. This has two author’s influence within its structure:

1)      Peter Wagner describes the formula “Celebration + Congregation + Cell = Church”.[4] A celebration group is a large gathering of people for the purpose of worship. A congregation group is a gathering of people where everyone in the
congregation is supposed to know everyone else in that congregation; a place where fellowship starts. A cell group is a smaller gathering of people where deeper interpersonal relationships develop. Wagner defines that the use of these three groups within an individual local church is a sign of healthy, growing church.

2)      Rick Warren describes the five-fold purpose of church as Outreach, Fellowship, Worship, Discipleship, and Service.[5] The structure of Figure 1 provides for Outreach from each group to secular people (predominately shown in arrows from celebration groups to secular people), service to secular people, and service within any individual group (although not shown, for the sake of simplicity; also not shown is service across groups). This structure provides for Worship as a focus for the Celebration groups, Fellowship as a focus for the Congregation Groups, and Discipleship as the focus of Cell Groups (although all three types of groups need to integrate all five purposes).

 

The focus of this assignment is upon the two areas surrounded by large circles: the Family circle and the Foundations circle.

The current size of the 9.30am service has an average of 170 adults. The building can comfortably accommodate 200 people, with a maximum capacity of 250. The past history of this service has seen the size of the 9.30am service reach the 200-250 mark, and in reaction new services have been suggested. As a consequence of all the factors previously outlined, the main result has been an 8.00am service with a size of 20 people.

The change of the 9.30am (and 8.00am) service to a Family service, and a Foundation service will provide for not only focus on target groups, but strong possibilities for numerical growth. Realistically this structure only accommodates a maximum of 500 people, meaning that something more will need to change over the longer-term (whether it be the building, or other forms of services).

 

The apparent loss of fellowship will be accommodated in the congregation groups. One suggestion of how these celebration groups and congregation groups will function is:

1)      A celebration group meets together, with all age groups relevant to its style, ie.

a.       Family Service: The kids, teenagers, and adults all meet in the one place to worship together. The worship experience will not have different styles to satisfy the different groups, but one contemporary style that has meanings on different levels, to draw each person into the worship of God.

b.      Foundations Service: The kids, adults, and seniors all meet in the one place to worship together. The worship experience will draw upon the rich heritage of Epping Church of Christ to draw each person into the worship of God.

2)      A congregation group meets immediately following a celebration group in a nearby venue:

a.       Kids: Gather in a similar way to the KidZone programs.

b.      Teen: Gather in a similar way to the AM Teen programs.

c.       Adults: Gather in a new way for discipleship and fellowship. This may involve Adult Sunday School, or some other format for adult interation and spritual growth, making use of the strengths of prayer, communion, teaching, and preaching.[6]

d.      Seniors: Gather in a similar way to the 9.30am service, with focus on fellowship through prayer and communion, and on discipleship through preaching.

Leaders

The focus of this structure is secular people. The previous section may not have made this clear, because its focus was on numerical goals within a church structure. I believe it is right to leave vague what methods will be used for Service and Outreach, thus allowing the Spirit’s guidance to work through the creativity of many in Epping Church of Christ. Thus, it is key to prepare the leadership of Epping Church of Christ, focussing on those with responsibility for the 9.30am service, to have an Outreach focus. This will mean not only participating in outreach programs, not only a daily wish to use any situation to witness for Jesus, but growing an atmosphere of Jesus’ love and acceptance within the church, within the home, within the workplace, and within the educational institutions. It will also mean having an expectation for growth.

The leadership who are to be involved in the new Family and Foundation services need to not only be given ownership of these services, but to take ownership, and then to share it with others. This ownership will encourage lay involvement to its best. People will do all they can within obedience to Christ to see others come into relationship with Jesus.

The leadership will need to see that fulfilling God’s purpose must always take priority over preserving tradition.[7] If God’s purposes are not being met in the present structure, then however painful the transition is, change is necessary to continue to make an impact for Jesus.

Thus, the leadership will need to be prepared for change. “Everything now comes with a use-by-date”,[8] even the suggestions of this assignment! The leadership similarly needs to be prepared to pastor others through this change. They will “recognize the attachment to yesterday and the resistance to change as normal, natural, and predictable human behaviour.”[9] People will need time to talk through the implications of the change, and time to realise for themselves the benefits. Then they will show support, or at least no resistance. The leadership needs to know how to care for these people through the change.

The leadership will need to be trained to guide the church to do just a few things, but to do them with excellence.[10] The structure suggested by this assignment cannot be entirely activated all at once. Each piece needs to be put in place one at a time, building upon the last. Each piece needs to be done well before the next part of the picture is built.

Secular People and Evangelism

I suggest that the critical place to begin is upon the centre of the structure: the secular people. Thus, outreach needs to not only be the focus at all times, but a strong focus now. All people in Epping Church of Christ need to be trained to be everyday evangelists. Particularly evangelistic tools and methods need to be in place.

One of these, prayer, is now growing in its strength throughout the whole of Epping Church of Christ. Teaching and encouraging into prayer needs to continue.

Another strength that is growing is a mission focus. Bouncing from the success of blessing the community through a BBQ when the Olympic flame passed the church, more and more people need to hear and see the successes and failures of evangelism happening in everyday lives. This even needs to be communicated to the people of the 9.30am service. Out of this focus of encouraging and teaching, will rise those motivated and gifted to evangelise. A structure of evangelistic discipleship/mentoring will become critical as these people rise up.

Monitoring and Reaching the Goal

Ultimately the goal of this strategy is seeing 250 new people give their lives to Christ for the first time over the next five years. Monitoring the progress toward this goal can come from counting of heads attending the new services, but ultimately within the rich heritage of Epping Church of Christ, the counting needs to come from those baptised. Particularly, the number needs to be counted from among people associated with the new Family and Foundation services. We can measure progress through “baptising them”.

Another monitor for the progress of this strategy will be the number of people released into purposeful evangelism. As we see more people involved in outreach, we will see more opportunities for secular people to be connected with Jesus. We can measure progress through how church people are “going and making disciples of all nations”.

Conclusion

The conversion rate of the 9.30am service will increase over the next five years as long as:

1)      The focus of church people becomes and remains outreach to secular people;

2)      Change to accommodate a diversity of people is allowed, including styles, and number of services;

3)      An atmosphere of Jesus’ love and acceptance is fostered amongst the church;

4)      The church wants and expects to grow;

5)      Strong leadership is provided to allow change and growth.

 

Bibliography

Barna, George. Turn-Around Churches. Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1993.

Foster, Charles R. & Brelsford, Theodore. We Are the Church Together. Valley Forge, Penns.: Trinity Press, 1996.

George, Carl F. Preparing Your Church for the Future. Tarrytown, NY: Revell, 1991.

Schaller, Lyle E. Create Your Own Future! Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1991.

Sweet, Leonard. SoulTsunami. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1999.

Wagner, C. Peter. Your Church Can Grow. Rev. edn. Ventura, Calif.: Regal, 1984.

Warren, R. Purpose Driven Church. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1995.

 

All Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright Ó 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.