The nave of St. Andrew’s, Langley was filled to near capacity with those attending the concurrent Stewardship (morning session) and Evangelism (all day session) workshops on Saturday, March 2nd, 2013. Clergy and lay from all over the diocese attended these sessions to participate in these opportunities to learn new techniques and share information; the intended outcome being the opportunity to take back fresh and inspiring information to their faith communities to rejuvenate and grow these two components of ministry.
Evangelism Unit Chair, the Reverend Paul Woerhle of St. David’s, Delta welcomed the group and opened with an inspirational prayer asking that we receive guidance in the quest to move forward and discern what to do with those things which we fear are old and outdated. He ended the prayer with these words, “May we participate today in a spirit of radical honesty.”
The Reverend Andrea McMillin, rector of Christ Church, Blaine in the Diocese of Olympia and an instructor at both the Diocese of Olympia’s and the Diocese of New Westminster’s Schools for Leadership previewed the agenda for the Everyday Evangelism workshop. In this initial overview she informed the group that today they would focus on ways to evangelize and spread the Good News through invitation and hospitality.
The Reverend Marnie Petersen, MAP Associate and Diocesan School of Leadership Registrar and Instructor began the session by describing the model of Gathering, Transforming and Sending: The Purpose and Work of a Congregation. She focused on the Gathering component of Inviting, Greeting, Orienting and Incorporating people into the life of the church by asking the questions:
• Will they feel comfortable?
• Will they know what to do and not feel awkward or out of place?
• Is there a functional coffee hour, not just cliques meeting for a weekly chat.?
• Do we follow-up on people who have come to the church through the sacraments; Baptism, Marriage , Funerals?
A discussion ensued about the usual topics in this context, websites and bulletins and some less standard ideas, for example, how “mystery worshipers” can be used to help churches discern how they are doing in terms of welcoming people and subsequently easing their entry into the worship and social life of the church and the parish community.
After the discussion, Andrea briefly laid out an historical context for the origins of the church. The early church did not grow in its majority by a conversion of the masses but through direct personal conversions of individuals and families. It was evident that these early Christians cared for one another and that compelling information spread, bringing more converts to the young faith.
Church-goers are not the dominant culture anymore. “What church do you go to?” is no longer a common question to ask. So what do we as Christians with respect to our communities and places of worship have to offer? How can we begin the conversation?
Andrea asked that people turn to their neighbours in twos and threes and talk about that question. Here are some of the answers:
1. It is a place and a community where people do know their neighbours in an urban environment. Church is a place where others in the community know who you are and care who you are, Christians in community care about the health and well-being not just of the congregation but of the greater community as well
2. Church is a place where the whole family can be involved intergenerationally which is in contrast to our current culture which is often subjugated by age.
3. Church offers ears to hear in a world that values talking.
4. Our threshold of belief and shared ideas is fairly low in most Anglican churches so people will not be judged for where they are on their faith journey. There isn’t a litmus test for access. Where else is that level of open-mindedness offered in the public sphere?
5. Church is not only a place to connect but a place to grow. The next stage is incorporating, where newer members may experience “depth and experience”. Without incorporation people will not stay and fully participate.
6. In a world where wealth and power are presented as a route to happiness, the church offers an alternative vision.
Next Andrea asked the questions, “What is evangelism?” “What is evangelism to you?”
There were a broad spectrum of responses most of them negative: “yelling” “ambushing” “knocking on doors” “closing the deal as opposed to starting the journey.”
The group was then asked to share with their neighbour a time when someone spoke to them about Jesus that touched their heart and opened them up to new possibilities.
The first half of the workshop was very deliberately constructed to give the participants the opportunity to focus on their personal experiences in order that they might begin to consider inviting others. Knowledge of ourselves and our faith communities is what we can draw on to peak to people, invite them in to share that experience.
Anglican Identity
We are the inheritors of a certain identity.
Again Andrea presented an historical and somewhat subjective overview of Anglican Identity.
There are qualities that remain from the Celtic church: Trinitarian, mystical, earthy, penitential and then we have the Roman Catholic heritage: authoritarian, sacramental, intellectual, liturgical. Next to consider in Anglican Identity is the Reformation which refocused on the “Book.” All these strains blended and became our Anglican inheritance.
The next piece of the workshop concentrated on how we as individuals and our faith communities are drawn to different aspects of Anglican spirituality and temperament.
This was done through the distribution of blue and yellow construction paper crosses with words emblazoned on them; the yellow crosses with words of Anglican Spirituality: Liturgical/Biblical, Communal, Pastoral, Sacramental, Incarnational, Mystical and the blue crosses with words associated with Anglican Temperament: Ambiguous, Open-minded, Intuitive, Aesthetic, Moderate, Naturalistic, Historical, Political. The participants were asked to identify two words from the 14 that signified what is most important to them personally and then pick two words that best identified their congregation. .
The workshop participants were then asked to go to sheets of flipchart-sized paper, taped up around the entry area of the sanctuary each sheet decorated at the top with one of the word-emblazoned crosses. They were then instructed to draw check marks on the pages for the two sets of two words they had chosen.
The point of the exercise is to drill down and discern your personal spiritual foci and your congregation’s identity in order to develop an invitational approach to engage others.
Each congregation has very specific strengths in just a few of the identifying words and that is important to note. There is consistency. For Andrea, congregations are pretty much the way they are but they can be shaped, particularly if they are aware of their strengths and have knowledge and data about their location and what is happening around them.
Andrea encouraged everyone to take this exercise back to their parishes because it is important to possess awareness of the actual spiritual life of your congregation.
At the conclusion of this exercise it was past 1pm and time for lunch.
The lunch served in St. Andrew’s Parish Hall, catered by Joanne Woerhle and the Rev. Karin Fulcher of St. David’s, Delta with the assistance of St. Andrew’s hospitality team was outstanding.
Following lunch, those attending Everyday Evangelism received some instructions and some scenarios for role-playing. The rest of the workshop was spent experimenting through role play some uses of the new concepts and the language learned during the morning session about what we as members of Anglican faith communities have to offer others.
Please click the link to download the 16 PAGE EVERYDAY EVANGELISM WORKBOOK.
Images: Top, presentation team of Tasha, Andrea and Marnie prepare material during the morning break. Upper left, Evangelism Unit Chair, the Rev. Paul Woerhle opens the workshop with prayer. Upper right, the Rev. Marnie Peterson presents GATHERING. Middle left, principal workshop facilitator the Rev. Andrea McMillin. Middle right, Workshop organizer and Synod Staff representative to the Evangelism Unit, Tasha Carrothers. Lower left, standing with the crosses. Lower right, checking off the two sets of two words
The next two DIOCESAN congregational development workshops scheduled are:
- April 6: Stewardship Leadership Skills: Models & strategies & actions. This is the third in the 2013 Leaders in Stewardship Seminars series and it will again be held at St. Andrew’s, Langley. 9:30am Registration and Coffee, 10am-1pm Program. Seminar will be facilitated by Stewardship and Planned Giving Director, Glen Mitchell and the presenters will by Synod Staff, MAP Associates, the Reverend Marnie Peterson and Tasha Carrothers. Click to REGISTER
- April 27th: Unlocking the Growth with BackToChurchSunday Founder, Michael Harvey at St. Dunstan’s, Aldergrove 3025 - 264th Street, Aldergrove, BC, 9:30am Registration and Coffee. 10am - 2:30pm Seminar/WorkshopMichael Harvey is a founding team member of “Back to Church Sunday”. He has spoken to thousands of church leaders across three continents. “Back to Church Sunday” takes place in countries around the globe.
• The reasons Christians don’t invite
• Hidden attitudes in our churches
• How to overcome the wounds of the past
• How welcoming plays its part
• What is church in 2013
• The keys to adding to the church
• 12 steps of kicking the habit of being an un-inviting church or: “How to double a congregation in a day.”
Registration details will soon be on the diocesan website, and when available they will be included in the bi-weekly Parish Mail email.