Where is your church at this point in its history?

Posted on 21 Feb 2023 - By Gradon

Charles Handy who studies the life cycle of organisations, came to the conclusion that they all inevitably followed the bell-shaped curve to oblivion unless they did a mid-way pause and then headed in new directions. Many churches may have no idea that they are seriously further down the decline than they realise. A key indicator would be the number of new believers your church has helped find faith in Jesus recently.

A reflection on the worth of Church Mobilisation Journeys.

The point of the Church Mobilisation Journeys that I have been leading for the past three years is to help church leadership teams with a mid-course refocus. We believe if we get the outward-looking missional focus right everything else that’s a problem will fall into place as churches are forced to change to make room for new people. In the past, NZ churches trying to bring growth, have bought successful pastors from overseas, who might give five key strategies and three tactics, promising if you do it like us, you will see growth. Perhaps this might work for some, we essentially can’t short-circuit the call of leaders to reflect, refocus, and adapt – finding a way forward that is unique to them.

I asked two pastors who went on a Church Mobilisation Journey, almost three years ago, what had been helpful as they reflected on where they are at today. Waikanae Baptist is a contemporary worship style church with a strong older age group with a good number of families and a  very vibrant youth work. Abundant Life in Wellington is a Pentecostal church with a wide variety of cultures and ages worshipping with them.

What is your opinion were the benefits of the Church Mobilisation Journey (CMJ)?

Waikanae Baptist ( Pastor Nigel Scott)

The CMJ gave us clarity about our outreach focus. We have changed from a largely internally focus church to an externally focused church.

Abundant Life ( Pastor Hamish Thomson)

It created an environment for our next generation of emerging leaders who met on an equal footing with older leaders. It helped us to see the future through the eyes of our younger emerging leaders who are our future. It was helpful to have an outside person steering the conversation so they could speak their truth without worrying about what the pastor was thinking. A second helpful thing was that there were no prescribed outcomes. The process fits your context and in my opinion meshes very well.

What changes or helpful things have happened since the CMJ?
Waikanae Baptist

We now have a mobilisation team who over the following years, have adapted our plan and kept us focused on the changes we decided were the way forward.

Abundant Life

We have a strategic leadership team with a good number of younger members managing the changes we decided . One exciting outcome is that we have just started an evening worship service aimed at a younger demographic which has come about from us listening to our emerging leaders.

What part of the CMJ was particularly helpful?

Waikanae Baptist

We found the initial survey hugely revealing- it helped us understand where folk were at and what we were thinking as a congregation.

Abundant Life

We found an exercise about the nine characteristics of a mission-focused church which is linked to the five values we hold as a church. A grid is created and we can see the gaps in what we believe and what was actually happening in our daily life. We have revisited this graph over the years first to reflect on what is missing, then later we brainstormed ways forward and lastly, we created our current strategic plan around how we might create a missional culture in our midst.

What would say was unhelpful of the CMJ?

Waikanae Baptist

It took too long to complete the six sections, but this was partly (though not entirely) the result of Covid restrictions. 

Abundant Life

In some ways, it is a bit American but Gradon is working to make it fit better in Kiwi culture. We didn’t mind the length as it create lots of conversations outside of the gatherings and with a large group (10-15) we needed the time to talk.

Would you recommend the CMJ to other church leaders?

Waikanae Baptist.

I have recommended it to other leaders

Abundant Life

Absolutely – unreservedly. I like that it has no set programs or set outcomes. Once you start making small shifts in how you do things it starts creating large shifts. It creates momentum.

If you think a Church Mobilisation Journey might be helpful to you, to learn more go to North South website.