What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • 25 Questions for people who want to make churches grow

    1. Do you have a decent church website?
    2. Is it up to date?
    3. Is it responsive – ie does it work on mobile phones?
    4. Does your own online profile feature your ideas and hopes and dreams other than a desire for people to turn up to church?
    5. Do you know what you are doing with twitter and facebook?
    6. Who could you learn more about social media from?
    7. Do you have a compelling reason why people should come to your church other than where it is or what denomination it belongs to?
    8. Can everyone in the church tell you in one sentence what that compelling reason is?
    9. What is your beginners’ course like?
    10. What comes after the beginners’ course?
    11. Do people like the preaching?
    12. Do people enjoy the music?
    13. Have you dealt with conflicts from the past?
    14. Are the people friendly?
    15. Do you have any new groups starting soon?
    16. Do you talk about making the world a better place?
    17. How will people experience joy if they come to your congregation?
    18. If someone from your past turned up unexpectedly at worship how would it make you feel?
    19. How do you identify newcomers and what do you offer them?
    20. What problems will arise if you do grow and how will you deal with them?
    21. Do claims that you welcome everyone stop you working at welcoming those who traditionally find it hard to find a home in church?
    22. Do you use language that is inclusive of everyone?
    23. How do you know?
    24. Is there any identifiable group of people that you can’t explicitly say are welcome because of how an individual or group in the congregation will react?
    25. Do you want to grow or not?

3 responses to “Blogging”

  1. Avatar
    Kelvin

    Re: Blogging
    I'm sure there will be a blogging Bishop in the not too distant future –  o­ne who has a thing about  blogging hats – and the blogging head to fit!

    Blogging is brave though-  might even be brave enough to try it some time

    Reply
  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Re: Blogging
    From an ECUSA perspective, I suspect that it would be much easier for a blogger to become a bishop than for a bishop to become a blogger. If a bishop hasn’t developed the discipline of writing regularly for an audience before becoming bishop, s/he’ll have a hard time starting it amidst all of the other demands of the office. On the other hand, I can see a longtime blogger being elected bishop of a diocese in part because the people of the diocese feel they know the blogger better than other non-blogging candidates. Of course, that could also be a liability. In my own experience of blogging, I know that I sometimes say things that are less polished or considered on my blog than I’d say in an academic paper or a sermon. If delegates electing a bishop are comparing one candidates’ blog to other candidates’ paper publications, they may judge the blogger more harshly, especially if they’re not familiar with Internet conventions.

    BTW, I really enjoy your blog. I first got to know Anglicanism when I was living in Scotland, and I was confirmed at St. John’s Edinburgh when +Neville Chamberlain was rector. I miss Scotland and the church there a great deal, and appreciate being able to visit via thurible.net.

    Reply
  3. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Re: Blogging
    On LiveJournal we post rather then blog – although it’s the same thing, I know… – so perhps one day we might have a Posting Pope?!!

    (and I still find it scary and exciting that people across the globe read my daily ramblings)

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Review – Orlando, Scottish Opera

    Aha, my review of Orlando has now gone up at the Opera Britannia website. Rather late in the day, but I gather they have recruited someone new to get the reviews up much quicker in the future. Here is what I said: Rating: Scottish Opera – Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 14 February 2011 Scottish Opera’s Orlando…

  • Redesigning the Cathedral Website

    I’ve been redesigning the Cathedral website this week. Forgive the fact that some of the rest of this post may be written in Geek. (I don’t speak pure Geek either more Demotic Geek). It may not look a terribly major revision, but actually it is. Although the look and feel are more or less the…

  • The King’s (and the Provost’s) Speech

    OK – so I came rather late to this one. Spent an afternoon off yesterday in the cinema watching The King’s Speech. I guess that most of you have already seen it and are immune to my enthusiasm. Actually, I spent a fair portion of the movie with tears very gently streaming down my chops.…

  • Pancake recipe

    Don’t forget my world famous pancake recipe: http://thurible.net/20040224/pancake_receipt/ Still going strong after all these years.