• 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?

7 responses to “Come out and carry on”

  1. Emlyn Williams Avatar
    Emlyn Williams

    Couldn’t you find a nice mitre to replace the crown? 😉

    1. Kelvin Avatar

      Oh, I didn’t make it.

      And in any case, with the C of E, it is all about the Crown.

      1. Susan Sheppard Hedges Avatar

        Can we share it even over here in the US?

        1. Alan McManus Avatar

          Yes! With an explanatory, ‘The Kingdom of God Needs You (To Come Out)!’ I’m celebrating today by putting my publications on my website, thus nailing my rainbow colours to the mast. Once I’ve had my tea. Living in Glasgow, I won’t have had it.

    2. Fr Steve Avatar

      Sounds like a movie of the 1960’s starring the wonderful (and yet sad) Kenneth Williams!

  2. Dharma Nicodemus Cuthbert Avatar
    Dharma Nicodemus Cuthbert

    Just another day to be forgotten about, by the majority of straight people. Like the 1st of December, I half jokingly asked my rector which colour I should dye my hair on the 1st, pink or purple he immediately said purple. I asked why then he reminded that it was Advent, I had to explain why I had thought of pink. He didn’t know that the 1st of Dec was the world’s hiv/aids day, we both were seeing the day from completely different angels.
    I was surprised that the day wasn’t known to him, he’s not that old.. Anyway way I could experiment and see what happens.

    1. Alan McManus Avatar

      What a lovely thought, that there are different angels dedicated to the celebration of Advent and to the care of people in various states of sickness and health! A felicitous typo.

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