- Do you have a decent church website?
- Is it up to date?
- Is it responsive – ie does it work on mobile phones?
- Does your own online profile feature your ideas and hopes and dreams other than a desire for people to turn up to church?
- Do you know what you are doing with twitter and facebook?
- Who could you learn more about social media from?
- Do you have a compelling reason why people should come to your church other than where it is or what denomination it belongs to?
- Can everyone in the church tell you in one sentence what that compelling reason is?
- What is your beginners’ course like?
- What comes after the beginners’ course?
- Do people like the preaching?
- Do people enjoy the music?
- Have you dealt with conflicts from the past?
- Are the people friendly?
- Do you have any new groups starting soon?
- Do you talk about making the world a better place?
- How will people experience joy if they come to your congregation?
- If someone from your past turned up unexpectedly at worship how would it make you feel?
- How do you identify newcomers and what do you offer them?
- What problems will arise if you do grow and how will you deal with them?
- Do claims that you welcome everyone stop you working at welcoming those who traditionally find it hard to find a home in church?
- Do you use language that is inclusive of everyone?
- How do you know?
- 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?
- Do you want to grow or not?
One response to “Sermon – Pigs Might Fly”
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On May 28, 2003 my partner Kelly Montfort and I were the first same-sex couple in the world Anglican communion to have a legally sanctioned same-sex blessing and literally two months later, two men in Ontario won their legal battle to be legally married. A few years have passed (10 to be exact) and now same-sex marriage is legal in Canada, many of the United States and various other countries. The pigs are flying and the world has not yet come to an end as the result of this scandalous news! Be true to your hearts and bless this change of attitude. It is all part of our never-ending quest to be tolerant of our differences and to try to love one another a little more. Our ancestors would probably not understood why this is so important. Our children’s children will wonder why there was so much anxiety over people loving one another.
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