What is in Kelvin's Head?

25 More Questions for people who want to make their churches grow

31/05/2015
A lot of people seem to have been sharing my 25 Questions for people who want to make their churches grow on social media.

So, here’s 25 more…
1. If you didn’t have to go to your church on Sunday would you still go?
2. Are the clergy happy?
3. Are the musicians happy?
4. Does the congregation have a stronger ethos than that of its denomination?
5. What one thing could you change this week to make the worship better?
6. Why didn’t you make that change last week?
7. What steps are you taking to make the phrase “All are Welcome” come true?
8. Do you do church business on a Sunday after church or is there a better time for that?
9. In the next month are you more likely to spend time on ecumenical activities or church growth activities?
10. Do people who leave become ex-members who have disappeared or do they still contribute to the life and ministry of the place?
11. What is the noticeboard like?
12. What is the first thing you see when you come through the door?
13. Did you implement the recommendations of the last “mystery worshipper” you asked to give you a candid assessment?
14. Which church events in the next six months will be newsworthy locally?
15. Which church events in the next six months will be reported in the local media?
16. Do you have enough staff and who decides this?
17. What would your clergy really like to do that they can’t because of the laity?
18. What would your laity really like to do that they can’t because of the clergy?
19. Which would attract young families more – a bible-based week long summer activity for children or letting it be known that gay people are welcome in your church?
20. Can you email those members of your congregation who want to receive regular updates?
21. Do you email those members of your congregatio who want to receve regular updates?
22. Has someone done the work required to make sure emails sent to large numbers of people don’t end up in spam boxes?
23. Who in the congregation has gifts that could be better used doing a different job in the congregation than what they are currently doing?
24. Who is your volunteer co-ordinator and is it obvious how to contact them?
25. Can you volunteer without being a member of the church?
church growth

4 responses to “The SNP and Equal Marriage”

Indy

18/07/2012

I think the issue is that the SNP Government is going to authorise religious same sex marriages as well as civil ones.

It would be an obvious compromise to allow civil weddings but not religious ones – that seems to be the route the UK Govt will go down.

It would be tempting for the SG to do the same. It’s a neat solution – that way they could say there is no question of religious denominations being forced to perform same sex marriages. It will only be civil ceremonies.

And, let’s face it, although there are some religious denominationa which support same sex marriage – Unitarians, Quakers, Liberal Jews, Pagan Federation etc – how many Unitarians, Quakers, Liberal Jews, Pagans etc are actually out there? They are very much outnumbered by the Catholics, Muslims and fundamentalist Protestants aren’t they?

But for some reason the SG has decided to go for the option which allows religious as well as civil same sex marriages. We can only assume that, for them, that is actually an issue of principle, of support for religious freedom.

But it makes it more complicated doesn’t it? Because they have to find a way to protect the rights of religious denominations which wish to conduct same sex marriages while also protecting the rights of religious denominations who do not want to conduct same sex marriages. And do that in the context of legislation which protects religious rights, freedom of speech and equality which is not within their control.

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Lazarus

18/07/2012

Putting aside any issues of substance here, I’m not sure you’re being quite accurate in your interpretation of John Haldane’s Newsnicht appearance. He was careful to distinguish between civil partnerships and same sex marriage, saying that the latter had to be discussed within an understanding of the ‘common good’ (a discussion which the programme didn’t have time to allow). I’d be amazed if he’s changed his opposition to same sex marriage (expressed quite regularly in the media eg in the Beyond Belief programme here http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019rlng/Beyond_Belief_Same_Sex_Marriage/).

As to whether Haldane was criticizing the Cardinal -I suspect any interpretation along these lines would require quite a degree of cynicism (or wishful thinking!) given his previously highly supportive attitude (eg http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/6707465.stm).

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Jaye Richards-Hill

20/07/2012

I met him when Ruth and I did the Big Questions earlier this year. Apparently, Haldane is an advisor to Pope Benedict….

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Erp

24/07/2012

There may not be many Unitarians, Quakers, Reform Jews in Scotland but there are a lot of Humanist weddings (I believe in Scotland in 2010 the number of weddings by Humanist celebrants exceeded the number of Catholic weddings) so they are the biggest group performing legally recognized opposite-sex marriages who would like to perform legally recognized same-sex marriages (as opposed to a ceremony after a same-sex marriage has been registered at the registry office).

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