What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • 75 questions for people who want to help churches to grow

    Helping churches to grow is hard work but there are some things that need to be addressed to help congregations to grow which seem to be fairly consistent across churches which are otherwise very different in style. Some time ago I published two lots of 25 questions for people who want to help churches to grow.

    I thought it was time for 25 more. The new ones are the first 25 below and then come the ones that I’ve published before.

     

    1. If someone were to hear about the congregation from a non-congregational member, what is the most likely thing they would be told?
    2. What is the smallest number of words you could use to accurately explain the ethos of the congregation?
    3. What are those words?
    4. What strategies do you have to get good quality photographs of life of the congregation to use online?
    5. Which of the arts does the congregation use in its worship and regular life?
    6. How do the church education programmes relate to contemporary culture?
    7. Do things start on time?
    8. What steps have you implemented to ensure you don’t have the same meetings over and over again?
    9. Do you have a set length of time for meetings and does someone stop them after they have gone on enough?
    10. How do you stop people making decisions in the car park before or after the meetings?
    11. Who chooses the hymns?
    12. Why do they choose the hymns they do?
    13. When was the last time the congregation learned a new hymn it sang more than once?
    14. How many different styles of singing the psalms do you use and is that enough?
    15. How many opportunities are there for weekly non-eucharistic worship?
    16. Which would attract more people, a course in meditation or a course on prayer?
    17. Is anyone working for the local congregation underpaid?
    18. Does your bishop/presbytery/judicatory body or person help enable growth or are they a distraction from it?
    19. Is there are three year budget?
    20. Is the congregation moving into or out of debt?
    21. What percentage of people in the congregation would have a basic understanding about the congregation’s finances?
    22. Does anyone ever break copyright law whilst acting for the congregation?
    23. How do you share good news about the denomination that you belong to?
    24. When did you last issue a call to prayer for the congregation and what was it for?
    25. If someone wants to make a confession is it clear who they should approach and how they should get in touch?
    26. If you didn’t have to go to your church on Sunday would you still go?
    27. Are the clergy happy?
    28. Are the musicians happy?
    29. Does the congregation have a stronger ethos than that of its denomination?
    30. What one thing could you change this week to make the worship better?
    31. Why didn’t you make that change last week?
    32. What steps are you taking to make the phrase “All are Welcome” come true?
    33. Do you do church business on a Sunday after church or is there a better time for that?
    34. In the next month are you more likely to spend time on ecumenical activities or church growth activities?
    35. Do people who leave become ex-members who have disappeared or do they still contribute to the life and ministry of the place?
    36. What is the noticeboard like?
    37. What is the first thing you see when you come through the door?
    38. Did you implement the recommendations of the last “mystery worshipper” you asked to give you a candid assessment?
    39. Which church events in the next six months will be newsworthy locally?
    40. Which church events in the next six months will be reported in the local media?
    41. Do you have enough staff and who decides this?
    42. What would your clergy really like to do that they can’t because of the laity?
    43. What would your laity really like to do that they can’t because of the clergy?
    44. 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?
    45. Can you email those members of your congregation who want to receive regular updates?
    46. Do you email those members of your congregation who want to receive regular updates?
    47. Has someone done the work required to make sure emails sent to large numbers of people don’t end up in spam boxes?
    48. Who in the congregation has gifts that could be better used doing a different job in the congregation than what they are currently doing?
    49. Who is your volunteer co-ordinator and is it obvious how to contact them?
    50. Can you volunteer without being a member of the church?
    51. Do you have a decent church website?
    52. Is it up to date?
    53. Is it responsive – ie does it work on mobile phones?
    54. Does your own online profile feature your ideas and hopes and dreams other than a desire for people to turn up to church?
    55. Do you know what you are doing with twitter and facebook?
    56. Who could you learn more about social media from?
    57. Do you have a compelling reason why people should come to your church other than where it is or what denomination it belongs to?
    58. Can everyone in the church tell you in one sentence what that compelling reason is?
    59. What is your beginners’ course like?
    60. What comes after the beginners’ course?
    61. Do people like the preaching?
    62. Do people enjoy the music?
    63. Have you dealt with conflicts from the past?
    64. Are the people friendly?
    65. Do you have any new groups starting soon?
    66. Do you talk about making the world a better place?
    67. How will people experience joy if they come to your congregation?
    68. If someone from your past turned up unexpectedly at worship how would it make you feel?
    69. How do you identify newcomers and what do you offer them?
    70. What problems will arise if you do grow and how will you deal with them?
    71. Do claims that you welcome everyone stop you working at welcoming those who traditionally find it hard to find a home in church?
    72. Do you use language that is inclusive of everyone?
    73. How do you know?
    74. 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?
    75. Do you want to grow or not?
    , ,

6 responses to “Hillhead By Election”

  1. Zebadee Avatar
    Zebadee

    It would seem that the Lib Dems are a ‘busted flush’ with no plan to make any meaningful comeback which is very sad. The SNP were in a similar position in the 1980s but did have a plan which has been successful. Is there not a case for the revival of The Liberal Party? There is certainly a need for such a political party for the whole of the UK not just Hillhead. The Liberal Party could possibly unite the whole of the UK and not just Scotland.

    Reply
    1. kelvin Avatar
      kelvin

      Well, the Liberal Party has never gone away – it still exists and has some councillors. No doubt they feel that their time might still come.

      I’ve a feeling that there probably needs to be a clear attempt to do something new though. A New Liberal Party could be formed by a significant breakaway of disaffected liberal democrats but would probably need some significant hitters in order to get going. Given that part of the problem is some very unimpressive leadership in the parliamentary party, it makes it hard to see that happening.

      Reply
  2. Zebadee Avatar
    Zebadee

    Yes I know that the Liberal party still exists and understand that they have little or nothing to do with the Lib Dems. They too have no big names or ‘big hitters’ which is a pity. As you yourself will know out there in the real world there is a need for a centre party not right or left. I suspect that there is a large number of thinking people who would at least listen to a political message from the ‘centre’ and they are worried and concerned at the polarisation of the right and the perceived ineptitude of the left in todays political parties.

    Reply
  3. Caron Avatar
    Caron

    Kelvin, a few weeks ago, we had a by-election win in Inverness. The evidence suggests that the Liberal Democrats have not become toxic, but where we work, knocking on lots of doors, having strong campaign messages and get our vote out, we get good results.

    We had a first class candidate in Hillhead, but I agree that we need to look at how we get our message across.

    I’m not for the Murdo method of abolishing the party just to set up a new one. We have good, liberal ideas, with good, liberal values, and an energetic leader who is so genuine, so likeable and very good at explaining what they are. Yes, we have a mountain to climb, but we have our ropes and crampons ready and we’re already ahead of where we were a few months ago.

    Reply
    1. kelvin Avatar
      kelvin

      Yes, I know Caron – I agree with a lot of what you have said. However, the big question is whether the party can get people out there working again.

      The win in Inverness was good though it was a pretty narrow thing. Still a win is a win in anyone’s book.

      However, whether the party can get doors knocked on etc now is the big question. I know I’m not the only person who has offered a lot to the party in the past who is questioning where the liberal tradition lies.

      I know Willie Rennie is likeable and I do believe he stands for lots of good policy ideas that I believe in, but he’s not even making a good job of running his own office at the moment. And his team are not responding online to criticism of him very well either.

      I’d love to feel I wanted to support the party – I believe in liberal values, understand liberal values and can articulate liberal values along with the best of them. However, so much of what good people worked for has been squandered so quickly that I just find it too difficult. (By the way, I say that as one of the 307, so I’m still hanging in there in the polling booth).

      And the problem is not primarily that the electorate feels betrayed by the Lib Dem brand. That is serious but summountable. The problem is that the activists feel betrayed. That is much, much more serious.

      307 votes out of 23243 on leafy home ground and placed fifth is terrible whatever way one looks at it.

      The Greens were trumpeting their result on twitter so much I thought they must have won, but they only had 120 or so more votes which doesn’t strike me as a particularly exciting ship to jump to, even if one were looking to leap. I’m not really interested in a party which thinks that getting 435 votes out of an electorate of 23243 is anything to crow about.

      Reply
  4. James Avatar
    James

    Hi Kelvin, I agree about the democratic disengagement – properly alarming. But the Lib Dems as they currently exist aren’t a Liberal party of the sort I think you want. They’re fundamentalist economic liberals, Orange Bookers determined to remove the social safety net. It’s not liberal as I understand it to make education the province of the rich, to cut benefits for the disabled to appease the Jeremy Clarksons of this world, to hike up regressive taxes like VAT, etcetc.

    The really small-l liberal party in Hillhead did a lot better than the Lib Dems. The Greens.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

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

Previous Posts

  • Pilgrimage

    Here’s a video featuring Bishop Kevin and a fine hat.

  • Sign seen

    I’m currently on holiday and so spending quite a lot of time going in and out of churches. (What else do you think I would do on holiday?) In one of the many churches I’ve visited, I caught sight of this. Thoughts?

  • Sunday’s Sermon on Vocations

    Here’s what I said on Sunday about vocations [Sorry about the poor audio. We’ve some major problems with the sound system that are going to take some weeks to sort out – however, the Vestry are well aware that Something Needs to be Done]. The Bishops of the Scottish Episcopal Church have asked the whole…

  • Inspection of TISEC

    TISEC – the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church has had the inspectors in (from the Ministry Division of the Church of England, since you ask) and they’ve just released their final report. There is not much for anyone’s comfort in the report as the inspectors indicated that they had no confidence in the…