Recently in Evangelism Category

What does it take to believe?

As a youth worker many moons ago, I remember taking a 6th-form double lesson (quite why they let me loose with their 6th-form RE students for nearly an hour-and-a-half I'll never know?) where I'd been asked to help them think about the evidence for the resurrection.

We did the now well-worn route of looking at alternative explanations - eg. hallucination; swoon etc. (and if you've never thought through the historical evidence for the likelihood of Jesus being raised, you could do worse than read Who Moved the Stone? by Frank Morrison).

At the end of the session I asked who was convinced by the evidence. The huge majority of hands went up.

Was there a mass conversion? No, of course not.

Seth Godin - prolific (and usually wise) writer about marketing and business, gets the point very well:

...no spreadsheet, no bibliography and no list of resources is sufficient proof to someone who chooses not to believe. The skeptic will always find a reason, even if it's one the rest of us don't think is a good one. Relying too much on proof distracts you from the real mission--which is emotional connection.

...and if that's true for business, how much more for religious belief.

Why do you believe what you believe?

New Year is the somewhat cliched - but singularly appropriate - time for taking stock.

This New Year, for All Souls, carries with it a 10th birthday (of the church plant - September 2000) perspective that we're aiming to help propel us energetically into the next decade and more...

A recent piece on Seth Godin's blog quoted a friend of his:

I spent the last seven months doing this [job] and I have nothing to show for it. If I had known I would have spent seven months and gotten nothing, you can bet I would have done something a lot more fun.

Godin looks back on the past decade, suggesting that most people missed the opportunities and simply "hunkered down and did their job or did what they were told or did what they thought they were supposed to, and just about everyone got very little as a result."

Given that ten years is beyond most of us to imagine ahead into, he suggests seven instead:

Seven years from now, what will you have to show for what you're doing right now?

If your answer is, "not much," perhaps you should consider a new plan, one that might generate a different answer, or, at the very least, be a more fun way to waste seven years.

...so back to All Souls' 10th birthday year, we're asking that sort of question. There's simply no point 'hunkering down' and just keeping things going. If all we have to show for it in seven (or ten, or fifty) years' time is a church that is still here and keeps on going, then we've missed the point of why we were planted.

If you're someone who pours time and energy into All Souls - what have you got to show for it so far? What have you seen God do here? What do you dream of him doing in the years to come that we could be celebrating in 2017 or 2020?

Been a while since I've quoted Seth Godin's blog on business, leadership and marketing, but once again he strikes a nail firmly on the head - ask yourself what the church in this country could do if it took this seriously....?

"You've probably seen it. The fish monger sees a decline in business, so they have less money to spend on upkeep and inventory, so they keep the fish a bit longer and don't clean up as often, so of course, business declines and then they have even less money... Eventually, you have an empty, smelly fish store that's out of business.

[Godin then says much the same of "The doctor [who] has fewer patients..." and "The newspaper which has fewer advertisers..."]

As Tom Peters says, "You can't shrink your way to greatness," and yet that's what so many dying businesses try to do. They hunker down and wait for things to get better, but they don't. This isn't a dip, it's a cul de sac. It's over.

Right this minute, you still have some cash, some customers, some momentum... Instead of squandering it in a long, slow, death spiral, do something else. Buy a new platform. Move. Find new products for the customers that still trust you.

Change is a bear, but it's better than death."

Spent today in rather remarkable company - most of the London Bishops, Archdeacons and Diocesan figures, together with a veritable who's-who of London anglican church leaders of all sorts of stripes, but one thing in common - a commitment to church-planting as a key part of a London-wide strategy for evangelism and growth.

People talk often of the death of the CofE, but someone hasn't told this bunch - the leaders of HTB, St Helen's Bishopsgate and All Souls, Langham Place, together with many others (including myself, Charles and Dave MacDougal, representing the St Stephen's plants) have been speaking with passion and belief about reaching London...

The conviction at the heart of the meeting is that the Diocese wants to be a "can do" and permission-giving organisation, rather than one that puts barriers in the way - that's not always been the way it's been seen (nor, perhaps, acted), but I do believe that's the intent and it's exciting to hear.

Most of the readers of this blog will know that All Souls is a "twice-planted" church. One hundred years ago by All Saints Isleworth into a newly-populated part of their previously rural parish and then nine years' ago, a fresh start following years' of decline as St Stephen's Twickenham sent a team to get things going again.

It's that second experience of being replanted that, of course, gives me the passion for the effect this can have. The alternative for this particular community would have been a huge church building that was turned into flats (we've even met a builder who had an offer in on All Souls!) and no church community within walking distance. That would have been, as our previous Bishop of Kensington recognised, a complete disaster for Christian witness in St Margarets and Isleworth.

Instead, we've now got a thriving church increasingly populated by people who live locally, many of whom weren't going anywhere to church previously and others who've moved into the area and are delighted to be able to choose to go to a local church.

What's been glorious today is hearing church leaders talking about nothing but outreach, passionate about people meeting Jesus for themselves and willing to do anything they can to make it possble.

Hurdles there are a-plenty, of course - the problem of opposition from other church, the money needed to get buildings usable (something we've known only-too-well here), balancing big-picture strategy with local vision, the need for people resources and key leaders and many more.... but the over-riding feeling of the day has been a positive one of possibility, passion and promise.

Nice to go to a day that invigorates and challenges. Probably more reflections as I mull over the day in the coming week...

What next for All Souls? Well, first, we're effectively planting within our own building on a Sunday afternoon. Perhaps one day we'll be looking to plant elsewhere... what we've been given by the risk-taking of the church-planters of St Stephen's, we want to pass on.

What is mission? Who do we go to, what do we say, what are we hoping will happen as a result?

Live questions for every church in every time, but none more so than for us now in All Souls as we think about what the next chapter in our life together entails.

The Archbishop is often criticised for being 'woolly' or lacking a cutting edge, but his June 9th address to a mission society is challenging, clear, biblical and very thought-provoking indeed.

You can read it in full on the Archbishop's own site (and download the mp3 there too) and plenty of blogs have picked it up with very helpful comments of their own (Daniel Hartley and Jason Goroncy - not blogs I've come across before - both strike me as particularly useful).

But here are a few 'purple passages' that stand on their own two feet and are worth chewing on:

Following in God's footsteps
...the very general principle that mission is never a matter of taking God where he hasn't been before ... In every act of mission, God is there ahead of us.

The Good News
...Mission is not about introducing a ...rather shy God to people that he's never met before. It's much more a question of saying to people that God is more interested in you than you are in God. And the good news is that if you show signs of interest of response, trust and love, then that interest turns into profound intimacy and relationship. God is nearer than you think.

The effect
Mission is release from sickness, from death, literally, from isolation (leprosy), from the demonic and the destructive forces that suck human beings down into darkness both inside and outside. Mission is crucially about tangible change, visible release...

Our motivation
Gratitude is why we do it, because we can't help it. Why are we seeking to share the good news of Jesus Christ? It is because we have received without payment an inestimable gift, which will not stay still in our hands

The Archbishop sums up in these pithy words...

Where do we start? Where God has started.
What do we say? God is nearer that you think.
What do we do? We seek to bring Christ-shaped change.

Genius is, of course, a hugely overused word, but I used it the other day of a man that seems to have such an effortless ability to do broadcast media, especially Radio, that it seemed appropriate - Chris Moyles.

He's also someone I've listened to on many occasions (though never regularly, nor for long) and who's had me laughing out loud and being drawn into his "virtual company" of friends... something radio can do in a way TV can only dream about (a subject for another day perhaps).

Problem is that in the midst of that talent Chris Moyles has been hugely and unnecessarily offensive to plenty of people - especially those who are "easy targets".

I'm sorry, therefore, that I was way too quick to talk in terms of being a "fan" of his - though I confess I've enjoyed the many times I've heard him - and, especially in the light of his recent censure by OFCOM, I'd be apalled if anyone took that comment to mean approval of all he stands for and has said.

That being said... the original point still stands, in fact, it's strengthened. Chris Motles is just the sort of person we write off as being (a) unlikely to be interested in church and (b) beyond reach of the Good News of Jesus. Wrong on both accounts.

I've always been a bit of a fan of Chris Moyles, the load-mouthed, opinionated (and, imho, genius) Radio 1 Breakfast presenter - though I don't get to listen to him much these days... and he's created a bit of a stir this past week on the Christian facebook / YouTube / twitter channels with his remarks - and subsequent animated discussion - live on Radio 1 about a Songs of Praise Pentecost service from Kingsgate Community Church in Peterborough.

It's a wonderful 6 minutes of Radio - he's been bowled over completely by watching a service that has "life", "enthusiasm" and "a bass guitar"... but isn't it surprising how surprised most of us are that he's responded like that?

There's a whole chunk of people we've assumed will never respond to church positively - the 'cool', the cynical, men, teenagers, rich people... you name it, we've written them off.

It doesn't have to be that way though - we've seen that many, many times. People can find what they don't expect in church, something that cuts through their childhood experiences (Moyles was brought up Catholic), prejudices and cynicism.

Who would you ask to church, but have assumed they'd just laugh?

Funny thing about this blog - nothing for ages then way too much to pass on for one day... and always when I'm at my busiest (trying to clear the decks to take a couple of weeks' holiday!).

Anyway, I've been reading a book with a title sure to raise at least a few hackles: Church Marketing 101 by Richard L Reising. It's a relatively lightweight 'take' on how churches are seen by outsiders, but he has a refreshingly straightforward approach to church growth and asks some very good questions.

Two things strike me as especially pertinent given our planning towards a two-service pattern for September...

Firstly, the distinction he makes between "lateral growth" (drawing in people from other churches) and "vertical growth" (from unchurched backgrounds). It's clearly the latter that's our key aim - we've no interest whatsoever in growing at other's expense. The question he poses for us is: "Do people leave a service at All Souls thinking: 'I wish my (churched) friend had been here - they'd have loved it!' or 'My (non-church-going) friend would have loved it!'?" Quite a difference...

Secondly, though, he asks what sorts of things prevent people inviting their (unchurched or dechurched) friend along - he suggests six questions that are, consciously or unconsciously, being weighed up by church members. I wonder what you'd respond about an average service here - and how we could make things better for those who come - either of their own accord (as so many have over the last few years) or by invitation:

1. Will my friend feel welcomed?
   Hospitality - The atmosphere, nomenclature, and style of service should be inviting and not intimidating to the unchurched.
   
   
2. Will my friend fit in?
   Comfort and compatibility - Like it or not, invitations and visitor comfort decrease when cultural gaps exist.
   
   
3. Can I feel confident that I know how the service will turn out?
   Consistency - People need to know what to expect, because they will invite accordingly.
   
   
4. Will my friend get something out of it?
   Relevance - The message should be relevant and powerful for people at all spiritual levels.
   
   
5. Will my friend understand it?
   Understanding - Jesus taught through practical illustrations. The songs and message should be understandable for people at all spiritual levels.
   
   
6. Will anything that could seem strange to the unchurched be explained through Scripture?
   Sensitivity - Scriptural actions should be carried out with clarity and considerate explanation.

What would you change about All Souls first to make it even more likely that we'll feel comfortable inviting friends on a Sunday?

Apologies for the silly pun... but my brother, Jonathan, has just started as CEO of FEBA Radio and they've just produced this four minute promo video for supporters. Many people think we sound identical - I'll leave you to be the judge!

They're a great organisation, "broadcasting hope" to some of the very hardest-to-reach people groups in the world... and I'm not just saying that because of the family link! Do find out more and see if it's something you'd like to get behind yourself.

I'm sitting in Church House - not a surprising place to find a Vicar, I hear you say, but it's for a conference that, on the face of it, has nothing whatsoever to with my day (and night) job...

I've blogged a fair bit about it/him (i.e. about Seth Godin, the speaker/raconteur/guru) so I won't re-say it all (if you've forgotten, here's one for you), but since I'm literally sitting here listening, I thought I'd think out loud about what I'm hearing... and what it might have to say to All Souls, or any church for that matter.

The reason that there's any connection between 'his world' and mine is that he's a superb observer and analyist of human society and behaviour.

Here's a taster of what got talked about today - some big themes...

1. Permission Marketing - if you're trying to spread a message by simply flooding the market with posters, stickers, leaflets, then you're competing with millions of other messages that people are routinely filtering out of their lives everyday... there's little point, for example, All Souls simply adding to the flood of junk mail through people's doors by doing lots of leaflet drops. The key question to ask of a marketing call, leaflet, promotion is "will they miss it if I don't do it?"... if not, don't do it!

2. Story is everything - the alternative to mass marketing is to tell a story so compelling that people who hear it will tell other people in their turn. Isn't it a killer that despite the church of Jesus having (a) the most compelling [and true] story ever told and (b) millions of people in whose lives' the story is lived out every day - despite that, we think the only way the church can get "its message across" is mass advertising, huge stadium events and mailshots... rubbish - it's no more true now than it was in Acts.

3. Being the best is not enough - you may have a better product, but if people don't have a problem that they think needs solving by that better product, they're not going to seek you out. Are you spending the time trying to find customers for your products or products for your customers? For the church, this has to do with whether we've decided on our "product" - which is how we help people to hear, live out and spread the Good News of Jesus - or whether we start with our potential customers?

If that sounds verging on the heretical, let me make the age-old distinction - there's a fundamental difference between changing the Gospel (no point - it's true, because Jesus will always be who he always is and he's done what he's done) and changing how we live out the Good News in a way that connects with the real lives of people around us.

One good example is us looking at starting a second service - not just a duplicate morning one, but a mid-afternoon one for the many people for whom Sunday mornings just don't equal church and for whom it never will equal church.

4. ...but you need to be remarkable - that's the Purple Cow idea (his book of the same name) - no-one takes a second look at cows in a field, but if you saw an honest-to-goodness purple one, then you'd pull over and look, photograph and then call your friends. Church? I had an email just today from someone talking about how bowled over they were by their first experiences of All Souls - being by far the most friendly, child-welcoming church they'd come across and completlly beyond their expectation of church.

...some first thoughts.