Fishing nets or safety nets

1. Fishing nets or safety nets

4. Does it really matter ?

5. Changing culture ‘What is taking place is not merely the continued decline of organised Christianity but the death of the culture which formerly conferred Christian identity upon the British people as a whole.’ Callum Browne Death of Christian Britain

9. 2007 Tear Fund survey of 7000 adults in contact or not with church

10. Later intelligence … its worse than we thought Tear Fund 2006 statistics from 7 thousand home interviews DE CHURCHED NON CHURCHED Open [To attend church as they know it] 5% down from 20% 1% Closed [to attend church as they know it] 28% 32%

11. “ this majority (66%) presents a major challenge to churches. Most of them are unreceptive and closed to attending church; churchgoing is simply not on their agenda.”

12. “ this research helps us to understand that the further people are from church, (in terms of churchgoing) the less likely they are to attend in the future. Mission opportunities are very different when to step over the church threshold is an unknown experience…..”

13. %

15. How have we defined a ‘searcher’? • Someone who has had cause to reconsider their core values, or think about the big issues like ‘the meaning of life’, in the last year • 2000 interviews with a nationally representative sample of UK adults, conducted 24-27th April 09

16. Are People Searching and why? • 73% of people are searching • All ages, male and female, all but the lowest of social grades • 70% of people are searching because of either the credit crunch, concern about personal finances or job insecurity

17. Are people considering prayer, the church or the Bible? • YES … a third of those who say they are Christian at all • And, the research shows that it is the most helpful thing to do (after turning to family and friends) • NO … if they do not belong to any religion • These do not even feature on the ‘spiritual search map’ • It is not that they are being considered but people haven’t got round to it yet, or that they have been tried and reject

18. For those without a religion, where do they look? (after family and friends) • Reflective time alone • Under 35s, Social grade C1, female • Voluntary or community work • Under 45s (part. 35-44), Social grade ABC1 • Artistic or musical hobby • Under 45, Social Grade ABC1 (very C1)

19. 7 principles for remodelling church

20. 1 Public worship probably isn’t the best starting point

21. Prayer and Support Loving Service Forming Community Evangelism and Disciple- Making Evolving Worship Listening and Following God’s call Connection

22. 2 Modification of the existing is not enough

23. Judea Samaria Ends of the Earth Half the picture Jerusalem

24. The ends of the earth Samaria The eccentric effects… Judea The centre and the Acts story shift Samaria is not a return ticket story moves from a focus on Peter to Paul the Church goes west church is done differently among Gentiles

25. 3 Mission shapes the church

26. ‘The reality is that mainstream culture no longer brings people to the church door. We can no longer assume that we can automatically reproduce ourselves, because the pool of people who regard church as relevant or important is decreasing with every generation’ Mission shaped church report p11

27. “ it is not the church of God which has a mission but the God of mission who has a church.” Tim Dearborn

28. “ we understood mission one way and organised life to accomplish it. We have awakened to find out the mission moved on us. To keep focusing on mission, we have to turn the furniture around and face a different direction. We may even have to move into another room.” Loren Mead. The Once and Future Church

29. 4 This might change US

30. ‘Are there structures and patterns which let that basic event of encounter happen again and again? Because if not , the church has become something very different from where it started; it’s become a community which says once there was an encounter with Jesus and we like to remember that. We have to ask much more radically , how do we structure a community in which it goes on being possible ,even likely ,that people will meet Jesus and in meeting Jesus will want more people to meet Jesus.’

31. Dying to live “ I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 13; 23-6

32. TOGETHER TO GOD’S FUTURE • ‘…do not try to call them back to where they were, and do not try to call them to where you are, beautiful as that place may seem to you. You must have the courage to go with them to a place that neither you nor they have been before.’ • Vincent Donovan

33. 5 Welcome the three eccentrics

34. The 3 eccentrics • Who are the Philips? • A Dangerous Deacon? • Allow space for the unknowns • Discover Cornelius • who evangelizes who • Pray for Pauls • Eccentrics will do it differently

35. 6 The challenge of discipleship

36. Simple in its nature • Relational in its emphasis • Transformational in its outcomes

37. 7 A Way Forward

38. Alan Roxburgh’s Five Steps • Awareness • Understanding • Evaluation • Experimentation • Commitment The Missional Leader

39. http://davemale.typepad.com/churchunplugged/