APPENDIX A. An example of what one church has done St Philip s Penn Fields.

Transcription

1 Vision Statements 1. Mission statements, vision statements, strap lines, slogans, mottos. Even looking at the range of possibilities is confusing and makes some want to give up. Don t. Here are some resources to help you. 2. Why do it? a. It s important to know what we are about. John Stott said that the definition of vision is a combination of a deep dissatisfaction with what is and a clear grasp of what could be. An example of this is Nehemiah experiencing a deep dissatisfaction with the state of the walls of Jerusalem but saw what could be. b. It reminds your members why they are here. Even the process of working on the statement is helpful in determining the core values of the church. c. It speaks to those who are not (yet) members and tells them what the church is all about. 3. The Process. You can, of course, look at all sorts of examples of what others have used and pick the one closest to your church or the one that attracts you most. This is rarely helpful. The key thing is to prayerfully work through a process with the key members of the church and discern what God is saying to the church. There are resources to help you to do this. Firstly, there are individuals who can come in and help you to work through this process: a. Your Parish Development Adviser at b. George Fisher, Director of Mission. c. Individuals with skills in this area who we can recommend. Alternatively you may with to work this through yourself using the resources listed below: 4. Resources: a. Barry Wilson. In his web based booklet on Planning for Growth Barry has a 6 page exercise (pages 2-8) helping churches to frame a vision. You can download his materials from Using the menu on the left click on Mission Resources and download Planning for Growth where you will find the relevant pages 2-8. b. Example of a church s working paper. See what St. Philip s Penn Fields looked at to frame their vision (Appendix A below) c. Church of Wales advice from John Leach (Appendix B below). d. There are various web based articles which may help you. E.g.: i. ii. If you want help or advice on any of these matters do contact the Local Mission Dept: Richard Barrett [email protected] George Fisher [email protected] If you have come across other good resources or ideas, let us know.

2 APPENDIX A. An example of what one church has done St Philip s Penn Fields. CREATING A CHURCH HEADLINE Short, memorable headline that encapsulates for outsiders and members what our church stands for, what is distinctive about it. Can go on website after name of church, letterheads etc. 1. Ideally things that apply to all churches: this is what makes us special. 2. Avoid jargon which outsiders might not understand or find off-putting/clichéd 3. Ideally 6 words or less. 4. One option is to highlight a felt need of outsiders (community, welcome, hope, feeling there should be more to life' etc). 5. It can be a short list of key words, or it can be a single idea. Examples: 'Open, prayerful, relevant' 'Loving God, loving people 'Connecting people with God' 'Real People, real life' 'A diverse church united by God's love' 'A community of faith love and hope' Questions to help us a. If a guest visited St. Philip's and was asked 'What did you like best? What might they say? b. If you were inviting a friend to St. Philip's for the first time, what one thing would you promise they would find there? c. Who comes to our church? d. What is St. Philip's most significant contribution to the local community? e. What kind of atmosphere do we want people to find a St. Philip's? f. If our church were an animal what would it be, and why?

3 A distinctive mission: All churches should ask: 'who are we? 'What is God's distinctive call to us?' We need to say yes to some things and no to others. A lot of organisations have a long mission statement ( words). This is too long, as no one can remember it and it just ends up in a drawer. Better to have a short and memorable 'Headline' (of more than 6 words) that I used regularly, plus up to 6(no more then 6) main mission points or' core values' that we agree are absolutely central. Examples from other churches: 1. Build relationships, especially with unbelievers) 2. Bring (yourself and others to worship) 3. Belong (small group focus 4. Become (teaching, seminars for growth). 5. Bless (a lifestyle of service inside and outside church). Shaping our Mission values Some questions to start with: > What do we already do? > 'If we don't do x, we might as well shut down the church'. What is x for you? > What would you love St. Philip to become famous for? > If you didn't go to St. Philip's, which church would you go to and why?

4 APPENDIX B. Advice to the Church in Wales by John Leach. Writing a Church Vision Statement To agree a clear statement about what we think we re here to do can help churches to focus on what is really important. It can also give a sense of purpose which helps us move forward and escape the endless cycle of doing what we ve always done. This is one possible design for a day to help churches arrive at a vision statement. It may be done over three evenings, or as an awayday. If the latter, you will need a significant break (eg for lunch) between the first and second sessions. It is best done with an external facilitator who has no particular axe to grind, but you don t need an expensive expert. Maybe someone from a neighbouring parish, an area dean or a lay person from the business world could be useful to you. It will also help the facilitator if they have a companion (again, from outside your church) to help. The process is in three stages, but there is scope to extend it further and to revisit the statement you arrive at. Who should be a part of it? Ideally the whole church council should be present, because of the authority this will give your statement, but you may also wish to invite other members of the church. The more the merrier. Session 1 1 hour The facilitator should give a brief introduction as to the importance of vision, and an outline of the process. Then the people should be sorted into groups of no more than five. The first task is to complete, in no more than 50 words and/or five bullet points, the phrase This church exists... By the end of the hour, each group should have written their statement on a piece of flipchart paper, which should be displayed for all to see. Before the next session the facilitator(s) have the task of combining the different statements into one, also no longer than 50 words. It is important to pick out each of the elements from the different groups work, although there will obviously be much overlap. It goes without saying that the role of the facilitator is not to put any personal spin on it, but to reflect accurately what the groups have said. Session 2 (I 1½) hours At the start of the second session the whole meeting are presented with the combined statement written by the facilitator, alongside the individual groups efforts. They are told that no-one can leave the room until they have arrived at a statement to which everyone could

5 happily sign their name. Negotiations then begin, until the wording is agreed. On occasions this is non-controversial and is all done in five minutes, but sometimes it will open up major discussions and even arguments, which the facilitator is there to manage. I have only once known there to be no agreement after an hour and a half, but the session was useful in that it opened up major areas of conflict within the church, which meant that they were not ready to agree any way forward. Back to the vicar! Usually, however, a statement is agreed and a sense of achievement and unity is reached. If you get there quickly, move straight on to the next session. Session 3 (1-1½ hours) This session concerns what we do with the statement now we have written it. There are three main areas, and the meeting may want to subdivide with a small group tackling each, or the whole group may talk about each in turn. The second option will obviously take longer. If you do subdivide you should allow a short time for a final feedback session from the different groups. i) A strap-line. This is a short statement which tries to sum up in a memorable way the essence of the longer statement, and which captures the personality of the church. Examples of strap-lines from the secular world might include Because you re worth it, Probably the best lager in the world and Pure genius. In the light of your vision statement, can you write one for your church? ii) iii) A logo. One for your artistic types here. Can you design a logo for your church? Publicity. Where and how might you publicise your statement, logo and strap-line? Noticeboards? Weekly news sheets? Where else? Finally, the church council should refer constantly to the statement in its discussions and decision-making. Is any given decision in line with our vision statement, or does it run counter to it? Are there things going on in the church which subvert what we have all agreed is our purpose? What can we do about them? And of course any acceptance of a vision-statement leads on to further questions about how well we re doing, and how we can plan to do even better in the future. With grateful thanks to: John Leach. Parish Development Adviser, Monmouth Diocese, Church in Wales.