Reform Should Effect Structure
We had a very interesting weekend at church. The Must Be More Festival turned out to be an interesting start to the coming church session. I pray that we are on the right tracks.
At present we're in the midst of a capacity building exercise. This calls us to look at the way we organise ourselves so that we can become more effective as an organisation. I'll tell you more about this in the coming weeks.
We have come to the conclusion that we need to be continually reviewing the way we structure ministry. The picture of scaffolding on the left is one that I saw in India last year. It was pretty dangerous looking, made up of pieces of wood tied together with rope. Got me thinking that while the structure needs to be flexible it also requires to have an element of security about it. However the structure cannot in the end determine the shape and the purpose of the organisation. The shape and vision must determine the structure required to support its function.
Part of our vision in St Andrew's is making church relevant for those with young families this is one of our priorities as a church. The Children's Holiday Club was well attended last week and it was great to see many of the children and their parents return to church for the Sunday service. We need to be reflecting on the right things to do that will keep attracting the children to worship. I've noticed thatwe don't always get the same children eturning i the following weeks to the Holiday Club. the question is do we need to change the way we do Children's ministry?
Got me thinking about how we do church at the present. At one time we used to have three services on a Sunday. An early morning one which was especially focused on young families. We ran it for nearly seven years. Eventually we merged the two services. Sunday morning last week was a great service focused on the children, it got me thinking about how we might further develop such services in the future. I must say a big thank you to Craig Hannah and his team for doing such a great job.
This week I've started working on a series of sermons centred around the book of Nehemiah. I think it is going to be very useful to us all as we consider this winter what is going to be the way forward for us as a congregation. We have had a group looking at the refurbishment of our present building to help us bring it up to standard for the 21st century. We also have a group as i mentioned before looking at the way we organise our administration. The shape of all this is determined by our vision.
I'm looking forward to exploring all this with the congregation. Nehemiah is all about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. There will be lessons for us all to learn as we consider the walls that we need to rebuild in our ministry and the ones we need to tear down in order to fulfill our ministry to be a local congregation with a global calling. We'd love to hear from others who are going through a restructuring. there is much no doubt we can learn.
Posted By: Liz On: 20 Aug 2008 At: 11:17pm
Albert, I’ve just moved to ministry in Ayr. We’re planning to use Future Focus material developed by Peter Neilson to help us get to know one another, discover a new vision and plan ways forward together. Should be an exciting time.