Mission

Mission in the 21st Century

What led to this initiative? Those who have committed to a values system and life style based on faith have something to offer in today’s society where increasingly people are searching for a route to exploring their spirituality.  Our Minister has heightened our awareness of the distinctiveness that we as Christians have as individuals, and yet attendance at Christian churches is falling throughout Europe. 

Kirk membership in the Capital fell by nearly 1000 in 2007-08 to 32,375 while the city's population grew by 2500 over the same period to 471,650.  The age profile of that membership shows those in their sixties and seventies making up the biggest age groups.  And a survey on an average Sunday in March this year found around 11,000 people attending Church of Scotland services in the city.  Ian Swanson, Edinburgh Evening News 8 July 2009

Accordingly, as a Kirk Session we gathered at our annual session conference in October 2009 to explore models of church growth and the reasons underlying their success with Professor John Drane , head of Practical Theology at Aberdeen University and Olive Drane, who together work to encourage renewal and fresh thinking in relation to mission, ministry, spirituality, worship, the arts, and theological reflection. Fired by the ideas and examples at the day conference we quickly found out that a plan to increase numbers was not the place to start, but a simple strategy of concentrating initially on those who had decided to “opt in” was adopted.   Equally there was a strong awareness of the need to underpin future action with prayer and reflection.

How we are moving forward As a congregation, led by the Ministry Team and the Kirk Session, we are working on six different aspects of developing our mission in the 21st century.

Prayer - as a means of getting closer to God, of kindling or re-kindling the faith element in our daily lives through

• a new prayer group
• input to other groups and gatherings, for example house groups
• a new prayer page on our website                                                 

Worship - God invites us to worship Him in ways that demonstrate the qualities of spirituality, sincerity, and friendship.   Our mission approach will include

• a focus within preaching

• stronger promotion of non-traditional services such as the informal family worship service at 9.30 am and shorter reflective evening services at 7.00 pm, 

Welcome – Our welcome at all services, from the teams where the majority of members are not elders and include all ages, is the starting point of our worship together.  It is backed up with useful literature for newcomers and visitors and continues at coffee. 

Research – The Research Committee is in pro-active mode developing the vision and strategy for our mission initiative.   Some of the ideas from the Session Conference are being revisited and recent studies and examples of why people go to church, or do not go to church, are being explored.

Communications – Grapevine, our parish newsletter, is already a widely used means of communication for members and others who use our buildings.  Similarly pew notices and orders of service are avenues for raising awareness of mission principles and are appropriate points from which to provide information about prayer, for example.  Grapevine also gives us a platform for consulting the congregation, sharing progress and appealing for support.   

Website – Quite a different tool but attracting a high response is our website.  As our main external means of communication we are tailoring the content to reflect that and are keenly aware that some of those who log on may be finding a personal way of being or becoming “churched”.  By monitoring the hits and the pages on the site visited we can tailor material in the future.

Prayer
• Following the 10.45 am services Sheila, our Pastoral Assistant, is leading a short prayer meeting.  A dedicated space has being prepared.  
• A page on Silent Prayer , from Scott our Minister, has been posted on this website 
• Sheila is considering an outline for a house group prayer – equally useful for adapting to other situations.    

Worship
At the 10.45 services mission has become a thread through worship.
• Sermons continue to be posted on the website, and are one of the most popular pages
• Music as a channel for deepening our spirituality is an important aspect

The 9.30 am Development Group is involved in mainly practical ways of supporting the future growth of the successful format of the informal family service at 9.30 am.    They are raising its profile through promotional fliers and posters, particularly with visitors at baptisms and Christmas services for children
• Young people are to be encouraged to participate in worship
• A book swap has been introduced as a sociable, fun, and eco-friendly activity after the 9.30 service
• Other social activities for families are being explored.

Evening services are shorter, more meditative and often include communion.

• A car pool, similar to the arrangements for 10.45 am, is being initiated so everybody who wishes has an opportunity to attend

Welcome
• Already we have introduced some of the successful practices that were introduced when we worshipped temporarily at Nicolson Square during recent rnovations  
• We have a smooth and efficient process and have started to research models of welcome ministry, not only in churches, with a view to a workshop-type event to explore methods.   Socialising is likely to be a key element of welcome     

• A new welcome booklet will shortly be launched

Research
• The Research Committee is gathering examples of successful church growth from near and far and identifying ideas that fit with our profile

• Reasons why people do not attend church are being discussed and ways to address their issues are being considered
• Packages that include worship and lectures on such topical issues, backed up social events, are being crafted

Communication

• A regular article on our mission initiative will in Grapevine which is published 10 times a year • A review of the first three months mission activity will be undertaken and presentation is being prepared for the congregation at the end of March

Website

• This new mission page is being regularly updated

• Helpful notes on Silent Prayer have been posted under worship

• By monitoring the hits and the pages on the site visited we can tailor material in the future - a big peak in our traffic just before Christmas suggests a large number  of people finding out about Christmas services
- most of the traffic comes from the UK but there are small numbers from northern Europe, North America, Australia and South Korea (a total of 23 countries)
- sermons are the topic on the third most visited page                  

For futher information contact Sandra Carter  0131 667 6052 email Sandra.carter@barts.myzen.co.uk