Last year the Bristol Diocesan Bishop’s Council received with enthusiasm a presentation from Stuart Murray Williams around the Diocese’s Growth Programme in the context of a post-Christendom culture. Members of the Council described the presentation as ‘thought provoking’ in a way that made them want to think some more about what he said. Basically, he highlighted three things from the Growth Programme which he thought were of significance.
1.Getting out of our comfort zones
2.Preparedness to take risks
3.Connecting with those who have never been a part of Church
All three of these things ask very big questions. Douglas Holt, our Director of Training, has quoted memorably from the Harvard Business Review which stated unequivocally that ‘leaders constantly underestimate the strength required to get people to leave their comfort zones.’ In my experience this is true. We like what is familiar. R.T. Kendall describes my comfort zone as that place ‘which feels like home.’ We shall have to give some serious thought as to how we give people the vision and the courage to leave behind some of their comforts in order to more realistically engage with the world around us.
From a Biblical point of view, it is clear that Jesus threatened the comfort zones of the respectable religious establishment, to the point where they actively plotted to kill him. My own sense is that good leaders empower people to leave the safety of their comfort zones, but I would be interested to know if you have any further thoughts.
Being prepared to take risks is a close relative of leaving behind comfort zones. To take risks seems to be part and parcel of living faithfully. The Bible is full of stories that involve individuals who were prepared to take significant risks. In a society that is in danger of becoming risk averse, taking risks can feel very scary. Yet God calls us to take risks as we seek to follow Him and it is surely a challenge to the ‘safety-first’ approach of many local churches and communities.
Finally, the very big issue of how we connect with those who have never been a part of Christian community. There are a growing number of examples of groups seriously seeking to engage with the unchurched. Churches aimed at young adults; the concept of network churches where specific interest groups and networks are targetted, together with imaginative chaplaincy initiatives eg. the chaplaincy to ASDA in Swindon, are but a few examples of this, but we need more. A key question is whether exisiting Christian communities can be transitioned? My sense, on the whole is not. My guess is that we shall have to work out new ways to connect with the unchurched. What do you think? More coming soon on emerging church.
+Mike
Mike Hill 
January 10, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Bishop Mike,
Great to hear that you’ll be carrying on the blog. I look forward to reading more of your thoughts on emerging church and other subjects.
Dave
January 10, 2007 at 10:04 pm
The interesting thing is that for many who do the ‘stepping out’, the trigger issue was that a church which was manifestly not contacting the unchurched or post-churched was so acutely uncomfortable. I’m reminded of the 2005 talk by Bill Hybels at that year’s leadership summit, where he talked about the ‘popeye moment’. Popeye would frequently get to the point where he’d suddenly crack after enduring all sorts of nonsense. ‘I don’t know if I can stand any more of this,’ he’d say. ‘In fact, I can’t stand it no more.’ It’s probably this, as much as anything, which pushes people out of the comfort zone, and makes the Church truly ’emerge’.
Great to see your blogging is taking new directions Mike. It’s probably worth noting that a good site for emerging church stuff is emergingchurch.info. It’s also great to hear of Anthea’s continued improvement.
January 11, 2007 at 12:13 am
Pete and I met you 2 years ago at Christ Church Swindon. Pete was station Chaplain at RAF Lyneham and now we are at Valley on Anglesey.
I was really encouraged by your blog about the emerging church, 9th Jan. In fact we are hoping to launch a fresh expressions initative at RAF Valley called “Messy Church” in 2 months.
Over a year ago we established a toddler group from scratch in the station church of St Mihangels. We have just celebrated our 1st year and we have a membership of over 40 families from both RAF and local community. Awesome! Only 1 family from this toddler group attends the little church Pete runs on a Sunday morning. Over the past year we have invited these families to various church events like Mothering Sunday services, Christingle and Harvest with very poor response. We prayed and prayed and then thought ALPHA. Again with no interest. Having spoken to the mums, we discovered was that Sunday morning was a no go for the usual reasons. Just before Christmas I casually mentioned a radically different approach to church to the mums and Messy Church was the model I spoke to them about. All but 1 of these mums were incredibly interested. Wow! I mentioned this to Pete who in turn spoke to senior RAF Chaplains who have offered their support. So… this kind of service will be held in a coffee shop on camp well know to service families and locals. It will be held on Tuesdays from 3.30 – 5.45 pm. The model for this is explained in Lucy Moore’s book “Messy Church – Fresh Ideas for building a Christ-centred community.” In some ways it is not dissimilar to Alpha as having a hot meal is a big part of this occassion. We are hoping that dads will be able to join in once flying or work commitments are finished. It is an art and craft approach for the whole family with a 15 minute God slot. (Hope that doesn’t sound too irreverent.)
Sadly, like you Mike, we had a serious health issue to deal with. Pete was diagnosed with bowel cancer in November and had surgery early in December. He starts his 6 month chemo on Mon 15th Jan. We too are blessed by lots and lots of prayers. Our God is a good God and it is He who determines when our work here is finished. The surgery was a success and we are yet to see how the chemo will affect Pete. Please pray that this treatment will not hamper Pete and that Messy Church at RAF Valley will go ahead in March 07. Thanks for the ministry that we have received from your talks at New Wine. Getting out of our comfort zone is exactly where it’s at and sometimes very uncomfortable. But God is faithful! Chaplaincy is so different from parish ministry but it is incredibly exciting and we are living amongst the most interesting and invigorating people. Hope we meet at some other church. Nicloa and Simon Stevenette have been really brilliant at this difficult time for us. Love Carmen and Pete.
January 14, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Delighted that you are continuing and that you have become the first CofE Diocesan to be a blogging Bishops – though there are other Anglican Bishops in Scotland and the States.
Could I make two requests at this early stage:
1. That you encourage the rest of the bench of Bishops to do the same – it is an ideal medium for someone who is not in day-today contact with their closest colleagues -it gives a sense of how life and ministry is for you and breaks down the barriers between parish and Diocese.
I have found it a most personal medium which has extended my ministry to a wide range of people who I would not otherwise have had any contact as well as keeping me in touch with friends and colleagues – and that should apply so much more to a Diocesan role.
2. Could you please please change your template so that you are displaying black text on a white background – I learnt the hard way myself I though it looked great and very contemporary – in practice it is small text which is very hard to read even on the qality 19″ LCD monitor which I am using at the moment.
With blessings to you
Tom
January 14, 2007 at 4:45 pm
What an excellent way of engaging with the troops! Good to include the sporting perspective…..
Quite agree about the need for leadership to take people out of their comfort zones – the problem is that the church has offered a therapeutic gospel which has spawned a leadership which is unasble to lead people out of their comfort zones and unwilling to take risks. Rather thna offering a radical counter-culture is buys into the prevailing culture. David Wells ‘Losing our Virtue’ (IVP) is an excellent, energising read on this subject.
September 19, 2007 at 8:11 am
Really interested to read Carmen’s post above about Messy Church, and delighted that the idea’s useful. To help people setting up and running Messy Churches, we’re organising some Messy Fiestas – days of clebration, training, sharing and discovering the way forward for these new families coming into our churches.
http://www.barnabasinchurches.org.uk/product/BFQ071110Z.htm
There may be churches in Bristol Diocese who would welcome the chance to talk about all they’re doing with others on the same journey. While we haven’t arranged a Messy Fiesta for Bristol Diocese yet, I’d be very happy to arrange one if there’s enough interest. Surely the way to discover what God’s up to and to join in is to get together and talk!
June 7, 2008 at 3:24 pm
I hope this is a suitable spot for my query. I am an evangelical baptist from Bristol and also a storyteller. I am a member of The Society for Storytelling(SfS)and very recently the society has opened a special interest group called ‘Faith’. It is interdenominational. The interest shown from members has been incredible and has amazed the directors of SfS. We have held various meetings to move the group forward but we have not yet answered this question; What makes a story sacred? What would be your answer from an Anglican Bishops point of view?