Gearing up for Growth

Over the past ten years, in St. Mary's Cogges there has been a consistent rise in numbers, with the average weekly attendance at our Sunday morning services increasing from around 100 to over 170. While this is certainly cause for celebration, it presents certain challenges. Research suggests that attendance will plateau, and even start to decrease, when 80% of the seats are occupied on a regular basis - newcomers won't come back and current members may attend less frequently. Increased numbers also create other issues: the relationships between leaders and the wider range of activities become too complex to be co-ordinated in relatively informal ways, people may lose a sense of common identity and connection with the vision and purpose of the church and it becomes harder to ensure that everyone is nurtured and cared for. Together with the wardens, PCC and some other members of our congregation, I have been considering how we respond to these challenges, building both on the work undertaken in 2009 on our values and calling and, more recently, on enabling people to serve in their areas of giftedness and passion. At our PCC Away Day last Sunday, we considered two of the main 'building blocks' of a way forward and agreed that it was time to lay these developing ideas before you to share our thinking and seek your input.

Changing the pattern of Sunday services

There is a clear need to increase capacity on a Sunday morning. We are proposing to introduce an additional Sunday morning service between the 8 o'clock and 11 o'clock. In addition to increasing capacity, this gives us the chance for greater variety in our styles of worship to reflect the diversity of our congregation, yet built around our common vision and values. For example, one of the services may be more structured, using the Common Worship forms, while the other may be less formal and allow us to experiment with different forms and styles. We would really value your views on this, and will be producing a more detailed description and a questionnaire in the next week or two so that you can share your views.

A better way to co-ordinate and communicate

We have given much prayerful thought as to how we might set in place structures to improve co-ordination and communication between the increasing range of activities we undertake. We have sought a balance between allowing individuals the freedom to pursue the direction in which they feel the Holy Spirit is leading whilst having enough structure to provide an overall framework where existing and new activities find their place and identity within the overall mission of the church. We are proposing to establish Ministry Hubs that will co-ordinate related activities and provide a mechanism for groups to liaise better with me, the PCC and each other. An implementation group is meeting to agree how we take this forward, and would welcome your input.

• The proposal: Strategy for Mission

• Hubs Definition handout (12th June 2011)

I look forward to sharing this journey with you,

Andrew Sweeney
15th May 2011