Big Ideas from the Homegroups
Thank you to all those (around 65) of you who fed in your views through homegroups. Thank you to the homegroup leaders who spent two hours of their valuable time feeding back the results in a badly chaired meeting. About a hundred views were voiced and the leadership team will see the whole set; here is a digest of the main themes that emerged.
First Big Idea: We’re sharing a Hunger.
We want to be one, but don’t know how, given the limitations of both our buildings and the tensions that occur when worship style is unfamiliar. But if we KNEW church would feed us, we wouldn’t care as much about style. Once we know the way ahead, we can do whatever it takes (eg building work or buying a minibus) to make it work.
Second Big Idea: Discipline is Required.
The word “discipline” occurred as we discussed many themes. We feel our Sunday services need to be disciplined – this does NOT mean not fun or not child-friendly (for example, the Christingle Service was disciplined, child-friendly and fun). We feel that the leadership team needs to be disciplined as it comes to decisions – some groups feared that decisions would be postponed or, if taken, then mere compromises or not followed-through into implementation. And we feel that the members need to be disciplined to accept and submit to the decisions taken – a good school consults the children, but the children need to accept the decisions made.
Third Big Idea: The Hub of Images of Church is and should be “Family”.
Almost all the groups ranked this both as St Michael’s strength and as the most important thing to retain moving forward. Many of the other images of church (army base, school, hospital) drew much of their attraction from the way that they operate in certain ways like a family. We felt that homegroups are particularly good at this (indeed, we recognise that some people find homegroups daunting for exactly this reason), but we need to be “on watch” to make sure that every person who comes through our doors on a Sunday also feels embraced and welcomed by the family. “Everyone needs a smile” – and they may also need a prayer. The Galleywood area desperately needs this kind of community. God is like a mother, protecting us, providing for us, and feeling our pain. A family combines people of different ages; we love the idea of children and young people being a very visible (and participating) part of our services, and value our relationship with the schools.
Fourth Big Idea: We need to work a lot harder on Spreading the News.
Almost all the groups felt that this was a weakness. Some felt that we spend so much energy “instructing” the Christians, we have no time left for non-Christians; others mentioned the difficulty of making truth-claims in a world that dislikes absolutes, a sense that we aren’t good at packaging ourselves as current and relevant (who wants old news?), or the parish system that can sometimes get in the way of mission. Specifically, we should be liaising with radio (Radio Essex and Radio Chelmsford) and desperately need an up-to-date website, perhaps with sermons uploaded onto it. “my neighbour would come if... ...I gave them an opportunity to say yes”, said one group, acknowledging that we’ve never learnt to ask. We need to make communicating with youth and building strong youthwork a priority; and we need to be very careful that our language on a Sunday morning is accessible to newcomers, and that we don’t target services at existing Christians (eg by asking everyone to say the grace without it written down for them). And we acknowledged that this weakness is not just a matter of faulty evangelism close to home; we also do not send out missionaries worldwide; perhaps this is something we should be challenged about (including the retired).
Fifth Big Idea: We are ambivalent about where “instruction” is meant to occur.
All the groups agreed that instructing our members in how they should live was a strength of St Michael’s, and a particular part of homegroups. However, some groups felt that “instruction” was over-emphasised, or that it is something that should find its place in homegroups and not as much on Sunday mornings, where a more invitational/grace-oriented/newcomer-friendly message was more appropriate. Others felt that it was important to retain “instruction” as a strong part of all our services and groups; “church is a place to learn” and to “speak the truth in love", though of course this is not an excuse to use words to hurt.
Sixth Big Idea: We fear the Holy Spirit is not being sufficiently Highlighted
We like the picture of leaving church as “little flames”, “empowered to get back out there”. But in order for that to happen, there needs to be a real sense of the power of God in the church; our services need to be “humming with his power” (not our power – we’re only a substation!). But we doubt that this is the case, and wonder if it is because the Holy Spirit is under-emphasised. It might seem daunting to develop this more – “too hot to handle” – and there are dangers in all this (for example, we hate the idea that some people might think they’re “second class Christians” because they don’t speak in tongues). But we are convinced that being empowered by the Holy Spirit is an important part of the way ahead. We also felt that prayer for healing should be an important part of the ministry of the church.
Seventh Big Idea: We need to “do good” corporately as well as individually.
We recognized that many individuals within St Michael’s do sacrificial acts of good for neighbours or for the community. But all the images of church are corporate, and it would be good to have practical ways that we can show God’s love TOGETHER.
Eighth Big Idea: Homegroups need to be Highlighted
There needs to be active encouragement for Christians to join homegroups and to lead homegroups; training should be provided.
Thank you to all those (around 65) of you who fed in your views through homegroups. Thank you to the homegroup leaders who spent two hours of their valuable time feeding back the results in a badly chaired meeting. About a hundred views were voiced and the leadership team will see the whole set; here is a digest of the main themes that emerged.
First Big Idea: We’re sharing a Hunger.
We want to be one, but don’t know how, given the limitations of both our buildings and the tensions that occur when worship style is unfamiliar. But if we KNEW church would feed us, we wouldn’t care as much about style. Once we know the way ahead, we can do whatever it takes (eg building work or buying a minibus) to make it work.
Second Big Idea: Discipline is Required.
The word “discipline” occurred as we discussed many themes. We feel our Sunday services need to be disciplined – this does NOT mean not fun or not child-friendly (for example, the Christingle Service was disciplined, child-friendly and fun). We feel that the leadership team needs to be disciplined as it comes to decisions – some groups feared that decisions would be postponed or, if taken, then mere compromises or not followed-through into implementation. And we feel that the members need to be disciplined to accept and submit to the decisions taken – a good school consults the children, but the children need to accept the decisions made.
Third Big Idea: The Hub of Images of Church is and should be “Family”.
Almost all the groups ranked this both as St Michael’s strength and as the most important thing to retain moving forward. Many of the other images of church (army base, school, hospital) drew much of their attraction from the way that they operate in certain ways like a family. We felt that homegroups are particularly good at this (indeed, we recognise that some people find homegroups daunting for exactly this reason), but we need to be “on watch” to make sure that every person who comes through our doors on a Sunday also feels embraced and welcomed by the family. “Everyone needs a smile” – and they may also need a prayer. The Galleywood area desperately needs this kind of community. God is like a mother, protecting us, providing for us, and feeling our pain. A family combines people of different ages; we love the idea of children and young people being a very visible (and participating) part of our services, and value our relationship with the schools.
Fourth Big Idea: We need to work a lot harder on Spreading the News.
Almost all the groups felt that this was a weakness. Some felt that we spend so much energy “instructing” the Christians, we have no time left for non-Christians; others mentioned the difficulty of making truth-claims in a world that dislikes absolutes, a sense that we aren’t good at packaging ourselves as current and relevant (who wants old news?), or the parish system that can sometimes get in the way of mission. Specifically, we should be liaising with radio (Radio Essex and Radio Chelmsford) and desperately need an up-to-date website, perhaps with sermons uploaded onto it. “my neighbour would come if... ...I gave them an opportunity to say yes”, said one group, acknowledging that we’ve never learnt to ask. We need to make communicating with youth and building strong youthwork a priority; and we need to be very careful that our language on a Sunday morning is accessible to newcomers, and that we don’t target services at existing Christians (eg by asking everyone to say the grace without it written down for them). And we acknowledged that this weakness is not just a matter of faulty evangelism close to home; we also do not send out missionaries worldwide; perhaps this is something we should be challenged about (including the retired).
Fifth Big Idea: We are ambivalent about where “instruction” is meant to occur.
All the groups agreed that instructing our members in how they should live was a strength of St Michael’s, and a particular part of homegroups. However, some groups felt that “instruction” was over-emphasised, or that it is something that should find its place in homegroups and not as much on Sunday mornings, where a more invitational/grace-oriented/newcomer-friendly message was more appropriate. Others felt that it was important to retain “instruction” as a strong part of all our services and groups; “church is a place to learn” and to “speak the truth in love", though of course this is not an excuse to use words to hurt.
Sixth Big Idea: We fear the Holy Spirit is not being sufficiently Highlighted
We like the picture of leaving church as “little flames”, “empowered to get back out there”. But in order for that to happen, there needs to be a real sense of the power of God in the church; our services need to be “humming with his power” (not our power – we’re only a substation!). But we doubt that this is the case, and wonder if it is because the Holy Spirit is under-emphasised. It might seem daunting to develop this more – “too hot to handle” – and there are dangers in all this (for example, we hate the idea that some people might think they’re “second class Christians” because they don’t speak in tongues). But we are convinced that being empowered by the Holy Spirit is an important part of the way ahead. We also felt that prayer for healing should be an important part of the ministry of the church.
Seventh Big Idea: We need to “do good” corporately as well as individually.
We recognized that many individuals within St Michael’s do sacrificial acts of good for neighbours or for the community. But all the images of church are corporate, and it would be good to have practical ways that we can show God’s love TOGETHER.
Eighth Big Idea: Homegroups need to be Highlighted
There needs to be active encouragement for Christians to join homegroups and to lead homegroups; training should be provided.
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