Ordinary Glory and Rolling Worship - Decisions for St Michael's Church, Galleywood
Ordinary Glory and Rolling Worship: Decisions at St Michael’s Church, Galleywood
Executive Summary
God is calling us to live ordinary lives, gloriously. To equip us to do so, and to enable others to connect to the life-changing power of the Spirit, he is calling us to unite the St Michael’s family on Sunday mornings in a pattern of “Rolling Worship”.
Rolling Worship will be launched at Pentecost 2010 and find its permanent home at the Church on the Common as soon as practicable, with the church being renovated with the needs of Rolling Worship in mind by summer 2012. God also wants us to get better at spreading the news and to renew our presence in the hub of the village.
Forty Days of Discernment
Over a forty-day period, the members of St Michael’s church have listened to God and met with one another. Through a variety of means, including a graffiti wall, a blog at www.galleywood40.weebly.com, and a consultation via homegroups, we, the Leadership Team listened to what God has been saying to his people and met in what we hope was a prayerful and selfless spirit for long hours of discussion. The principles outlined in this document were agreed unanimously.
Six things we believe God is saying to us as a church.
a. God is calling us to live ordinary lives, gloriously. The light of glory will shine on wherever we are practising the presence of God as “full-time Christians”, not just on the church building. “God turns kitchen sinks into shrines, cafes into convents, nine-to-five workdays into spiritual adventures. He uncommons the common, and conducts holy business 24/7.” – anonymous contributor to the blog. Whatever means of teaching, sermon series etc. are to be used at St Michael’s Galleywood, we should be able to evaluate them in line with the following principles: do they lead Christians to glorify God in their everyday living by the power of the Holy Spirit – seven whole days, not one in seven? Do they show others how their ordinary lives can be glorious if they trust in Jesus and “plug in” to the power of the Spirit?
b. God has given us a hunger for oneness, yet also a mission that demands diversity. On the one hand,we want to be together, though the limitations of both our buildings and the tensions that occur when worship style is unfamiliar are obstacles. “We’re sharing a hunger for oneness, and if we KNEW church would feed us, we wouldn’t care as much about style.” - Homegroup Leaders. On the other hand – for mission reasons and not merely to avoid aggravation – we also believe that we need diversity of worship and a modular structure at some point.“We are meant to be more like a carpenter’s workshop producing individual pieces of furniture, than a factory producing uniform model T Fords” – Travers Harpur. “Half the [adult] church could go and make something and the other half could listen to talks and stuff.” - Hannah Beales. We believe Rolling Worship (see the page on this site on rolling worship) is the way God is calling us to combine unity and diversity. We are not at this time changing our 8am or evening services.
c. Sunday morning worship is our ‘shop window’ to the village: Though our everyday actions, reactions, conversations, and acts of love are the “ordinary glory” that will have the greatest impact on the people in our area, Sunday morning worship is our “shop window”, the focus of our “guest-friendly” welcome to others. By this we do not mean that we need to pretend to be something that we are not, but that we are honestly to display to all what we really are.
We believe that the door to Christian faith is more likely to open through newcomer-friendly Sunday morning worship than homegroups. “Homegroups are the place where individuals can be part of a small family where they can be nurtured, taught and cared for and participation should be encouraged for everyone. This might necessitate expanding the number of groups and possibly the training of new leaders. Homegroups should not be the place for a primary evangelistic activity, but rather for caring and teaching.” - Geoff Windus. However, homegroups may still have a secondary evangelistic role.
d. God is calling us to relate to one another as a family. For us in Galleywood, this is the hub of all the images of church. “We need to be “on watch” to make sure that every person who comes through our doors on a Sunday feels embraced and welcomed by the family. Everyone needs a smile – and they may also need a prayer. Our area desperately needs this kind of community; God, like a mother, protects us, provides for us, feels our pain and makes us this kind of family. 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.” - Homegroup leaders. “As a family, there are times when we do things together, for instance: eating together, celebrations, entertainment, looking after each other, etc and times when we do things separately; most notably learning (school/work). Because of our different ages, abilities, natural preferences it is sometime hard (and even inappropriate) to learn together. It is better for our children to watch ‘Newsround’, whilst we watch ‘News at Ten’. So at church I think that we should look to find things we can do together, whilst recognising that some things may better be achieved through separate activities.” - Catherine Beales
e. We need to do a lot better at spreading the News. “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; this is something we should be challenged about (including the retired).” - Homegroup leaders. “We need to reach out in every way we can - personally, through the press, via the internet, in whatever way we can message. We must be more prepared to give our time - all of us, not just a few. The Lord requires us to serve, and there is no retirement age. Every last one of us can pray. Who are we reaching out to? Everyone, including the people who are not like us or we don't understand. Steve Mack
f. We need to maintain a presence at the Barnard Road schools. which needs to be visible, regular and appropriate to the community.
Launching Rolling Worship
The Sunday after Ascension (May 16 2010) will give us an opportunity to celebrate the heritage of Church at the School/Family Hour and Church on the Common, and thank the CATS team and COTC team for all their service over the years as the teams are dissolved. Then on Pentecost Sunday (May 23 2010), the birthday of the church, we will launch Rolling Worship.
Our preference is to launch Rolling Worship at the Church on the Common, even if future temporary moves back to the school are possible (while building work is going on, or if the heating proves inadequate in a cold snap). However, launching Rolling Worship in May at the church depends on planning permission (“faculties”) being given to site demountable classrooms in the churchyard, and we do not know if this can be done so quickly. Our “Plan B” is to launch Rolling Worship at the school, and move it to the church as soon as appropriate accommodation for children’s and youth groups can be found.
It will be very important to build a rolling worship team before the launch day.
Changes to the Church Building
Though we hope we will be allowed to use demountable classrooms in the short term, this is not a long term solution, and we hope that alterations to the church building can be completed by summer 2012; this is bound to be costly. We plan to commission a feasibility study immediately. Once this is completed, it should be possible to list the work to be done and the finance needed. A fundraising committee will be set up and a set of fundraising events organised; it is important that these should be fun, and not merely a drain of energy. Local organisations, businesses and individuals will be contacted. And we will all have a chance to give generously.
Thank you
to all those who prayed with us and worked hard in the 40 days. We are privileged to lead you.
The Leadership Team, February 14 2010
Executive Summary
God is calling us to live ordinary lives, gloriously. To equip us to do so, and to enable others to connect to the life-changing power of the Spirit, he is calling us to unite the St Michael’s family on Sunday mornings in a pattern of “Rolling Worship”.
Rolling Worship will be launched at Pentecost 2010 and find its permanent home at the Church on the Common as soon as practicable, with the church being renovated with the needs of Rolling Worship in mind by summer 2012. God also wants us to get better at spreading the news and to renew our presence in the hub of the village.
Forty Days of Discernment
Over a forty-day period, the members of St Michael’s church have listened to God and met with one another. Through a variety of means, including a graffiti wall, a blog at www.galleywood40.weebly.com, and a consultation via homegroups, we, the Leadership Team listened to what God has been saying to his people and met in what we hope was a prayerful and selfless spirit for long hours of discussion. The principles outlined in this document were agreed unanimously.
Six things we believe God is saying to us as a church.
a. God is calling us to live ordinary lives, gloriously. The light of glory will shine on wherever we are practising the presence of God as “full-time Christians”, not just on the church building. “God turns kitchen sinks into shrines, cafes into convents, nine-to-five workdays into spiritual adventures. He uncommons the common, and conducts holy business 24/7.” – anonymous contributor to the blog. Whatever means of teaching, sermon series etc. are to be used at St Michael’s Galleywood, we should be able to evaluate them in line with the following principles: do they lead Christians to glorify God in their everyday living by the power of the Holy Spirit – seven whole days, not one in seven? Do they show others how their ordinary lives can be glorious if they trust in Jesus and “plug in” to the power of the Spirit?
b. God has given us a hunger for oneness, yet also a mission that demands diversity. On the one hand,we want to be together, though the limitations of both our buildings and the tensions that occur when worship style is unfamiliar are obstacles. “We’re sharing a hunger for oneness, and if we KNEW church would feed us, we wouldn’t care as much about style.” - Homegroup Leaders. On the other hand – for mission reasons and not merely to avoid aggravation – we also believe that we need diversity of worship and a modular structure at some point.“We are meant to be more like a carpenter’s workshop producing individual pieces of furniture, than a factory producing uniform model T Fords” – Travers Harpur. “Half the [adult] church could go and make something and the other half could listen to talks and stuff.” - Hannah Beales. We believe Rolling Worship (see the page on this site on rolling worship) is the way God is calling us to combine unity and diversity. We are not at this time changing our 8am or evening services.
c. Sunday morning worship is our ‘shop window’ to the village: Though our everyday actions, reactions, conversations, and acts of love are the “ordinary glory” that will have the greatest impact on the people in our area, Sunday morning worship is our “shop window”, the focus of our “guest-friendly” welcome to others. By this we do not mean that we need to pretend to be something that we are not, but that we are honestly to display to all what we really are.
We believe that the door to Christian faith is more likely to open through newcomer-friendly Sunday morning worship than homegroups. “Homegroups are the place where individuals can be part of a small family where they can be nurtured, taught and cared for and participation should be encouraged for everyone. This might necessitate expanding the number of groups and possibly the training of new leaders. Homegroups should not be the place for a primary evangelistic activity, but rather for caring and teaching.” - Geoff Windus. However, homegroups may still have a secondary evangelistic role.
d. God is calling us to relate to one another as a family. For us in Galleywood, this is the hub of all the images of church. “We need to be “on watch” to make sure that every person who comes through our doors on a Sunday feels embraced and welcomed by the family. Everyone needs a smile – and they may also need a prayer. Our area desperately needs this kind of community; God, like a mother, protects us, provides for us, feels our pain and makes us this kind of family. 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.” - Homegroup leaders. “As a family, there are times when we do things together, for instance: eating together, celebrations, entertainment, looking after each other, etc and times when we do things separately; most notably learning (school/work). Because of our different ages, abilities, natural preferences it is sometime hard (and even inappropriate) to learn together. It is better for our children to watch ‘Newsround’, whilst we watch ‘News at Ten’. So at church I think that we should look to find things we can do together, whilst recognising that some things may better be achieved through separate activities.” - Catherine Beales
e. We need to do a lot better at spreading the News. “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; this is something we should be challenged about (including the retired).” - Homegroup leaders. “We need to reach out in every way we can - personally, through the press, via the internet, in whatever way we can message. We must be more prepared to give our time - all of us, not just a few. The Lord requires us to serve, and there is no retirement age. Every last one of us can pray. Who are we reaching out to? Everyone, including the people who are not like us or we don't understand. Steve Mack
f. We need to maintain a presence at the Barnard Road schools. which needs to be visible, regular and appropriate to the community.
Launching Rolling Worship
The Sunday after Ascension (May 16 2010) will give us an opportunity to celebrate the heritage of Church at the School/Family Hour and Church on the Common, and thank the CATS team and COTC team for all their service over the years as the teams are dissolved. Then on Pentecost Sunday (May 23 2010), the birthday of the church, we will launch Rolling Worship.
Our preference is to launch Rolling Worship at the Church on the Common, even if future temporary moves back to the school are possible (while building work is going on, or if the heating proves inadequate in a cold snap). However, launching Rolling Worship in May at the church depends on planning permission (“faculties”) being given to site demountable classrooms in the churchyard, and we do not know if this can be done so quickly. Our “Plan B” is to launch Rolling Worship at the school, and move it to the church as soon as appropriate accommodation for children’s and youth groups can be found.
It will be very important to build a rolling worship team before the launch day.
Changes to the Church Building
Though we hope we will be allowed to use demountable classrooms in the short term, this is not a long term solution, and we hope that alterations to the church building can be completed by summer 2012; this is bound to be costly. We plan to commission a feasibility study immediately. Once this is completed, it should be possible to list the work to be done and the finance needed. A fundraising committee will be set up and a set of fundraising events organised; it is important that these should be fun, and not merely a drain of energy. Local organisations, businesses and individuals will be contacted. And we will all have a chance to give generously.
Thank you
to all those who prayed with us and worked hard in the 40 days. We are privileged to lead you.
The Leadership Team, February 14 2010