Philip and I recently led a session for people training for Christian ministry at Trinity College in Bristol. The students were approaching the end of their course and beginning to anticipate some of the challenges of their first ministerial appointments. Several of them were headed for smaller churches which were very traditional in their outlook.

The students had big dreams and  knew what they wanted to do to move their churches into 'mission mode' - but were concerned about the processes of change required to get them there. It's a common problem: all too often a visionary leader gets frustrated by the seeming intransigence of those in the groups that they are leading.

There are lots of helpful books on change processes, but one of our favourites is 'Holy Conversations ' by Gil Rendle and Alice Mann. In the book they talk about the importance of finding the right people to work with when embarking on the change journey (such as that from 'maintenance-church to mission-church mode). According to their analysis, when change is announced:

Book Review : Surprised by Hope, Tom Wright

OK. Let’s play word association. I say ‘Heaven’ and you say ‘Hell’; I say ‘Resurrection’ and you say ‘Easter’; I say ‘Left’ and you say ‘Behind’; I say ‘eschatology’ and you say ‘what?’ or cheat and say ‘Second Coming’.

If that’s something (anything) like the way the game would go, then you’ll find Tom Wright’s book challenging, informative, stretching and stimulating. 

The 'Religious Trends 6' report found that adult males constitute just 41% of church goers in the UK, whereas Tearfund's 'Churchgoing in the UK' report put the figure even lower at 37%. Chris Ducker of Redcliffe College carried out further research which indicated that:

A clear majority of men (68%) said they felt women were more "at home" in church.

67% of men thought that church services appeal more to women (54% of women agreed).

We have been working with Stephen Newell, the minister at Zion United Church, for nearly two years now.

Completing the WinningWays leadership consultation gave Stephen fresh perspectives on church life and health. In his words :

“We found the ‘three circles’ model of church health beautifully simple yet entirely helpful. It’s not difficult to grasp yet we found it to be extremely enlightening, and we continue to use it as a test of what we are doing.