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.

We have to a large extent used it as the basis for building our church life and we use it often, not only with the leadership team but also with our pastoral leaders and fellowship group leaders.”

The WinningWays team have also met with Zion’s eldership and recently contributed to a Sunday teaching programme on the ‘first circle’ concern of Discipleship.

Stephen has particularly appreciated the regular contact with the WinningWays team. “It has been helpful for me personally and has provided someone for me to bounce ideas off of as well as being a means of spiritual support”.

The church’s members that have attended the Church Growth Academy have all brought fresh thinking and enthusiasm back into the church. According to Stephen, the overall effect has been “to help us think more strategically and to do more efficient forward-planning’.

The example of Stephen at Zion is a real spur to church leaders to think how to orientate every area of church life around the 3 circles, so that outreach values become part of the church's very structure.