Church of The Holy Spirit
Church Vision 2009
Report and Vision APCM 2009
Anna, the boys and myself have been here for seven months now, and we feel very much at home. We’d like to say a very big thankyou to you all for your welcome to us, your love, friendship, and shared commitment with us to know Christ and make him known to others.
There are so many things we are grateful for. I’m thrilled that there’s so much going on by way of organised community outreach and that our building is used every day of the week. On the premises we have Friendship Club, the youth church GRIT, the Oaks Leadership Group, Wednesday Communion, a cell group, Alpha, Coffee Shop, Traidcraft Stall, Zac’s Place, youth café, TORCH (for blind and visually impaired people). It’s really good that we can make our hall available to outside groups like Squirrels pre-school, Bucks Association for the Blind and dance lessons. And Sundays are of course a real joy. As well as the services, the regular Sunday Treats lunches really are a treat - a delicious roast is served to a hall full of people. I think we make excellent use of the facilities we are blessed with, and I’m proud of the hospitality we give to people through the events that go on here, and the dedication of the people who work hard together to make these things happen. Our corporate concerns are not restricted to those who come inside our new glass doors either, as we go door knocking around Bedgrove to offer prayer for people, as we work with other Christians to share God’s love and the hope we have with the whole town, and support mission abroad.
Also, there have been, from my perspective, several encouraging developments over the last seven months as well. Regarding corporate prayer, I’m delighted that we’ve been able to restart the monthly church prayer meeting on Wednesday evenings. We generally pray for our life and mission as a church community and for mission abroad alternately. I see this as really important and continue to hope that all the small groups will make attendance there as a group their main church priority of the week along with others who are not in a small group. Also I’m thankful that we are now praying for our town and national issues with the other churches in the Aylesbury Church Network on a Sunday evening each month instead of holding our own service. There have been some changes to that Sunday evening, by the way. It now starts at 6.00 for refreshments and then prayer and praise from
Another area of progress has been the ministry to children and young people. My impression, is that this church had many more children and young people in times gone by, and we are now seeking to build up the numbers from a relatively low base. But I’m excited by what is going on and do think this is an area where we are now moving forward. Our youth worker, Caroline and many other committed people are doing super work with over 11s both inside and outside the church family, and the recent youth service was just one testimony to that.
For the under 11s we have seen the establishment of a staffed crèche and the Minibees are providing age appropriate teaching for the 3-5s and 5-7s. We have a new TFJ team teaching the 7-11s separately from the 11-14s who meet in a newly formed group called Quench.
We’re still looking for more Minibees leaders and crèche helpers and a male Quench leader, but I believe we are more equipped now to welcome families with children and young people. I’m looking forward to admitting several children to Communion on Easter Sunday for the first time.
We also have a new baptism policy. For those who haven’t been to the church before or who haven’t been for a long time, the preparation we require for those who would like their infants baptised is to come to church as a family on six separate Sundays, and then we’ll talk about a date for the event. The idea is that more baptism families become truly integrated into the life of the church. Some families have entered into this more fully than others, but overall I’m fairly happy with how the policy is working so far, but I will say a few words later on about how we welcome those who come to us.
As I look back on the first few months, I think there has also been progress in attitudes to one another. Essentially, church life is about our relationships with one another in the Lord. I know that there have been stresses and strains on relationships in the past, and that some of these continue, and that some friendships have cooled and others been sorely tested through church politics. For me, the church weekend was a significant moment. The downside of not going away was that there seemed to be a lower level of commitment in attendance, and we need to think about that. But for those who did come on the Friday and Saturday, as well as the Sunday, I think there was a spiritual breakthrough in terms of relationships and attitudes to worship. Marilyn Baker and Tracy Williamson’s trust in God, their humble dependence on him, and their loving co-operation with each other, in and through their disabilities, was what I was left with, rather than any particular melody, beat or song. And I think that having a true heart for worship is what is important – rather than merely having the ability to play an instrument or sing.
We all have our opinions about music, and the style and taste that appeals to us at any given time. But what is more important than the music or the instrument, is a life that is given over to loving God, and helping and encouraging others to draw into God’s presence. And then we find we can easily lay individual personal preference aside and rejoice when others are released into true worship. We’re fortunate to have a good number of singers and musicians who love the Lord, but to lead worship in church is a spiritual task that goes beyond having a natural talent. That’s why we miss seeing our dear Graham up front so much, and we’re particularly grateful to Suzanne for bearing a heavier load. We must pray for all our worship leaders that our sung worship is truly honouring to the Lord, and the right people of whatever age join this ministry.
Well, what I’ve said so far mainly relates to the past. Now I want to talk about my hopes for the future. I think it’s important that I give some idea of how I see our church developing.
First of all, I want to say I have a vision for spiritual and numerical growth. For some, this may seem an obvious vision to have, because a healthy church is a growing church. But I do think it’s important to acknowledge what both spiritual and numerical growth really mean. Spiritual growth is about us all, as individuals and members of one body, growing in our appreciation of God’s love for us, and our capacity for loving him back. As I was saying on Sunday, worship that most honours God is worship that is committed, sincere, humble, perceptive, courageous, unselfconscious and joyful. But growth in these areas is not without its challenges, pains, and setbacks. All of us are ‘work in progress’ and at different stages in our walk with the Lord. It’s only when we step out, leave our comfort zones, live by grace, and depend on the Holy Spirit and His power, rather than our own strength, that spiritual growth can occur. We have to be willing to sacrifice our pride and anything that gets in the way of our relationship with the Lord. It’s not easy to be a radical Christian and the path to spiritual growth is sometimes a hard one, as we’re stripped of those things which belong to our old lives.
So small groups are essential for spiritual growth. In a small group we can find close fellowship, support and prayer. We are more accountable to each other. It’s more likely we’ll hear the truth spoken to us in love. We’ll discover more how to apply God’s truth in scripture to our lives as we learn from each other. I would like those who, like me, haven’t done a Freedom in Christ course to have the opportunity to do so, and I want more people to be drawn into cell groups or house groups. Some of these groups may have to be re-formulated if we’re to avoid getting into a rut and if we want release more leadership potential.
Numerical growth isn’t always the ‘be all and end all’. Some churches can grow quite rapidly for a time through Christians transferring from other churches. That kind of growth isn’t necessarily growing the kingdom overall – it’s just a result of one church offering a better or more attractive ‘product’ than others and creaming off Christians. The kind of numerical growth I would like to see most of all is that which comes from people being thoroughly converted to Jesus, either from outright unbelief or from the fringes of our church life. When people get converted from unbelief or move from the ‘fringe’ to the ‘centre’, they often help create a new ‘fringe’, through their influence on family and friends. This kind of growth is exciting as we see people saved and lives transformed.
Now again, numerical growth is not without cost. We might not like to admit it, but there are several advantages to not growing as a church. First of all, new people bring change. Everyone finds some aspects of change a challenge. Some fight any change. I have a friend who travels the country preaching in different churches. In
And actually achieving real numerical growth does require sacrifice. Before the service, we’d perhaps prefer to be thinking our own thoughts or catching up with friends, or sorting church business, rather than prayerfully looking out for those who might be new. At coffee after the service, we’d maybe quite like to just chat with our set or discuss “churchy issues” rather than make the effort to go and talk to someone we don’t know, especially if they appear different to us – perhaps a different coloured skin, or an age group we don’t easily identify with. One of the areas of growth I’m hoping for is that baptism families will be drawn in from the fringe to full participation. Sometimes I see individuals or families brave the lounge area for coffee after a service, but then standing or sitting on their own. Please can I ask everyone to rise to this challenge to talk to people you don’t know. Just do it and I think you’ll be surprised at how it gets easier and how rewarding it is!
Also we need to be welcoming in a sensitive way. For some church is a scary place. I was made more aware of this when someone challenged me to imagine going into a betting office to place a bet on a horse. Nowadays betting shops are more open than they used to be. The law now allows them to have open glass windows and doors, like our new ones. But having never been into such an establishment, I’d feel quite frightened and easily embarrassed at not knowing what to do. There would be jargon I wouldn’t understand, rules and procedures I had no idea of, and I think one slight frown or sigh from anyone inside and I’d be out like a shot, breathing heavily and grateful that the whole experience was over. Well, I’m sure that’s how some un-churched people view coming to a church service.
Others might be more used to church but, for one reason or another are looking for a quiet place at the back. They won’t necessarily appreciate being asked their life story or given an invitation to join a rota on their first Sunday here or their return after a long break. It’s about noticing people, being welcoming, loving and sensitive. If we do that, newcomers or returnees are more likely to enjoy themselves, whatever the songs we sing, or the length of the sermon!
Finally, I want to make the connection between our building and the welcome we give to visitors. I’ve proposed to the PCC that we make some changes to the back of the church building. This proposal has two aspects to it
Firstly, I think we should update and improve the décor and facilities of our building so that it is more ‘fit for purpose’, aesthetically pleasing, and disabled-friendly. I think it’s important that we demonstrate through the building’s appearance that this church is spiritually alive today in 2009, and not only a monument to past faith, whether that faith was 40 years ago when the church was built or 20 years ago, which many consider to be a
Secondly, I think we should plan for greater capacity in our building to allow an increased number of worshippers at any one time. At the moment those sitting in the carpeted area can feel a bit detached from the main worship area. We could remedy this by removing the brick pillars at the back and replacing them with slim steel pillars, replacing the existing glass and wood partitions with sliding glass doors akin to patio doors. This would improve visibility for those sitting in further back. We would also need to improve our audio/visual equipment, probably using monitors placed at the front and half-way to the back of the building. We could at the same time improve the design of the sound and computer desk.
The PCC has welcomed the outline proposal and authorised detailed architectural plans and financial estimates to be obtained before a decision is taken about going ahead with the work.
In the meantime, Roger Harwood, who chairs our fabric committee, has kindly given us the benefit of his professional expertise in providing rough drawings of what the re-ordering could look like. These are on display at the back for you to look at.
In conclusion, I would like to invite anyone to respond who has any questions or comments about the matters I have raised in the report and the vision I have given……………
Martin Kuhrt (
Download a copy of this report here
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