Guildford rector, the Rev Tim Booker has been doorknocking with members of his western Sydney parish since March last year, but says Connect09 has led him to think more deliberately about this way of getting to know the local neighbourhood.
After repeating the effort with a National Training Event mission team in December, up to 20 parish members hit the pavement again last month.
Mr Booker says macro data had alerted him to the fact that many families in his highly multicultural area are doing it tough.
"The repossession rate in Guildford is the highest in the country" and it's a very religious area " 60 per cent call themselves Christian."
However he says it was walking the streets that helped him to see the nature of that hardship.
"Some of these families are almost poverty-stricken " a lot are living a dozen to a house."
For this reason, the op shop on the church grounds will be key to Connect09 in Guildford.
"The op shop has a lot of people come through it because families are struggling," he says.
The word on the street
Now in their late 50s, the McDermotts recently sold their shopfront business repairing kitchen appliances despite its going quite well. The aim was to free up time for ministry.
Janelle now works as the church records administrator. Rob has fallen back on his nursing qualifications and is working in aged care.
However, he says that there is a lot of pressure to take on extra shifts. He hopes to negotiate better hours this month, so he can pursue his theological studies.
Like other Bible study leaders in their parish, the McDermotts were asked to suspend their home groups for 10 weeks to work on a Connect09 project.
The McDermotts were keen to quickly start on their Connect09 community survey and utilise its widespread potential.
“We wanted to get started early so we could give feedback before our first [Connect09] home group meeting. We hoped this would encourage others in the group to get involved,” Janelle says.
“What appealed to me is that you can cover a large area,” Rob says. “The other options are more focused. The bread distribution we are doing will only be in one street. I also heard that another church found a better than 80 per cent response rate.”
While Janelle was far more nervous than Rob in conducting the surveys, both found it a challenging experience.
“To be really honest, I have been a Christian for over 30 years and I didn't really feel motivated to do it. My wife and I are so busy,” Rob says.
“This is not an excuse. I am working tonight when I would normally be sleeping, so it will be a big effort to go out tomorrow afternoon and distribute bread.”
However, despite the weekly obstacles to conducting the surveys the pair understand the importance of being focussed and intentional.
“Once you get out and get going it is not that hard, and you do get some wonderful responses,” Rob acknowledges.
The McDermotts admit they were surprised by some of the survey results.
“It was much easier than I expected. I have been surprised by the openness of some,” Janelle says.
Of the half-a-dozen households the McDermotts spoke to, Rob says everyone was very polite.
“We spoke to one lady for a good half hour, we actually lost track of time. It was a really good chat. She is a 74-year-old nominal Anglican and was very warm. We will go back and visit her again,” he says.
Rob says there has been some reluctance among church members to take up the cause.
“There has been reluctance. I have also found people won't go out after dark doorknocking. So we are using our usual Bible study time for prayer,” Rob says.
“A lot of people are really challenged in doing this. We live in our comfort zone and resist getting out there. For a long time we have wanted to see real growth but as God's people we have largely been asleep.”
Rob says he loves the fact that Connect09 motivates people to put their faith into practice.
“The vision of the diocese is very exciting but it needs "legs' on it to work, as well as prayer. That is what Connect is all about.”
Rob has one piece of advice for other churches keen to utilise the Connect09 surveys.
“The survey works really well. But you must limit your questions to about half a dozen. You can't expect to ask people 20 questions.”
Do-it-yourself data decoder
In a first, Anglicare, in partnership with the National Church Life Survey (NCLS), is releasing customised Census 2006 data in tailor-made kits for every parish in Sydney Diocese this month.
Sue King, Manager of Anglicare's Policy Unit which oversees mission research, says these Community Connections Packs will give parishes the survey tools and data they need to connect more effectively with their community.
"It is digestible and user-friendly," she says. "NCLS have worked very hard, going further than ever in this direction" I think it's the best resource they've produced."
The kits were road-tested at the Northern Region Clergy Conference on May 19 to help iron out any bugs and were well received.
Nevertheless, in ringing around other rectors to find out how they will use the parish data packs, SC was underwhelmed by the response.
The Rev Andrew Nixon, Executive Director of Connect09, hopes ministers realise this is a brand-new product.
"This has the potential to be a very powerful tool for ministry," he says.
The kits include three separate products. Mr Nixon is particularly excited about the leaders' workbook which helps congregations interact meaningfully with the data and make plans to connect further with the community.
Sue King wants to encourage parishes to actually do their own community surveys as a way of opening doors into the community.
"The kits will include examples of the sorts of questions that could be asked and advice on how to collect the data," she says.
