Shellharbour City Centre Anglican Church, in conjunction with Shellharbour Anglican College, are planning to start a new church in the school. As part of their planning they sent a team out to different church plants. What they found was a real eye opener into what is considered the forefront of the Sydney mission. Team leader Mal York speaks to Your.Sydneyanglicans.net

Were you surprised by the experience of being a ‘newcomer’?

Each week we were newcomers into these different church environments, and although we were educated in church culture " and most of the clergy and senior lay people knew we were coming - each week was a new experience for us.

Generally, it was good, but on a few occasions, it was very frustrating. We noticed that not every church had a strategy for welcoming new comers " which, if we are serious about the mission, should be a major priority of any church. In some churches there were welcome desks with no one attending them, there was a lot of "in house' talk " especially when referring to the children's program.

Most of our visiting team have young children and so we looked for how the kids program was announced and what directions were given to us to find where the program met, in what to us was a new environment. Many of the churches did not think to point out to the newcomers where these programs were held nor gave directions on how to get to the location of the programs.

Almost all the churches that we went to did not have sign up sheets for the kids program and so we found ourselves handing our kids over to these strange people " after we eventually found where the programs were. You can probably understand how if we, educated church people, were somewhat frustrated by this " the unchurched newcomer is probably more so. This was not the situation at all churches but, surprisingly for us, at the majority!

What seemed to distinguish those churches that would have left a newcomer frustrated?

We made our observations by speaking to people, speaking to the minister, observing people's interaction with us and others, and seeing how the service was run.

Through this we concluded that there were some churches that were purposeful in their existence and their desire to reach out to those who do not know Jesus, and these churches catered the best for the newcomer. These churches had a real conviction that they were called by the Lord Jesus to gather around God's word and to share his good news with all who would come. This was something that was not just expressed by the minister, but the attendees were convicted of this as well.

On the flip side of this, there are the churches that seemed to gather, just for the sake of gathering (this is just what we do on Sundays). Churches where the minister may have been convinced of their purposeful existence and had the desire to reach out to those who do not know Jesus, but the congregation was not completely on board " or worse still, working against this!

What were the common characteristics of the churches that seem to help attract newcomers?

In no particular order:

* The church had a high view of scripture and the effect of scripture in the life of the believer. The bible was read, taught clearly and applied clearly to the congregation. It was not that the Bible was not taught well at every church we visited, most sermons were very sound " but, it was not applied at every church we went to. Churches that attract us as newcomers were challenged by the preacher to do something about what they have learned.

* The church has a clear vision (as well as measurable goals that helped keep them on track by being regularly reviewed). This is not just in what was written on paper, but was known by the average member of the church and they were able to be express what these are to those who are new.

* The church plant was prayerful. These churches spoke about the importance of prayer and modelled this from the front of church. Prayer was not just something to be done, but were said with the conviction that God was really listening and easy to follow without to much insider language going on. This does not mean there was no prayer said for the insider, but done in such a way that a newcomer could join in saying "Amen' because they understood what was being prayed.

* The church looked redeemed. The members of the congregation expressed a joy to be at church and loved the people with a sacrificial love and had a real zeal for the gospel and sharing this with those who walked through the door. The rosters were always full and announcements were not being made for people to fill various aspects of the churches program.

* The church was a separate unit of the mother church. A new church that has too much involvement in the mother church has divided loyalties. The feeling of separation from the main church has not occurred and this gives the new church an identity crisis. People would rather gather with their old friends than with these new people who have come. Churches who have separated well are outward focused and keen and able to make room in their lives and church for new people.

* The church is warmly supported by the mother church and the school that they use. There still needs to be open communication between the mother church and the new church plant so that there is not a feeling of competition between the churches. A bad relationship will hurt both the new church and the mother church as they compete for people's hearts rather than trying to win them for the Lord. This can leave parishioners hurt, bitter and burnt out " it is very hard to welcome the newcomer when you are like this!

* The mother church has not been decimated by the establishment of the church plant. It is no good destroying the mother church to start a new congregation. Both churches need the best people who are right for that church. A strong mother church will lead to a strong church plant.

* There is a great lay involvement in the church. Churches where it was not just the minister doing the ministry, but the lay people were greatly involved in the running of the church " giving announcements, prayers, leading the service, welcoming, etc " this all plays a great role in making people feel more welcome. On a side note, this is especially important if the minister ever decides to leave the church plant. If the church is build around him - if he holds it together, rather than the lay people, the church may not survive with out him. Rather, a church with strong laity involvement will have more chance of surviving as there are more people to hold it together.

* There is encouragement for every adult to be involved in some aspect of church life from the time they start attending. The idea that we need to give people time to get settled into the church does not necessarily work in the new congregations. It gives them the idea that church is for being served, rather than for serving. Put people on rosters as soon as they are willing - they can start on something simple like morning tea. The sooner they get involved, the sooner they will feel like part of the church and become more comfortable with and start to know other people.

* The church has a good children's program that attracts and retains families. The children's program is well communicated to the parents. For example, new parents are made aware of the programs when they step in the building and are told where to go (or even taken) for the children's program and crèche. The church is up to date with child protection " there are sign up sheets and more than one person teaching a large class. A church that understands the difficulties that a newcomer may have leaving their children in a strange environment with people that they do not know!

* All members are not only friendly but "comfortable" with welcoming strangers. The environment was set from the start that the church welcomes newcomers, that the first conversation you have with another person is that with a newcomer. These churches also had a great welcome pack with good information for the newcomer which was given to them by a member of the church and not necessarily the minister.

* The church dealt with late people well. Someone was always on the welcome desk through out the service so that when the late newcomer came, they did not feel awkward not knowing what to do. Doors were left open, so the newcomer did not feel like they were disrupting things and someone was always there to help them find bulletin, bible and seat - no matter what time the newcomer came.

Were there any other aspects of church plants that you found helpful?

Some simple characteristics of churches that were helpful were: good signage, a "proper" kids program (not just baby sitting), morning tea that is decent (good coffee, hot chocolate, tea, great food) and a seamless service program which is easy to follow and where people let you know what is going on without taking forever to say it!

We liked it best when we saw plenty of male involvement. This normally meant a well mixed congregation, rather than a dominance of one gender in the congregation, especially men up-front leading, fathers doing the kids talk at the beginning of church, and music that was "reachable" for the average male to sing.

These are merely our observations of different church plants in Sydney and by no means do we figure that we are experts in the field of church planting or that our new congregation will necessarily achieve all the areas that we have highlighted.

We feel that it is worth passing on what this experience has been like, in the hope that this encourages churches to either keep persevering in what they are doing to reach newcomers or to challenge others as to whether they could be more deliberate in catering for the newcomer.

However, they are definite targets for us to aim for, so that we can continue to take the gospel forward in Shellharbour City and to those families associated with Shellharbour Anglican College. We hope and pray that these insights might be helpful to your church plant or your church as you seek to glorify God and proclaim Christ to all around.

The Rev Mal York is assistant minister at Shellharbour City Centre Anglican Church.