In 2005 Stuart Robinson will uncover new ideas for outreach. This month we head to the village community of Lane Cove and investigate how St Andrew's is reaching both schools and retirement complexes.
When is a suburb not a suburb? When it's a village. Lane Cove is a case in point. Locals see themselves as a relatively self-contained, well-defined community. Fair call, too. Lane Cove is bound by Sydney Harbour, two major highways and the Lane Cove River. It's the sort of place where the local minister's association open Council meetings in prayer and where clergy are invited to be guest speakers at Citizenship ceremonies. And at ANZAC day or on Remembrance Day, the RSL automatically turns to the local churches for leadership and spiritual guidance. Wonderful.
For the best part of a decade, Roger Kay has been pastoring the community at Lane Cove. The Anglican Church, St Andrew's, is located on a rise adjacent to the shops, restaurants, cafés and public buildings. A prime site.
Roger and the team at St Andrew's have developed a whole parish plan that will enable them to take full advantage of their location and their excellent standing in the community.
SR: A local church impacting its community was integral to your own growth in Christ.
RK: Certainly. I grew up in a Christian home (my father was a minister) and at one level I always believed. Things like Christian camps, confirmation classes, and an ISCF group at school were formative.
SR: Had ordained ministry always been your plan?
RK: After leaving school and a time in banking, I spent 10 years with Scripture Union in bookselling ministry. As much as I enjoyed this work, the thought of training for ordained ministry just kept on surfacing. In the end I could avoid it no longer.
SR: Tell us about your plan for evangelising the village of Lane Cove.
RK: In 2003 the Church Council decided to engage a consultant to facilitate this process. Ten people from different ministries within St Andrew's formed the planning team. We set aside six months to dream, consult, pray and then articulate our thoughts. The first step was to state plainly our "Foundations' " our core values, from which all else would flow; things like "Mission' and "Vision'.
SR: So what was/is your vision for St Andrew's?
RK: It could apply to a number of churches. That said, my vision for St Andrew's is that it be a vibrant, growing ministry, catering to all ages, that disciples people faithfully, reaches out to the community of Lane Cove, and supports and encourages ministry beyond. In the end we (helpfully) shortened it to the pithy, "Working together, each one reach one for Christ". In my view this really is a bold vision and we need to keep encouraging each other to make it a reality.
SR: How then is this vision outworked?
RK: From the planning process we identified four areas we wanted to work on: children and youth; over 55s; women and men; home groups.
SR: Is it working?
RK: It is. Take for example children and youth. We have a relatively seamless process where children move right through into our youth group. This has been very successful. We now have a thriving youth ministry with young people from all years of high school. We've also established a strategy for training senior kids in the discipling and nurture of younger ones. And a new tertiary ministry has also begun.
At the other end of the scale is the "over 55s' group. Their profile (especially "Wednesday Worship') has been lifted through leaflet distribution and articles in the local community paper. A team now contacts people that they've not seen for a while and we've started a program of systematic visitation. Archdeacon Brian Richardson has been employed to pastor this group.
The number and size of home groups has been expanding. We identify new leaders and create new groups as they multiply and grow.
SR: Can you give us some missional ideas that appear to have borne fruit?
RK:
Our Girls' Club and CEBS groups reach many non-church families. We run evangelistic dinners and social events for parents. They have been well attended.
Playgroup has a mix of churched and non-churched families. Last year we organised a ginger bread house night with a speaker.
Each year we run a kid's holiday club. We conclude with a celebration service in church. Many parents come with their children.
We run joint open-air carols programmes each Christmas.
We hold community services. When the Archbishop asked us to pray for rain, we invited the village along. The Mayor and several Councillors made it their business to be there.
SR: Most pleasing moment in ministry so far?
RK: Seeing some of the kids who were junior teens when I began grow into mature Christians. They are keen to share in the leadership and serve in ministry.
SR: Challenges?
RK: Making sure that the gains we have made continue. The momentum generated by the planning process needs to be ongoing.
