The opportunities Anglican churches have this Christmas to reach Australians with the gospel are limited merely by energy and imagination. This truth is reinforced by an SC survey of about 250 Sydney Anglican Schools Corporation (SASC) households last month.
While it's not at all surprising that even non-Christian SASC parents would be positive about the Anglican Church, it is nonetheless surprising how open these non-believers are to a wide range of specific ministry alternatives.
In this survey 99 percent of nominal Christians and 92 percent of non-Christian parents were open to some form of ongoing church contact.
Of course by surveying parents who send their children to Anglican schools, you would expect to filter out the families who are most antagonistic to the church.
So it is very significant that this is not an isolated finding. Recent qualitative focus groups commissioned by the Diocese and conducted with non-Christians from across Sydney found similar positive attitudes towards Anglicans (but not necessarily other church groups). The Anglican brand is a plus.
The SASC survey is also a reminder that there is no magic bullet if we want to connect with Australians. Different ministries and different strategies are needed to connect with a range of people.
For example, the SASC survey found that nominal Christians are very open to being invited to an Anglican church but less willing to accept a gospel. This was reversed for the "non-churched'.
So what would a comprehensive plan look like to reach your neighbourhood this Christmas? We look at four ideas being road-tested by Sydney churches.
#1 Invite neighbours to celebrate Christmas
Nominal Christians are the single largest group in most neighbourhoods. The Australian Community Survey suggests there are about eight million nominal Christians who indicate they attend religious services at times like Christmas. For a small church with limited resources this is the first place to start thinking about how to connect with the community.
The Rev Carl Matthei from Christ Church St George says simply inviting their neighbours to a church-run carols service has proved effective.
"We have seen people converted through that method," he says.
Last year 200 locals attended the event, which included a sausage sizzle.
This year the church will advertise the carols via a mixture of doorknocking and leaflet drops, and an article written for the local paper.. About 20 streets will be doorknocked, largely thanks to an AFES mission team. A further 5,000 homes will find a carols invite in their letterbox.
Small churches, in particular, are finding this year's Anglicare Toys'n'Tucker program a first step towards connecting with their community in 2009. One such church is St Chad's, Putney.
"This was the church family's first doorknocking in many years, so we were sort of starting from scratch," said rector, the Rev Matthew Snelson. "Sending out an advance letter the week earlier helped people know we were coming and why."
Church member Gloria Boyd admits being "a little apprehensive' beforehand.
"Praying before we left to doorknock raised our confidence and comfort levels," she said. "It was actually a pleasant surprise to be greeted by some faces we knew. Many families were happy to contribute to Anglicare and some, having read our advance letter from the week before, had donations ready for us.
"Other families knew of the Anglicare Toys'n'Tucker program through their school's involvement. And one father reported how happy his kids were coming to our Friday Kids Club.
"Others weren't interested, but without any hassles we left with a smile and wished them a happy afternoon.
"The experience was interesting and sociable, as well as rewarding and productive. From 40 houses we collected a car boot full of Toys'n'Tucker for Anglicare and we connected with many Putney families," Gloria said.
Mr Snelson says they aim to follow the their doorknocking of 650 households with Christmas advertising, and hopes this is the start of an annual "connection' with their neighbours.
FIRST STEP >>
This year 11 percent of Sydney Anglican parishes are doorknocking their neighbourhoods in conjuction with Anglicare's Toys'n'Tucker Christmas appeal. Any initial contacts can then be personally invited to Christmas services. While it's too late to register this year, why not plan to join Anglicare's 09 Winter and Christmas campaigns?
#2 Ask: "What do you want for Christmas?"
Hosting a Christmas street party may not seem like Christian ministry but that's not how the Rev Stephen Calder from Bobbin Head Anglican Church sees it.
His eyes were opened by the hospitality shown by his own neighbour and congregation member Richard Hewson.
Richard sees hosting an annual street party as his gift to his neighbours.
"We hook up some Christmas music and supply the bbq .. and it's BYO everything else," he says. "You really get to talk to people and renew acquaintances. It's a chance to introduce people to Steve, as my local minister. It's easy then to ask people to come along to church."
The street party inspired Richard's minister to ask a simple but profound question: "What can we " the church " offer the community for Christmas?"
The result was multi-pronged strategy under the banner, "The Best Christmas Ever".
"We want to give everyone a really good experience of what the local church can offer the community," Mr Calder said, explaining that developing a culture of hospitality is as important as organising events. "It's not just about activities. We want to encourage church members to think carefully how they can connect with their neighbours. Just invite them over… or take them a tray of Christmas cake with an invite to our Christmas services" "
This year Richard Hewson sees his street party as preparing the way for Connect09.
"Building relationships with my neighbours will make it easier later next year when we visit them."
Bobbin Head Anglican Church meets in Turramurra North primary school, and serving the school community has long been high on the church's agenda.
A number of church members are on the P&C, including Mr Calder, and another is grounds coordinator, responsible for organising the school's working bees.
"Most people who turn up to fix the school grounds are church members " and many of them have no connection to the school. Now that really blows people away."
So a central part of the strategy has been to ask: "What would make Christmas better for the teachers, parents and students?"
So far church members have offered to look after the students while teachers pack up for the year. They will also run a one-day kids club on the Monday before Christmas. The idea is to help those parents who need to go to work when school has finished for the year, as well as giving others time off to go Christmas shopping.
While helping meet community needs is worthwhile in its own right, has Mr Calder seen any other spiritual fruit?
"Certainly people have come along to church who wouldn't otherwise because of these links," he said.
FIRST STEP >>
Evangelism Ministries' DVD Just Start Talking can help people be more intentional about introducing Jesus into informal conversations. For more information ring (02) 9265 1582 or visit the website.
#3 Holiday kids club (with follow-up gifts)
"Evangelism and door-knocking" is a pretty frightening combination of words for most parishioners," admits Figtree's evangelism minister Stuart Starr.
Yet Stuart and a team of 24 members of Figtree Anglican Church found that doorknocking can be an overwhelmingly fun and rewarding experience " especially if you already have contact with the family via after-school kids activities and your arms are full of goodies.
Holiday kids clubs target a ready market. Many parents are looking for activities to occupy their children when school is out. In our SASC survey, 68 percent of parents said there were not enough after-school activities in their local area, while more than half of non-Christian parents are open to sending their children to church-run activities like a kids club.
Nevertheless Figtree " inspired by Connect09 " have taken the kids club strategy to another level.
Children's minister Yvonne Gunning adapted the idea of a kids' day camp from an off-site program run by Wilberforce parish in order to develop Figtree's ongoing contacts with a local primary school. Nearly 350 children attended the first five-day program in August and similar numbers in October, nearly half of whom were not from church families.
It succeeded, said Yvonne, because it was intentionally a team effort engaging different aspects of the church's ministries and a volunteer army.
Stuart says it's also important that churches wishing to replicate the strategy see the kids' program as part of an ongoing process: "The most vital and also most neglected aspect of all evangelistic programs is follow-up."
That's where the doorknocking comes in. During the week, volunteer Dennis Woodward took pictures of almost every child, while Colin Coakes edited the footage of the kids into a DVD. A team of volunteers collated these into gift bags for easy drop-off.
On arrival, they were almost universally greeted with joy.
"The wonderful thing about doing this off the back of an outstanding week at camp is that we found without exception a warm welcome waiting for us behind every door. The team commented that you could feel the resistance melt away as we mentioned we were from the church" In many cases the kids rushed to the door to receive their bags" One child I visited said that he would take the bag to school for show and tell!"
Around 20 children have started attending Figtree's weekly Tuesday night kids club as a result of these visits.
During these visits around 15 couples also indicated they wanted to hear more about Christianity, and they are being visited in the lead-up to Christmas by teams trained in Evangelism Explosion. These families will receive a personal invitation to Figtree's carol service which features Neighbours and Australian Idol star Dean Geyer.
All other families who participated in the day camp will receive a direct mail invitation to the carols.
"Research shows that it usually takes three positive personal connections with church members for the unchurched to be prepared to walk through a church door," says Yvonne Gunning.
And what does Stuart think other churches can learn from Figtree's experience of running kids events?
"Acts of compassion win credibility for our communication," he says. "Once we have won credibility through sacrificial service we must establish a personal relational bridge over which we can share the gospel. This is my hope and prayer for the next year of Connect09."
FIRST STEP >>
Figtree is keen to share their material and expertise with other churches. Manly is sending a team to train with them. Others welcome. Email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
