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St Michael and All Angels (St Micks), Yarmouth Cove, Australia, is located in a growing commuter community of 34,000 people. Most of its 35 members are older than 60. Myrtle and Tony Tan moved to the area with their two young children, but found that the church had nothing for families.

After four years Myrtle asked her minister whether the church might consider starting a new ministry to families. Sheldon Grey was very positive. So how did they go about it?

Getting together was the first step. Sheldon suggested that the Tans form a small task force to clarify exactly who lived in Yarmouth Cove and how the church might best meet their spiritual needs. The brief was clear and succinct.

Exploring the possibilities was undertaken with commendable thoroughness. The task force collated data from:

• The website of their local authority - it was full of helpful information.
• An hour's interview with a representative from the town planning department of their local authority.
• Demographic profiles from the Australian Bureau of Statistics website.
• The local library.
• An hour's interview with an officer from the regional Department of Social Security and the Department of Housing.
• Their own denominational headquarters.
• The National Church Life Survey office and website.
• The pastors of the eight other denominations in Yarmouth Cove.
• The police officer in charge of the local area command.
• The local Chamber of Commerce.
• Three large development corporations.
• The managers of the two large shopping complexes in Yarmouth Cove.
• Observation. The team visited malls, recreation facilities such as the local pool and the indoor fitness centre, and markets in the mall, and observed the kinds of people present.

From data on population, gender, ethnicity, age ranges, income, education and so on, they discovered that families with children below school age and with at least one partner working full time were the fastest growing segment of the population. They were also poorly served by community facilities.

The task force met with Sheldon to pray through their findings. They decided that St Micks should seek to reach families with pre-school children. But how?

They quickly dismissed the idea of Sunday morning family service because most young families had little or no church background. But some kind of mid-week daytime playgroup would meet a real need.

Using the net and phoning contacts, they researched material that they might use. The 'Mainly Music' programme seemed a real possibility because it functioned like a playgroup, and used singing and dancing to songs with Christian themes.

To test the idea, they 'door-knocked' some potential families on two Saturday afternoons, asking three questions:

• Does our community need a service like this?
• Would you be interested?
• Would your friends be interested?

Though the sample was small, the results were so overwhelming that the task group felt sure they were on the right track.

Thinking ahead happened, though it was not labelled as a discreet activity. The task group discussed the possibility of running 'Messy Church' once every other month, if trust and interest levels were high enough. The program uses music, food, craft, stories and games to illustrate and explain the gospel.

The task force was keen for the ministry to move at a pace that was right for the new group (an implicit value?). They were also pretty certain that if the venture was fruitful, it would not look like anything that St Micks was currently doing. They would need an integrated plan to be effective.

The task force completed its work at that point. Sheldon invited the Tans to form a team that would take the project to the next stage.

Organising support was one of their key tasks. The church council had given Sheldon their blessing before he invited the Tans to launch the project.

But Sheldon and the Tans were aware that other forms of support were needed as well. This has included prayer - the whole church has been invited to special times of prayer.

To serve the families effectively, they recognised that they would need to identify the equipment required. To reach the families, they developed a publicity plan, including:

• simple invitations for people to give to friends;
• letterbox drops;
• leaflets in the community centre;
• leaflets in schools;
• leaflets in doctors' surgeries;
• a large banner outside the venue.

To meet the expectations of the wider society, they acknowledged that they would require appropriate insurance and liability cover.

Nurturing the team has emerged as another task. At the time this webpage was written, this will include recruiting a core team and providing training. The Tans thought 'Just walk across the room' and 'Friends for life' might be suitable DVDs to help the training in faith-sharing.

They also identified a need for training in welcoming people to the group, child protection, Occupational Health and Safety, using the equipment, and setting up and taking down. Two 'dry runs' prior to the official launch seemed a good idea.

Weekly tasks would need to be identified, simple job descriptions written, extra helpers might have to be recruited and rosters prepared.

A formal commissioning of the team during the morning service at St Micks seemed a distinct possibility.

(This account is taken from Stuart P. Robinson, Starting Mission-Shaped Churches, Gospel Outreach Ministries, 2007, pp. 33-36.)

Do you want to explore an idea?

Do you belong to a planning group?

 

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