Story one: A circuit with eight churches becomes one church on eight sites

“It gets very messy before it gets better… don’t panic!”

In 2022, a circuit with eight churches and one minister became one church on eight sites by a series of unanimous votes. The Superintendent’s advice to other circuits? “It gets very messy before it gets better… don’t panic!”

The process began with a paper presented at the circuit meeting, and then taken to each church, entitled ‘We can’t carry on like this.’ Following this reality check, the churches were asked for their dreams and aspirations. Next they were asked, 'So what’s stopping us from reaching these aspirations?' Issues such as the small size of many of the churches were raised. Finally, churches were asked, 'So how much cost are you willing to bear?' Were the churches willing to make changes to the way they worshipped for the sake of mission, for example? Church growth was by no means guaranteed. Decisions about buildings were deliberately set aside so that people could focus on the best way of enabling mission without fear of losing their cherished buildings.

Once the merger was agreed, each of the churches sent one representative to the new Church Council, and they were joined by five additional people who each oversaw an area of church life: worship, pastoral care, discipleship, evangelism, and governance. Experiments in worship style and timing were encouraged by the worship steward, such as Taizé-style worship, midweek songs around the piano, and services at different times on Sundays to enable Local Preachers to deliver two or three services per Sunday. Each of the eight locations was encouraged to explore mission in their local area, while other missional experiments became possible by working together, which no individual church could have attempted before. A fledgling New Place for New People was begun, with non-traditional worship initially based around walks and discussion on topical issues. The church plans to build on this by experimenting with meeting off church premises. There are conversations about collaborating on schools work, Messy Church work, and sharing and reusing alternative worship services across the eight locations.

Frequent general church meetings are still held, to ensure people still feel they have a voice, even though they are no longer at Church Council. Attendance at these meetings has gone down, however, as people are happier with the way the merger is progressing. One of the church locations has decided to give up its building, so the church now meets in seven locations. While the merger has solved a lot of governance issues, the Superintendent is clear that it’s important that these aren’t the starting point. “If we’re just doing it to resolve the governance issues, we’re not freeing people to be who they need to be.” The new structure allows people to take on roles in the various locations that suit their particular gifts, without the pressure of becoming a steward and hence a charity trustee. It frees people up to discover the ways in which they can offer their gifts in service and seek to meet their community’s needs by supporting each other.

This story is true and is told as far as possible in the words of the person who shared it. The story has simply been anonymised by using generic names and locations.