In October 2011, after some preparation, a team from St. Andrew’s Kars attended a three-day Stewards by Design conference in Orillia, Ontario, along with about 20 other teams. Sponsored by The Presbyterian Church in Canada, the conference featured keynote speaker, Dr. Kennon L. Callahan. He is the author of many books, including Twelve Keys to an Effective Church and Small, Strong Congregations.
What are the Twelve Keys?
In his work with congregations around the world, Dr. Callahan has identified a number of central characteristics or “keys” in effective and successful churches. The first 6 are relational, or people-centred characteristics. An effective church will have 5 of these 6:
– one mission outreach
– shepherding visitation
– stirring helpful worship
– significant relational groupings
– strong leadership team
– solid decision process
The second 6 are functional or organization-centred characteristics. An effective church will have 4 of these 6 well in place. They are:
– one major program
– open accessibility
– high visibility
– land, landscaping
– adequate space and facilities
– generous giving
What are our congregational strengths?
Prior to attendance at the conference, our St Andrew’s team identified the following as our key strengths:
1) stirring helpful worship
2) adequate space and facilities
We can expand our:
3) shepherding visitation
4) worship music program
We can add one new strength:
5) mission outreach
What is Stewardship?
Stewardship is broader than money. It is about being the best congregation we can be, in the community n which we find ourselves.
At St. Andrew’s, we are stewards of God’s gift of grace, stewards of the compassion with which God blesses us, stewards of the mission with which God blesses us, and stewards of the generosity with which God blesses us.
Key messages from the conference
In December 2011, the members of the Stewards by Design team presented one aspect of the conference during the announcements each Sunday, and included a summary in the bulletin. If you have any questions about these of about the conference in general, please speak to Rev. Clarke.
Grace – Grace is a gift of God. We are stewards of this gift which means that we must “Live with Grace, Love with Grace, Lead with Grace, Serve with Grace”. Strong, healthy congregations live in the grace of God. This is a way of life, a way of experiencing the generosity of God and sharing it with others. They build on the strengths with which God blesses them. We share God’s grace at St. Andrew’s when we give to the Food Bank and share God’s love with others.
Compassion – We are stewards of the compassion with which God blesses us. Compassion is SHARING, CARING, GIVING, LOVING AND SERVING. 1 Cor. 13:13: “Now abideth faith, hope and compassion, these three, but the greatest is compassion”. A healthy congregation lives with compassion. Here at St. Andrew’s, we have this confidence and assurance by thinking, planning and living the motivation of compassion. Through these we follow our vision and mission.
Mission – We are stewards of the mission with which God blesses us. We are people of mission through God’s grace and we are motivated to mission by compassion. Where grace touches our lives, we find possibilities for mission outreach. What we have fun doing is God’s way of teaching us our mission. The mission will revolve around the strengths of the congregation with which God has blessed us. God is inviting us to serve in a mission as a gift to the community. Christ lives in the mission and in the mission, we discover Christ.
Generosity – Kennon Callahan says, “We are stewards of the generosity with which God blesses us.” Generosity arises from living a theology of abundance, instead of scarcity. God has given us so much, we want to share with others in response. Henry Nouwen says, “Fundraising is a form of ministry. It is a way of announcing our vision and inviting other people into our mission. Fundraising is proclaiming what we believe in such a way that we offer other people an opportunity to participate with us in our vision and mission.” Callahan says we can grow generous givers in four different ways: by expanding our giving family; by expanding opportunities for giving; by expanding ways of giving; by responding to gifts with a ‘thank you’.
How did we respond?
Building the future of St. Andrew’s around the 12 Keys creates opportunities for new kinds of interaction within our congregational family and also leads us to reach out further into the community. To date, we have held a free community Spud Night and a celebration of baptism on Mother’s Day. We are planning an upcoming special Reformation Sunday service and we continue our Out of the Cold dinners. The large bequest with which God has so generously blessed us has allowed us to move from half-time to 3/4 ministry. This is in accord with advice received at the conference and provides increased leadership as we move forward with new growth activities and outreach.
Where do we go from here?
We will build on our current strengths. We have identified some of these current strengths which can be expanded: Shepherding/visitation and our Worship/music program.
We have also identified a new strength which we can develop: Mission outreach.
How do we do this?
1. We will highlight God’s grace to our Church in all our activities.
2. We can create a plan to expand current strengths and develop a new one.
3. We will establish achievable short-term goals that correspond with these strengths, e.g., goals related to our children’s programs, goals related to our music and worship programs, goals related to our facilities, and goals related to our community.
4. We can hold new one-time events that will be fun and that we enjoy doing.
5. We will develop new people-oriented opportunities around which our congregation can participate enthusiastically and give generously.
6. We will improve our communications internally and with the community at large.
7. We will implement ideas taught in the 12 Keys program.
8. We will teach others in the congregation about the 12 Keys program.
What are the next steps?
During the fall of 2012 Rev. Clarke will lead two 3-week congregational studies on the Twelve Keys, and in the winter of 2013 a visioning dialogue is planned for the congregation which will include an update of the St. Andrew’s mission statement.