Who are we here for?

“the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost.”(Luke 19:10, the Message)

Ministers and elders are called to serve the whole Church, as well as their local congregation.

What if any congregation could access funding for viable community mission projects?

Capital and investment funds

$0

$20

$40

$60

$80

$100

$120

Millions

1997 2002 2007

Capital Funds

This isn’t just about money…

Numbers don’t necessarily = success

Economic viability should never be the primary criteria for evaluating the importance of a congregation.

…but it’s about a Gospel imperative

All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone according to need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:44-47

Then he said, “This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, ‘You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry’.”

…

But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?”

“This is how it will be with all people who store up things for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

Luke 12: 18-21

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Luke 12:34

Our context has changed

75 people have been lost from our Church every month during the past 10 years.

Attendance versus population

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10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

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1907 2007

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1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

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3,500,000

4,000,000

4,500,000

Attendance Population

Age profile of the Church in 2007

0-26

26-45

45-65

65 +

Ordained ministers supported by stipend

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1992 1997 2007

Attendance versus income

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1997 2002 2007

Annual income (000)

Capital funds (000)

Adults at worship

Children at worship

Difficult questions

What assumptions do we make when a congregation can’t fund a full-time minister?

Are congregations willing to share their wealth?

Is this proposal any different from anything else suggested during the past 25 years?

We want to grow

Our Church is alive and full of people passionate about reflecting Christ to their community.

More than 600 people attended “Standing out in your community” workshops this year – more than double the initial target.

A successful ministry project has: A strong pervasive commitment to focus

resources on outreach based on Gospel imperatives. “We are not here first for ourselves but for others.”

An administrative structure which supports gifted and skilled Christian leaders working within a strong team ethos to do the things that they are good at doing.

We know what works!

A readiness to support and fund innovation and to try new ideas.

Worship that reflects the culture and communication medium relevant to the congregation.

A resource base which allows for generosity, good hospitality, food and warmth in surroundings that are appropriate for the size and culture of the group.

What kind of potential projects?

Campus-based faith communities Development of a new worship

event based on the Kids Friendly model

Development of worship events specially aimed at meeting the needs of new immigrant communities

Worship developed in alternate venues and times

Capital projects in facilities too small or inadequate to meet the needs of a burgeoning worship community

Capital and ministry projects supporting the development of worshipping communities in some of our most rapidly developing regions

For example

• Bethlehem Community Church has invested more than $1.2 million in building a multipurpose facility for its booming community. But this is just stage one; stage two would include a hall that could seat more than 350. Resource consent has been obtained, but the cost of building remains a barrier.

• Knox Waitara supports a growing and dynamic mission in the community. Children and families, many from homes with very limited means, some with gang affiliations and most with no church involvement are being reached by this work.

• Imagine our whole church not only celebrating the work of this successful and outreaching congregation, but also providing the support that enables them to further expand and strengthen their mission?

• Help to rebuild a very heavily utilized and out grown hall - $750 000. Funding for wages to strengthen their work with children and youth - $40 000 per year.

Three nearby congregations in a major city are looking at selling their properties and moving into a single worship and community centre. They need help paying the interest on bridging finance that will enable them the time and space to purchase a new facility while selling their three existing church buildings. Cost: an interest free loan of $100 000

• Congregations in the eastern suburbs of Auckland are planning to jointly fund a ministry to the growing Tamaki Campus.

• A commitment of $30 000 pa for five year from Press Go will meet the shortfall between what these congregations can raise between them and the cost of providing this new ministry.

Mission projects face obstacles Wage costs or large capital

programmes are becoming difficult for single congregations or even groups of congregations to manage.

Compliance issues are complex and time-consuming, and represent a real vulnerability for all congregations.

What if we shift the wealth accumulated in buildings and cash to support ministries that will encourage growth?

The vision: Every congregation or presbytery committed to a project that will increase the worshipping community will receive the resources needed to achieve this outcome.

Press Go process

After gaining presbytery endorsement, a parish submits an application for initial evaluation.

If the project meets the key criteria, the Finance Manager works with the parish to develop a comprehensive business plan.

The Press Go advisory board, made up of respected leaders and businesspeople from within the Church, decides which project will be funded, based on the published criteria.

Press Go is about sharing the costs and benefits of being part of God’s church.

Where will the money come from?

Potential sources: A portion of money from the sale of

Laughton House Inviting all congregations and

presbyteries to provide a 1% return on their cash and building investments.

Bequests and private donors

Taking advantage of investments and deposits

Current interest rates are 8.5 percent.

If parishes and presbyteries each provided just 1% percent return on their investments to Press Go, we would have more than $1 million a year available to support growth.

Every week we dedicate our resources to God. As a Church, we have all the wealth that we need to support dynamic and growing mission projects.

Is it consistent with the Gospel to accumulate wealth while failing to extend the mission to which we’re called?

We can all be part of this

Individuals, congregations and presbyteries will be invited to support growth projects

This is about partnership. It’s not about money going into a black hole. A parish would build a relationship with the project that its funds are supporting.

It’s not about compulsion

Press Go isn’t about taking assets away from struggling congregations.

A declining congregations could potentially choose to cede their assets to support a growth project, but this would be their decision.

What does it mean for me?

• My church is meeting my needs. Why should we give 1 percent? We need that money.

This is about growing faith communities for your grandchildren; it’s about our Church surviving and growing for the next generations. What will our legacy be?

What’s stopping us?

Insularity, fear and mistrust.

What about Uniting churches?

• This is about supporting innovation and growth

• Uniting congregations can each decide to contribute to and benefit from support of the Press Go initiative.

Where to from here?

GA08 could be asked to decide on:

the establishment of an advisory group criteria for funding the use of a portion of the Laughton House

funds Congregations and presbyteries invited to

provide a 1 percent return on their investments (not 1% of their investment returns!)

What would success look like?

An increase in the number of those participating in a worshipping community

An increasingly strong sense of connection with other congregations as we support and learn from another

A mixture of large multi staffed churches, smaller emerging congregations and other self sustaining congregations

An eventual decrease in declining congregations