Here's a long due update on what's been happening over the last few months.
We've had 5 services so far since Feb 6th. We started a new series on April 9th called Developing Your Relationship With God, after finishing our last series - Knowing God, the service before. During the first series, the number of new people were growing, most of the growth came from people who haven't ever been to church before, which is an amazing success. The last service however, was a disappointment - in terms of numbers anyway. There were various meetings running all over Crewe, which most of our congregation were involved in. In the end, the only people there were our Y-Zone youth group, plus a few other members of our church. Although that's not a bad thing, it made me realise a few things:
First, we're spending money on advertising. However, every new person who comes to Re:Generation, hears about it from word of mouth. Which means, that our advertising isn't working.
Secondly, the new people who now come to Re:Generation feel part of the youth as a whole, which means it's very unlikely that they'll stop taking part in various church activities anytime soon. Also, I'd like to guess that many of the people in our congregation are mature Christians anyway. So maybe at this point in time, a series called 'Developing Your Relationship With God' isn't the best series to run. Although this series should minister to many people there, especially our youth, I'm also looking at ways to attract people to Re:Generation and see it grow, and I don't think this series is the best for that either.
So in the last service, I took the decision to have a short break in the services, mainly to concentrate on advertising, so to 'relaunch' Re:Generation on May 14th. I imagine there's a fair few reasons why this is a bad idea, but I hope I've addressed them: Mainly, there's the chance of us losing people from our congregation. However, in our current position, our congregation now consists of our youth group, youth leaders, plus a few other people. All of which, I doubt would stop coming because of a break.
So there's a few ideas I'm playing with, all of which, if you'd like to give me some feedback/suggestions/etc, I'd appreciate.
The first, is about what I'd like our next series to be on. It's something I'd call the Untouchables, because it's the controversial subjects you never really hear talked about in church. They include hell, homosexuality, sin, etc. I've chosen this for two main reasons. First, we never hear about this in church, however, they are some of the most talked about subjects when it comes to church. I for one, have never heard of a service in my church which concentrates on subjects such as these. Secondly, controversial topics like this attract attention. Because these topics are so unheard of when it comes to church, many people are interested. So this in itself may be a way to draw people in, especially if it's promoted effectively.
Which comes to promotion and advertising. So far, we've been on the radio and in the local newspaper. The radio, as expected, was not effective in advertising Re:Generation. The paper did attract a lot of attention, and it brought two new people into church, however, that was only because those people knew a member of our band. So although it raised awareness, that in itself was not enough to bring people in. We also printed many flyers, which cost quite a bit. These were designed to raise awareness around Crewe's churches mainly. And although they were effective in raising awareness, they were not responsible for any of our growth.
So we've been thinking of ways of how to promote Re:Generation in a way that will actually bring people in. We've had a few ideas:
The first, is printing more flyers to post through people's doors. I'm looking at getting these professionally printed - around 1000 for £90, 2000 for £100. These are full colour on silk paper. There's the option of having black and white photocopies on normal paper, but again, 1500 will cost £75 to photocopy. Although cheaper, these will not look anywhere near as good as the colour printed version, and when we're targeting an age group where looks are everything, this is important.
Secondly, we've been thinking about how to raise awareness in our high schools, colleges, and also MMU university in Crewe. We've thought about going into schools and having our band play, along with a short talk/sermon. Although this is probably 'the' best way of promoting Re:Generation in high schools, it's very unlikely that we'll ever be able to do this, for various reasons. Our current thought is to hand out flyers outside the schools after the day ends. We'll also put up posters in South Cheshire College.
We've also been thinking about how to promote Re:Generation in Malbank 6th Form College. I've got a friend who studies there, who leads a growing Christian group during lunch times once a week, who may be able to help.
MMU is a problem - every person I've spoke to in the Christian Union there hasn't got us anywhere. I've been speaking to a guy who travels round unis in our area, who 'runs' / 'is involved with' the Christian Unions in the universities. I'm waiting to see where that takes us.
Other than that, we're out of ideas. So any suggestions or advice is welcome.
Please pray for us all over the next coming weeks.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday, March 3, 2008
Where things are heading
We've had two services so far, one on Feb 6th, and the other on Feb 20th. The second service went really well, running a lot smoother than the first one. We also had 3 more people come, who again, had never been to church before. The overall size of the congregation also grew. So even though we've only had two services, it's growing in every way possible!
We're coming up to our third service, which will be on March 12th. Up to now, I'm still looking for guitarists who can play for this one, but I'm sure it'll all be good. The theme for the next service will be God's Heart, and writing the short introduction/talk, is proving to be the biggest challenge yet. But again, I've found with the last two services, that somehow, everything seems to fall into place 5 minutes before I'm due to talk. Maybe saying that is tempting fate though?
The music side of things is great, so people say, and as each service goes by, I'm learning how to lead worship more effectively. The band, although we've got a core group of musicians who play every service, I'm still looking for a few other people who are able to play each service.
I've received a lot of good comments about my 'talk' after the worship, people have told me they learn a lot from it, which is great. The group discussions however, haven't really had anything positive said about them from many people. There's about two people who have said they learn things from the discussion, however, they both said they enjoy the talk more. Many other people say they don't learn anything at all from them, and some people who come actually feel uncomfortable sitting through them. I've talked to many people who have said they won't come if they have to sit in groups, even if they know they're not expected to talk. So in that respect, the group discussions are keeping many people away.
In an ideal situation, I'd like to see my 'talk' last a few minutes longer. During that time I'll be able to go into more detail about the theme. Additionally, I'd like to use the media - e.g, I'd use a short film clip, and then talk about how the clip relates to the theme. This is one of the ways I'll be able to relate the theme to modern life. This would also allow the talk to run for a few minutes more. Doing all of this, without the group discussions, will probably not last as long, so the service will either finish sooner, or we'll see what else would be worthwhile having. At the end however, I'd still like people to have the opportunity to discuss their ideas/thoughts in groups, just like we do now, however, it will be optional, and will probably take place in another room. This way, people are free to join the group if they wish, but people who feel uncomfortable in groups will not need to join. Like I said though - this is an ideal situation, there's probably many problems with me doing that, so a lot of prayer is needed to see whether God wants me to lead this in a slightly different direction, or whether He wants it to stay the same.
We're coming up to our third service, which will be on March 12th. Up to now, I'm still looking for guitarists who can play for this one, but I'm sure it'll all be good. The theme for the next service will be God's Heart, and writing the short introduction/talk, is proving to be the biggest challenge yet. But again, I've found with the last two services, that somehow, everything seems to fall into place 5 minutes before I'm due to talk. Maybe saying that is tempting fate though?
The music side of things is great, so people say, and as each service goes by, I'm learning how to lead worship more effectively. The band, although we've got a core group of musicians who play every service, I'm still looking for a few other people who are able to play each service.
I've received a lot of good comments about my 'talk' after the worship, people have told me they learn a lot from it, which is great. The group discussions however, haven't really had anything positive said about them from many people. There's about two people who have said they learn things from the discussion, however, they both said they enjoy the talk more. Many other people say they don't learn anything at all from them, and some people who come actually feel uncomfortable sitting through them. I've talked to many people who have said they won't come if they have to sit in groups, even if they know they're not expected to talk. So in that respect, the group discussions are keeping many people away.
In an ideal situation, I'd like to see my 'talk' last a few minutes longer. During that time I'll be able to go into more detail about the theme. Additionally, I'd like to use the media - e.g, I'd use a short film clip, and then talk about how the clip relates to the theme. This is one of the ways I'll be able to relate the theme to modern life. This would also allow the talk to run for a few minutes more. Doing all of this, without the group discussions, will probably not last as long, so the service will either finish sooner, or we'll see what else would be worthwhile having. At the end however, I'd still like people to have the opportunity to discuss their ideas/thoughts in groups, just like we do now, however, it will be optional, and will probably take place in another room. This way, people are free to join the group if they wish, but people who feel uncomfortable in groups will not need to join. Like I said though - this is an ideal situation, there's probably many problems with me doing that, so a lot of prayer is needed to see whether God wants me to lead this in a slightly different direction, or whether He wants it to stay the same.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
First Re:Generation Service!
Well, I've just came back from the first Re:Generation service, and in my eyes, it was more than a success.
We had about 20 people here, partly due to the football match (England's playing), but the small number of people turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
We opened with our band playing four worship songs - Lord I lift your name on high, Better than life, Here I am to worship, and Light of the world. After this, our prayer leader lead us in prayer, where our congregation had the opportuniy to ask for people or situations to be prayed for. After this I introduced the series of services, which I've called Knowing God, and then went on to talk about tonight's theme - Knowing God's Nature.
What we planned to do after that, was split into smaller groups, of around 6-8 people, and have a group leader to lead and direct the conversation in each group. Because of the small number of people who turned up however, I thought it would be best to have one large group for the first service. This went well, and the discussion actually went on for longer than the allocated 20 minutes! We then closed with a song by Casting Crowns - Who am I?.
There were a few things which went wrong, including the lyrics not being displayed through the projector, me not being able to memorise what I was going to say, due to lack of time, and also underestimating the time needed to set up. However, two people who had never set foot in a church before came, and from what I saw and heard, enjoyed the service, and will come back next time, so in my eyes, it was more than a success!
Because I know the people who mainly read this, thank you to everybody who has prayed for either Re:Generation, or me, God was really in this, and I'm sure will continue to be.
I'll be adding a sound clip to this post tomorrow, after I've had time to edit and post it.
We had about 20 people here, partly due to the football match (England's playing), but the small number of people turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
We opened with our band playing four worship songs - Lord I lift your name on high, Better than life, Here I am to worship, and Light of the world. After this, our prayer leader lead us in prayer, where our congregation had the opportuniy to ask for people or situations to be prayed for. After this I introduced the series of services, which I've called Knowing God, and then went on to talk about tonight's theme - Knowing God's Nature.
What we planned to do after that, was split into smaller groups, of around 6-8 people, and have a group leader to lead and direct the conversation in each group. Because of the small number of people who turned up however, I thought it would be best to have one large group for the first service. This went well, and the discussion actually went on for longer than the allocated 20 minutes! We then closed with a song by Casting Crowns - Who am I?.
There were a few things which went wrong, including the lyrics not being displayed through the projector, me not being able to memorise what I was going to say, due to lack of time, and also underestimating the time needed to set up. However, two people who had never set foot in a church before came, and from what I saw and heard, enjoyed the service, and will come back next time, so in my eyes, it was more than a success!
Because I know the people who mainly read this, thank you to everybody who has prayed for either Re:Generation, or me, God was really in this, and I'm sure will continue to be.
I'll be adding a sound clip to this post tomorrow, after I've had time to edit and post it.
Friday, January 25, 2008
The last few weeks...
It's been a while since I last posted, but here's what's happened during the last 5 weeks:
I got back home in the afternoon, a big difference between Franklinville and Crewe, but good to be home anyway.
My plans for the new service at Coppenhall have come a long way during the two months I've been in America, and also the five weeks I've been back in Crewe, and also through two more meetings with David during the time back in Crewe also.
First of all, the new service will be called Re:Generation, it will run every other Wednesday between 7:30 and 8:30, starting on 6th February, at Coppenhall North Street Methodist Church. The first part of the service will be worship, led by our worship team, which includes the Re:Generation worship band, and a person who leads us in prayer. The worship will be made up of a group of worship songs, and also a congregational prayer, where the congregation has the opportunity to ask for something specific to be prayed for.
Afterwards, there will be a short 'opening' talk, lasting between 5 and 10 minutes, which will introduce the theme for the evening's service, and also the main biblical ideas relating to the theme. The congregation will then split into smaller groups, around 6 people, to discuss what has been said, lead by a group leader. The main idea the 'group discussion' is based upon, is the success of the Alpha Course, which uses the same approach, and also the idea that if through Re:Generation, we are hoping to bring people to faith, what better way to do this than to allow people to openly ask questions and discuss their ideas with people who are already Christians.
The themes will be grouped into series, each lasting about 3 or 4 services. At the end of each series, we will have a sermon, rather than a group discussion session, to 'wrap up' what's been discusses during the previous weeks. This will normally be lead by a local preacher.
We are still discussing what the best way to end the service is; up to now, the two ideas are to either have the Re:Generation band play another worship song at the end, or to have a short spoken ending followed by some quiet music played through the speakers.
Promoting the service has gone really well, I'm talking with the leader of the C.U at MMU in Crewe, hoping she will help promote Re:Generation at MMU, we've been on page 38 of the Crewe Chronicle (23rd Jan), and also page 2 of the Crewe Mail (23 Jan). I also had the opportunity to give every church leader in Crewe a promotion pack during a joint service for all churches in Crewe a few days ago.
So Re:Generation starts in less than two weeks time, I'm sure that with so many people praying about this, everything will go fine. Depending on the success of recording the service (since it's failed to record everytime so far), I'll upload a clip of the band playing, and the main spoken parts too.
I got back home in the afternoon, a big difference between Franklinville and Crewe, but good to be home anyway.
My plans for the new service at Coppenhall have come a long way during the two months I've been in America, and also the five weeks I've been back in Crewe, and also through two more meetings with David during the time back in Crewe also.
First of all, the new service will be called Re:Generation, it will run every other Wednesday between 7:30 and 8:30, starting on 6th February, at Coppenhall North Street Methodist Church. The first part of the service will be worship, led by our worship team, which includes the Re:Generation worship band, and a person who leads us in prayer. The worship will be made up of a group of worship songs, and also a congregational prayer, where the congregation has the opportunity to ask for something specific to be prayed for.
Afterwards, there will be a short 'opening' talk, lasting between 5 and 10 minutes, which will introduce the theme for the evening's service, and also the main biblical ideas relating to the theme. The congregation will then split into smaller groups, around 6 people, to discuss what has been said, lead by a group leader. The main idea the 'group discussion' is based upon, is the success of the Alpha Course, which uses the same approach, and also the idea that if through Re:Generation, we are hoping to bring people to faith, what better way to do this than to allow people to openly ask questions and discuss their ideas with people who are already Christians.
The themes will be grouped into series, each lasting about 3 or 4 services. At the end of each series, we will have a sermon, rather than a group discussion session, to 'wrap up' what's been discusses during the previous weeks. This will normally be lead by a local preacher.
We are still discussing what the best way to end the service is; up to now, the two ideas are to either have the Re:Generation band play another worship song at the end, or to have a short spoken ending followed by some quiet music played through the speakers.
Promoting the service has gone really well, I'm talking with the leader of the C.U at MMU in Crewe, hoping she will help promote Re:Generation at MMU, we've been on page 38 of the Crewe Chronicle (23rd Jan), and also page 2 of the Crewe Mail (23 Jan). I also had the opportunity to give every church leader in Crewe a promotion pack during a joint service for all churches in Crewe a few days ago.
So Re:Generation starts in less than two weeks time, I'm sure that with so many people praying about this, everything will go fine. Depending on the success of recording the service (since it's failed to record everytime so far), I'll upload a clip of the band playing, and the main spoken parts too.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Leading worship with the youth band
Well, the day which the youth band has been preparing for 6 weeks actually came today. And depending on how you look at it, it was either a distaster, or an interesting time of worship.
Our other guitarist and bassist never showed up, and so we went through the soundcheck sounding a bit different to how we liked, but still sounding good. We ran through the four songs we were playing, and they sounded pretty good!
Then I took the band into a side room, and eacham member of the band prayed seperately. By the time we had finished praying, it was 10:45, and so we got into the band area just as the service started. The notices were read, and I stood up to play the opening chord, and no sound came out. In fact the only sound that came about was the sound of people laughing (since it was probably quite a funny sight)! I can remember laughing, and just saying "the Lord will provide". And he did, he provided me with an accoustic guitarist who was willing to give me his guitar. Although I think by the way I took it from him, he probably didn't think he had too much of a choice! Dave Johnson is one of the youth leaders here, and he's pretty new to playing accoustic guitar, and he practiced hard for this service, so I'm really thankful he took it all in a good way. So the whole worship was done with me playing accoustic, and the rest of the band did great, since everythin else went perfectly.
I looked out at the congegration a couple of times, and they were all worshiping God. And the job of a worship band is to draw people closer to God in worship, and so however it was done, (and it wasn't how I expected), we still did that, and so it all worked out great, and even though we had to do things a bit differently to how we planned, it was an amazing service, and everybody enjoyed it!
Below are some audio clips of how the worship went. (And for all you silver surfers out there, if you can't hear it, turn on your speakers!). And the start's pretty quiet, so you might need to turn your speakers up.
Our other guitarist and bassist never showed up, and so we went through the soundcheck sounding a bit different to how we liked, but still sounding good. We ran through the four songs we were playing, and they sounded pretty good!
Then I took the band into a side room, and eacham member of the band prayed seperately. By the time we had finished praying, it was 10:45, and so we got into the band area just as the service started. The notices were read, and I stood up to play the opening chord, and no sound came out. In fact the only sound that came about was the sound of people laughing (since it was probably quite a funny sight)! I can remember laughing, and just saying "the Lord will provide". And he did, he provided me with an accoustic guitarist who was willing to give me his guitar. Although I think by the way I took it from him, he probably didn't think he had too much of a choice! Dave Johnson is one of the youth leaders here, and he's pretty new to playing accoustic guitar, and he practiced hard for this service, so I'm really thankful he took it all in a good way. So the whole worship was done with me playing accoustic, and the rest of the band did great, since everythin else went perfectly.
I looked out at the congegration a couple of times, and they were all worshiping God. And the job of a worship band is to draw people closer to God in worship, and so however it was done, (and it wasn't how I expected), we still did that, and so it all worked out great, and even though we had to do things a bit differently to how we planned, it was an amazing service, and everybody enjoyed it!
Below are some audio clips of how the worship went. (And for all you silver surfers out there, if you can't hear it, turn on your speakers!). And the start's pretty quiet, so you might need to turn your speakers up.
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Skiing
I really recommend working in the US, you go to concerts, beaches, and now even skiing! Makes me wonder what people do for fun...
Bob Chaney and Christian, one of the guys from the youth group took me to West Virginia on Friday, to do some work on a printer again and then to go skiing. We got to the ski resort at about 5pm, half an hour after the slopes closed, so we checked into a hotel and decided to spend the whole next day skiing.
That night we got some dinner, checked out some of the shops, (the shopping wasn't my idea this time!), and then we went for a swim in some of the outdoor pools! Christian and I decided to jump in one of the pools, and then jump out, and see who could stand out of the pool the longest. The first person to jump into the hot tub which was next to the pool (or the first person to die) lost. The loser got to sleep on the floor. Bob called it off though not long after we jumped out for fear of us catching hypothermia. So we went in the pool for a bit, and then in the hot tub for quite a while as well. Then we found out there was another two pools around the side of the hotel, so we decided to walk around to check them out. We probably stayed in the pools for around 2 hours.
After breakfast at Starbucks the next day, we hired out skis and boots, and then went on the slopes. Bob decided it would be best if he didn't ski, just in case something happened to him, and so it was just me and Christian skiing. I only fell over once as well! But that was to avoid two snowboarders who decided it was a good idea to sit in the middle of a blind corner and have a chat. In fact, there were many snowboarders who just decided to sit in the middle of the slopes for a rest. Maybe it's a snowboarder thing, because it appeared all the people with skis on had more sense, and sat on the side of the slopes if they needed a rest. We probably got on the slopes at 10, and I came off around 4.
Here are some of the photos we took:
I wasn't really cold...
When we walked from the first swimmig pool, round the hotelto the other one, I thought it would be quicker if I didn't put
my shoes on. And I was right, I've never run so fast in my
whole life! I didn't have any feeling up to my knees though after.
The towel was frozen solid
Outside one of the pools
West Virginia Mountains
The evening on the first day
Christian was so tired after the trip, he said he didn't care where he slept
Me in my ski gear
In the pool. My hair was actually frozen!
Mini Christian!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Normality has once again ascended upon Grays Chapel...
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