Spring review: Discussion groups summary

     The following is a summary of the discussion group notes taken during our September review. Many thanks to Trish Collins for working through the hundreds of ideas, thoughts and comments that were shared. If you wish to see the notes in full just leave a comment and we can get them to you. We're not hiding anything...

My thoughts on what we discover.

     It's important to read these comments alongside the survey (see post below). Also it needs to be said how well people were wanting to engage with these issues not to create the perfect 'me-church' but so we can be a more effective community growing followers of Jesus.

     Probably the most common feature or critique is our ability to genuinely love, connect, care for and encourage each other and those we hope will become part of God's Kingdom. People want to connect more and see our congregation do a better, deeper job...and that's a great thing! 

     There are a number of good suggestions about how we can be making the most of our Sunday nights and a genuine desire for people to be engaged and serving more in the mission of the church.

     It is clear that we need to work harder at loving and laying our lives down for each other. Many people are doing a great job seeking to already implement a number of these suggestions, but there is also a humble confession that more personal engagement needs to be encouraged in these matters.

     You may not agree with some of the comments that are made. Or you may feel that your comments are not represented well. With 200 people discussing things in groups it's not always easy to get the perfect weighting. But hey, this is what our wonderful scribes heard and took note of on the night.

     

What will be done with all this feedback?

     Next week the Gospel group leaders and the CitC task force will be meeting and going through the results. Given all the info we have got, we are in a position to not only assess how we are going as a group of people, but also to ensure we work on the key areas so we can see the gospel go forward in 2009. I will report back to the congregation what is discussed.

     Please read through the following and keep praying for our church...well actually, Jesus' church. We want to ensure we do what we do for him first and foremost.

     Comments, thoughts and further input is welcome.

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Q1) What is something that you really appreciate about CitC?
     There were a variety of responses to what people most appreciate at CiTC. A majority of groups mentioned the bible teaching. The faithful, biblical foundation to all the sermons was a highly appreciated factor. Also, the relevance, approachability and challenging nature of the teaching were noted. Two other areas that are also highly appreciated are the friendly, welcoming people and the songs/music program. The format of the service (the informal nature, the singing, supper after etc) and the atmosphere of the service (again informal, relaxed & friendly) were commented on a few times, and other areas such as the room we meet in, gospel groups & social events were included.
     The stand out factor of what people most appreciate about CiTC is the bible based preaching.

Q2) Do you think we are good at welcoming and connecting new people into our church?
     A ‘yes’ or ‘no’ category was used to collate answers to this question. Most groups filled out more responses in the ‘No’ column indicating a possible dissatisfaction with the welcoming and connecting at Crossroads.
Groups identified many reasons as to why CiTC is not good at welcoming and connecting people. Most of these comments fell into two categories – one was the difficulty of identifying newcomers the other was the difficulty in making friends. Within the newcomers section the size of the congregation seemed to be a major factor, which was the basis for comments like ‘hard it know if people are new or not’ and ‘some people spotted as new while others aren’t.’ Also mentioned was how people were left standing or sitting by themselves often and how everyone seems to leave it up to someone else to do the welcoming.
     Building meaningful friendships also seems to be a frustration, a highly noted cause for this is due to cliques within the congregation making it hard to break into groups or conversations and making it difficult to connect and engage with others. Some groups made mention of the segregated nature or our congregation, whether students and workers, or Australians and internationals that leads to these cliques.
     The ‘daunting’ foyer of Manning Clark is also seen as a hindrance to welcoming and connecting people.
     There were some very positive comments however that mentioned how everyone does mingle and there aren’t many cliques! And some that referred to the 5 minute breaks in service, and the pre-service coffee as useful times for connecting. The welcoming team were noted as doing a good job at targeting people however needing to do some more work on the follow up.

Q2a) How can we be doing welcoming and connecting of new people better?
     There were many helpful ideas and suggestions for how CiTC could improve on our welcoming and connecting. Most suggestions focussed on things that could be changed or improved on the night. This involved placing key welcoming people at strategic places (near doors, at back of room, first at supper etc), mentioning gospel groups each week and the opportunity to join them, mentioning the welcoming / info table, making everyone wear nametags and reminding everyone in the congregation to be mindful of people who are new and sitting or standing alone.
     There were other comments that also indicated that it is the responsibility of each individual to be connecting and welcoming. More encouragement and emphasis on the responsibility of each congregation member to be taking the initiative in this area is desired. And support for each other as we befriend new people was suggested.
Creating opportunities for smaller groups to interact and discuss the sermon on Sunday nights was a popular suggestion that would allow more connection and it was noted that the review discussion groups were already an example of how it could work and how good it was.
     There were some helpful comments for connecting with people beyond Sunday night. These included an increase in social events (lunches & coffees mid week, monthly or fortnightly events) and more encouragement to attend them, building a bridge between CIF & CitC, connecting people of similar age groups and having activities targeted at these groups, inviting people to events face to face (not on facebook), linking people with similar interests, having a regular ‘newcomers’ dinner before church and involving more people in organising events. It was also noted that gospel groups could be the initial group to be inviting new people to, so that when they come to church they already know some people.
     All these suggestions give possible ways to create a genuine culture of welcoming and connecting but also indicate that we are aware it is up to each of us individually to be looking out for new people and approaching them.

Q3) Do you think we are being faithful at making the gospel clear and relevant?
     Many of the responses to this question were contradictory – even just within singular groups. However there was definitely more of a positive response to the clarity and relevance of the gospel at CiTC.
Many groups noted the verse by verse approach to studying the bible and mentioned the concise, in-depth, contextual nature of the sermons as helpful in this area. Groups expressed other positive opinions including the consistent theme of the gospel at every service, the time to discuss during the sermon, the clear applications with practical examples, the outline/handouts, question time, use of powerpoint and technology, the courses offered to learn the basics, the connection between gospel groups and sermons and the openness of the pastors to discuss disagreements.
     Some comments indicated an uncertainty about the faithfulness of the gospel preached mentioning that without much existing bible knowledge the sermons are sometimes hard to understand, that the preaching can be very long and heavy and doesn’t always answer the questions we have.
Some groups thought that CiTC has not achieved clear and relevant gospel teaching mentioning that there is a very academic approach to our preaching which assumes a high educational standard and caters to a particular learning style that some people find difficult to connect with, along with the difficulty for non/new Christians to engage without the base understandings. Contradicting to this there was a comment that the sermons were too basic, and could be a bit more challenging.
     Most of the concern for this gospel teaching centres on less educated people or non-Christians.

Q3a) How can we be doing this better?
     There were lots of useful ideas for how the gospel could be taught with more clarity and relevance at CiTC. The comments were roughly divided into four main categories; how to do this for non Christians, ideas for Sunday night services, the intellectual nature of the sermons and the application area.
     Non Christians: A desire for more notification when it will be a sermon aimed at non christians was expressed. The suggestion that topical themed nights might be helpful or even dedicating one service each week to a simple evangelistic talk rather than the complex teaching. Engaging non Christians better through courses, discussion groups or question times are other ideas.
     On the night: Question times, testimonies, use of powerpoint and multimedia, explanation of why we do things (eg read bible, pray etc), shorter sermons, follow up questions and reviews of the basics were all ideas of how to improve this gospel clarity and relevance on the night. A particular, practical comment was giving time for people to find the place in their bibles before starting reading.
     Intellectual nature: Explanations of words, maybe even a glossary and awareness of complex language and concepts are suggested ways to balance the sermons a bit more.
     Application: A desire to have more in-depth, practical application from the sermons was a noted suggestion. This could be achieved by examples, discussion questions for after church, a better understanding of demographic (ie: not just students and workers), an encouragement to have and write questions to the pastors and running more courses for different stages.
     Letting people know about the blog and using it was also thought of was a way to engage better with the gospel.

Q4) Do you think we are good at loving and serving one another?
     A majority of groups discussed comments to this question that indicated an uncertainty about whether or not we are good at loving and serving one another. Some groups thought that the combining of congregations has created many opportunities to serve, that coffee and supper after church are helpful, small groups were highly noted as places where this love and service happen, and the fact that many non Christians keep coming regularly to church is a testament to the love and service present at CitC.
     However, the size, transitory nature, time constraints and lack of mingling at church are noted as reasons as to why we are dissatisfied with the love and service at CitC. A major factor seems to be that we don’t know how or where to love and serve and we don’t know who needs to be loved and served. Groups indicated that there are a few people who do lots of loving and serving and don’t give others the opportunity. Also that there are people who should be better cared for during the week (eg, the sick, the sad etc), that the noisy, public foyer makes it hard to have meaningful conversations, and that there aren’t any specific individuals asking for help.

Q4a) How can we be doing this better?
     The main way groups thought we could love and serve each other better is by knowing each other better and knowing needs. A desire for more information, opportunity, knowledge and understanding of how to serve each other was a definite theme. Along with more encouragement to be bold in this area and clearer teaching on how to reach out to others.
     Having forums for people with common interests to interact, knowing where people work, knowing who needs prayer, who is sick etc were ideas to improve on this. The practical implementation of these ideas involved creating smaller gospel groups, having a key contact person to go to for assistance or help, having a process to convey needs to the congregation and sharing prayer points somehow. More women’s and men’s events or prayer networks was also a common theme along with linking gospel groups together.
     Other ideas were encouraging the older/mature members to “adopt” newer/younger members for connection and growth together, encouraging more spontaneous hospitality and designated welcoming responsibilities (at supper, during service).

Q5) What is something that you think is an area of weakness as we seek to be "growing followers of Jesus" at CitC?
     There was diverse range of responses for areas of weakness at CiTC. Only a few were commented on more than once, they included connecting and linking people into church, the lack of community due to cliques and the intimidating size of the congregation. Many comments were reiterated from other sections of the review. 

     Some new comments about areas of weakness included a lack in the community awareness and reaching out from CiTC, a lack of awareness about the other congregations of Crossroads, not enough prayer and that it’s not a very emotional and expressive church.
     Overall the main area that seemed to be of concern was the connection of people into the congregation. 

Q6) What sort of things would you like to see more of at CitC?
     Again, the varied range of responses to this question were extensive. Clearly there are lots more things people would like to see at CiTC! Specifically, a desire for a more external focus was evident (evangelism, outreach events, local missions, hospital visiting groups). 

     However, most comments related to things within CiTC that there could be more of. Super suppers featured, as did more songs / time allocated for music and more practical applications from the sermons. Regular men’s and women’s events that are targeted at specific needs, prayer breakfasts, workers interacting with each other more during week, more prayer, more communication with other churches, more question time, more training were all noted. But the most commonly expressed desire was for more social events outside of church. Groups wanted more opportunities to meet random people, more random dinners, more mixing between churchgoers, more activities, more social contact etc.

Q7) What sort of things are you personally being challenged to do in regards to serving God's kingdom At CitC?
     Many groups noted lots of different ways they were being challenged at CiTC. A lot of comments related to serving (knowing where and who and how), interacting with non Christian friends and sharing the gospel with them and most of all people are challenged to prioritise God and put Jesus at the centre.
     People are challenged to meet someone new at church each week, or welcome a newcomer, they are encouraged into various practical ministries (kids / youth, welcoming, church set up, CIF, in the workplace etc) and groups mentioned the challenge to be fostering deeper relationships and loving each other to build community.