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CHURCH COUNCIL
The Council had a fascinating “retreat” meeting this past Sunday after the church service. Instead of focusing on our church’s current activities, we talked about ideas and happenings at other churches. Little did we know how similar our congregation in Laconia is to these other places!
The churches were from several denominations and in different locations - TX, MI, MA, WI, NH and Ontario, Canada. The Council participants paired up and had Zoom calls with specific churches that Pastor Eliza had identified as “doing something interesting” or that are managing important issues in their congregations such as lower attendance or financial problems. Many of the churches were dealing with lower attendance and were struggling to maintain church buildings. These are big topics without clear answers but we heard some creative ideas about how they were dealing with these issues. Many discussions were about how churches connect with their wider communities/towns and the value of having neighborhood partnerships. One example is sharing church building spaces with local organizations either for free, to support their mission, or possibly with a rental fee when appropriate. Creating new relationships and collaborations with other groups to hold an event together - like a 5K race or barbeque - can develop genuine neighborhood partners. Find reasons to celebrate!
Some churches have reexamined their lay leadership structure or redesigned their worship spaces to allow for different types of seating and uses, such as having a coffee nook and tables or holding Coffee Hour in the sanctuary, sharing music and musicians who bring a new tone to worship, or to become dedicated to sincere welcoming. Because the church sanctuaries are often used only an hour or two a week, some churches let different local congregations use their space for worship services.
Probably every conversation included a version of the old saying “don’t hide your light under a bushel!” There were suggestions to develop a one-minute “elevator speech” that you can say in the line at the grocery store or wherever you may want to share what’s great about your church community - “it’s a great community, the fellowship is wonderful, Sunday mornings are meaningful, and we do lots of outreach in the community!” In recent years, there seems to be a need for churches to advertise themselves more. Sometimes they hire a consultant or additional staff who can do public relations and social media, as a way of bringing the church out into the places that people inhabit, rather than waiting for people to come to us.
One thing we all learned: we don’t need to do church alone!
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