Late 2003: The Call to Action
In November, I stood in front of a nearly full church, to report on my new strategy. Those hoping for a grand vision were disappointed. I described how, during the first few centuries after Christ, the church had been organized around extended family sized communities. Early believers typically met in the biggest house they could find. When they ran out of room, they would subdivide and form a new community.
I admitted that I didn’t have a precise plan for how to put my idea into practice, but I asked everyone to think about what kind of difference they could make as a part of a more intimate community. I challenged them: What’s your passion? What service-oriented program would you want to start or join, given the chance? I then announced a follow up session in a month, for anyone who might be willing to lead an MSC.
Twelve eager volunteer leaders showed up at the early December meeting. I encouraged them to talk to others in the congregation, recruit other volunteers, and start laying out plans. I told them that each group had to have a purpose that went beyond just meeting up. And one rule was sacrosanct: once an MSC grew to 50 members, it had to subdivide. Other than that, it was all up to them.
2004: The Experiment Builds Momentum
My mantra, borrowed from Mike Breen, was “low control, high accountability.” Each group was free to set its own mission, but group members knew that the whole church was expecting them to make a noticeable difference in the lives of others. I resisted giving directions about things like how often they should meet, even when asked. I’d say, “I don’t know. Why don’t you pray about it.” I met with them weekly, praying with them and encouraging them to take risks. Suddenly, they began to realize that they had gifts, unexploited talents. And, in their MSCs, they had friends – other ‘amateurs’ – saying “Come on, we can do this.”
The first MSC was up and running in January 2004. A group in a town near Chorleywood had met to hash out its mission, and noticed a gaggle of children playing football in a park across the street. Their younger sibling were shivering on the sidelines, leading one group member to suggest that they could run a club for the kids who came out each week but didn’t get to play. Soon, they were running an after-class club at a nearby school, with the full understanding among parents that they would be bringing a religious message too.
Other MSCs – one offering late night revelers rides home from night clubs – mobilized as well. We would film them at work, play the videos at church on Sunday, and encourage other parishioners to get involved. They did. By January 2005, we had grown 17 MSCs with over 400 people.
In addition to their community work, MSC members were encouraged to gather regularly outside of church, to worship, pray and plan. In the early days, many of the MSCs would set up their chairs in pew formation. I would remind them that they didn’t have to; they could “do church” however they liked.
January 2005: An Opportunity is Seized
We knew as early as June 2004 that the church was in need of a major refurbishment. The immediate thought was to go out and hire another building for the nine months it would be closed. Mark and I prayed about it with the full staff team, and together we realized there was another option, one that would get us to the next level with the MSCs. We decided not to find an alternate space for services. We encouraged the church membership to join an MSC, if they weren’t already part of one as we would be meeting in our MSCs each Sunday, save for the fourth Sunday in every month where we would worship altogether in a large school hall.
Some critics warned that we would lose as many as 200 members. Instead, nearly 1,000 men, women and children signed up. I’m still not altogether sure where they all came from. It was quite an intense period. People would come in to the church to fill out a registration form, and we’d be looking for MSCs to form to absorb them. It felt like Noah’s Ark; we had a pile of wood and a vision of what it should like. We launched around 20 odd MSCs in January 2005.
By the time the church was ready to reopen, our congregation had outgrown it. Some MSC members, happy with doing work rather than being “nailed to a pew,” asked if they really had to come back to church. Some were praying that the building works would never be completed. The question was – what to do when we got the church building back! We entered a time of listening. Listening to one another and in prayer. We asked each MSC leadership team to talk with their members and let us know how they wanted to move forward. We met one evening in a local hall and one by one each MSC reported back – all but one said, ‘We can’t go back to the way things were – we have only just begun the adventure!.’
September 2005: The New Model Emerges
The church reopened in September. By now, most MSCs were meeting for worship, and at other times to carry out their mission work. While the church building and Sunday worship service was no longer our only focal point, we absolutely wanted to maintain our unity as a congregation. Mark and I came up with this:
- We encouraged everyone to attend church on the fourth Sunday of the month for a time of “celebration.” The service was repeated three times during the day, to accommodate the entire congregation.
- Once a quarter, during the month with five Sundays, there were church-wide gatherings with speakers and presentations on the practical challenges of doing good in the world.
- Church services were held at St Andrews church four times a Sunday so the main front door of the church was always open. This allowed many MSCs to return ‘home’ for Sunday worship and for those who wanted to support the church at the centre.
A typical MSC consisted of 30 to 40 adults with however many children came with them, and a volunteer leadership group of about six people. It might reach out to children, the elderly, the physically disabled, prisoners, young people in trouble with the police and local authorities, the homeless…any group in need. They met in coffee bars, school halls, youth centers, scout huts, and community halls.
We had played a bit with how large to let MSCs grow. We started thinking 72, and found that was too big. The 80/20 rule was taking hold – 20% of the people were doing 80% of the work – and attendance was dropping. Below 50 members, attendance was 90% and everyone was committed. So, when a group reached 40 in size, it needed to start thinking about multiplication. Ideally, it would happen in an organic way. For example, one group served Sunday evening supper to homeless people. In the course of their ministry, they learned that many of these people were sleeping in the park and awakening hungry the next day, so a number of the MSC members started a new group to provide breakfast.
New MSC leaders and members participated in a training course, and a church-wide teaching guide was prepared (primarily by Mark Stibbe) for use by all the MSCs in their worship discussions. Each week, I sent MSC leaders a note providing updates and asking for prayer requests. Periodically, I brought them together to set priorities and identify opportunities.
For the congregation as a whole, we published a quarterly newsletter which included news of events gathered from all the MSCs. In time, that was incorporated into a website. Many MSCs also set up websites, linked into the main church site.
From the perspective of those at StAndrews church centre, the new model involved some redeployment of staff and change of roles. For example, where the Children’s Department formerly ran programs just at the centre, it now provided materials and support for MSCs in their work with children. The new structure did not have a negative effect on church finances, although some minor MSC operating expenses eventually were church funded. MSCs operated on an annual average budget of approximately $10,000 each. Concerns about MSC reluctance about taking collections at their worship services were addressed by setting up a system allowing congregation members to direct deposit weekly / monthly donations to the church.
2008: Spreading the Word
The MSC model has attracted much interest nationally and internationally. We have been contacted for help and support by churches in Europe, North America and South America, from different denominations. The MSC department at StAndrews began to offer conferences and other support. Mark Stibbe and I were encouraged to write a book about the StAndrews experience. It was published in 2008 under the title "Breakout," and was well received, earning the 2009 Book of the Year Award from the UK Christianity Magazine. We were also invited to be part of the European Learning Committee, where the leadership teams of 15 of Europe's most pioneering churches were brought together to form a learning community. This was a very creative and inspiring environment, where challenges were set and innovation was shared.
