Reflections on the Values of Knox Church

‘This is Our Past’

March 29, 2015

‘This is Our Past’ Congregational Event Reflections

held on March 29, 2015 at Knox, Harrington

The first step in creating a vibrant and meaningful vision of the future for any congregation involves remembering where you come from as a people of God. The values, qualities, and sense of purpose that shaped your past arewhat provide you with a significant foundation upon which to craft an achievable and faithful future.

This paper provides an analysis of the essential values identified by participants at the‘This is Our Past’visioning event which took place on Sunday, March 29, 2015. Twenty-four people participated, including children and youth (not everyone was able to remain for the entirety of the event). There were life-long members of Knox and those who were relatively new. Other than a rather confusing jumble of instructions at the beginning of the event (even trained interim-ministers lose focus from time to time!), the morning featured lively conversation, good insights, wonderful stories, and a definite passion for what it has meant to be part of Knox, Harrington through the years.

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The values defined within this document are both explicit – those values specifically named by you, the participants, during the visioning event; and implicit– values I identified as significant through my interpretation and observationof the stories and comments you made at the event.

I have included a few‘trigger’ questions, intended to help fire your imaginations as you ponder the values listed and how you might utilize those values into the future.

If you have any questions or thoughts on what is contained within the report, I wholeheartedly welcome your feedback. I am a facilitator, observer, and encourager – you are the ones who have lived Knox Presbyterian Church from past to present … and will empower your future.

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An Overview of Knox Presbyterian Church, Harrington

The congregation of Knox Presbyterian has ministered within the community and surrounding countryside of the Village of Harrington for over a hundred and fifty years. Although this visioning event concerns itself exclusively with the living memory of the participants, it is valuable to note the long history of the congregation. Knox has been part of a two-point charge with Knox, Embro for seventy-five years (1940), up until dissolution of that tie in February, 2015.

Knox, Harrington is confronted by the typical challenges of a rural congregation. Demographic decline within the region is perhaps the most significant of those challenges:

Where once, the surrounding community might have been made up of numerous hundred-acre family farms, those farms have been bought up into larger and larger operations.
Where once, it was not unusual to have a farm family of six, seven, eight or more members; today, the families tend to be much smaller.
Young people go off to university or college and take up new careers in the cities; few remain to work the family farm.
Older folk gravitate toward larger centres where the resources are available to provide for needed on-going care.

This all adds up to an increasingly fluid and numerically-limited local population that the congregation may draw upon for membership renewal and financial sustainability, let alone any consideration of growth.

From a financial perspective, Knox’s experience is typical for a rural church:

The congregation has been too small to sustain a full-time ministry on its own for many decades, requiring it to be part of a two-point charge.
The fluctuations in agriculture over the years have made finances vulnerable for local families, especially young families seeking to establish themselves within agriculture.
Congregational members who are seniors tend to be the most consistent and most generous givers, as they have fewer debts, less demands to support their family, and come from a cultural setting where giving to the church was an expectation of membership. As this older population dies or moves away and their financial support is lessened or lost, it places an ever-increasing financial burden on those who remain.

These limitations and concerns: demographic decline, market forces, aging population, etc.,are outside the ability of the congregation to influence. It is not a matter of ineffective outreach or lack of welcoming community; it is a matter of statistics.

One past matter that had significant impact upon the congregation’s well-being was the recent upheaval with the last minister that resulted in the decision of some members to leave the congregation; as well as causing some wounded relationships between members. Although the congregation’s primary desire is to move into the future with faith and determination, this particular story still evokes a great deal of sorrow, frustration, and feelings of vulnerability. A healing process will need to be nurtured within this body of Christ as part of their ongoing care for one another.

Knox Harrington does have four things much in its favour:

1)There is a high level of commitment to the congregation by its current membership. Despite recent challenges, those involved in the life of the church are optimistic about the future; active in worship and fellowship; volunteer in various capacities; and possess a desire to see their congregation remain viable.

2)The congregation is blessed with an active core of young families. Although they are not sufficient on their own to replace the older generation; if nurtured effectively, they provide good potentialfor the future.

3)Knox has numerous members who have moved away to surrounding communities such as Stratford and Tavistock, but have maintained an active and contributing relationship with the congregation. It is an affirming testament when people are willing to make a Sunday morning commute to attend worship (especially in our winters!)

4)The congregation made the decision to participate in a visioning process that will assist them to identify the values and strengths that will enable them to craft a meaningful, and achievable, vision for their future.

This is Our Past Event

This first step in the visioning process involved the congregation gathering together to share stories and insights about the congregation’s past that would assist them to identify the values and strengths that have defined their ministry in the past and may provide significantdirection as they move into the future.

The process and questions were grounded in Appreciative Inquiry, a change management model that emphasizes what is best and positive about a congregation rather than expending energy focusing on problems and anxieties.

Appreciative Inquiry works from certain assumptions – the most significant being:

What we focus on becomes our reality – if we focus on our problems, they will dominate our thinking and energies. If we focus on what is best and life-giving, that will be the spirit that is nurtured.
In every congregation, some things work well – the goal is to focus on those strengths and qualities that have worked well in the congregation’s story.
People have more confidence in the journey to the future when they carry forward the best parts of the past – visioning for the future does not mean we abandon our past. The very best of our past is what makes us who we are and enables us to enter the future with confidence.
When we create shared images we discover our preferred future – when we share our stories, learn from each other, discover the values we share in common, then we are able to identify what a meaningful future looks like.

The questions that participants were invited to discuss:

One on One Questions:

What is it about your church that you most value?
When did you feel the most alive about your involvement at Knox Church?
What is the single most important thing that Knox has contributed to your life?
When did you feel your contribution to the congregation was most positive and effective?
When your congregation has ministered to your deepest needs, what was it doing?

Group Questions:

When was your church most effective in communicating Christ’s message of love and/or justice to others?
What has been the single most important value that has defined your church in the last twenty years?
What are the characteristics that have made your congregation unique?
What would the surrounding community miss about your church if it were no longer here?
When relationships among people at your church have been their healthiest and most life-giving, what factors have contributed to this?

After much discussion, the entire group shared the results of their conversations, identifying the values that they felt had shaped the congregation most meaningfully throughout its living history.

These values were: (in no particular order)

Sunday messageintentional caring hospitality

fellowshipacceptance/safetyleadership

uplifting worshipmusicfaith education

faith legacycommunicationvolunteering

commitmentsharing ministrycooperation

physical ministry (building)missiondedication

determinationflexiblefamily

communityfunengaged youth

compassionremembrance

Those gathered were then asked to identify the most prominent values in this list. These were the values that were named as vital regardless of the question being asked; noted by multiple table groups; and identified by the group as a whole as the most significant values in shaping the congregation’s identity and sense of purpose. These are the values people would consider essential in the crafting of the congregation’s future.

Our Primary Values and Strengths

The Value of Acceptance – throughout its past story, the congregation strove to create an environment where people felt welcomed, safe; where people felt they had worth; that their contribution and participation mattered.

Is this sense of acceptance still evident within the congregation?

How does it become an advantage as you seek to do mission within the community?

How is the value of acceptance nurtured when the congregation is confronted with challenges and differences of opinion?

The Value of Caring/Compassion - caring and compassion are not necessarily interchangeable, but they do come from a common identification that Knox’s past has been at its best when you have actively supported, encouraged, and loved one another, especially those who were in need. Compassion is the attitude/spirit that enabled you to feel one another’s pain – caring was that attitude transferred into action.

Arecaring and compassion only of value with regards to the membership of the church, or are they an effective outreach as well?

How might we most effectively communicate the love/compassion of Christ to the wider community?

The Value of Family – came up numerous times in the stories being shared regarding what it has meant to belong to the family of God within Knox Church. It was considered significant in its uniqueness as a rural Christian family, for each of those words enhanced and built upon the understanding of what it has meant to belong to this congregation.

What does it mean to belong to Knox Church today?

In a changing rural culture, how might the congregation continue to nurture and preserve the value of belonging both within the congregation and in the wider community?

The Value of Mission – in Knox’s past, mission has had both a local and a global significance. Mission was seen as both generous and participatory. People gave money to specific projects locally and around the world; but there was also a great deal of hands-on work in support of mission - fundraising, community meals, and WMS. Mission was seen as an important expression of people’s commitment to the life and purpose of the congregation.

What is needed to help sustain or invigorate the congregation’s commitment to meaningful mission projects?

The Value of Volunteering – a significant value was placed on the importance of volunteerism in the congregation’s story. The readiness of people to volunteer served as a sign of your dedication to the church and perseverance in the faith, especially during times of challenge.

How might the congregation encourage volunteer opportunities that are flexible and take into account the needs to balance work, family, and community?

How might the congregation provide opportunities for volunteering that also nurture a sense of calling and well-being to those involved?

The Value of Music, Message, and Worship – Much was noted of the importance of worship (especially inclusive of music and the message), and the role it has played in nurturing faith and reassuring us of our call to ministry – provided a legacy of faith to be passed on from generation to generation – music especially was seen as a means of uplifting a sense of joy in being part of Christian community.

In a world where worship is quite foreign to the wider populace, how might we make our worship an effective form of outreach?