The Minister Writes...

What makes a church a good church? As I write this, I've been attending the General Assembly. A group of children were invited to make their comments at the Monday morning session. They said things like this: "A well-off church has windows that don't leak... has a minister who preaches interesting sermons - and who doesn't just talk to the youngest children. A well-off church uses multi-media projection".

We have of course been doing our own Healthy Church Exercise, to try to discover the various strengths and weaknesses of St John's. Research in Britain has shown that churches that are managing to maintain their attendance at worship, and even grow, tend to have some factors in common. They've been described in this way:

A healthy church

• is energised by faith
• has an outward-looking focus
• seeks to find out what God wants it to do
• faces the cost of change and growth
• operates as a community
• makes room for all
• does a few things and does them well

Everyone attending church over 3 Sundays and Thursdays in April was asked to score each Mark of the Healthy Church on a scale of 1-6. The results have been collated, and appear in a chart for you to look at (The chart is compiled taking an aggregate of the scores - not as complicated as it sounds, and it does give a revealing indication of how we see our strengths and weaknesses)

I have been a bit concerned that a lot of people didn't take part in the survey, even though they were present in church, but there seem to have been practical reasons for that. In any case, the results are still valid, I believe, and have fascinated me. They show that - in terms of how we see ourselves - our greatest strength is in "making room for all", and our greatest weakness is in "facing the cost of change and growth". But generally, the scores were remarkably high, which seems to indicate a level of contentment with the life of the congregation.

David Currie, the Church of Scotland Senior Mission Adviser, whom we are currently using as a consultant, has commented that we seem to feel stronger in the "doing" things, and weaker in the "being" things, that is the Marks of church life that relate to our spirituality.

We are very fortunate to have been able to send our results to Robert Warren, the original researcher who has compiled the 7 Marks of Health, and he has made some very perceptive comments in email correspondence with me (see Marks of a Healthy Church).

So what I would like is this: talk to me, talk to your elder, talk to each other visit the St John's website and make your comments in the Visitors' Forum. Why do we seem weaker in "spirituality"? Why are we resistant to change? Why do some feel that making room for all is a weakness, while most feel it is our greatest strength? What should we do about these things? To become a healthier church, we must think seriously about where we are and what God is calling us to. In the autumn we hope to have a Kirk Session conference with David Currie, when we will decide on some goals to work towards. In the meantime, let's all join in the debate and the discussion. I look forward to hearing from you.

St John's has had its health check. It's time now to reflect on the results, and to become healthier and stronger as the body of Christ.

Yours in anticipation,