For various reasons, our Diocese has not gone along as a Diocese with 'Back to Church' Sunday, though one or two of our parishes (that I am aware of) have gone with the programme. I do not yet have feedback from them yet. But Kelvin Wright has posted a very encouraging post on how Back to Church Sunday went in the Parish of Roslyn, Dunedin.
Any other reports? I would be happy to share them via this blog!
Kelvin's whole post is here - but here is a brief excerpt:
"In terms of its stated aim, Back To Church Sunday has been a rip roaring success for St. John's Roslyn. In terms of the bigger issues, it has been a success as well. Firstly it has encouraged us to look at ourselves and make changes where necessary. Most importantly it has encouraged people to think about why they themselves come to church and to talk about those reasons with people they live and work and share bits of their lives with. Of course we will be signing up for next year's Back To Church Sunday, but I hope we can translate the learnings into the other 51 Sundays until then."
2 comments:
Ben here reporting in from St Mary's in Karori, Wellington I can say that it went very well up here too. Average attendance is usually about 100, but we were up to 130-something. The worship leader was engaging, handsome, and me :) , but seriously...it did make me think and explain a little more of what was happening as we went along, and it didn't feel like that was a hinderence to the flow of worship at all, but actually helped with engagement and participation across the board. Very impressed by the number of people who went out and invited someone along. only back to church sunday-er feedback I had though was from a lapsed Presbyterian who thought the service was "wonderful"...but couldn't see herself coming along regularly to an Anglican church....but should really go back and check out her old presbyterian church again....so YAY! :) It'll be interesting to see who comes back over the next few weeks too.
Thanks Ben
Excellent feedback - when one or two more come in I'll publish this in a 'full post'!
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