Whatever has happened to KAIROS?
In 2004, all the Churches in the Diocese were asked to take part in an in-depth review which the Bishop called “Kairos”. In a series of sermons and house groups we considered God’s love as expressed in Christ, and the ways we as Christians respond to that love. We thought about worship – the way we praise God, hear His word and celebrate His activity in and through Christ; we talked about our individual Bible study and prayer, as we seek to know Him better day by day: we asked ourselves what is the Church for, and considered our responsibility to go out to our local community – to meet people where they are, just as Jesus did. He did not ask people to come to Him in the Synagogue – he met them where they were: in the street, in their daily work, in their homes, at dinner parties, etc.
We thought that here at St Mary’s we have begun two activities that do reach out to people where they are; our First Steps drop-in for carers with under-fives and our monthly Sunday lunch are not primarily for people who are already part of our church family. They do reach out to our local community, and show that we care. So they really are Kairos activities.
After the House groups and sermons, we were asked to undertake some research. Churches in the Diocese were put together with neighbouring churches into “clusters” to work together. We joined with our sister churches on the Island, in Havant, and in Warblington and Emsworth to discover the needs that exist in our communities. We got facts and figures from the Census reports, and then we met with local Councillors and officers from the local authorities, and with people from the voluntary sector, to learn what they see as the main needs of the communities we live in. We also listed all our resources – our buildings – churches, church halls, church rooms, etc.; our money; and our people, both ordained and lay.
Following on from this, we then drew up outline plans to see where our churches could meet some of the needs we had identified. This started off with about 15 different ideas! But they were gradually refined and combined, and eventually four plans were put to all the PCCs and to the Deanery. They were:
So now we need to start moving towards putting these plans into action!
We realise that to a large extent, our congregations have been rather left out of things recently, but the time has now come for us all to get to work.
We feel the best way to start is by getting people who are involved or interested in any of these areas from all the churches in our “Cluster group” to meet together. In this way, we can find out how other churches go about doing things, learn from one another, and also support one another in developing new or better ways of doing things. For instance, people who are involved in working with small children can share ideas and resources; people involved in pastoral visiting can come together for training and support; people who are involved as sidesmen can learn how other churches carry our this vital ministry of welcome; people who are singing in choirs and music groups can get together as well. None of us has all the answers, so we can all learn something from each other to enrich the life and work of the churches, and to reach out more effectively to our local communities.
This is not an exercise to save cash. However, we do have to realise that in the fairly immediate future, we will be facing a reduction in the number of stipendiary priests. There will not be any financial cuts in deanery finances, so the money that would have paid for priests will still be there in the Deanery to be used in other ways. It is about re-examining the way we do things, freeing up ALL our people, both ordained and lay, to reach out more effectively to the people around us: and where finance is needed for particular projects, we will be able to apply to the deanery for funds. It is really about the Church being the Body of Christ, doing His work out in the world around us.
St Teresa of Avila was a very wise and forthright lady, and she pointed out to the people of her day that Christ has no hands but our hands; no feet but our feet; no eyes but our eyes: and it is up to us to do His work in the world.
Jenny Owens