Wednesday, 22 November 2017 - Diocese of Derby

The Questions

These are the questions that the church will engage with in this stage.

What is our history?

In general, the MAP process looks at the current situation and future calling. This question allows the church to examine what has happened leading up to the current situation; in the church, in the wider community and in the relationship between the two.

Some churches may feel that they do not need to spend a great deal of time considering this question. For example, if a great deal of work has been done on it previously, the church may wish to just spend a little time updating their understanding from the last time they addressed the question. However, for most churches, the question is extremely helpful and is sometimes vital.

There are three specific ways in which engaging with this question can bear fruit:

To celebrate the success of what God has done in and through the church in the past, helping to encourage the church and build faith for the challenges of the future.
To give space for the church to understand and deal with any past events, relationships or culture that may impact on its current mission and ministry, seeking repentance, restoration and reconciliation where appropriate.
To understand the culture of the wider community that may impact on how mission is engaged with in that community. History will often have a profound effect on the attitudes and behaviours of a local community toward the church or other groups.

A good indication that the church has addressed this question is that the church have understood and accepted (and if appropriate dealt with) its own history and the history of its communities, and how they might influence one another.

To where has God brought us?

This question helps the church to reflect upon where God has already worked in and through them to establish His call and character, and where that work is yet to be done.

This is primarily done through the MAP Church Health Check tool. This tool provides the materials to help the church engage with the MAP Characteristics, prayerfully reflecting on where the church is, and isn’t, demonstrating those characteristics.

The tool uses surveys that can be used across the whole worshipping community of the church, asking people (using some specific areas of evidence) to what extent the church is already displaying each characteristic. For more information, see the MAP Church Health Check resource.

You can download the materials here:

In addition to the Church Health Check, the church may wish to make use of existing information and data from other sources, such as financial information or statistics for mission returns. They may wish to carry out further research to build up a fuller picture.

A good indication that the church have addressed this question is that the church have fully engaged with the MAP Church Health Check with clarity, openness and honesty and have used all other reasonable means to obtain a full picture of their current character and situation.

With whom do we share our life and what do they say about us?

If the church listens only to those inside the worshipping community and structures of the church, they will only get half the story. Those outside the worshipping community may have a very different view of the church than those inside it and, although it can be painful, it is important to hear their views. God will often speak to His Church through those on the outside.

The first part of answering this question is to discover with whom the church currently shares its life, and how. The church will need to explore the connections it already has with those outside – both intentional connections and connections that exist simply because the church is there.

Engaging in conversation and building relationships is the best way to hear honest and balanced views. This might mean establishing relationships where there was previously little contact, and using imaginative ways to engage people. This information will also be used in stage 4.

A good indication that the church has addressed this question is that the church have confidence in their understanding of what a broad range of individuals and groups believe about the church and its activities.

Further Help and Resources

You may find the following extra resources helpful during this stage:

Prayer and Worship Resources
Some ideas and models to help keep prayer and worship at the centre of the MAP for Derby Diocese process.
Discerning the Angel of the Church
A creative, imaginative way of helping people describe the character of the church.
Discerning the Angel of the Community
A creative, imaginitive way of engaging with the community and discovering what they think about their own community and the church.
Community Audit Ideas
Plenty of ideas about how to engage with the community and understand more about the people and organisations within it.
Community Listening Exercise
A resource to help you listen to the church's community.
History Audit
How to discover more of the histories of the church and the community, and the wisdom we can discern from their patterns.
Measuring Church Growth and Health
A resource to help church and deanery leadership teams consider how and why we measure the health of churches.
Stakeholder Interviews
How to discover and talk to the key people within your community.

For further help or information on any aspect of using MAP for Derby Diocese, please contact:

Jason Kennedy Diocesan Missioner
e jason.kennedy@derby.anglican.org
t 07539 483733
Derby Church House, Full Street, Derby DE1 3DR

Introduction

This section gives an overview of MAP for Derby Diocese - the core principles and elements that go to make it up.

If you are thinking of using MAP for Derby Diocese, you will need to download the following resources that give more details and information that are required to use MAP for Derby Diocese well. The Introductory leafet can be used in congregations and PCCs, and gives a single-page summary of the process.

Three Core Principles

You can download a separate resource that gives more information about the about the Core Principles:

MAP for Derby Diocese Core Principles

In brief, here are the three core principles of MAP for Derby Diocese.

Principle one: leader commitment

Our experience with MAP shows that the commitment of the church leadership is crucial to the effectiveness of its use. We find this time and time again in churches; the visible, ongoing commitment of the church leadership is vital for the success of its mission and ministry.

Therefore, it is equally vital that the leadership of any church shows a visible, consistent, real and ongoing commitment to the use of MAP for Derby Diocese in the church, if they choose to use it.

Principle two: prayerfulness

MAP for Derby Diocese is concerned with God's Church and His call to it. We recognise that, without God's wisdom and resources, our response to that call will always fail.

For MAP for Derby Diocese to bear fruit in any context, it must always be surrounded by prayer.

Principle three: integration

MAP for Derby Diocese works best when it is integral to every part of the church's life. That means that every aspect of the mission and ministry of the church is included in the MAP process.

Integration means that, as far as possible, everyone in the church needs to be involved at each stage. This ensures everyone feels included and the voices of a wider range of people are heard.

Three Core Elements

In brief, here are the three core elements of MAP for Derby Diocese.

Element one: the stages

You can see an overview of the stages of MAP for Derby Diocese in the leader's guide and introductory leaflet, downloaded from the top of this page.

Sometimes there is a temptation, when using a process like MAP for Derby Diocese, to skip over some parts of that process if the church believes that they are too difficult, unnecessary or needlessly time consuming.

To get the best out of MAP for Derby Diocese, it is essential that the church completes each stage carefully and in the right order.

The stages of MAP for Derby Diocese are:

Explore the purpose and character of the church God is calling you to be
Reflect in your journey toward God's calling so far
Discern the areas in which God is now calling you to grow and change to meet His call
Prepare how you will make the changes God requires of you
Journey toward making the changes God requires of you

Each Stage contains a simple set of questions that help the church engage with the issues that are important for that stage.

Element two: the characteristics

You can download a separate resource that gives more information about the about the MAP for Derby Diocese characteristics, including theological reflections and questions to help churches, groups and individuals reflect on them:

MAP for Derby Diocese Characteristics

The MAP for Derby Diocese process is designed to help the church become the healthy, flourising church that God intends them to be. The process isn't focussed on doing more things, but rather being God's church.

To do that, we need to understand what that church looks like. In other words, we need to understand its characteristics.

MAP for Derby Diocese is therefore based around a set of eight characteristics of God's church. Those characteristics are:

Christ-centred in life and worship
focused on God's mission and purpose
loving, servant-hearted and generous
welcoming, open and inclusive
willing to adapt for God's purposes
encouraging in Christian vocation and service
Christ-like in leadership
valuing children, young people and families

The characteristics have been carefully developed, starting from the work of several different research projects and bringing them to Scripture to ensure that they represent a complete picture of the church God calls us to be.

Element three: the church health check

If you would like to use the MAP for Derby Diocese Church Health Check in your church, you can download all the resources here:

The MAP for Derby Diocese Church Health Check is the only essential tool in the MAP for Derby Diocese process. It works alongside the characteristics and is threaded through the first four stages of the process, as follows:

Explore the character of the church od is calling them to be by explaining each of the characteristics in a theological reflection.
Reflect on the church's journey toward God's calling so far by helping them to examine honestly the evidence we should expect to see in churches exhibiting His desired character.
Discern the areas in which God is now calling them to grow and change to meet His call by helping the church to see in which characteristic(s) the church most needs to develop.
Prepare how they will make the changes God requires of them by showing in which areas of each characteristic the church will specifically need to develop and grow.