An Overview of KAIROS
The Diocese of Portsmouth has devised a strategic review to help the Church meet new challenges. Radical thinking is required in the areas of:
- mission and engagement with the community;
- the ministry the Church offers to its congregations and the wider world; and
- the management of our resources
to help us re-discover our calling to be salt and light in the world.
The Kairos process is a chance for us to look at the big picture. The word ‘Kairos’ is a Greek word that suggests:
- a watershed, an opportune moment for change;
- a decisive turning point;
- a season which God has given us to think afresh about all we do.
It is NOT about the effective management of a declining Church. It is NOT primarily driven by finances. It IS about how we can learn to be God’s Church in a way that is:
- Broader: A Church that has a broader base in the community and orders its worship to make it accessible to a wider group of people;
- Deeper: A Church that encourages a deeper and more meaningful spiritual life, both for its adherents and for those coming into contact more loosely with it activities;
- Leaner: A Church that is leaner in its structures to ensure it can react quickly to the rapidly changing world in which we live.
THE FIRST CYCLE: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
The first cycle of our Kairos process took place from 2004-05. It involved the setting out of the challenges we face, a prgramme of theological study, some research by parishes into their local communities, and the creation of deanery-wide plans. The goals of this first cycle of Kairos were to:
- Identify the needs of the communities we serve.
- Identify the resources at our disposal to meet the needs of our communities.
- To optimise, and re-deploy where necessary, our resources to ensure we can meet those needs.
These goals produced hundreds of community projects across our diocese, which were collated into eight five-year deanery Kairos plans. These were blessed in our cathedral in July 2005 and are now being implemented. They shold help to put the Church back at the heart of its local communities.
The headlines for each phase of the original Kairos cycle are listed below:
KAIROS: WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
1. The age profile of many congregations suggests church attendance will decline over the next few years;
2. The national shortage of stipendiary clergy, which means there will be fewer clergy working in our diocese in future;
3. Financial challenges such as increasing clergy pay and the rising cost of clergy pensions;
4. The cost of maintaining our historic buildings.
5. The lack of relevance of the Christian faith to many in our communities.
For more details on what the problem is, click here
KAIROS: THE PROCESS OF CHANGE
Parishes' involvement in the Kairos process during 2004 and 2005 was vital. The four stages in which almost all parishes participated were:
1. EXPERIENCE: Lent 2004
The bishop and his staff articulated the problems and opportunities facing us in a roadshow that visited each deanery.
2. EXPLORATION: Easter-December 2004
(a) THEOLOGY: A programme of theological reflection took place, in parish groups or groups drawn from several neighbouring parishes, between Lent and Pentecost. Six sermons, special meetings or home groups helped to understand the role of the Church in the world.
(b) RESEARCH: From July to December 2004, parishes were invited to explore the make-up and needs of their own community, using church, census and other data, and to find out whether those needs were already being met by churches, local authorities or other agencies. The resources available in each church were also audited. Parishes were strongly encouraged to undertake this work in clusters and to involve ecumencial partners.
3. REFLECTION: January-July 2005
Deaneries were invited to produce a five-year plan for each area or cluster of parishes, for mission (evangelisation and social engagement) and ministry (deployment of lay and ordained ministers), laying out how resources would be used.
4. ACTION: July 2005 onwards.
Deanery Synods were then responsible for implementing their Deanery plans, with ongoing support from the Archdeaconry Kairos groups and the Diocesan Kairos Group (DKG).
For more details about the original Kairos process, click here
THE SECOND CYCLE: BUILDINGS
In 2007, our Diocesan Kairos Group suggested that we now try to tackle one of the five original problems outlined at the start of the Kairos process. 'Buildings' is an issue that appears to be universal across virtually all parishes. From 2008, our second Kairos cycle is likely to focus on church buildings.
For more information about 'Kairos: Buildings', click here
