Chapter 1 – House of Prayer

In this chapter he speaks about redefining our identity as the key to changing our outcomes. In the time of Jesus it was the Temple in Jerusalem that dominated the people’s interaction with God. Instead of place of inclusion it had excluded many. So Jesus comes as the light of the world – the light to the nations. Father James argues that once again we have become obsessed with maintaining the religious structures rather than pointing people to an encounter with God. He uses the analogy of half empty lifeboats when the Titanic sank failing to respond to those drowning. Instead of seeking to save the lost we stay in our comfort zones. The church exists for mission and the central task is to make disciples. To become a disciple is to commit to a process of growth. Yet over the last 50 years, as society has turned away from church, we have continued to provide a place where people can come and be a passive audience. Instead we need to encourage all to experience an active encounter with God through Jesus. The church needs to evangelise and make disciples and send them out to continue this process.

Chapter 3 – House of Pain

In this Chapter there is a very raw and real assessment of the pain involved in being part of a failing church facing inevitable decline. Father James’ analysis is that the church is sick and this sickness arises from forgetting our deepest identity. Bewildered, faithful people ask, “What did I do wrong?” A whole generation seems to have been lost without trace. He speaks of institutional decline with the collapse of parish structures. While it is not only about the buildings closing down churches is always painful and tragic. He then goes on to discuss the damage done by the scandals of sexual abuse by priests. This pain translates into a dull, chronic ache for all who serve the church that has failed those victims of abuse. Then there are those priests who are faced with ever increasing expectations from congregations who care nothing of the toll it is extracting from those who try to keep all the separate services going. The options left open are: to go through the motions relinquishing all efforts to build the kingdom, or to stay and fight accepting the struggle to keep heads above the water. But this suffering can be a path to redemption. We need to move on from exile and rediscover our true identity.

Chapter 5 – Laying the Foundation

This chapter provides the key practical basis for transforming a parish from maintenance to mission. It is over 100 pages long. Many ideas have overlap with the Healthy Church and LYCiG material. There will be something for everyone that is of help in these pages. At the end of the sermon on the mount Jesus speaks of putting his words into action. We need to reclaim our missionary identity. This needs to impact our values and culture. Values and culture often remain hidden, they may be revealed through where we put our resources in people and money. He goes on to list the ten common values that are shared by healthy, growing churches.

1. Giving Priority to the Weekend
   This is about making sure that we make our weekend meetings as high quality as we can. This is when we see most of our people. There must be time to gather, celebrate and connect. We need to get over a culture of minimalism that seeks to go through the motions in the shortest possible time. Jesus did not call us to a convenient life. Our services need to meet the need to make disciples.
   
2. Hospitality
   Church needs to always reach out to the stranger. This starts with a friendly welcome team. This welcome is open to everyone. It often starts with a smile. This then goes into explaining the mechanics and liturgy for the service so that all can be involved. There need to be processes in place to ensure that guests can leave details and initial visits are followed up. Father James speaks of this in his context of a very large church but outlines the need for multiple ways to connect and for this to be relational and simple. A welcome team member will contact each new person and they will be invited to a New Parishioner Event of wine and cheese lasting no more than hour. The key is building real relationships.
   
3. Uplifting Music
   This section speaks of full, conscious and active participation of all in church services. It speaks of the need to experience both the old and the new in forms of worship. There needs to be distinct flavours that will appeal to a broad spectrum of people. In this we seek to bring beauty into every service. Hymns of praise should dominate as we sing worship to God. He relates how some modern worship songs may seem sentimental and individualistic but we find these same two components throughout the book of psalms. He goes on to speak about the need for effective sound systems and for screens that allow visual content to be displayed.
   
4. Homilies
   Preaching is a huge part of the ministry of the priest and we need to do this well and give it our attention. The word of God is a banquet and not fast food. He advises preaching for 15 to 20 minutes to get a good message across. In this we should speak to the whole person – mind, conscience, heart and will. It should be intelligent and informative. There should both be a core message and a clear application. The aim is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. To do this the preacher must first open their heart to the full meaning of the word. Then we will preach out of authenticity and with honesty. There is a need to start with confidence and then to end well. It is also good to speak directly to people engaging eye contact. We must be humble in our approach and be open to critical feedback. There is a call to use slides to reinforce the presentation and for sermon series on a particular topic. The final advice is to have fun as that will come across to those who listen.
   
5. Meaningful Community
   Creating authentic community can be a huge challenge in church. In current times people need to belong before they will believe and then behave in a Christian way. A huge part of this for Father James has been the adoption of Alpha as a means of creating community. He sees this tool as perfectly suited for the post-modern mindset. The first goal is to create a warm, welcoming, non-threatening and non-judgmental environment. Alpha creates a culture that then enables community and discipleship. He speaks of the resistance to Alpha in Catholic circles but maintains that Alpha is a door through which many begin to walk in a journey of faith. He then suggest three ideas: Name Tag Sunday which happens once a month giving everyone the chance to learn new names, Prayer Partners which encourages people to pray for those next them in the pews as part of the service and Prayer Ministry where people come with issues for prayer to commissioned prayer ministers after the service. There is then a section on surveys to assess how engaged people are with the church. This looks for people’s spiritual growth, serving and financial giving as signs of church health. If repeated over successive years signs of progress can be measured quantitatively. Their experience is that once people are engaged in these ways then growth will happen all by itself.
   
6. Clear Expectations
   Churches that are healthy are clear about the expectations of members and are not afraid to communicate them. Father James argues that high welcome and high expectation is a respectful way to respond to people. This is mirrored in the life of Jesus who welcomed all but then placed very high expectations on those who sought to follow him. At their church they have an expectations brochure that details what parishioners can expect from the parish and what the parish expects of parishioners. The five key expectations of church members are to; Worship, Grow, Serve, Connect and Give. These are each spelt out in detail, going on to speak of stewardship with the idea of giving - Time to grow in discipleship, Talent which is about serving others and Treasure which is financial giving. Each of these commitments is covered every year in a five week series. They are clear about presenting financial information and are realistic about the time it takes to change church culture in this area. He speaks about the need to face challenges that these initiatives present, broaden people’s understanding and fight against the resistance of those offended by being asked for money.
   
7. Strength-Based Ministry
   We need to recognise that many people are coerced into ministry ill-matched to their gifts and talents leaving people deeply frustrated. In contrast the greatest joy in the world is to know and experience being used by the Lord to make a difference. Everyone is uniquely made and gifted by God. Father James recommends using a tool called Strengths Finder to help identify people’s abilities. The tool helps to drive home that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made. Discerning strengths and placing people in positions where they serve best adds great value to the church.
   
8. Formation of Small Communities
   Churches that are healthy, growing and making disciples embrace a model of being a community of communities. These small communities gather together on Sundays and are an integral part of local church life. They are essential in creating a culture of belonging, especially as churches start to grow. This is crucial for pastoral care which is impossible in any reasonably sized parish for clergy alone to cover. Caring needs to become the job of all, not just the priest. In their parish they have opted for mid-sized groups of 25 to 35 people called Connect groups. They meet twice a month in homes where they eat, worship, learn and pray for one another. All members take turns to share testimony or a topic. These groups form out of cohorts who have been through Alpha. They run alongside adult discipleship courses. Each raises up new leaders for the time when the group has to multiply. The leaders are accountable to staff team and clergy who provide coaching and encouragement. There is risk involved in this strategy and Father James provides the quote that, “Leaders of a Church will either be risk takers, care takers or undertakers.” The system demands low control but high accountability and this is an inherent value within their church.
   
9. Experience of the Holy Spirit
   This section starts with a call to have an authentic internal reality of our faith as followers of Jesus. There is a theological discussion of the promise of the Holy Spirit that goes on to describe the power of the Holy Spirit at work through the book of Acts. The third person of the Trinity needs to be more than an abstract concept. We need an experience of Him in our lives. Father James goes on to argue that we should be emotional and enthusiastic about of faith. A healthy church encourages experience of the Holy Spirit, this then allows the fruit of the Spirit to develop within God’s people. The first step is to teach that this should be part of our normal Christian life. The second valuable step is to introduce encounters with the Holy Spirit through the Alpha course. Quite simply God’s love being poured into people’s hearts is life changing. This relationship is essential, changing the whole tenor of parish life. We should earnestly and expectantly invite the Holy Spirit to come during the eucharistic liturgy. It is the Holy Spirit who frees us from a self-centredness cloaked in religiosity.
   
10. Become an Inviting Church
    This will come naturally if the first nine values are in place. Yet we still need to be intentional about creating an invitational culture withing the life oof the church. There is a recognition that God gives the growth and that there will usually be five invitations to produce one positive response. Fear is usually the biggest factor preventing people from attending church. We might feel awkward about offering the invitation and a simple Come and See approach is advised. The third principle is that the vison needs to be clear and compelling. Invitation is usually through family and friendship networks, praying for courage before we act. Central to their strategy is the Alpha course which is designed to run as a rolling programme with those who have completed the course then inviting their friends and family to the next course. In doing this it is important to celebrate the wins, telling stories and testimonies of transformed lives.

Chapter 7 – Leader of the House

This section argues that if the primary crisis of the Church today is one of identity, then a second crisis is one of leadership. He speaks of being taught theology and how to celebrate the sacraments in Seminary but very little about leadership. Priests are simply not trained in how to effectively lead growing churches. He argues that we can all learn and grow to become better leaders. There are stories of finding inspiration and support in many protestant church leadership programmes. Father James blames the support of failing parishes for poor Catholic leadership skills and argues that being left in a post for only 6 to 8 years is too little time to effect real change. Leaders need to recognise that they fundamentally limited and incapable of doing it all themselves. They must be aware of their own strengths and lean into them. To correct for their weaknesses they must lead out of a well rounded leadership team. The days of the Lone Ranger priest as a solitary paragon of strength are long gone. Every leader needs a leadership team to whom they are accountable, transparent and vulnerable. They also need places of peer support where they can share weakness and receive prayer.

The next pages detail the specific steps and qualities that are recommended for effective leadership. This begins with Vision. Vision is defined as a picture of the future that produces passion in us. It starts with the dreams of the leader and their personal vision. This needs to be developed by being open to a wide range of input. Vision may start with dissatisfaction with the way things are. A self-satisfied church is a mediocre church. Next this vision must be shared with other church leaders and efforts made to include the charisms of all of the fivefold ministries of Ephesians 4. This vision then needs to be written down so that it can be shared more widely. It will take years to embed this vision into the broader church. A clear vision is the sign that the church is going somewhere, setting out on that journey from maintenance to mission. The vison must get through to the key influencers in the church community and be the subject of regular preaching and review amongst the staff. Once the vision is decided it then needs to create a strategy to implement it. To plan for growth it may be necessary to form smaller decision making bodies, decentralize oversight of ministries, recruit more staff and change the role of the pastor. As they grew the church council met less frequently but for longer more focused meetings. There is a section on the way we run meetings arguing that conflict and drama are necessary for them to be healthy.

In developing strategy, it starts with the vision statement. A purpose statement is also helpful. Then there is a need to analyse the true values of the church and check that they align with the ten outlined in chapter 5. At the start of each year one or two values are selected to be worked on in that year. He goes on to talk about five systems that are needed to create a healthy church. These are: Worship, Evangelisation, Discipleship, Fellowship and Ministry. These overlap with the ten values and evaluation of these systems helps to assess a church’s health. Next there is the need for SWOT analysis of each system. Looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that the parish faces. These are used to produce a plan that looks at immediate, short term and five year goals. Any plan then needs to be executed. This is the key role of the church leader working with a leadership team. The leader must give up the temptation to micromanage and adopt the model of low control, high accountability. This means empowering lay people and delegating responsibility but everyone must report to a ministry leader who reports to the church leader. Ministry leaders are gathered for leadership summits which are planned with plenty of lead in three or four times a year for a morning of prayer and reflection. There is a need to form healthy teams and create a healthy staff culture to create clear expectations and empowerment. Anyone who leads in change has to expect challenge and criticism. Our faith should demand that we trust in God at all times to reverse the identity crisis that the church faces.