SIGNS OF GROWTH

LAST YEAR… AT THE AVM

WE HAVE A (FIVE YEAR) DREAM...

OUR DREAM...

St Gwladys’ a thriving, lively, growing church made up of all ages. Full of joy and the power of the Spirit. A really safe, welcoming and family friendly atmosphere where children are allowed to be children and each one is accepted and appreciated for who they are and challenged to grow as disciples of Jesus.

Passionate worship and relevant, challenging Bible teaching. Recognisably Anglican in feel. Deep Christian relationships of prayer and accountability with each other. People living out lives of intentional mission in Bargoed. New people every week.

OUR DREAM…(CONT)

Lives changed. Marriages/relationships transformed. Poverty being overcome. A caring and healing community. Lay gifts prominently used in every aspect of church life.

Mission teams from St G’s reinforcing churches in Deri and Brithdir and equipping/releasing them into mission.

THE MASTERPLAN… (OR THE MASTER’S

PLAN…)

THE PLAN FOR GROWTH

Focus on Mission & Evangelism

Remove barriers to people finding out about Jesus

Great welcomers welcoming people really well

Develop a church culture where we are equipped and empowered as disciples of Jesus and released into mission and ministry

HOW ARE WE DOING ONE YEAR LATER?

FOCUS ON MISSION & EVANGELISM

Street teams at Bargoed Town Events like Christmas Market and Spring Fayre offering healing ministry and general prayer

Evangelistic focus at Christmas services & special events like Caerphilly Carol Service.

We had over 800 people in for Christmas Carol services who don't usually come & the feedback was great!

FOCUS ON MISSION & EVANGELISM (CONT…)

Alpha Course ran last Autumn. Alpha Banner outside Church.

Hog Roast and Barn Dance was a great night out and we learned loads for the future.

St G’s Church Hall Project

CAP Debt Centre

OUR VISIONTackle the related problems of poverty of opportunity, poverty of community, social exclusion, material poverty and spiritual poverty in a holistic way.

THE MEANSUse our Church Hall and the paid employees to enable a range of groups and activities which meet our vision.

These will be run by both ourselves and outside partners.

They will provide opportunities for both Church and Community Volunteers who themselves will benefit from the training and experience provided.

Setback with Mary-Bridget relocating to Devon

But we were awarded £227,000 by the Big Lottery Fund and now we’ve got a fantastic new team…

MiriamProject Coordinator

AimeeVolunteer Support Worker

DebAdministrator

PROGRESS

Things really beginning to flourish.

New Volunteers

Exciting new partnerships with Mind, Communities First, Parent Network, Interserve and the Job Centre.

Revenue from Hall Hire for 2014 was over £17000. (nearly 3x 2012 figure)

PROGRESS (CONT…)

FUTURE PLANSBuild on these great foundations

Raise funding for phase 2 of the Building Redevelopment

Work with Purple Shoots on ways to help people start small businesses

Youth Work?

CHRISTIANS AGAINST POVERTY

CAP Debt Centre

Open Now! Covering CF81, CF82, NP24 and NP12

Providing world-class solutions for people with debt problems

Money Course

Coming Soon…

Come and find out more on CAP Sunday -

May 31st

Covering Rhymney Valley by partnering with other churches

CHRISTIANS AGAINST POVERTY

Come and find out more on CAP Sunday -

May 31st

Covering Rhymney Valley by partnering with other churches

CAP Debt Centre

Waiting to hear about a £10,000 grant that would allow us to employ Beth for 24 hours a week as Debt Centre Manager

Please Pray & Help Us Spread the News!

Weighed down by debt?We can help for free!

0800 328 0006

Simpler service

Fewer books

Improved singing

Relevant Biblical preaching

St G's website

REMOVING BARRIERS

STGWLADYS.ORG

Launched August 2014

Looked at by 1694 people

Who visited a total of 2518 times, viewing 5821 pages.

Some miss the organ.

Some find the screen hard to see.

Some liked the old books.

Worry we're becoming somehow less Anglican.

Anxiety over plans for further changes.

REMOVING BARRIERS... IS COSTLY

Our organist resigned, despite my asking him to stay, and organists don't grow on trees... Plus the singing is better to guitar and piano.

We are actively looking for a pianist/keyboard player who will help us expand our repertoire. Any suggestions?

There are seats closer to the screen and we're trying black and white to make it clearer.

REMOVING BARRIERS... IS COSTLY BUT...

I'd suggest that by making things easier for newcomers we're becoming more Anglican. We're now much closer to the mainstream of the Anglican tradition.

The current pattern of services has been recognised by the PCC as unsustainable and a barrier to mission. Not making necessary changes will be worse.

Look at recent Baptisms for proof it's working - much less "us and them".Visitors joining in and engaging with God through our worship.

REMOVING BARRIERS... IS COSTLY BUT...

REMOVING FURTHER BARRIERS...

All congregations consulted in March 2015 over service times and patterns in the Parish. The new PCC will reconsider the issues in light of the received feedback and make a recommendation.

Revised Holy Communion service booklets for St. G's in the next few months.

Change is a normal part of a healthy Church.

WELCOMING

A strong area!

Could we leave seats at the back?

Sometimes might need to be sensitive to the person and be a bit more low key.

Keep up the good work!

DEVELOPING OUR CULTURE

Karen to head up Prayer Ministry Team. Will approach people and invite to training. We will commission them during a service and release them to exercise this ministry on a Sunday.

Stewardship course.

Preaching and teaching over time will help us embody our values.

Remember, this is Jesus picture of His

Church...

SO ARE WE GROWING?

"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth." 1 Corinthians 3:6

MORNING ATTENDANCE - ST G'S

0

22.5

45

67.5

90

Jan 2013 April 2013 July 2013 Oct 2013 Jan 2014 April 2014 July 2014 Oct 2014

CHRISTMAS ATTENDANCE - ST G'S

0

30

60

90

120

Christingle Carol Service Midnight Communion Christmas Day

2012 2013 2014

EASTER ATTENDANCE - ST G'S

0

22.5

45

67.5

90

Maundy Thursday Good Friday Easter Sunday

HOW ARE WE DOING?

There are definitely signs of growth!

SUMMARYA mixed picture.

Spiritual growth happening. More of God’s presence. People growing in God. New boldness in praying for people and sharing our faith.

Strong numerical growth in 2013. Numbers down in early 2014.

Since then numerical growth has resumed and looks to be continuing this year.

Good figures at Christmas and Easter are signs of a growing fringe.

MORNING ATTENDANCE - ST G'S

0

22.5

45

67.5

90

Jan 2013 April 2013 July 2013 Oct 2013 Jan 2014 April 2014 July 2014 Oct 2014

MORNING ATTENDANCE AT ST G’S

A mixed picture

Strong growth in 2013

People left in early 2014, which affects the figures but growth is continuing….

CHRISTMAS ATTENDANCE - ST G'S

0

30

60

90

120

Christingle Carol Service Midnight Communion Christmas Day

2012 2013 2014

EASTER ATTENDANCE - ST G'S

0

22.5

45

67.5

90

Maundy Thursday Good Friday Easter Sunday

HOW ARE WE DOING?

There are definitely signs of growth!

STEWARDSHIP IS ONE OF OUR MAIN CHALLENGES

YEARLY BALANCE

-£18000.00

-£13500.00

-£9000.00

-£4500.00

£0.00

£4500.00

£9000.00

£13500.00

£18000.00

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

DEFICITS ARE NOTHING NEW!

DEFICITS ARE NOTHING NEW!

TOTAL GIVING

£0.00

£10000.00

£20000.00

£30000.00

£40000.00

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

AVERAGE GIVING

£0.00

£2.75

£5.50

£8.25

£11.00

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Giving per person per week

GROWTH - A CHALLENGE

We hope you are excited by this vision.

It's bold, relevant to our context and it's working.

We need 4 things from you...

WE NEED...

1. Your prayers.

2. Your time.

3. Your patience.

4. You to prayerfully consider your level of giving.

RAISING OUR GIVING

Our giving per person last year was £10.74 per week.

But running the church last year cost us £16.35 per person per week.

So to pay our way we need to raise our giving by £5.61 per person per week.

To tithe our giving we’d need to raise an extra £7.42 per person per week.

RAISING OUR GIVING

Not everyone can easily afford that!

But giving to God’s work is part of what it means to follow Jesus.

So please prayerfully consider whether you can give the extra to enable the great things we’re doing as a church to continue!

RAISING OUR GIVING

Also please consider using the Gift Direct Scheme, instead of standing orders or envelopes.

Experience shows that Regular, Proportional Giving is the best way to support the work of the parish & Gift Direct is the best way to do that.