Scary but exciting

“The church came up with a lot of interesting ideas”, says Alan Sully one of the elders. “Then we said as a leadership: ‘Well there’s no one to make them happen except you’. There was a pause and it began to dawn that this is where the rubber hits the road.”

 

As a consequence of those first discussions a one-off event was planned for Christmas 2008 called, “Who let the kids out!” The idea was for parents to leave their children at the church for a Saturday afternoon in the lead up to Christmas. This would set them free to do shopping and other Christmas-related jobs.

“People started booking their kids in almost as soon as we had announced it. We had almost 50 kids come – more than we expected and nearly all from the surrounding community.”

 

“As the congregation stepped out in this new venture we all felt that it was scary but exciting. We had no idea how many are likely to turn up or what success or failure would look like, that’s the scary part!”

 

In lots of ways the Eldership felt encouraged. “To see an initiative starting from the grass roots, owned by members of the congregation has been great. As far as we are concerned that is a success right there.”

 

This is a fantastic example of an abiding principle: Where engagement is concerned, sooner or later you just have to start. It is scary because you have never done this before, but that is what makes it exciting.

 

There are also profound lessons that leadership have to learn about trusting the congregation to both own and deliver upon their ideas. Sometimes leaders lead by acting in the supporting role, equipping and releasing the congregation to do what has been laid on their hearts. Then praising and applauding them for making the attempt, no matter what the outcome may be.

 

Any foray into community engagement needs celebrating and stories that need sharing. There is always something we can learn, both positive and negative, that will inform our next attempts at engaging. We are in this for the long haul. There will be ups and downs; successes and failures, but every time we engage there is something to learn that will make it easier next time.     

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