Introduction

This report presents the key results from a short programme of parish development work that  was  carried out with St Faith’s, located in the centre of Havant.   The work is part of the pilot Rapid Parish Development Project, initiated by the Diocese of Portsmouth.

To date the project has consisted of site visits and three workshops.  The workshops have had a high level of attendance running from 25 to over 40 and the workshops have been productive and well received.  The evaluation sheets returned showed an overwhelming positive response to the workshops..  The objectives for the work with St Faith’s were:

1.      1. To understand the internal and external perceptions of St Faith’s.

2.     2. Identify the key areas for the future development of its mission, which reflect local opportunities and context.

3.      3. Assess the implications of parish and mission development for the focus and sustainability of any future physical development work.

The central premise of the Rapid Parish Development Project (RPDP) is that the key driver for any physical development project should be the mission of a Parish and that this mission should be based on identifying sources of growth in the opportunities and priorities of their local market and context.

The key themes that have emerged from the workshops with St Faiths’ are:

a.      a. The Church is widely seen, at a high level, as an icon or even the icon of Havant.

b.      b. The Church is not widely recognised as a living or open Christian community.

c.      c. There is an urgent need to update the image and offer of St Faiths and increase its profile and accessibility.

 Workshop outputs

The workshops have covered:

·         ● Perceptions of St Faith’s

·         ● Opportunities and priorities for parish development

·         ● Ideas for delivering on identified mission.

All organisations (pubs, libraries, clubs etc) including churches have had to rethink their image, position and offer to their local market.  The  ongoing technical, cultural and social changes that underpin change are going to continue and organisations that do not respond proactively become irrelevant.

The perception of St Faith’s

Participants were asked to identify their own personal expectations for the places that they visit in their leisure time, their known external views of St Faith’s, and their aspirations for the future image of St Faiths’.   The findings are summarised in table one below:

Table 1. St Faith’s Perceptions

Brand and Priorities for mission

Participants were asked to identify one word to describe the ‘brand’ that they want associated with St Faiths’.  They were then asked to identify in their local context the groups that they wish to target for growth.  They then looked at successful organisations in the area that they could learn from and the key messages that they need to ‘send’ to the identified priority groups.

Like all organisations, St Faiths’ has limited resources.  The resources that are available to St Faith’s to reintroduce themselves to their local market will have to be ‘spent’ where there is greatest likely impact.  They will have to carefully consider and identify the key messages that they wish to communicate.  These messages have to be focussed, clear and consistent.  This ‘brand’ and message has to be real and matched by changes in offer and delivery.  This has to go well beyond Sunday morning (Jesus is not just for Sundays) to achieve the desired shift in perceptions.  We want potential punters to see St Faiths’ as a relevant, welcoming, and enjoyable, friendly and wonderful place for spiritual and personal growth.

St Faiths’ brand

There are several potential markets for achieving growth for St Faiths.  After a prioritisation exercise two groups were identified as the focus for investment and activities, these were:

1.      1. Young people (12-18 years old)

2.      2. Young families and parents.

Reaching these groups and being relevant and accessible to them will require investment and potentially a major change in approach, tone, offer and delivery.

Some of the key messages that were identified that St Faiths’ wants to communicate, particularly to the targeted groups, were:

·         ● You are valued

·         ● Give it a try

·         ● Peace

·         ● Can I help?

·         ● Relevance

·         ● Cut the crap do it now!

·         ● Pick a pew!

·         ● Nourishment

·         ● Home from home

·         ● Door always open

·         ● Life is for living

·         ● Come and join us

·         ● You are us

Along with these messages there will need to be concrete tangible/intangible change in the offer of St Faiths’ – some areas of change were identified (see table  below). Frankly, a substantive repositioning of St Faith's will require major change and this will need to cover much more than the Sunday morning offer.  This will require significant effort, risk taking and resources (human and financial) and a refocus in emphasis and energy.

Key issues and recommendations

St Faiths is a great church.  It has some key assets to build on, but it needs to refocus its mission and offer for the coming years.  Its current assets include:

·         ● A community of committed and motivated people who want to develop their church.

·         ● An historic building and a great location (and recognition) at the heart of Havant.

·        ● A substantial asset base, access to financial resources and potentially some access to external grants.

If these assets are not mobilised and grown they could quickly become liabilities, and in some cases they are already slipping into the debit column (“old”, “gloomy”, “boring”).  There is both a need and enthusiasm for change before the church and mission is overwhelmed.  

There are a number of key issues that will need to be addressed over the coming year of deliberation, debate and experimentation.  Issues that need addressing include:

·         ● New developments/activities should not be seen as exclusive of other development/or current activities.  But all organisations have limited resources and investing in new things will only be part of the picture; stopping things that are no longer appropriate is also part of a shift in focus to growth.

·         ● Parish development is not the sole responsibility of the Vicar, PCC or any other ‘formal’ group but rather all the members of any community have a role in contributing to its life/vitality – however “small”.

·         ● It is now the Church’s rainy day – some assets will need to be realised to release cash for investment in both tangible and intangible assets. Resource management, utilisation and development should be driven by mission.

·         ● Some very small changes – being friendly, smiling and the reorganisation of existing space etc will achieve some quick and easy wins.

·          ●  If we measured Jesus by the bums on seats metric he was a relative failure – what he did was go viral and got his message out by reaching billions of peoples around the planet via small dynamic communities of people.  The redevelopment of St Faith’s is not primarily about the Church building, or Sunday morning, it is building and celebrating an open Christian community, which plays an active role in their neighbours.

·         ● The building that the Church utilises in its current life also needs to be made central to the life of Havant.   Churches and halls were once central places of collective life, commerce, creativity and personal and communal celebration.  We need to rediscover and revalorise (incl. invest) in this (or close it down). 

·         ● We need to start living the new ways of working. The development process over the coming months should in itself be a source of inspiration, welcome, growth and fun.

St Faith’s needs to move to a focus on growth (see below).  Faith is not a scarce good – and it has infinite potential for expansion.  We can afford to be generous, optimistic and faithful.  We know that there is a high level of latent demand.

We live in a culture where Jesus, faith and Christianity are no longer part of the mainstream - we need to connect and be relevant while promoting our core essence.  This cannot always be on our own terms - but in a confident, generous and positive way where we have and show faith in our very special 'product'.  As we know we reap what we sow, now more than ever it is time to get out and sow!

Recommendations

1.       1. The Parish needs to develop a clear externally focused mission statement.

2.      2. The Parish needs to undertake an audit of all current activities and a systematic review of the available resources (human, building financial, networks) to deliver on this mission.

3.     3. The Parish should develop three year marketing and communications campaign on St Faith’s role as the heart and soul of Havant.

4.       4. The Parish needs to identify a significant marketing budget for the next three years.

5.     5.The Parish should focus significant resources on developing dynamic collaborations, where there is significant value-added, with appropriate organisations working with its identified priority groups.

6.     6. The focus of investment in physical spaces should be on modernisation, accessibility and clarity.

7.       7. The Parish should collaborate with the University of Portsmouth Architecture Department’s Diploma Students studio over 2010/11 to identify potential building options.

8.       8. The Parish should collaborate with the University of Portsmouth’s SECC summer architecture intern programme in 2010 to identify more affordable and non-building creative options.

9.      9. St Faith’s should actively collaborate with St Francis', Leigh Park on development, networking, fundraising and marketing.

10.   10. St Faith's should participate in the proposed joint venture between the Diocese and University of Portsmouth.

Moving to Growth

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