Our church has been losing congtregation steadily since we got a vicar that ruined the whole thing for everyone.
noone will come back who left when he started alienating them all.
and a lot those that were left were old.
Quite a few have died, or had to go into old people's homes.
Now one of our choir members has broken his hip and had to have a replacement (our only decent bass) and his wife, one of our sopranos has been quite ill and had a fit a while ago and is still not allowed to drive, so we've lost her for a while too.
and last night, our good Tenor has announced that he can't cope with the drive from where he lives (10-15 miles away) every friday for practice, or witht he driving in the winter (he's not only old, but also got a disability which is really starting to affect him now), so he's leaving after October evensong.
there is noone in the congregation that we can draw on, because those that aren't old have mental disabilities or have important jobs that take their time during the services.even two members of our choir have to do church warden duties so can't sing most sundays.
I'm at the end of despair now - this town is quite non-churchy - those that will go to church already seem to and noone else is interested.
and then at the end of the month we've got back to church sunday and we've got noone to invite!
and, i have to be honest, for which i feel awful, but i can imagine anyone coming to our church would be put off by the congregation we have.
so what do i do?
ps praying doesn't work - it might make us all feel better and know that God's on our side, but it doesn't bring practical solutions (we are praying as well, but i need solutions this time!!)
I've made a choir flyer to send to all the local senior schools and adulteducation sentre, which is a start.
we seem to get people who come once and then never come again (it's even so bad that we've only had 8 weddings this year - including mine! and that's an all time low - normally we would have 15-upwards)
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Right, I need help! (Back to Church Sunday might appear in this thread)
nickelbabe · 11/09/2010 11:03
thank you, acorn, that's exactly the kind of thing I was thinking of - I hadn't thought of loads of posters, though, but that's a good idea.
I was thinking of putting in our notice sheet this month that we need singers for the Advent Carol Service - thankfully, it goes to the members of our sister church (we are a united benefice and the other church is more "happy-clappy"), so they might see it and want to join in.
(in my OP, i meant Adult Education Centre - I just didn't proof-read it! 
)
Katisha- it's both - we need choristers, but we have no congregation to draw from either!! it's just getting worse and worse. :(
we're really hoping to push the Voice for Life, because then they don't all have to coem to services, but they might come to a couple a month, as long as they come and work towards their Voice for Life - they've got a skill (this is how we're advertising it to schools - looks great on UCAS applications! 
)
suggestions of how to get members of congregation are also gratefully received :)
you're quicker than me!!
the bishop was the one who encouraged the appointment :(
(short list of bad candidates and he had "radical" forward-thinking views)
our church is traditional (not completely, and not as much as we would like!), and we draw an average congregation at main sunday services of about 50-60 now (before last vicar we drew nearly 80-90 each week)
our sister church has modern/"happy-clappy" services every week and they draw about the same (but they get most of the children - not because they only choose that church, but we have had experience of the church wardens always suggesting those services to those with children - almost as if children aren't allowed at our services!! 
)
our choir now has 11 members, of which 2 are the choirmaster/organist and asst organist; 1 is church warden (so only joins us at evensong); 1 is deputy church warden, so can't always join us (and indeed is new after a very long break so isn't confident enough yet - but she always comes to practice); 1 has just joined us from the other church (their singing group has largely disbanded)(and is very inexperienced at our type of singing - she's getting better though!); 2 are, again, new and inexperienced (1 can't read music).
so, 4 out of the 11 have joined this year because of pleading and desperation! (and the two ladies only joined because they agreed to sing at our wedding and we asked them to stay, with no obligation to sing at servies when they didn't feel comfortable - thankfully, they've done more than we hoped they could!)
we are hoping to draw on the other church's congregation, but despite being a united benefice, each congregation is very territorial and is generally unwilling to join the other (whether because they don't want to step on toes, or because it would mean 2 services every sunday!)
I've put a notice on Mumsnet Local....
(well, it's a start!)
that's a good idea - I'll tell DH about that (because I don't know most people who left then - at that point I only knew the people in the choir (i'm shy and can't talk to people I don't know! ))
Dandy, we now have a rota of clergywho come in to take the services. they're mainly made up of retired priests.
the PCC is in charge (well, I guess it's the Churchwardens, ultimately) and we're all in the same boat (i joined the PCC so I could help out more) - we sit in our meeting and come up with ideas or discuss stuff, and there's a lot of red tape - it's hard to bring new people in because we have so few people to bring them in! but we're trying - Back to Church sunday might help a bit (but you have to have people who will give out invitations, and I really don't know that many people - basically, most of my social life from when I came odwn here was from church/choir, and from WI and bellydancing- I am always asking people to come to church and noone's interested - and bellydancing happens in a different town, so they think it's too far to come when they have their own local churches)
problem with the choir master, is, he is a bloody genius organist, but he's ridiculously shy (always has been) and feels like he's not authorized to order people about! He took over when our previous choirmaster moved away. he's been doing it for 3 years now, and is a lot more confident than he was (which is helped alot by his wife nagging him in what to do in practice! I love it when he's all masterful 
) I just keep telling him they do respect him and they want him to direct them!
niminy! really???
we've been told be the Bishop that we're in real trouble (btw - that 50-60 includes the choir and "staff")
Dandy- the official state at the moment is that the Churchwardens are in charge, and that we are in an interregnum (with no foreseeable end)
The y have decided that they won't appoint in the foreseeable, as they are working on a new thing for the town - we have got quite a few churches in our deanery, and that includes Sittingbourne, Milton Regis, the Isle of Sheppey and Murston. (i don't know if it includes any of the outlying villages, but i'm sure it must)(yeah, it must because our area dean is in charge of a village church)
There are 3 churches in Sittingbourne itself (i think).
I think the reason we appear to have so many churches at first glance, is that we're all very spread out, and most of the churches are small.
As it stands, no church in the Sittingbourne Deanery has paid their last quota, and we're all struggling (it seems) to keep up with other bills too.
The bishop (and his friends) is trying to come up with a long term plan for us all, that will suit us all and not alienate who we've already got (especially families who have always gone to their church)
our church is the biggest one and it's the most central, being bang smack in the middle of the town. It's also grade II listed.
they said they don't want to sell any churches, or deconsecrate them - but at one point they were talking about getting rid of the remaining buildings and setting up a new-built super church. (doesn't bear thinking about)
not one of the churches can boast that their congregation is any better than another, even though some of the churches were favoured by the last bishop, who preferred happy-clappy and tried his damndest to get every church that way. the current bishop seems a lot more reasonable - in that he says that the deanery needs to cater for everybody, no matter what their worship style, and the challenge is getting that sorted so nobody feels that they're missing out, or don't have a chance to worship regularly (one problem is that churches who try to diversify end up having 2 out of the month traditional, 2 happy clappy etc and it means that the congregants get confused and are more likely to leave when that happens - it did happen to us, too)
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Nickelbabe - I think our church may have your old vicar - they were recently licensed and came from Sittingbourne. I'd be interested to hear the reasons why the congregation left. Hope I've got my wires crossed.
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