OUTLINE VISION AND STRATEGY

The following is a list of ten areas a church in an organisation such as ours needs to look at in order to achieve a ‘turnaround’ in its fortunes:

Step 1:  A Common Vision

Without a vision statement from national leaders, we assume for present purposes “Spiritualism: the coming World Religion” as a national vision to provide a context for local churches and societies.  A Church Vision needs to be compatible with this and in support of it;  Shared aspirations between people creates community and generates energy.  

Step 2:  Be a Creatively-led Committee

We are a spiritual organisation. Committees, and the way they conduct themselves, should set an example and be aware of - and aligned with - ‘Spirit Purpose’.  It should not be a secret society – but should be open in its dealings – recognising and using talents the many of members.  It needs to be primarily focused on ideas, secondarily on rules - a TEAM.  Looking for successors who are better than us and no side-lining of potential rivals.  Its main task: Grow the church consistent with Spiritualism’s values and provide spiritual leadership.

Step 3:  Focus on Growth   

The success of a church’s leadership is measured by the size of its congregation.  No excuses.  Church growth is the measure of your success.  Most churches need to outgrow their building as an early goal.  Don’t fall in love with your building, it is just a place where Spiritualist activities take place.  ‘Atmosphere, energy, etc’ is dependent on what members put in.  We cannot grow our movement unless we can grow our churches.

Step 4:  Communicate, communicate, communicate

With members – with public – between committee - with parent body – with Spirit.

Step 5:  Aim at Social Diversity

Encourage all age, social and racial groups.  Focus primarily 40-50-year olds who have time, experience and contact with younger and older age groups.  What attracts all age groups to a church is its ENERGY! Different groups have different needs. Give youth its head, but don’t bet the ranch on them as their immediate future – university, romance, children, etc - tends to be fluid.  Families with children.  (A church with a Lyceum is a church with a future.) Empty nesters who have time, freedom, experience, energy and access to older and younger family members.

Step 6:  Encourage Participation   

The Crew – Team list – Those with a role stay engaged.  Community and Inclusivity

Step 7:  Be a Fully functioning church (Science, religion and philosophy) – eventually seven day opening – Counselling – Ministries serving all spiritual needs of members (not just the message culture).

Step 9:  Take Education and Development seriously   

Whet the appetite and deepen the experience - Cell groups – church courses – Sunday addresses not effective (unless programmed.)  Our conduct in alignment with Values.  Pamphlets to reinforce programmed addresses.

Step 9:  Finances.

You need high attendance rates to bring in the finance necessary to build an effective church.  The higher your attendance the more people are being exposed to Spirit teachings and the more you are aligning your actions with Spirit purpose – when we ‘achieve remarkable things together’.   Stats – finances – must always have a goal.  “Money doesn’t come from anywhere if it has nowhere to go to. When it has somewhere to go to, it comes from everywhere.”  Always have a project that requires money;  it will keep you on your toes and grow your church further.  (Ask the SNU if you want to know how a church becomes complacent once it has paid off its mortgage!)  Good things happen as a by-product of doing the right thing.  

Step 10:  Making the weekly service a great experience.  

This is your showcase – captivate consumers, convert to contributors (CCCC) – WIIFM to WCID – WOW them.  “Why do people only come once?”  Create a ‘quality experience’.  Maximise ‘special’ services, anniversaries, etc.  Ensure the following are all of a high standard:  Mediumship;  welcome;  chairmanship;  music;  teaching;  refreshments;  pamphlets;  follow-up (email?);  quality of ‘the experience’

WHY DO WE NEED A NEW MODEL?

If we focus on two other significant religions that came out of nineteenth century America - the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses - we will find some rather alarming facts about how each has performed over the past fifty years in comparison to ourselves.   

In 1965, the number of members in SNU Spiritualist churches in the UK was 14,955.  The Mormons had just 6,500 members and the Jehovah’s Witnesses had 6,000. SNU figures show that we rose to 19,395 in 1985 - our highest ever figure.  The latest figure - for 2014 - is just 11,185, the second lowest in our history.  

Over the same period the Mormons and JW’s shot to 185,000 and 135,000, respectively.   Here is this information in graphic form.

If our leaders have urged us to be more businesslike in our running of churches, the above figures might lead us to ask  if they themselves have displayed a businesslike approach to the running of the Union itself?  They have in many areas - such as financing and certain re-organisations.  But have they  been vigilant in that vital area of keeping an eye on the competition?  Assuredly not.  

It should also be remembered that 1964 was the year we were handed a very expensive baby - Stansted Hall - a very hungry child which made great demands on the Leadership and was a property quite out of proportion to our needs at the time, or since.  Perhaps that led our leaders to take their eye off the ball of ‘growth’, as if our Stansted asset would actually solve that problem.   Not so.  More of that later.

We have lived in a bubble, failing to measure our progress against our two main competitors for over half a century.  Indeed, we have not set any standards against which we might judge our progress.  Even our own declining church membership figures have failed to provide a spur to meaningful action.

This is not simply a failure of leadership.  It is also a failure to develop in the way  that  religions normally develop - of fundamental flaws in our structure, for which we all share the blame to some extent.  

The New Model is not entirely new.  Partly, it is a re-statement and re-establishment of some practices we have neglected, lost along the way - or simply not been told about.  

Among the latter are lessons from the world of commercial enterprise, which have found to be highly effective in the world of spiritual enterprise - in particular church growth.

For instance, we have been told many times this past ten years that we should treat our churches as small businesses, but never told exactly how.  Few of our church leaders, after all, have run a business.  But vigorously-growing churches in the USA have taken these lessons on board - and they have worked just as well in the UK.  These are, as you might imagine, outside the Spiritualist bubble!

The New Model aims to expand that bubble - and include our churches in it.

Perhaps the above will convince you that we really do need a New Model which will take us to what our Pioneers expected Spiritualism to be:  “The Coming World Religion.”