Dear Friends,
 As I approach the end of my first year here at SJR, I thought I would write to you to share with you some of my joys and concerns for the church and the wider work of Methodism here in Southampton.
 The recent meeting of our Church Council brought to light a few issues which we need to address as a matter of urgency, as well as some opportunities for us to move forward as a church. There is a chain of thought here, so please do your best to make the connections!
 Firstly, we are facing some real financial concerns over the next few years. This year, our original budget showed that we are running a DEFICIT of around nine thousand pounds, which we can find from our reserves. The difficulty is that our reserves stand at a fairly bleak figure of just under fifty thousand pounds. Now this may sound like quite a lot of money, but the clear arithmetic is that if we continue to eat up nine thousand pounds each year from reserves to meet our normal running costs, we shall run out of money within five years.

Our problem is shared with many churches across the country. Here in our own circuit, most churches are sailing close to the wind financially. SJR has been protected from the impact of this due to our size and perceived strength, but reality is beginning to bite. When any business begins to rely on reserves to pay the routine running costs, the writing is on the wall, and this church is not exempt from this scenario.
Why is this happening to us? There are no doubt a number of causes, but the main one is clear enough. Each year, we are expecting fewer and fewer people to give more and more money to keep the church financially viable. Since I arrived last September, we have experienced the sad death of ten members, just about one per month. This rate of attrition is equivalent to just under ten percent of our Sunday morning congregation, every year. Again, as with the financial numbers, the outlook is troubling, as at this rate, we can expect to run out of members not long after we run out of money. Of course, statistics can be misleading, but we ignore the general trends at our peril

The hope is that the consultation will follow the questionnaire during the autumn, and early in the new year, we shall begin to draw together proposals which will hopefully be a pattern for growth and mission at SJR. There will be plenty of opportunity for people to be involved in all of this, and your comments, feedback and suggestions will always be welcomed.

 Between then and now, there are some things that we can do to give us an impetus, so please read on!

This coming Wednesday, 30th. June at 7.30pm, you are invited to meet with me at SJR to discuss how we can introduce some form of modern worship at church. There are various options available, and we need to decide how best to proceed. Also, I’d like us to think about our work with children, particularly by means of Messy Church, which will be a new concept to many of you. In addition, we do need to set in motion plans for an evangelism program for the church and neighbourhood. Something like Alpha or similar is essential if we are to bring others to faith. None of these things can happen unless people get on board and commit to involvement, so please try to come along on Wednesday with a positive attitude.

Last, but not least, we are going to Spring Harvest next year. The dates are from Saturday, 9th. April to Thursday, 14th. April, 2011 and it would be good to think that we could take a group from SJR. Many people have already expressed interest, but we do need to make a firm booking with Spring Harvest within the next three weeks or so. There are some brochures around the Link which give details of Spring Harvest, and I am trying to get a DVD which we can show to the church very soon. If you would to come along, the guide price would be around £250 per person for half board accommodation. This includes all the events at Spring Harvest, as well as all the facilities of Butlins. It is important that you let me know who is likely to come, and what size of accommodation you would prefer. Should you wish to do your own catering, the cost is rather less. I don’t need money at this stage, but a commitment from you will help me to make the booking for SJR. There is an enquiry form at the end of this letter, and I’d be grateful if you would complete it and get it back to me asap.
That’s all for now!
 
Every blessing and much love,

So our financial difficulties are inextricably linked with our people difficulties, which brings me to the next part in the chain. It is fairly clear that if we continue as we are, our future is not at all bright. The reality is that if we keep on doing the same things, we will keep on getting the same results. Things need to change if we are to have a chance of seeing SJR through the next ten years and beyond. Maintaining the status quo is not a viable option.

But here is the rub! Whenever ‘change’ is mentioned, there is always resistance in church. To be honest, I don’t quite understand why this should be, but it seems that many people want ‘church’ to be the same as it was fifty, sixty or a hundred years ago. Same hymns, same pattern of worship, same pews, same programme and times. If you take time to think about it, just about every other area of our daily life has changed, and we have taken this in our stride. I guess not many of you sit at home watching a black and white television set which requires you to get out of your seat and twiddle a dial whenever you want to switch channels. Similarly, I guess you don’t drive a Ford Anglia or a Vauxhall Viva any more. I could ask similar questions about your medical service, visiting the cinema, going on holiday, even everyday shopping. So why should church remain locked in the past, when everything else has been changed to fit in with the needs and expectations of people in the 21st. century?

The sad truth is that there is a whole generation out there who are simply not interested in what we offer in terms of worship, and the audience who do appreciate ‘traditional  Methodist worship’ are  declining rapidly. And yet if we do not reach out to this missing generation, we will have no future - as a church, as a circuit, and even as a denomination.
 
How do we address this? Well, we could begin by asking everyone to increase significantly the money we give to the church each week. This would certainly help in the short term, but as money is only a symptom of a deeper concern, we need to explore how we might somehow reach out to those on the fringe of the church family and beyond, and hopefully bring them into the family of God. To this end, the Church Council agreed that we begin a process of consultation to think about the right way forward for SJR. One thing is for sure – standing still is not an option. In September, I shall issue a questionnaire to everyone at SJR to which I would encourage you to give careful and prayerful consideration. I don’t expect the questionnaires to be returned, but I would like to use your responses as a starting point for our wider consultation. You’ll read more about this after summer, but in the meantime, I would urge you to consider what part you can play in the life of SJR. Your prayers are requested for this vital process.