Mission Plan
We are developing a congregational mission plan. Realising that the gospel must be taken out into the community, we are turning our focus from maintenance to mission. The plan involves asking and answering five key questions:
1. Why? Why must we reach out?
2. Who? Who are we? What skills do we have? What sort of congregation are we?
3. Where? Where are we situated? What is our context? What's going on in the community around us?
4. What? What are we going to do, in order to share the love of God in Christ with the people of our parish area?
5. When? What is our timetable?
WINDSOR PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
CONGREGATIONAL MISSION PLAN
August 2011
WHY?
We start by listening humbly, prayerfully and expectantly to God as he speaks to us in Scripture and reveals his way. We need also to listen to one another: we are surer of God’s guidance when we agree together.
Scripture tells the story of God’s mission to the world. It’s the story of God’s plan to reconcile to himself a world that has gone wrong and to create a new world free from sin and corruption. God the Father revealed his love uniquely in his Son Jesus, who became incarnate, died for the sins of the world, was raised from the dead and ascended to the Father, and is Lord and Saviour. God gives the Holy Spirit to all who believe in Jesus. They become part of God’s new world and are welcomed into his family and are called to engage in his mission to redeem the world. The gospel is a declaration of God’s saving grace in Christ and is a call in the power of his Spirit to share the love of God and to serve his kingdom.
This is the story that we are called to tell. We want to make our congregation “a place to come to”, because, in the words of the hymn, “We have a gospel to proclaim, good news for all throughout the earth; the gospel of a Saviour’s name: we sing his glory, tell his worth.”
WHO?
The Windsor Congregation
Windsor Presbyterian Church was opened for worship on 27 March 1887. There was a clear need for a church in the Windsor district as the rapid growth of the new congregation showed.
The Very Rev Dr William Corkey, minister of Windsor from 1924 to 1949, wrote, “The services in Windsor Church, though always evangelical in spirit, were always noted for their dignity of worship and stability of thought. There was always a quiet reverence in the Church as though everyone realised that this indeed was the House of God and that He was meeting with His people.”
Windsor has contributed significantly to the work of the wider Presbyterian Church in Ireland with ministers and elders playing leading roles in many of the Church’s boards and agencies and with two ministers becoming Moderators of the General Assembly.
Windsor has been devoted to the overseas mission of our church, and eleven members of Windsor have gone overseas as missionaries, the most recent being Miss Linda Jackson.
Windsor’s style of worship is dignified but warm-hearted, integrating music, prayer, a time for children, the reading of scripture and the preaching of the gospel. Sermons are carefully planned to apply scripture to daily living. We follow the Christian year. Coffee and chat follow the morning service.
Windsor’s parish area has changed over the years. The Lisburn Road is a major retail area of the city with thousands of people passing along it, but there are fewer families living near the church. High property prices mean that young married couples go to live elsewhere. The area is multi-cultural and multi-racial. Many of the apartments and townhouses are occupied by young professionals who stay only for a time and then move elsewhere. The number of Presbyterians has declined.
While Windsor was never a large congregation numerically, the present membership consists of 134 contributing households, with others “on the books” who do not attend or contribute but who welcome pastoral care. There are more older people than younger, and yet recently there have been baptisms and there is an encouraging number of younger families.
Windsor’s youth organisations both provide for the congregation’s young people and are a means of reaching out in the community.
The Ulsterville Congregation
The Ulsterville congregation was erected in 1902 at the foot of Donnybrook Street in a school owned by the Windsor congregation. Its rapid growth matched that of the rapidly growing urbanisation of what had been farmland. After two years it took over a Primitive Methodist building in Lorne Street and then in 1924 its present building was opened on the Lisburn Road. On its move to Lorne Street, Ulsterville took over the adjacent primary school in Edinburgh Street which school continued until the early 1980s.
From the beginning the congregation was strongly evangelistic and erected three mission halls prior to its move to its present site. The period following the Second World War saw the heyday of the congregation, which had the largest Sunday School in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the famous 34th Company, the Boys’ Brigade and its Silver Band. In the early 50s the congregation sent out young men and women as missionaries to thirteen different countries in addition to the PCI’s overseas mission, and others offered themselves for the ministry of the church. The following decades saw the building of new halls in Lorne Street and the Lisburn Road.
However, by the mid 1950s the winds of change were blowing. Young adults were already moving out of the dense housing along the Lisburn Road seeking more spacious housing in the post war housing developments in the suburbs and further afield. Along with this, the area began its steady changeover to student accommodation. This continues to this day with the result the population can be divided into a declining proportion of elderly long-term residents and a growing proportion of short-term students. Some of the properties on sale are becoming weekday homes for young professionals and others are being replaced by turnkey apartment blocks, which are notoriously difficult to access. During this time the Lisburn Road has gradually been transformed into a high-class shopping and restaurant zone.
In the days of a strong BB and Sunday School, there was a strong Christian Endeavour and Girls’ Auxiliary as well as a host of other organisations. There are currently no active youth organisations, the Presbyterian Women being the only organisation that continues.
The congregation at its peak consisted of over 700 families whereas today it is just under 100. For more than the past twenty-five years this has represented a steady decline of over 40% per decade. The congregation is now at the stage of being no longer able to sustain its work, and due to its age profile, heavily skewed towards the upper age, struggling to maintain its pastoral care and to fulfil its mission on the Lisburn Road. Despite this decline, the congregation maintains its generous support for missions and charities, giving away last year (2008) almost £8000.
Congregational Characteristics
Because the Ulsterville and Windsor congregations straddle the Lisburn Road and have shared roots, they have many things in common. The following are characteristics shared by the two congregations. Besides being ageing congregations, they seek to welcome visitors into a friendly, hospitable atmosphere. Their age profile is inclined to make both traditional in their approach to worship, but both have a love of singing, Bible Study and interest in Missions. They are blessed with willing volunteers, even if these are presently in short supply. Both congregations are interested in working within the community.
What is distinctive about each is that Windsor has a Sunday School, a Social Action Group, a Scout Group, a Badminton Club, a Toddler Group and a Painting Group, whereas Ulsterville has its Wednesday Fellowship outreach meeting, a weekly prayer meeting and emphasises its evangelical ethos.
Congregational Value Systems
The value systems of both congregations are significantly similar. Both stress the importance of being a friendly church family, of welcoming people into its fellowship, of good pastoral leadership, of being traditional yet open to controlled change, of encouraging member participation in worship, of supporting missions and charities, Bible Study and maintaining a Christian witness on the Lisburn Road through sharing in worship and witness with our friends in local Churches. In addition, the Ulsterville congregation places high value in a weekly prayer meeting and support for the work of Barnabas Fund among persecuted Christians.
Congregational Personality Types
If we try to personalise both congregations, again both are remarkably similar.
Both congregations have few “builder” types. The few we have tend to multitask while others are happy for them to do so. There is a tendency to not want to get involved.
§ We need to seek out and encourage more people to get involved and share the load.
§ We need to give others the freedom and opportunity to do things.
Both congregations have few “scientist” types with a lot of imagination and openness to experimenting. We tend to be conservative and stick with what we know and what has been done in the past.
§ We need to encourage new thinking and the use of creative imagination.
§ We need to encourage a readiness to learn from others.
Both congregations have few “planner” types who are interested in, or who spend time, thinking about strategy or devising new things to do or different ways of doing what we presently do.
§ We need to recognize that yesterday’s thinking is not going to solve the problems of today, simply because the world of today is so different from the world of yesterday.
§ We need a deliberate paradigm shift that gives priority to mission in all church work.
Both congregations are strong in “smiley faces,” with a friendly interest in people and making people feel welcome.
§ We need to build on this and encourage more friendship – fellowship opportunities and engage more people in this.
We are aware that allowing such things to happen exposes us to greater risk and the possibility of failure. On the other hand, there is greater potential for healthy development.
§ The challenge is for Kirk Session to empower people and trust them and allow them to grow from making mistakes while exercising a supporting role.
Amalgamation of the two Congregations
On Sunday 24 January 2010 the congregations of Ulsterville and Windsor amalgamated in a service conducted by the Presbytery of South Belfast. The amalgamated congregation is now actively developing its mission plan, and each meeting of the amalgamated Kirk Session discusses it, reviews progress and updates the plan where necessary.
WHERE?
Exegeting our area
1 What activity is going on at various times of the day?
Our parish is effectively bounded on two sides by the Motorway and the Malone Road and it is bisected by the Lisburn Road. These are the principal arterial routes connecting the hinterland with the City centre. As a result, every morning there is a sustained rush hour flow inwards and every evening a sustained rush hour flow outwards. This applies to cars, public transport and pedestrians. Many of the pedestrians are students attending schools and university. Between these times there is a steady to and fro of traffic.
Apart from vehicular traffic, the centre of activity is the Lisburn Road. This, the heart of the famous BT9 post code, is renowned for its international restaurants, coffee shops and fashion shops. These and the many offices and financial institutions ensure a constant flurry of activity both during the day and into the evening.
There is a distinct move towards regarding Sunday as a day for family outings to shops and restaurants. Most of the restaurants are open on Sundays. The same is true of the supermarkets, which open during the afternoons. As the area becomes more international and secular, Sunday is no longer regarded as a quiet day or as a day for church-going.
2 What do you notice about the housing? Is it old/new, single person apartments/family?
The Malone side consists mainly of large private houses, many of which have been converted into offices and flats. The Motorway side consists mainly of terraced houses, many of which have been converted into student flats. Both indicate a significant drift away from stable family occupation towards transient short-term letting.
There is a distinction between the long-term residents and the short-term students and young professionals. As the former decease or move into residential or nursing homes, their proportion of the population declines.
The only new housing in the area is the development of apartment blocks which are becoming more common and are randomly situated across the area.
3 Does your neighbourhood feel like a cared-for place?
In the house-letting areas, there is evidence of neglect. This (apart from the high cost of housing) makes the area less attractive to newcomers.
4 How many houses are up for sale or to let? What does this tell you about the transience of the population?
More houses display “To Let” signs than “For Sale”, an indication of the transient nature of the population.
5 Have new roads been built? Who has gained or lost by them?
There are no new roads in the area nor are any likely in the future.
6 Which community buildings or premises offering community services can you identify?
The two main centres are the Morton Community Centre (Lorne Street) and the Olympia Leisure Centre (Boucher Road). Limited community services are offered by the PSNI, the NIFS, VSB and Linfield Football Club.
7 What public spaces are provided for children and teens? Are they used?
Drumglass Park (Lisburn Road), the Olympia park and the Olympia all-weather pitch (Boucher Road), all of which are well used.
8 As you pass church buildings, including your own, what does their appearance communicate to you?
Closed doors, railings to keep people out. Some are listed buildings because of their fine architecture, but almost all are closed during the day and so do not appear inviting and user-friendly. Access is denied to people who want to see inside the churches or who want a quiet and sacred place to pray.
9 Who make up the clientele in the various shopping outlets?
Charity shops - Roma; Tesco - international foods; restaurants - various nationalities. Wide range of outlets catering for Eastern European, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern tastes.
10 Did your area seem quiet or busy? Who did you pass on the streets? What were their ages, gender, race?
Busy 7 days a week. Europeans, Middle Easterners and Orientals, mainly early twenties.
11 Is your neighbourhood well served by public transport?
Yes, Lisburn and Malone Roads are Metro bus routes.
12 Are there places in your neighbourhood where you didn’t feel safe?
There is criminal activity and so ordinary common sense caution is needed.
13 Are there places of life, beauty and hope?
Schools, Drumglass Park, leafy streets
14 What evidence of despair, neglect and alienation did you see?
Street beggars, run down houses and Roma sales people at road junctions.
Probing our Area
1 Latest Census Data (2003)
The Windsor Electoral Ward embraces most of the area covered in this study, and so the published census data are relevant.
§ The age profile indicates the relative absence of under-18 year olds in the area. Most people in the area fall between the ages of 20 and 44 with twice as many in the range 20-24 compared with the age range 25-44. This is indicative of the students and the young professionals resident in the area.
§ The religious profile indicates two things of particular interest. The Roman Catholic population (34%) is greater than the total of the Presbyterian, Church of Ireland and Methodist population. The next largest group is “No Religion declared” (27%). These two trends indicate that the district is (a) becoming increasingly secular, and (b) to the extent that religious affiliation persists, the balance has shifted from Protestant to Roman Catholic.
§ The ethnic profile indicates a predominant white population (96%). At the time of the census the largest non-native group was the Chinese. At that time East European countries had not yet joined the European Community, so that East European immigrants did not feature in the statistics. Today it is likely that the Chinese percentage is lower and there is a sizeable number from Eastern Europe and the Middle East. These changes increase the Roman Catholic population, as many of the migrants from Eastern Europe are Roman Catholic. The changes also introduce an Islamic group. This multi-cultural trend is indicated by the presence of the Belfast Chinese Christian Church in Lorne Street and the Islamic Centre in Wellington Park.
2. Local Primary School
One local primary school has experienced a decline until recent times. Once recruiting pupils from within our area, the school is now dependent on pupils from the Donegall Avenue area. From once being almost completely white and English-speaking, about one third now learn English as an additional language and come from 15 other nationalities, the largest group being Polish. This suggests that the area is becoming multi-cultural.
Analysing our Findings
1 What is life like in our area? There is a buzz.
2 What is life like for children and families? The area is expensive for families and so there are few families with children.
3 What is life like for working people? Good for the young upwardly mobile professionals
4 What is life like for the elderly? Excellent in terms of proximity to facilities such as shops, buses and medical facilities. For the less mobile elderly, life becomes more difficult as the neighbourliness that once characterized the area no longer exists.
5 Who feels most at home in this area? The indigenous elderly who have lived most of their lives in the area
6 Who feels least at home in this area? The migrants
7 What are the big issues that stand out from the information you have gathered? The relative absence of children, the influx of students during term time, the multinational character of the area due to the migrants.
8 What might we celebrate about our community? Cultural diversity and the opportunity to interact with people from other nations.
9 What areas of concern are not being addressed? Areas of particular concern are racial tension, job insecurity, bridge building to non-churchgoing and migrant communities, the students and young professionals
10 Who are the key people we need to engage with before starting any new community project? Local doctors, shopkeepers, public representatives and agencies.
WHAT?
The Mission Planning Group has prayerfully considered why we are to engage in mission, who we are as a congregation and where the Lord has called us to be. The Group is aware of the wider picture presented in the South Belfast Presbytery’s Mission Plan and recognises that Presbytery is asking the amalgamated congregation of Windsor to engage in outreach in the area on both sides of the Lisburn Road area from Cranmore Park to Shaftesbury Square.
The Windsor Mission Planning Group recommended to Session and Session approved the following projects.
1) Publicity Develop our use of the notice-boards and website. Set up a small group to raise the congregation’s profile, to highlight events and services, and to make the church known within the community.
2) Co-operation with Great Northern Street City Mission Invite the missionary to speak to Session. Consult with the City Mission office in Church House. Invite the missionary to tell the congregation about the City Mission. Have a joint service in Windsor with the City Mission. Co-operate in outreach work.
3) With Belfast South Methodist and St Nicholas’ Parish Churches invite local organisations to united evening services These organisations include schools, the PSNI, TearFund, the First & Rescue Service, Linfield Football Club, the Royal College of Nursing etc. The purpose is to recognise these organisations, offer thanks for their work and pray for them.
4) Youth Work Establish a Friday night youth club, encourage more youth participation during the Sunday service, redecoration of the upper room and developing Sunday School.
5) Open the Church to the public This could be done for an hour over lunchtime during the week from Easter to October (when no heat is required). Christian literature could be available, together with an invitation to leave concerns for prayer. Two church members would need to be on duty and there would be a rota. People coming in may do so out of curiosity or to have a quiet and sacred place to pray or to seek help. Have tea/coffee/juice available. Have a resource table with literature providing information on resources to help with, for example, debt, bereavement, counselling etc. Opening the church could develop into providing a short lunchtime service, along the lines of that in May Street Presbyterian Church.
Tackling project 1 first does not mean neglecting other projects. If there are resources, others can be started at the same time or soon afterwards. But it is important that we do all we can to ensure that project 1 is a success. Starting too many projects at once may result in none being satisfactorily completed. Beginning one and doing it well brings a sense of achievement and creates enthusiasm for more projects.
We must remember too that the Congregational Mission Plan is not set in stone and should be constantly reviewed in the light of changing circumstances and changing resources.
WHEN?
Notes on When?
1) The action plans below outline the steps involved in developing our publicity. This matter is receiving immediate and urgent attention.
2) Steps are being taken to develop co-operation with the Belfast City Mission in Great Northern Street. It is hoped that this will become effective in the autumn of 2010.
3) Plans are being made to reach out to local organisations. Windsor Presbyterian, Belfast South Methodist and St Nicholas’ Parish Churches are planning services involving the Fire and Rescue Service, Tearfund and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
4) The further development of youth work will depend on resources being available in the future.
5) We have two volunteers willing to open the church to the public during the week. More volunteers are needed and are being sought. It is possible that the Belfast City Missionary, Ivan Patterson, will be involved and will show Christian DVDs.
If you would like to read more about our Mission Plan please click on each Action Plan below
