Bishop's keynote address inspires conference delegates
Newly refurbished premises in one of the most deprived areas of the diocese in East Belfast were recently used to host a major conference on Church Growth. The Bishop of Down & Dromore, the Right Revd Harold Miller opened the conference with an inspirational keynote address, in which he said: ‘It is wonderful to meet with around 300 key people from the diocese to look at how God can grow his church. We are truly grateful to see the many ways in which the Church of Ireland in this diocese has been experiencing God's blessing over the years - we have more leaders than ever (including 24 youth workers in parishes), increased financial giving and larger-than-ever congregations at key times like Christmas'. The Bishop went on to say: ‘The Diocese has also experienced the largest confirmations and ordinations in ten years. However, we also have to face up to the fact that we have fewer infants being baptized, and decreasing numbers in our Sunday schools'.
Bishop Harold issued a challenge: "Make Sunday worship a glimpse of heaven". He continued: ‘turn churches outwards in engagement with the community, and experiment with new ways of being church in the 21st century ".
At the conference Bishop Harold took the opportunity to launch a new initiative to invite those who had never been confirmed or baptized to consider the possibility of exploring the faith and becoming full members of the church. Over 1,500 ‘Come on...on in' cards have been printed and they are to be given to those who wish to be baptized or confirmed in the coming year.
The delegates representing the parishes in the diocese attended morning and afternoon seminars which were led by experts in church growth. Amongst the panel of seminar leaders was the Revd George Lings, who is the director of the Church Army Research Unit in Sheffield, and the Revd Mark Melluish, vicar of St Paul's Ealing, London, who is a well known church growth specialist.
The seminars on offer covered a variety of topics relevant to church growth, including ‘Mission to the more affluent', ‘What can we learn about mission from the church overseas', How healthy is your church?' to ‘Why do young people not go to church?' and ‘Why do men not got to church?'.
(Photographs by John Kelly)
