From Senior Pastor Albert.

1. Introduction.

The church has the vision to be Hephzibah ‘In whom the Lord delights’, based on Isaiah 62:4. 

“You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.” 

Our vision statement is ‘To make a significant change within our church and community, that will impact family and social lives’. 

Our mission statement is ‘The church is committed to teach and guide God’s people in the truth of his word; supporting men, women and children according to their social, physical and spiritual needs’. 

The vision was formed at the time the congregation moved to its new premises Prebendal Farm Community centre. Here we see the Lord’s intention to transform the condition of the land from desolation to delight. For this to happen, we must ourselves be open to the transformative work of the Holy Spirit within our own congregation. 

In my time as the senior pastor, my focus has been vision and relationships to revitalise the congregation to reaffirm their personal commitment to the vision. 

The congregation have responded positively to the teachings about our vision based on Isa 62:1-7, along with other scriptural topics that focus on the Lord’s transformative work in the believer and our response of faithfulness and obedience. The messages that we have received over the first 8 months of my tenure include: 

• The meaning of Hephzibah (In whom the Lord delights) (Isa 62:1-7) 
• Faithfulness our response to God’s intention for marriage 
• The watchmen of Zion 
• Order in the house (Mark 6:39-42) 
• Jesus is the bread of life 
• We are more than conquerors (Romans 8:31-36) 
• The greatest in the Kingdom (Matt 18:1-5) 
• Reaching forward to things ahead (Phil 3:13-14) 
• Listen! (Mark 4:3) 
• The Lord of Hosts, the refiner’s fire and the fuller's soap (Mal 3:1-5) 
• The re-digging blocked well and finding the place of more room (Gen 26:1-22) 
• This congregational work has been supported by developing personal relationships through home visits and telephone calls, and Wednesday morning teaching and prayer meetings in the community. 

2. The Transformation Process.

To revitalise a congregation in decline (Empty Nest), Bullard1 proposes the following strategy: 

• Revitalisation involves revitalizing or creating new Programs that lead to reaffirmed or new Relationships. 
• Revitalisation allows for a reaffirmed or new Vision to emerge. 
• The destination for Revitalisation is Adulthood if the change that is continuous with the past is attempted. 
• If change that is discontinuous is attempted, then the destination is Adolescence. The strategy is to diminish Management. 

Bullard identifies several points to assist the process of seeing, speaking and planning for the future: 

a. Walking by Faith: This involves placing more emphasis on visionary leadership and relationship experiences with God, with one another, within the context of service. 

b. Developing a passion for a future vision that is eternal rather than finite: Our full Kingdom potential is an eternal goal. It focuses on pulling one forward to a future God already knows. Only this goal is worthy of our passion . A strategic spiritual journey is a journey that is ongoing. Philippians 3:12–16 talks about the journey of a Christian individual as being something that is never completed. 

c. Fuelling congregations for growth: Vision and relationships fuel congregations on the growth side. Programs and management sustain congregations on the ageing side As the Empty Nest stage is an ageing characteristic within the congregation life-cycle, I propose a strategy that focuses on growth based on the Adolescence stage. 

3. A New Look for the Aylesbury Church 

The Driver is Adolescence 

Adolescence is that period when Vision, Relationships, and Programs are dominant, but management is not. The Adolescence stage of a congregation is characterised by a passion to fulfil the strategic spiritual vision of the congregation. As the fulfilment of this Vision becomes a reality the congregation presses for higher quality and quantity of ministry. 

Therefore, to revitalise Aylesbury’s congregation in its Empty Nest stage, the following actions focus on redeveloping the Vision, Relationships and Programmes. 

The Vision for a Community Congregation 

Prayer & Worship 

•  The congregation shall be a centre for prayer and worship, the Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory (Isa 62:2) 
• We shall continually seek God’s direction to be relevant within our social context, to effectively serve the community as we deliver the good news of Jesus Christ. 
• The local congregation should reflect the community in its diversity of ethnicities. 
• Its membership will have a healthy mix of young, middle-aged and elderly citizens. 
• The leadership team will be actively engaged in promoting prayer across the local congregation, in all services, regarding social challenges faced by our own ethnic group, along with the broader ethnic and social issues within the region. 
• The Senior pastor and leadership team should proactively engage with other ethnic Christian denomination leaders in pray on the social issues within the community. 

Relationships 

• The Senior Pastor and leadership team shall actively promote and support home care across the local congregation. 
• The church shall provide financial support for those individuals experiencing deprivation and hardship 
• The Senior Pastor and leadership team should engage in multi-ethnic Christian relationships across the region. The church should assign the appropriate level of funding to develop and support this engagement. 
•  The Senior Pastor with the support of the leadership team shall be proactive in inviting other ministers both within our denomination and outside to services, social events and into our homes. 
• Through the leadership team and other ministries, the church shall seek opportunities to develop relationships with local business owners, the local authority, health providers, social services providers, and law enforcement services, etc., to better understand the needs and challenges of the disfranchised and impoverished within the region. 
• The church shall support other Christian denominations who already deliver social care within the region. 

Programmes 

• The church will regularly teach of the early church’s endeavours lead by the Holy Spirit to reach out to new communities. 
• The leadership and congregation shall collaborate with other ethnic Christian groups in prayer, worship and social action. 
• The church shall reach out to other local denominations to deliver at an annual multi ethnic worship experience. 
• The church shall conduct cross-cultural worship services 
• The church shall assign funds to support the development of cross-cultural leaders