Revd Mike Bossingham was a knowledgeable and open, friendly minister from Norfolk, who now works solely for Family Friendly Churches Trust. He told us about the trends in church attendance in the last few years and we were presented with statistics which made us realise that we need to do something now to prevent further decline. During a sabbatical, Mike had visited a number of churches because he wanted to find out what was the key to encouraging people into the church. He presented his findings to us and suggested reasons why some churches appear more accepting and tolerant of families than others. Mike then described seven different models of church he has found to be in operation in various parts of the country. These models range from straightforward traditional services following a set pattern, to very contemporary churches, seeking to offer different types of  activities in a single service  where people could choose whether to focus on worship, study, drama, meditation, craft, dance or some other aspect of Christian  witness . We spent some time in groups, brainstorming the changes to our lives over the past forty years that have had an impact on our worship. These changes were narrowed down to three major changes:- a  change in our lifestyle, a focus on feelings rather than on intellect, and changes in musical tastes. This brought us to the end of Saturday’s business.

The number to attend on Sunday afternoon was smaller than on the Saturday. This event had been planned for some time so the number of people who gathered to hear Rev. Mike Bossingham of Family Friendly Churches Trust was quite small. Some of us had expected to attend workshops in the various activities but we quickly found out that we were to plan and carry out the circuit service on our own! Mike asked us to join one of three groups, each to take responsibility for one part of the service. The three parts were praise and worship, Scripture and readings and response and prayers. After a few basic “rules” for the three groups, we were free to develop our ideas, albeit independently, with no clue of what the other groups were planning. About an hour before the start of the service, we had to tell Mike what we had planned and he put the service together. Surprisingly, the mix was perfect. The three parts flowed together as if they had been planned by a single person. A high-point in the service was a video of a puppet show prepared by the young people present. Lovingly and humorously they illustrated how churches need to include young people in leading worship. The Praise and worship was lively and moving. The Scriptural reading was in the form of some interviews with main characters from the story. Then, one member, taking the part of Jesus, explained the message in the reading . A personal testimony followed by intercessory prayers brought our service to a close. The success of that service just proved Mike's point... that ordinary people can become more involved in being church as we move forward into the 21st century. If you missed out on the weekend, I am sorry, but I am sure that any of the people who attended would be only too happy to tell you more about it. I personally felt it was time very well spent and look forward to seeing how we can move forward from here.

Hazel Watson