Future of Unichurch: Option 1: Do nothing
November 23rd, 2008 by Rory Shiner Posted in ChurchThank you everyone for your engagement with the last post on the future of Unichurch. I really appreciate it and hope it will continue.
In order to stimulate discussion I thought I’d post on each option separately so that we could tease out the implications more. So, what would the first option look like; namely, do nothing?
Well, firstly, it would be incredibly easy. Nothing would have to change, no new plans worked out, no new ideas enacted.
Secondly, it would be cautious. Unichurch has grown by something like 60% in the last 12-14 months. But who knows what that means? It could just be a fluke and this time next year we’ll be back to normal. Or it could be that we change and in changing we actually loose all the growth and end up with irrelevant structures.
Thirdly, it could be prudent. I think we have about 50 spare seats in the lecture theatre on our fullest evenings, and it could be that we could work out how better to use the space (like for example, opening up the second entrance behind the musicians).
These are the positives for the ‘do nothing’ option. It’s hard not to see this as the most faithless option on the table. Contra point 1, when ever did Christian ministry and mission go forward by choosing the easy option? Contra point 2, when ever did the Kingdom go forward by people being risk adverse? Nearly 16,000 UWA students haven’t have a decent chance to respond meaningfully to the gospel, so it’s hardly like we have hit some magic formula that means we’ve got the mission sorted.
I think point 3) is the only one that has something to commend it. There may be some wisdom in working out how to use the space we have as best we can, and by doing so buy ourselves another 6-12 months in which to make a good decision about the future. But I’m determined we don’t in effect make a non-decision and just maintain the status quo because it’s all to hard. If we go with this option on the basis of point 3), and if in 12 months we are still playing it safe, kick me in the butt and ask what’s going on. If nothing has happened in 12 months, you can be nearly 100% sure that it’s because we are not being truly missional; that is, not being like Jesus. And that’s bad.
Love, Rory
One Response to “Future of Unichurch: Option 1: Do nothing”
By Adrian Fry on Nov 23, 2008
One idea for this problem, unichurch 2.0 worked really well in engaging people with the mission and situation of unichurch. Perhaps something like that would be constructive in trying to figure out this next phase for unichurch, although the amount that unichurch has grown might make this difficult.