The Inner North
In the Inner North, City Uniting has the characteristics of a City ministry,
whereas the other congregations have more suburban ministries’.
Steve noted that ‘suburban ministry is often more family and elderly ori-
ented, with a stronger sense of local community/neighbourly, children
and family ministries are more dominant. People stay for longer, they
‘put down roots’ and are invested in that community (even after they
have moved away).’
O’Connor, St Ninian’s, St Margaret’s, and St Columba’s fit the category
of suburban churches.
The rest of this summary report focusses on the suburban churches in
the Inner North, as these churches have a lot of similarities and similar
challenges.
As Steve says, ‘each of the suburban congregations are facing signifi-
cant challenges:
• each were established in an era when local ‘neighbourhood’ congre-
gations focussed on the people within its own small defined area
• there are no active signs of numeric growth, in a time when the popu-
lation has been increasing. In fact, each congregation has seen a slow
continued decline in attendance and membership,
• all are talking about the sustainability of existing church activities, es-
pecially the more physically demanding ones,
• associated with such a decline, each congregation has seen a de-
crease in income and yet an increase in running costs – especially as
ministry costs increase and buildings and facilities are ageing, and
• decrease or pending decrease in the ability to afford the costs associ-
ated with a ministry agent.
Experience from the wider church tells us that if not arrested these
issues mean, at worst, the almost certain death for the congrega-
tion, at best, one or two ‘surviving’ but with a greatly reduced
presence and impact on the community it seeks to serve’.
This is indeed a challenging finding.
Further findings from Steve about the suburban congregations:
‘In so many ways to describe any one of the 4 ‘suburban’ congrega-
tions is to describe them all. The worship, witness and service especial-
St Margaret’s News
11
December 2018