The Reverend Canon Alicia Schuster Weltner, Canon for Congregational Development
The Commission on Congregational Growth and Development
The New Starts Task Force
Jesus said, "Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit...."
Be sure to see: "Telling the Good News" - The recent issue of our quarterly magazine, Pathways, on communication and evangelism.
And "Where do we Grow from Here?" - The Mission and Evangelism issue of Pathways
CONGREGATIONAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES IN THE DIOCESE OF ATLANTA
MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of the Congregational Growth and Development Commission is to provide support for established parishes in The Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. Our Commission nurtures the growth of congregations and their leaders and assists congregations with embracing change, evangelism, growth, and redevelopment. We offer support for those areas through links to information on this website, as well as offering consulting.
Funding and Developing New Starts in the Diocese of Atlanta
Is the mission of the New Starts Task Force. The Task Force's goal is to find areas in the diocese that are underserved by the Episcopal church, as well reaching out to communities not typically evangelized by our church, all in the service of the Great Commission and spreading the Gospel.
Click here to go to the New Starts webpages
SUPPORTING YOUR PARISH'S GROWTH
Evangelism - Programs, Resources, and Information for your church
Welcoming and Incorporating New Members - How do you get guests to your door? How do you incorporate them into your parish life and community? Suggested programs to use, as well as many other resources from"Tried and True" experiences, are included. (Workshops and Presentations also available for all churches).
Developing a Marketing Plan for Your Church - If you are to develop a sound and successful marketing program for your church, you must start at the beginning. A marketing outreach program starts with an understanding of the organization. It also includes various planning activities required to produce a plan to promote your services to the community.
Creating a Parish Website
There are many resources on the web for building a church website. These are introduced and explained in the following presentations.Web Page Creation for Churches from the Diocese of Newark provides a very good basic overview of design and technical considerations in creating and sustaining a basic site.
Designing Congregational Websites from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research is a thoughtful and comprehensive guide to the process of building a site. It's especially helpful in addressing the process of gathering your congregation's energy around this form of communication.
Both sites have links to additional resources.
Hosting your website
The diocese is now able to host your parish's website on servers maintained by the Episcopal Media Center. There is no charge to you for the hosting service and initial design. There are other services such as e-mail available. Please contact Patrick Herold or Bill Monk at the Episcopal Media Center for more information.Church Growth and Demographics - This diocese and the Episcopal Church have powerful resources available to equip your work through the demographic and leadership tools of PERCEPT.
FACTs - A new look at the dynamics of growth and decline in American congregations based on the Faith Communities Today 2005 national survey of congregations C. Kirk Hadaway on Growth
For more information on the FACTs Survey, click here
From Episcopal News Service - Ecumenical study shows why congregations grow
A plan to recruit and incorporate newcomers, clarity of mission and ministry, contemporary worship, involvement of children in worship, geographic location, a website and the absence of conflict are key factors in why some congregations in America are growing, according to the latest national survey of U.S. faith communities...
"Congregations that developed a plan to recruit members in the last year were much more likely to grow than congregations that had not," according to a report on the survey written by C. Kirk Hadaway, Director of Research at the Episcopal Church Center in New York.
Congregational Characteristics of Growing Small Chruches - an article by Suzanne Richardson Watson, National Office for Small Church Development for the Episcopal Church. click here to read the article and more links to resources for small church development. We also invite you to visit her blog on Small Churches (70 or less average Sunday Attendance) that contains many ideas and success stories from other small churches http://smallepiscopalchurch.blogspot.com
A press release from the Hartford Seminary:
Worship, Websites, Conflict Affect Growth in Congregations
December 11, 2006 – Contemporary worship, geographic location, a website and the absence of conflict are key factors in why some congregations in America are growing, according to the latest national survey of U.S. faith communities.CONSULTING
We offer training in all areas of church life and development, In addition to the following workshops, we can consult on any issue or situation for which you would like to get some assistance;
Demographics
Strategic Planning
Evangelism
Redevelopment
Incorporation and Small Group Management
Small Church Growth and Development
To reach a consultant, please e-mail The Rev Dr. Trawin Malone atonement49@earthlink.net or The Rev Canon Alicia Schuster Weltner at aschusterweltner@episcopalatlanta.org .
UPCOMING EVENTS
Church Development Institute (CDI) 2008
Training clergy and lay leaders of the Episcopal Church in Congregational Development.....a training program for developing Congregational Development Leaders to help your parish and other parishes in our diocese to maximize each parish community's potential in spreading the Gospel.
Click here for more information about this program
HISPANIC MINIISTRY
The Rev. Canon Isaias Rodriguez,
Canon Missioner The Role of the Hispanic Missioner
Link to our National Hispanic website
Hispanic Missions in Atlanta Diocese
(para continuar en español )
PARISH RESOURCES OUTSIDE THE DIOCESE
Click here to go to this resource page
