In January, 2020, we held a congregational conference to plan a missionary strategy for our church. The report of that conference, including a video ‘vision’ of where we might be at the end of this year if the proposals generated are implemented, can be found here on this page

A follow up meeting was held on Sunday 15th. March, 2020, after a congregational lunch. The video above is a summary of what was agreed.

The rest of this web page contains two main items, both are lengthy because creating a mission strategy is a serious business and can’t be dealt with in a few words. The first item is a report of the meeting on 12th. January. It outlines what was discussed, the proposals which were brought forward and the consensus which emerged about the way forward. It is included so that everyone can see the way that we have developed our strategy and that we have attempted to involve everyone in the process.

The second item is a ten-minute video in the form of a Vision statement about how our church might be by the end of this year if the proposals which emerged from the meeting are put into effect. The main purpose of both the written document and the video vision was to equip members of the congregation to take part in the second conference session which was held on 15th. March of which the video at the top of the page is a summary.

After our Church service on Sunday 12^th. January, and following a congregational lunch, members of the congregation, including the Kirk Session and Congregational Board, spent two hours discussing a mission strategy for our church, assisted by Julian, one of our new elders, who had prepared a number of questions and exercises to enable us to clarify our thinking.

In attempting to pull the wide variety of ideas which were generated into some kind of a paper to be discussed further and, eventually implemented, it is appropriate first of all to seek some form of description of what we are seeking to achieve – in other words, “What is Mission?”

As a step on the road to answering that question we have attempted to list a number of results of what a successful mission might look like.

As a result of a successful mission strategy:

• more people will be encouraged to join the congregation of Fogo Parish Church and become part of the family of the congregation.
• young people will be challenged by the claims of faith to consider whether the Church’s message might be of relevance to their lives.
• older people, perhaps living in care will realise that they are not forgotten by the Church and that they remain important to the Church and to God.
• members of the existing congregation will develop a deepened faith which is both spiritual and informed.
• the community of Fogo Parish will realise that there is an active, dynamic, obedient and enthusiastic congregation in their midst and that it is there for them when they wish it.
• the life of the community and the lives of members of the community will be enriched and improved.
• individuals and organisations will be supported practically and in prayer, including groups and individuals beyond Fogo and Scotland.
• neighbouring congregations will be encouraged and will be assisted by our efforts.
• we will learn from, and be assisted by, the efforts of other individuals and groups working to further the Kingdom of God.

We suspect that it will be possible for others to add significantly to the list above, but the purpose of it for us is to have a measure against which to evaluate the many ideas floated at our initial meeting, as well as to see if each of the areas identified are covered by what has been proposed.

The second thing to identify is that what we are seeking to create is a Mission Strategy – a programme which will lead us forward, rather than one or two isolated events, important though they may be in our life together as a congregation.

It may be that another way of saying this same thing is by reminding ourselves that Mission is not an activity in which congregations engage from time to time, but is the overall purpose of congregational life. Mission is our business, and if we are called to be obedient rather than to be successful, that obedience is to be a missionary congregation in an increasingly secular world.

Against these words of introduction we turn to the reports from each of the five working groups. Several of the groups came up with broadly similar ideas and many of the ideas were based on what is already being done.

So, for example, groups 1,3 & 5 all stressed the importance of communication. The words which appeared in their reports included Newsletter, Facebook, Website, social media, local newspaper, E-Newsletter, a ‘comic’ newsletter and local radio.

Clearly there is a recognised need and desire for a structured programme for sharing the work of the church with others through the different forms of media available to us. At present we produce a Newsletter, place weekly items in the ‘Berwickshire News’, have a church website and provide contact information through both Facebook and Twitter. Liz operates an email contact system with members of the congregation. We are learning to produce an E-Newsletter and expertise in this will be developed in the coming months.

Four of our five groups mentioned the success of our Music Festival last year and felt that this was something which could be built on in the future. In terms of mission it ticks several boxes for us as a) it builds on the links we have established with those who have already brought their music to Fogo Church, b) it provides an opportunity for our congregation to welcome an audience which is predominantly young and to provide for them something which they appreciate and c) it provides an event to which members of our parish who are our supporters, but who do not wish to attend church, can come. One group suggested that future festivals include a tent describing who we are and what we about – a cross between letting folk know about us and a gentle evangelisation, perhaps.

Such an event builds on the strengths of who we are, and the contacts we have, and also has the advantage (challenge!) that we have already done it and it has been judged a success.

Possibly with this success in mind, different groups brought forward ideas for similar events: picnics with animals, messy church, a hill-top service; beach services with bar-b-cue (group 1); beer tasting, children’s holiday clubs (possibly with other churches) (group 2); beach picnic/bar-b-cue, ceilidh, summer solstice bar-b-cue (group 4); summer party, arts and crafts, messy church, quilting (group 5).

Clearly we have several folk who enjoy a bar-b-cue! The suggestion about animals is an interesting one as it builds on the pet service which we held a couple of years ago. This was seen as being a success but has not been picked up since.

It would, we think, be an excellent idea to have an event or a number of events during the course of each year. The questions to be answered centre around whether we should seek to repeat successful events every year and who the target audience would be.

Some of these (such as children’s holiday clubs and messy church) are already being provided by neighbouring congregations with the assistance of the Berwickshire Christian Youth Trust, and we have to face the fact that although we want to welcome children into our congregation there is not a resident population of children within our parish.

One group (group 5) spoke about the importance of our building and of further adapting it to provide additional facilities both for mission and for private prayer and small discussion meetings. The idea which has evolved from this is that the former Harcarse Gallery be adapted to make an additional small hall to fulfill the purposes above. The gallery could quite easily be isolated with a soundproof curtain which would, of course, be opened when not in use. It already has a flat floor and it would be a straight forward task to add lighting to the area. The downside – but one which our architect says can be overcome – is the access to the gallery up a flight of stone steps. Issues relating to hand-rails and headroom are being resolved.

The reports from our groups all have in common the need for any mission strategy to reach out to young people, and most (1,2,3,5) to support older people. Several groups also suggest using our worship as a link to other people (1,3,5). Some groups also suggested that the link with young people can be built around their technological expertise (1,3,5).

The idea which evolves from this is that the church be fitted out to enable Sunday worship to be recorded and shared via our website. In addition, a series of short video services could be prepared, to be offered to care homes within Berwickshire. These services might be filmed in different locations with assistance from young people both in the service preparation and delivery, and in the production. Initially we could invite a small team of young people who were engaged in the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and for whom this would fulfill the service part of that award. In our situation it will be far more profitable for us to seek to work closely with a small team of young people, which can grow, rather than seeking large numbers from the start. Completed services can be taken to care homes by two folk from the congregation: one to introduce the service, the other to hand around cake after the service so that it becomes an event.

Having the equipment and the team will enable a local thirty-minute programme of local news to be made each month. This will further our communication, add to the offering to care homes and engage the young folk with whom we will be working.

There were a number of suggestions for within our congregational life including a monthly lunch followed by a film or a speaker (group 4), a prayer group and Bible study (group 5), and a choir (group 5). Importantly, one group reminded us that there would soon be other congregations within our presbytery who would not have stipendiary ministers: perhaps in our thinking we have to look for ways of assisting them.

And, of course, we were reminded of the importance of supporting those in difficulties and in trouble which is, we hope, already a mark of our congregation.

Finally, mention was made of the plan for which presbytery approval has already been granted and for which approval from the General Trustees is awaited to purchase a cottage to act as a temporary home for a retired minister or worship leader who will come to lead our worship in the future. This too is an important part of our mission strategy for the future.

From the floor of the meeting it was raised that there was a desire that instead of putting in our offering as we arrive in church, the offering be uplifted before it is dedicated during the service. This was put to a vote and everyone present was in favour of this change which the Kirk Session undertook to implement once appropriate offering bags could be obtained.

So where do we go from here? It seems to me that the strands which emerge from the report as a whole are that we build our mission strategy on the pillars of what we are as a congregation: a group of people who worship together, in a beautiful building with the talent of welcoming others and working hard for what we believe is important. In other words our mission strategy will be built on our building, on our worship and on ourselves.

The following might be the basis of such a strategy:

• We convert the former Harcarse Loft into a room to be used for prayer and meditation, for other community functions and for learning programmes for our congregation.

• We design and support one major outreach event (such as a Music Festival) each summer and build into it ways of sharing who we are with those who attend.

• We set up a facility to record and eventually to stream our service a) to share it with the world and particularly the Borders community b) to engage young people in its production c) to provide support for the elderly and those in care homes d) to include plans for a new programme and a sound version for the blind.

• We take all steps necessary to ensure that communication remains at the heart of our activities.

• We make a commitment to continue to make the facilities of the church freely available to our community and to continue to encourage and develop our music programme.

• We make a commitment to share the services of ministers and worship leaders based in the cottage, to be known as Clare’s Cottage, with other congregations seeking to develop a future without the services of a stipendiary minister.

• We plan for a congregational lunch and congregational event on the four fifth Sundays of this year, a programme to then be reviewed for future years.

• We renew the commitment made to our Missionary Partner, and by our Holy Land pilgrims to the Bethany School, to have a fund-raising event for each during the course of this year.

A comparison of these proposals with the ‘results’ of a successful mission strategy in the introduction to this paper suggest that these proposals both meet the demands of those hoped-for results and arise from the discussions of our congregational discussion afternoon.

The target will be to have this programme fully up and running by the end of 2020 with a full review to be conducted at the end of 2021.

The next stage of this programme will be to have a further congregational lunch and meeting to consider the way forward, by which time the Finance Committee will have produced a costing of the programme and a full report on the financially viability of what is proposed.

This meeting was held on on Sunday 15th. March, 2020, and the proposals of the initial meeting were unanimously endorsed.

Our Vision

This ‘vision’ is an imaginary report of the final Sunday in November, 2020 at Fogo Parish Church. While it is totally imaginary it is based on the premise that the proposals brought forward by the January meeting of the congregation are implemented and shape the future direction of our congregation.