New Beginnings
Downloadable
Fact Sheet

What is New Beginnings?

New Beginnings is a three-part, three-hour course designed to transform “ordinary” members into “extraordinary” disciples. In the first hour, New Beginnings 101 allows congregants to feel the power of their church; in the second hour New Beginnings 201 provides the means to discover or enhance richness in their spiritual lives, and in the third hour, New Beginnings 301 guides participants to joyfully find and embrace the ministry that God has already planted in their souls. Structured with the busy churchgoer in mind, New Beginnings is a comprehensive, appealing, easy-to-follow three-hour program that takes place on three consecutive Sundays -- right after, before or between morning worship.

Is New Beginnings right for my church?

Yes. New Beginnings is designed for any church, regardless of size, location, or facilities that is looking for a way to engage their members. We are well aware that a small percentage of our congregants are active and perform the majority of the work and ministries in our churches and in our communities at large. This leaves the vast majority of our people without a means to live out what is already burning deep within their hearts -- the desire to be closer to God in service to others. New Beginnings 101-201-301 was designed especially for them, so they might ignite this "living flame."

What are the features of New Beginnings?

New Beginnings is:

Convenient – Three classes, each lasting 60 minutes, offered on three consecutive Sunday mornings, while people are already at morning worship.

Continually useful -- Brings all current congregants to a new level of understanding of their church and their role within it –also for future newcomers.

Specific to each church – it can be tailored uniquely to your church.

Theologically sound – References from Scripture and a wide range of Christian writers reinforce each presentation.

Collaborative – Both clergy and lay people make presentations.

Exciting – Presentations in brisk, 10-12 minute blocks, with visuals and handouts.

Inviting -- Inspiring, brimming with possibility.

Involving – Mixture of information and personal testimony.

Needed -- The “jump start” all churches seek to transform marginal members and attract newcomers to a dynamic, ministry- and mission-driven community.

Leads to Stewardship -- With a commitment to ministry naturally comes the desire to support the church.

How does New Beginnings work and what are the initial steps?

First Step:
As New Beginnings 101, 201, 301 is truly collaborative; the first step is to gather together the individuals who will eventually present the material. New Beginnings is not a top down program that must be presented by pastor, associates and staff. The whole idea is to allow lay people -- both those who are already active in the church, as well as those who are not active yet who possess the ability to present material well -- to participate in this exciting program.

As you will note, there are five presentations in 101, four in 201 and two in 301. In addition, a MC/leader is needed and someone to eventually serve as a "discernment minister" to assist those who have special talents that do not easily fit into ministry slots in your church or community. You do not need a different person for each presentation. So any number of people, from about six to fifteen can work.

Second Step:
"Call them by name." Yes, exactly as the Scripture tells us. Jesus did not ask for volunteers to proclaim his message. He looked about him for people who he sensed had a passion for life, who had a "habit of being," a certain presence. New Beginnings asks that you do exactly this. Call upon people you sense will be able to present well, whose lives, whose presence somehow, some way, says something to you. They need not be the formally, theologically educated. They should have that certain "something." You will be surprised at how complimented they will feel to be asked to participate in New Beginnings.

You might invite them to lunch or dinner. Over a meal is the best way to launch New Beginnings. And this can be done either by the pastor or staff member, or by a layperson who sees the value of New Beginnings for their particular church.

Third Step:
With those you have "called by name," view the Introductory Material on the DVD/VHS. As your leaders follow along in their Leader's Guide, this presentation will give you all the information you need to create interest for New Beginnings and to sign up participants.

Fourth Step:
As your leaders follow along their Leader's Guide, view in turn the presentations for 101, 201 and 301. These presentations, along with the Leader's Guide will give ample material for each presentation. Encourage your leaders to innovate and to make the material their own, to go outside the material, or, in fact, not use the suggested material at all if they have a better approach.

Once these steps are complete, you are ready to launch the three-week, New Beginnings program in your church.

What is different about New Beginnings 101, 201, 301?

Its ease of use, innovative features, and economy (only three hours) make New Beginnings a unique, immediately useful and powerful tool to engender a new and exciting ministry-driven attitude among congregants.

What are the new or innovative features of New Beginnings 101, 201, 301?

New Beginnings introduces the participants to a fresh way of looking at their church, their spirituality and themselves as ministers through a unique Time-Talent-Treasure Inventory that they take, privately, after 101 and before 201 allows them to look deeply into what they have been given and how they might share these gifts.

The New Beginnings Talent Survey, taken after 201 and before participants meet in 301 to discern the ministry for which God has given them the talents, is a real language survey that ordinary people can understand. It is profound, but does not use "churchy" terminology that may be confusing or off-putting to the average congregant.

TAP provides a revolutionary way, in three steps, to lead a person to the ministry God has already planted in their souls and which they may not yet be able to discern.

What is TAP?

The exclusive TAP© approach:

• Talent – a non-jargon survey for real people to assess their natural abilities/talents and spiritual gifts.
  
• Aptitude – a simple, commonsense approach to understanding one’s desires, capacities, interests.
  
• Purpose – a path to finding real ministries for real people, within the church and in your community.

• Steering people to current church ministries
• Help in creating ministries to meet unmet needs in your church and community
• Also provided is a list of hundreds of innovative ministries from other churches.

When you talk about "ministries" what is included?

New Beginnings 101, 201, 301 helps guide participants to existing needs and ministries within the church, but also encourages them to envision new, needed ministries. In other words, to see needs and address them and not to be limited by existing ministries. New Beginnings also allows participants to see the needs in your larger community and to create new "ministries" or to join in existing community organizations.

What is a New Beginnings 101, 201, 301 Curriculum Kit and what is included?

The New Beginnings 101, 201, 301 Curriculum Kit comes in an attractive shrink-wrapped box that contains:

1) Leader's Guide -- A 74 page, step-by-step guide that includes:

• Steps of Preparation, with easy to follow techniques to create interest in your church.
• How to Use Curriculum Material, which provides material for leaders to utilize, talking points, PowerPoint hints, all TAP© materials, and ways to customize your 101-201-301 curriculum.
• Ritual Action, which allows you to create concrete and physical events that underscore and dramatize the principles in New Beginnings.

2) Participant's Guide -- A 58-page, easy to follow personalized workbook, that provides resources and contains all TAP© materials (Talent-Aptitude-Purpose) so participants might find their unique ministry.

3) Resources/PowerPoint CD -- PowerPoint and printable materials, plus resources such as bulletin announcements, nametags, customized banners and shirts to enhance your New Beginnings experience.

4) Leader's Instructional DVD/VHS – In this video, provided in both DVD and VHS formats, Paul Wilkes speaks directly to leaders, guiding them through all levels of New Beginnings 101, 201, 301.

5) Islands of Hope (bonus on DVD/VHS) – An inspiring documentary about four innovative, ministry-driven churches and parishes. It shows every church has the potential for excellence, and how members can serve in new, bold and exciting ways.

What does each segment – 101, 201, 301 -- do and how do they blend together to achieve the desired end: membership to discipleship?

We are only beginning to understand that ministry is a crucial part of both our individual lives and church life as well. Through ministry we live out the Good News, through ministry we feel the power of the Holy Spirit flowing through us. The three parts of New Beginnings are designed to take your members on a journey of spiritual self-assessment, thus leading to a new understanding of their ministry role in the local church and the surrounding community.

The three hours are divided into these specific topics:

101: My Church -- Membership/Ownership
(The church as base of spiritual and moral actions; a family, a community)

Context...looking at your church within your community
Community... what a church is really about
Change... how our idea of a church has changed
Commitment...the need for a new level of commitment

201: My Spirituality – Steps to Spiritual Growth
(My part in reaching out to God for insight, inspiration, guidance)

Spiritual Tradition – the rich storehouse that awaits you
Spiritual Quest – understanding why it that we seek God
Spiritual Process – realizing Spirituality is process, not a goal
Spiritual Discipline – committing to the process

301: My Ministry – My Church-based Vocation
(Finding my unique ministry in my church, in the world)

Discovery -- the TAP survey
Discernment -- applying those talents and aptitude
Discipleship -- putting this into practice in a real ministry

How did New Beginnings come into being?

In 1996, Paul Wilkes traveled to a church in New Jersey to speak at a "revival.” Although Wilkes is a lifelong Catholic and regularly writes about religion and religious belief, he had an experience during that week unlike anything he’d ever had before. The church was exciting. The people loved to be there. They welcomed strangers into their community. The outreach and the reverence were real. Service and ministry were a natural part of their lives. And, all the while, they were enjoying themselves; there was no sense of obligation, only of opportunities.

Wilkes interest was peaked, for he had sat in many a church that didn't have this same sense of excitement and spiritual depth. What made this church so appealing? Were there other such wonderful "homes for the spirit?" What did they have in common? And so, with a grant from the Lilly Endowment, he began to search for other excellent local churches and Catholic parishes.

The churches and parishes he found are featured in two books: Excellent Protestant Congregations: The Guide to Best Places and Practices, Westminster/John Knox Press and Excellent Catholic Parishes: The Guide to Best Places and Practices, Paulist Press. The books contain a list of the successful—and reproducible—programs and approaches they employ, as well as their common traits.

In conjunction with the Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, and funded by a new grant from the Lilly Endowment, Wilkes was able to share this wealth of information in a series of national meetings in 2001 and 2003 called the Pastoral Summit. This unique gathering of Protestants and Catholics -- across the Christian traditions -- focused exclusively on power and potential of the local church.

What began as only a dim realization of what was at the core of all these excellent churches and parishes gradually began to become clearer in his mind. What he had found in these excellent Protestant churches and Catholic parishes was that people felt a sense of attachment, that their individual participation was important. They had been asked to make a serious commitment to both the work of that church, but more importantly, to a lifestyle that included giving of themselves in some sort of ministry, whether it be church-related or in the larger community. They had made that commitment and both their church life and individual lives had blossomed.

On the other hand, what he was seeing in the vast majority of other churches he visited was that this commitment to ministry had never been asked of them. People were attending morning worship, being what we might call "reasonable members," but something hadn’t clicked in for them. In these churches some 10 percent of the people were doing 80 percent of the work. Maybe 20 percent or so, because of life circumstances, really couldn't be involved, but that left 70 percent, who, Wilkes felt, if given a compelling reason, could or would be involved in ministry.

Wilkes wanted to find a simple, quick way for that 70 percent to be introduced to the ministry that God had already planted in their souls. New Beginnings 101, 201, 301 was created for them.

How has New Beginnings worked in a typical church?

New Beginnings was first used at St. Mary Church in Wilmington, North Carolina, which was experiencing a downturn in membership, attendance, and giving. After an extensive informational program, initiated by lay people in conjunction with a new pastor, 256 people signed up for the program. New Beginnings 101, 201, 301 was held on three Sundays in Lent. By Pentecost Sunday, nearly 80 people had indicated their interest in specific ministries, both existing and new. At least half of those people had not been involved in church or community ministry. Still others came forward later to serve in ministries, and they continue to do so.

Who is Paul Wilkes?

Paul Wilkes has written and lectured extensively about the role of religious belief in individual lives as well as the place and impact of religion in public life. He has written for many national publications, is the author of many books and has produced and directed documentaries for PBS.

His groundbreaking research on church and parish excellence led to the publication of Excellent Protestant Congregations: The Guide to Best Places and Practices and Excellent Catholic Parishes: The Guide to Best Places and Practices. He founded the Pastoral Summit to "find, develop and promote models of church excellence." New Beginnings continues that work.

A practicing Catholic and hospital Eucharistic minister, he lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, with his wife Tracy, who founded an arts program for at-risk children, and their two sons, Noah and Daniel.

1413 Hawthorne Road | Wilmington, NC 28403 | Toll Free 800.936.0363
Please feel free to email me at paulwilkes@ec.rr.com