Last Saturday the Parish Council met to review our planning and progress over the past year and to consider next steps in our ministry together. Suzanne Saunders and I prepared an action plan review based on our planning from last year which addressed all elements of our life together . It was an encouraging process as we noted positive progress in so many areas.
We considered our context for mission and noted that we were perfectly aligned to the diocesan vision for mission which is
To see each of our Parishes and Anglican Communities transformed into ministering communities in Mission, where every member is valued and recognises that by virtue of their baptism, they have an important ministry to perform as a part of the Body of Christ, the Church.
To see each of our Parishes and Anglican Communities develop strategies that will enable the Holy Spirit to empower them to engage more effectively in the mission and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ: and so aid the growth of His Church and people throughout the Diocese.
The overall framework for our discussion was Mission. The areas we reviewed were Seeking God’s Face in prayer, leadership development, our current church community and pastoral care and nurture, preparing our church to welcome new members, small multiplying groups, youth ministry, children’s ministry, Sunday services, Safe church, ministry beyond our home base, communication within and without the parish, pathways in faith including baptism, dedication and confirmation, worship team development. Over the past year we have worked steadily on developing our admin including establishing a personnel committee, a site management team and clear job descriptions for both paid and volunteer positions and an annual review process. With recent developments in our diocese we have also identified a need to inform and educate our church members so that we have a good understanding of our Anglican structures and wider governance such as synod, statutes and the roles of bishop, clergy and parish councils.
We finished our morning together considering how we might use our site missionally including the future use of the historic church building and the rectory.
Thank you for praying for the day as noted in our July Focus. I believe the fruitful and positive experience together was the fruit of this prayer cover. We are considering how we might better communicate some of these things to the parish on a more regular basis. If you have any suggestions please speak to Suzanne Saunders or Karen Dennison in the first instance. We already have some ideas! Lastly thank you to the Parish Council for giving up time to meet, to pray and to plan together.
Shalom
Jamie
