Over the last 8 weeks we’ve been asking this question, at all our services. We really want to know the answer. We want everyone to be asking the question, debating the answers, moving towards being a church that Jesus would feel at home in.
Hopefully you’ve caught at least some of the talks and caught up on the website with others. Hopefully you’ve chatted with others after a service or in a small group. If not, there’s plenty of time to do so. As we all learn and grow together, we can all contribute to the vision of a Christ- like church.
In our DNA?
We chose the image of a DNA helix because being a church is about having the DNA of Jesus Christ in the very life blood of our community. There are lots of changes and adjustments we could make to be more friendly, more welcoming, more concerned for justice, more engaged with the community outside. But rather than making superficial changes, adding to our already over-full schedule, we wanted to go back to basics and ask, what is the church for? What is it meant to BE? Before it starts DOING?
Phase One complete
So Phase One is complete. There will be other phases, so look out for them! What have we learnt so far? Look at the questions attached and do feed back to Anita or Aidan. Or respond in your own way- a song or a picture would speak as clearly as written response!
The one thing that came out of our homegroup, was the suggestion of ‘befrienders’ (a bit like CAP). People who have a heart for people, who are willing to walk alongside, support, encourage and be a friend to those who walk through the door. The vicar’s and team just cannot possibly do this with effectiveness, it needs people with a ‘shepherds’ heart, but who aren’t part of the leadership team as such.