Everyone is thinking about strategy
The Methodist Connexion has been encouraging Circuits and Churches to review their lives for some time. To this end they have circulated "Our Calling" (2000) and "Priorities for the Methodist Church" (2004).
"Our Calling" says
The Church exists to
- Increase awareness of God's presence and to celebrate God's love
- Help people to learn and grow as Christians, through mutual support and care
- Become a good neighbour to people in need and to challenge injustice
- Make more followers of 3esus
Youth and Children's work are expected to embody all areas of "Our Calling". Finance, Property, Communication etc are seen as supportive, housekeeping, functions.
"Priorities for the Methodist Church" says:-
In partnership with others wherever possible, the Methodist Church will concentrate its prayers, resources, imagination and commitments on this priority:
- To affirm its conviction of God's love in Christ, for us and for all the world;
- To renew confidence in God's presence and action on the world and in the Church
As ways towards realising this priority, the Methodist Church will give particular attention to the following;
- Underpinning everything we do with God-centred worship and prayer
- Supporting community development and action for justice, especially among the most deprived and poor - in Britain and worldwide
- Developing confidence in evangelism and in the capacity to speak of God and faith in ways that make sense to all involved
- Encouraging fresh ways of being church
- Nurturing a culture in the church which is people centred and flexible
The Review Group has made use of these reports in thinking about life at Trinity. Here are some questions to encourage you to think about these reports
- What in the two documents do you find familiar in that you can see them already part of the life of our church?
- Are there some things that are not part of our life but on reflection you think should be?
- Do you in any sense feel God beckoning you towards an element of church and community life that that has been suggested as part of our calling?
Bob Sneddon