Mission (Springboard Talk 2)
This talk was given as part of the Diocesan Missioner Stephen Cottrell’s Springboard outreach. The date was 4 May 2001
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27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, 28 and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.
29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
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Fair shares for all people
Just Passing Through
Thank you for coming to this workshop.
The aim of the workshop is to explore how we can make the most of the ’occasional offices’ (funerals, baptisms and weddings) as evangelistic opportunities.
A second aim is to generate ideas, specifically focused on the mission weekend.
Just Passing Through
Occasional offices - a review?
In pairs identify how many people do you have contact with (as a church) through funerals, baptisms and weddings in an average year.
Now answer these questions: [1] Why do people come to church for these activities?
[2] What are they expecting from the church? (10 minutes)
In what ways can we best serve these people (in groups of 4)
(a) When they 1st approach us & before the event. (b) during (c) after the event? What stops us from doing these things & how might we tackle these issues? Suggest good ideas. Be sure to deal honestly' and realistically with the practical difficulties.
Occasional Offices and the Mission Weekend
Three 'case studies' for Church’s approaching the October mission weekend. Trying to ponder what to do during the mission weekend with their contacts through baptism, funeral, weddings respectively.
What would you advise the church as they try to identity a creative way to develop the contacts they already have with these people?' (15 minutes) The ‘pitch’.
St Average has a congregation of 50 committed members mostly of the 40+ age range. There is no creche, a Sunday school led (alone) by Sue Perintendant. The church has regular Sunday afternoon baptisms at 2.30pm the last Sunday of the month (average 3 infants).
The vicar Vic Toree meets with the parents the week before the baptism to explain the service and the promises the parents and God parents are making. There isn’t much time for Vic to do much more. He helps weekly with a local Primary school assembly and he leads a mums and toddler morning every Wednesday morning. On one Thursday morning a month he calls in at the Ginger Bread Club and has a coffee and a chat. ……. You are church consultants trying to get the ‘job’ of advising St Average PCC on developing the contacts they already have with these people.
St Ordinary has a parish of some 10000 homes and 80 people attend weekly for the 11am and 7pm services. On average there is one funeral a week (60 per year). The vicar always does a home visit before that and no time for post funeral visits. He does write to each family after the funeral and offer future help and prayers if they would like to call. No one ever takes him up on this. He is a voluntary Chaplain at the local Hospice and helps there one morning per week. He is invited once a month to a retired business men’s luncheon (about 30 attend). He attends the Thursday coffee morning for the elderly at the Town community centre. This has become a sort of support morning for bereaved elderly people (about 30 attend)…You are church consultants trying to get the ‘job’ of advising St Average PCC on developing the contacts they already have with these people.
St Normal has a beautiful Parish church and in the Summer it is in demand for Saturday weddings. There are 70 people who attend the weekly Sunday services 10am and 4pm. The Church Wedding policy is to have 2 preparation classes one month before the wedding and no further wedding involvement (except for the run through on the night before the big day). For the last 5 years the church has used the CPAS Wedding Prep material which has a group discussion and video format. The vicar tries to arrange 4 or 5 couples to attend the Wedding Prep class. The vicar runs 2x2 of these prep classes in the summer. The church gets 8 weddings per year on average. …….You are church consultants trying to get the ‘job’ of advising St Average PCC on developing the contacts they already have with these people.
As a result of this workshop we aim to....Help you identify' what you are going to do to make the most of occasional office contacts in your churches. Identify what you will do this week, and in the next month. Share your aims with another person from a different church. Next few weeks you may like to pray for one another (phone a friend).
