Mission (Springboard Talk 1)
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
Something for everyone
Opening inspiration from Levi in Luke 5:27-30.
Thank you for coming to this workshop.
It is hoped that you will feel better focussed, better resourced, creatively inspired and prayerfully motivated as a result of coming here today.
This session is more than a ‘Good Ideas’ workshop, it is hoped you will grasp the two vital prerequisites to developing a mission bunged full of exciting ideas.
The 1st is to make PRAYER (not ‘plan’) your priority. Evangelism is God’s work, we get the privilege of joining in! As some one once said ‘Before you talk to people about God talk to God about the people.’
The 2nd is to focus on WHO you are hoping to reach with the gospel (which people groups).
Being undergirded in prayer and our people focus we can begin to consider ‘Something for everyone.’
One way we make links between life and faith is through creative, attractive, relevant ‘events.’ Here are some suggestions to get those creative juices flowing! This is not an exhaustive list or a list to select from, it is merely ideas which have worked well. It is important to keep the ‘mission focus’ rather than see these as purely social events.
General principle the 5 W’s Who, What, Where, When, Why.
Who, do we invite, who is FRANC. Consider, new attenders, new families in area, occasional (or lapsed) attenders, parents of Youth Club & Sunday Gang uniform org kids, clergy contacts, baptism, funeral, wedding contacts, community links, school links, building links, local clubs and organisations, church members FRANC’s.
What will we do :
Issue based events: Parenting, Maintaining Relationships (love, sex, communication),
Work issues, Life Issues (Stress, suffering, dying, money/materialism)
Interest based events: Quiz night, Food/cookery ideas, Make Over ideas, Antiques (guess value & experts) Gardening (Advice, Ques time, flower arranging, & testimony) Flower Festival, Sport(Quiz, interview, 5-a-side, mixed sport, ….) Music (Quiz, performance, workshop & perform, …) Drama (perform, workshop, theatre & pub trips), Wine Tasting (in moderation)
Festival Based events: Harvest, All Souls, Marriage Celebration.
Age Focussed events (Children & youth) : parents night out, Toddlers service, Parenting, schools work, Family Activity Afternoon, Baptism Party, Sleepover, TGI Friday (games, drama, worship), Pizza Party, Youth Café, Christian Band (trip or organise), Praise party, Meditation/Spirituality event, treasure hunt…….
Age/disability Focussed events (Older people): Coffee Morning, Memorabilia, Nursing Homes, Dying Issues, Luncheon event, Songs of Praise, Slide Show, wheels and wobblers, bowling…..
Age Focussed events (Young Married & middle age): Barn Dance, Line dance, Magician/comedian, Alpha/Emmaus Intro meal, single parent/gingerbread ideas, Multi Media Guest service, Picnic/walk
Where will we do it: Community Centre, Pubs, Marquee/Tent, Schools, hotel, Sports Club….
When is the best time for event (based on focus group): Fri/Sat night, Sat morn/aft., Sunday…
Why Are we doing it, keep asking, ‘where is the gospel in this’, are we planting seeds, targeting fringe, renewing existing links, harvesting.
And finally… it never ends! Follow up begins, nurture begins, worship services develop, more mission, more growth… then the rapture!
