In developing the Mission Action Plan, we are taking account of the context of the church in the Diocese of London and nationally. The documents below will inform our thinking.
1. Energized by faith rather than just keeping things going or trying to survive
• worship and sacramental life: moves people to experience God’s love
• motivation: energy comes from a desire to serve God and one another
• engaging with Scripture: in creative ways connect with life
• nurtures faith in Christ: helping people to grow in, and share, their faith.
2. Outward-looking focus with a 'whole life' rather than a 'church life' concern
• deeply rooted in the local community, working in partnership with other denominations, faiths, secular groups and networks
• passionate and prophetic about justice and peace, locally and globally
• makes connections between faith and daily living
• responds to human need by loving service
3. Seeks to find out what God wants, discerning the Spirit’s leaning rather than trying to please everyone
• vocation: seeks to explore what God wants it to be and do
• vision: develops and communicates a shared sense of where it is going
• mission priorities: consciously sets immediate and long-term goals
• able to call for, and make, sacrifices, personal and corporate, in bringing about the above and living out the faith.
4. Faces the cost of change and growth rather than resisting change and avoiding failure
• while embracing the past, it dares to take on new ways of doing things
• takes risks: and admits when things are not working, and learns from experience
• crises: responds creatively to challenges that face the church and community
• positive experiences of change: however small, are affirmed and built on.
5. Operates as a community rather than functioning as a club or religious organisation
• Relationships: are nurtured, often in small groups, so people feel accepted and are helped to grow in faith and service
• leadership: lay and ordained work as a team to develop locally appropriate expressions of all
• seven marks of a healthy church
• lay ministry: the different gifts, experiences and faith journeys of all are valued and given expression in and beyond the life of the church.
6. Makes room for all being inclusive rather than exclusive.
• welcome: works to include newcomers into the life of the church
• children and young people: are helped to belong, contribute and be nurtured in their faith
• enquirers are encouraged to explore and experience faith in Christ
• diversities: different social and ethnic backgrounds, mental and physical abilities, and ages, are seen as a strength.
7. Does a few things and do them well focused rather than frenetic.
• does the basics well: especially public worship, pastoral care, stewardship and administration
• occasional offices: make sense of life and communicate faith
• being good news as a church in its attitudes and ways of working
• enjoys what it does and is relaxed about what is not being done
1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
3. To respond to human need by loving service
4. To seek to transform unjust structures of society
5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth
1. Be informed
Reflect on the London (Pinner) we live in now.
2. Be encouraged
Celebrate and thank God for the Church in London and the growth and faithfulness we have experienced.
3. Be challenged
a. What is the Spirit saying to us in the life of London?
What headline would from 2020 would you like to see about the church in Pinner/London/England?
b. Where does the Church invest effort and resources at present?
c. In what ways do we need to rethink and act differently?
4. Be involved
The purpose is to develop a church community that is
• Confident in speaking and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ
• Compassionate in serving communities in the love of God the Father
• Creative in reaching new people and places with the good news in the power of the Spirit
1. A missionary church is focused on God the Trinity
2. A missionary church is incarnational
3. A missionary church is transformational
4. A missionary church makes new disciples
5. A missionary church is relational
Mission Action Plan will build on work we have done in the past, particularly Believing and Belonging