Vision and StrategyA vision and strategy for the Church of England in the 2020s.About the Vision and StrategyThe Church of England’s vocation is and always has been to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ afresh in each generation to the people of England. The vision and strategy is an invitation to dioceses and parishes to examine and develop existing strategies and processes in the light of these ideas.“The overriding aim for the future is that any worshipping member of the Church of England, when asked by their friend where they could go to explore their faith, would be able to recommend an expression of Church locally that would really suit them.”Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of YorkOne visionA Church for the whole nation which is Jesus Christ centred, and shaped by, the five marks of mission. A church that is simpler,humbler, bolder. Three prioritiesTo become a church of missionary disciples where all God’s people are free to live the Christian life, wherever we spend our time Sunday to Saturday.To be a church where mixed ecology is the norm* – where every person in England has access to an enriching and compelling community of faith by adding new churches and new forms of Church to our parishes, cathedrals, schools and chaplaincies.To be a church that is younger and more diverse. *the mixed ecology describes the flourishing of church and ministry in our parishes, and in other communities of faith through things like church planting, fresh expressions of church, and chaplaincy and online. Six bold outcomesFrom the three strategic priorities we have identified six bold outcomes.A church for everyone through: Doubling the number of children and young active disciples in the Church of England by 2030. A Church of England which fully represents the communities we serve in age and diversity.A pathway for everyone into an accessible and contextual expression of church through:A parish system revitalised for mission so churches can reach and serve everyone in their community.Creating ten thousand new Christian communities across the four areas of home, work/education, social and digital. Empowered by:All Christians in the Church of England envisioned, resourced and released to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in the whole of life, bringing transformation to the church and world.All local churches, supported by their diocese, becoming communities and hubs for initial and ongoing formation.A church that is younger and more diverseIn February 2020, GS2161 was presented to General Synod, outlining the most recent findings on under 16 attendance in the Church of England. Synod requested more insight into the data to understand best practice in a variety of contexts. Research was conducted in early 2022 with over 200 churches who had grown their engagement with young people in a variety of contexts and traditions between 2014 and 2019. The aim was to distinguish factors that had contributed to the growth, offering principles that other churches could reflect on as they sought to engage with young people. The findings were first presented in a workshop at General Synod in July 2022.Youth and Children Growth Research – Synod presentationYouth and Children Growth Research – full research paperThe short film below tells the stories of places that have chosen to prioritise young people, children and families, with case studies from Southampton, Barnet, Eynsham, Blackburn, Fulham, and Loughton.A church of missionary disciplesIn this short film we hear people from different walks of life talk about how they live out their faith throughout the week. Visit the Church of England's Everyday Faith portal for bitesize resources on topics relevant to you that will help you find and follow God in everyday life.
Register on the Everyday Faith portal to discover practical ways to worship in our complex and divided world. <br>Available now through our Everyday Faith portal, at <a href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fcofe.io%2FFaithInAConflictedWorld%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR2O8J8fc20f0TpP9MjGvHoWT2aP2ivbnpTf-T1XX627YAxV03XHUIaZhrA&h=AT29WzR0jsSyQvH3G8JjXSsLSwegT65tuQApE_tSBclZKXnvt8FJElTkFluw05IcQYF8lDePppq0YBQcVNYR0dNPNXyt0bKOov7RuMm4z42cWYmEac43_Rh1exs-2A7B3Ld9UWw&__tn__=-UK-R&c[0]=AT0PPh_qNaI1Xv-fYHc6oiovOgf058_DSV5aV_9BLv671HjZVSfhwDKTMJbkbikindP9d00JtmR0osyAu3pfLN9W8yHyk0qc-BUXfcWaKVdQnSS52Nv074dyR8iRARWP9IGyKG_u_WqUO6Hb6E80BKZ2FAnl_1kAAa_wvjiIkmjyyMH5enhgTVQJ0Dit5x6JF4wlzNa88SYzKLVE">cofe.io/FaithInAConflictedWorld</a>.<br><br>
All welcome to join a family friendly service this Sunday. We would love to see some new and younger faces. We are building our Funday Service, designed for children. But we would love to have a regular service, attracting families. This is the start of a journey for our Minister Rutton, and the team here.If you live locally, and our interested, we would love to see you…
Our focus at the last service was learning all about LOVE – what it is, why it is important.We learned that that Jesus loves us all very much……in fact his love for us is so high we can’t get over it, so low we can’t get under it and so wide we can’t get round it - and we all energetically expressed this through singing the popular song ‘Jesus love is very wonderful’ with supporting actions (something we do every Funday@4).We explored that fact that it’s easy for us to love the people we know and like – but what if it’s someone we don’t like? Someone who has been mean to us or someone we don’t even know? Should we love them? Of course we should! We learned that just as God loves everyone he also wants us to love everyone too.In our bible passage Luke 10:11 Jesus said Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength and with all your mind and Love your neighbour as yourself. And by ‘neighbour’ he means EVERYONE! We should love everyone as ourselves. Neighbours are not just the people who live near us or that are in our circle of friends and family or attend church with us or even just those who believe in God. Gods love is for everyone. It is a love with no strings attached….Here are 5 simple ways to show God’s love to others, we do it through…1. Listening: Listen to others, ask questions – allow people to talk – people feel valued and loved when they are heard and understood.2. Generosity: Can you think of a time when someone showed you such generosity that you still think ‘WOW, I can’t believe they did that for me’? And generosity doesn’t always need to be money, it can be being generous with your time, your kind words, your talents. Someone that is there for you in difficult times makes you feel loved. When we love someone we give go them.3. Encouraging: helping people lighten their burdens with words of encouragement. The word encourage means to ‘Make Strong’ – when we encourage each other we are making our spirits strong. We strengthen hope, faith and resolve to keep going.4. Acts of kindness: showing kindness means thinking about the other person more than you think about yourself. What can you do to make someone elses life better? It doesn’t have to be huge – but should be thoughtful. Practice being others-focused. Maybe give someone your last sweetie?5. Praying: Pray for others and their needs because God hears our prayers – its one of the easiest ways to show love.We also watch a short film called ‘The Good Samaritan’ where Jesus tells us a parable about what it means to love your neighbour. We rounded off the service by decorating hearts with lots of bright colours – some of which we have left in the church to show others what we’ve been up to and learning and to remind them that Jesus loves them too…..
