Evangelism and Church Growth
Jesus said: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." (John 20.21).
We are called to serve God's mission by living and proclaiming the good news.
"It's not the church of God that has a mission, but the God of mission who has a church".
For Anglican Christians, God's mission is about transformation - transforming individual lives, transforming communities and transforming the world in in order to bring people to follow Jesus and become life long disciples within the community of God's people.
The Diocese of Worcester's Evangelism and Church Growth team meet regularly to discuss ways in which it can help and encourage those who are working to grow their own churches.
Here are some of the initiatives currently being explored:
Back to Church Sunday http://www.backtochurch.co.uk/page/1/Home
Back to Church Sunday is now the largest single local-church invitational initiative in the world. It is based on the simplest and shortest step in evangelism - that we should invite someone we already know to something we love; invite our friend to our church. The initial focus was to invite ‘back' those who used to attend, but we want to ensure that anyone who doesn't currently attend can be guaranteed a specially warm welcome.
Back to Church Sunday takes place in the last Sunday in September each year. If you are interested in a training course with Back to Church guru Michael Harvey, please contact Sam Setchell, Communications Officer on .
Say One for Me http://sayoneforme.org/
'Say One for Me' is a national initiative inspired by the Bishop of Worcester. On Ash Wednesday 2009, Bishop John Inge collected prayers outside the job centre in Redditch, hoping to help those who had been most badly affected by the economic downturn. He said "People often ask me to ‘say one for them'. So many people have been affected by the financial crisis and I want to let them know that their local church is there to offer support and prayers."
Ash Wednesday 2011 saw the two Bishops and two Archdeacons take to the streets to pray for people. The group is looking how this intitiative could be expanded and used at different times of the year.
Diocesan College of Evangelists
Bishop John is leading on developing a Diocesan College of Evangelists (recognising those who have a ministry of evangelism that could be exercised beyond their own parish). This would allow us to support those exercising a ministry of evangelism (including those who have just completed the ALM Course) as well as have a ready directory of people who could support this ministry in other places.
Download the criteria and application form for The Diocese of Worcester - College of Evangelists
The Wedding Project (http://www.yourchurchwedding.org/)
The Wedding Project aims to make it as easy as possible for couples to get married in church if that's what they'd like to do. Couples can now choose from an even wider range of churches in which to get married. In the Diocese of Worcester we have stands at wedding fayres to let people know that we're here to help and support them on their special day and beyond and also provide training for our clergy to enable them to give the best advice to couples who come to visit them.
Deanery Mission Weekends
A Mission Weekend is a time set aside for specific events that share the gospel with those on the fringe or outside the church. It is set in a context of understanding how people grow and develop in faith, and of how we can become a missionary church, renewing our faith as we share it with others.
If you are interested in having a Mission Weekend in your deanery, please contact Roger Morris,
Diocesan Alpha (http://uk.alpha.org/)
Alpha courses are for anyone who is interested in discovering what Christianity is about. Come, relax, eat, share your thoughts and explore the meaning of life. We are planning a Diocesan Alpha course, to be trialed in Worcester in the first instance. Parishes, benefices and deaneries who are unable to run their own course can book a table on the diocesan course which will be run from October until December.
Find out more about the Worcester Alpha course running in Autumn 2011
Members of the Evangelism and Church Growth group are:
Ven Roger Morris (Archdeacon of Worcester), Revd David Sherwin (Martley and Diocesan Evangelism Advisor), Nina Owen (Droitwich), Revd Judith Oliver (Dudley), Canon Andrew Hazlewood (Pedmore), Peter Penhallow (Broughton Hackett), Andy Sheppard (Worcester), Sam Setchell (Communications Officer).
picture by David Hedges
