|
ALTRINCHAM UNITED REFORMED CHURCH
Trinity Hale and Woodlands Timperley MINISTRY
& MISSION STATEMENT This paper has been prepared following wide consultation within the AURC, and incorporates relevant comments from the discussion at the October Church Meeting. It is a dynamic document, which may well change as we continue to discern how God is calling us to engage in Ministry and Mission. Its immediate purpose is to assist the Elders’ Meeting in discussion with representatives of the District Pastoral Committee when talking about the provision of additional stipendiary ministry. We understand that the District Council will be using
the following 3 factors in determining where ministry will be deployed Details in red indicate the Mission
and Ecumenical opportunities available to our church. |
|
a) Mission opportunities and the willingness of the local church to respond to them • Enhanced interaction with groups already using church premises and projects supported by the church Link people could be assigned to each group or project to liase and assess what support or assistance we could offer We should look carefully at how the layout and presentation of our buildings serve us in our mission [for example, at the ‘welcome areas’ in the buildings in order to ensure that all who use the premises have a very positive and uplifting experience whenever they enter; and at Trinity Hale the re-ordering of the vestibule area of the church and the coffee lounge] We should explore the possibility of providing refreshments for users of the premises and others We already have contact with the nursery at Christmas and Harvest and will look for opportunities to develop this further |
|
• Development of church-related community provision [for example, for children, young people, families, housebound and retired people] We already provide for children, young people and retired people [for example, Boys’ Brigade, Brownies, the FURY Group, Guides, the Guild, Luncheon Circle, Pilots, Saturday Seekers and the Social Hour]. We could do more in these areas and we must look for new opportunities [for example, to engage with families which have brought children for baptism, sons and daughters of existing mature members and with those in the 40+ age range whose children are older] We have the resources to employ a worker/s with skills in these areas and wish to do so, but we must first work to determine the right priorities We should work to attain the URC’s Child Friendly Church Award as soon as possible |
| • Service to Community Groups We already support community groups such as Oldfield Bank, Arthritis Care and the Cottage; many church people give service to community groups though not under the auspices of the church - might the church have a role in some of these groups? |
| • Maintaining high quality worship in a ‘traditional’ form Occasional special outreach services Further development of worship groups |
| • Providing high quality worship in alternative forms Occasional special outreach services Further development of worship groups Experimentation with different styles, days and times of worship At Trinity Hale increasing the frequency of the 9.30 all-age service to twice a month |
| • Development of Christian education, prayer & devotional, and social opportunities for existing and new people We already provide some such Christian education and devotional opportunities [for example, prayer meeting, Bible study group, discussion group] but only a small proportion of the congregations participate in them. We are in the process of consulting the church meeting about providing additional opportunities for spiritual development. We recognise the need to approach this in new ways. Suggestions for new initiatives include prayer workshops, mid week services, study groups at specific seasons of the Christian calendar, small faith development (cell) groups, and the further development of Guardian Angels We are interested in becoming involved with the Bible Society in its 2007 ‘The Unexpected Campaign’ We realise the importance of providing opportunities for people to get together socially; our programme of social activities is now increasing |
| • Improved communication within the church and with the communities it serves The new part time Communications and Administration Worker will help the church in the effectiveness of its internal and external communication We are making improvements to our notice boards [in their positioning and number, and to include, for example, website details, up-to-date information and contact numbers] We believe we can and should increase church coverage in the local press In Timperley we make regular leaflet drops to the communities around the church, which raise the profile of the church, provide information about the church and offer invitations to members of the community to make prayer requests to the church. We should extend this to the Hale communities |
| • Enhanced pastoral care provision The new part time Communications and Administration Worker will assist the smooth and effective operation of the church’s pastoral care arrangements We have recently undertaken a helpful review of pastoral care arrangements, which is resulting in improvements to this provision; this will be an ongoing process to ensure that they are as effective as possible and assist the church in its mission. Present arrangements involve serving and non-serving elders in pastoral care and a further development will include some other members of the congregation |
| • Responding to issues concerning justice and the environment We operate a regular Fairtrade stall and use fairly traded products on church premises. We are committed to continuing to advocate their use by members of the congregations and others We have been involved in the MakePovertyHistory campaign and believe we should renew this involvement At a recent church meeting there was support for an examination of ‘green’ issues using ‘Roots & Branches’ |
• Partnership with a church in another part of the world We are pleased to be associated with the work undertaken by Brian Jolly on behalf of the United Reformed Church with Christian partners and PARC in the Occupied Territories and Israel, and to regard this as part of the mission of this church We are beginning to support the work of a Lutheran school in Bethlehem and to establish links with Christians there, and hope to establish a link with a Palestinian congregation in Haifa, initially between groups of young people. We would like to develop a partnership with a church in a UK community quite different from Altrincham [possibly urban or rural] |
• Increases in charitable giving and awareness of local and world-wide need We are a strong supporter of Christian Aid through Commitment for Life, Christian Aid Week and special appeals, and we wish to continue and improve our giving and understanding of the issues with which Christian Aid engages We support LifeShare, Aquaboxes, the UNICEF Mite Scheme and special appeals made by other charities from time to time, and see this as part of our mission This church is adequately resourced financially, and we understand that this gives us certain responsibilities. We will work towards a greater awareness that these resources are not ‘ours’ but are to be used to share the good news, including meeting human need |
• Exploring church and mission ‘outside the box’ We recognise that it is essential for us to explore new ways of being the church and participating in mission in order to engage with the majority in our communities for whom the traditional church does not seem relevant. We are committed to this and understand that progression in such ways will require significant changes for us. Rev Mike Walsh [District Evangelism & Emerging Church Advocate] has agreed to help the Elders’ Meeting to begin to grapple with these issues |
b) Ecumenical opportunities and the willingness of the local church to respond to them • Maintain a keen involvement in ACT, CTiT and CTiH Initiating or participating in significant ecumenical endeavours We declare our willingness and intention to drive and engage We are unique in being represented in three ecumenical groups • Continued involvement in Altrincham inter-faith group |
c) The willingness of the local church to embrace change This church is committed • to working hard to being an open and inclusive church, evangelical* and liberal* in theology [*evangelical in its true rather than narrow sense (i.e. engaged in sharing the gospel), liberal and open-minded rather than conservative or fundamentalist] • to underpin everything we do with prayer, by individuals and groups. • to build a strong, committed and enthusiastic team to work with the minister/s to give leadership in all areas of mission. • to grow in depth of faith and numerically • to make whatever changes are necessary to enable us to respond to God’s call to be an effective local church in the future • We have already demonstrated our willingness to undertake radical change when we moved from three buildings to two |