We arrive together at the start of another year! We have faced many challenges, personally and corporately, and God has been so patient and faithful to us. We have seen prayers amazingly answered and we have experienced Jesus’ gracious presence and power.
But the time has come for GROWTH—numerically and spiritually! It is time for us to move to the next level in our love and commitment to Jesus, to follow him on to higher and greater things and say: ‘we want whatever YOU want for us and our parishes. We are going forward with you, we’re going for GROWTH!’
Like it says in Hosea (5 v8), ‘Sound the trumpet in Gibeah, the horn in Ramah. Raise the battle cry in Beth Aven; lead on, Benjamin.’ This is a call for all those who want to see the church grow to come together and listen to what God is saying to us.
At the end of September a few of us went to a conference about a national Church of England development strategy called Leading Your Church into Growth (LYCIG). Led by Robin Gamble and his team, we thought about how we can develop a worshipping community of invitation and welcome by considering our calling, our journey, our heart and our next steps. We found ourselves thinking that what was being said was achievable and we were encouraged that many churches are flourishing by implementing this straightforward approach.
Leading Your Church into Growth is available in a local church format for parishes to use together. We have already begun this journey by handing out prayer cards and encouraging each other to pray. The next step is to roll out this course across our Benefice and consider what God wants for each of our churches. We want to decide on concrete steps towards growth in the next two years.
How is this going to happen?
I am asking you to commit to 6 sessions, starting on Monday February 4th, for everyone in the Benefice. We hope to offer a choice of morning or evening sessions lasting no longer than 1½ hours. Each session will take the form of a DVD talk and enjoyable practical exercises. We will have sessions on February 4th, 11thand 18th, break for half-term (25thFeb) and then have three more sessions on March 4th, 11thand 18th.
Revd Matt Woodcock, from the LYCIG Team in York will be our LYCIG companion. He will help us work through our ideas and put them into practice.
This is for everyone from 11 to 111 and my prayer is that as many as possible will join together and be part of this.
Please start praying (if you aren’t already!) and look out for further details.
‘Leading your Church into Growth is a terrific way of helping parishes think, pray and act in ways which really do lead to growth. It is proving highly valuable for us as a Diocese.’
Rt Revd Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham
For more info about LYCIG go to:
http://www.leadingyourchurchintogrowth.org.uk
Andrew