8/3/2019 Vicar's Letter (Jan '12) and Mission Action Plan

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"Nurturing what God has given us here to be an increasingly effective centre for our community, giving people of every age the opportunity to experience the love of God

in Jesus through the Spirit for themselves."

I know it’s nearly February (so there’ll be another letter from me next week!), but we’ve just met as a PCC to finalise this year’s Mission Action Plan - an annual look at ourplans and aspirations for the months ahead… The MAP is overleaf, but below are someof the headlines, looking back at 2011 and on into the year ahead.

what’s next?developing faith : In 2011, we were part of the Biblefresh initiative, with sermonseries on the Bible’s storyline and on reading types of writing within it. Some thirtyhouseholds bought “Route 66” for personal study too. Into 2012, we’re focusing onthe run up to Easter, with Living Lent : Digging Deeper courses, weekly Prayer Gatheringsand resources for personal, household and small group study and prayer.prayer and worship : We value the tremendous gift of worship and prayer God’sgiven us and in 2012 we want to make more space for testimony, for up-front prayerand prayer ministry. We’d like, too, to make more of our pre-service prayer times andto re-establish a Prayer Chapel area. 2012 sees us, too, host our first Women’s Worshipevent and use Lent for weekly ‘Prayer Gatherings’ focusing on different needs.

children and youth groups : We restructured groups in 2011to give infant/junior sessions and bring pre-schoolers together in theMain Hall. We’ve already had training sessions for the teams in 2012and are updating our Safeguarding policy. We’ve begun work on aproposed Children & Youth Worker ’s job description, are looking at

taking on a Youth Work student and making grant applications to support these.ivybridge : The past year has seen us find a (for the moment)

sustainable pattern of worship on the estate, but we’ve beencontinuing to explore ways of engaging with the life of Ivybridgemidweek, through All Souls members giving their time and thepossibility of a Missional Community living there year-round. We aimin 2012 for Ivybridge Church to be a more integral part of All Souls and find ways ofworking together to serve the needs of this particular part of the parish.community life and outreach : We launched our Baptism course in 2011(running again in January 2012) and continued to see Little Souls, with its weeklyWednesday drop-in and termly Messy Church services, thrive. In the coming year weplan on hosting a Big Brunch to coincide with national Jubilee celebrations as well as

making the most of the opportunities presented by the Olympics.sustainable living : We’ve made big improvements to theefficiency of heating our halls (a new boiler and radiator casings forthe halls, plus sealing high windows). Next up in 2012 is a majorinvestment to transform the heating in The Studio. We intend, too,to go on preaching and thinking about the way we live our day-to-day lives as wise stewards of the world God’s entrusted to us.

I hope you find reading those headlines - and the more detailed plans andsuggestions overleaf - exciting as you look into 2012. If there’ssomething in particular you’d like to get involved in, find outmore about or make a suggestion for… let me know!

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8/3/2019 Vicar's Letter (Jan '12) and Mission Action Plan

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/vicars-letter-jan-12-and-mission-action-plan 2/2

the of all souls in 2012...it’s not about usIt’s all about Jesus - at the heart of Sunday Services and daily lives. We commitourselves to bring our plans and life together continually back to the heart ofwhat the Christian life is about: being followers of Jesus - loving Him even as wefind ourselves loved by Him.

...building a welcoming & caring communityŸ Home Groups and small groups - a fresh focus on these: establish new ones,

make resources available and promote prayer triplets.Ÿ Socials and interest groups - a return to regular socials and one-off eventsŸ Prayer ministry on Sundays - more opportunites for receiving prayer and

re-establish the Prayer Chapel in church.Ÿ Welcome leaflet and redesigned website to help people arrive and belong.

Start work on planning a day or weekend away for the whole church ...and we're thinking about: helping children and teens feel they belong too.

...making a difference in our worldŸ Ivybridge Estate - develop a ten-year plan to make a long-term difference hereŸ Build on the developing links with Worple, Ivybridge & other local schoolsŸ Soul Connections to use significant increase in budget to develop the place

of mission beyond the parish in the teaching, children’s work and prayers ofAll Souls - including new website content and monthly prayer input on Sundays.

Ÿ Working with Soul Living team, including major investment in the Studio tocut our site’s carbon footprint.Build on the impact of Little Souls group serving local families (see below).Host the Big Brunch as part of the Jubilee Celebrations and work to go onbeing at the hub of our local communities ...and we're thinking about:marriage, money and parenting courses.

...helping one another grow in faithŸ A major initiative “Living Lent”: Digging Deeper courses, weekly Prayer

Gatherings, small group and individual Bible Study resources and online tools.Ÿ Continue to provide midweek opportunities for prayer and worship such as

the Women’s Worship evening and Advent Prayer.Ÿ Develop the lending library of Christian books, teaching CD's and small group

resources.Ÿ Repeat and develop the 'Count Me In' campaign to help people make the most

use of their gifts within the life of the church.Restart the Vicar’s Blog helping connect ‘Sunday night’ to ‘Monday morning’…and we’re thinking about: podcasting, online book groups and linking toexternal resources such as daily bible reading notes.

Ÿ Broaden our giving base, so that a higher proportion of households are partof the financial support for All Souls.

...introducing people to JesusŸ Host the Big Brunch as part of a national celebration of the Jubilee.Ÿ Make the most of outreach opportunities the Olympics will give us, with both

children/teens and adults.Ÿ Develop our monthly Monday Communion to reach more older people locally.Ÿ Work towards a major grant application to be able to employ a ‘Young

Families Outreach Worker’ to build on the contacts and work of Little Souls / Messy Church. Continue to run Messy Church regularly through the year.

Ÿ A major initiative to change our physical “face to the community” as we relandscape our site and improve the outside of the building.

Ÿ Build on the new Baptism course for parents to help us make the most ofopportunities to explain the Good News of Jesus in this context.

Ÿ Work with the Primary School and teenage members of All Souls to give themopportunities they'll want to invite their friends to.