The Great Consultation

Ian Hilton writes about this consultation:

Once in a generation opportunity

St Mary’s Church has a once in a generation opportunity. The church hall has reached the end of its lifespan and needs to be replaced. At the same time the Methodist Church and hall are up for sale and the Village, with St Mary’s, are expressing an interest in taking them on jointly to continue to make them available for the community.

These are both major decisions that offer wonderful opportunities but also carry risk. It raises the question of what our vision for the church is. I believe God has great plans for His Church in this community. Do we have a shared sense of what these are? Only when we can grasp these can we begin to plan sensibly for the future.

Invitation

We are inviting as many of those with an interest in the future of St Mary’s to ‘The Great Consultation’ which will be at 11.00am – 12.30pm after the service on Sunday 28th July. It can only be a start but we need to get going.

We will hear of some dreams and possibilities.

We will encourage one another.

Most importantly there will be an opportunity for each of us to contribute our ideas for what the future may look like and hear what others are also thinking.

3 Questions

There are three questions we want to explore.

1. What has led us to be part of this church?
2. What do we particularly value about it at this moment?
3. What would be our 3 dreams for its future?

At this stage, we want to hear as many ideas as possible. We are not assessing anything and nothing is ruled out. We want to be open to God’s possibilities.

Our Vicar Mandy will be leading the event. I will be assisting. Jo will be sharing some of her amazing ideas and possibilities. But the most important people will be you. Every contribution is important and we want all sections of the church, young and old and in between, represented. I hope you will accept the invitation to be part of the process.

Ian Hilton