Article index	May 2009
	Focussing the vision of our churches

Trees are amazing! From a tiny seed grows a huge, beautiful living thing, providing food and shelter for a whole community.  Trees are long-living, and strong - but they also create many new potential plants every year. All this makes them a very good symbol for a church.

When our PCC was thinking about how to focus our vision, this picture of a tree came to us. The three parts are all important…

Unless we have our roots in God we won’t have the resources which we need to do anything.        

We also need to grow together - to become closer - so that we really live as a Christian community.

Then we will be more able to do what we long to do - to reach out and bear fruit in this place.

The words of St. Paul to the Christians in Ephesus fit very well with our picture:         ‘I pray that you may be rooted and grounded in love, so that you, together with all God's people, may have the power to understand how broad and long, how high and deep, is Christ's love.’  

Balancing these 3 parts, over the next 3-5 years we aim to develop:

¨    Understanding the needs of our parish

¨    Better communication and publicity

¨    Our presence in the community

¨    Ongoing links with those who have services in church

¨    Support and care, inside and beyond the church

¨    Discerning and using our different gifts

¨    Opportunities for spiritual growth 

This year, we are going to focus especially on:

¨    Establishing a communication & publicity team

¨    Opening the St. Nicholas Church during the week

¨    Renewing links with wedding couples & baptism families

¨    Making opportunities to grow closer as a church family

¨    Developing our worship

At this time of year when the trees are full of new growth, may we sense the risen life of Jesus flowing through us, bearing seeds of his love into the world.

Simon Witcombe