I wanted to write and let you know a bit about our first joint PCC meeting, which was held last night.  We have entered an exciting new chapter in our life as a benefice, with a chance to do some fresh thinking about who we want to be as church, and what we want to be doing.

Our agenda last night was very short - our main item of business was seeking a vision that described the church we want to be, and setting our priorities for the next 12 to 18 months.

There was good discussion, and we drew our conclusions together under three headings:

What is Church for?

* Worshipping God

* Proclaiming the gospel

* imitating Christ

* being disciples and learning

* living in God's love

* bringing other people to God

* being relevant

Who would we like to see in church?

Everyone!  We want to see a church that is as diverse as the community around it, in which anyone can find themselves at home.

What should our church be doing?

* Praying and worshipping with a diversity of styles - embracing at different times everything from peace, quiet and contemplation, through to bass and beats!

* Practicing the social gospel, and doing practical work in our community

* Sharing together knowledge, food, and ideas

* Engaging in dialogue with other faiths

* Games and fun things as well.

It's a long list, and we had a go at whittling it down to a succinct statement - but there's still work to be done on that!

From that discussion we set about identifying our top three priorities in enabling the life and growth of our churches.  We decided these needed to be:

1. Putting in place a strong discipleship programme, with a particular view to developing our congregations understanding of their faith and ability to talk about it.

2. Developing a well-organised welcoming strategy, that means people will come to our churches again after the first time, and enables them to become involved in the wider life of the church. 

 3. Actively engaging with our communities in ways that will encourage people into the Kingdom of God.

These will be the subjects of our next meetings, as we work out what each will look like in practice, and how we can best work towards these goals and bring them into being.  Our next meetings will be in September, November, and February - so please don't expect any sudden changes!

To give ourselves space to work out our new provisions coherently across the benefice, some of the more recent innovations will be temporarily suspended until we establish if they have a place in how we move forwards, and if so what that might be.  For instance, the Benefice Book Club, and Third Sunday Lectures at Ripley will be taking a breather.  So if something seems to be missing from the calendar, that could well be why - but if you are worried about anything, please do be in touch and ask!

Any ideas on how to take things forward will be gratefully received by the members of your local PCC, who can make sure they are put into the joint discussions.

If you have any thoughts, or questions, please do be in touch - paul@theunitedbenefice.org

Thank you for your support as we seek to develop and grow our church,

God bless you,

Paul