Forest Group Day: 8 October 2016

What are we there for?

On Saturday, October 8th, 10-4pm we’ll come together from all our churches at Woodford Green URC for a Forest Group Day of reflection and discernment: 5 congregations, 5 church buildings for roughly 130 members, and 1,5 ministers (still)… How can we get better at doing mission with that? And what indeed is our mission? What do we feel called to do as Forest Group?

 “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. “  (Mt 28,19)

I’ve looked at our churches and our set-up for a little over a year now, and it is quite clear to me that we need a common goal or direction, a purpose, one string that we can all pull together on, because only together are we strong. Only together do we have a great variety of abilities and talents, so if we get better at working together we will develop some good dynamics that will encourage others to join in our work for God’s kingdom.

So, what could that be? What do we feel are we there for? What are we good at? What are our “assets”, our good “talents”/resources in people, groups and church buildings? How can we use these assets to better reach out into our communities, or where could we join forces with them? In short: How might God want us to engage with our communities? This is the first and most important question.

The second follows from this: When we have found our purpose, how is the best way of pursuing it? Can we improve our set-up (buildings and organisation)?

We are grateful for Rev Anne Sardesen to come and work with us on this day. May our gracious God bless us and guide us in thought, word and deed.
It’ll be great to see you all there!
 
Yours in Christ,
Ulrike

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