Areas of Mission Focus

Our Mission: Leading people to follow Christ who makes us whole

Over the last few months we have, we believe with God’s help and guid-ance, talked prayed and met about 5 areas of focus for our parish as seek to deepen our faith in Jesus and grow our parish community. We shared this with the parish community for your response. Just before Christmas we invited people to chose an area that they felt drawn towards and dis-cuss how we might move forward in these areas.

Below you will see a record of these conversations.

We were extremely pleased with the number of people participating and the high degree of interest and commitment. It seems that the Holy Spirit blessed us by calling people to specific areas of ministry. So not only did we talk, but in at least one case the people there formed themselves into an ad hoc group and started to get into action. As you can see there are lots of action items, or potential action items in each category. We will now take the next stage to setting priorities and implementation.

The reports bellow are for your information. Very soon we will report to you on the actions that are being taken and how you can participate.

Inviting

The main way churches grow is through personal invitation. We have seen this this fall and we have seen that God has blessed our inviting.

There are other parts too though: Such as raising our profile in the community, advertising, welcoming and integrating other people, mak-ing the building attractive and welcoming.

It is creating a culture of hospitality. This means putting the needs of the guest first. It is the basis of Christian morality.

What has been like inviting others this year?- Invited family members from Calgary and they haven’t showed up

yet, they will come sometime this year but they already attend other churches.

- Was very nervous with strangers- Very nervous with friends

How visible are we in the community and how can we increase that?-Not at all-Not downtown to advertise for bake sales etc…-Play school – Sunday school etc…-Summer Camps-Would like to see more advertising

What can we do with our facilities to make then more inviting?-Appearance, music stands, wires, commotion is very distracting from the one side of the church-People going for coffee during mass is very distracting from the mass-Would like to explore guest speakers that are advertised for-Would like to explore guest bands – folk music/Christian band/others

Are really concerned in all we do to reach out to the people that Jesus wants us to reach out to?-Food Hampers-Breakfast for Kids-Inn from the Cold-Women’s Shelter

-Active Vets-Morley reserve-Art sell for local artistsFollow up with those that visit and or have not returned for some time. *need to pick an area and do it well so that we are known for this

In what ways is hospitality deeper than friendliness?

What actions do you personally want to take to make us more inviting and hospitable?-Talking with new groups and or families in the church-How about getting to know each other first and then expand, it was felt that we only know people in the church on the surface

-Church Dances open to the community-Name Tags – said by three different people-People on Board, who are they, photos of them or name tags on them showing who they are, or introduce them more often so we know who they are-Coffee at 09:30 as well as after mass, social before and after mass so that people can visit at one or the other.-Possibly church breakfast social

Other topics was to be able to rent the church out to people who need a facility.

CHILDREN AND YOUTH

There were only 2 people who joined the group. One, a mother of 2 Sun-day School aged children, and Earlene. Although there were quite a few young families in church and parents were staying around to wait for their children who were practicing with Rose, they didn’t join in any of the discussions. This is telling, one way or another. It also meant that we were very restricted in our conversation, having so few opinions. I was grateful for the input received.

I alluded to the idea that sports activities, especially hockey and skiing were a reason that youth and children tended not to be there in the win-ter. Based on people they know, these two women both believed that kids, especially youth aren’t in church because they are sitting at home. They felt that there were too many kids who were disengaged on a vari-ety of levels, not just church and including sports and the arts.

The mother in our group said she brought her children to church, partly to lead by example. She also noted that her kids enjoy Sunday School. She believes there needs to be a connect between what is said and what is done and that parents play the vital role in demonstrating this.

The idea of mentors came up. It was felt that not only would a program that matches children and youth with adults be beneficial to the children, but would also be beneficial to the adults. It was felt that this would en-gage the children, provide opportunities for teaching, and build commu-nity.

Earline felt that to invite youth to church it would be necessary to have teaching about aspects of the Anglican liturgy, so that the kids could un-derstand what is going on.

The important message I took from the conversation was that disengage-ment is a real stumbling block for people (which leads to isolation). A mentorship program may be a way to begin to address this issue. This

might also be a way to help people feel more at home and comfortable with the liturgy.

The other challenge was further engaging the parents of children and equipping them to also to lead by example.

Following the discussion I had feedback from Rose and Eileen that they would have liked to have been part of the discussion, but couldn’t be-cause they were rehearsing with the children.

I wonder if we could host a lunch after church, with personalized invita-tions, the goal of which would be to have a conversation with the fami-lies who are now regularly attending, along with the people who are di-rectly involved in children and youth ministries.

Mission and Service

In our inaugural meeting, we discussed the following:

Bethany CareThis ministry is integral to who we are since the former Church building is now the Chapel.There are many volunteers and more opportunities to assist at services or engage in one on one visits.

ActivettesWe send teams to help with Food Bank Drive in October.

FCSS

We publicise and respond to requests as we receive them. Our percep-tion is that there are fewer requests than previously.

“Inn from the Cold”Faith explained the project which St. Mary’s RC is currently doing every other month.This is a large undertaking but is very rewarding. Many hands make light work.She will investigate whether we could work with them to provide an-other date on the alternate month. We would assemble a team and work from their facility using their equipment.Costs are currently borne by the volunteers themselves. It was suggested that the costs could be flowed through All Saints to get charitable dona-tion receipts.

Alternatively, we could look to another group in Calgary or Airdrie that would accept our help.

Primate’s World Relief and Development FundA long standing outreach of the National Church.We should raise the profile and encourage more participation.May be a way to do our outreach Nationally and Internationally through existing or new projects approved by the PWRDF.

InternationalSt. George’s - BagdadCurrent focus is Emergency Medical Services and Aid to Displaced Per-sonsWe can provide financial support through:Prayer

Financial through “Act Alliance” or through PWRDF or CanadaHelp-s.orgWe are considering an Event:To Educate the wider community on the current state of affairsTo raise financial supportNext Steps:

Await report from FaithSteve to circulate to groupCollect email addressesSet a next meeting date

Spiritual Growth

As we focus on these 5 areas we want to provide the opportunity to peo-ple’s input-because not only do want people to support what is going on-we want all of us to be the one’s who make this happen. Which is why we invited you to talk about the areas ministry that interests you.

We are really convinced that spirituality is the first step to everything. If our relationship to Jesus is strong, growing and committed we will want to serve him-we will want to invite people, to grow in small groups, to make sure our children are formed as Christians, to reach out to people in need in the name of Jesus.

So first of all what led you to come to this discussion table?Your witness talk; interest in healing and intercessory prayer during Eucharist; the need to grow spiritually

What would it mean to grow spiritually?

To come closer to God; to be a better steward; emptying, staying grounded and rooted; recognizing God is always present in our daily lives; recognizing there is no end; re-prioritizing life

What things have helped you go deeper in the past?Small groups; Bible studies; helping out at ministries, like The Mustard seed; prayer; attending worship; major life events (such as the death of a loved one); understanding that spiritual growth is a spiral upwards, as opposed to a cycle; retreats; committing time to each other and to Christ

We have some plans that are forming right now. First we recognize that everyone is in a different place in their practice. And that is great. At the same time there have been some pretty common things that Anglicans have usually done. We have been encouraged to develop a “rule of life”-which kind of says each day I’m going to do x. (it’s in the Prayer Book)

1.As a start we have been given the gift of weekend retreat at Sanctum retreat centre in Caroline. It’s a chance to have some quiet and also to learn again some spiritual practices and develop a bit of rule of life. Definitely interested in a retreat, when is it?, how long is it?What would you like to see happen on that retreat?Learn tools to pray, especially methods applicable to different personal-ity types, learning styles and interests; healing servicesIs there anything else you’d like to say about growing spiritually in our parish? And how do you see yourself committed to growing spiritually?Excited to see vision with small groups and excited to see how it will fall into place; hugely important; this is an opportunity to emerge from a dessert-like situation at a previous church; being part of a larger com-munity, integrating within that community and taking Christ into it; emptying self and providing space for God; we learn from creation; not worrying about being fruitful every day, some days we are just green leaves and not bearing fruit.

Small Groups

The people who attended obviously saw the importance of small groups. They noted their importance for being part of the church com-munity as well as their importance for helping people grow in their faith and understanding and that they are essential. They noted that there are all kinds of groups with various kind of focus and different degrees of challenge. There can be Bible study groups, groups that focus on deeper understanding of our faith, or groups that focus on an activity. Small groups are also a good way to invite the non churched if they are not ready to attend church. There was willingness by members of our group to participate and even to lead.

Our group was in favour of a contract with someone with a lot of exper-tise in small group development in order to lay the ground work for a more significant small group ministry and to be available to coach us.