Our Vision, God's Future: Setting out together into deep water

Eastertide 2022

Dear Friends,

Back in February and March 2022, we spent time as individuals, as groups and as a whole Church family, thinking about God’s vision for our future.

We prayerfully asked ourselves three questions:

· Who are we as St Andrew’s Church family?

· Who do we hope to be as St Andrew’s Church family?

· What are we here to do as St Andrew’s Church family?

The Mission Action Planning team were delighted to have over 100 responses, and were struck by the care, thought and generosity of spirit with which people had written. There were a wide range of views expressed, united by a love of God and a desire to see St Andrew’s flourish.

As a team, we carefully read and digested over 20 pages or 10,000 words of responses, from which five themes came through strongly. We have called them our ‘Five Ships’ – entirely appropriate for a Church bearing the name of St Andrew the fisherman!

At my licensing service last July, the Bishop charged us with setting out together into deep water. I believe that the clear vision which has emerged for the next stage of our journey as a Church family will enable us to do just that.

With my love and prayers,

Lucy

Our values and priorities as St Andrew’s Church family

are summed up in our ‘Five Ships’

Worship:

Loving God through praise and prayer

Discipleship:

Growing as God’s family, developing as followers of Jesus

Fellowship:

Welcoming radically: encouraging inclusion and embracing diversity

Kinship:

Engaging deeply with local and global community: seeking justice and establishing peace

Stewardship:

Caring for God’s creation, and using our resources courageously

What’s next?

· Please continue to pray as we set out into deep water in this next stage of our journey together.

· The Mission Action Planning team will meet on 12th May to begin to plan the actions we will take next as a Church in order to fulfil our Vision. We will not be able to do everything at once, so will need to decide on initial priorities.

· When the PCC meets on 17th May, they will have time to discuss the findings of the vision process and the draft action plan. Thereafter, we will communicate the action plan to the Church family. We will talk a lot more about the ‘five ships!’

· We may need to start new things, to do established things differently, or to stop things that have run their course.

· Our Vision is something that has emerged from the whole Church family. In the same way, working towards realising it is a task for all of us. It will become embedded in who we are and how we work in the coming months and years.