As a church across the parish we are working hard through our praying, seeking and thinking together to discover what it means be alive in sharing God’s love in the community. Our faith is in God through trusting Jesus Christ and seeking to know God today through the presence of the Holy Spirit. But what does this mean in reality as individuals and as a local church which is part of a much bigger church in Portsmouth and in the world?
Mission Action Planning
Every week we pray in the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done” – so, to help us try and seek God’s will we’ve embarked on a programme of Mission Action Planning (MAP). Made up of over 60 regular worshippers, our six MAPing Development Groups are helping us to think about what we need to do so that our church life expresses the reasons, from the Bible, the Church of England understands itself to exist; these are known as the Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion which are:
- To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom;
- To teach, baptise and nurture new believers;
- To respond to human need by loving service;
- To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation;
- To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.
We think these are excellent reasons from the Bible to guide all we do, so our MAPing groups are helping us consider what they means in terms of:
- Youth;
- Families;
- Elderly Frail;
- Worship;
- Organisation & Communication;
- Buildings & Resources.
There are many other areas of church life – so, when we’ve worked on these so we’ll move on…
Join us… it’s an exciting and ongoing journey!