Our Vision
In the last few years we have worked hard to articulate a vision and formulate a Mission Action Plan for our church. Over 80 people completed a detailed questionnaire, helping us to understand who we are as a church, in order that we might work out together who we believe God is calling us to become as we grow and develop over the next five years.
Mission Action Plan
Through a church-wide questionnaire, Sunday morning brain storming sessions, and subsequent work in small groups, we have identified areas for development over the next five years. We want to build on areas in which we are strong, and address some important areas of weakness, recognising both the need to prioritise, and that we are not called to do everything. The development areas have been grouped under main headings, but many aims overlap. Some are incremental improvements, others we hope will be transformational. We’ve identified that the most urgent areas to work on, which will be given top priority, are reviewing children’s work, developing a variety of small groups, and addressing inequalities. A more detailed version of this plan is available on request.
1. Identify, recognise and encourage the GIFTS of every member of the church
St Stephen’s is a community of committed, experienced and talented people. We want to be identifying, recognising, encouraging, sharing and learning from these gifts as well as we can. We believe that everyone’s gifts should be celebrated and their use, both within the church setting and within the wider circles of our lives (our home and work environments, our local community and networks) should be nurtured. We value our diversity as one of our greatest strengths and gifts, but acknowledge our lack of integration as a key barrier to participation, and the liberation and development of these gifts. Getting to know one another better has therefore been identified as our first priority, in enabling us to support, value, inspire and encourage one another. We also need to be bolder and take risks, in calling on a wider range of people to participate and being prepared to change.
Within the next one to three years we aim to:
· Involve a wider range of people in all roles in worship services
· Explore imaginative and innovative ways of identifying and employing gifts in church life
· Improve communication and introduce more focused recruitment around church development needs
· Offer increased support for those regularly exercising gifts
· Hold an annual Gifts Sunday
Within two to four years we aim to:
· Establish a network of intercessors
All these goals will be set within the context of identifying and addressing barriers to participation, and building closer relationships, which are covered in other sections of this plan.
2. Improve and develop our WORSHIP SERVICES
Sunday services are primarily about worshipping God together as a community. We want to do this as well as we possibly can, valuing both quality (good and thorough planning) and diversity. We recognise a need for improvement and change, whilst valuing what we have, so changes will be gradual and incremental. We believe our services should balance the fresh and the familiar, and that it works better to do things passionately, deliberately and well, focussing on different styles of worship on different occasions.
Within the next year we aim to:
· Invest in children’s work, reviewing provision and exploring new possibilities
· Find new ways of using the rhythm of each month, and of the church year, to enable variety within structure
· Form an all age team to further develop First Sunday services
Within one to three years we aim to:
· Involve a wider range of people in up front roles
· Invest in sung worship
· Encourage people to stay and build relationships after services (see plans for developing the buildings under stewardship)
Within two to four years we aim to:
· Explore introducing a monthly formal 9.00am communion service on third Sundays
· Upgrade our audio visual systems to enable better presentation
3. Improve and develop our COMMUNICATION
We have identified three main ways of communicating with each other, and with those outside the church, and need to identify which method, or combination of methods, is appropriate in each instance, recognising that not everyone is literate, or has internet access, and cultural diversity means people engage and respond in different ways – some need to be personally invited to feel included. We also identified the need to prioritise and unite around key messages, as too much information overwhelms people. Methods are:
1. Written – notice sheet; notice boards; web-site; church emails; leaflets/flyers
2. Verbal – notices; sermons (imparting vision)
3. Personal – one-to-one conversations/invitations
Within the next one to three years we aim to:
· Improve communication with those outside church through use of notice boards, website and leaflets of various sorts
· Improve communication within church about church events with a clear system of prioritising
· Improve communication from and to PCC and Committees
· Use focussed services and develop tithing group to improve communication with and about our mission partners and the wider church
4. Improve and develop our PASTORAL CARE
We aim to become more effective in our pastoral care, within the St Stephen’s community and among the people with whom we spend time in our daily lives, supporting those who offer care. Many of the aims and goals in other areas of this plan will significantly impact pastoral care, especially those within the community building section.
Within the next one to three years we aim to:
· Develop the Pastoral Care Team
· Set up more opportunities for social interaction
Within two to four years we aim to:
· Organise practical support for those with immediate needs
5. Improve and develop COMMUNITY BUILDING, welcome and integration
As a community, we desire to reflect Christ’s love in being welcoming, inclusive and integrated. We would like to offer all a place of belonging, to nurture close friendships, whilst ensuring these do not become excluding; to encourage openness to others, equal participation and easy access to pastoral care and support.
Within the next one to three years we aim to:
· Develop a variety of small groups
· Hold regular whole community social events with food
· Offer an annual explorers/seekers group
· Build on our welcome
· Run day trips
· Develop and increase use of church buildings for local community events
· Continue to actively support the Manna and Urban Hope
Within two to four years we aim to:
· Establish geographical networks
· Hold regular social events for older church members
6. Improve and develop our STEWARDSHIP of resources
“Stewardship is the state of being responsible for things that belong to another.” (His Journey, Our Journey, Ridley Hall Cambridge, Canterbury Press 2006). Communication is vital, to increase everyone’s ownership of and involvement in church life, and to become better stewards of all our God-given resources.
Within the next one to three years we aim to:
· Review how we use and maintain our church buildings
· Refurbish the hall toilets
· Improve communication about church finances and celebrate God’s generosity
Within two to four years we aim to:
· Develop our buildings, particularly the Canonbury Road end of church, to include possible coffee bar area, garden entrance, and front of church upgrade
Within four to five years we aim to:
· Review our involvement in affordable housing
7. Become a community of empowerment: address INEQUALIIES and barriers to participation in church life
We want to be a “Kingdom-styled” community … inclusive and affirming, liberating and empowering; where (all) can belong and contribute to the overall life of the community” (Re-enchanting Christianity, Dave Tomlinson, Canterbury Press, 2008); a community which proclaims God’s unconditional love in Jesus Christ, seeks social justice, confronts injustice, prejudice and discrimination, lives generously and celebrates life. We value our diversity highly and want to appreciate this fully; learning from one another and being transformed together into the likeness of Christ. We recognise with sorrow our capacity to fail in this area; to conform instead to societal norms and cling to familiarity and uniformity. Our goals in this area must involve getting to know ourselves and one another better, openness to change and taking risks in empowering and encouraging one another. In the exercise of gifts and take-up of church roles, tokenistic targets are to be rejected, in favour of a commitment to ongoing struggle with the issues and power dynamics involved and a readiness to engage with the emerging, as yet uncertain, outcomes.
Within the next one to three years we aim to:
· Form a small group to commit to meet regularly over an extended period to engage in honest dialogue about our racial identities, to make strenuous efforts to get to know ourselves and one another better and to struggle with the issues, including power dynamics which emerge.
· Form a team to research and identify barriers to participation/inequalities and suggest any identified solutions
· Hold a series of talks/workshops exploring issues of equality, empowerment and social justice
· Develop a youth participation strategy, enabling young people to play a full role in the life of St Stephen’s.
· Review the accessibility of whole church events for former and current Manna clients and other marginalised people
· Further explore and develop theologies and cultures of liberation and empowerment in the mission of the Manna.
Continue offering practical and holistic support through developing the work of the Manna
The Manna will continue to focus on our core task
of offering compassionate support to those experiencing vulnerability and marginalization; improving the quality of life of vulnerable people in our area. We will endeavour to do this by providing a safe,
healthy and empowering community to belong to and by offering practical, emotional and spiritual support.
Within the next one to three years we aim to:
· Expand and develop the structured key work we offer to clients; growing our staff team via recruitment of an additional key worker and provision of external supervision for staff engaged in key work
· Partner with the local Primary Care Trust to provide a nurse service and refurbish the office to provide clinical space for the delivery of urgent medical care and advice
· Encourage staff and volunteers to develop as reflective practitioners through training and away days
· Strengthen management structure, train staff with management responsibilities and broaden MMC membership
· Offer increasing opportunities for exploration of spirituality
· Build community and ownership, learning and developing skills through further development of small groups
Continue developing the work of Urban Hope
As far as possible we will work with young people to develop Urban Hope, focussing on growing with them, not doing work on them or for them.
Within the next one to two years we aim to:
· Create a youth participation strategy for St Stephen’s church community
· Work with local children’s centres to provide support for teenage parents
· Recruit a full-time Youth Worker to work with Ben in leading the project
· Employ a Social Worker to provide targeted support of young people
· Establish our role in the training of youth and community workers
· Explore new opportunities for working in the local community
· Further progress our food skills and nutrition programme
· Work with Cross-Teach to develop relationships with local schools
· Increase communication about the project’s work
· Train and equip young people in leadership, empowering them to make a difference within St Stephen’s and the wider geographical community
· Run four residential weekends each year
· Create 12 month development plans for each group of young people
A more detailed version of this plan is available on request, and Urban Hope and the Manna are in the process of producing project development plans, which will be available in due course.
April 2010
