Too often churches get engrossed in politics and internal arguments to remember the real reasons why they are here. Its not all about buildings, its not solely to gather together once or twice a week to sing hymns and say prayers. The church needs to be a living church one that reaches out beyond buildings and into the community. We as an open and vibrant church need to break down the barriers that separate church and community by going out and meeting the needs of others.
St Sebastians has been doing this for the past three years and 2010/2011 has been declared the year of community encouragement and enablement
We have established a series of goals for the comming year as follows
Community Ministry involves:
Creating a structure of participation that helps the church community to respond to an issue of local concern;
Enabling people to move beyond conventional thinking and stereotypes, especially in relation to those who are marginalised.
Helping people to make links between social action and the Gospel.
St Sebastians is going to develop a team of Community Ministry Advisers to assist the Pastors and wider church membership to:
Identify the needs of their local community and decide how best to get involved
Set up community projects and initiatives in response to these needs
Develop a theological perspective in relation to their community involvement and concern
St Sebastians is going to Listen and take Action, its not going to be a simple exercise with no practical response. The only way forward is to go out onto the streets, meet people of all nationalities and take a real interest in their lives and concerns. Our Community ministry will then see the development of Needs led-Vision Driven projects that help and support our community throughout the year- all 365 days of the year
