Parish Vision Workshop

Dear Friends

I wrote quite extensively about our need to revisit our mission and to explore our vision in the most recent Church Magazine (see http://thelongviewza.blogspot.com/2014/06/winter-newsletter-2014-article.html) and in this regard wish to invite you to join us for:

The St Andrew's Parish Vision Workshop
Saturday 30 August 2014, 09:00-12:00
in the Church Hall
77 Kildare Road, Newlands, 7700

The morning will be divided into three parts:

We will begin with some input around mission and vision, what defines and differentiates these concepts, along with the role of core ministry practices in implementing our mission and helping us embrace our vision. This will be a plenary session.

We will then spend some time in groups reflecting on three questions:
- Who is God calling us to be?
- What is God calling us to do?
- Where is God calling us to go? 

Our final session will also be in groups, this time focusing on a revised SWOT (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) exercise where we will explore the following four questions:
- What is intrinsic to whom we are which we wish to maintain at all costs? 
- What would we like to add that is not presently part of who we are/what we do? 
- What do we need to stop doing/excise from Parish life?
- What do we never want to see at St Andrew's (under any circumstances)?

What is the outcome we are hoping for from the morning together? The plan is to gain sufficient input that with further consultation we will be able to elucidate a revised mission statement, give flesh to a Parish vision, and identify a number of priorities for our mission and ministry going forward. We would wish to finalise this process for acceptance at our next Annual Vestry meeting in February 2015.

So please make the effort to attend and participate in this process, and please feel free to already begin thinking and talking around the above questions.

There will be a sign-up sheet at the back of the Church, or you can register for the morning via Bev in the Church Office.

A reminder that our present mission statement says:

St Andrew's aims to be a loving, worshipping, Christian community which encourages everyone to follow Christ as disciples through being obedient to his Word and Spirit, and as a result taking God's love to the local community, to the poor, the needy and the world. 

Blessings
Mark