Rooted in tradition, reaching out to the future

Worship and Discipleship

We re-state our commitment to the worship of Almighty God and our discipleship of Jesus Christ in the power of The Holy Spirit as the first duty and the greatest joy of our Church community. We commit ourselves to:

• Anchoring the life of our church and the work of this circuit in worship rooted in the traditions of the Methodist church. We shall do this by:

1. Building upon our excellent musical tradition and continue to use well-loved, meaningful hymnody as part of our encounter with God.

2. Pursuing consistency in the quality of preaching and ensure liturgically meaningful and appropriate services

3. Encouraging one another to explore our own discipleship and that of our Church through study, prayer and reflection both individually and together.

4. Deepening our ministry of prayer.

Leadership

We thank God for the faithful work and witness of all those who carry positions of responsibility and leadership in our church. We commit ourselves to:

• Supporting those who lead our church community and seeking to widen participation in the leadership of the church. We shall do this by:

1. Enabling church leaders to ask for help in the sure expectation that it will be forthcoming.
2. Praying both individually and together that God will guide members of our church to offer their services in new and innovatory ways.

Buildings:

We thank God for our beautiful church and for the excellent facilities that we enjoy for fellowship and outreach. We commit ourselves to:

• Preserving our church as an inspiring and prayerful oasis of peace and encounter with God for the benefit of future generations whilst using our other facilities to the full for the benefit of the church and the wider community. This we shall do by:

1. Continuing with a planned programme of refurbishment and repair consistent with our financial resources.

2. Nurturing our existing links with outside agencies and actively seeking further groups for whom our premises might be a good place to meet.

3. Continue to use our facilities for outreach and encourage the growth of our present groups as well as thinking of new strategies.

4. Seek new ways of inviting people in to church such as regular events, church open days etc

Technology:

We thank God for those in our church with the skills that will enable us to harness new and potentially powerful ways of communicating with our community. We commit ourselves to:

• Seeking to use new methods in order to ensure more effective communication within the church and to promote our mission to the wider community. This we shall do by:

Exploring the use of e-mail for keeping in touch with our many visitors, those who have moved away and those who find themselves unable to join us from time to time.

Community:

We thank God for our fellowship together at The Drive, for the life of the community around us and for our fellowship in Jesus with Christians in the world wide community. We commit ourselves to:

• Deepening our fellowship as a worshipping community, reaching out to others in invitation to join us and to deepening our engagement with the world-wide church. This we shall do by:

1. Continuing with existing gatherings and creating new opportunities for informal gatherings, church ‘family’ events, meetings for prayer and study as well as for business.

2. Maintaining our well-developed system of Pastoral Work.

3. Ensuring that worship times (in particular at major festivals) and church events are well advertised and, in particular, that we have prominent and accurate advertising in local hotels etc.

4. Offering a warm and sincere welcome to those who visit and endeavouring to keep in touch with those who come to us whilst on holiday in the area.

5. Re-affirming our calling to minister to and reach out to members of our community.

6. Seek ways of using a vibrant and growing community as a spring board to outreach to the younger generation.

7. Supporting the wider mission of the church by promoting and, where possible, participating in Circuit and District events.

8. Encouraging prayerful, financial support for Action for Children, Methodist Homes, Christian Aid,the Leprosy Mission and other Charities.

9. Supporting in prayer the world wide church and exploring the possibility of a direct link with a particular church overseas.