What is the church for?
We’re here to TELL – to share God’s good news.
We’re here to TEACH – to pass on the faith and make new believers.
We’re here to TEND – to care for others lovingly.
We’re here to TRANSFORM – to work for justice, peace and reconciliation.
We’re here to TREASURE – to look after God’s created world.
All 5 of these things – TELL, TEACH, TEND, TRANSFORM and TREASURE – are the marks of mission held up across the whole of the Anglican Church.
This is God’s mission in the world. And the reason the church exists is to discover how the Holy Spirit is doing all these things and to join in.
But HOW do we do that here in Charlton?
As a Benefice we have a Mission Action Plan. Because if you don’t have a plan, the danger is that the TELL, TEACH, TEND, TRANSFORM and TREASURE words remain just words. We’ll be claiming the word ‘church’ but not actually being church. Because we are church only when we join in with God’s mission in the world.
Our PCCs recently agreed a new Mission Action Plan that we’ll be following over the next 3 – 5 years. In the Newsletter each week I’ll be sharing the details of our plan. But first things first – this is how we’ve described our VISION:
To grow…
in faith and prayerfulness;
in congregational strength and confidence;
in love for one another and for neighbours near and far;
in commitment to Kingdom values.
And the 3 things we’ve made our priorities to help this vision come about are:Discipleship, Connection and Witness.
