For all the challenge and disruption over the past 2 years, the pandemic has also made clear our deep need to connect with others, to live in community, and to just enjoy being together.
The recent Mission Action Plan Conference, held at the church on May 6th and 7th 2022, illustrated this through the enthusiasm of attendees coming together to grow, learn and listen to one another, innovate and share ideas.
The weekend galvanized a longing to see God's transforming love and grace shared within our St. James church community, as well as with the world outside our doors.
If you were not able to join, or would like to revisit the weekend's four workshops, you can find resources at the bottom of this page.
Thoughts and ideas shared during the sessions are being compiled together and will also be made available to read here shortly.
Children & Youth Ministry: Have you thought about how we minister to the young people of our congregation? How about the young people of our community? Does our church create intentional spaces for families to feel welcome with their children? These are the questions we will ask as we grapple with the missional aspects of Children & Youth Ministry!
Community Connections: St. James exists within a greater community, with all kinds of people and businesses. How do we reach out to them, engage with them? Is there a way for St. James to meet the specific needs of our community, to extend the love of Christ beyond our doors? The community connections workshop will tackle these questions and more as we look to share Jesus' word to the world around us!
Missional Ministry Groups: Within St. James we have a vibrant community of small groups, home groups, study groups and more! We celebrate these ministries and the work they do. Our focus in this workshop will be taking the great work we do and finding ways to make it accessible to new people, to open our groups up to those outside the church. How can our emphasis on these groups serve the mission of the church, to make Jesus known?
Personal Sharing of Faith: Each of us has a personal story of faith, our own experience in coming to know Christ. How do we take that story and equip ourselves to share it? The basic work of mission is done in one on one conversation, in personal invitation, in coming alongside someone who needs to hear about the love of Jesus. This workshop will focus on helping each of us to learn to tell our story, to communicate the Gospel to the people we come across in our daily lives.
