Dear All Saints Family,
To be part of this and any church is to be part of the family of God that Jesus is building. He is in the process of drawing us to himself, of transforming, healing, restoring and equipping us so that we can bring the love of God to all who don’t yet know him. This is a beautiful vision, but we’re a work in progress, so we know things can be messy from time to time! We want to work in and through the mess, however, because the vision of being a Jesus-centred, transforming community for the sake of our city is always worth it.
These next five weeks, in our Sunday teaching, we will be journeying on a teaching series that is based on the Church of England’s ‘pastoral principles’ course. Each week we will be looking at a topic that can block churches from being held together in unity, joy and love. We will then seek to look at how the Good News of Jesus Christ counters these blockages and paves the way for us to model the kind of openness and appropriate vulnerability that a vibrant, transforming community needs to grow and become more like Jesus and be a signpost to a broken world.
If you are in a home group, you will be looking at the Sunday theme within your time together midweek. If you are not yet in a home group, please use this link to download the study notes and consider finding a trusted person or two, to open up some good conversations around these topics.
Pastoral Principles Course Web Feb 2022.pdf (churchofengland.org)
We are aware that the raising of certain topics such as abuse of power, ignorance, hypocrisy etc. may be quite challenging to discuss together in a group format. If you need any additional pastoral care, please know that you can speak to your home group leader and/or myself if extra support or signposting is needed.
Our hope is that at the end of these five weeks we will have begun a transformational journey that will enable us to continue to love each other well through the ongoing challenges of our cultural moment now and in the years to come.
Love and prayers to you all, Craig
Vicar – All Saints, Hoole