The 2015 Christmas gift for St Oswald’s
T
his Christmas you could join with the St
Oswald’s family to give a gift to the church.
Every church family needs something and our
something’s are in a long, long list......BUT the
top of that list is a new cooker.
We can install it as soon as we have the money,
and when the kitchen is refurbished in the New
Year it would have pride of place.
The Burns Night will be a great first feast, or we
could even have a Christmas meal together!
If we all chip in to the ‘Cooking Pot’ we can see how quickly we can buy one.
We need £450 Ashley and myself will contribute £100 to start off
leaving £350 to find
Saint Oswald’s- A Magic Roundabout or A Gospel Train?
n 24 October Lesley-ann and I attended a seminar on ‘Growing the
Church’ at St Silas. The speaker was the Venerable Bob Jackson
who has written many books on the subject. He told us that Church
decline was not inevitable and that churches are indeed growing these days,
but that they need to be willing to change. The intention to grow was
important. We have to change from an inward looking church, caring for a
Christian nation, and become the missionary church reaching out into a postChristian culture. We have to change the culture of our churches.
O
Bob named the traditional church ‘A Magic Roundabout’, which goes through
the church year in a way that we always did before, it’s Advent, Christmas,
Easter, Whitsun, Remembrance etc., we are doing it, but the energy is
gradually dissipating, those doing it are decreasing in numbers.
In contrast to that, a ‘Gospel Train Church’ asks: ‘where are we, who are we,
where do we want to go and how do we get there? What can we be?’ That
means, that we have to be Intentional in our efforts to grow, it will not happen
by accident, and growth in church numbers will only happen if Everyone is
working together with the same vision and moving in the same direction.
The congregation shares the missionary task, setting the priest free. We
need to be a welcoming family, new people may look to join a family of
friends, don’t want to come just to a weekly event, presided and run by a
priest only And the pattern of worship is changing: Sunday attendance is
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