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Fresh Expressions of Church – for Advent

7.30 p.m. on Tuesday evenings from 10th November in the Parish Centre, for the six weeks.

If we look around we'll see that numbers in church on average are going down year by year, rather than up, the congregation gets older rather than younger, our friends have different ways of spending their time at weekends – Work, Shopping, Socials, and Sport replace regular commitment to Church and we have difficulty in retaining the interest of children. Many of us too are worried about losing the places, traditions and forms we love.

We have done a great deal to make how we ‘do' worship more varied and accessible through new liturgies, experimental worship, holding onto the good ‘old' and good ‘new' which we have tried. The reordering plans are designed to allow this flexibility in worship and interaction with God to be developed further.

We are called to ‘go and make disciples of all people', yet 3 out of 5 people find it difficult or impossible to connect with what we do now, considering themselves ‘spiritual' rather than ‘Christian'; perhaps we should present ‘church' in different ways to help other people find ways to meet God, when what we do week by week, which is a bit ‘one size fits all', doesn't quite work for them.

Fresh Expressions of Church start where a few people have a vision for reaching a particular section of the community; and resources are available at a national level to support these new initiatives.

During Lent, Churches Together in Headingley ran this MSI (Mission Shaped Initiative) course, looking at ways encourage Christians in the area to become more mission orientated, or for our churches to be more mission-shaped. It will be run again at St Chad's in November and December as an ‘Advent' course.

So…, if you can come and know of people who might come on your invitation, please come:

7.30 p.m. on Tuesday evenings from 10 th November