Mission is God\u2019s invitation to everyone to join in the Divine Dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2025 is the Diocesan Year of Engagement, when we are challenged as churches and individuals to engage with our communities. It is only through building relationships with people that we are able to engage in mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How do we do this practically?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My shelves have books entitled \u2018Everyday Evangelism\u2019, \u2018Developing Healthy Churches\u2019, \u2018Online Mission and Ministry\u2019, \u2018Creating Missional Worship\u2019, all of which should be a guide to mission, that act of inviting people to join in the Divine Dance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best advice I\u2019ve found comes from \u2018Chav Christianity\u2019, which has a section entitled \u2018Get off your backside and tell your friends about Jesus\u2019. And it simply says to tell your story, share your faith, and share your hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peter tells us to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But<\/em> do this with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n We don\u2019t\/shouldn\u2019t need to initiate conversations about faith. If we are living Christ-like lives, people will be wanting to know what it is that makes us different. The way in which we live, think, act, talk, should attract people. A chorus I learned in my teens says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n They are watching you, marking all you do, hearing the things you say.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let them see the Saviour as He shines in you, let His power control you every day.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When we are in the shops in Bromyard, when we\u2019re waiting for the bus to Hereford or Worcester, when we\u2019re at a show or concert at the Conquest, when we\u2019re exercising in the Halo gym, when we\u2019re walking the dog, when we\u2019re at Stoke Lacy coffee morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to engage with the community, don\u2019t use the self-service checkouts in the Co-op, do always say \u2018Hello\u2019 to a<\/p>\n\n\n\n passing stranger, end every conversation with a simple \u2018God bless\u2019. It may take a little time, but doors will begin to open! A thought ascribed to St Francis of Assisi:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Preach the gospel, use words if necessary\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rev Phil<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mission is God\u2019s invitation to everyone to join in the Divine Dance. 2025 is the Diocesan Year of Engagement, when we are challenged as churches and individuals to engage with our communities. It is only through building relationships with people that we are able to engage in mission. How do we do this practically? My […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-reflections"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stpetersbromyard.org.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}