Church in Mission Plan
As we enter our ninth decade, Stormont Church continues to wrestle with the challenges of living out our faith in Jesus Christ, in a constantly changing world. The question we all face is,
‘How can I follow Jesus, share Jesus and honour Jesus with all of my life?
The world of mission statements and church plans was still a long way off when the congregation of Stormont was planted. Nevertheless the biblical commission “to make disciples of all nations” together with the command “to love God with all your heart and souls and mind ...and your neighbour as yourself”, served as clear guiding principles. Those principles remain foundational for today’s generation as well.
The challenge for us is to connect or in many instances re connect with a generation for whom faith in Jesus and belonging to a local congregation is not attractive or even seen to be necessary. We have to ask ourselves, ‘How can I make a difference?
We thank God for the faithfulness of those who have served in Stormont over the past 80 years. We want to build on the significant and substantial achievements they have passed on to us.
The Mission Statement of Stormont reads as follows:
Stormont Presbyterian Church seeks to share with all, the accepting, forgiving, caring love of God shown in Jesus Christ.
A Mission Statement is a brief description of a church’s purpose and expresses this both for the congregation and for the public. It attempts to answer the question, “Why do we exist?”
From our Mission Statement we have identified four Aims:
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To be a fellowship of worshipping Christians committed to one another under God and filled with the Holy Spirit
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To be witnesses for Christ in the community and throughout the world
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To be a fellowship of worshipping Christians whose learning results in responsible living
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To be a church that ministers unselfishly to persons in the community in Jesus’ name.
In 2012 the Kirk Session adopted a Purpose Statement, which captures the essence of our statement mission in a short pithy phrase:
Showing People Christ
THE FRAMEWORK
Co Ordination Team – to oversee the Church in Mission plan; coordinate the work of the other teams and to develop initiatives that empower and enable every member engagement in the mission of God’s church.
Spiritual Growth Team – to examine how best we can disciple members and nurture spiritual growth; to involve members in worship services; to co ordinate Lifegroups (small group programme)
Youth and Family Team - to oversee ministry among our children, young people and their families.
Pastoral Care Support Team – to look at how we care for and support one another; to co ordinate Prayer Team
Sharing in Mission Team – to engage with our community locally and globally; to oversee talents audit (helping members identify/use their gifts and abilities)
THE FOCUS
A key principle that drives the Church in Mission Plan is found in Ephesians 4:12
“... to equip the saints for the work of ministry...” (NRSV)
Eugene Peterson in his translation, The Message, renders this verse
“... to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ’s body, the church...”
Every member has gifts, abilities and passion. The Church in Mission Plan sets out to help every member to use their gift, ability and passion to honour God and help others experience His grace and love.
The focus will be on people not programmes and on being inclusive not exclusive.
This means it will take time and it will not always work first time – there will be mistakes!
There is therefore a need to be patient but also to persevere.
This plan is descriptive not prescriptive. Each of us will answer the question ‘How can I” differently. Indeed our answers will change as our lives change, as our relationships change and as our faith in God deepens and develops.
Therefore this plan is designed to be flexible ad user friendly. It is not set in stone but is itself open to change and development. As we use it together we will discover what works well and what needs adjustment.
THE FUTURE
For 2013/2014 the priorities, established by the Kirk Session, are as follows:
Sharing in Mission - to develop our relationship with Storehouse, explore how we can support the Indonesian School we helped to build and look for partners to host Alpha/One Life courses out in the community
Spiritual Growth - to encourage, promote and grow our small group programme under the new name of Lifegroups and in partnership with the Youth and Family Team look at how the Messy Church initiative might be employed in our nurturing of faith among our children and young families.
Pastoral Care Support Team - to resource and motivate a one another approach to pastoral care and support and to provide training for pastoral visitors and opportunities for fellowship, relationship building and promoting/facilitating opportunities for prayer including Prayer Team.
Youth and Family Team – to turn the Youth and Family strategy into reality; to work with Youth and Family Worker to develop age appropriate opportunities for children, youth and families to grow in faith and deepen relationships within the church family.
Alongside these three priorities 2013/2014 will also see a greater emphasis on all-age participation in planning, preparation and leading of worship events on Sunday mornings and evenings.
HOW CAN I?
A plan, be that for a new building or a holiday, remains merely as lines or words on a page unless and until someone comes along and starts to turn the plan into reality. This Church in Mission Plan is called, ‘How can I?’ It is already beginning to take shape as members respond to invitations to get involved. Presenting the plan in this form is designed to help every member see not only the ‘big picture’ but also to encourage every member to ask, ‘How can I?’
How can I contribute, time, talents, gifts, experience, encouragement, resources to help the church family at Stormont make disciples, communicate the good news of Jesus and continue to build a community of faith that honours God, welcomes everyone and so fulfil our aim to ‘Show People Christ’