St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

Bishop's Charge

The churches of Bradford Diocese have all been asked to spend some time this year looking at Bishop David's Charge to the Diocese. Here's a quick summary:

You can tell a body is alive by its beating heart. And if our churches are to make an impact, the people who come and visit need to be able to see whether we are alive - so we need a heart too. God needs to be alive and recognised in our worship as we meet together. New folk to our churches can spot this quickly - they say it takes people only 7 minutes to decide whether they will ever come back again!

We can describe ourselves as evangelical, catholic, liberal ... but that's not the point. The point is whether God is at our heart.

The diocesan strapline is what we're about. The 't's form a cross - the centre of our faith. Jesus is the same yesterday and today and for ever. We look to the future, and we seek to be faithful to him.

So our worship, expressing our spiritual heart, needs to be tailored so that it meets needs and attracts those who are seeking God for their own lives. We should be experimenting to find the best ways of doing this.

And our heart expresses itself in mission - reaching out to the world. There are four priorities for the next few years:

Church in Community
Yes to Young People
Going for Growth
Ministry for Mission

Many churches in the Bradford area are taking a lead in community action, both in urban and rural areas: we need to ask what our local people need, and how we can begin to act to meet these needs. For every 100 young people in church in the 1930's there are just 9 today, but we have great opportunities among children and teenagers who may visit us or be in contact during the week or in the schools we visit. The down in numbers at services are not inevitable, and we have diocesan courses available to address decline. And we have great potential in people who have discovered that God is giving them a ministry in his church today.

We'll be looking at these topics over the next few weeks. Join us!

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. June 2005, Page 4.
Home Page. Index of articles: by subject, by date. In this issue: (June 2005) HC less often? Bishop's Charge, Social Committee, Song. Diocesan logo: 'Future Faithful' Other topics for sermon series	Bishop's Charge The churches of Bradford Diocese have all been asked to spend some time this year looking at Bishop David's Charge to the Diocese. Here's a quick summary: You can tell a body is alive by its beating heart. And if our churches are to make an impact, the people who come and visit need to be able to see whether we are alive - so we need a heart too. God needs to be alive and recognised in our worship as we meet together. New folk to our churches can spot this quickly - they say it takes people only 7 minutes to decide whether they will ever come back again! We can describe ourselves as evangelical, catholic, liberal ... but that's not the point. The point is whether God is at our heart. The diocesan strapline is what we're about. The 't's form a cross - the centre of our faith. Jesus is the same yesterday and today and for ever. We look to the future, and we seek to be faithful to him. So our worship, expressing our spiritual heart, needs to be tailored so that it meets needs and attracts those who are seeking God for their own lives. We should be experimenting to find the best ways of doing this. And our heart expresses itself in mission - reaching out to the world. There are four priorities for the next few years: Church in Community Yes to Young People Going for Growth Ministry for Mission Many churches in the Bradford area are taking a lead in community action, both in urban and rural areas: we need to ask what our local people need, and how we can begin to act to meet these needs. For every 100 young people in church in the 1930's there are just 9 today, but we have great opportunities among children and teenagers who may visit us or be in contact during the week or in the schools we visit. The down in numbers at services are not inevitable, and we have diocesan courses available to address decline. And we have great potential in people who have discovered that God is giving them a ministry in his church today. We'll be looking at these topics over the next few weeks. Join us!
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