Bad news, good news
Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 4:13PM In a recent call committee meeting with our Bishop Mike Pryse, he commented on the high quality of the congregational mission profile which was submitted to begin the call process. One of the sections he drew attention to was 'mission in the community' and applauded the fact that we had pulled a good profile of our neighbourhood from the 2006 census. His pithy summary about mission was that it is our job to go out and find out what the bad 
news is and then be ready to share the good news in a way that is relevant to the bad news in our context. I felt quite challenged by that comment. It's relatively easy to pull census data, it's alot harder to be willing to do what it takes to connect with our neigbhours. And yet, I do feel that is exactly what we are being called to do. It struck me that this signage ironically is the exact opposite of what our call is in the neighbourhood. I do wonder how we will work on connecting with our neighbours. It strikes me that going to visit the group home from where we have regular Sunday worship visitors might be an example of getting started. What reactions and ideas do you?
Reader Comments (4)
We have a large building that is virtually empty most of the time. What types of good service might it provide the neighborhood? I was in a church in New Jersey that was struggling with low attendance and a large old building. The new minister persuaded the congregation to spend the money required to make it suitable for daycare (even thoughthe $'s were not "in the bank") and hire qualified staff. It was an immediate success.
I love the idea of connecting further with the group home! Seems that we have a natural entry point there. Bishop's Mike's comments regarding the "bad news, good news" made outreach seem much more do-able. There's certainly plenty of bad news out there, and we do have good news to share. All we need is the Spirit's guidance to lead us to the "what and where".
I really agree with you, Eunice. Our Mission Statement says that we are a "welcoming community", but these signs say "only if you play by our rules". I don't think that's what we want to be about.
And I really like the idea of intentionally connecting with the group home -- some of their residents obviously feel that they are welcome, so they've already opened the door for us to find out more about them.
I agree that the group home seems a good starting point to connect with the community. Other suggestions would include our annual picnic on the church lawn, exercise classes, even musical and benefit concerts. We need to promote what we have a little better so that the community can see we are alive and well, and have something of value to offer them.