Finding our feet again at St Paul’s- an important document [221]

Dear friends,

We need to take care to ensure that the way we reopen- restarting and beginning things- fits each of our three Churches as well as building on the Livestreaming we have been able to do and the nascent community which is emerging there. As part of that, as far as St Paul’s goes, a small group of people have been looking at a document which will be a Guide through the next months at St Paul’s.

Here is the document, which is still in draft form:

Here is a summary of the main outcomes proposed at the moment:

Guided by God, we will restore old things and try new things if they meet one or more of these criteria:

1. a vital opportunity for public service and witness which we are best positioned to respond to,
2. a core aspect of who we are as a Church community which will help us to reform and regather as a family, whether in person or online or both,
3. something which excites us and which will enthuse us, and where the resources, leaders and volunteers are already clearly identified, or quickly found,
4. a necessary part of resourcing our mission and visibility, e.g. the Church building itself, the website, our public profile.

I would like to invite everybody to read through the document and to reflect on it- and then to fill in this Survey which will then feed into the final document: St Paul’s Survey March 2021 (surveymonkey.co.uk) It’s important that people identify which Church they are part of so we can sort the answers accordingly- and, to stress again, the principles are shaped for St Paul’s.

Obviously, the clergy team are open for any conversations people would like to have around this, or anything else- and we will also have a Zoom meeting on Monday the 19th of April at 8pm to talk it through further, and (hopefully) to finalise things.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86397276913?pwd=Sm1DTFpsbGhRcHpEMHVtenJJTDk0UT09

Meeting ID: 863 9727 6913 Passcode: 964301

I hope that you find the document interesting and causes you to reflect and to put together your own thoughts. I am really keen that this is our plan and our paper rather than something which belongs only to me or a small group. It would be really helpful if people could fill in the 10 questions of the Survey by the end of next week (Sat the 27th of March) so we have plenty of time to collate your answers. Thank you.

Yours,

Fr Richard