Being a Community of Good News and Blessing
“The Church is the only institution that exists primarily
for the benefit of those who are not its members.”
-Archbishop William Temple
In her four presentations to the Diocese of Georgia’s annual convention, Carrie Headington led delegates and clergy through the Being a Community of Good News, Being a Community for Others, and Being a Community of Blessing as the ways to more fully engage with the Invite essential in Invite-Welcome-Connect.
Being a Community of Good News
This work begins with transforming ourselves as we get in touch with the Good News of Jesus in our own lives. Congregations nurture this first step with Bible study and congregational retreats and other means of building followers of Jesus. At the diocesan level this involves Happening, Cursillo, and prayer retreats.
Headington emphasized the importance of prayer and how every church needs people to gather to pray for their community and the congregation. She named specific free resources any congregation may use, like Sharing Faith Dinners and the Transforming Questions Course, which are also gathered online here: Episcopal Church Resources Online
Being a Community for Others
Before ascending into heaven, Jesus told the apostles as he sent them out, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to ends of the Earth.” Headington challenged the convention to consider the concentric circles of the apostles moving out from their homes in Jerusalem to the surrounding countryside, through the territory of the other to the ends of the earth as an ongoing call to the Church.
These spheres of influence begin with family, friends, acquaintances, work or school colleagues, volunteer groups, social groups, and hobbies. Pray for people within these groups, asking God to show you how best to love them. Are there three people within these groups that you could invite to the Revival on January 20?
This area of being a community for others is where using social media, such as Facebook, so people in these spheres of your influence see your faith as part of your life. Checking in to church on an app, sharing the sermon online, or posting photos from your congregation, are all ways to leverage your existing time on social media to share your faith with others in a non-invasive way.
For congregations, she recommended that a group within the church look together at the make up of the community around you through a free demographic study already online and then going on a Neighborhood Prayer Walk as described in detail on pages 12-14 of the convention packet.
Being a Community of Blessing
In the last session, Headington summarized the journey so far and then encouraged those at the convention to practice the Art of BLESSing (developed by Leslie Stewart, a church planter in Plano, Texas):
- Be – just be present
- Listen – create a listening space where people can share stories\
- Eat – welcome people to the table, just like Jesus did
- Serve – love and care for people’s felt needs
- Share – share your story and the story of God’s love and life
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The tools in the convention packet help make this more real including Hospitality 101 (on pages 14-16), a Hospitality Checklist (on pages 17-18), and Ideas for Turning Your Church into a Center for Blessing (on page 19).
The links in this Loose Canon give tools you can continue to use as your congregation continues to work with Invite-Welcome-Connect presented by Mary Parmer at our diocesan convention in 2016.
Peace, Frank
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue, Canon to the Ordinary
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