Planning in a Pandemic
Rev Charlie (November 2020)
This time last year, no one could have predicted the imminence of COVID-19 and the fallout from it. Except maybe, Bill Gates who gave a TED Talk five years ago warning that, “If anything kills more than 10 million people in the next few decades, it’s most likely to be a highly infectious virus […]. We’re not ready for the next epidemic.” Nevertheless, the average ‘man in the street’ would not have anticipated the kind of year we have had.
The global pandemic that is COVID-19 has effected every individual and every organisation in some way. As a church, we have been through several evolutions to respond to the ever-changing restrictions. For obvious reasons, many of the changes that we have implemented have been reactive. However, we have also been intentionally proactive during this period.
Prior to the pandemic, we decided to use 2020 to focus on our mission, core values and ministry objectives in order to formulate ‘Vision 2025’. In essence, we want to be very clear about who we are, where we want to be in five years’ time and how we are going to get there. It could be argued that with so much uncertainty about the future, it is virtually impossible to make any meaningful plans. However, the Parish Council took a different view. We felt that the church needs a clear vision to help us navigate this uncertain time and stay on track with our core business, which is building God’s kingdom here in Springfield and further afield.
Ephesians 2: 10 says: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. God has prepared good works for us to do; not just individually, but collectively as a church. God must therefore have a plan and a purpose for St. Andrew’s Springfield. Confident of this, the Parish Council, with input from the rest of the congregation (i.e. The National Church Life Survey), has been prayerfully discerning the way forward. To date we have revised our mission statement, honed our core values and we are currently working on our short and medium term missional objectives.
Our original mission statement was: To be an inclusive, welcoming Christian community: nurturing people, building disciples and knowing Jesus more deeply. There is nothing wrong with the content of this statement, but it is not particularly memorable. Our revised mission statement captures our mission in a way that is easily remembered:
‘Love Jesus, Love the Church, Love the World’
Our three core values stem from each component of our mission statement and give a fuller picture of who we are and what is important to us. (You will notice that the core values incorporate all the values articulated in our original mission statement):
The Cross (Love Jesus)
Jesus died on a cross for our sins, so that all who turn to him might receive forgiveness and everlasting life. That is the essence of the Good News and the reason that the cross is the enduring symbol of Christianity. We love Jesus and want to live lives of grateful obedience to him.
The Community (Love the Church)
God empowers the church, through his Holy Spirit, to be the body of Christ in the world. Our community is one small part of that body. We are an inclusive, diverse and welcoming community who take Jesus’ command to “love one another as I have loved you” seriously.
The Mission (Love the World)
We aim to reach out with the Good News of Jesus, through our words and actions. We believe that discipleship begins long before a person becomes a Christian and we are committed to prayerfully nurturing the faith and spiritual growth of those to whom God sends us.
You are encouraged to reflect on our mission statement and core values and consider how we might live these out together as a community of Jesus’ followers. The planning continues and we are currently working on our missional objectives, which will help us to answer the ‘how’ question more precisely, so watch this space!
Please know that we welcome your feedback at every stage of the process.
