Hello and greetings to everyone!
As part of the ongoing work of Hope for the Nations the planning team thought it would be good this year to have a consultation about mission from a multi-cultural perspective.
Many of us are busy doing all we can to reach out to others whatever their ethnicity but increasingly feeling the need to connect with others across the city and to look at strategies. Since over 94% of people do not attend church in Leeds it is important that we look at mission with this perspective in mind.
In the light of this there will be a consultation on
Saturday 12th February 2011
10.30am -2ish
St Matthias Church Centre Burley Leeds
Some of the issues and questions people are raising are:
- How can we as the church in Leeds be more flexible in our approach to mission and less centred on church activities?
- Are we relevant in our style of mission ?
- Is there more of a need for multi-cultural, cross church teams working together ?
- What examples are there of international cross church mission projects and what can we learn from them ?
- What is the way forward in reaching "least reached people groups" in Leeds?
- Should there be a greater emphasis on distinct localities and defined needs in collaborative mission?
- How does international mission apply to young people and children? Are there any other approaches than just working from the local congregation
- What about people from least reached people groups who are unlikely to come to our churches?
These are just a sample of the issues that are likely to be covered. We want you to be able to discuss matters that you are particular concerned about. Also whenever there have been gatherings such as this we have always found that connections have been made which have been significant as far as future mission opportunities are concerned.
The format of the day will be :
10.30 am Registration Tea /Coffee
10 45 Worship
11.00 Welcome and introduction
11.15 Why Europe? Why now? DVD (challenge of multicultural mission)
11.30-1.15pm Consultation groups:
1) Are we as the church really coming to terms with international mission in Leeds?
2) Who are the least reached people groups in Leeds and how can we prioritise
reaching out to them?
3) How can young people be inspired and mobilised in international mission within
Leeds?
1.15-1.30 pm Plenary session
1.30- Buffet lunch provided by "Welcome to Leeds" and further opportunity for
networking
We would like everyone to have the opportunity of being part of the three main areas of discussion so each group will rotate after 30 mins approximately.
Please could you let me know if you are coming to the consultation as soon as possible but no later than Friday 4th February. We need to know numbers for catering and further planning.
The consultation is for anyone who has a heart for international mission here in Leeds and we would like to encourage young people to come. Please feel free to forward this email and the attached pubicity to anyone you feel may be interested.
It is important that we start on time if we are to give good time to the consultation so please aim to arrive at 10.30am or just before.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Paul Lancaster (on behalf of the planning team)
P.S There is publicity about the consultation on the website.
Paul Lancaster
