The Parish of Yate Vision & Strategy 2020 - 2025
The primary aim of all Christian mission is to present the person of Jesus Christ, to make him visible so that he may draw all to himself. This can only be done by enabling people to see Christ in his humanity, in the Christ-likeness of other human beings and in a church that actually is his body.
Christ’s mandate to his followers still stands…[his] mission that he has handed on to us is to be the human presence of Jesus. Our calling is to make visible his total response to God’s love and truth in each and every culture so as to affirm, redeem and fulfil it from within, whatever the consequences to ourselves may be.
The Uncancelled Mandate by John V. Taylor
Our Vision for the next five years is:
Making Jesus Visible
Our aim is that by 2025 we will be:
a vibrant growing community,
focused on following Jesus,
and rooted in prayer,
that is open to and caring of all people.
To achieve this, we will focus on four priorities:
PRAYERFULNESS – deepening our friendship with God through prayer.
GROWTH –by encouraging one another to more confident disciples who are active in ‘Everyday Mission’ which transforms the community we live in.
OPENNESS – being more engaged with the wider community, better understanding their needs and being more responsive in active service.
CARING – modelling a gracious, inclusive and welcoming church community based on a culture of care, openness and non-judgmentalism that embraces all ages and all peoples.
Our Story…so far
We are four churches with a rich but varied history extending back to the Doomsday Book and beyond. Uniting us is a strong sense of being part of the same spiritual family and we believe that we have moved from being four individual churches to become “Four Churches, One Family”. We are united by a single shared mission to reach out with God’s love to the people of Yate, Westerleigh, Wapley, Codrington and Dodington.
The outworking of our 2015 vision has seen significant growth in activity and numbers of people attending. We now have seven congregations meeting on a Sunday and four who meet mid-week. We provide a range of services and activities to cater for the many different tastes and styles of worship and learning. We have developed closer relationships with other community groups, and in particular St. Mary’s School.
In 2018 we signed a covenant with the four parishes of the Fromeside Benefice to work together as a Mission Area with the expectation that:
God will work in and through us to share His love;
His Kingdom will grow in Yate and Fromeside;
We will see prayer answered and
the good news of Jesus will release people to experience life in all its fullness.
The vision and strategy described in this document have been developed within the context of that Mission Area expectations and the four priorities of the Mission Area which are to become more missional, to see prayer increase, to develop a Christ-focused movement among our young people and to communicate the gospel message more effectively.
The outworking of this vision will be organised around five ministry areas, each with their own particular focus on an aspect of the vision.
The five Ministry Areas are:
Missional Church
Children, Youth & young families
Prayer & Worship
Pastoral Care & Fellowship
Governance, Admin, Finance, Communication and Facilities
The aims of each of these Areas are described on pages 8 – 12. However, unlike the 2015 vision, the outworking of this vision is not so much dependent on central organisation and Ministry Team effort as it is on each and every one of us living to make Jesus visible in our daily lives. It is all about ‘Everyday Mission.’
We believe that if our daily lives and life together as church make Jesus more visible to others then he will do the rest and draw people to himself. This requires each of us to move forward in our own discipleship journey so that our faith grows stronger and that we respond to the call of God to be more involved in his mission. The diagram on the next page illustrates, in simplified form, the steps on the journey of discipleship. This diagram can help us identify where we are on the journey and show us the next step we can take.
Our Values
Courageous faith with vulnerability,
rather than being risk-averse
Generous, gracious and hospitable to others,
rather than a closed refusal to embrace difference
Active love leading to compassionate service,
rather than self-focused
A searching, adventurous spirit
based on hope, prayerfulness and trust in our loving Father
Missional Church
‘Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth’
John 3: 17-19
Our aims for the next five years:
to create connections within the parish which embody the vision and highlight next steps in discipleship journeys
to create enough small missional communities to cover the whole parish both geographically and demographically
to develop intentional Jesus discipleship
to reach out and welcome the new residents within Ladden Garden Village
Children & Young Families
‘And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.’
Luke 2:40
Our aims for the next five years:
to have thriving youth work which equips young people to be confident in their faith and sharing with others
to care for our families and young people by the creation of an increased support network for families
to ensure our church is open to all with diverse opportunities for people to explore faith
to have good links with our local schools and youth groups
Prayer and Worship
‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you’ 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18
Our aims for the next five years:
to develop daily prayer and encourage growth and confidence in personal prayer
to intentionally link the whole of our lives to worship as disciples of Christ
to consolidate the Worship Audit of autumn 2017
to develop corporate prayer within the parish
Pastoral Care & Fellowship
‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn.’ Romans 12:15
Our aims for the next five years:
to develop an organised, systematic process for ensuring that all pastoral care needs are known and responded to by the best available person, and that people know clearly how they can access pastoral support
to build a team of commissioned Pastoral Assistants (appropriate to the scale of need) who have relevant training in safeguarding, confidentiality and self-care and have proper DBS clearance
to develop a series of pastoral services to meet the needs of both church members and those who connect with the church via Occasional Offices (baptisms, weddings and funerals)
to identify and develop a series of groups to cater for the needs of elderly and lonely members of church and community, and to encourage fellowship
Governance, Administration & Finance,
Communication and Facilities
‘We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve’ Romans 12:6-7
Our aims for the next five years:
to develop clear, written processes for every element of the parish administration and a documented induction/ training programme for all who need to use those processes
to carry out an audit to understand the weaknesses in our current internal communications and to develop a plan for addressing those weaknesses
to build resilience and succession planning in our financial systems and to develop the financial systems in a way that will better serve the needs of the Parish
to conduct an external review of our compliance with Charity Commission requirements in order to identify and rectify any gaps, and provide a framework for inducting new trustees
to become a more environmentally-friendly and sustainable parish