On Sunday 27 June, we launched the pilot for an exciting new initiative called The Listening Project.  It was launched in the context of a sermon about growth – both individual growth and our growth as a church family.  You can listen to the sermon here.

The project aims to find out how people are feeling as we begin to emerge from the restrictions of the pandemic and asks the question “What concerns you most going forward?”  We hope it is a way of ‘taking the temperature’ and discovering the needs of those in our church family and all those who live in our parish.

The project begins by asking the question of all members of our church family.  If you have not answered the question, either in church on 27 June or online, please let us have your answer.  You can do this by answering online here or by contacting Mel in the office for a card like the ones that were given out in church on 27 June.

Once the analysis on the in-house pilot is complete and we are sure we have the right question, the plan is to ask every home in the parish to answer.  This will be done by sending a card informing them of our intention to visit and giving them a choice of opting out, answering online or having a visit from a member of our church family.  We hope that the answers will inform our planning for the future and enable us to begin to address some of the needs of the people who live in our parish.

Please think and pray about what God might be calling you to, both generally and more specifically what part God might be calling you to in this project. 

There are several ways you could get involved:

• By joining the small team who have been working on the project
• By being one of the people who visits homes in the parish
• By offering to help with administrative tasks
• By listening out for further opportunities and listening for God’s call to you

There is one way everyone can be involved and that is in prayer.  Please pray:

• that God will prepare people’s hearts so that they are able to answer the question
• for the team as they work on the logistics and practicalities of the project. 
• for people to be enthusiastic and excited and want to be involved
• for God’s Spirit to move in this parish so that people might come to know Jesus and experience God’s love for them.

If you would like to know more, or want to get involved, please contact Hilary