One of the main initiatives of the Mission Action Group for 2021 was The Listening Project. This was initially Hillary’s (our previous curate) vision to visit every home in the Parish and to listen to what was people’s biggest concern. Many of you took part in the pilot that we did in Church in June and your responses helped us modify the question. In the Autumn, many of us delivered and collected cards and most importantly, prayed. We had many good conversations and several people commented on how they welcomed the Church showing an interest. The responses written on cards, verbally given to collectors and submitted online were varied but there were some common themes including: concerns about mental health, particularly of young people; isolation and loneliness particularly of older people; the increasing gap (locally, nationally and globally) between the rich and the poor; environmental issues etc.

We have prayed, both as individuals and corporately as to how we use this information and how we are to be a church that listens and responds as we seek to be “a city set on a hill” that shares and reflects Christ’s love. Many of the things that we are already doing show that we are listening eg Songs of Praise, Carol singing in the park, Messy Church, youth clubs etc.

Please do continue to pray and share how you think we can continue to listen to those who live and work in our Parish.

If you would like to find out more about The Listening Project, please speak to Penny H.