“The parish has grown and developed over the years. It has gone through many changes, as has both the larger Church and the community generally. The vision for the future is one of continuing development and growth; a journey of exploration and of new understanding. That vision is also to be increasingly inclusive, involving a wider group of people across the parish and welcoming others to join us” Parish Profile September 2006

The Parish Profile prepared for the process of appointing a new incumbent identified priorities for the future which built on the past, but also an openness to developing further. A Mission Action Plan is an expression of this - a Plan which seeks to move a church community forward and not simply maintain its current activities, however good they may be.

Some key words from the Parish Profile are:
• Development
• Growth
• Exploration
• New understanding
• Inclusive
• Involving
• Welcoming

St. James’s Church is described as:
• Liberal
• Catholic
• Eucharistic

I understand these as meaning:
• Liberal Open to new ideas and possibilities with a critical eye to the past and present, and generous in our attitudes
• Catholic This literally means ‘universal’ and so we recognise our setting in the wider world and Church, and value the past as well as being concerned for the future
• Eucharistic Our principal act of worship is the eucharist and we explicitly acknowledge Christ present in the world with all this entails for Christian living

Behind this is a vision of God. God is understood in the Christian tradition to be the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God is seen as a community of love—one, but with distinctions. This is a dynamic understanding of God. God, who is changeless, yet also relates to changeable beings. Our life as a church is rooted in God - God’s nature should be our nature.

Our Mission Action Plan should reflect this understanding of God. God does not ask us to remain the same, but to step out on a journey with him that involves new discoveries and endless possibilities.

With this in mind, the Parochial Church Council offers its thoughts for the future and its priorities for 2007-10.

First, we look at the 2004-07 plan, review it, and identify what has been done as a result of it.
Second, we identify our objectives for the next three years.
Third, we offer some initial ideas and plans which will be our starting point as we work together over the next three years.

Peter Vannozzi - November 2007

The MAP identified three guiding themes:
• Open for all
• Engaging with the world
• Growing in faith

How did these three themes enhance in practical ways the life of St. James’s Church?
Read St. James's Mission Action Plan: 2004-2007 to find out.

Using four broad categories the PCC considered the life of St. James’s Church as we looked to the future:
• Worship and Prayer
• Care and Service
• Teaching and Nurture
• Mission and Evangelism

What place do the four broad categories have in our vision of St. James’s Church?

Worship & Prayer
• Central to it
• It is what makes the Church distinctive eg. one can listen to music in a concert hall and not just in church, but worship and prayer makes listening to it a distinctive experience
• Worship and prayer build up a sense of community, of ‘communion’, more than just belonging to a club

Care & Service
• Central to it – part of the essence of a church
• Care and service have love at their root
• They are vital if we are to have a real, integrated community at St. James
• Individuals are involved in care and service in the wider community as our mission is not just to ourselves, but wider

Teaching & Nurture
• Teaching and nurture are essential so individuals and the church community can grow and develop
• Importance of learning continually so that faith does not become stagnant
• Vital nature of teaching and nurture for people new to the Church who may have little
knowledge of Christianity

Mission & Evangelism
• ‘Mission and outreach’ preferred to ‘evangelism’
• Mission and outreach central as about being outward looking
• Church’s mission is to reflect God’s love for us by showing love to other people.
• Importance of welcome as a sign of this

The PCC identified an overarching aim for the next three years:
How do we see St. James’s Church in 2010?
A church community and local community brought closer to God

We then identified six themes following on from our discussions using the four categories above:
• Worship
• Outreach
• Children and young people
• Communication
• Leaning and development
• Environment

Our broad objectives for each them are:
Worship
We aim to develop our forms of worship in order to make them more appropriate and helpful

Outreach
We aim to develop further contacts with the wider community, at home and abroad

Children and young people
We aim to give children and young people every opportunity to become involved in the Christian life by making it more attractive and accessible

Communication
We aim to develop channels of communication that support clear and consistent information and encourage dialogue

Learning and development
We aim to provide appropriate opportunities and resources for learning and developing within the Christian life

Environment
We aim to share our commitment to God’s creation by adopting measures to enhance and protect the environment