I have two roles, one is Rural Mission Lead, the other is Interim Priest-in-Charge. Mission is central to both, and we pulled together the mission sub-committee for the Upper Weardale Benefice to review their Mission Action Plan. I’m not going to expand on the meeting specifics here, but I was struck by something that other priests had mentioned to me before – that mission can sometimes come from outside the parish. We already explored how dramatically different one parish can be from another, even only 2 miles down the road, so it is not surprising to learn that mission plans need to be local as well.
As we reviewed the Mission Action Plan for Upper Weardale there were a few notable things which stood out that are okay to share. The first is how quickly things can change. A plan that speaks of relationships depends on the sustainability of those relationships – so if someone who has close links to a particular group moves on, the links themselves can disappear. The second thing that I saw was the concern over communication: groups can become concerned with finding the one golden communication solution, and perhaps this has something to do with the way facebook took over social media between 2011 and 2017. For a few years it seemed that facebook held the centre of the town square and everyone learned ‘what’s on’ through it. As we talked through the ways we communicate with others it became apparent that all our eggs are not in the one facebook basket. We could call it multi-modal.
- We have a website for the church and an online calendar for the Benefice
- We use ‘A Church Near You’
- There are a few facebook local groups that our church is involved with and where church events are shared
- One parishioner makes a newsletter which is distributed by email, print and share via our church website
- Our church speak to their friends and neighbours – not a shock – so word of mouth is a communication channel
- We have physical posters in noticeboard around the Benefice
- We have printed A5 invitations on tables in local communty cafes
- We have school links and ask the schools to share events with parents
- There is a local Messenger group for one small village that the church are part of
- We have a good relationship with the local newspaper
Among the things we learned in the Mission Sub-Committee, was: we are good at communication, we have good relationships, and we need to run an enquirers course – I highlight this because I have taken responsibility for it.