Making a Difference in the World - see page six
Reporting from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Oxfordshire www.oxford.anglican.org
Church growth event returns by Jo Duckles
A NATIONAL inititative that helps churches to reach out to their communities has proved so successful that it is being organised for the Oxford Diocese for the second time. Leading Your Church into Growth (LYCIG) saw 100 people learn about how churches can better reach out to people, helping congregations grow both in size and in spiritual depth, during the first four-day conference in 2011. Now the Diocesan missions’ team is inviting leadership teams from churches across Oxfodshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to take part in a second LYCIG in April 2013. The Revd Margot Hodson, Priest-in-Charge of the Haddenham with Cuddington and Kingsey and Aston Sandford Benefice, said the first LYCIG helped her take a step back and look at her priorities in terms of growth. She said: “It helped me realise what I was doing was on track, and to understand why I was doing it and that was really helpful.” Since LYCIG Margot has seen her parishes continue to grow, with the help of a ministry team consisting of a curate and a host of lay people. “It’s essentially the generosity of people with
their time and resources that is helping us lead churches into growth situations.” Margot’s initiatives have included a Youth Café which is run with the help of the Aylesbury Youth For Christ. (See the May 2012 Door for more on Youth Cafés.) There is also a lot of work going on specifically in Haddenham for older people and a breakfast club in one of the benefice’s smaller churches is continuing to provide a meeting point for young families. “One of the challenges is finding ways for people to connect that doesn’t involve them going to a home group each week. That’s a lot, especially for young families, and we are trying to build more informal networks.” The Revd Toby Wright, Team Rector in the Witney Benefice, went along with the Church Army evangelist that works in his area. “It was absolutely great, filled with practical, sensible, applicable stuff. “It was great to be with a bunch of people who are exploring how you enable churches to grow and above all it was tremendous fun which is always good at a conference.” He said the conference helped him think about where he should focus his energy, and CONTINUED ON PAGE THREE
November 2012 No. 240
Inside
Cathedral is ‘top of the class’
News Paws or hiss for thought at Olney animal service
Page 3 Family
Faith and adoption during National Adoption Week
Page 7
Feature A sense of vocation?
Page 9 Arts
Win Eric Liddell’s biography Pupils From Christ Church Cathedral School get to dress up during an educational visit. Photograph: KT Bruce
CHRIST Church Cathedral, Oxford, has shown itself to be top of the class for educational visits by being awarded a Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) Quality Badge. The badge combines learning and safety into one award for all organisations providing educational opportunities for school pupils outside the classroom. The Revd Canon Ed Newell, SubDean of Christ Church, said: “The award for Learning Outside the Classroom is extremely good news as we seek to develop our work with schools. Over the past two years the number of schools coming to the Cathedral has doubled, and this award highlights the quality of experience that schools can expect when visiting Christ Church.” The Cathedral offers visits to all ages of school pupils, from five-year-olds through to sixth formers studying A Level Religious Education. Dressing up experiences, power point presentations and tours are on offer as well as philosophy seminars from the Cathedral’s Canon Professors. For more information email jim.godfrey@chch.ox.ac.uk hannah.stammers@chch.ox.ac.uk or call 01865 286003.
Page 15 Comment Meet the Revd Graham Sykes - new Chair of the Door’s Editorial Support Group
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