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The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search |
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a healthy church...transformingLIFE |
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February 2006 |
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Inreach - OutreachCan–Do Breaky-Fest @ St John’s – story from Jude Maslin We all probably needed to be transformed as members of one body first: we wanted to outreach, we needed to inreach! St John’s magnificent garden fronts the main street of Launceston, but weather-wary, we had not run outdoor activities in recent years. We were missing opportunities, so we planned an early morning fair in the garden on the day of the City Christmas Parade in November. (The parade turns our corner). We would offer something different – breakfast food – to the passing shoppers and parade day crowd. To make sure it would work, we had a ‘practice run’ between the 8 and 10 a.m. services one Sunday. (This mingling of the two congregations in itself proved to be a winner and more 9 a.m. breakfasts are in the offing.) The mission was before us: to provide a festive family atmosphere while including as many parishioners working together as possible. We went one more step and invited other Christian groups (all based in the city) to provide a free outreach activity at our fair. This is a ground-breaking idea in Launceston. A group of Lutherans ran a children’s activity; Holy Trinity Anglican sold muffins for Australian Board of Mission; the TEAR Group were enthusiastic, and so was Scripture Union. In the preceding months we had felt the power of our prayers, as the project presented more and more hurdles that were progressively leapt over. People engaged with great enthusiasm, working on new projects with those they had not met before. We have all made new friends! Our new rector, Ross and the fantastic Jenny Nicholson (sew-er of our new flags) had arrived amidst the organisation/turmoil/excitement – a great way to meet people! The outcome is that St John’s demonstrated its ‘can-do’ ability, presented itself publicly on a significant day, and made a big impression on the wider community. (There are so many stories still being told.) The great news is that we have commitments already from people who are eager to be involved in the next Breaky-fest (is that exciting or scary?), and we have had reciprocal invitations from neighbouring churches to their activities. MoneyA ‘fair’ usually refers to fund raising and St John’s has several projects that require additional funds, but by the day of Breaky-fest, it had become apparent that this was not so much about money, as it was about the people of St John’s getting together in the main street on a public occasion. It was decided to turn our attention from fund-raising to faith-raising by giving the profits away to TEAR Fund to build a primary school in Africa. What a great outcome and exciting challenge as we wait to see what God will do next.
If you or your organisation would like to be involved in our Breaky-fest next November, please contact Jude |
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