BE INSPIRED
Our Story Can Be Your Story
It is interesting to search the Gospels and discover Jesus’ evangelising strategy. He spent so much of his time with his cell group of 12, while at the same time exposing them to a wider preaching to the crowd. That same strategy passed into the Early Church and remains the same for us today.
The harvest out there is enormous and ready for the reaping, "Look around you", says Jesus. "Look at the fields, already they are white with the promise of harvest" (John 4.35).…And when Jesus saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to the disciples: "The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to his harvest" (Matthew 9.36-38).
Yes, the fields are white with the promise of harvest. Where can we find the reapers? Both the harvest and the reapers are in our own backyards.
A parish's journey to become more missional saw new leaders develop with a heart to see their friends and family know the love of God.
"We are not ordained to supervise bricks and mortar and to be managers but to form disciples. We are called to be icons of Christ – preacher, teacher and healer. And I feel for the first time I am really doing this now."
A parishioner hearing the call of God to grow in her faith and relationship with Him.
"I have seen with my own eyes that it is possible for a parish to be a place of Christian discipleship, spiritual nourishment and joy; a base from which we can reach out and invite people in, to give them the opportunity to encounter Jesus."
Every story has a beginning and ours finds the beginning with a priest wanting to see his parish change.
"I found the harvest and the reapers in my own backyard."