South Leith Parish Church

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South Leith Parish Church
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Key question ..Why does the Church exist ?
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Why does God want the Church to exist ?
1 To bring glory to God
2 To work together in inviting people to
follow the way of Jesus Christ
3 To show a united front to our community and
to build Christian Community
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What should the church in be engaged in today ?
There are at least five purposes, all drawn from
the lips of Jesus
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1 To love God with all our hearts
Worship
2 To love our neighbours as ourselves
Serving
3 To go and make disciples
Outreach
4 To baptise
Belonging
5 To teach
Education
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There are five possible types of congregation
1 Social conscience Church
Serving
Activists
Worship
Worshippers
2 Worshipping Church
Outreach
Witnesses
3 Soul winning Church
Students
Education
4 Classroom Church
Family
5 Pastoral Church
Belonging
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Aim of the review process

• To understand Gods vision for the whole
  church.

• Then to set our own goals in line with
  Gods plans as seen in the early church.

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Together we have already achieved

• Offering varied and good quality regular worship
  opportunities.
• Connecting with individuals in the parish
• through school chaplaincy, funerals, weddings
  and baptisms.
• Serving the Leith Community through homeless
  peoples breakfast, lunch club, weekly coffee
  mornings.
• Providing a wide range of groups and
  organisations eg BBs, Guides, women's groups,
  bowling club, etc

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(No Transcript)
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Jesus said, Go out to all peoples everywhere and
make them my disciples
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We need to

• Be clear about purpose and plans for the five
  areas of church life

• help every elder and member understand the new
  reality

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The Emerging Vision for South Leith Parish Church

• An innovative and integrated Church
• A shift from membership to discipleship
• A shift from running a congregation to building a
  community of faith
• New patterns of leadership
• New structure
• A sign of hope

CWW Report
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Worship
Belonging
Education
Open Outward OUTREACH
Serving
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We set aims and goals for three years in each
area
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BELONGING COMMITTEE DESCRIPTOR 1.    Gospel
Inspiration Feeding of the 5000 2. AimTo
provide ways for all those connected with the
church to develop and strengthen the
connection. 3.    How we workAs a group we
agree to a.    Eat and drink at every
meetingb.    Respect each other c.    Involve
everyone and make them feel valued etc.
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• 4.    Remit 5.    What being a committee
  member involvesa.    Attend committee meetings
  (there are
• approximately 4 per year) and so on 
• 6.    New Goals for the year ahead a.   
  Compile a list of folk willing to help with
  eventsb.    Recruit people to help with Sunday
  teas and coffees and draw up a rota Explore the
  possibility of running further themed Sunday
  evening events.

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Changing perceptions of church from
Protecting Ourselves
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To being . . .
Open to possibilities
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And working more closely with others
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Key Priority of the Church

• To ensure that the Gospel story continues to
• be told and lived out in Scotland
• by nurturing worshipping and witnessing
  communities.
• This is South Leiths Story

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Like an eagle teaching its young to fly
Deut 32.11
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The mother pushing the young out of the nest to
test their wings then catching them safely on
her spreading wings Deut 32.
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We feel like weve taken off and we feel God is
flying along with us
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Confident about SLPC

• C.H.I.P. Asked and Received
• Numbers up at Worship
• More people part of our teams
• New people attending week by week
• New atmosphere through fellowship
• We have changed and are changing
• Reducing deficit

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• Thank you for listening