|
|
 |
A Faith that Works
Background
The purpose of this exercise is to involve as many people as possible
in the church in identifying the needs of others in our community and
developing priorities for action for the ‘Faith that
Works’ goal.
We are encouraging every group to consider and discuss the needs in
the community. This information should then be fed back to the ‘Faith
that Works’ Working Group by 18 July 2004.
Introduction Read through James 2:14-26.
What are those who follow Jesus being encouraged to do in this passage?
Discuss the following questions, and document any group answers:
- What are the distinctive characteristics of community life in
the Inner West and/or Sydney?
- How has this community changed
in the last 10 years?
- What changes are likely for this community
in the next 10 years?
- In which community do you think our church
would be most effective in demonstrating a ‘Faith that Works’?
(i.e Balmain/Lilyfield/Rozelle, Inner West, Sydney, NSW, Australia,
World, workplace communities,
school communities, cultural groups etc)
- List up to 3 people
groups in this community (i.e the community you think our church
would be most effective in demonstrating
a ‘Faith
that Works’ as per your response to Question 4)
- Does our
church already have contact with any representatives of these
people groups? (The purpose of this question is to
identify if we already have contact with particular people
groups so that
we can consider building on these contacts rather than starting
from scratch in terms of establishing contacts)
- What are
some of the characteristics of these people groups?
- What do you
think are their needs, hopes and attitudes?
- What do they say
are their needs, hopes and attitudes? (This is a homework question
where group members are encouraged to
do some of their own research then bring back and report to the
rest of the
group 1-3 weeks later, whatever is most practicable)
In order to answer questions 8 and 9 groups could be encouraged to use
such tools as:
- A day in the Life of… (This exercise will probably be most
effective if you are choosing to concentrate on the local community)
Ask everyone
to take photos, use disposable cameras if people would prefer,
to take a series of photographs of people, places and situations
that you think
communicate the needs, hopes and aspirations of people in the local
community. Think about the people and places in the local area, the
people you come
into contact with each day. Each member can then choose one photo
they like best and write a short paragraph about what this image
says about
the needs, hopes and aspirations of people within the local community.
- Collect newspaper/magazine articles, ads, pictures that talk about
community needs, hopes, aspirations
- Interview key people about their
needs, hopes and aspirations for the future and document outcome.
A word of caution, if you choose to make
contact with other agencies or individuals, particularly those
who work with vulnerable people it is important that you are sensitive
to the
fact that the parish may not be able to offer all the support
they
need and may in fact choose to give priority to another need.
Group may then allow 2-3 weeks for each member to do their own research
and then come back and present to the rest of the group.
Group to then discuss and document the following:
- What are you and/or your group able to contribute to the Faith
that Works initiative eg time, money, skills, other resources?
All information collected from this exercise can be sent
to the Church office at:
The St Marks Centre
31 O’Neill St, Lilyfield 2040
or info@darlingst.org.au
by
the 18th July 2004.
|
