Greetings to you all in Jesus name! We've had a lovely run of warmer autumn weather in Christchurch this week and our vegetable garden continues to grow well and produce veges for our table - and the broad beans are up and growing too!
I still get such good feedback about last year's conference - people were very encouraged and learned a lot! The good news is we're holding another LyCiG conference from 12 - 14 October which is Thursday night and all-day Friday and Saturday. I urge you to bring a team of six from your parish and learn together. Put it in your parish diary now!
Eight clergy and lay leaders completed a day's training on 'Coaching' with John Eatwell last Friday - 6 in person and 2 on Zoom! Coaching is a fundamental leadership skill that we all need to develop. The feedback was amazing - thank you John!
I had the privilege of meeting Christian philanthropist John Sax last Friday. He established the 'Journey to Jesus' fund especially for discipleship projects in Christchurch. I was impressed with his passion for Christian discipleship. Let me know if you have a discipleship initiative in mind - there could be money to support it!
I will be speaking at a number of Vestries in the next few weeks - Cheviot, Melvern and Fendalton. I take an hour to give a summary of the DMAP, the Missio Dei and our Diocesan vision for regeneration. Let me know if you'd like me to visit your Vestry.
The Diocesan Ministry Team will be having regular strategy meetings where we report on our various areas of ministry and see how we're tracking with respect to the DMAP. We want to be accountable to each other as well as the DMAP which is our shared vision.