Living Faith for the Future - Revised - Sustaining the sacred centre

1. Sustaining the sacred centre

This is about encouraging and enabling clergy and lay people to deepen their enjoyment of God, and to recognize God's presence in everyday life.

In a parish/benefice this could mean:

• Introducing one new event, course or programme each year to enrich the church's spiritual journey.
• Conducting a wide review of the church's worship to see how it can best both honour God and meet the worshipping and spiritual needs of people both inside and outside the church.
• Encourage the use of Bible notes for daily reading.
• Choose a book, gospel or letter for a season, and align sermons, groups and prayer to the nature of the text.
• A fortnightly 'Gathering'providing deeper engagement with particular theological, doctrinal and ethical issues.
• Staging a Nativity Set Festival to encourage people to engage afresh with the Christmas story.
• Have 'take-home'sheets to enable people to join in the prayer of the church.
• A Bible-story-telling week where people are challenged to tell the Bible's stories in as many different ways as possible.

In a deanery this could mean:

• Mapping the distribution and diversity of worship across the deanery to establish what else (if anything) might be introduced into the mix.
• Sharing resources and expertise in deanery retreats, pilgrimages, quiet days, prayer workshops, labyrinths etc.
• Worship together each year in different ways eg rogation, eucharist, world music, Celtic.
• Deanery Synods starting with 30 minutes worship using the local tradition and style.

In the diocese this could mean:

• Adequately resourcing the new Worship, Prayer and Spirituality Committee chaired by the Bishop of Reading.
• The bishops taking a lead by being available for quiet days, retreats, prayer initiatives etc.