St Michael's - Outreach

Purpose > Outreach

Outreach

The purpose of St Michael's, our parish church

We provide a welcome to all to share the risen life of Jesus Christ, by being:

A home for those who worship Jesus
A friend for our fellow believers
A witness to God's love and a servant to those in our wider community.

Our approach to outreach

Our approach to outreach describes how we, in St Michael's, Tilehurst, communicate our Christian faith - both to those who come through our doors and to those who may never have been inside a church.

We believe that outreach is the responsibility of everyone. The statement of our purpose (see above) describes our aims and objectives.

We have used the three-part structure of the statement to help organise the many things that we do through St Michael's to reach out to people at different stages of life.

Where

At Home - within St Michael's, for those who already worship here;
With Friends - for fellow believers, within Tilehurst and Reading in particular;
In the Community - reaching out to those enquirers and non-believers both within and beyond our parish boundary.

Who
Broken down into what St Michael's should be/is doing for people at the following four stages of life:

Youth
Young Families
Working People
Retired, and
General - activities which apply to those of any age or social situation.

The matrix of all these activities is given below. The items in bold text are activities which are not currently being organised, but which have been identified as activities that should be progressed. This is just the beginning. We will keep in mind whether we do enough or try to do too much, and whether we focus on the right activities.

Matrix of St Michael's activities

Y O U T H
At Home	With Friends	In the Community
Sparks (Leaders) Dynamos (Leaders) Christingle (Rector & Ministry Cttee) Children's Choir (Choirmaster) Young people taking services (Rector & Youth Co-ord'r) Rock Masses (Rector & Youth Co-ord'r)	Dynamos monthly meetings with other churches + Rock Masses (Leaders) Paid youth leader [perhaps with other Tilehurst churches, to share cost and spread benefit] (Rector & 'Churches Together in Tilehurst')	Wearing T-shirts Supporting uniformed organisations through (a) providing use of church hall at competitive rates, and (b) involvement in special Services Providing contacts with schools (Rector)
Y O U N G F A M I L I E S
At Home	With Friends	In the Community
Christmas Services (Rector & Ministry Cttee) Non-Eucharistic Family Service (Rector & Ministry Cttee)	Provision of baptisms & appropriate follow up [opportunity for greater collaboration across Tilehurst] (Rector, Ministry Cttee & Baptism Groups)	Mothering Sunday service in the Triangle (Ministry Cttee) Supporting front-line work wherever occurring (PCC to consider if, and how, to support)
W O R K I N G P E O P L E
At Home	With Friends	In the Community
Marriage preparation (Leaders) House groups esp. Bethany & New Lane Hill	-	Knocking on doors to make contact with new people (Stewardship Cttee)
T H E R E T I R E D
At Home	With Friends	In the Community
Wednesday Morning Services (Rector & Ministry Cttee) Mothers' Union (MU Cttee)	Encouraging community use of Church Hall at competitive rates (Finance Cttee)	Pastoral Visitors (Pastoral Visitors) Encouraging community use of Church Hall at competitive rates (Finance Cttee)
G E N E R A L
At Home	With Friends	In the Community
Regular Sunday Services House Groups (Miscellaneous) Area Contacts (Stewardship Cttee) Special Events (Events Cttee) Bell ringing (Tower Captain & Bellringers) Confirmation Classes [opportunity for greater collaboration across Tilehurst] (Rector & Ministry Cttee) Regular Taizé (Ministry Cttee)	Supporting The Link Christian coffee shop One or two specified projects/charities within Reading area which St Michael's will support (Stewardship Cttee)	Annual Bereavement Service (Rector & Ministry Cttee) One or two specified projects/charities worldwide which St Michael's will support (Stewardship Cttee)