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mission shaped church

In 2001 it was decided to work towards beginning a midweek

church in the parish. This became a reality after a Church

Army Captain, David Scurr, joined the team. Together with the

team vicar, Moira Astin, in February 2003 he started a service

on Wednesday at 4.00 p.m. in the parish church, called `The

Link'. From the start it aimed to be `church', hoping in time 

to get representation on the PCC and to administer the

sacraments of baptism and communion.

People were invited for coffee and a tuck shop from 3.30 p.m. 

and the service ended at 4.30 p.m. After three months about

20 people were regularly attending, of whom about half did

not attend any other service in the week.

Another strand is the use of Church schools to start new congregations,

which meet on the premises. School based worship events become

`church' for pupils and parents. This is perhaps easier to develop at primary

than at secondary level, by which time teenagers are less keen on parental

attendance and also parents are not naturally in and out of the school as 

is the case at the primary stage.

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A story: Appley Bridge, Lancashire

At All Saints Primary, Appley Bridge, in Lancashire, the 

Revd Ian Dewar has experimented with using the format 

of Common Worship in collective worship.

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He says:

The guiding principle behind what we are trying to achieve 

at All Saints (church and school) is that of liturgical formation.

We have begun to establish a pattern of worship which links

church and school together. Every Thursday at 9.15 the

school meets in the adjacent church for a midweek service,

which follows the Common Worship pattern. After this the

children return to school and any adults who wish to stay for

Holy Communion remain in church. A similar Service of the

Word is held in church on the morning of the third Sunday of

the month. This pattern is followed for major events in school

where a large number of parents and other relatives who may

not otherwise be present are in attendance such as end

of term services and the leavers' service.

What this has achieved is to make church familiar to parents

and children, even if they do not come to worship on a regular

basis. The link between school and church also challenges

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