Every movement or organisation needs to know what it is about and why it exists; a clear sense of purpose.  The church is no different.  Of course any church has a diversity of views and approaches – a healthy thing in many ways. However, the danger is it will grow complacent and stagnate if it has no understanding of what lies at the heart of what it means to be Christ’s church in the world today: Something which guides and keeps bringing us back to core purposes is very much needed.

I love new experiences; new ways of seeing things, things which can broaden our perspectives and enrich our lives.

A few weeks ago I spent three days at Ampleforth Abbey in North Yorkshire. A community of Catholic monks is about as far away in the spectrum of Christian tradition as you can get from my background.

I went with the intention of having a few days of quiet, an opportunity to pray and reflect; something that’s not always easy to find in every day life, even (or especially!) as a vicar. 

The words of Jesus ring down through the last two millennia, a fundamental command to the church in every age; to call people to know and love God and to enable them to live as followers of Jesus.

We are very much at a pivotal time in the life of our church, prayerfully seeking God’s vision for our future and planning for development in key areas of the life of the church.

You don’t have to dig too deep in the gospel books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to see that Jesus loved being with people.

He had his closer friends, the twelve disciples and others who followed him around, but he was always expanding his circle, always reaching out to others.