We Will Be More Compassionate in Serving Communities with the Love of God the Father

St Thomas Oakwood, London N14

We will be more compassionate in serving communities with the love of God the Father.
To enable this, we will by 2020,

realising that all we do should be done prayerfully:

• Continue to support, facilitate and pray for existing groups, which include 2 morning parent & toddler groups and ‘New Kids’
• Limit the hiring out of our church halls if it would result in a negative impact on our ability to run the above groups
• Develop a succession plan for the key role of adults running these groups
• Carry out an annual review of current pre-school provision with a view to expanding it as and when facilities & staff become more available

• Continue to support, facilitate and pray for existing groups, which include @toms, @tomix, Holiday Club, Cricket Club and Fusion
• Limit the hiring out of our church halls if it would result in a negative impact on our ability to run the above groups
• Develop a succession plan for the key role of adults running these groups
• Annually review the on-going suitability of the halls for specific activities, and seek alternative venues or invest in additional ‘fabric’ to make the halls fit for purpose

• Continue to resource the post of Well-Being Coordinator
• Establish an identified and organised team of volunteers to support this role
• Increase the number of visits being carried out

• Run a marriage course every two years
• Advertise the course and encourage church members to invite friends
• Where required, provide baby-sitting by suitable DBS-checked church members to enable couples to attend

• Run a parenting course every two years
• Advertise the course and encourage church members to invite friends
• Where required, provide baby-sitting by suitable DBS-checked church members to enable couples to attend

• Continue to support, facilitate and pray for existing groups and events, which include the Over 60’s Holiday Club and the Thursday Fellowship group
• Provide an environment which is suitable, and provide transport for events
• Establish an identified and organised volunteer support group
• Actively engage with elderly people in our church to find out their views on activities with a view to increasing the current range and frequency of events
• Encourage and equip church members to invite friends and neighbours to events

• Have open and positive communication with local schools
• Continue to invite local schools to visit St Thomas in support of their national curriculum objectives
• Increase links with local uniformed organisations (for example offering them a visit to St Thomas to work on ‘Faith Badge’)
• Continue to book men’s / women’s dinners at local restaurants
• Seek to support local and other charities, providing opportunities for cake sales, coffee mornings, concerts etc.

• Continue to be a collection point for food donations
• Provide a welcoming and supportive environment for asylum seekers in our parish

• Provide regular updates during services and in the weekly newssheet on the mission work we support at St Thomas
• Include appropriate raising of awareness of global issues in Sunday School classes
• Seek to partner with churches in other parts of the world

We will be more confident in speaking and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
To enable this, we will by 2020,

realising that all we do should be done prayerfully:

• Have engaging, praise-filled Sunday services that teach us to live the gospel
• Improve prayer meeting attendance through encouragement and positive reminders of the blessings of the prayer meeting to encourage more participation
• Encourage participation in fellowship groups (home groups, women’s and men’s groups, prayer triplets)
• Encourage members to participate in regular one-to-one discipleship such as spending time reading the Bible with others

• Encourage through teaching, conversations and example:
• Personal prayer and daily Bible study
• Giving of time and money
• Development of personal ministry for service in the church
• Applicationof the gospel to one’s own circumstances / life

• Encourage and support children from Christian families to grow into mature adult Christians, by providing support to parents in their Christian responsibility to teach their children, and having:
• Energetic, well-prepared, gospel-centred lessons
• Youth workers and teenagers who are good role models
• Teach young people to develop an understanding of the gospel
• Teach young people to develop a Christian worldview and equipthem to relate to unbelieving cultures
• Encourage fellowship amongst the youth

• Equip regular members to be leaders of ministries through mentoring/ apprenticing and formal training groups
• Equip adults for friendship evangelism
• Equip adults in the church to minister to one another using God’s Word

We will be more creative in reaching new people with the good news of the Gospel, in the power of the Holy Spirit. To enable this, we will by 2020,

realising that all we do should be done prayerfully:

• Explore new ways to ensure, as part of our prayer network, that we keep all those in our congregation involved and praying for our weekly prayer topics
• Supplement our prayer with the Prayer Mate app and encourage its use
• Ensure the leaders of our small groups are informed and keep the members informed about, and involved with, the prayer needs of our church and mission partners abroad
• Support / nominate someone to think this through and organise this(not necessarily a member of staff)
• Review and look at ways to improve and develop the monthly prayer meeting, so that it is seen as an important, relevant and attractive event in the life of the whole church, second only to attending the Sunday worship
• Consider topical prayer meetings for special issues facing our church family

• Set up a small evangelism steering committee of keen members, chaired by the Vicar, to think through, co-ordinate, promote and facilitate this area of work

• Arrange evangelistic meetings and apologetics events to support our personal evangelism
• Bring in external expertise to teach us about everyday (personal) evangelism

• Find and use expertise in social media

• Encourage contacts to draw in the ‘unchurched’
• Enrich our music ministry, sport ministry and other creative arts
• Constantly be on the look-out for creative gifts and interests among the congregation, in order to gather church members and outsiders together to pursue their interests on church premises
• Invite baptism families back annually, and hold an annual bereavement service
• Develop personal evangelism through door to door contact

• Utilise visuals and video in the Sunday services
• Have services staff-led with strong lay support
• Explore issues such as time constraints
• Review how our services would appear to outsiders

• Encourage the staff to consider the possibility of a plant, or two main morning services, and evaluate the desirability of this, and share this with the PCC each year

• Support this through giving and prayer

• Support missionaries through giving and prayer
• Increase the number of people who receive missionaries’ prayer letters
• Encourage more missionary visits, and find other ways of getting to know our mission partners
• Consider finding someone from the congregation to encourage more people in learning about our overseas mission partners

Final Version adopted by the PCC, 7 Nov 2016