C4 – Our Strategy
Watch a short video for an intro to our ideas on Mission and Discipleship where settings are important – The Garden, Dining Room and Kitchen with its Sink and Oven.
Gardens, Dining Rooms & Kitchens Church Strategy from Tim Smith on Vimeo.
(If you want to download a higher quality version of it without any of the main text right click here and select save and then choose your destination folder. If you just want to watch it left click only)
An Intentional Outreach & Discipleship Strategy For St Judes
C4 is not just an explosive, it is also the shorthand for our aim as a church that if you read on will become unravelled. “Danger-Explosive!” signs warn of the potential to explode – not of an actual explosion. We believe St Jude’s is on the brink of something really exciting.
We might have a Vicar, a Youth Minister, a Curate, five Readers – two Church Wardens and a Parish Council – several missionaries overseas from our own congregation, last year trained and sent out to another parish a new priest but we have also enabled one young adult to be a Christian Youth Worker in Canada and a second to attend Bible College, but that is not all – because we aim to be a fellowship of ministers.
Our vision is to enable everyone to discover Christ and all that it means to grow in him as we commit ourselves to him and his Church. In growing we can all discover the gifts he gives us and use them within ministries that will suit our own God given characters to finally explore our mission in life – joining in with God’s mission to his world. Our aim is to be a church that is about “CHRIST and our COMMITMENT to grow in him and his COMMANDMENTS and COMMISSION”. C4 Church.
Our Mission Action Plan
Exeter Diocese is wanting to encourage individual and groups of churches to form Mission Communities – fellowships large enough to be self sustaining, discipling and outreaching – under its strategy called Moving On In Mission And Ministry. St Jude’s has now submitted its Mission Action Plan to be considered as a Mission Community in its own right.
It is built around the strategy of Gardens, Dining Rooms and Kitchens initiated by our Vicar, Tim Smith, that ties together Outreach AND Discipleship in a way we believe is crucial for growth individually and communally. (If you are interested in the book click on the image of the book cover)
It also means reviewing how we do church in our Small Groups – that has begun through our RNLI Small Group Church process – with lots of exploration to come! We are also looking at all of our church buildings in our Next Era project to adapt a Victorian set of buildings into a unified site which can work for us in varied and flexible ways. St Jude’s is on the edge of something new and exciting – following Jesus has never been dull!