Watch a short video for an intro to our ideas on Mission and Discipleship where settings are important – TheGarden, Dining Room and Kitchen with its Sink and Oven.
(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!
(Special thanks to Architects Design Group in Plymouth for generously producing the walkthrough video for us and in giving permission for it to be freely used publically.)
Sunday evenings at St Judes are from 6.30pm each week in our Upper Hall that faces onto Beaumont Road behind the Church…
Reflections
REFLECTIONS
These evenings are an opportunity to reflect on a passage of scripture that might not have been that obvious or needs deeper study and it will be in a context of sung worship and prayer.
We also have various resources available each week to help us explore more and a downloadable data sheet on the particular book of the Bible we will be in will be available from here (or a printed version in Church the Sunday beforehand) so you can pre-read and prepare a bit. See below for the downloads against each week.
Hopefully, we can learn from each other in how we approach and interpret what we read. You can gain confidence in reading your Bible as we try to allow the Bible to speak to us more and more of God’s love and character.
And, is there a passage you would like us to look at? Let us know on one of the evenings and we’ll try and slot it in. We want to use different books of the Bible each time as you will also be able to build up a free resource of backgrounds to each book of the Bible.
(Click on the reading below to download the background to the book the reading is taken from. They are all in pdf text versions to keep files smaller – if you need to download a pdf reader for free, click here)
PROGRAMME
No Evening Services over Easter Holidays 8 Apr and 15 Apr
We hope we have everything you may be wanting to find linked from this page or above – please do explore!
We also love to showcase good videos ( there are several in different parts of this site) and this next one gives a great insight into humanity’s problem and the cost of the solution to our broken relationship with God.
At our Sunday morning services we offer worship suitable for all with Kids Church most weeks too (except some of the main school holidays and a monthly All Age service normally on 2nd Sundays of the month). Kids Church is at the same time as the adult gathering, a different group for the toddlers called Starfish and a creche in the church for the youngest members of the community.
Our Sunday evenings are at 6.30pm in our Upper Hall – see here for more!
We’re also going through lots of changes – buildings and services, small groups and kids. It isn’t just blind busyness, but we are following a firm strategy based on outreach and discipleship – C4. And all this pressure this year is reflected in our chosen verse for the year – check it out here.
We have great childrens’ times across the week – not just Sundays – see whats on offer here. Families can find space, Youth can gather in different ways, folk who want to grow more in their relationship with Jesus often meet up Sunday evenings and our older community are encouraged, especially at our Midweeker. A new after school drop in is up and running too, do check out our Roots Cafe
Parking is easy in our own car park and nearby streets. We hope to keep up lots of social activities. All folk of any age or background can find friendship here. Together we try to follow Jesus, welcome the Holy Spirit and bring glory to the Father.
We encourage members of the community to support ministries in the city, not just in the church. And it isn’t uncommon for individuals and families to feel a call further afield and we have several of our church family in overseas ministries and missions.
If you want to know more about giving at St Jude’s, have a look here.
An Intentional Outreach & Discipleship Strategy For St Judes
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.
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)