On Wednesday 29th June, we joined together online across our three parishes as we shared what happened at Ignite 22 and discussed the next steps.
So, what DID happen on 22nd May?
Our vision for Ignite 22 was to create the space for ideas to emerge that our parishes could collaborate on further: ideas that would both develop innovative approaches to evangelistic outreach and seek to address issues
around social exclusion. Our aim is to be a pioneering community of churches seeking to reach out and serve in new ways.
At Ignite 22 we discussed ideas across
loneliness and grief
families and children
those who are vulnerable
We had hoped that maybe we would get 2-3 ideas/projects we could take forward ….but by the end of the day, we had no less than 29 amazing ideas and also some important conclusions as to how we might make them work:
We don’t need to do it all ourselves: partnership working, with the voluntary sector and others, is key to achieving our ambitions.
Our people need to feel that they have permission to go as far as they can with the ideas that they have and can easily feel or become disempowered.
Communication is key! There’s still a lot of work to be done, around communicating the pioneering challenge/task, taking as many people as possible on the journey with us, and developing our profile in the local community.
What’s next for Ignite?
Now comes the work! On Tuesday 19th July, we’re gathering people together in Cheam to ‘sift’ through our pioneering initiatives at St Dunstan’s Church Hall. All are welcome! However, we know that not everyone will be able to make it, so please do email us at ignitefeedback@cheamparish.org.uk with any thoughts or suggestions.
We’ll also be convening the second gathering of Ignite 22 on Sunday 2nd October 2022 - pop the date in your diary!
And what about the online meeting? How did that go?
We were delighted to welcome 21 people from across our parishes online on 29th June. We’ve recorded the meeting for anyone who wasn’t able to make it. As well as sharing our progress to date, we welcomed a range of different questions and comments. Here are some of them!
It’s nice to have a plan
What about the data? How will we measure success?
It feels like we’ve lost our connections with the uniformed organisations - how can we recover them?
How can we put our church buildings at the heart of the community?
It’s important to go out to people are, not just focus on bringing them in
We’ve got a plan in place to communicate as widely as we can, with as many people as possible. We’ll be back with more information, once we’ve got our shortlisted projects and plans. Until then, please pray for us, and so get in touch, at any point, via the email above.