Date: 08 September 2022
We are committed to a vision of ‘Transforming Church, Transforming Lives’ across our diocese. This is focused on three key areas – Growing disciples, Growing diversity and Growing community. There are already many great examples of our parishes and schools working in these areas, and over the next few weeks we are proud to share some of those stories with you.
The Gathering is new and grew out of lockdown.
During the COVID pandemic, like churches across the diocese, the ministry team at St John’s Windlesham had to find new and inventive ways of doing church, when it couldn’t congregate.
“One of the tings we learnt was the power and the joy of coming together as one (online) community,” say the Revd Jonathan Hillman, Rector of St John’s.
Before COVID, the church had offered two Sunday morning services. A traditional nine o’clock service, followed by a more relaxed worship later in the morning.
“We wanted to bring that sense of power and community back into our building and into the way we do church, once we could meet again,” he says. “It’s a new way of being for a new culture.” And so the Gathering was born.
The Gathering starts with set up and refreshments at 9am. The church community gathers over the next hour, so that at 10am members of the congregation can choose between ‘classic’ church or a more informal gathering in the another area of the building. The same person delivers the same sermon in both venues, before the whole congregation come back together again for extended fellowship.
“There’s a real sense of being one community especially afterwards,” says Jonathan.
The Gathering plays into all three of the diocesan strategic aims; Growing disciples; Growing community and Growing diversity.
“We wanted this to reflect in our new culture of fellowship and one community, whilst maintaining the diversity of our worship,” says the Revd Sean Beagley, Curate at St John’s.
Pioneer Community Worker Kate Howard admits the church still has a way to go. “We don’t have it all worked out,” she says, “But we are really keen and feel led to just journey together as one welcoming inter-generational diverse community, that really does church together.
To find out more about our vision, visit our Transforming Church Transforming Lives page or check out our Transforming Church Transforming Lives playlist on YouTube, which also includes a video interview with Jonathan, Sean and Kate.