A Day of Prayerful Listening
We recently spent a day with some clergy and lay deans from the five deaneries where we are working. Time set aside to listen to God and to one another. The Mustard Seed programme grew from prayerful listening, and so halfway through the life of the programme we wanted to step back and listen prayerfully again.
Bishop Eleanor shared an inspiring reflection about the Holy Spirit being present moving over the chaos in Genesis 1. We noted how God is present and moving even in the chaos of life in ‘places where life is tough.’ We listened to stories of how God is at work in the lives of people and places on the edge of the Diocese, stories of hope and transformation. We shared parables and stories from scripture to describe how we see God at work, and we looked ahead with vision towards the next chapter.
So far, 99 people have started the Stepping Up programme and 60 people have completed. As people ‘step up’ in mission they are commissioned as Community Ministers, serving in mission in their local community in a wide variety of ways, this include six people who are paid Community Ministers in Hull, Bridlington, Scarborough, Redcar and Loftus.
Each Mustard Seed church is reaching out with God’s love to new people of all ages from children and families, young people through to older people. They are using local resources to build ‘nests’ communities within their churches that are spaces where people can find a home. Churches are growing, sometimes with one or two people or families, and in other places with significant numbers of new people.
Back in 2020 we planted a small seed and like the parable it is growing, with people finding a place to belong within the ‘nests’ of their local church.