2015 will be for Lincoln Diocese a ‘Year of Discipleship’, where our emphasis will be on helping one another to grow as followers of Jesus; to become more faithful, joyful and confident. A variety of events and resources are being planned, and the information will be released on his as dates and venues are confirmed.
The Year of Discipleship begins on January 18th, when all congregations are encouraged to commit themselves to the journey. There is a short ‘Liturgy of Commitment’ which can be used during your usual worship: you might like to use it at the end of the Eucharist in place of the prayer of offering our souls and bodies to God, or for you it might fit better somewhere else.
I hope this goes better than the decade of Evangelism.
Right on the money, #1. I had a look at a couple of the resource pages and they didn’t seem particularly unusual, although a bit waffly.
The real issue is, what is going on in the churches that doesn’t show up in the orders of service? What lives are being exemplified by the clergy? What is being preached in the sermons?
The “decade of evangelism” not only failed, but went the other way – the church shrank, and with the clergy riddled with humanism, relativism and liberalism, its no wonder. Only the churches that held to traditional teachings (and mainly evangelical) survived or even flourished during that period. I used to attend All Souls Langham Place, but also other churches from time to time, and the difference in teaching and doctrine was perhaps subtle, but clearly differentiated.