The intention for 2008 is that the ‘mission’ should take place at three levels – county, town / district and community. At each level it is hoped that congregations will work together but where there is only one church in the community it will be prepared to shoulder the burden alone. At county level there will be major events for adults, youth and children held at one or more central location, ideally, where events can be repeated, in three venues across the county. These events will be planned and coordinated by the Love Cornwall Exec.. Town / district events will be organized by ‘Churches Together’ groups in the larger towns. There may be free barbeques, ‘Praise in the Park’ events …………. Anything which the churches involved come up with. Local community events will be the responsibility of individual churches or (pairs or triads) in each community. If congregations are very small the event may be as simple as a coffee morning where no money changes hands and everything is given away as a sign of God’s love. Ideally a Gospel could be given away too and a prayer corner set up. Hopefully many churches will come up with much more creative ideas and in the next months many ideas will be presented in the Resources section.
Either at ‘Town’ or ‘Community’ level it is hoped that many churches will adopt the ‘Hope 08’ schedule of events throughout the year, but the focus of the year will be in May, with the hope that during that month every church will be open and actively involved in bringing the Gospel to their community through word and action.
In addition it is planned to host many Christian ‘Cultural Events’ – you might even call it a Christian Arts Festival, with concerts and exhibitions by many professional Christian performers and artists. It promises to be an exciting year – but it will only really ‘come off’ if every church steps out in faith and takes the words of Jesus seriously. You may be worried. You may feel overwhelmed and inadequate – I hope you do, because it is time to trust God and not ourselves – and remember you will never walk on water unless you get out of the boat!
