Growing Community – Activities and Getting Started

Click on the images below to discover some practical examples and ideas to follow or adapt.

Tips for getting started as:

Activity tips and inspiration:

Coffee Mornings
Creating Together
Community through
(knit/sew for charity)
Sport

Fact Sheet for Small Projects– whatever your ideas for a community event or initiative the ‘planning fact sheet’ is full of tips and processes to help you plan for great results.

Gloucester Council events letter and form for organising an outdoor event.

Prayer for your community – Suggestions

Praying as a group about the concerns raised above
Praying for the community in an organised way. Do this be thinking about areas street by street. Set up a prayer diary which may also be used in church services.
Prayer walking. Walk through the community, stopping to pray at various points. These prayer stops can be either formal or informal.
Organise a way of co-ordinating prayer requests from community members. A local or community centre may be open having a prayer box. Do remember to collect the prayers regularly and pray with them, perhaps at a particular service or with an intercessions group.
LISTENING!! Listening to God for your community is key to discovering the next steps and discerning the priorities in terms of community engagement. If we want our work in the community to be fruitful then it must be done in partnership with God. Listen to the Holy Spirit for priorities.
Remember also to encourage community members to pray themselves. Perhaps provide a simple prayer station at a coffee morning that enables them to explore their own prayerfulness – even if they wouldn’t think to use the word prayer.

Below are prayers you can use alone with God or share with others.

Prayer Responding to Tragic News Stories Can also be used as a hymn.

Prayers for Peace Suggestions for personal prayers, for community vigils for peace, for prayer stations in church, or for prayers in church service.

Gravity, a Center for Contemplative Activism Useful information and instruction for nine practices to support your journey in contemplative spirituality. These include Centering Prayer, Examen, Labyrinth.

All Age Worship Resources is a new website that is full of free resources including full all-age services, shorter services, short talks, seasonal services, dramas, puppet scripts and more.

An added extra: Creating warm and accepting fellowship where you are.

Worship can be small acts in activities that gather people together (a simple grace to start a coffee morning). Explore new and relevant ways of worship in your community.
Listening and caring helps us to grow and learn as Christians; letting God into our relationship with others. This growth in faith is an important area of church life.
Service is at the heart of the Gospel; being a good neighbour to people in need.
Evangelism is being family, being a friend, being alongside. Trust and belonging to a local Christian community is an early step to discovering faith. You can start laying the path for start these first steps by helping to develop contacts into friends, and accompanying those friends.