Last week close to 100 people participated in an online event to explore the recently released GRA:CE report by THEOS and the Church Urban Fund which explored the relationship between social action and evangelism, finding a strong connection between growth, social action and discipleship.
Attendees had the opportunity to hear from, and ask questions of, the report’s author Hannah Rich (pictured), Senior Researcher at THEOS before discussing the implications for their churches’ mission. The event was jointly organised by the Bishop’s Advisor for Church Growth Robin Gamble (pictured) and Wellsprings Together, the joint venture between the Diocese of Leeds and the Church Urban Fund.
Commenting after the event Robin Gamble said, “It was wonderful to gather so many of our churches together to discuss the collaboration between social action and evangelism.
"Evangelism doesn’t need to be a scary word, as people looking to love and care for those around them why wouldn’t we be wanting to share Jesus with people?”
Mark Waddington, Wellsprings Together Director, commented, “There are so many wonderful example of people across the Diocese who have first come into contact with the church through a community engagement project and have been on a journey of faith exploration ever since.”
We’d like to continue this conversation and discuss the Grace report and its findings with more churches across the diocese. We’d love to hear your ideas and would welcome feedback in a short questionnaire on this link. It should take less than two minutes to complete. You can partake in this the survey here https://forms.gle/NxRRNifjAg3DLpf99
You can watch the event back here or access the full report on the THEOS website.
Wellsprings Together are a joint venture between the Diocese of Leeds and the Church Urban Fund and are a resource to support parish churches in their community engagement. To be in touch about how they might be able to support email team@wellspringstogether.org.uk