Living Ely2025 - Deanery Development Planning

LivingEly2025 - Deanery Development Planning

Why now?

The global pandemic has impacted every part of society including the church.

We all need to recognise the health and sustainability of our churches, the reality of our contexts and resources, and adapt accordingly. We are therefore asking each deanery to produce an ambitious, realistic and sustainable plan.

The task of planning for the future shape of the church in the Diocese of Ely is urgent and important as new opportunities as well as challenges are presenting themselves. The process needs us to cooperate and to be mindful of our relationships with each other.

We are asking every parish, benefice, and deanery to review its mission and ministry. This will require honesty and objectivity; openness to one another and the Holy Spirit as together we determine what is actually feasible and desirable within the constraints of limited resources. 

The Church is present where people gather in prayer and worship, are fed by Word and Sacrament, sent out to serve, and draw other into the life of the Church to know Jesus.

In our planning we need to ask:

  • are our churches vibrant and viable worshipping communities of Word and Sacrament?
  • are we planning to share the faith and nurture new believers? 
  • are we welcoming and accessible to those who come for ‘life events’; and how are those contacts followed up ?
  • do our plans include commitment to the schools across the deanery?  
  • is there a shared vision for our churches to be agents of transformation in the wider community?
  • do we need to try something completely different and separate from any of our current expressions of church?
  • are there pockets of the parish or whole communities not really reached by the Parish church and what it has to offer?

Planning as Deaneries reminds us that we are part of a church that is wider than our own immediate worshipping community; that the church is ‘ordered’ in terms of ministry, worship, and the legal frameworks that hold us together.

  • Whist we can be imaginative, brave and radical, we can’t just do our own thing!  We are part of a wider church family – expressed most immediately through the diocese – where help, support, and guidance is available.  As Christians we are all called to minister in one form or another: all part of the one Body.

Further Information

The pages linked below are provided to help resource and support every parish, benefice, and deanery review its mission and ministry.

 


Living Ely2025 - a Summary

The task of planning for the future shape of the church in the Diocese of Ely is urgent and important as new opportunities as well as challenges are presenting themselves. The process needs us to cooperate and to be mindful of our relationships with each other. We are asking every parish, benefice, and deanery to review its mission and ministry. This will require honesty and objectivity; openness to one another and the Holy Spirit as together we determine what is actually feasible and desirable within the constraints of limited resources. 


Living Ely2025 - Video Resources

Here we will add video resources to help assist parishes as they think about the future under the umbrella of Living Ely 2025.


Living Ely2025 - Downloads

Here you can download a summary version of the LivingEly 2025 support document, as well as the full guide and other materials to help support your church in LivingEly 2025.

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