The world as we emerge from lockdown and beyond will be very different. We have all been impacted by the pandemic, but for some the situation has been devastating. What will this mean for local churches as they work out what mission within local communities looks like?
‘What can you do differently to express more fully God’s love in word and action?’
New Reality, Same Mission – URC
Covid 19 and Your Community – Discussion Paper
This paper draws on emerging data as well as research conducted by the Joint Public Issues Team and Church Action on Poverty. It outlines some of the ways in which Covid 19 may be impacting on your community, and suggests five things which might be true for your community as we look ahead.
New Reality, Same Mission
Our partners in the URC’s Church Related Community Work, Mission and Discipleship teams, along with Church Action on Poverty, have produced the resource ‘New Reality, Same Mission’ to enable individuals and local churches to explore, in more detail, questions of community presence and engagement and social justice in the new reality brought about in the past year by Covid-19.
Step One: Listen
Whilst we might all have experienced the same storm during the pandemic, we certainly haven’t been in the same boat. Those who were locked in poverty before lockdown have often been hit the hardest.
Listening to the different lived experiences of the pandemic within our communities is the place to start, as we explore our mission.
During the pandemic, JPIT and Church Action on Poverty have been listening to and learning from experiences of poverty under lockdown as part of our Gleanings project. You can find out more about this by clicking on the picture below.
From Recovery to Flourishing
A YouGov survey in April 2020 found that ‘only 9% of people in Britain want life to return to normal after the coronavirus outbreak is over’. Most people in the UK do not want to simply go back to life as it was before.
New Reality, Same Mission – URC
As Churches, we long for the flourishing of people and the wellbeing of our planet. As we emerge from the coronavirus crisis, we find ourselves at a critical moment where we could re-shape the economy to enable the wellbeing of all people and the planet.
How could our vision for an economy which supports us from recovery to flourishing play a part in shaping your mission as a church?