Chester Diocese
News Item
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Diocesan team in place to ensure Back to Church Sunday 2008 is a big success
A TEAM of clergy and lay people have been gathered together by the Revd Richard Burton, our Parish Mission Development Officer, to support churches in their preparations for Back to Church Sunday this year. The team has organised training evenings next month for this innovative evangelism project. Back to Church Sunday is all about inviting former church-going people back to church and welcoming them warmly when they come. The project proved a big hit last year, when 180 of our parishes took part. This year it is hoped to build on that success and spread the idea still further. Training events will be held in five venues around the Diocese – as detailed below: • Wednesday 9 April, St Saviour’s, Oxton, Wirral • Thursday 10 April, St Michael’s, Macclesfield • Tuesday 15 April, Burley Memorial Hall, Waverton • Tuesday 22 April, St Luke’s, Willaston, near Nantwich • Thursday 24 April, Romiley Life Centre. Each of the above events will start at 7.30pm and finish at 9pm. And the Back to Church Sunday team have also offered to attend any Deanery Synod or Clergy Chapter meeting in the coming months to explain what is happening for the project in 2008. Already the team has some bookings for synods. Richard Burton said: “Last year the events were a tremendous success in our Diocese, far exceeding all our expectations. It was clear from all the reports we had back that those churches that set up a planning team did really well. “I would like to encourage parishes to put Back to Church Sunday on their PCC agendas as soon as possible and set up a team to begin to think how best people can be welcomed to our local churches.”
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The Revd Richard Burton
Alison Gosling – who renewed her Christian faith after attending Back to Church Sunday 2006 at St Anne’s Church, Fulshaw, Wilmslow
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