Our Mission Statement
1.0 Our Mission is:
To support and resource our Methodist communities appropriately and encourage each one in its mission as effective church.
2.0 We aim to:
- – to be a discipleship movement shaped for mission.
- – support and resource our Methodist communities in fulfilling ‘Our Calling.’
‘The calling of the Methodist Church is to respond to the gospel of God’s love in Christ and to live out its discipleship in worship and mission.’
- Worship.
- Learning and Caring.
- Service.
- Evangelism.
- Encourage innovative partnership:
- with other Methodist communities.
- with ecumenical partners.
- With secular partners
- in specific mission projects.
- Resource and provide pastoral oversight for our Methodist Churches through ordained and lay staff within the limits of available funding.
- Resource specific mission initiatives to meet the challenges of our changing communities.
Circuit Mission Statement
The Ipswich Methodist Circuit aims to support the Methodist Churches in the area around Ipswich, Felixstowe and Woodbridge in their primary work of Worship, Learning and caring, service and evangelism.
Circuit Vision Statement September 2022
Aims:
- To continue to support the existing twenty-two worshipping congregations.
- To help people to worship in creative and inspirational styles with provision of preachers and in resourcing Local Arrangements.
- To encourage lifelong discipleship, helping people to grow in faith in a safe environment.
- To serve the community around us, supporting those in need by our giving of time, money, and service.
- To witness to the communities we serve, sharing the love of Christ and developing new worshipping congregations
Objectives:
Worship:
Aim
To resource Churches to experience the best possible worship as an offering to God.
- To provide quarterly Circuit worship
- To provide weekly printed worship complimented with a digital sermon.
- To continue to pioneer Bite Sized Worship and Thought for the Day.
- To pioneer creative styles of worship like Café, puppet ministry, and contemporary worship.
- To resource Churches for Local Arrangements
Learning and Caring:
Aim:
To build up disciples for Christ.
- To resource or write materials for house groups, Advent groups and Lent groups.
- To help people with lifelong Christian learning.
- Encourage people to engage with challenging and difficult issues, like the Climate Crisis, God in love unites us, Credit Crisis, contemporary, Christian and Methodist Issues.
- To support local Churches with their pastoral ministry.
- To ensure that Safeguarding records are up to date and the latest training provided.
Service:
Aim:
To encourage local Churches and the Circuit to engage with the servant ministry.
- To review and catalogue the different charities being supported by Churches around the Circuit, both home and overseas.
- To identify areas of need around the Circuit, that we should be supporting.
- To identify external agencies that the church can work with and create active partnerships.
- To actively promote a social ministry
- To ensure that the Circuit Website is populated with helpful information and contacts.
- Our aim is to encourage hopefulness to all
Evangelism:
Aim:
To share the gospel message with people new to faith and to grow the Kingdom of God.
- To further develop ecumenical work and strengthen links with other denominations.
- To improve information sharing, through the wide choice of media available to us by developing the website and social media opportunities.
- To identify opportunities for further outreach and development making use of the skills and gifts of the Circuit people.
- To create new and creative ways of strengthening links with new people and build up those on the periphery of the Church.
- To remind people in the church communities that Methodism was born as an evangelical movement.
Administration:
Aim:
To encourage responsible stewardship in all the Circuit Churches.
- To deal with all staffing issues, ensuring that there is a balance of appropriate ministers both lay and ordained to support the work and mission of local Churches.
- To deal with the finances of the circuit, budget carefully and ensure that we are working responsibly under the remit of The Methodist Church and the Charity Commission.
- To look after the properties under the management of the circuit, namely the manses and be responsible landlords. To work with Churches to ensure that their building are kept in line with Methodist Church guidance, with all reporting up to date.
- To review policies as a circuit and to ensure that local church policies are current and accurate.
Priorities for the Methodist Church
In partnership with others wherever possible, the Methodist Church will concentrate its prayers, resources, imagination and commitments on this priority:
To proclaim and affirm its conviction of God’s love in Christ, for us and for all the world; and renew confidence in God’s presence and action in the world and in the Church
As ways towards realising this priority, the Methodist Church will give particular attention to the following:
- Underpinning everything we do with God-centred worship and prayer
- Supporting community development and action for justice, especially among the most deprived and poor – in Britain and worldwide
- Developing confidence in evangelism and in the capacity to speak of God and faith in ways that make sense to all involved
- Encouraging fresh ways of being Church
- Nurturing a culture in the Church which is people-centred and flexible