St Margaret's Mission Action Plan

Our Mission Action Plan

- unanimously approved by the Parochial Church Council on July 26, 2006.

1 The Building of St Margaret's Church

The building is one of our greatest strengths and we wish to explore ways it could be better used to advance the ministry and mission of the Church in the city centre.

Strengths of the building include:
   the large coherent space,
   the visibility of the building at the junction of St Margaret's Way and Vaughan/Burleys Way,
   its geographical location in relation to city centre and
   Riverside regeneration developments.

We agreed to employ a professional consultant to come up with suggestions for developments of the building based on the following considerations:

   Flexibility of seating, to allow for a wide variety of uses
   Increased visibility for passers-by by having glass doors at the west end
   Ensuring the building is friendly for people with disabilities
   A discrete space for quiet prayer - open to people of different traditions
   A focus for Sunday worship
   Provision for choir space
   Staging
   Kitchen facilities
   Lighting and sound system fit for purpose
   Heating
   The possibility of additional building - for storage, etc?

2 Hospitality

We desire to build on our valued reputation for hospitality and to achieve this we will:

Ensure information is available in other languages

Respond more effectively to needs of people with disabilities

Ensure that newcomers aremore involved in the life of the Church

Host a regular social event for newcomers

Display 'Who's Who' photographs on noticeboard

Develop the lay-led Pastoral Care Scheme

3 Worship that renews and inspires

We acknowledge that the quality of our worship has developed and we wish to continue this by:

Ensuring that our worship is more 'accessible' to a wider range of people; looking, in particular, at the needs of
   Young people,
   Strangers/Visitors,
   and People who have English as a second language

Building the confidence of individual worshippers to participate more in worship by providing Training in reading the Scriptures, Training in leading intercessions, and Encouragement in welcoming ministries

As an integral part of developing the quality of our worship we will look at our provision for lifelong Christian nurture and to help achieve this:

   We will develop and build on our
   Prayer group,
   Ecumenical work and prayer,
   and Study groups

4 Outside the Church Walls

We will build on existing work with schools, especially Fosse School and Slater Street School. We will re-establish contacts with the St Margaret's Campus of Leicester College

Overseas mission:
Develop Fairtrade and Christian Aid links,
Establish contact with a church community overseas / with a mission agency

We commit ourselves to exploring the possibilities of Bus Station Ministry
and Night-time hospitality in the church building

We will prepare a welcome pack for use with local residents, newcomers, etc.