DIOCESAN DEVELOPMENT DAY 2011

Last Updated on Friday, 21 October 2011 05:57

A Time to Grow: Exploring Christian Nurture

Keynote speakers:

Bishop Stephen Cottrell

Bishop Martin Warner

Many thanks for the hundreds of people who attended this day.

You can watch the keynotes speeches below, or there is a DVD available from resources (Church House) for you to borrow.

Canon Mark Wigglesworth, Director of Mission & Pioneer Ministry:

“Approximately 450 people from over 100 different churches filled the Philadelphia Conference Centre on Saturday 1st October.  The day started with uplifting worship led by people who have been part of the Diocese's very successful Worship 4 Today course.  This led into an inspiring opening address from Bishop Stephen Cottrell, the Bishop of Chelmsford, who identified four things that make a difference when we are thinking about church growth:

• Teaching people to pray
• Developing a rule of life
• Agreeing the bottom line - that is the essentials of the Christian faith and church life, and
• Building a place of nurture.

All that +Stephen Cottrell said supported our own Bishop Steven's Growth Strategy, currently being introduced to the deaneries.  Workshop were held before and after lunch, helping people to explore the theme of Christian nurture in a variety of contexts.  The day ended with more worship and a plenary address from Bishop Martin Warner, Bishop of Whitby, who used images from York Minster to remind us we are living stones and we each have a part to play framing windows to heaven.

More pictures of the day can be found on our Facebook page.

Check out the highlights of the day in video here.

Clive Howarth, Member of Bishop’s Council:

“Bishop Stephen Cottrell, in his keynote address, encouraged each and every church to offer at least one nurture course every year.  The workshops gave a wide variety of guidance on how to provide nurture through various published courses; through different styles and traditions of church and to different sectors of the community.  Course leaders offered advice and inspiration and the experience of others, in the various workshops, combined to provide a full array of resources.  Bishop Martin Warner, in addressing the “Big Vision, Tight Focus”, asked delegates to look at our church buildings to help identify the characteristics of growth, using the example of stonework at York Minster to illustrate: “Come to him like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5).

Watch Bishop Stephen Cottrell's opening address here on YouTube.  You may download his PowerPoint at the bottom of this page.

Watch Bishop Martin Warner's closing address here on YouTube.

Attachments:

File	order	Last Modified
Bishop Stephen Cottrell's PowerPoint	1	10/06/11 13:42