WELCOMING
INSPIRING
ENGAGING
SUSTAINING
MISSION ACTION PLAN
2015-2018
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Now you are the body of Christ,
and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Cor 12)
Welcome!
Welcome is at the heart of St Mary’s mission. The church is a
nurturing and supportive body at the heart of the community, ready
to greet any who cross the threshold with warmth and acceptance.
As members of the body of Christ, we seek to lead lives of selfemptying service to one another, to our community, and to the world
in which we live.
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Context
The parish of Old Basing and Lychpit has a population of
approximately 7500. Although there are some living on low or fixed
incomes, we are a mostly prosperous parish with comparatively low
level of poverty, crime or other measurable social problems.
There is a large number of retired people living in the parish, and a
significant number of young families served by two excellent schools,
Old Basing Infants School, and St Mary’s Church of England Junior
School.
In the most recent census c. 65% of the parish declared themselves to
be Christian, and there is a high number of families coming to the
church for Christenings, Weddings and funerals.
We recognise a number of challenges:
- Creating opportunities to transform nominal Christian affiliation
into lived Christian experience.
- Connecting with families, young singles and couples.
- Addressing the stresses and pressures on life created by highpressure professional and business demands.
- Maintaining the high profile of the Church in the community as
the increasing flux in the population begins to erode the
traditional bonds.
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St Mary’s and our Mission
At present the Worshipping Community of St Mary’s hovers around
120. Over the last two years we have been delighted to welcome
several new members to our congregation, including a number of
families who have begun attending our innovative new Family
Communion Service.
We are proud of our Sacramental tradition of worship, and seek to
make its traditional structure sufficiently flexible and accessible to
accommodate the needs of all without surrendering the reverence and
awe that belongs to the liturgy.
In thinking about our future as a church, we have isolated certain key
areas in need of attention:
-Communication – The need to communicate effectively both within
and beyond the church community through internal structures and
through attention-grabbing publicity.
-Personal and Spiritual growth – Developing the ability of church
members to articulate and share their faith in word and in practise.
- Youth Work – To pay careful attention to the needs of our young
people.
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- Giving - To increase giving and develop our facilities to meet the
needs of worship and mission effectively.
- Reaching out – developing links with the wider church, and sharing
time and resources with groups and communities who are marginalised
or stand in particular need.
We have found that these chime well with the 4 strategic priorities of
the Diocese of Winchester:
Under God, delighting in his grace and rooted in the diocesan rule of life, we will be a diocese
in which:
We grow authentic disciples, going out as individuals passionately, confidently and
courageously sharing their faith, and coming together as creative church communities of
prayer and worship that live out kingdom values.
We re-imagine the church intentionally connecting and engaging with our local
communities in culturally relevant ways. We will rejoice in the richness of the ‘mixed
economy’ of all ministry and proactively promote vibrant parochial and breathtaking
pioneering ministries among ‘missing’ generations, e.g. children, young people, under 35s.
We are agents of social transformation using our influence as a diocese to transform
public and personal life. We will demonstrate loving faith at work, in local communities and
across the globe bringing healing, restoration and reconciliation, e.g. through Education,
Social Enterprise, Health Care, Spiritual Care Teams.
We belong together in Christ, practising sacrificial living and good stewardship of all that
God has entrusted to us. We will combine radical generosity, care and capacity building with
a clear focus on directing finance into the mission of Jesus. Sharing and multiplying local good
practice, using people, buildings and other resources wisely we will seek to boldly prune,
plant and invest in building for the kingdom.
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Growing Authentic Disciples - WELCOMING
 The Pilgrim Course - Because a lively faith needs
constantly to be stimulated, the parish has adopted the
Church of England’s nurture course to provide an
introduction to newcomers and food for those already on
the journey.
 House Groups – Pilgrim will develop into a number of
self-sustaining House groups providing mutual support for
their members and a welcoming and accessible entry
point for others to the life of the church.
 Occasional Offices – Because St Mary’s is blessed with a
significant number of Christenings and Weddings and
remains the place where many turn for Funerals, we are
committed to sharing the gospel of Jesus with those with
little church contact whom these attract. Visitors are
welcomed warmly, and invited and encouraged to share
more fully in the life of the church.
 Families and young adults - We will seek training
opportunities to renew and develop our ministry to young
people, keeping it engaging, relevant and innovative. We
will target missional activities towards families in Lychpit.
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Re-imagining the Church - INSPIRING
 Weekly Café – Maintaining St Mary’s position as a social
hub in the village, we will create ‘Coffee Catch-up’, a
weekly space for people to gather and chat in welcoming
surroundings where representatives of St Mary’s will be
available for bookings, contact, and, where appropriate,
pastoral care.
 Worship in new contexts – We will seek to carry our
worship out beyond the confines of the church building,
making full use of our beautiful churchyard and the
various community spaces in Old Basing and Lychpit
through pioneering new services, retreats and quiet days.
 Fun – We shall seek opportunities for the church family to
be together more socially. eg. A regular parish Sunday
Lunch.
 Music – St Mary’s has long enjoyed the benefits of an
enthusiastic robed choir. We will endeavour to safeguard
the future of music in St Mary’s by seeking a talented
individual to establish a parallel Youth Choir/Band which
will draw upon the talent and enthusiasm of local
children.
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Transforming Society - ENGAGING
 Building links with the wider church – We recognise that
we in Old Basing belong to the One Holy Catholic and
Apostolic Church, which has no borders in time or space.
We will seek to create links of mutual care and support
with parishes in contexts different from our own through
a local parish link, and with St Apollo’s Church in
Katakala, Uganda.
 Work with Schools – We have excellent relationships with
the primary-level schools in the parish, regularly offering
worship, learning together, and sharing resources. We will
continue to build on these links, and seek opportunities
both at home and further afield through the shared school
link to Katakala.
 Pastoral contact and visiting – Strong community links
enable a dedicated team of visitors to offer the
sacraments and provide opportunities for worship at home
and in residential care homes. We will seek to develop a
wider ministry of visiting and pastoral care, especially for
bereaved families, drawing on the gifts and strengths of
the wider membership of St Mary’s.
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Sacrificial Living and Good Stewardship - SUSTAINING
 Church Fabric – We are blessed at St Mary’s with an
outstandingly beautiful Grade 1 listed building.
Respecting our existing heritage, we will adapt the pews
in the South aisle and at the front of church to create a
more effective worship space, and refurbish our
children’s play area.
 Increased giving – We recognise our responsibility both to
fund the mission of the parish and to contribute to the
needs of less fortunate parishes through Parish Share
giving. We will adopt an established Stewardship
Programme and commit to raising our regular and other
giving by 20% over the next three years.
 Community Events – St Mary’s is ideally positioned as a
venue for village occasions. We host an annual Flower
Festival/ Fete and Christmas festival alongside countless
other events, whilst running a popular Ploughman’s Lunch
Club also playing host to community organisations like the
Cubs, U3A, Alzheimer’s Society and Basing Singers. We
will seek to develop these imaginatively as links with the
community and valuable sources of income.
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Plan
Review
Act
In order to ensure that the plan is more than a series of
aspirations, we require a regular review by the PCC of
progress against a clear set of proposed initiatives.
Growing
Authentic
Disciples
Action
House Groups
Steering
Re-imagining
the Church
Coffee Catch-up DF
Transforming
Society
Pastoral Visiting SL
Sacrificial
Living
Stewardship
Programme
Review Date
RH?
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