The Aim of Discovery
This can be summed up in a short sentence:
Working together to show God’s love through action in our community
So what does this mean?
• Show God’s Love – understanding that Jesus had a big heart for people who are vulnerable and are rejected, and wants us to be the same. As we meet the needs of those around us we discover more about God’s love as we trust him, and see him in those we serve.
• Action in the community – Putting God’s love into action by doing some practical actions that make a difference in the lives of those who have needs. These don’t have to be big things, and in fact it can be about doing the same thing we are currently doing, but this approach may help us to do it even better.
• Working together – praying and seeking God’s will for how we can do this with what we have - being a team, sharing ideas, skills and experience, having fun, learning more about God’s plan for us, celebrating our achievements however small, and sharing this with others in our church and community.
What Will Be Achieved by Doing Discovery?
• The lives of the excluded and vulnerable in our community will be improved
• A small group within the church will become more aware of the needs and opportunities for the church to work in the community. They will be equipped with skills and ideas to strengthen and improve existing work and or start new initiatives.
• Confidence will be built and a vision gained for undertaking future initiatives by the small group and the wider church in the community
What will happen in the first six months?
Someone from Tearfund or the resource organisation will meet with the church leadership to explain about Discovery, to answer questions, and to plan with them the best way ahead.
The church leadership then appoints a core group of 8 - 12 people to be involved in Discovery.
This group meets together with a Tearfund facilitator every month for six months. During their time together they will:
- Celebrate the good things about their church and their community
- Listen to people and groups in their community
- Identify some of the big issues and needs
- Explore ways in which the church could respond to some of these issues and needs
- Decide on, plan and start a church initiative that will help to address one of these issues
each meeting of the core group will involve three key elements:
- Team building – helping the core group to work well together.
- Spiritual reflection – opportunities to think and pray about the community
- Planning a practical action – fun activities to explore issues in the community and simple techniques to help plan what to do
During the first six months, the Tearfund facilitator also meets regularly with the church leadership to:
- keep them informed of the progress of the group
- help them think through ways in which they can support the core group’s work
- help them to think through ways to envision the whole church in getting involved in the community
- help them think through the implications of the process for the future direction of the church
The church leadership and core group envision the whole church in getting involved in the community throughout the six months period, using some of the Discovery activities in church services, home groups, and special workshops.
At the end of the six months period, an event is held to celebrate all that has been achieved, to recall all that has been learnt, and to think ahead to the future.
What will happen after the first six months?
If the church initiative that the core group started is an on-going activity (eg, a weekly lunch-club), the church may look to continue this. If the church initiative was a one-off event, then the core group will be helped to consider what the next action should be.
The advisor/enabler from the resource organisation will continue to meet regularly with the core group (or the co-ordination group of the initiative) to help them plan and develop their work.
Training for the core group will be provided on a regular basis to meet specific needs that arise (eg, how to recruit and manage volunteers; how to fund-raise; how to manage finances; how to hold committee meetings; etc). This training will be provided by the resource organisation with help from Tearfund.