‘Encounter Sessions’ for Saturday 25th February, 10-12.30am
The Still Small Voice event on 25th February will take place at St Andrew’s Church, Shifnal.
You can choose from the following sessions, please sign up on the list at Church.
1 21st Century Discipleship – Mick Ellor
This session examines what “discipleship” means in today’s society, culture and church, and the tools we have available to help us, both personal and corporate.
2 Praying For Our Communities – Pauline Mack
The session will ask: How would you pray for your community? And look at different and creative ways of praying. The overall aim is to encounter God’s heart for our communities – so that we can reach out to those in need by praying with a cross–section of Christians.
3 Praying with the Gospels – Mark Rylands
Our imagination is a gift from God. It can be used for make-believe, or the real thing! This session will include an introduction to Ignatius of Loyola and his form of prayer; some help in preparation; a guided opportunity to try it out and then an opportunity for silent personal reflection and then reflection in groups.
4 Spiritual and pastoral Care at the End of Life – Mark Thomas
This session will offer teaching and discussion as to how we can provide appropriate spiritual and pastoral care for those in the last year of life, from the basis of our own humanity, mortality and Christian faith.
5 Faith for Work: Living Every Day with Purpose – Bill Mash
The Bible has a very positive view of the material world and our place as workers in it, but the church has not always shared that. We will look at our motives for work and the opportunities the workplace offers for authentic Christian discipleship. This “Encounter” is both for people in employment, and for anyone who is interested in supporting people in their work, whether it is family, fellow church members, or as part of a ministry of a local church to people at work.
6 Looking after God’s fragile, beautiful creation – Paul Cawthorne
This session will explore practical easy steps to show we care in church and at home, and aim to encourage actions we can easily take to show our commitment to care for creation .
7 Transforming your Local School through Prayer – Libby Leech
This session will include a dvd clip that will inspire you to pray for children. Schools are increasingly the centre of our communities and an increasingly challenging place to be in – so why not pray for your local school? We will work through a step by step guide that highlights the key areas to pray for in schools.
8 Prayer for Healing – Gareth Davies
This ‘encounter’ will focus on presenting a simple prayer model to enable people to pray for the sick and to listen to God. Participants will be encouraged to listen to God and pray for each other in the workshop
9 Saving the Prodigals: Church Leaving and Returning – Andy Smith
Our churches continue to lose people; for every person in the pews there are four who have left! It is increasingly important that we understand the reasons why people leave to see how we might make changes in how we do church to make that less likely to happen; we can also learn about ways in which some of this huge pool of Church leavers might be helped back to our church communities. In this session, Andy will offer practical strategies to help avoid the leaving and facilitate the returning.