LONDON - 31 August 2005 - 360 words

'Indispensable' evangelisation resource for parishes

A new resource aimed at helping parishes engage with contemporary spiritualities has been described as an "indispensable" evangelisation tool.

Equipping Your Church in a Spiritual Age" has been written by members of the Group for Evangelisation which is a co-ordinating group of Churches Together in England.  It is designed to be used by parish groups to help them explore ways in which they can reach those who are not members of the Church but are spiritually open.  Mgr Keith Barltrop, Director of the Catholic Agency to Support Evangelisation (CASE), said: "For those looking for a new approach to communicating the Gospel, this is an indispensable ecumenical evangelisation tool. Through a process of reflection and prayer, and by offering very practical ideas and resources, the workbook promises to help Christian communities across England and Wales engage in local mission." 

The workbook is the fruit of a national Spirituality Tour which took place in 2004. This resulted in the collation and cataloguing of the creative ways in which Christians were engaging with contemporary culture and spiritualities.  Two priorities underpin the resource: to help churches understand what was meant by "the spiritual age in which we live" and to give them some ideas on how they might engage evangelistically with contemporary spiritualities.

Just as Jesus constantly reached out to those on the edges, the workbook aims to equip Christians to do the same.  Many of the suggestions made in the book encourage Churches to offer some kind of spiritual "experience" recognising that we live in times when people are less open to a presentation of organised religions or to denominational commitment.  Mgr Barltrop added: "This is a ready-made tool. If you are serious about home mission, I urge you to use this resource. As a national Catholic agency, the team at CASE is also here to supplement this resource by offering additional training, resources and advice to Catholic parishes."

Christian groups can use the resource as a weekly study / reflection guide, and permission is given for photocopying the book for group work.  The three axis upon which the book hangs are for Christians to listen to the emerging spiritual age in which they find themselves, to discern what to specifically offer those people in their given locality and then to act by the actual organisation of events.

For a copy of the workbook contact any Christian bookshop or send a cheque made payable to 'Group for Evangelisation' for £9.99 (inc p & p) to Revd Roger Whitehead, 116 High Street, Harrold, Bedford, MK43 7BJ, tel. 01234 721127 e-mail: roger@gfe.org.uk.  For more information about CASE see: http://www.caseresources.org.uk

© Independent Catholic News 2005

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