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Download the pdf document below - but Page 1 (the letter from Richard) is reproduced here...
  As you read and pray through what’s here, following up my talk in November 2007 on “Handling and Shaping Change”, I hope you’ll find yourself as excited as I am by this “taste of the future” and by the sense that there’s good fruit to be enjoyed ahead.
You’ll read, on each of the next three pages, our thoughts and plans under each of the “three dimensions of growth” - deeper in our faith, wider in our welcome and together in our fellowship. Each area of the life and growth of All Souls begins with some quotes written down at the AGM as we expressed reasons to be thankful for what God was doing. You’ll then recognise plenty of ideas from past conversations and evenings - whether at PCC, the AGM or Dreamtime evenings and in the various leadership teams. It’s exciting to see ideas becoming plans! At the bottom of each page is the question of response - just as I’ll be asking on Sunday how we might respond financially to the vision we’re setting out. Underlying all our thinking and praying into the future at the moment is a growing conviction about the year to come. It’s simply this: 2008 is going to be a key year of transition for us... The growth we’ve experienced over the past few years means we’re neither small enough to do things the way we’ve done them before, nor yet large enough to do many of the things we feel called to do. That could produce frustration (“But why can’t we...?”) and fear (“It’s not like it used to be..!”). Instead, we need to ask God to give us determination to grow through the “troublesome teens” of this stage of church growth with grace and trust. The ‘prize’ at the end of it will be transition to a church that carries with it the DNA and character of the All Souls we love, but that is healthily sustainable and able to do many more of the things we’ve dreamt of doing - from marriage or parenting courses, to kids’ sports clubs, local outreach or social action. The coming year is ‘key’ because we have the challenge of putting good foundations in place so that our growth is well resourced, Jesus-shaped and thoroughly healthy! We can go on... “...nurturing what God has given us here to be an increasingly effective centre for our community, giving people of every age the opportunity to experience the love of God in Jesus through the Spirit for themselves.” It’s an exciting place to be and an exciting year ahead! 
Richard - October 2007
Download the rest of the Vision 2008 paper...
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