From coffee morning to Sunday morning

From coffee morning to Sunday morning Preparing the church for Back to Church Sunday  A five-session course to help move our relationships forward from a social encounter to a spiritual engagement

How to use this slideshow This slideshow accompanies the course handbook and should be used in conjunction with it The first few slides “How this course works” are to help present the course to your Church Council, Circuit Meeting and/or Local Preachers’ Meeting, and to any others interested in the possibility For a more detailed presentation, you can use extracts from Session 1 and add any slides of your own

How to use this slideshow Then each section of the slideshow covers one of the five Sessions of the course You are welcome to adapt this slideshow freely to match your own local circumstances For example, you could use some of the “How this course works” slides to start Session 1 if the attenders have not seen much about the course before The slideshow closes with “Seven marks of healthy churches” which can be used in conjunction with Session 2

How this course works It is one of the resources offered by the Methodist Church for Back to Church Sunday and should be used in conjunction with others that you choose There is no charge for any of the course materials It is aimed at helping members and attenders to develop their relationships with people they know who used to go to church but no longer do so Not just so they accept an invitation to Back to Church Sunday, but so that, over time, relationships can evolve from a social encounter to a spiritual engagement

Does this seem familiar?

And this?

The aim is to bridge the gap!

How this course works In one or more small groups Five Sessions of about 1½ hours All members and regular attenders are encouraged to come to the course The Sunday service before each Session could follow the theme and Bible focus of the Session All attenders have Session handouts which they use for the Session and then keep The slideshows can be used during the Sessions alongside the handouts

How this course works A number of action points are also identified during the course which would be brought back to the Church Council for discussion The course goes beyond Back to Church Sunday in that it helps people to develop relationships of trust with friends so that they come to feel welcomed and part of the church community – with no hidden agendas!

How this course works Session 1: Setting out, goes through what the course is for and how it works, and gives the chance for course attenders to talk together and ask more about the course and about Back to Church Sunday, so that everyone is brought up to speed. Session 2: Preparing the church gets the course into gear in earnest and deals with how the church can prepare and put things into place for your Back to Church Sunday initiative. Session 3: First steps then works through how individual church members and ‘regulars’ can take some first steps in developing their relationships with people they know. Session 4: Next steps takes this further. Session 5: Stepping out gives the opportunity to draw it all together and plan what to do next, and introduces other resources that are available to support the initiative.