General Introduction

In addition to offering to Almighty God the best possible worship, the Church is called to the tasks of Mission and Pastoral Care. Each Parochial Church Council has a responsibility regularly to consider both of these topics, in order to ensure that the principal roles of the Church do not get lost in an agenda dealing only with finance and fabric, important though these latter topics are.

Mission must be at the heart of a PCC’s thinking. The Church exists to proclaim the word and works of God in and to the world, and it is vital that this dimension of our calling is held constantly in view. Mission will find its outworking in many different ways: in evangelism; in outreach to the marginalised of our communities; in speaking and acting in ways which reflect the priorities of the Kingdom of God. Our perspectives on mission will be enlarged and enriched as we engage with and learn from the Church overseas.

• The Anglican Church has identified ‘Five Marks of Mission’. These are

• To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
• To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
• To respond to human need by loving service
• To seek to transform unjust structures of society
• To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

Pastoral care is offered by the whole Church both to its members and to the wider community in which the Church is set. As such it is wider than merely the work of priests, deacons and LLMs. A large number of Church members regularly offer ministry in their community through their membership of secular as well as Church groups. This paper, however, is written to help PCCs and deaneries in their particular calling to offer ministry and pastoral care within parishes and within their wider mission communities.

In their consideration of these topics, PCCs have considerable Diocesan resources available to them for practical and experienced advice. Below are listed a good number of them; in addition, each Deanery (and even parish) may have within its membership individuals and groups who will be in a position to share good practice from their own experience.

A division into Mission and Pastoral Care is inevitably artificial, since a number of Diocesan groups carry a brief which transcends this division; the Board of Church in Society, for example, aids both mission and pastoral care in the Diocese. The divisions are offered here simply to aid readers of this paper locate that individual or body which will be able to provide the advice they need. Specific names, addresses and telephone numbers are printed in the Diocesan Directory.