30th June 2007 @ St. Mary's Twyford:
Engage! Launch & Brainstorming Evening
Project Manager : Paul Burton

The Engage! project was officially launched at this Saturday evening event. Over more pizza & cake than was probably good for us, a group of twenty or so members of the Twyford Area LEP churches met together to dream dreams and brainstorm ideas of what we could do to engage! with our local community.

After welcoming people and describing the format of the evening, project manager Paul Burton led a short reflection on the "parable of the talents" from Matthew Chapter 25. Although it is a well known parable, we were encouraged to take a fresh look at its relevance to us as we thought about what we could do. Three particular aspects of the parable are particularly relevant:

1. The talents are something that belonged to the master (v14), were given according to the ability of each servant (v15), were given to be invested and risked, and were for the benefit of the master - not the servant.
   
   These points suggest that the talents are not our "gifts" (as we often interpret this passage), but the opportunities that God gives us to use our gifts and abilities. So talents are related to, but not the same as our gifts.
2. When the time of accounting comes (v19-23) we see that the first and second servants both receive the same praise and "reward" from the master despite the fact that the second servant only brings his master two new talents, compared to the first servant's five talents. God's judgement is not based on our gifts, but whether we use our gifts and abilities to use the opportunities he gives us.
   
   So we should not think our gifts or abilities are too small or insignificant to be used for God's purposes.
3. The third servant is a very strong warning to us as individuals and churches. The master's treatment of this servant tells us in stark words that God's Kingdom has no space for those unwilling to risk their lives for him.
   
   If we want to grow in our relationship with God and if we want our churches to be effective in reaching out and engaging with our community, we have no option than to take risks and make the most of every God given opportunity.

 The main body of the evening was spent moving around between five "stations", each of which concentrated on one particular theme of how we engage! with our community. At each station, people could stop and discuss ideas and possibilities related to that particular theme.

Lots of ideas were generated during this "brainstorming" session, which can be seen by clicking on the links below.

• engage! at Work
• engage! at Home
• engage! with Youth
• engage! at Church
• engage! with Community

Our challenge now is to work through this rich wealth of ideas, to identify where God is already at work and where he is providing opportunities for us to use our gifts and abilities in order for us to engage! with those around us, and ultimately for those around us to engage! with God.

And finally - a challenging comment came from someone on the "engage! at Church" theme:

"We need to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable"