HOPE for the Future in Tredegar
HOPE08 has given our parish plenty of opportunities to engage with the community and take the church outside of the building. Here’s what we’ve been up to:
St George’s Church have been participating in HOPE08 throughout the year. Last May they held a very successful HOPE for the Family Funday, and then in July they held a HOPE 2 CU tea party. In October they invited the local school children to plant a bulb in their Garden of HOPE; and boy did the schools respond!!! Over a period of a week more than eight hundred children from five different schools brought their Books of HOPE (which contained their hopes for the future) to the church. They prayed and then planted a bulb as a reminder of the work they would have to do to make their hopes become a reality.
The parishioners of St George also wrote to every family they had done funerals for in 2008 and invited them to plant bulbs in the Garden of HOPE in memory of their loved one. By the end of the week 1250 bulbs had been planted in to the church lawn, and the Garden of HOPE was dedicated at the Sunday Eucharist.
Looking to the future: in November the teenagers of the parish - Teen HOPE - are planning a 24-hour prayer event and inviting the whole congregation to get involved. Finally, at Christmas each member of the church will be encouraged to give a Gift of HOPE to someone who doesn’t come to church, as a means of spreading the Gospel.
HOPE08 has given us plenty of opportunities to engage with the community and take the church outside of the building. It has given the mission and ministry of our parish a focus and an identity. With everything we’ve done, and all that we’re still planning for the future, one thing is certain:
Hope does not disappoint us!
Revd John Davis