Our Church Plan (Mission Plan)

Last Updated on February 20, 2020 by

Our Church plan was developed by a small group, arising from a Visioning day in Autumn of 2013.

The opening statement states:
We want our Church first and foremost to be a community of Christian Action.  So in other words a church not just there for itself, but serving the community, being a sign of God’s Kingdom.

We acknowledge some of the challenges we face:
Chaos. Busy lives, full of distraction, mean we all struggle to make time and space for reflection and nurture. When do we find time for worship – we need to make it as powerful and personal as possible.
Isolation. Rural living means that transport and communication can be hard to organise it can be tough for some people to make friends and find support.
Scarcity. As a benefice, we must support each other by sharing resources across two villages – especially our time and expertise – while respecting individual village identities. We have limited resources and limited money.

Our Continuing Vision :
This church plan,  is a continuation of our previous plan of 2008.
We will grow a Church that is open to all. In our previous plan we stated we wanted to be a “Church without walls”
We will develop and display confidence as Christians. Similarly in our previous plan we created the image of our church that gathers around a camp fire, on the fire is cooking pot that feeds everyone richly. – ie we are fed by the rich broth of faith enriched by fellowship and togetherness.
We will seek to serve the community. We seek to be church not just there for itself, but serving the community, being a sign of God’s Kingdom.

Our Mission:
What are our values? How are we going to achieve our vision?
To provide a warm welcome.
To support each other in our spiritual growth.
To be visible, capable and available as Christian helpers in our community.
To encourager the spiritual development of young people.

Each year each PCC identifies specific objectives
For Biddenden 2017/8 these are:
Develop awareness of the PCC “In need support fund”.
Make the church more open and accessible to visitors.
Develop the Tylden-Pattenson space.
The Churchyard – Determine where burials are to take place once the current location is full.

For Smarden 2017/18 these are
To encourage Active Church
To develop Lay ministry
To reaffirm our understanding and commitment to Fairtrade

A copy of our full Church plan can be downloaded here:
Note the priorities for the year are now superseded.
For Smarden: Smarden Church Plan (July 2016)
For Biddenden: Biddenden Church Plan (July 2016)

Updated May 2018.