Turramurra Uniting is a church driven by the calling that we believe God has placed upon us—a calling to help each other to grow in our faith in Jesus; to care and empower our church family, especially our young people and seniors; and to share the love of God with everyone through our words and actions. Each year our Church Council spends some time prayerfully considering the way that God’s calling should be enacted for that year and casts this Vision on Vision Sunday. We then over the next 12 months bring that Vision to life by work towards the goals that we have set.
During the second half of 2022, we had some church wide meetings to look at renewign our Vision. These gathering used some of the ideas and dreams that Church Council and other key groups had been working through and together we came up with five key areas that we felt God was calling us as a church to invest extra resources and energy into over the next 3 years. Not to say that other areas are not important too, just that we felt that God was calling us to invest extra into these key mission areas.
These five areas are:
Faith and Discipleship
Helping people to know Jesus and spiritually grow in their faith
In 2023 we aim to grow our faith and discipleship by:
- Exploring how we can refresh our worship services so they continue to be engaging, inclusive, full of participation but above all, spiritually helpful.
- GrowthLinks – a new page on our website where we will place some suggestions of books or articles that you might like to read, podcasts to listen to or YouTubes to watch to help your spiritual growth journey.
Small Groups
Running & Resourcing Small Groups / Home Support Groups.
In 2023 we aim to grow our small groups by:
- Encouragement for current small groups to focus on gathering and connection for the first half of 2023. We will help people find a small group that works for them (or start new ones)
- Women and Mens group to meet to encourage further support and connection.
- Three week Lenten study (1st, 15th and 29th March) for those who wish to have a dedicated Bible study.
Pastoral Care and Connection
Offering love and care to all people connected to the church.
In 2023 we aim to grow our pastoral care and sense of connection by:
- Encouraging informal ways of of people connecting and supporting each other – over a meal or cuppa—in the first part of 2023
- New initiatives—gathering people around a meal such as the “Winter Warmer Lunch” program or “Advent suppers”
- Support initiatives to help people connect such as TUC and Friends, Coffee with Kevin and Phil, and Wayne’s Bus Trip Program.
Growing Young
As a church we want to Grow Young, both in average age and in our support and encouragement of youth and young adults.
In 2023 we aim to grow young by:
- Committing to running the “Growing Young” Program church wide after Easter, helping to empower youth and young adults.
- Continuing to explore a Friday Night Café for parents of Turrazone Kids
- Mentoring program, encouraging one on one intergenerational catch ups
- Supporting ReUniting program
Being a Good Neighbour
Committed to living out Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbours.
In 2023 we aim to grow our community connections by:
- Building on the success of the Community Carols event, we are planning to hold a community “Family Fun Night” each term of 2023 (with the Carols being the term 4 event). The first 3 would be held on a Friday night and include youth group families, Turratots family and family from the community.
- Continue to grow the Community Choir in the first half of 2023