'KBeing 'bay in the neighbourhood'
If, as a church, you want to be meaningful to the people in your village or neighbourhood, ´Church in the neighbourhood´ will help you do so! Using the guides, you will discover for yourself the answers to questions such as: What do you want to bring as a church? How do you get in touch with local residents? How do we make people enthusiastic to participate? And why is it important to do this as a church?
Sample initiatives
''Church in the neighbourhood' helps you as a congregation move forward. Using a practical start-up guide, you will discover what your neighbourhood looks like and what suits your congregation. You can then choose one of the sample initiatives to get started in your neighbourhood or design your own. The 'Church in the Neighbourhood' project is a joint initiative of the Protestant Church Netherlands, Church in Action, the Christian Reformed Church, Dutch Reformed Church and the Reformed Church Freed.
Principles
The starting guide as well as the guides to the sample initiatives were developed based on the experiences of local municipalities. In all initiatives, there are three main principles:
- the gospel is shared in deeds as well as words. The ratio can vary: sometimes there is more focus on the words, sometimes more on the deeds;
- as 'Church in the neighbourhood', you mainly target people who are not involved in a church community and connect with what is going on in the neighbourhood;
- it is always about relationships with people and not the activity itself. The activity is a means of building and maintaining relationships with people. A worked example can always be adapted to one's own situation.
Network meetings
When you start working with the starter guide or one of the elaborated initiatives, you can participate in the network meetings of 'Church in the neighbourhood'. During these meetings, you can exchange experiences with other churches, get new ideas and attend inspiring workshops.