Away Day - March 2024
On the first day of Spring - equinox-wise - the Emmanuel Care for Our City leadership team took time out to get together for a day of worship and reflection. We convened at a farmhouse in the Sussex countryside on a glorious spring day which kicked off with our Housing Lead, Rob Liddiard leading us in a time of reflection and self-care, taking a short time out to 'close the door and seek our Father who is in secret'.
Matt Davis brought a financial update on our current projects, helping to frame our prayers and faith for the growing effectiveness of the church sites in the neighbourhoods we serve. Tim Jones detailed the current activities of each of our four strands (housing, wellbeing, food provision and family support) as well as the plan to group each sites activities under the 'Open Door' banner. This refers to the day(s) outside of Sunday that an Emmanuel site is open to the public, offering a combination of food bank, Alphacourse, playgroups, church services, money advice and any manner of service appropriate to the season at a site level.
The two main sessions of the day were expertly led by Steve Horne, guiding the group through the Jubilee+ 'Social Action MOT' material. This exercise gave us the time and space to assess the effectiveness and progress of our social action work at Emmanuel and was both deeply encouraging and agenda-setting for the next season ahead of us. In all a very memorable and refreshing day where we felt the Lord's hand moving us forward in our work for the areas which we serve.
