Being Invitational

"Absolutely AMAZING and so HELPFUL in every way. Best talk I’ve heard all year and totally brilliantly delivered. Could have gone on listening. Needs to be heard across the Diocese."

These were the thoughts of one attendee after a morning spent exploring what it means to be invitational, why we are not and the beautiful healing component of mission.

The Ministry for Mission CMD session entitled 'Building a culture of invitation' provided the space for honest discussion and exploration into the topic of invitation – digging down into the reason why nearly all Church communities would describe themselves as welcoming, but no Church community would call itself welcoming and inviting. It also looked at the invitational nature of Jesus and what Michael described as the catastrophe of separating mission from discipleship.

Michael also spent time on the problematic effect of how we the Church seem to have replaced the philosophy of faithfulness with a philosophy of success.

M4M Resource Officer Steve Inglis explains; "Michael was able to lead us deep into the missional nature of God, into an honest look at how we respond to the call of God. He really opened up some of the baggage that we carry when it comes to mission and beautifully illustrated the way in which God takes ordinary, broken people and invites them to partner with Him and each other in his great co-mission.

"It was a fantastic session, with fantastic people, and a fantastic speaker. Cause for renewed hope, don’t you think? Let’s hope that Michael will be back again soon for more..."