Come and See is an opportunity for us to unite in local mission and evangelism: we pray, we invite, we celebrate and we offer hospitality, all in the power of the Holy Spirit, telling the Good News of Jesus Christ.
- Visit the Come and See website at www.comeandsee.uk
- Download the information on this page as a leaflet
Archbishop Sentamu, together with the Bishops of the Northern Province and their teams, will be working in our Diocese from Thursday to Sunday, 12-15 March 2020. We anticipate being joined by about 30 Bishops each with a small team of lay people, children and youth workers and clergy. Each Bishop will be allocated to a deanery.
How will Come and See be organised?
Local leadership: Deanery and Parish
Each deanery is asked to begin planning the weekend of services, events and activities. This might be either through the Deanery Leadership Team or a specially formed Deanery Come and See Planning Team. Just like the Deanery Missions, some of these events will be in each local church; others might be deanery-wide. Each Bishop is bringing a team of 3-5 people, providing the opportunity for a range of activities to be happening at the same time: visits to schools, children and youth events, breakfasts, quizzes, morning coffees, music evenings and Sunday morning services each with testimony and Good News… whatever works best for you and those you invite.
Each parish is invited to form its own Come and See Planning Team which will work alongside the Deanery Team (it might be the PCC). Each parish is encouraged to host its own Come and See activities during the weekend, making use of the Bishops and their Teams. You might also invite other churches in your area to be involved.
- Think and pray about what went really well during the Deanery Mission:
- could you do this again? could you do something different too?
- think about what you have in the church diary – how might you tweak it and give it an outreach focus?
- whom might you invite – family, friends, neighbours, all your church contacts?
Diocesan Planning Team
There is an overall Diocesan Planning Team ready to liaise with each Deanery.
This Team will also work with the Archbishop planning where he goes over the weekend.
The Planning Team will offer support for deaneries and parishes in organising Come and See – watch out for details. Many parishes have already attended a LyCiG conference, the Manual has excellent advice on organising evangelistic events.
Chair: Archdeacon John Day
Dean Jonathan Frost
Diocesan Officers: Revd Dr Gavin Wakefield, Revd Richard White, Martin Sheppard
Local leaders: Revd David Dixon - Scarborough, Ste Corner - Middlesbrough, Lucy Willshaw - Helmsley, Revd Ben Norton - Hull, Revd Richard Carew - York
Finance
The Diocesan budget includes money for Come and See, covering things such as diocesan provided support and resources. The visiting Bishops and Teams’ travel costs are paid from their own diocesan budgets. We hope that local church costs would be met from the PCCs’ budgets for mission for 2020. Each deanery is asked to provide accommodation for the Bishops and their Teams.
Most important of all: Prayer
When Billy Graham was asked to name the three most important things about a mission, he did not include preaching, nor the use of a big venue or big numbers attending. The first thing he singled out was prayer, the second … prayer; and the third… prayer.
Prayer is essential in preparing for mission: we are dependent on God who gives growth. A mission will not bring people to faith unless Christians are actively praying for and making friends with people outside the household of faith. You might like to use the Thy Kingdom Come prayer resources to help you (www.thykingdomcome.global/resources).
The Archbishop invites us to use his Pilgrimage Prayer as our prayer for Come and See: