We are in the process of getting the Street Pastors initiative http://www.streetpastors.co.uk/ off the ground which is going to be great for our local area and will help the Police deal with anti social behaviour and the many stag and hen parties that come into Whitley Bay in the summer, as well as dealing with the regular night time economy throughout the year.
Another venture which has proved to be challenging and equipping is the msi course http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/missionshapedintro which come out of Fresh Expressions. This 6 week course is there to help churches get their heads around fresh expressions and it also helps churches to think think about mission in its broadest sense.
I have also been working over the last couple of years with one of our churches in one of the villages surrounding Whitley Bay, it has been great to get to know the folk and to make connections with other people in the village as we work on events together. This is also a challenge as many of the folk in the church are elderly and are happy to just keep the show on the road, and maybe aren't so keen to get involved in new ideas and projects. What is clear though, is that many churches are beginning to see that things can't go on as they are and some thing will need to change otherwise over the next few years we will see an awful lot of small churches closing.
The next few weeks, months and years are going to be interesting!
