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Almost two years ago I was asked “Have you read Fr James Mallon’s book, Divine Renovation ?” After a bit of encouragement I started to read the book and it made a lot of sense. I identified with many of the issues Fr James writes about and was very interested to discover how I could move my ministry from a maintenance model to a more missionary model.

In December 2018, we started a Divine Renovation reading group in the parish, meeting weekly throughout Advent and into the New Year to discuss the book. This provoked some great discussion as we reflected on the reality of our parish and the church in general.

It was plain to see that we do indeed spend much of our time looking after those who already come to church and not much time actually “going out to make disciples”.

This was a time of great reflection, thinking about how life is in our parish at the moment and honestly evaluating how we live and work as a parish and church community. We identified our need to be more outward looking and also how we need to build up our liturgies, especially on Sundays, so that those who do come to church might be more spiritually nourished and inspired to “Go make disciples”.
In February I attended the Divine Renovation conference in Birmingham - a great experience with people coming together to hear the experience of parishes who had already started to move from maintenance to mission.

We then held a parish assembly where I explained my “vision” for St Francis Xavier’s, outlining where I would hope we would be in ten years. The main focus was an introduction to the Ten Values of Divine Renovation and how we can apply them to the life and ministry of our parish.

These values are: 1) Giving priority to the weekend. 2) Hospitality. 3) Uplifting music.  4) Great Homilies. 5) Building a meaningful Community. 6) Clear expectations. 7) Strengths-based ministry. 8) Formation of small communities. 9) Experience of the Holy Spirit .10) An invitational church.

There was a great deal of excitement and enthusiasm as we invited people to reflect on parish life as it is just now and how it could possibly look in the future. People embraced the need to continue to build up our community and have a deeper sense of going beyond the doors of church to invite others to experience God’s presence and love in their lives.

Our journey has now started and we’re slowly beginning to see the fruits of our efforts. We have run several Alpha courses, which are a great evangelisation tool, not just for non-Christians but also a great way for Catholics to grow and develop in their relationship with Jesus Christ. As a parish we are becoming more intentional of becoming a joyful and inclusive community on fire with the love of God. Please God, we will be inspired to use our God given gifts and talents to bring that love and joy of God to those who have not yet heard the Good News of His love for them.