St Andrew's and St Martin's Mission Partnership
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Mission Partnerships recognise that while every church has its own identity and role to play in its own parish, there may be some areas where they can work more effectively together in sharing the Christian faith with others. While St Andrew’s and St Martin’s remain two distinct parishes with their own vicars and church councils, our Partnership means that we can draw on one another’s different gifts and resources to work together, when appropriate, in making God’s love known to those in our part of Droylsden. We can also encourage one another as worshipping communities and join together to celebrate our shared Anglican tradition. We share in worship once a month and at some of the church’s Festivals and have joint Lent Courses, Quiet Days and other opportunities to grow spiritually. We are looking for other areas where there is social need in our communities and where we can work together more effectively than alone. At the Launch Service, we heard readings from the Bible that remind us that as Christians we are called to be united and to have a focus on mission. In the first reading, we heard Paul’s words from in his first letter to the Corinthians: “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) Although the congregations of St Martin’s and St Andrew’s belong to two different churches, we are both part of the body of Christ and in this we are united. We might sometimes have different preferences in the way we worship and we do minister in different geographical places, but through our common baptism we are united as one. We share in one aim, which another reading reminded us of through Jesus’ commission to his disciples: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. (Matthew 26:19-20) This shared aim is to co-operate with God in drawing people into relationship with him. This is what is at the heart of our Mission Partnership: our shared desire to make Christ known to others. During the service, the Bishop prayed ‘for the partnership that we are entering into that, working together, the light of Christ might shine more brightly in our individual lives, in our fellowship together and in the communities that we serve.’ This is our ongoing prayer for our Partnership Our Mission Partnership Prayer:Almighty God,we pray for the partnership
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On 30th June 2013, our Mission Partnership with St Andrew’s Church was formally launched at a service with Bishop Mark and Archdeacon Cherry.