Peterborough one day missions - Wed 4 Sept 

A report by the team leader, David Pickavance.   


On 4th September, a small group of us (Jo Ridpath, George Martin, Robert Cooper, Robert Parker and me) returned to St Paul’s to support Ron, Val and their team with a one-day mission in New England. However, rather than the usual door-to-door visiting, we decided to try something different this time.

After team prayer and litter picking in the nearby park as a service to the community, we attended the  Eucharistic service. Then, we set up an outside presence with a shelter, a literature table and another table with drinks, biscuits and cakes for passers-by.  We then sent 3 pairs (we co-opted 2 members of St Paul’s) onto the streets to use our usual questionnaire in our usual manner. This proved to be at least as productive as door-to-door work, although it took some trial and error to decide on the best places to locate ourselves, and we definitely reached people that we otherwise wouldn’t. Consequently, not only was that day very successful, it has given St Paul’s much food for thought on how to better engage with the residents of New England. An outside presence is definitely a good tactic for that church in that location. However, the bottom line, as ever, was that it was fantastic to have the privilege of being out with great people doing our Lord’s work.