There was a time when missions were not only de rigeur in parishes, but also renowned for their fire and brimstone messaging, designed to frighten the living daylights out of people. Those were the good old days (so I'm told). But what would happen if we could rediscover the good things about those missions and repackage them for our contemporary world?

For the past year and a half, Christ the Good Shepherd parish in Workington has been asking the Holy Spirit to renew our parish. We used the Synod as a springboard to reflect upon how our parish is working or not working, looking at our strengths and weaknesses, and trying to understand the opportunities and threats around us. And then we began to dream what we wanted our parish to look like. The parish priest set up a leadership team to work with him to establish a vision for the parish, a picture of the future that invited passion. We wanted a parish with open doors, growing and vibrant with young families, centred around the Eucharist, no longer living for itself but reaching out to those beyond, a parish that joyfully lives out the Gospel and serves our wider community, a parish of missionary disciples. 

This vision then became the aim of our parish mission which we ran in October 2023. The mission took as it's theme, 'Rise Up and Walk' ( Acts 3:6) and it was led by the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal from Bradford. Our four schools reflected upon the theme and prepared some fantastic artwork and learnt about St Francis, his encounter with the Gospel and how it transformed his whole life. All the parish prayed our mission prayer each day in the months before and we enlisted the prayers of all the housebound parishioners and various religious communities to surround the event with grace. 

St Francis used to cry throughout the streets of Assisi, "Love is not loved", calling people to conversion. The Friars who visited our parish shared that message with us too, bringing us all into a living encounter with Christ, speaking of Jesus's unconditional love for us, His immeasurable mercy and the gift of salvation. The power of the Word of God and the sacraments broke into people's lives, with one participant saying that they felt as if they had been born anew, and another exclaiming that they had just experienced the most amazing spiritual spa!

The Friars ventured into all our schools, sharing their testimonies, talking about their life, their service of the poor, and leading the young people in prayer. The week's events concluded with a Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit, followed by a Meal of All Nations, with parishioners from different backgrounds and countries all bringing some of their favourite foods to share. The laughter, joy and sense of fellowship were a real sign of what has been achieved over these days. As one participant said, the mission had ended, but now the real mission begins. We pray that the seeds of this mission may now inspire all of us to Rise Up and Walk.