By John Cole

If you were able to try Mapping the Church's Task as a group activity, you probably discovered how hard it is to produce headings for the different aspects of the church’s task - and to be sure we understand them!

The problem is not one of seeing the range of different things that a local church ought to be doing, but seeing how they fit together. More tricky still is seeing how they fit in with God’s wider purposes in his world.

Only when we have worked at understanding these connections will we get near to answering the question "Whose Church is it?" without lapsing into platitudes.

The headings produced by any particular group may well not be the same as those shown in OHP 8 below. It would be hard to argue that those on the slide are an exclusive list.

It may be, however, that these twelve activities make quite a useful summary of the ways in which the Holy Spirit enlivens us to be God’s church engaged in God’s world. The list may possibly include some surprises. For an interpretation, see next page: