The Vision
So, out of our prayers, a threefold mission for reaching out to our community, both local and global, in order to pass on the precious treasure of the Gospel, has developed.

Church Building Project.
Firstly, equipping our church for God's mission in the 21st century. To equip our building for mission we need to make some modifications. And so we have put in place plans to transform our church building. 
Updating our building
The first part of the Vision for Mission project is to transform our church building.

Flexible Worship Space
Four years ago St James' reviewed our worship services in light of our Vision for Mission. As part of that review we agreed the need to develop a flexible worship space. We have embarked upon a project to 'reorder' the church to achieve this.
The first part of this will be to remove the existing pews and replace them with comfortable chairs. This will create a flexible space which will allow us to be more creative with our worship services, and also allow community groups to make more use of the building.
The reordering will also provide space for a kitchen area, disable-accessible toilets and an area for gathering together. In this way we can offer proper hospitality for both church members and visitors to the church.

Recovering Hidden Heritage
Part of the church building project includes removing the pipe organ and replacing with a digital organ. This will liberate a beautiful mediaeval room in the tower, which will become the new home for the choir and also a prayer and quiet room. There are fantastic ceiling carvings and stained glass windows here which will be revealed for the first time in decades. 

Kajo Keji Project.
Secondly, to provide resources to our sister church in the Sudan. St James' is linked with a church in the desperately poor area of Kajo Keji in the Sudan; as we have been blessed with resources by God's generosity, so we feel moved to bless others. We are in the process of agreeing a project with the church in Kajo Keji, which we hope will involve creating a multipurpose building for worship, teaching and healing.
Sharing Our Resources
St James' already has an established link with a sister church in Kajo Keji, a desperately poor are of the Sudan, a country which has endured 21 years of horrendous civil war. In the past we raised funds to refit the health centre there. Now we want to continue that partnership.   
Rebuilding the Church
The church in Wudu was destroyed in the violent conflict, and now all that remains is a pile of rubble. While the villagers are able to meet in a temporary building called a 'tukal', St James' would like to help them build a more permanent and muti-functional structure. The new church would include school rooms and may also be linked with an orphanage.

Miriam Smith, a member of St James', went out to Mirandi in 2006 to offer her skills as a nurse, and there she was able to see firsthand the benefits of permanent buildings. She took these photos to show the life of the Sudanese in Kajo Keji.

Children and Families Worker.
Thirdly, sharing God's generous love with our local community. Engaging with our community means investing in the local community. We have identified an urgent need - engagement with young people, families, and their children. And so we are looking to appoint a part time Children and Families Worker.
This post would resource and network between all the currently functioning church groups working with children and young people. They would also develop our links with parents and schools in the parish.
Our aim is to enable children's work for the 0-11s, disciple 'young teens' (9-11s), and improve the morale of our children’s workers, as well as work with the council run youth, family and community teams in the town to support families in need. We also want to share the love of Christ with both young children and their families and enable them to become part of the various groups within our church.