CROSS-LINKS DOVER

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Cross-Links, Dover is sponsored by:

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The Church of England
The Methodist Church
The United Reformed Church

Church at Cross-Links

When the Cross-Links project started, there was no thought that it would become ‘church’ but our understanding of this has been challenged and is being changed as we see the Spirit of God at work in communities like ours today.

The key dynamic for the project has always been an emphasis on being Good News rather than proclaiming it by words first.  At the heart and core of the project is a small dedicated group of Christians who express their faith through the outreach activities that Cross-Links runs.

Christian - Who or What is a Christian?

To find out more click here

Reaching out and engaging with the community as Christians continues to be the key means of expressing faith.  Most contacts have been amongst people who have a very traditional view of the church, many would only attend for a christening, wedding or funeral.  The Christian message is taught well in the primary schools and so it is amongst the adults that little is known of Jesus.

Opportunities to encounter and share the faith are largely through the Christians working as part of the Cross-Links team (paid and voluntary) and opportunities to explore the message are being developed as part of the mission strategy. 

In expressing ‘church’ it has always been intended for worship to be appropriate to the context and is expressed creatively through art & crafts, visual displays and acts of witness, eg the annual Dover Carnival procession.  It has been our experience that occasional public worship events have been met with a mixed response and so we are currently developing a regular worship event using a cafĂ© style approach based in The Cross-Links Centre.  Fellowship (Cell) Groups are being developed that provide an opportunity for fellowship and growth, but are still in the infancy stage.

For a handful of people, Cross-Links Dover is their ‘church’.  Part of the work we are doing with Church in Society will enable us to reflect on the shape of church in the contexts of a housing estate.  We shall draw on local and national experience as part of this reflection.

Worship & Fellowship

 Opportunities are provided through:

  • Kids 4 Jesus (K4J) – weekly Bible study and worship for children.
  • Fitzwalter Court Worship (FCW) – monthly worship for older people.
  • Cafe Church - monthly worship in a cafe setting for people with little or no experience of ‘church’.
  • Junior Church Camp – annual event for children and young people.
  • Cell Church – a weekly lunchtime gathering for adults.

Nurture & Discipleship

Opportunities are provided through:

  • Alpha EXPRESS – 11 session daytime Alpha course. (please see forthcoming events/diary for more details).
  • “Come & See” – regular event to promote Alpha EXPRESS courses at Cross-Links.
  • Cell Church – a weekly lunchtime gathering to explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus in today’s world.  It is the intention to start new groups as the need arises.

A Church for the Future 

Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury speaks of the need for the Church of the Future to have a mixed economy in the sense of offering both traditional forms of church and fresh expressions that will complement the Mission of ‘mainstream church’. 

At Cross-Links we acknowledge this and seek to provide an alternative ‘fresh expression’ of being church alongside the two traditional churches that are also present on the Buckland estate:  Our Lady of Dover (Roman Catholic) Church and St Nicholas’ (Church of England) Church. We wish to affirm and encourage the Christian congregations of these two churches and would wish to promote their Ministry and Mission in the community.  Some details below: 

 

 

 

 

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  St. Nicholas Church, Buckland Valley

 

 

 

Denomination: 

 

Church of England

 

 

 

Rector:

 

Fr Tim Foreman

 

 

 

Telephone:

 

01304 201304

 

 

 

 

Website:

 

www.bucklandchurch.org.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        For details of services etc, contact Fr Tim or click on the website link

 

 

        above & then click on St. Nicholas Church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     Our lady of Dover Church

 

 

 

 

Denomination:

 Roman Catholic

 

 

 

 

Priest:

 Father John Panario

 

 

 

 

Telephone:

 01304 823402

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regular Services: 

 Sunday Mass: 10am & 6pm

 

 

 

 

 

 Weekday Mass: 10am.

 

 

 

 

Confession:

 10.30am & 5.30pm Saturday

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other enquiries:

 For funerals, baptisms, weddings or any other

 

 

 

 

 

enquiries please contact Fr John

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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BuiltWithNOF

Site designed & built by John Dixon.

 

Maintained by John Dixon & Nigel Collins.

 

Last update published May 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments or suggestions to: webmaster@cross-links.org.uk