After Fr Job came to the parish in July 2016, the Parish Council was encouraged to focus on a Pastoral Plan for the Parish with the help of the Diocesan Guidelines for Parish Councils. As a couple of our Parish Council members had been involved in PFG in other parishes the idea of introducing them to Lincoln came forward.
As our Lincoln Parish has two Mass Centres – Lincoln and Rolleston, we felt it would be a way of building up our parish community at the same time bringing the two communities closer together.
Lincoln is an older established area with a university campus and Rolleston a newer area with more young families from many cultural backgrounds.
An initial meeting was held to discuss the formation of PFG’s in the Lincoln Parish. Mary-Ellen and John attended a parish council meeting and spoke.
In May parishioners were invited to attend the set-up at the Lincoln Parish Centre.
Father Job was very supportive and positive about the benefits of bringing the parish community together.
Christchurch Regional couple Pamela and Bob shared their experiences. From that gathering Yvonne & Nick Otto became the Parish Coordinators.
Two PFG have been set up with a wide mix of young, older, singles and married couples. It is early days, but with both the areas growing in size and number we hope the PFG will also build and grow in faith, love, friendship and support. Jean & Tony Scarlett lead one of the groups and Joan Thomas and Tricia Holt the other.
Both groups have enjoyed activities together and the invitation is always there for more people to join.
