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Our Formation Team are really excited to be bringing you the third season of Invited this Advent. The programme is designed to be accessed by individuals and groups - with everyone, regardless of age, depth of faith, or involvement in the parish very welcome.

Invited Season III is possibly our most important season yet. We are encouraging everyone who has previously participated in our Invited Mission to invite someone new, and really 'throw wide the gates' and encourage anyone and everyone to attend.

This season is designed to inspire and engage, challenging people to make Christ the centre of everything we do. Season III will be followed very closely by Season IV, which will take place in Lent and provide practical ideas for how we can work together to build the kingdom of God in this new era of apostolic mission.

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Invited Season III - what is the Diocese providing?

• A series of four Invited films will be released on the following Mondays: 27 November and 4, 11, and 18 of December.

• ‍Promotional materials: Our Formation team have created posters and invitations that can be personalised with times and dates of parish meetings - as well as posters providing general information about the mission. Invitations can be used by parishioners to invite their friends, family members, colleagues – or even other parishioners! - you can download them below, they have also been shared with our parishes.

• Downloadable resources for small group leaders: These will be available from Monday 13 November and will help group leaders to facilitate conversations and lead their groups in prayer. They will include everything you need to help the sessions run smoothly.

• Downloadable resources for participants: These will be available on our Invited page from 20 November. They should be used alongside each film to enable a ‘deeper dive’ into the topics discussed. The resources can be used by individuals or in a small group setting.

• ‍Diocesan-wide Zoom conversations: Perhaps there are people in your parish who can’t make ‘in person’ meetings. We would love to welcome them to our online sessions which take place on Thursdays 7pm-8.30pm on the following dates: 30 November and 7, 14 and 21 December. To join our online group click here.

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What do participating parishes need to do?

Invited offers people across our community of faith with a valuable opportunity to continue to 'forge our parishes into communities of saints; strong, lively and welcoming schools of discipleship' complementing and supporting Bishop Richard's Pastoral Plan. Parishes are encouraged to:

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• Recruit Small Group Leaders: The main characteristic a group leader needs is to be friendly and welcoming. They will need to be confidant facilitating conversations, and comfortable when leading others in prayer. Resources will be provided to help them in their role. If there are going to be vulnerable people in their group, the group leader will require an appropriate DBS (our Safeguarding Team can assist with this).

• Book times and locations: When and where these meetings take place will be different for each parish. Parishes may want to gather everyone in their Parish Hall for one event each week, dividing participants into small groups for conversations. Alternatively, they may wish to offer a number of smaller meetings throughout each week in a variety of locations. As long as each group meets once a week for four weeks, starting the week beginning 27 November, they will have time to complete the materials.

• Promote the sessions: parishes are encouraged to use the posters and invitations provided by the Diocese to let people know what is happening. Please include notices in your newsletter, update your parish website and proclaim it from the pulpit. We also encourage you to speak to people about this amazing opportunity and recruit a team of advocates who will do the same – we know that nothing beats a personal invitation! Let’s make this Invited Season the most fruitful yet for participation, because this is the season when we learn more about Jesus Christ and are challenged to accept him as the Lord of our entire lives.

• ‍Ensure groups can access the films: The films will be available on the Diocesan website www.abdiocese.org.uk/invited and our YouTube channel www.youtube.com/@AandBcommunications. Group leaders will need access to the internet or have the ability to download each week's episode.

• ‍Ensure participants have access to all the resources: It can be useful to have physical copies of the Participant’s Guide each week, as well as the guide for the leaders, do encourage people to access them electronically where possible, to save printing costs and the planet.  

• ‍Enjoy! We will be building on Season III very soon - the next opportunity to gather in this way (at a parish and diocesan level) will be during Lent, when Season IV will be released. We will explore more deeply some practical ways of living out our glorious faith.

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Invited Season III's key dates

We can't wait to welcome new and existing members of our Invited family this November and encourage you to make a note of the important dates below:

13 November: Small Group Leader materials can be download now:

• Click here for our Introduction & Episode I Guide

• Click here for our Episode 2-4 Guide

‍20 November: Individual resources will be available to download.

27 November: Episode 1 will premier on our Invited webpage and YouTube channel.

4 December: Episode 2 will be released.

11 December: Episode 3 will launch.

18 December: Episode 4 will be released.

25 December: A special message from Bishop Richard will be released.

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Click on the download buttons below to access further resources, if you have questions about our Invited Mission please contact E: formation@abdiocese.org.uk. We look forward to journeying with you this November!

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