GENERATION X AND EBBSFLEET VIGIL-X

HAT IS GENERATION X?
Generation X - roughly speaking - is people born between 1960 and 1980. What's special about you/them is that you/they were brought up in changing times. Generation X was the first generation where baptism and Sunday School were no longer taken for granted. Many of Generation X have been brought up in schools without religious assemblies and hymn singing and in homes where Christian prayers have not been said and Christian values not cherished. Many of Generation X simply don't know the Christian Story. They don't know who the Baby in the Manger is at Christmas or who the Man on the Cross is on Good Friday. No wonder there are so few from Generation X in our congregations and churches.

WHAT IS EBBSFLEET VIGIL-X?
Vigil-X is a 'Fresh Expression' of Church. We are holding Vigil-X Masses this autumn in Plymouth (2nd September), All Saints', Small Heath, Birmingham (7th October), St Luke's, Holbrooks, Coventry (4th November) and St Francis, Friar Park, Wednesbury (2nd December). Always on a Saturday evening (hence 'Vigil'). Doors open at 5pm. These are not public services but (free) ticket events and I am inviting all our Generation X faithful - and there are quite a few of you! - to come along with families and bring along non-Church friends with their families. There will be a lively Mass (at 5.30pm) followed by a light supper, a short introduction to the Christian Faith and an opportunity to join a local Alpha group.

Your prayers are asked and are particularly welcome if, like me, you are from an earlier generation. Here is the Ebbsfleet Vigil-X Prayer:

God our Father, send your Holy Spirit upon us as we tell others the Good News of Jesus Christ. Bless the Ebbsfleet Vigil-X masses and, through them, raise up new followers of your Son, who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

We have invested quite a bit of time, money and prayer into this venture. It isn't all that we're doing. We have a Children's Network Meeting and an Ebbsfleet Formation Council. The Milton Keynes area is running 'Generation Y' Masses - for the under 30s - and there have been Youth Masses (M18:30) for some time. And, of course, for three years we have had the Children and Young People's Eucharistic Festival at Brean, this time with over 700 present. But the Ebbsfleet Vigil-X Masses is our latest initiative in mission and evangelism and I ask for your support. I'll let you know how we get on!

May God bless us as we seek to serve him as labourers in his vineyard.

+ Andrew Ebbsfleet



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The Bishop of Ebbsfleet
Bishop's House, Dry Sandford, Abingdon, OXON OX13 6JP
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