A chance to discuss Challenging injustice, pursuing peace and reconciliation, addressing climate concerns, and empowering communities through prayer and collective action.
Meet monthly (see newsletter for dates).
Crosby Room at the back of church.

The Prophetic Ministry Group (PMG) was born out of a sermon I preached a while ago expressing my sense of powerlessness in terms of being able to make a difference to some of the intractable problems that we face in our society and world. At the end of the sermon, I extended an invitation to
anyone who felt the same to let me know so that we might see what we could accomplish together. I was encouraged that ten people accepted that invitation, and we have been meeting since then to try and find effective courses of action that we might take.

The aims of the PMG fit very well with some of the 5 marks of mission of the Anglican church which are:
1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
3. To respond to human need by loving service
4. To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation
5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

The work we aim to do in the PMG is most in line with the fourth mark of mission, ‘seeking to transform unjust structures of society and challenging violence of every kind and pursuing peace and reconciliation.’ Most churches find this the most challenging ‘mark’ to fulfil because it involves working with issues which are fraught with difficulty and involves challenging people in power – which is not comfortable. The work of the PMG may also fit with the fifth mark of mission which might involve taking action to raise issues around climate change and to counter the narrative of those who would deny climate change for political or financial reasons.
Our first initiative has been to organise the services of lament that have taken place at St Luke’s as a way of recognising that sense of powerlessness we feel at some of the world’s issues, and how they even make us feel abandoned by God at times. This honest prayer from the heart chimes with about one third of the psalms in the Old Testament.
The other piece of work with which we are involved is exploring whether it would be appropriate for St Luke’s to be part of the growing Citizens UK initiative. Citizens UK brings people together across faith, race, class and other divisions to work collaboratively on issues at both a local and national level. It trains people in how to act effectively in the public square in a respectful, relational but powerful way which achieves results. You can check out Citizens UK at www.citizensuk.org to find out what they are achieving and how they work. We are hoping that up to 20 organisations from Sefton might take part in a training in this way of work early in 2026 with a view to launching a Sefton Citizens initiative.

Rev Mark Waters