Have a coffee with a friend and ask ...

How can we get involved?
What are the opportunities?
What issues might this raise for our community or parish

With only 1 year until the first kick off we need to get our thinking caps on, and we need to start sharing ideas and discussing how we can use the Rugby World Cup to;
a)    Improve what we do
b)    Involve ourselves (rather than hiding from it)
c)    Offer people life and hope
d)    Offer each other ideas

The Games and the practices will affect us in many different ways, therefore we also need to think about what impact it will have on us.

There are a lot of things we need to consider. Therefore to stimulate your thinking, please find below some discussion starters for your Parish Councils, Mission groups, small groups or Boards.

•    What are the potential opportunities for our Congregation, Parish or Board?
E.g. Evangelism, Mission, Hospitality, involvement in social concerns related to alcohol / drugs and sports and domestic violence, renewed ecumenical contact (doing stuff with other churches), etc
•    What are the potential issues for our Congregation, Parish or Board?
E.g. Councils and the poor / street people, flights (cost and availability), meetings (times and venues), etc
•    Who else may be working on this that we could work with?
E.g. Other churches in the community, etc
•    Other issues / questions
E.g. Resources, etc

The first resource that you might want to consider is finding out what games are in your town - and when. Go to http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/pools/index.html for a match schedule with times.

Once you have finished your coffee (and washed the dishes!), please remember to hit 'comments' below and share your ideas with us.