July 2012 - Page 2 of 6 - FX ARCHIVE...

Space4Me

Playtime at Philadelphia is for mums of children under 5 in Sheffield that has evolved out of a flourishing mother and toddler ministry of a large church.

St Thomas' Philadelphia has three well-established Playtime groups meeting on different days of the week. Due to their popularity, the larger numbers mean that opportunities for prayer and discussion with those interested in finding out more about the Christian faith is limited.

In January 2009, Space4Me was begun as a joint venture between Playtime and Restore (the church's ministry to vulnerable people). Space4Me is aimed at women who are interested in exploring more about God but struggle to 'fit' into a usual church setting. Meeting weekly in term time, those with children are able to drop them at the crèche provided and enjoy an hour and a half exploring self-esteem through spirituality together. It is deliberately kept small to enable friendships to deepen and discussions to take place.

After an opening prayer, the group eat lunch together. This is followed by a craft activity on a theme relating to self-identity/esteem (through card-making, treasure box, jewellery-making, clay, photo frames) and chat. The group then turns to sharing time with the offer of prayer for those who would like it. To finish, there is 15 minutes of gentle input on a Christian theme relating to how God sees and values them. Mums and their children meet up once a term to have celebration time together.

Mini Mass

A eucharistic midweek congregation in suburban North Ascot in Berkshire aimed primarily at under 5s and their families. This fresh expression of church, called Mini Mass, meets on a Tuesday morning at 9.30am after the school run. Meeting in the Chapel of St Mary and St John, chairs are arranged in a horseshoe shape with a small altar at the open end.

Adults and children are all welcomed by name by means of a song. A Bible story is told either from a picture book or acted out using Godly Play methods. All are then asked to share something they are thankful for and something they would like prayer for; the intercessions follow, again in the form of a simple song. The group is then led in a eucharistic prayer, including short sung responses by the parish clergy or occasionally by one of two mums who have permission from the Bishop to officiate at a communion by extension service. This leads into communion. After a prayer of dismissal, tea, coffee and biscuits are served in the adjoining hall.

It's not just mums – grandmothers and child-minders attend, and occasionally a few dads. In addition, a few other adults attend, some who find work patterns make attending Sunday congregations difficult, as well as others whose discipline includes a daily eucharist. Older children also attend out of term time. Mini Mass is run by the mums themselves who review its effectiveness on an ongoing basis.

The vicar believes that one real strength of Mini Mass is that it has proved for some to be a gentle way 'into the church' or 'back into the church'. One ongoing concern is that for some it has proved to be merely a cul-de-sac, with a service designed for children being the only act of worship for a few of the adults. While some reflection on how to move beyond this is required, Mini Mass remains one of the important opportunities for outreach, service and pastoral care offered by the parish of All Saints.

These reflections of the parish illustrate one of the dilemmas of church for under 5s. Who is being discipled in this context and what does discipleship mean? What is the long term strategy for helping young children grow up in the Christian faith?

The Plant Church

The Plant Church, Park Langley, is a mission initiative of the Diocese of Rochester and was granted a Bishop's Mission Order in 2009. After the original minister moved on, David Rue was appointed its new pastor-teacher in September 2011.

The Plant Church started five years ago as a church plant from Christ Church, Bromley. We meet on Sunday mornings in the function room of the Park Langley Tennis Club and currently have about 30 regulars. Our aim as a church is to make Jesus known in Park Langley. This is a huge challenge and keeps us depending upon God's Word and on prayer to build up the body so that we can win the lost to Christ.

Our most active channel of outreach over the last five years has been our Wednesday morning mums and toddlers group, known as Sparklers. Through this group we've seen one person become a Christian, and many have heard the gospel and now have weekly contact with Christians.

In an attempt to make Sundays more accessible for families from the local community, we have held a number of all age services and have been encouraged to see new people popping in each week. We have just finished a Christianity Explored course, and are now seeking to faithfully follow up the three people who attended.

Sunday mornings, midweek bible study groups and prayer meetings continue to be encouraging times. In particular, there has been a growing number coming to our prayer meeting and an encouraging spirit of prayer. A recent move to smaller bible study groups has helped the congregation to deepen bonds of fellowship and has increased opportunities to serve one another through prayer, bible study and hospitality. We have also been spurred on in our evangelism by Simon Manchester's resource, Six Steps to Talking About Jesus.

Our challenge in Park Langley is to keep the great commission of Matthew 28 at the heart of everything we do. This reminds us that we are to be disciples making disciples. To this end our message has been to preach Christ, our prayer: that the Father will raise up harvesters and our confidence: that Jesus will build his church.

Knit and Natter – update Jul12

Chris Crowder explains how Knit and Natter in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, has become much more than a group for people who enjoy knitting.

We are now coming to the end of our fourth year and it seems hard to imagine that at the beginning we were nervous of introducing a spiritual element into our meetings. We talked of asking people if they'd like to come into Church after the group had finished for a short devotional time, we didn’t know how to introduce topics of spirituality and so on but – from the first meeting – it was obvious the members would welcome prayers said within group for the people they loved and the spirituality has grown naturally and is now inherent in every meeting.

Knit and Natter is Church – God's people all gathered together in one place doing God's work: caring for others by producing warm clothes for the needy, whether they be the homeless person on the streets of Liverpool or an abandoned child in Swaziland or a patient in the leprosy hospital in Nepal, and caring for each other as we get to know one another better through conversation.

Our meetings are relaxed and friendly – there is no formality. Our liturgy follows a similar pattern every week: knitting (some!) conversation (lots), tea and cake, perhaps some more knitting and lots more conversation, and then prayers for those we know are in need (a list is passed around during group) and finally the Lord's Prayer.

Members (there is now an average of 35 attending every week) come from all denominations and backgrounds; most of our group are over 60, but occasionally young mums call in with their children and feel at home in the warm family atmosphere that is generated. Members feel wanted, useful and loved and those that are depressed, or lonely, or bereaved can share their problems in a loving, caring environment.

This year we have sent off many kilograms of jumpers hats and mitts across the world, we have made piles of baby clothes for local hospitals and knee blankets and shawls for hospices. A member of our group accompanied Anna Briggs of Liverpool to Norway with the shawls she had collected from all over England to give to those affected by the Utoya massacre in July 2011.

We have also knitted hats, mitts and jumpers for all 29 children in the Sandra Lee Centre in Swaziland and we hope many people will consider sponsorship of a child there.

In January, for the third year in succession, we had a very successful Knit and Natter service at which the speaker was the Rev Ian Hu from Somewhere Else (the 'bread church' in Liverpool). The retiring collection was given to Ian towards his work and also, during the service, a scarf was completed by the congregation which was given by Ian to one of his members – along with a hat and gloves.

In May, we had a stall at a Diamond Jubilee Street Party and decided to use this opportunity not just to promote Knit and Natter, but also to raise monies for postage by selling vintage knitted items, such as covered coat hangers, hot water bottle covers, tea cosies etc as well as toys and bric-a-brac. We also had a pile of Jubilee Edition New Testaments marked 'free of charge' to anyone who wanted one. An hour before the end of the Street Party everything was gone and we had raised nearly £200 towards postage!

Some time ago, one of our founder members mentioned that she had never been baptised: she is now 82. On 26th June we put that right: through Knit and Natter Sibby made her wish known. She found a way into the Church and in the presence of her family, church and Knit and Natter members – in a glorious celebration within the group – she was welcomed into the family of the Church by Deacon Judith Ireland.

We have now finished for the summer break (during which time the members will all be knitting furiously). We are sure the table containing their work will be groaning under the weight of work on the first day back in September. Our last day coincided with the arrival of an Olympic torch which had been carried through Chester by a young lady who used to attend our Sunday School – what a glorious way to finish a magnificent year!

From ‘exploring’ to ‘church’: Grange Park

This story illustrates the principles of From 'exploring' to 'church' in the Guide.

Residents on a new Northamptonshire housing estate, Grange Park, have to go off the estate for medical care. In 2003, the health visitor from the nearest general practice noticed that a number of young mothers on the estate were being diagnosed with post-natal depression. So she approached the estate's vicar and his wife, Charlie and Charlotte Nobbs.

The Nobbs offered to open their home on Thursday mornings for two hours to any young mum who would value the chance to meet others and consult the health visitor. The aim was to build community so that the women could grow in confidence, discover friendship and find support.

'Talking Point' now offers an informal, welcoming setting. Good quality coffee and cake is available in the sitting room covered with cushions, blankets and inviting toys, while any older siblings are provided with easy activities in the kitchen. Around 12-18 women at a time take advantage of this purely social service.

As a result of this contact with the church, a few mothers asked to have their babies baptised. Two of them attended an Alpha course and have been instrumental in developing the church's work on the estate.

With Talking Point established, Charlotte began to pray about how to build on it. After much prayer, she sensed God was asking her to do two things: set up pizza-social nights for the Talking Point women and talk to one of the Alpha course graduates about how to share Jesus more overtly. Following these discussions, an informal monthly session for children and their mums, called Stepping Stones, was set up.

'Praying about each step was key, asking God what to do next, and waiting upon him to give the team promptings'

Stepping Stones is held on Tuesday mornings in the Community Centre Hall. An interactive telling of a Bible story ends with a time of reflection. Around 25 adults bring children each month. Attendance jumps to around 100 adults at festivals. Occasional breakfasts attract a further 25 adults.

Charlotte and the team asked the women who attended Stepping Stones to see it as a pilot and after three months offered them the chance to fill in a questionnaire and comment on how to take it further.

In the questionnaire we asked if any of the adults would be interested in a social night/themed evening or discussion evening,

says Charlotte.

Around a third of regular Stepping Stones members responded that they would like something for adults as well. Praying about each step was key, asking God what to do next, and waiting upon him to give the team promptings.

The result of the questionnaire was the arrival of 16 women at the vicarage for a 'pizza and pud' evening to be followed by a discussion. Many had been to the vicarage through Talking Point, which made it a familiar venue.

'Always tell people what you are going to do; don't have any hidden motives'

Always tell people what you are going to do. Don't have any hidden motives,

Charlotte advises. She offered the women a choice of purely social events, a course on family, an Alpha course or a course called Journeys (a five-part course of Christian testimonies from the Willow Creek stable). The women decided between themselves to do the Journeys course fortnightly.

It is vital that the group owns how they want the group to run, rather have an unwanted choice imposed,

Charlotte believes. Between each meeting she was keeping in touch with the women, having coffee with them and praying and fasting in her own time.

By the end of the Journeys course,

all the women had owned a move towards Jesus,

Charlotte says. They took up another Willow Creek course, Life Stories, after which their group grew into a cell in the Grange Park cell church.

A core number of these new cell members are on the team for either Stepping Stones or what is now known as Stepping Stones Plus, a revision of the Journeys course, in which a further 24 women took part in 2006.

Five or six husbands meet separately with Charlie, either for socials in the pub or for an express version of Alpha over beer and pretzels in each others' homes.

Jesus is already at work, and all we have to do is see where Jesus is already,

says Charlotte.

If it is steeped in prayer, however inadequate what you do is, it will work. Whether you meet fortnightly, weekly, with new Christians or old, in small teams or large teams, it will work.

From ‘exploring’ to ‘church’: Fellowship @ Grannies

This story illustrates the principles of From ‘exploring’ to ‘church’ in the Guide.

When an Alpha course held by Methodists in a former mining town in Nottinghamshire ended, three quarters of the group, all previously unchurched, wanted to carry on. In 2002 they continued to meet fortnightly on Thursday evenings at a local teashop for coffee, cake, discussion based around material such as Nicky Gumbel’s book A Life Worth Living, and fellowship in prayer and worship.

When a new Alpha course was proposed, these graduates of the original supported the venture in ways suited to their gifts: praying in the Methodist chapel during Alpha evenings, serving food or sitting at tables to aid discussion.

After four Alpha courses and their follow-up groups over two years, the most recent follow-up group developed into a new church in its own right.

Cell group principles: ‘Welcome, Word, Worship and Witness’

Still meeting at the teashop, Grannie’s, on Thursday evenings, it runs along the cell group principles of ‘Welcome, Worship, Word and Witness’. A social time of coffee and cake is followed by modern worship songs and prayer, which is spontaneous and low-key, ‘often conversational’, says leader of Fellowship@Grannie’s and local Methodist minister, Andy Fyall.

Bibles are provided so that everyone can follow the reading, page numbers being announced along with chapter and verse. A time of interactive study follows, with a strong emphasis on encouraging the 25 members to share their own faith. Outside resources such as the book Missionary Church, Missionary Journeys by Steven Croft aid this process.

The new church is led by a team of eight. Four leaders are from the original core team, including Andy and teashop owner, Louise Beaumont, who had a vision for using her business as a place of ministry. Each is paired with a new leader from within the church, so that two people lead each Thursday evening meeting, with members participating in music and readings.

The next time an Alpha course runs at Grannie’s teashop, this new church will not only renew its earlier work of resourcing the Alpha meetings, but will also continue its own meetings. As Andy says, Fellowship@Grannie’s is now a church ‘in its own right’.

From ‘exploring’ to ‘church’: Heyford Chapel

This story illustrates the principles of From ‘exploring’ to ‘church’ in the Guide.

When Church Army pioneer, Ian Biscoe, was sent in 2002 to work among a group of Anglican churches in north Oxfordshire, he took on responsibility for an estate with no church. The only worship building on this former US air base was a military chapel.

Ian and his family started to build relationships with their new neighbours and discover whether any other Christians were living there. One close neighbour was particularly interested in their reason for coming to the estate and kept asking

When’s the church starting? I want to come.

The Biscoes invited the neighbour to their home, along with another person who had expressed interest, and suggested an Alpha course. Meanwhile, through their community links they put on a Christmas talent show at which they advertised Alpha through posters. The course started in the new year with 24 members.

We had a sense that God had already been working in people’s lives long before we showed up,

Ian says.

The early meetings were held at the Biscoes’ home but soon moved to the military chapel when they realised that entering one another’s homes did not come easily to residents on this estate.

When the Alpha course was over, members wanted to carry on their Thursday evening meetings.

‘We had a sense that God had already been working in people’s lives long before we showed up’

We started with a mission emphasis, then realised it was discipleship time,

Ian says, adding that the ‘up, in, out, of’ vision of church is a key element of this new Christian community’s mindset.

As a worshipping community is growing and different needs are emerging, there is a sense of a maturing church with a core of believers and lots of explorers,

Ian explains.

Greater structure to what happens in the church has become necessary. Meetings follow the tried-and-tested format begun with the Alpha course of welcome and refreshments (now usually coffee and biscuits rather than a meal), corporate prayer and worship, a time of Bible study, interactive prayer and three small groups for discussion. These groups are open to anyone, but Ian has found that people tend towards their usual group without this inhibiting their wider community life.

A prayer ministry is being developed at services, which now happen weekly. As the church has grown, members have gained confidence in taking responsibility, enabling the new church to be ‘a continual meeting’.

Communion happens once a month in the adult congregation. Children and young people have their own services on the estate, with the whole church family coming together for occasional ‘celebrations’. Heyford Chapel’s four age-related congregations each have their own leadership team.

We are a growing, worshipping community and are thinking about how we meet together,

says Ian.

Language Café

Christ Church Roxeth (in Harrow) realised that it was having little impact on its neighbours of other religions and cultures and started looking for ways to serve them.

Harrow, North West London, is an area with an 'ethnic minority majority'. In the 2001 census there were 41 different ethnic groups with 2,000 people or more.

It decided to launch a Language Café for women on a housing estate in the area, using a community centre there.

The women meet every Wednesday afternoon and sit in small groups discussing a topic. There is no formal teaching, but the leaders use pictures and other resources to stimulate conversation on that week's theme, giving the women an opportunity to develop their English language skills.

The team offer free refreshments and look after any children who come.

We are yet to discover if it will develop into a church of some sort,

says Caroline Newbold, one of the team,

but we are clear that we are Christians and we encourage the women who come to write down names of people they are concerned about on a prayer board. We pray for those concerns after the meeting every week.

We have had some encouraging feedback from the women about this and they have started to open up to us about situations both here and in their home countries, although language and cultural differences mean that building relationships is a slow process and patience is essential.

We have lots of ideas for developing the work of the café, including offering the women a chance to take part in a new version of Alpha for speakers of other languages in the new year.

Moving from ‘loving’ to ‘exploring’: TANGO

TANGO (Together As Neighbours Giving Out) is a café and recycling centre for a Merseyside community. It was set up by the local Anglican church in 2000 in an effort to bring 'give and take' and care back into the local community. A purely social service, it nevertheless provides opportunity for Christian witness through action and conversation.

We show God's love first,

says chairperson, Avril Chisnall.

We realised that God's love is out there all the time, that people have experienced it and that all have a story to tell.

Since TANGO was established in 2000, it has grown from one day a week to three.

Wednesdays developed into a craft day for Golden Oldies in the belief that older people still have something to offer. Golden Oldies organises trips out and the 35 to 40 members knit goods that have twice made their way to Romania and Chernobyl.

Listening to the Golden Oldies, a group of both experienced 'faithwalkers' and those remembering connections to God from 'way back', Avril and her team offered a time to get together and pray. TANGO on the QT began in the autumn of 2005 and is attended by 20 to 30 Golden Oldies every Wednesday for half an hour from two o'clock – an add-on to the craft day.

Older people still have something to offer

It's a process and we discovered that there are many at different stages of enquiry or faith, so variety is the key,

says Avril.

Sometimes it's a reflection on a few verses of God's word, sometimes music and quietness, sometimes space for prayer requests. We use a variety of things for illustrating the word: candles; stones; even a box of chocolates. Not everyone goes to a church – but everyone is grateful for the prayer. We find God does the rest – we simply need to open the channel.

Two or three people have had their 'long lost connection' reignited as a result of attending TANGO on the QT. An evening cell held at the home of the leader of Golden Oldies every Wednesday provides the opportunity to pursue faith further.

Building community: Hartcliffe and Withywood Lighthouse

This story illustrates the principles of Building community in the Guide.

The Lighthouse is a beacon for the unchurched on an Urban Priority Area estate on the outskirts of Bristol.

It arose out of the prayers of two women, each a member of a different church. Their vision for the estate was the provision of a relaxed environment where people could come together to share food and share their lives.

When Jenny Low arrived as an assistant minister at the parish church in 2003, she joined the women in prayer, along with others from a range of churches across the estate. With Jenny’s arrival, the women could invite their own contacts to a regular gathering at Jenny’s church house.

The Lighthouse meets for a meal at 6.30pm on Fridays. The focus is on sharing one another’s lives and their problems. Numbers vary from 12 to 40, most of whom would not describe themselves as Christians. Men and women, old and young, children with parents, come because they find something special.

The Lighthouse has been described by them as ‘a life saver’, somewhere with ‘warmth’ and a place where ‘we find God’.

We have been open about the fact that we pray for people and sometimes they have asked,

Jenny says.

We usually do this in a separate room and always make sure it is more than one of us.

Members have begun to ask for more Christian content to the evenings. Jenny believes this is a result of the clear Christian welcome and strength of relationship offered at the Lighthouse. It is provided through videos and interactive learning rather than acts of worship. Some members choose to attend a monthly Sunday evening service in a local community centre.

Through the offering of a safe space, a new community has formed which gives local people a place to experience Christian love.