Connect

Peter Grant tells how a fresh expression of church has developed from long-standing work among young offenders.

The ministry of Reflex, as part of Youth for Christ North East, ran for 15 or 16 years but changes in the prison system relating to young offenders brought changes in the ministry too. Such a lot of great work was being done but things had to develop in a different way to serve the needs of those coming out of prison so, just over 12 months ago, we set up our charity – The Junction 42 Foundation – to develop our work with ex-offenders, their families and friends in the community.

I've been working with men involved in issues of offending and domestic violence for over 20 years and what we started to see were real openings with the gospel in prison but it all broke down when the men were released and tried to get into the community through church. It just didn't work because the cultural difference was too great to make that step.

As a charity we started to run a couple of groups in the community, one for men and one for women. We also set up some mentoring training and got some people involved from local churches. The guys' group had around 10-12 people coming along; some were just out of prison while others were mature Christians, some with an offending background in their past.

Connect - kitchenWe ran an Alpha course in May last year and ended up with about 40-45 taking part and 11 people being baptised. It was incredible to see people inviting their families and friends in a really natural way; it seemed to be a bit of a magnet for them. When we got to the end of the course, we knew we couldn't simply say, 'Well, that's done now so go and find a church.' We also knew we couldn't remain in the Alpha format because of the increasing, and very welcome, challenge of the sheer number of people wanting to worship together – and so Connect came into being.

The key for us is that it started really small, started from relationship not from structure. We read Organic Church: Growing Faith Where Life Happens by Neil Cole and it resonated with what we saw God doing with us.

A sense of ownership is something that has always been part of all that happens here. Right from the very start of Alpha, people went into the kitchens and started helping and then tidying up afterwards, they didn't have to be asked. That kind of 'come and be involved' approach is part of who we are and what we do; it's all about doing things together and not for. Connect is not something that's 'put on' by the church, instead that sense of ownership prompts many people to share their testimony and has encouraged people to discover – and use – their gifts.

Every week we see new people coming in, God is doing amazing things. Over the last year, we have seen many, many come to faith for the first time. We probably have about 60 'regulars' now –  though the number would be closer to 100 if everyone involved in Connect all came at the same time; it really has grown very quickly and the core of it is growing stronger.

Christians come to us from all sorts of church backgrounds, including Baptists, Anglicans and Free Churches and a retired Methodist minister who's helping us too. A lot of people are particularly getting involved in mentoring so that's something we are looking to use and be fairly intentional about it.

There have been a number of signs of growth. Our women's group, which meets on a Thursday, grew out of one of them saying, 'I want to start a sisterhood'. These are young women in their early 20s, passionate about their faith, who look at the Bible and focus on teaching. We also have about 20 people going to another weekly Bible study – from which we are seeing an emerging leadership team.

Connect - full roomWe are not affiliated to any one Christian denomination though we do meet at St Luke's Church, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where the vicar – Robert Ward – is a great supporter of what we do. Robert heads up a network of church leaders in Tyneside and there are a few people now going to his church who started with us here. However, the majority of new Christians say that Connect is their church.

To be honest, we kind of resisted the whole idea of calling ourselves church for quite a long while but when others started calling it their church we thought, 'Well if they are happy with that, we will too.' We are not so bothered about it now.

I have been a Christian for most of my life but this is like nothing else I've come across before. Yes, the discipleship issues are generally more difficult than what most churches see because they might involve drugs and other addictive behaviours, re-offending and so on but now a wide range of people are now being drawn in so we are beginning to get away from the idea of us being seen as 'an ex-offenders church'. About 25% of those now attending have been in prison, 50% are people who have come through a connection with ex-offenders, either as family or friends, and 25% are from local churches lending their support too.

We don't have kids with us but we have quite a mix of ages, including a number of retired people who have a lot of wisdom. People are invited to come as guest speakers and some really understand about speaking into our culture, for others it is quite a new experience but they always tell us that they are greatly encouraged by being there. Again, as part of this strong sense of ownership here, we are very open to visitors and people are very welcome to come and see what we do.

We see partnership as being really important and so we are working with Christians from other areas who want to do similar things. Sunderland is just about to launch a Connect and we are also in touch with people looking to develop one in Durham. Our aim is operate as a network; we don't want oversight of them but to help them.

In terms of oversight, there are now seven or eight of us involved in that, including people we have seen emerge as leaders here. We used to meet with Robert and Alice Ward regularly but now our leadership is moving towards being more inclusive in its structure – something not necessarily run by the charity.

We meet on Tuesday nights, arriving at 5.30pm to cook and set up and starting at 7pm. We try to finish at 9pm but people tend to leave at about 10!

The biggest surprise to us here is the worship. It was during our third session of Alpha that we decided to introduce the idea of worship at Connect. The worship leader used to be a prison governor. We were unsure how this would go down with people unfamiliar with church but simply said that 'This is what Christians do'. The worship leader said he'd play a song through once so everyone would get the idea of what it was like.

It was 'How Great is Our God' and it was just amazing. After the first verse everyone was on their feet and going for it, it was such a God 'thing' because it could never have been organised, or had such an immediate effect, if it had come from us. It was very, very, very different than any other kind of worship I have ever come across. It was raw. Our musicians are very talented but they are not polished; we have guitar, drums and sometimes piano. Our singers are young women, with incredible voices, who became Christians with us and they sing with a couple of guys. We are now very passionate about music as a community, the worship band has come into prison to lead worship in the prison from where Connect first grew, and it's amazing to see and hear it – the guys there love singing. It sometimes sounds like a football chant. The closest description I would have is a kind of Geordie version of a black gospel church.

Our format is pretty flexible but generally we have:

  • some worship as people gather;
  • about 20 minutes of worship;
  • eat together;
  • news of what God is doing in people's lives, including testimonies at times;
  • speaker for 20 minutes maximum;
  • discussion around tables;
  • prayer and ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We are very much up for networking and not being isolated. That's why we have made connections with local Tyneside churches; St Thomas' Church, Philadelphia in Sheffield; and Reflex's links with The Message Trust.

Now, we are excited about linking in with Fresh Expressions and being part of a network of fresh expressions of church; we don't know how things will develop but we do know that God is in control.

Joining the marginalised (Jennie Appleby)

Jennie Appleby discusses joining the marginalised.

I'm now Rector of St John the Baptist Church in Leicester but, many years ago, I was working in a very different context in a small northern town – an area that was beyond my experience and totally out of my comfort zone. It was to be transformative in many ways.

Recent closure of the main employer in the town had resulted in massive unemployment for both young and old. Ironically, I had been employed by the local churches (one of the only people to move into the area) to work with young people who faced little prospect of ever finding a job in the area.

'Why do you want to work here with us?', asked the youngsters. Here were a group of lovable kids who lacked self-esteem and hope for the future. I had already been working on the council estate for 18 months when I felt a calling to move there. The young people were surprised I wanted to live amongst them as it was the one place in town where no-one lived out of choice.

Some local Christians, amongst whom I worshipped, had grown up on such estates but had moved away to more desirable areas and thought I was actively choosing to become downwardly mobile; a decision which dumbfounded them. However, I was discovering that when God nudges, experience and expectation are irrelevant. It felt more important to deepen my relationships with the people who were becoming a part of my life than to play the respectable Christian game of climbing the social ladder. The harsh reality was that as I worked with the marginalised, I was becoming marginalised myself from much of the church. Yet, I was experiencing a different way of being church.

Life amongst this new community was transformative and there was never a dull moment. Frequent sights of furniture being moved between houses (usually on foot), early morning police raids and unconventional offers of cheap, electrical items were everyday occurrences. I realised I'd been accepted in the community when I was invited by two women to join them for a drink at the local working men's club, and when someone turned up on my doorstep to ask for prayer.

Amidst the colourful lives on the estate and the disbelief of Christians from the other side of town, I discovered a sense of the tangible presence of God. I could imagine Jesus himself walking the streets with me and I experienced signs of God's Kingdom: people sharing their lives and possessions together – not out of a sense of Christian love or duty but because they had so little themselves. I had never witnessed people sharing on this level before – they were teaching me lessons about how to live the Christian life.

I still reflect on those experiences and thank God for calling me to live there. In my naivety I had thought I was introducing God to the people in that place but I realised that through their love and acceptance of me, their simple lifestyles and so much sharing, they were showing me a new way of recognising God. Working on the edge gave me a vision of God's Kingdom and being marginalised brought me to my knees and a deeper relationship with Christ. A few thoughts as a result of that:

  • as pioneers, are we open to Jesus taking us to uncomfortable places?
  • can we intentionally become downwardly mobile for the sake of the Gospel?
  • if we work with the marginalised, does it follow that we personally become marginalised from much of the church? If so, how can we be sustained in this ministry?

Wichenford Café Church

Carma Wetherall describes how a fresh expression of church has started in the parish of Wichenford, Worcestershire.

Wichenford has over 250 households and a number of working farms spread across a distance of more than three miles. Its shop, post office, bakery and school closed some time ago and the only pub is two miles away from the main housing area.

St Laurence's, Wichenford, is one of 14 churches in the Worcestershire West Rural Team, an outstandingly beautiful part of the English countryside with the River Teme flowing through the middle and the Malvern Hills to the south.

It is part of the Martley benefice, which consists of three parishes and five churches. The vicar of the group is David Sherwin, and he is assisted by non-stipendiary minister Jennifer Whittaker and curate Rich Tweedy.

Wichenford Café Church - buildingThe 12th century St Laurence's Church stands alongside a country lane, surrounded by fields, with the village's Memorial Hall opposite. The nave is fully pewed and can seat 120 at a squeeze – which is often needed for baptisms, weddings and funerals. Villagers love the building and will turn out for big family occasions and special services, especially at Christmas, but there is a definite disconnect otherwise; many just don't 'do' church.

Ten years ago, regular worshippers numbered 20 or so; today on a normal Sunday we are fortunate to see 10. Rich, as our new curate, suggested that a monthly, 90-minute, café church would offer the opportunity to demonstrate God's love by serving our community and, in particular, offer a relaxed and accessible place where we could share faith and the word.

Two generous cash donations enabled us to hire the Village (Memorial) Hall and buy provisions for two Sundays. We were given an industrial coffee machine, borrowed some café tablecloths, gave out invitations by hand and began in February this year.

Café church now takes place every 3rd Sunday of the month in the hall. We open at 10am to provide good quality coffee and tea with bacon butties and then give people an opportunity to sit around the tables to read the Sunday newspapers or just socialise.

After about 10.30am there is an opportunity to ask the vicar to give a Christian perspective on a couple of news items, sing a couple of worship songs, hear a bit of a talk and share in some prayers.

Wichenford Café Church - tablesOn the first morning, a small team assembled to set everything up – only to discover that we had no frying pans for cooking the bacon. Following a quick run home, that problem was solved and by 10am – with food and drink available – the hall gradually filled. The stalwarts of our regular congregation came, mainly to see what it was all about, but we welcomed some new faces too and all stayed – except one who left as soon as he had eaten his bacon buttie! Overall, it was an encouraging beginning  though a regular worshipper said, 'How will this get them to come to church?'

A month later, word had spread and many more new faces appeared – with fewer of the stalwarts. A number of children came too. In April, we greeted more new people and it was obvious that some of the previous newcomers had returned. In June we welcomed 42 adults and 10 children, including some teenage volunteers to help with the worship.

Six months on and there is a real buzz in the community about café church. The numbers attending are holding up, volunteers have come forward to help with the catering and the overall community response is encouraging. Indeed, someone I met tending a grave in the churchyard recently said, 'We just love café church'. I can only say, 'Alleluia, Amen!'

What’s at the heart of innovation? (Daniel Manastireanu)

Daniel Manastireanu asks what is at the heart of innovation.

When we first decide to venture out in creating new expressions of church, the first question we usually ask is 'how?' But before we can ask the 'how to' question, I believe we need to ask the 'where from' question. What do we bring to the task of innovation? Where are we coming from or, more specifically, what are the underlying values that we are taking for granted? The underlying values are tied to our personal histories, to how we were brought up, how we were educated and nurtured, our previous and current experiences of church, and so on.

We can't even begin to look at innovation before we do this preparatory personal work, because otherwise we might end up doing much of the same kind of things, only with some minor variations. It's new, but not really. Instead of making new wineskins, we end up patching up old ones. That is because innovation and creativity takes vulnerability. When we create something new, we open ourselves up to the possibility of criticism and rejection.

I love innovation, and for a long time I could not understand why others did not share my enthusiasm. Then I came across Sir Ken Robinson's TED talk on the crisis in education, where he explores the three major underlying values of most educational systems in the world – conformity, compliance and standardisation – values which were instilled during the Victorian industrial revolution. He shows how these values are mechanistic and unnatural, and proposes a paradigm shift from conformity to diversity, from compliance to curiosity, from standardisation to creativity. Imagine that framework in terms of new expressions of church.

If my underlying value is conformity, then I will react to anything new and different, because it does not fit with that value. For instance, suppose the team is looking at a new way of doing prayers. Someone proposes that we don't have a person 'saying' a prayer out loud; instead we could have it projected on a screen, or written on large sheets of paper with people adding their own prayers. I automatically react against the idea, but I cannot articulate why I'm resisting. Even when the new idea sounds like it could work, I sense a blockage in me that prevents me from even considering it. Why? Because it goes against my 'conformity' value which I take for granted. Robinson calls this 'the tyranny of common sense'.

In order to deal with my internal resistance, I have to become aware of it first. I have to be able to identify what it is, name it, and then own it without judgement of myself or others. Becoming aware of where I am coming from opens me up for new possibilities by creating a space in which I can move beyond it. This work needs to be done both individually, and in a team context, where common underlying values are identified, examined, and negotiated, preferably at the starting point, but also whenever resistance to innovation becomes apparent.