Mitcham Missional Community

Salvation Army officer Mark Scott tells of building community, and a Rule of Life, in the London borough of Merton.

My wife, Emma, and I were appointed to Raynes Park Community Church three-and-a-half years ago with a remit to start a missional community in Mitcham. The Salvation Army had conducted some research prior to us arriving because they were working predominantly on the west side of the borough of Merton and they wanted to work more coherently across the borough as a whole.

The borough, in the south-west of London, is very diverse from east to west and Mitcham borders Lambeth, Wandsworth and Croydon.

We live in an amazing part of Mitcham called Eastfields and have loved getting to know our neighbours and people who work in the community. Before we made the move, The Salvation Army hadn't been in this area for about 70 years but their support has been fantastic. The great blessing to us when we first arrived was being given the gift of a time of listening. It was amazing to hear stories and learn what it is like to live and work in Mitcham. We heard about the great depth of history that Mitcham holds; both the documented and that which has been passed on from generation to generation.

Mitcham Missional Community - loveA fact that stayed with us was that the name Mitcham comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'Big Settlement' or 'Big Home'. A representative of the Jeremiah Project – a Churches Together in Mitcham initiative – shared this with us and it is not insignificant as they have been such an amazing support for us as a couple and now more significantly our church community.

Churches Together in Mitcham is like nothing we've ever experienced before, there is a real heart to work together and serve Mitcham. When we first moved here as a couple with two small children, their love for us was vital and the way in which they welcomed us with open arms for us was a true representation of Mitcham being a 'Big Home'! They've not only shared their love with us but their knowledge and networks too.

Around this time we also spoke to the Urban Expression mission agency, with whom Emma and I had a long-term personal relationship with, and sought to become team leaders. This provided more specialised support for us and a network of people who were able to understand and speak into the life we were living.

After being in Mitcham for 16 months we moved into a house in the Eastfields area and it was around this time that a friend of ours began asking when we were going to 'start our church'. Our friend was interested in exploring faith and who God is after being part of a faith community as a child but no longer called herself a Christian. God had this in hand and, at the same time, brought more established Christians into our field of vision and they, in turn, decided they wanted to support us as well.

Mitcham Missional Community - litter-pickingWe began gathering in our kitchen as a group of eight, sharing in creative forms of worship, some interactive teaching and finishing with a shared meal. This continued for about six months.

As our gathering has developed so has the format, although we have always retained the shared meal, seeing this as a vital part of sharing our lives together. After a further six months, things began to feel a bit more established and so, as a gathering, we wanted to put some structure (although some would see none!) to what we did. I've been very interested in the concept of urban new monasticism for a number of years and it's from here that we became interested in a Rule of Life.

For nine months we carried out research to try and glean how different places were living a Rule of Life before deciding what was applicable to us. The Rule is conceptual in the way we live our lives out but it's practical too – including the scheduling of an annual retreat and committing to laugh together regularly. Our hope is that, as a gathered community of believers, we can continue to learn what it means to 'Seek God' and 'Display his Love' wherever we might find ourselves. I think it's fair to say that we have been changed by the people who have opened their lives to us in the short time we've been here and we hope we will continue to learn from them.

Mitcham is such an amazing place to live; we have felt such openness and kindness since moving here. We love that our children are growing up in an environment that is honest and accepting and while the organic nature of it can be difficult, we’re looking forward to all that lies ahead.

Are you ‘Called to Pioneer?’

What is pioneer ministry? Who is it for? How has it developed? Individuals, Circuits and Districts within the Methodist Church keen to explore this form of mission are now able to find out more in a new booklet, Called To Pioneer?

The Methodist Church is developing Pioneering Pathways within its Discipleship and Ministries Learning Network and Called To Pioneer? introduces the concept of pioneer ministry and charts the story so far.

A DVD, Methodist Pioneering Pathways – turning possibilities into reality, will also be released shortly to accompany the booklet. The six-minute clip above is being shown at most forthcoming district synods with a 20-minute version produced for individuals and group discussion. It will be available online from the Methodist website and hard copies can also be provided.

Ian Bell, Pioneer Ministries Coordinator for The Methodist Church, said of Methodist Pioneering Pathways,

We deliberately called it Pathways because we feel that somehow it needs not to be a linear approach, where people take a course and they're a pioneer at the end of it, but more of a framework within which people can engage in the whole process of vocational discernment and be helped to ask, and answer, the question about whether pioneering ministry is something God is calling them to.

I think we're at a very exciting place at the moment in the light of all that we've been learning about pioneering in the Methodist Church and we are now saying, 'This is something that God is initiating' and we want to respond to that creatively and appropriately.

Called to Pioneer is available in packs of 10, priced at £2.50 per pack, from Methodist Publishing.

The Beacon – Mar15

VentureFX pioneer Bart Woodhouse gives the latest news of The Beacon Church at The Bridge housing development, Dartford.

Since we first came here in 2008, one of the biggest changes has been the Methodist Church creating a framework to authorise lay ministers to preside at communion services in cases of 'missional need'. I now have permission to do that, which is great, but I've used it sparingly to be honest.

One place where I have used it is our monthly family gathering; it’s a kind of bridging event – in between a Messy Church and Café Church. It's on the fourth Sunday and that's where we have been sharing in the Eucharist. There is a table with lots of fresh bread, honey, jam, butter and jugs of grape juice; we get the kids together and distribute it out to tables around the room. We use a very simple liturgy around sharing this meal together; it's all about the sweetness of God’s grace. Based around the children and families there, this has proved to be quite powerful.

We have stayed clear of the formal liturgy but instead decided to base it on the ancient prayer of Hippolytus. He was one of the first to write down liturgy for the Eucharist and it amazed me when I read it. You can see how the modern liturgy draws on it very heavily.

The Beacon Church - early morning prayerIt's not hugely different to how many churches would do it but it is just expressed in a different sort of context. It is really good to have that sense of permission from the Methodist Church to do it, and to explore how we do it, but it's also about recognising the importance of continuity – no matter what context you're in. We also recognise the active presence of the Holy Spirit both in our time together and the missional activities and relationships we have forged as we live and serve in this new community.

God has brought us a long way since the days when a small group of us started to try and discern what God wanted to happen here at The Bridge. We have grown from 6 to about 40 in that time. It's not happened quickly but, over the past year or so, it has been gathering a bit of pace. I, and my wife Rachel, have had a lot of support from the Methodist Church and the Circuit are still keen to have us around for as long as we are willing to stay – so that's good news for us!

I think that, as far as VentureFX pioneer group is concerned, what we are doing is probably the most conventional expression of church because we are – in essence – a community-based church plant and we stay well within the confines of what many contemporary ministries would do.

We will get the next renewal of a five-year block of VentureFX funding in September but this is money which will now diminish year on year. The Beacon is not yet in a place where it is self-financing but you could imagine that within another year or two that goal may well be achievable.

We have been saving money as a church for a long time now for a launch of a Christian coffee shop as a physical presence in the community – that’s our next big thing. We really feel that God gave us this vision a long time ago, namely that it was really important for this community to have us as a physical, daily presence on the site. We have got half of the money we need already and we are hoping to get help from Circuit and District.

The Beacon Church - signWe are still in negotiations for one of the three retail units on site. They are owned by a gentleman called Mr Patel; there is quite a Hindu community in this area and they have been very open to our plans and who we are because of what they believe – namely not to put any 'borders' or 'boundaries' around religious activities. They have talked about coming to church because their Hindu temple is too far away.

That reflects the broad spectrum of people who we see at The Beacon. We have Christians who moved to the area and stumbled across us through different things that we do. We have also got a de-churched element but not too much of that and then there's a fairly broad number of people who are relatively unchurched; some of whom have found faith, some haven't. We do have Pub Theology sessions and that's where the guys who have not been involved in church previously tend to gather.

We have a fairly small, quite fragile, leadership team. That includes me and my wife and at least another three individuals who have leadership roles in the church. So there is a good team here but I think that if I was to pull out of the project now, it would be a struggle. Most of the group are in their 20s and 30s and commute into London as well so there are many demands on their time.

Our programme of activities has expanded and we have a café-style Beacon Gather Church on Sundays at The Bridge Community Primary School Hall. We don't have a Gather on the first Sunday of the month because that's when we have Messy Church at The Bridge Campus Community Room. Our toddler group meets on Monday mornings and in the afternoon during term time at the same place. At most of the Gather Sundays, there are separate activities for children and young people.

Connect Groups meet every fortnight to give people a chance to catch up and get into conversation about a theme from the Bible or questions about our faith. They usually meet in people's homes and involve 5-8 people on average.

The Beacon Church - Messy ChurchWe also have groups meeting on Monday and Thursday evenings as well as the Pub Theology night at The Wharf Pub, Crossways, and an early morning prayer meeting at 6am every Friday.

We are now planning our 7th 'Bridge Big Lunch', as part of a national initiative, on 7 June. The annual event is really popular here with over 400 residents coming last year, giving people the chance to get together, share food and skills, have some fun and get to know others living in the area.

New Methodist Connexional Missioner for Fresh Expressions

Rev Graham Horsley, currently minister at North Camp Methodist Church, Hampshire, has been named as the next Connexional Fresh Expressions Missioner for the Methodist Church.

Graham, who will succeed Stephen Lindridge in the role, will serve for an initial period of five years from 1st September 2015.

The ecumenical fresh expressions movement  – which champions and resources new ways of being church by promoting best practice, providing effective support and creating genuine partnership  – has seen thousands of new congregations being formed alongside more traditional churches since the initiative started in 2004.

Graham will take up the post at a key time in the life of Fresh Expressions. Alongside the existing work, a series of new projects will now be established, including Pioneer Centres, Strategic Hubs, Regional Champions and a Coaching and Mentoring Network.

Asked about his new role, Graham said,

There has been a huge growth in the number and diversity of new forms of church in recent years, but the fresh expressions' movement is still quite fragile. I hope to play a part in helping the Methodist Church to embed the idea so that fresh expressions are a normal part of the mission of the church in the life of every Methodist Circuit.

Phil Potter, Archbishops' Missioner and team leader of Fresh Expressions, is looking forward to working with Graham:

This is an inspired appointment, both for the Methodist Church and the fresh expressions movement as a whole. Graham brings a wealth of experience as a practitioner, trainer and strategist. He was influential in helping to start the initiative and will offer wisdom, vision and passion in helping us to look to the future.

Stephen Lindridge has served as Connexional Missioner for Fresh Expressions since 2009. He will become Chair of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne District from 1st September 2015. Stephen comments,

I am thoroughly delighted to hear Graham has been appointed as my successor to the role of Connexional Missioner. It has been a rich and inspirational privilege to serve Christ's Church on this wonderful ecumenical team and I will deeply miss their kind fellowship and ministry.

Graham, from East Yorkshire, read Electronics at Salford University where he was called first to be a Local Preacher, then a minister. It was whilst at Salford that he began working with Rob Frost.

After two years as an electronic test engineer in Warrington, where he met his future wife Ann, he entered college in Bristol to train for the ministry. He served churches in Bradford, where he was also a University chaplain; Hull and Oldham. Involvement with the Seed Team movement, and two church plants in Oldham, began to point to new ways of being and doing church that might complement traditional church. He was also involved in the ecumenical church planting vision, Challenge 2000.

He was appointed Evangelism and Church Planting secretary for the Methodist Church in Britain. He built up a network of District Evangelism Enablers, helped stimulate Methodist involvement in Fresh Expressions and instigated the VentureFX pioneer programme for the Methodist Church.

In 2010 he returned to local church ministry in Hampshire, sharing his time between North Camp Methodist Church, south Farnborough and a fresh expression of church for the 'baby boomer' generation (born between 1945 and 1964) called Living in Three Dimensions. He is a lifelong Leeds United fan and enjoys a number of extreme sports, including fell running and windsurfing.

  • Interviews are available with Graham. Please contact Karen Carter, Media Officer, Fresh Expressions (07545 928 724) to arrange.

msm North and West Yorkshire – Knaresborough

You are invited to share a learning journey in a supportive community to be equipped for a lifetime of good practice and learning in growing fresh expressions of church.

Your local course

The Diocese of West Yorkshire and the Dales, and the West Yorkshire and Leeds Districts of the Methodist Church are delighted to make msm available locally. We believe it will be a significant resource for building the Kingdom of God in this area.

Individuals are most welcome, but we particularly hope that small groups from a church or fresh expression will come as this will deepen the impact of the course.

The course leaders and teachers include Karin Shaw, Nick Blundell, Charity Hamilton, Ben Askew, James Bell, Norman Ivison, James Barnett, Jude Smith, Graham Cray, Robin Gamble, Sue Hope, Barbara Glasson, Phil Potter and Roger Walton.

Course timetable and venue

Saturday 19th September 2015

Monday 12th October 2015

Friday 6th to Sunday 8th November 2015

Monday 7th December 2015

Monday 11th January 2016

Saturday 6th February 2016

Monday 7th March 2016

Saturday 16th April 2016

Monday 16th May 2016

Saturday 18th June 2016

Saturdays are 09.30-16.30, weekdays 19.30-21.30, both at Gracious Street Methodist Church, Gracious Street, Knaresborough, HG5 8DS. The residential weekend is at Sneaton Castle, Whitby, YO21 3QN.

Cost

£310 per person (£280 before 01/08/15), which covers materials and the residential. Please ask about group discounts and grants.

Book

Download the flier and booking form at the foot of the page or book online.

Contact

Karin Shaw

karinmshaw@googlemail.com

01423 500087

Nick Blundell

nickcblund@gmail.com

01274 416506

Middlesbrough vision day

Speakers

Linda Rayner

Cost

Free, but please book places so that we can organise seating and drinks. Please bring your own lunch.

Programme

Sessions 1-3 feature interactive learning with presentations, interviews, stories, activities and questions.

09.45 Registration and refreshments

10.00 Welcomes and worship

10.15 Session 1:

What is happening and why it is important: How fresh expressions of church are changing the landscape.

11.35 Break

11.50 Session 2

Values and how fresh expressions of church are developing and can develop in your context.

13.00 Lunch

13.45 Local story feature

14.00 Seminars

Choose from a selection of seminars and workshops.

15.15 Session 3

Where next?

16.00 End

Book or contact

For more information or to book:

Catey Morrison

morrison.lingdale@btinternet.com

01287 651926

office@urc-northernsynod.org

0191 232 1168

Hope Whitby Missional Community

Leigh Coates reports on how a new Missional Community has developed in Whitby.

About five years ago, a group of us wanted to start something new in Whitby – where we all live – so we launched a small cell group and began to explore the idea of missional communities.

Whitby is only 18 miles from Scarborough and 30 miles from Middlesbrough but it's a very, very different sort of place; popular with Goths and alternative cultures because of its links with Dracula author Bram Stoker.

We organised a couple of Christian worship events as outreaches; they were called Restore and we did have a couple of people come to faith as a result. That's great of course, but we felt that overall it wasn't a great success. We wanted to do more and that's when we had a vision of being involved in a regular café-style 'thing'.

My wife, Rebecca, and I approached the owner of what we reckon is the best café in Whitby, Sanders Yard, and they said yes to us doing a pilot Hope Hub event involving music – both mainstream and Christian – and short testimony or talk. The café seats around 50 people but the event was packed and about 70 people came along.

Hope Whitby - Sander's YardThat was in May 2012 and we agreed with the café owner to do the Hope Hubs for a couple of months to see how things worked out; they didn't charge us a penny to do that which was amazing. We tried different things, it petered out a bit, we tried something else; it was all trial and error but the number of people who wanted to be at this event started to build.

We then had another conversation with the owner and said that we'd like to do this long term and she said, 'as long as you make £100 behind the bar, you carry on as you are'. Since then, we have never had to pay a penny for the use of the venue.

Hope Hubs now take place there on Friday evenings twice a month and we usually get around 40-60 people, with an age range from 14 to much, much older…! It's not a service; we describe it as 'Raw, Real, Relevant' because we are working through tough questions about Christianity in a way that's accessible to people of faith or of no faith. I hate Christian things that are cheesy or naff so we do our best to avoid that!

It's our sixth year and we have learned lots of things along the way. The crowd we now have coming along are about one third Christian, one third on the fringes or who have been hurt by church in the past but still call themselves Christians, and one third non-Christians. What started off as five people meeting together has now grown to four different cell groups, huddles, Hope Hub, Hope Rocks, a new youth project called Hyp and many other things.

Hope Whitby - Leigh CoatesI am the Deacon for Mission at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Scarborough, but I don't promote particular churches to those who want to explore their faith in a more traditional setting. I'm always keen just to promote 'church' – wherever that may be or whatever it looks like.

Again that's changed because when we started, as a core team in Whitby, our aim was to put people into churches. Now we're very keen on discipleship, which is the one thing I think many churches have really missed out on.

Hope Whitby is a Missional Community that aims to show Christianity in a way that can be understood by everyone. Hope Rocks events are one way in which we are reaching out, and from that we have seen three baptisms in the sea in a year.

Ebenezer Baptist Church has been amazing because it commissioned me to go and do what we are doing and I can go there for accountability; the pastor and elders have been great. The Re-Fuel band have also been a blessing, performing at many of our events and supporting us to reach out, showing how good and Christian music can be.

As you can imagine, doing something new and different, all of the Whitby team – including me – have come up against some hard times and Ebenezer have been there to help me grow and guide me through some difficult situations. They challenge me but, because our accountability is so high, they never get involved in the day-to-day stuff. They are happy to leave that to the Whitby core team.

Hope Whitby - baptismWe have a leadership of five, including me and Rebecca, but there's no hierarchy. We work together on everything, particularly to ensure that we are not replicating something that is already being done by other churches here. We have no interest in reinventing the wheel!

Thanks to Ebenezer, I have just started to 'officially' work part-time for Hope Whitby but the church at Scarborough is not looking to put a denominational 'sticker' on the Missional Community here. They have been very gracious and open to seeing what God has in store.

Some people may have been disappointed that the community is not intended to become a Baptist Church in Whitby. Hopes were expressed in some areas that it would happen but I said no, it's not about that. It's also not about me going to college to become a minister. What's the point in a pioneer sitting behind a desk? I also work as a tanker driver and I want to continue in that, because I don't want to lose the 'edge' in what I'm doing.

Hope Whitby - postcard

Some churches may have felt threatened when we first came along but we have made it clear that we're not a Sunday church; this is all about building God's kingdom. Hope Whitby Missional Community operates from Monday to Friday with Saturday as a day of rest. Our core Missional Community is drawn from different churches so, on Sundays, we return to them. We do however have some who do not or won't go to church for different reasons; we just love them and try to meet them where they are. At the moment, it's enough that they are being disciples with the cells and seeing outreach in its natural form at the Hope Hub.

In the future, we are exploring the possibility of doing many new things but we are still in prayer about it. It would be easy to get caught up in lots of plans; that's not the way it should be. It's being sensitive to what's developing around you and listening to what God is saying.

The Salvation Army’s ‘amazing spiritual ride’

Andrew Vertigan shares his thoughts on the first year since The Salvation Army joined the Fresh Expressions partnership.

In post for almost nine months as The Salvation Army Fresh Expressions Mission Enabler – and with the denomination as a partner of Fresh Expressions heading into its second year – I can honestly say it has been the most amazing spiritual ride.

Little did I realise the challenge and blessing in seeking to communicate, convince and connect the United Kingdom Salvation Army with all that Fresh Expressions seeks to do. It has been both exhilarating and demanding.

To be honest, I think the biggest personal blessing has been the joining together with kindred men and women from across different Christian traditions; all of whom share the same heart and passion to reach the unchurched with the good news of the gospel in culturally relevant ways. I've found it surprising to discover how much we have in common! Through it all there has been – and continues to be – a true sense of God's grace and unity of the Spirit.

As a movement, The Salvation Army has sought to actively put things in place, not only to embrace Fresh Expressions but also to let it speak prophetically into the wider church movement. I guess to use the language employed by many involved in developing and encouraging fresh expressions of church, we have been discovering what the 'mixed economy' means in our setting. This has been so helpful in our understanding of how we create the right space, environment for that as well as provide the necessary components to identify, train and equip pioneer officers.

It has not all been plain sailing as I have been challenging the very heart of who we are and how we do things. As a result, there have been some bumpy moments in the boat, and I suspect there will be a few more. But that's ok. The good news is that at least we have embarked on the journey – even though we do not necessarily understand our destination. This, in itself, greatly encourages me. It means that we are having to:

  • listen closely;
  • stop and be still;
  • understand and interpret what we think we are hearing and seeing, and then;
  • step out in faith.

There have been some real highlights too. Twelve new fresh expressions of church have started in The Salvation Army over the last year or so, including a café church in Stoke Newington and a youth outreach project in Stamford. A new incarnational ministry is also beginning to form in a very deprived community in Nottinghamshire while Armada Spasy, a church for the Roma communities in Kent, has seen significant growth and development in the past twelve months.

Potential pioneer leaders and teams have started to be identified and assessed. Some 22 people have gone through what can best be described as an 'evolutionary' assessment process with more than half of them already deployed into pioneering situations.

I have spoken to officer cadets about pioneering and fresh expressions and it was also good to address our national youth workers' conference where a number of young adults have expressed a desire to look at pioneering as a way forward for their ministry and lives. Another opportunity involved me speaking at The Salvation Army Training College as people gathered from all over the country to discern where God is leading them and whether or not pioneering may be part of that path.

There's no doubt that these are very exciting days. It's a privilege to seek to envision and embed the vision and values of Fresh Expressions into the heartbeat of the Salvation Army – or maybe I should say to help reignite the pioneering spirit at the heart of this amazing movement?

msm Cambridgeshire and Suffolk – Bury St Edmunds and Ely

You are invited to share a learning journey in a supportive community to be equipped for a lifetime of good practice and learning in growing fresh expressions of church.

Your local course

The Dioceses of Ely and St Edmundsbury & Ipswich, East Anglia Methodist District, Eastern Baptist Association and URC Eastern Synod are delighted to make msm available locally. We believe it will be a significant resource for building the Kingdom of God in this area.

Individuals are most welcome, but we particularly hope that small groups from a church or fresh expression will come as this will deepen the impact of the course.

The course leaders and teachers include Dave Gardner, Simon Goddard, Sarah Gower and Tim Yau.

Course timetable and venue

Saturday 19th September 2015

Tuesday 13th October 2015

Tuesday 3rd November 2015

Saturday 21st November 2015

Tuesday 1st December 2015

Tuesday 12th January 2016

Saturday 6th February 2016

Tuesday 1st March 2016

Tuesday 15th March 2016

Tuesday 19th April 2016

Saturday 7th May 2016

Tuesday 7th June 2016

Saturdays are 10.00-16.00 at Christ Church Moreton Hall, Bury St Edmunds, IP32 7EW.

Weekdays are 19.30-21.30 at St Mary’s Church, St Mary’s Street, Ely, CB7 4HF.

Cost

£170 per person, which covers all materials and refreshments.

Book

Download the flier and booking form at the foot of the page or book online.

Contact

Dave Gardner

Course Administrator

dave.gardner@cofesuffolk.org

01473 298521