Author: ben-clymo
msm Cambridgeshire and Suffolk – Bury St Edmunds
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, Claire Darracott, Tim Yau, Simon Goddard, Sarah Gower, Dave Male, Terry Tennens, Joanna Cox, Chris Duffett, Adrian Chatfield and Michael Moynagh.
Course timetable and venue
Saturday 13th September 2014
Tuesday 14th October 2014
Tuesday 4th November 2014
Saturday 22nd November 2014
Tuesday 9th December 2014
Tuesday 13th January 2015
Saturday 7th February 2015
Tuesday 3rd March 2015
Tuesday 24th March 2015
Tuesday 28th April 2015
Saturday 16th May 2015
Tuesday 9th June 2015
Saturdays run from 10.00 to 16.00, weekdays from 19.30 to 21.30, both at Christ Church, Moreton Hall, Lawsons Place, Bury St Edmunds, IP32 7EW.
Cost
£150 per person, which covers all materials and refreshments.
Contact
Claire Darracott
Course Administrator
claire@xolve.co.uk
07790 477273
Recommendations
I’m delighted to commend the mission shaped ministry course to all who want to be effective in the 21st Century.
Revd Graham Thompson, Chair, East Anglia Methodist District
The mission shaped ministry course is proving both popular and productive in helping us engage adventurously with God’s mission. I hope even more people will take it up in the years to come.
Rt Revd Dr David Thomson, Acting Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich
View mission shaped ministry in a larger map
Think new thoughts, dream new dreams (Dan Carlton)
Dan Carlton thinks new thoughts and dreams new dreams.
My sense is that most churches started as fresh expressions of church. At least that is what they want to believe. They started a church in order to reach people for the gospel who have not yet been reached. Over time that initial burst of missionary attitude gives way to a more formal, institutional expression of the church. No church makes a decision to do that – it just happens in the life of the institution. Then we realize one day that our church conversations get stuck on 'organisation' and very rarely move to the mission we believe we are supposed to do.
Fresh expressions helps me rethink about the mission. It is an opportunity to go back to our 'birth stories' and in some cases re-write our birth stories. It is an opportunity for the 'organised, institutionalised' church to think new thoughts, dream new dreams and rekindle our love for people who do not have a relationship with Jesus.
Fresh expressions of church are also accessible. I don't mean this as a criticism but when I am in other church conversations I see preachers, musicians, children's ministries, youth ministries, buildings and technology that are unattainable for me and the church that I serve. No matter how much we paint, how much we practice, how much we do we are not going to rise to that level. The simple truth of where I serve there is just a large segment of our population that are never going to come through the doors of the church no matter how much 'better' we get. Fresh expressions gives us a framework for getting back on mission. It helps us to take away the excuses of our limitations and moves us back in the mission field with Jesus.
I see fresh expressions of church happening all over my culture and context. People who are gathering folks together in non-traditional ways, sharing in community with one another and bringing transformation to people’s lives. The really humbling part of this is that some of these groups do not have any sense of the work of Jesus' kingdom. So it is exciting to me to realise in some cases I don't have to do the 'heavy lifting' of a fresh expression – I just need to show up where it is already taking place and be a kingdom person.
Our Fresh Expressions US national gathering has just taken place in the city where I serve. My prayer from that is that I will see God's fresh work around us and my church will move to mission.