Kilmarnock vision day

Speakers

David McCarthy, Gary Williams

Cost

£12 including a soup and sandwich lunch.

Programme

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

09.30 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 Networking

16.30 End

Book or contact

Book online.

For more information or to book:

Lorraine Orr

mandd@cofscotland.org.uk

Dornoch vision day

Speakers

David McCarthy, Tim Lea

Cost

£12 including a soup and sandwich lunch.

Programme

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

09.30 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 Networking

16.30 End

Book or contact

Book online.

For more information or to book:

Lorraine Orr

mandd@cofscotland.org.uk

Bristol vision day

Speakers

Wayne Hawkins

Cost

Free, please bring your own lunch. Donations are welcome on the day.

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:

msmbristol@gmail.com

0117 960 3195

VFXtra – February 2015

VFXtra, A quarterly support day hosted by VentureFX pioneers for people in any kind of pioneering ministry.

All pioneering types are welcome to gather with kindred spirits for a day of learning, sharing, prayer and encouragement.

VFXtra - February 2015 details

About VentureFX and VFXtra days

VentureFX is the Methodist Church's scheme to promote and encourage pioneer mission among those who are not yet disciples of Jesus. There are currently 14 VFX pioneers working in all three nations of the UK. We recognise that there are many other people doing similar things in circuits and districts around the Methodist Church and would love to act as a resource to support all those who are on this pioneering journey in whatever context. Gathering occasionally to share learning, conversation, prayer, experience and vision seems to be an important activity for us to engage in. It can often be a fairly lonely path we tread and even the best supported of us may value the opportunity to journey with others who face similar challenges and opportunities.

Our hope for VFXtra is to gather in regional clusters three times a year, hosted by the VFX pioneers, and to take the opportunity to learn together, pray together and encourage one another. There'll be some structured input, but plenty of time for conversation and sharing. We don't want it to be a burden, so the invitation is to those for whom it would be helpful rather than yet another meeting to go to!

Venues and contacts

Manchester

Nexus Arts Café, Dale Street, M1 1JW

Ric Stott, rjstott@hotmail.co.uk

Cambridge

230 High Street, Cottenham, CB24 8RZ

Simon Oliver, simon.oliver@cantab.net

Newcastle

The Holy Biscuit, 1 Clarence Street, NE2 1YH

Elaine Lindridge, elaine@lindridge.org.uk

Exeter

The Cavern, 84 Queen Street, Exeter, Devon, EX4 3RP

Jon Curtis, jon_shoe@hotmail.com

Further details

For further information about VentureFX and vfxtra days please contact Ian Bell on belli@methodistchurch.org.uk.

What would Jesus measure?

Norman Ivison explores how we measure 'success'.

New Year's resolutions are obviously on the way out. When I asked a congregation of 150 a couple of weeks ago how many had made them, only 3 people owned up. But New Year is still a time for looking back, taking stock and imagining what a new future might be like.

For each and every fresh expression of church, that process of assessment leading to imagination and then action is really important. Without reviewing the past, where we started from, how far we have travelled; and without imagining the future, where God might be leading us, who might be key to new ways forward, what needs to change, we will simply drift around on a sea of uncertainty. And then you are at the mercy of every changing tide and shifting storm.

Prayer and discernment are key to looking to the future, but there are other practical things we can do to help our fresh expression develop too. I'm fascinated by the way the early church was quite open and transparent about the need to reflect and learn from the past, before moving on into the future. Paul, in particular, was constantly reminding his readers about the journey they had been on and wasn't slow in recommending possible routes ahead. Being willing to assess, to measure progress so far, seems to be an important guiding principle in the first century church.

But how do you do that in a fresh expression of church? Do you simply count heads? If you do, then is the counting done at the largest gathering for worship, across the week to include all activities, or across the whole community engaging with your new form of church? What exactly would Jesus measure?

Assessing how far you have come and imagining where you might go next has got to be much more than simply measuring attendance. Thankfully my colleague, Michael Moynagh, has done some significant thinking on this whole area. In an appendix to his book Being Church, Doing Life, he reminds us that any evaluation needs to be seen as

a contribution to the process of spiritual discernment,

and that discernment

is the process, week in and week out, of help(ing) you recognise what the Spirit wants you to do next.

He goes on to give one method of evaluation based on a fresh expressions journey, and encourages both an evaluation of the quality of our life together and a more quantitative approach to progress too.

So for example, if you feel loving and serving the local community or network is a major priority you could ask two sets of questions.

Qualitative

  • In what ways have you been loving and serving people?
  • What stories reflect well and less well on what you have been doing?
  • For the team, what have been the high and the low points of the past year?
  • What were your hopes at the start of the year and how far have they been achieved?
  • What has surprised you and what have you learned?
  • What ideas for improvement have people suggested?

Quantitative

  • How many people in your network or neighbourhood do team members meet regularly?
  • What are the average numbers at your main event – at the start of the year? At the end?
  • What is the overall number of people you are in touch with (e.g. you see them at least once or twice a year)?
  • What are the results (in relation to your service) of your satisfaction survey, if you have done one?

These are all good questions and you can of course repeat this process with all the stages of a fresh expression journey.

So for many fresh expressions of church it is time to be much more sophisticated in the way we evaluate progress and the way we imagine the way ahead. The new year is a good time to do that and those funding us might be delighted to know that significant progress is being made and that is not just about numbers. And who knows, if fresh expressions demonstrate a new way of assessing where we are on the adventure God is taking us, other churches might quickly follow.

Lady Bay Mission Community

In a first for St John's College, Nottingham, a group of students are now getting to grips with life in a 'mission laboratory' in the city's Lady Bay area.

The Community Mission Pathway has come about through the College's partnership with the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. Its leader is Mark Rodel who is Tutor in Pioneer Ministry at St John's, and Pioneer Minister in Lady Bay – or to give him his full title there, Pioneer Minister and Vicar at All Hallows, Lady Bay with St Edmund, Holme Pierrepont and Adbolton!

Six students, all of whom are Church of England ordinands, signed up for the first year of the Pathway which sees them become part of a new monastic community, sharing together a rhythm of prayer, learning and mission. Their studies continue to be based at St John's but they all live in, or near, Lady Bay in West Bridgford. They are on 'continuous placement'.

Two of the students live in a three-bedroomed Diocesan house in West Bridgford – with potential for two more people to join them later. The other four, all married, live in their rented homes nearby.

Mark RodelMark Rodel: Nobody wants leaders in mission who see themselves as 'lone rangers'; this work really needs to be shared  if we're going to get away from the idea of everything being dependent on just one person with a specific set of gifts and talents. We're looking to model a way of living and working and discerning that will very much be seen as putting into practice what we are learning.

For me, it's a juggling act. How do I balance my role at St John's with being a pioneer and a vicar? There are a lot of demands but what I have been working on is greater and greater integration, drawing together a community of students so that my practice here – with others – is the means by which students are trained and formed for ministry and the base from which I reflect and teach.

It's also a mixed economy setting in that the dispersed mission community will be able to engage with churches in the area and see how the inherited church and fresh expressions of church might work together. We're calling this a 'mission laboratory' in its scope and size.

Sharing their lives so closely, discerning God's call as a group and learning more about the context they find themselves in together will help prepare them to get new mission communities off the ground. This might result in new forms of church emerging or existing congregations could be renewed and re-energised in mission.

Our Community Constitution and Rule makes it clear that the Lady Bay Mission Community has been established for two complementary and integrated purposes:

  1. the renewal of Christian mission in Lady Bay, through the renewal of the parish church of  All Hallows, and through starting, developing and sustaining one or more fresh expressions of church;
  2. the training of Church of England ordinands, ordinands of other churches, lay ministers and independent students for pioneering ministry and leadership in mission.

As we develop a vision for a fresh expression of church in the parish, we will relate to the national Fresh Expressions movement through the regional FEAST (Fresh Expressions Area Strategy Team).

When I first arrived at All Hallows, Lady Bay, it was a real learning curve because they weren't specifically asking for pioneering or fresh expressions. So, for them to hear that they were getting someone who would be a vicar and a pioneer was quite difficult.

The first year was pretty tough, there was no honeymoon period, but then we had an event at which I read out part of my job description and it was quite clear to everyone that the role I'd applied for was all about change. That was the breakthrough.

Some of it was also about adopting a different pastoral approach. The full scope of my role hadn't been as widely understood as it might have been and some people thought it was my job to mediate the situation. Thankfully, I had a lot of support from the Diocese, the Director of Ministry and Mission, Nigel Rooms, and the former Archdeacon of Nottingham, Peter Hill, who is now the Bishop of Barking.

The other thing that has helped us to open that up is our involvement with US-based organisation, Church Innovations, and its consultancy service, The Partnership for Missional Church (PMC) founded by Patrick Keifert.

Through PMC, we join together with a small group of congregations from our Diocese (Southwell and Nottingham) and the Diocese of Leicester in a three year process which explores what part we might play in God's future for our local communities. St John's College supports us in that and we meet as a cluster three times a year, to reflect on what we're learning and prepare for the tasks we do locally between each gathering.

This has already helped us to ask the question, 'What can The Partnership for Missional Church and Fresh Expressions learn from each other? There is lots of crossover. PMC is asking us to consider that if we're investing in new things, does the inherited church just roll over and die or do we invite them into newness? It's a process of what we call adaptive change rather than technical fixes. We ask what we need to be and take the steps to get there.

Along the way, we learn and practice six spiritual disciplines or 'holy habits'. So far we have learnt two – Dwelling in the Word and Corporate Spiritual Discernment.

The mission community also demands a lot of attention and care but I'm not going to be a sort of 'Daddy Pioneer'. Instead, we'll meet and mutually support each other as a part prayer, part reflective practice group.

The conviction to me is about community. I haven't tried to establish a fresh expression, the process of looking and listening needs to be a long and engaged one. It's important that we discern these things together. I have got lots of bright ideas so I can all too easily say, 'Come and join me to make things happen' but what is God calling to come into being in this place? That's the sort of thing we'll be considering as a group.

Darren (Howie) is the only member of this community who has been through pioneer panel – but the way I have launched the course to them, even if they're not pioneer, is to say that it's for anyone who would look to be pioneering in their approach. After their time here, there will be a range of destinations for them, some of which may look more like what a pioneer would look for or it may be a conventional parish.

It's about being a community where we develop the skills and convictions and aptitudes to lead the church into new engagements with a wider community and possibly into churches.

It's hugely exciting. I have been working on this for two years  and we had no idea in January whether anyone would come; I thought maybe we'd get two or three but when six people said, 'yes please' – six people with their own richness in learning, passions and giftedness – I was staggered.

The rhythm of life is the heart of it; it's that coming together every day but also being part of the wider family at St John's. That has made such a difference already. Being serious about disciplines means a commitment to prayer – and commitments in both attitude and practice when living to a community rule. That involves rhythms of:

  • eating, including Eucharist;
  • praying;
  • sharing/generosity;
  • learning;
  • growing and working together – looking to see God's Kingdom come, see church grow in depth and numbers and new forms of church to emerge.

As part of our corporate spiritual discernment, we are working with an established monastic community to hold us spiritually accountable to our Rule. Our  'visitor' is an Anglican Benedictine Order, based at Mucknell Abbey, Worcestershire, and we will meet every year with a representative or representatives from Mucknell Abbey to review the Rule. We also each have a spiritual director with whom we meet at least once a term.

It's important that we are not just 'making this up' as we go along so it's wonderful to be linked in with the Order as a group who have done this for a very long time!

Community Mission Pathway students

Gail PhillipGail Phillip: I trained as a teacher and worked with a pioneering Singaporean missionary couple in Thailand. I was with the Anglican Church, based at Christ Church, Bangkok. I came back to the UK four years ago and worked with children in full time residential care but there was a strong sense of calling to ordained ministry so that's why I'm here.

I'm pioneer with a small 'p', working through translation! One of the things that attracted me to the Community Mission Pathway was that it was not just dismissing the people who have gone before but discerning how is God working so we can move together. There are lots of opportunities here; this is an area of 4,000 people with two pubs used for all sorts of community activities. 

Jess McLarenJess McLaren: I started my career in Human Resources and I worked my way up a corporate business ladder for seven years. I became a Christian in 2010 and pretty quickly felt a call from God. I started to look around and see other doors opening up. Within a month I found myself working for my bishop (Bishop of Kensington, Paul Williams) with a project in the diocese of London. It all happened for me on a night when we were commissioning 2,300 young people at St Paul's in April 2012; that night I really felt that God was calling me. I tried to push it down but the thought wouldn't go away and I went into the discernment process in 2012.

In the last year, I was working as a parish assistant for St Mary Magdalene Church, Littleton, and helping with chaplaincy work in schools.

Andi ThomasAndi Thomas: My wife, little boy and I live just outside Lady Bay because we couldn't find a house right on the doorstep but it's great to feel part of this Pathway of pioneers. I have just spent about 20 years doing inner city youth work and managed a youth church plant. We were all part of Aston Parish Church, Birmingham.

I didn't plan to do any of this and I remember when someone had a message from God that they believed was for me. The message was that I should consider full-time ministry in the church and I started the discernment process in 2011 but I swore I'd never become a vicar but, more and more, I had the feeling of wanting to be in the glasshouse rather than keep on throwing stones at it.

Darren HowieDarren Howie: My wife and I have been involved with St John's studies for several years now and I've been pursuing the call to ordination; got through Bishops Panel in March and decided to stay because we're really excited about the Community Mission Pathway. This is a great chance to discover about community living at first hand.

I originally knew that St John's was the place for me because, after a very difficult time involving church, I went to the chapel service and Nick Ladd simply said, 'We are just going to wait on God'. Well, the presence of God in the room was overwhelming. I was in the right place. Now, we'll look to see what happens as we learn to live in community with others.

Ivor LewisIvor Lewis: This process has been quite a long one. I was a youth a community regeneration worker in Aston, Birmingham (the same parish as Andi) for quite a long time so I'm really out of my comfort zone here! I'd never really thought of ordination before but I was at my youngest brother's wedding when this minister, who I didn't know, came up to me and said, 'You are going to be a vicar'. He said it in front of my family so I couldn't even pretend it didn't happen! I tried to brush it aside but I went to an urban youth work conference in 2008 and what I came away with was the conviction that God was asking me to take the call of leadership seriously.

I finally did that in 2011/2012 and I made links with DDOs and people like that but all the while I was thinking, I know how hard these guys work, I know they have no life outside that, do you really want to sign up for this? But then I did the paperwork and I felt as if a weight was taken off my shoulders. At the Bishop's Advisory Panel, I felt the Lord was with me. I still wondered what type of ministry I wanted to be involved in and what sort of training that was to be; it was the rhythm of life that attracted me here. This is not inner city Birmingham and I am out of my comfort zone in a sense.

Ed SauvenEd Sauven: I'm from London and have been there for the last eight years. One of the things my wife and I have been thinking of more and more is authentic Christian community. What does itlook like and what does authentic Christian community doing mission look like? I've been involved in lots of things to explore that and I've also tried to get involved in lots of things to explore that but – for one reason or another – they didn't work out.

At one point we were part of a network church looking to connect with 20s and 30s but I struggled with the network setting and not having a sense of place. In trying to discern how you might build community, I heard how these things will come from communities of prayer and I found that new monasticism really resonated with me.

I had a Bishop's Advisory Panel coming up and I was travelling the ordination route but the new monastic movement seemed to be something of a tangent. I hadn't considered prayer to be the centre but then we came to St John's and talked to Mark and found out what he had been doing here. I sensed a very clear answer to prayer. I really wanted to develop community with prayer at its heart and it's from that you go out and do mission. I feel that from a place like that you can do mission sustainably.

And this little piggy had none…

As budgets are squeezed and funding is cut, we are forced to do more and more with less and less. How much money is enough for good youth work, and how do you raise an extra few quid? Kevin Colyer gives some ideas in an article written for Premier Youthwork.

Youth work budgets can drift in importance, falling somewhere under the PA budget and just above the toilet cleaning allocation. They tend to be the least funded budgets in many churches. I was once in a planning meeting and noticed that the minister's book fund was three times that of the children's budget! Ignoring church politics for a moment, and the fact that the vast proportion of the churches' income goes into supporting the adult programme, what do you actually need to do youth work well? How much do you actually require?

The best things in life are free

The first and most important thing to say is that you and your time are the most vital things that you have to offer in youth work: more vital than a youth room, more significant than a table football game, more life-changing than a video projector. Listening to young people is perhaps the single most important thing you have to offer and that only costs time. Making a safe place for young people to talk and share is also more about your skills as a team builder than about the decor or ambiance of the place you are in. You discover this in detached youth work, where being present to young people on a regular and consistent basis is of far more importance than the content of your message. Standing under their bus shelter is entering into and remaining in their world.

Passing on to young people the compassionate beating heart of God for people is more vital and can be much cheaper than entertaining them. Training and developing young people is also something that need not cost the earth. It takes time to craft materials and produce stimulating teaching, leading to deeper discipleship. Challenging ourselves to think creatively is vital. We may struggle to find ideas and resources, although the wonderful culture of sharing good ideas and materials on the internet is a great boost to us. A subscription to a monthly publication focusing on youth work was a vital resource to me and often the only fixed thing on my budget for many years! [Editor: we can't possibly disclose the name of such a publication…]

All this said, moments arise when you need some money to buy food, to subsidise a trip away, to buy some materials or to pay for all those trips to the coffee shop for mentoring sessions. Where will it come from? It has probably been coming from your pockets, the pockets of the other volunteers or the parents of the young people. This is fine, when people can afford it! But extending the reach of youth work to families outside the church who may be in very different or even dire circumstances is difficult if we assume that parents can't always pay.

From zero to hero

So how do you go about getting the funds that you need? Knowing what you want is vital. If you have started with a clear strategy then you should know where you want to get to. Backwards planning is key here. Set aside some time once you know your strategy and direction (it is valuable to do the whole exercise with two or three key helpers). Look at the next twelve months (the simplest significant cycle) and go through this process:

  1. Ask the question: what will it look like when I get here? What will I need?
  2. Write it down.
  3. Move one step back from your end point and ask the questions from point one.
  4. Keep repeating this until you get to today.
  5. Reverse your plan and you should have a step-by-step guide for the next 12 months.
  6. Make sure you put a date in the diary to do this exercise again!

Take your list of what you need and turn this into a budget to go alongside your plan of getting there. Be as realistic as possible about your budget. If you expect to do 20 face-to-face meetings over coffee, what will that cost? Even if you pay for this from your own pocket it is very helpful to know the value of this investment you are making. Get some wise opinions and thoughts, and adapt your budget and strategy plan as needed. Write the big goal for the next season at the top of your strategy plan.

The next thorny issue is to enter into the mire of church politics. Do not be too discouraged here. You have a reasonable and sensible plan for your youth work. Approach your supervisor or minister and ask to talk about the budget. Seek to explain where you want to go and how you aim to get there, and explain your plan and budget. Seek their help to know how to get this as fully funded as possible. You might be successful and they will cut down the PA and coffee budgets to free up cash for you. You may get all you need!

But if you don't, don't fret, but do ask for permission to raise funds. You may not get it, but I hope you will. If you don't, you may have to go back to the drawing board with extra creativity and consider afresh how to get to your goals with less expense. Coming back to the permission givers with a refined plan will gain you favour and respect for having adapted your plans to their concerns. 

Raising funds

From this point onwards, fundraising might be the best option. This may be a simple fundraising event, a sponsored abseil down the church spire or a sponsored kissing contest; whatever you and your team can dream up. But what if the amount is simply too great?

This is where relational fundraising will play a part. While all fundraising is to some extent relational (as it involves an appeal to the heart of the donor), relational fundraising in this context means approaching people directly, and building relationships with them in order to ask them to partner with you financially. You may know about this from the approach taken by many missionaries or Christian workers who raise their support from 50-100 individual donors. These donors have a personal connection with them and give occasionally or regularly. This may well be the approach you feel you need to take, especially if the investment of extra time is the greatest need of your youth work. You might need to take a parttime job and supplement your income from donors. You may want to go full time. The good news is that there are several resources to help you with this.

Asking people to give generously to support God's work is a very good and important thing for their discipleship. It is said that Jesus spoke more about money than about heaven in the Gospels (see Matthew 6.24, Mark 12.41-42, Luke 12.21 and Luke 18.18-30 for examples). The need to address the powerful hold over our security and freedom that money provides is vital for us all as we seek to follow the call of Christ.

Communicating well is the key to the whole approach: before asking, when asking, when thanking and in ongoing feedback about your project. If you can make a clear presentation and explain why the funding of your project is so important, people are very likely to support your cause rather than the local cats' home.

The next step is to divide the total you want to raise into more manageable chunks. Try seeking regular monthly gifts (make sure you have a church bank account available), as splitting the budgets into twelve monthly chunks will be much easier: £6,000 over twelve months is £500 per month. Next, take the £500 and split that down into slices, one lot of £75, three £50s, six £25s, seven £10s and eleven £5s. In this format you need 17 donors. Now start to compile a list with your team of who you could approach. Seventeen people will take a while, so you will want to start at the end where people can afford the most. The gifts of £10 or £5 might be achievable via a presentation to a group or an email. It will help that you can show you have already raised £375pm at this point!

It is good to practise your presentation beforehand with some trusted people. You might be nervous; most people do not enjoy the process of asking. It does get better with practice you will be pleased to know. Now you need to ask with confidence. Arrange a quick face-to-face meeting or call up the people on your list one by one. Explain you want to see them about whether or not they will consider funding your youth work. It is important that you make the purpose of the visit clear. They need to be able to say no just as easily as yes!

When the time comes, go and give your presentation to them. Listen to them and learn what motivates them, how they view youth work and what their concerns are. When you feel they are ready (and you could come back for further meetings to get to know them better, or invite them to visit your work to see you in action), ask them to consider funding you for X or Y per month. They may want to pray and consider this, so arrange to call back later. Leave them with all the information they need, so that they can continue to ponder – and also make the all-important gift should they want to.

From this point on you have a new member of your team. Respect them as such with thanks, appreciation and as much information as they wish to receive about the progress of your project. Who knows, they might even get a desire to work alongside you. It can be a very rewarding journey for all. Keep communicating and thanking, whatever you do.

There is vastly more to be said than I can write in this short space. I hope this article will help those who are not in the wonderful position of being funded to do youth work and also those who are struggling with tiny budget allowances to find a fresh angle on the squeeze and look creatively at what opportunities are on offer. It might make you look sideways at what you are doing and help to ask the more deeply strategic questions of what you are actually trying to achieve in your work. Where are we taking these young people on their journey of faith?

For those who are well-funded, blessings on you. However, the same strategic questions need to be asked: what are we doing here? What are we really achieving? Just good activity? Perhaps asking the question of what I would do differently if I only had half my budget is a helpful one. And maybe you could put the rest of the funds into the retirement fund for old and penniless youth workers!

Some suggested resources

Books

  • Friend raising: building a missionary support team that lasts (Betty Barnett)
  • More than money, more than faith: successfully raising missionary support in the Twenty-First Century (Paul Johnson)
  • Funding your ministry: whether you’re gifted or not (Scott Morton)
  • The spirituality of fundraising (Henri Nouwen)
  • Funding the family business: the handbook for raising personal support (Myles Wilson)
  • Self-supporting ministry (Kevin Colyer)

Organisations

  • Stewardship provides a range of services to help Christian workers and organisations with giving and receiving money. They can receive gifts on behalf of a Christian worker and forward them on. See stewardship.org.uk for the most relevant information.

Reframing the role of pastor

Michael Moynagh seeks to reframe the role of pastor.

Do you feel called to the pastoral ministry rather than to start new types of church? If so, your pastoral gifts may be exactly what fresh expressions of church need.

Most likely you are not the right person to start new Christian communities in the daily lives of your congregation. That's because you are not with your church members through the week.

But you can support your lay people as they do so. You can be a sounding board, an encourager, a source of probing questions, a warning voice, and an advocate for what they are doing, especially to others in church who do not understand.

Pioneers often feel fragile. By trying something new they risk failure, which can make them anxious. If they are 'ahead of the curve', they may feel misunderstood or unappreciated. What they need are good pastors who understand them, sympathise with the ups and downs of the task, and provide a listening ear.

In particular, pioneers often make an identity journey. God may use their unease with existing church to call them on a journey of faith, like Abraham. As they psychologically break free of the church they are used to ('It's possible to be church in a different way', they realise), the Spirit leads them on a path to a new view of themselves.

Instead of just being a member of an existing congregation, they begin to see themselves as the founder of a new gathering. Perhaps they start to identify with others who are starting new expressions of church. As they do so, they travel away from existing church.

But paradoxically, many also crave affirmation from the church they are psychologically leaving. They want reassurance that what they are doing is acceptable and they won't be rejected.

This is where good pastors come in. Ministers can use their pastoral gifts to understand the hesitancies and tensions involved in this identity journey, and offer much-needed support. In other words, you do not have to be a pioneer yourself. You can be a pastor to those who are. Your care and backing can release those in your congregation who feel called to start a fresh expression.

Might you go further? Where practical, might you offer to be a pastor to these new communities? Might you be a referral person for individuals with pastoral needs? Might you visit from time to time, and as you get to know the community care for some of its members?

To encourage fresh expressions, you don't need to be a gifted change agent, nor gifted in up-front leadership, nor have pioneering experience. All you need are the gifts to encourage others to have a go, to gently and wisely hold them to account, and to let them come up with the answers.

Fort Augustus vision day

Speakers

Olive Fleming Drane, John Drane

Cost

£10 including lunch and refreshments. Please pay cash on arrival.

Programme

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

09.30 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:

Lorraine Martin

gmartin1@btinternet.com