Author: ben-clymo

A pilgrimage for pioneers

A pilgrimage for pioneers to early Christian sites in Ireland, led by Russ Parker and Michael Mitton.

Leaders

Revd Dr Russ Parker, Project Director for Healing Wounded Churches and author of Healing Wounded History and Rediscovering the Ministry of Blessing. Russ will be the Pilgrimage leader.

Canon Michael Mitton, Fresh Expressions Officer for the Derby Diocese and author of Restoring the Woven Cord. Michael will be the Spiritual Director for the trip, offering individual sessions for any who want time for personal reflection.

The intention of this pilgrimage will be for pioneers to encounter the early stories of Christian faith in the Republic of Ireland. Time and space will be given to listening to God, praying for the grace of his Spirit upon our ministry and reflecting on the connections between the early mission and pioneering work in this post-Christendom world.

Practicalities

The cost of the Pilgrimage is £700, to cover the cost of all travel in Ireland and to Inis Mor, B&B accommodation and admission to various holy sites. Pilgrims will need to arrange their own travel to Shannon Airport and will need to cover the cost of lunches and evening meals. A deposit of £250 (payable to 'Russ Parker' and sent to the address below) will be required by the end of August 2014.

Contacts

Russ Parker

rparker@acornchristian.org

Pinewood House, Black Pond Lane, Lower Bourne, Farnham, Surrey, GU10 3NW

Michael Mittion

michaelmitton@btinternet.com

Recommendations

I found visiting the sites of early Irish Christians and hearing their stories sparked my imagination around mission and stirred me up afresh for pioneering today. It was absolutely wonderful.

Jonny Baker, Director of Pioneer Training, CMS

I found a sense of home while seeking adventure, and echoes in the earth of God's call into our future as a family and as a community.

Beth Honey, Pioneer, Derby Diocese


Itinerary

Day 1: 12th April 2015

Meet at Arrivals at Shannon Airport. Drive to Shannonbridge for lunch at Kileen's Bar. Afternoon visit to the great monastic centre of Clonmacnoise to visit Ciaran's holy city and pray for renewed vision at the shrine of Ciaran.

Day 2: 13th April 2015

Visit Brendan's Cathedral at Clonfert and the site of his monastery and burial. Drive to Connemara and fly on a 9 seater plane to the island of Inis Mor, one of the three Aran Islands and location of thriving missional communities led by Breacon, Enda and others.

Day 3: 14th April 2015

Walk to the north of the island to visit the site of the seven churches where we shall see the remains of the 6th century community led by Breacon, meet with local guide, learn about the mission of that era, and pray at the bed of the Holy Spirit. Walk back via the little chapel of Sournay, one of the female leaders on the island.

Day 4: 15th April 2015

Visit the site of St Enda, whose chapel now lies in the sand dunes. Pray in the nearby labyrinth. Return flight to Connemara Airport and then drive south to the Dingle Peninsula and stay in the little town of Dingle.

Day 5: 16th April 2015

A day spent in the story of Brendan the Navigator: Follow the Brendan Trail and visit Dun Beagh Iron Age clochan and Fahan with its beehive houses. Lunch at Raiasc and then on to the Gallerus Oratory and the ancient church of Kilmalkedar for prayers at St Brendan's Well.

Day 6: 17th April 2015

Boat to St. Sennach's Island (if sea calm enough for a landing! If not, the boat will take us around the island). Somewhere in this region we shall have a communion service together. Lunch in Castlegregory. Drive to Bunratty (near Shannon) to stay the night. Space for reflection and sharing of our reflections of the Pilgrimage.

Day 7: 18th April 2015

Flights home from Shannon Airport.

Plus whatever and whomever God causes us to visit and meet on our travels, and the usual warm Irish hospitality.

Shall I take my tiny coracle across the wide, sparkling ocean? O King of the Glorious Heaven, shall I go of my choice upon the sea? O Christ, will you help me on the wild waves?

Brendan of Clonfert 

Neither Young Nor Old

Matthew Edwards and Julie Ferguson lead Neither Young Nor Old (NYNO) in a sheltered housing complex in Aberdeen.

NYNO aims to create fresh expressions of all-age church amongst older people, particularly, but not exclusively, those who live in sheltered housing accommodation. The title was inspired by Galatians 3.28, 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for all are one in Christ Jesus'. In Christ Jesus there is also Neither Young Nor Old.

Stockethill Church of Scotland had been conducting monthly worship services in a couple of sheltered housing complexes for some time. Matthew Edwards, a lay member of the church had been involved in one of these, Stocket Grange, a complex where about 60 residents live in bungalows and flats.

Matthew Edwards begins the story:

NYNO - teamWe had been there for some time but I began to wonder if there was more that could be done. We made several attempts to form something new, including a small group that met for midweek Bible study. That was very important to those involved in it over the years – but we were still asking the question, 'How can we take it further?'

Challenged by the minister to put down on paper what an experimental project might do to answer this question, I put together a funding proposal for the Church of Scotland Council Emerging Ministries Fund (now part of Go for It!), which gives grants to projects for church planting. Within the month, our newly titled project, Neither Young Nor Old (NYNO), had received significant funding.

The challenge was then to actually get the project off the ground, something which took another 18 months because we had to get a management team together, look for further funding and then advertise for two project workers. The project began in earnest last July.

One common traditional approach of the church in its engagement with older people, particularly those in sheltered or supported accommodation, has been to care for them through visiting and, if possible, a short, monthly service. We felt there were real limitations to this:

  • it perpetuates the form of church that, in many cases, has already been rejected over the course of a lifetime by many people outside church circles. As a result it has limited missional impact.

  • older people are 'cared for' in this approach, they are not included in the full life of the church or treated as having a valuable contribution to make or part to play.

NYNO - handsIn NYNO we aim to see new all-age church communities come into being that are accessible to older people and that develop their own identity, teaching, spirituality, leadership, mission and care. The families of older Christians in particular may also find the NYNO congregations to be places of welcome, care and support for their relatives and for themselves.

I think there should be a lot of hope in older people in the Church. If anything new is going to happen, it is generally assumed that it's going to come through engagement with younger people. A consequence of this can be that the significance of older people is minimised inside and outside of the Church. If people do look to the young – and youth culture – all the time as the answer to church decline, older people are left out in the cold which is something which potentially leads to the church being divided against itself. At NYNO, we are determined to work against that.

Julie Ferguson adds:

In one way or another, I have always been involved in care of older people, particularly those living with dementia. I didn't see myself as a church planter when I first saw the job advert for NYNO, although it seemed like a great idea in bringing together community and older people. I wrestled with whether to apply or not for some time, but in the end felt God calling me.

NYNO - entranceIn the complex where we work, we have to build community with people from a wide range of backgrounds and churchmanship. Instead of 'parachuting in' to lead a service, we talk a lot about making this community into a spiritual 'home'. We are all about participation and emphasising the role that everybody can play with the focus on encouraging the laity as much as we can.

In addition to our monthly Sunday gatherings, we meet most weeks on a Thursday for Bible study and a chat. About 25-28 people come on Sundays and there's usually about eight on a Thursday night.

Every now and then we'll also put something on to reach those with no church background at all. This Christmas Eve we hosted a gathering open to everyone, particularly to make sure no one had to be on their own over the Christmas period. We put leaflets in all of the bungalows and flats to advertise our 'soiree' and we had egg nog, mince pies and cakes! It was great to see people who don’t come along on a Sunday – residents, family members and staff.

Matthew and Julie continue:

NYNO - communion

Something that has proved a challenge is the fact that we are lay, not ordained, leaders. Having got into the theology of the body of Christ, we wanted to make Communion central to the worshipping community but, for obvious reasons, there are limitations to the way we can do this and we find ourselves bumping against the divide between laity and clergy.

We are very fortunate that Ian (Aitken) the parish minister comes in every second month to celebrate Communion. On the positive side, as Stockethill Church oversees us, there is a sense – when Ian comes to Stocket Grange – that we are all joining in with something much larger as we gather together for Communion.

There are lot of preconceived ideas about churches with older people in them. We sometimes get responses like, 'So, you sing a lot of hymns then?' In fact, people are up for singing songs they've never sung before; they don't mind having a go at something new. For some people, it's all new because they didn't attend church as a child and are not familiar with what others might assume they knew. But more importantly, we're trying to foster the growth of churches where styles of worship are really seen as peripheral. The most important thing is the diverse body of Christ, old and young, worshipping together in community.

We are looking forward to being able to tell more of what's happening in the lives of the community in which we're involved but this is a journey that can't be rushed. In moving from a 'service' model of church to more of an emphasis on community and participation, we're involving people in change. We can only do this one step at a time, at each stage trying to involve people so that we go on this journey together.

NYNO - local areaIf we find that a community grows that is sustainable and reproducible, we hope we'll be able to share more about what we've done and help others to do the same. As things stand we're always interested in talking to others with similar ideas.

The Church of Scotland has been very supportive in giving us partial funding for two years with potential for another, but we have found it very difficult to access money from elsewhere for church planting. In the end, the project started by reducing the planned number of paid hours.

We're supervised by a management team of five people from different churches across Aberdeen: a missions worker, a lady in her 80s, a retired teacher and a youth worker. We appreciate the diversity of experience represented here. It's important to have that given the type of church we want to see grow. We all meet every few months or so and this team really helps us not to lose sight of why we set up the project in the first place.

Here comes the bride… at a Café Church

St Ives Methodist Church (SIMC), Cambridgeshire, has celebrated its first Café Church wedding. Claire Winpenny and Jonathan Eason tied the knot earlier this month at a service led by the Church's minister, Matt Finch, who tells the story.

Jonathan and Claire found out about SIMC's Café Church on a rainy Saturday when we opened the doors for people to look around as part of a heritage weekend. The Church was set up and ready to go for a Café service the following morning; they were intrigued, returned the next day and haven't stopped coming since. At Café Church they found a place to ask questions, discuss faith and reflect on their own spiritual journeys in a relaxed atmosphere. When they decided to get married, they came to me to ask if a Café wedding would be possible.

This posed a dilemma. Was Café Church suitable for the formal, and legal, requirements of a wedding? We didn't know of a precedent for it but we were very much aware that Café Church continually surprises and delights us; new faces have become familiar friends as we have sat, talked and worshipped in this format once a month. SIMC had already celebrated Christenings and thanksgivings within the Café Church framework, so why not a wedding?

St Ives Café Church - exchanging ringsThe Café has been running for five years here and has shifted from an occasional service to the main act of worship on the third Sunday of every month at 10.30am. It is planned, set up and led by a committed group of people who are passionate about Café Church and the way it places hospitality and community at the heart of worship.

But we have always had to face the nagging question about being 'proper church' or not. Our journey seems to have been that, with patience and time, Café Church has emerged as a Christian community – with God bringing in just the right people at just the right moment. The answer to this question of 'proper church' has been a slowly unfurling 'YES' as we have discovered we are actually exploring and expressing the mystery of faith as church has always done. The difference is in the presentation and the café style but there is no difference at all in the gospel message of hope and transformation. It has been a joy and an adventure exploring the seasons of the Christian calendar, and themes of faith, with fresh eyes and new perspectives. This adventure has also provided fresh revelations to people of all ages and across the spectrum of church experience.

As a result, with the Café community growing, the way it expresses its faith has grown alongside it. In 2014, SIMC celebrated Easter through Café Church. It was a great moment as 140 people, some of whom had never been to church on Easter Sunday, gathered around tables with prayer, laughter and activities to mark the celebration at the heart of the Christian faith.

So, after Claire and Jonathan's request, the Café team came together with the couple to plan the wedding. There was a lot to do! An 8ft, 'pop-up' maple tree in the middle of the church was laden with Bible verses speaking of God's love, all of which were printed on card. A box of activities was also produced for each table, including:

  • inflatable globes to blow up as conversation starters to find out where people had travelled from to be there on the day;

  • cards on which people could write prayers for the couple. These prayers were then sealed in envelopes and given to Jonathan and Claire to open in years to come;

  • guests were invited to take 'selfies' at the ceremony and upload the images live to Twitter and Facebook to build a virtual memory of the day for Jonathan, who has a brain injury and struggles with memory loss.

St Ives Café Church - the roomThe identity of SIMC has changed since Café became a regular feature in our life together. Our vision has never been to form another church but rather to have, at our heart, a form of worship that connects with people beyond the normal church boundary. Nor has our aim been to get Café worshippers to learn how to sit through more formal acts of worship. We want people to find faith, and we are glad if that is either through Café Church or – as some have done – by coming through Café to be part of our regular weekly services. Inevitably, in our mixed economy, some folk are very definitely aligned to Café while others only worship on non-café Sundays, but there are many others who bridge the gap between the two and are amazed at what God is doing in both!

New Song Network Church commissioning

New Song Network, Warrington, became Methodism's newest church in Britain on Sunday (22nd June 2014) at a commissioning service featuring praise, worship – and much celebratory cake!

Sankey Valley Methodist Circuit Superintendent Lucille Rogers commissioned the church and Jackie Bellfield as its minister. Using a combination of text from the Methodist Worship Book and new material written specifically for the occasion, Lucille prayed for blessing on the new church and for 'fresh ventures in faith, greater commitment in worship, and new acts of service.'

Stephen Lindridge, Fresh Expressions Connexional Missioner for the Methodist Church, spoke of how New Song Network was helping people to hear of God and the journey in faith in a way that was clearly understandable to them. Reflecting on Pentecost and how people from all over the known world heard God speak to them in their native languages, Stephen said New Song Network Church was a

New Song Network - singing

beautiful coming together of the espoused Methodist values of John Wesley's day, singing the faith… and sharing faith in relevant ways. You have captured the very essence of what it means to be Methodists and translated it into a language that people can understand. My simple prayer for you, as the newest Methodist Church in Britain, is that you keep on encouraging others to do the same.

Liverpool Methodist District Chair, Jim Booth, said,

This church, its life, gives me hope.

He encouraged everyone involved at New Song Network Church, including the 43 new members welcomed on the evening,

This is just the beginning, the start of the journey.

New Song Network - commissioningJackie Bellfield, writing of the latest developments in New Song Network, said,

We have walked together and have supported one another on a journey of faith and pilgrimage which continues as we are renewed and challenged to serve God in relevant ways. We seek to be a fresh church community, constantly wanting to find new and vibrant ways to live out and communicate the love of God to others. This begins in our own lives as we grow in our own discipleship.

Five summertime ‘experiments’ (Kris Beckert)

Kris Beckert suggests five things to try this summer if you're looking to discern where a fresh expression of church might be appropriate.

Before being called into ministry, I was an environmental scientist by trade. Much of my job consisted of asking questions, forming hypotheses, designing how I'd test them, and coming up with results.

Entering into the Church world didn't change the way my brain works – it merely changed the mission and subject of the experiments. Maybe that's why I see this whole idea of starting fresh expressions of church as an experiment in listening and serving the people in our own context—and letting the need and environment dictate the form and structure instead of the other way around. And although these experiments may not demand our standing knee-deep in waders all day in the middle of a marsh, it does require us to step out and serve, try new things, and experiment in our neighbourhoods and communities. You only learn by doing it, not thinking about it.

As an environmental scientist, the summer was always the most opportune time in our research season, and I think it might also be the case when we're talking about starting fresh expressions of church. If you're looking for a chance to see what God might do through a potential fresh expression of church this summer, think about experimenting in one or more of the following areas.

1) Festivals, fairs, and 5K runs

Every town has them; do you know what they are? Even if an art exhibition or pet show don't happen to be 'your thing', it might be a learning and listening experience that God uses in your own spiritual formation. Why not get your family and friends to volunteer together to serve? Street markets and fairs are the perfect chance to do some listening in your community too. Sit on a bench and watch who turns up – and who doesn't. Ask God to reveal who you might be called to reach while you are handing out water or walking from one stall to another.

2) Prayer walking

Now that it's nice enough to be outside and light until late, why not gather a group or go by yourself to prayer walk your community? Pray for the places you pass; the schools, businesses, shops, homes. The Holy Spirit might urge you to chat with someone on your path with whom you might not have otherwise spoken. What do you notice? Who and what cries out to you in your community? Take the time to listen.

3) Go outside

Jesus spent a lot of time in the great outdoors and met a lot of people there, even on his way from place to place. Creating opportunities for people to gather can be anything from organising a street party to flying a kite at a local park. Or, if fishing is your thing, share in it with some youngsters – and their families – and invite them all to share in a cooking session afterwards. Jesus found potential disciples in fishermen, maybe you will too. If you don't have a garden, throw together an urban picnic at a school playground or provide the ice creams at a neighbours' get-together; God might open your eyes to a new group of people when you use the good weather as an excuse to get to know them!

4) Holidays for the family-less

Father's Day, August Bank Holiday, or special events like the World Cup – these are times when families get together for barbecues and picnics. However, there will be lots of people in your community who don't have family in the area. Who are these people? What could you do? On Mother's Day this year, a woman in my church invited me to share in a picnic with others from her block of flats who didn't have mothers to visit. She was the person of peace, introducing me to everyone as we shared our food together and had a great time. It occurred to me that we could do this for every holiday and probably make some new friends too. After all, Jesus spent time with those nobody else wanted to spend time with – and that's where he grew His Kingdom too. Are you willing to do the same?

5) Teachers and students

It's the end of the school year so how can you serve weary teachers and students at this time? Could you drop off some pastries and free coffee for teaching staff in the last, long, week of school? Are there children who might need healthy lunches and companionship with other youngsters in your community over the summer? Or do you live near a university where students and professors will be on campus for a summer school? How could you share the Good News there?

These are just a sample of potential 'experiments' you might try as you see if God leads you to start a fresh expression of church. Here comes summer… what are you going to do with it?

Please note that commenting has been temporarily disabled on this post. We hope to reinstate it soon.

Cortonwood

Lieutenant Catherine Dodd is leader of The Salvation Army in Cortonwood, South Yorkshire. She tells how their mission to 'go, gather and grow' has developed in the past six months.

I've been in church leadership for the past 10 years and had been serving part-time at Cortonwood since 2010 – alongside being the Officer (Minister) at an established Salvation Army church locally. In October 2013 I was appointed as the full-time leader here and Cortonwood was recognised by The Salvation Army as a new Church plant. We are situated right at the heart of our community, in a neutral venue above the Cortonwood Miners' Welfare Club.

Cortonwood was deeply affected by the miners' strike 30 years ago and the subsequent demise of the UK coal industry. Cortonwood Colliery closed and, as the biggest employer locally, this meant that life was changed forever for most of the families here.  As a miner's daughter, I understand the culture and have a heart for the people of ex-mining communities.

Cortonwood - rainbowIt had been felt for some time that God wanted to do a new thing in the Dearne Valley, and so began the process of discerning the 'what' and 'where'. Since 2010, The Salvation Army had been experimenting with different ministries through the formation of a Dearne Valley Planting Team, which I was blessed to part of. Confirmation soon came that Cortonwood was the place where God wanted us to be.

There was no physical Church presence in Cortonwood – the Methodist Chapel closed a few years back, and the parish church is situated in a neighbouring village, but I always believed that God wanted to build a church here in Cortonwood. Furthermore, I discerned that it was never his intention to plant a Church by parachuting in a group of Christians. He made it clear to me that this new plant was to be formed from people within the community who, for whatever reason, were not engaging with a traditional, attractional model of church. He wanted it to emerge from us 'journeying out' and coming alongside the community, working with them and seeing what would develop – without being prescriptive as to what it would look like or what shape it would be. To have the freedom to be part of that from the very early days, and then go on to lead that, is a great blessing.

Cortonwood - venueInitially, we did not have a base of our own and so we used various community venues as gathering places, which is something that we still do and are keen to maintain– we didn't want to go down the route of having one place that would be regarded as 'Church'. We have been blessed with the provision of our base at the Miners' Welfare Club, which provides us with office space, a community prayer room and multipurpose room – it's an accessible place where people can come along without it being a traditional Church building, which can sometimes be a barrier to people. We use it for some of our events, but by no means all.

One of the venues that we use is Costa Coffee. We have always had a good relationship with the manager there, and so when we were looking for a venue for worship we made an approach and we were delighted to be allowed to use this space. Since June 2012, we have used Costa as the venue for our now monthly worship event 'The Gathering', where we meet after hours on a Sunday evening. It's an event which is aimed at unchurched people, where there is good coffee, conversation, live music and opportunity to pause for thought.

Cortonwood - choirWe were very keen to have multiple connection points with our church. Some of the activities that we are currently delivering include weekly school's ministry, Toddlersong, food drop-in (with budgeting advice on offer too) and a Community Choir. Since January 2014, a weekly informal and conversational cell group has commenced which we call 'Time & Space', giving people an opportunity to ask the difficult questions as they explore faith. It's beautiful to see how God brings that together. The people are shaping that time of worship themselves through partnering with the Spirit; that's the way it's got to be. We have some powerful prayer times and it's very raw; it's allowing people to 'be' where they are. We have got a lot of needs in this area and some people feel downtrodden; when they start to see their value in the eyes of God, it's quite a special moment.

The key to relevance, is, for me, all about being willing to be experimental and acknowledging that this is a valid form of church. It has to be fluid. Whatever we start, we are not going to put it on tablets of stone and continue with something ad infinitum; we view things in seasons, and we just go with it. I believe this missional community, this fresh expression, is not a 'stepping stone' to traditional church – it is certainly church in its own right; yes it's firmly rooted in Salvationist doctrine but we are not frightened to be quite pioneering in the ways we go and reach out to the community.

Cortonwood - pictureWe want this to a place where people feel safe, welcomed and loved, where we can work out together what it means to be disciples of Jesus today as we serve the community of Cortonwood.

It's wonderful to see individual's lives being changed as God’s work develops. One of the guys, who is coming to food bank, wants to start to get involved in volunteering; we are also establishing a community allotment as a means of creating community, tackling food poverty by growing fresh fruit and veg for our food drop-in and caring for creation, and we are also seeing people from our local community get involved with this.

It's still very early days but it's a wonderfully energising thing to be involved in – you know that when you get up in the morning you are going to see evidence of what God's doing in people's lives. I have always had a heart for the unchurched and a real concern that people need to hear the gospel but can't – or won't – come to established church. At Cortonwood, we are seeing people engaging with our way of being Church who would not otherwise do so. It's so important to come alongside people in relevant ways as part of their community and leave it to God to engineer the conversation. We've seen that happening in all sorts of ways, including through the local school, where I have been involved for the past four years, and have recently taken on the role as School Chaplain. We did a whole school, in-school Messy Nativity and most recently a Messy Easter for all children and their parents.

Cortonwood - canesOur next priorities will be serving people in practical ways by offering 'eating on a budget' (cook 'n' eat) sessions, and setting up as an Employment Plus Centre, where people can come along and receive help in their job searching. It's all part of discerning the current needs within our community and responding accordingly.

In January, Vicky Hughes joined our team as a part-time Community Development Coordinator. Her role is to develop the food bank and get our community allotment up and running. She will also ascertain community needs and put plans in place to ensure that we can, in the name of Jesus, do something to help towards meeting those needs.

Life can seem very busy at times as I seek to balance ministry and family life. As well as leading this church plant, I'm also doing a MA in Aspects of Biblical Interpretation through London School of Theology. Distance learning can be difficult and the 10 hours of study per week can be tricky to fit in but I carry on with what God has set before me; I always find that he gives me the time I need to do what he wants me to do. I never feel overwhelmed in any way, and firmly believe that Cortonwood is where God has called me to be.

Cortonwood - hand creamChurch has got to be accessible for people. We need to be available to our communities, to love them and be prepared to journey with them in an authentic way. When we move away from our perceptions of how church should look and abandon ourselves to the Spirit, then we see God do amazing things. It is a joy to behold. Lord, may your Kingdom come, your will be done in Cortonwood, as it is in heaven.

Celebrating the mixed economy Church at Pentecost (Phil Potter)

Phil Potter celebrates the mixed economy church.

The Church of Scotland in Edinburgh, the Congregational Federation in Bristol, the Methodist Church in Birmingham, the United Reformed Church in Cardiff and the Church of England in York… the season of synods and assemblies has begun, and a great opportunity to check in with our partner denominations and feel the pulse of the Church.

As usual, many things are on the agenda and the challenges increase, but in every case I'm finding that the missionary arm of the Church is in good heart and good form, and that the fresh expressions agenda is breathing ever new life into the institutions we love.

Of course, the very concept of a 'mixed economy' of Church brings with it its own tensions, but the Church is at its very best when it celebrates its diversity, works on its unity and learns to partner in creative and generous ways. Mixed economy was never meant to mean 'either or' thinking where Christians make black and white choices, either to commit to traditional Church and all things familiar, or to new ways of doing Church and all things pioneer. On the contrary, the vision for a mixed economy is about the whole Church embracing 'both and' thinking, and wherever God may call us to serve and belong on a personal and practical level, we should all embrace the need for a rich variety of approaches to evangelism, worship and the challenge of making disciples in the twenty first century.

I know from my own experience that the church I was vicar of was at its most vibrant and effective when it was equally committed to and energized by what we creatively nicknamed 'the lake' (traditional attractional church) and 'the river' (flowing out into fresh expressions of church in very different contexts). Indeed, the recent research on fresh expressions in ten different Church of England dioceses confirms that the majority are being envisioned and created out of established local church contexts, and that even churches with very limited resources are discovering new life and energy as they find the courage to plant the tiniest seed of a new kind of church.

However we look at this, the acid test for me is in how un-churched people respond to all that we offer them. Again in my own context we found that again and again the Holy Spirit would confound our expectations of how a person seeking faith responded to 'doing church'. We committed ourselves to planting a whole range of fresh expressions to reach the thousands in our community who had never experienced church, and we convinced ourselves at first that the people who might respond to a fresh expression were the sort of people who would never darken the door of our church building. How wrong could we be! So many of those who came to faith began to put together the richest of diets when it came to belonging. Yes some remained in a single expression or congregation, but most ended up blending their experience of church and worship, and some who belonged to the most radical of fresh expressions might also turn up at the traditional Eucharist once a month! As they started to vote with their feet, they began to model mixed economy for us in the most creative of ways.

Writing this on Pentecost Sunday, I'm reminded that we serve a 'mixed economy' God, who deliberately created a Church of rich diversity and variety, and as the wind of his Spirit 'blows where it wills', let's learn to celebrate the way in which he is creating many different kinds of fresh expressions alongside inherited expressions, across several different traditions and within a colourful array of different denominations. And most of all, may we never lose sight of the fact that the God of Pentecost not only enables people to hear and receive in 'their own language', but draws them together in unity in a way that then draws many others to be 'added to their number'.

Phil Potter 

msm Kent and South East – Maidstone

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 Salvation Army, Rochester and Canterbury Dioceses, South East District of the Methodist Church, United Reformed Church and South Eastern Baptist Association 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.

Course timetable and venue

Saturday 27th September 2014

Monday 13th October 2014

Monday 10th November 2014

Monday 8th December 2014

Monday 12th January 2015

Monday 9th February 2015

Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd March 2015

Monday 13th April 2015

Saturday 9th May 2015

Monday 8th June 2015

Monday 6th July 2015

Saturdays run from 09.30 to 15.30, weekdays from 19.45 to 21.45, both at St Luke's, Maidstone, ME14 5AW.

The residential weekend is at Aylesford Priory, ME20 7BX.

Cost

£250 per person, which covers all materials, refreshments and the weekend away. Support grants may be available from your church or denomination.

Book

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

Contact

Carol Evans

Course Administrator

carol.evans@rochester.anglican.org

01634 844508

Recommendations

The mission shaped ministry course provides ordinary parishes with an excellent tool to help people to review the mission in their local situation and to discern where God might be calling them to engage with the many thousands of people who do not yet encounter the Christian faith. It helps Christians to start up and develop further appropriate fresh expressions of church in their locality. I highly commend this course, which is being delivered in partnership with other denominations. I encourage you to take the opportunities provided by this course: send people on it, attend yourself, discern where God’s Spirit is working and join in.

Rt Rev Dr Brian Castle, Bishop of Tonbridge

View mission shaped ministry in a larger map