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Supporting ‘the quiet revolution’

Dave Male shares some of the issues he has come across in his new role supporting pioneers across the country.

It is very exciting that the Church of England has created this new role of National Advisor for Pioneer Development, based in Ministry Division. This illustrates how far fresh expressions and pioneering has developed over the last ten years. I planted the Net Church in Huddersfield in 1999, with a small team. Back then there was not even an agreed vocabulary for what we were doing let alone much support or any sign of a national organisation. It has been incredible how far things have come in a short time. But my appointment was also made because there is a wide recognition across the denominations that there is still much to be done in enabling pioneers and pioneers to fully infuse the life of the Church.

My appointment in that role earlier this year has already provided me with some food for thought:

We need pioneers

The good news is I have found very little dissension about this at a national level across the denominations and it is exciting and encouraging for me to be part of a Ministry Division which is seeking 'to reshape, re-energise and reimagine ministry, a ministry shaped by mission'. I hear lots of talk about the possibilities of innovative, creative and flexible ministries. If we want to connect every community in Britain with Jesus; pioneers and pioneering are going to be vital to the future of the Church in Britain.

But what do we mean by pioneer?

Now this is where it gets trickier. I often hear people saying at regional and local church level, 'Well of course we are all pioneers', or 'are pioneers not simply old-style evangelists?' The danger is we all use the same word but invest it with a myriad of meanings. Ultimately this ends up divesting the word of its integrity.

I would agree that pioneers come in many styles and shapes. But I want to argue pioneers have a distinct vocation and gifting which is the main focus of their ministry. Pioneers have the abilities to work primarily with those outside the church to form new ecclesial communities with these people. Often this is done in places where the Church has minimal presence. So therefore we have to enable and allow them to do what they do best. The Church of England's 2005 Guidelines for Ordained Pioneer Ministers states, 'It is important that they are not pressed into becoming ministers of existing churches but are deployed in pioneering contexts'.

We need to let pioneers 'pioneer'

There are good pioneers who want to pioneer from an established church but many pioneers want to work in, and from, the margins without all the encumbrance of running a traditional church. This is not a bad thing or 'pampering to their arrogance', but a recognition of their distinct vocation. We have to find ways to enable this to happen across the denominations; giving them effective and flexible support, networks and accountability which means they are both free but also rooted. We need to find creative ways of resourcing such posts. But many of these pioneers will to need to understand that their freedom to pioneer will mean they will have to find and develop their own financial resources as part of their pioneering practice.

We need thousands more pioneers

We have started but we are not finished. We need not just hundreds but thousands more pioneers. I would love to see 5,000-10,000 recognised pioneers in the Church of England by 2025 taking the gospel everywhere and letting the good news do its work of forming new contextual communities around Jesus. I know other denominations are forming plans to grow the number of pioneers. Most of these pioneers will be lay people, pioneering in their 'spare time' and we need to create flexible and supportive ways to help them develop their pioneer vocation. There is a quiet revolution happening in churches up and down the country which involves lay people saying, 'There must be another way to do this'. We have to find ways to catalyse this huge energy which is already transforming churches and communities. We have to support the quiet revolution.

Sorted – Nov15

First steps in fresh expressions

How to start out in setting up a fresh expression ministry.

It's simpler than you might think.

A day organised by the New Wine North Leadership Network to explore how to start a fresh expression of church. Come to hear stories and lessons learnt from those in the midst of planting and developing fresh expressions of church.

The day will involve presentations on how to set up a ministry, group discussions and opportunities to share ideas, as well as the chance to ask questions to those leading the sessions.

Sessions will be run by Mark Carey, Linda Maslen, Harry Gwinnett, Brunel James, Cath Binns and Angus MacGregor.

The Revd Linda Maslen says,

The event is to encourage others into stepping out beyond the current constructs of the church – to look for what God is already doing in the community around them and to make one small step to join in with God.

This often seems to be the start of God using His people to initiate something different with people who don't know Him yet.

During the day, stories will be told about fresh expressions of church and fresh expression leaders will teach others how to build one of these ministries and will encourage people to get involved.

Everyone welcome.

Cost

Free but donations welcome, a light lunch will be provided.

Further details

For more information please contact Linda Maslen on linda_maslen@hotmail.com.

Romsey rural vision event

Speakers

Phil Bromiley, Tim Sledge.

Cost

Free, 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:

braishfieldbenefice@gmail.com

Church:Space Project Director

Tollington Parish is a lively Anglican church in Islington. They are setting up an innovative social enterprise to manage their three church sites and hire out the spaces within these to the community. The project will serve the local community and generate income and missional opportunities for the Parish. Their ambition is to expand the project to offer the service to other churches in north London.

They are looking for a Project Director to set up this project, get it running and make a success of it – providing a service which is professional, missional and enterprising. If the Project can achieve financial sustainability within the first 12-18 months their intention is to extend the Project and possibly to expand its services to other churches. The Project Director will manage a small team of staff and volunteers, be accountable to a Project Board and will work collaboratively with them to achieve these outcomes.

The ideal candidate for this role will:

have practical experience of managing properties;

be enterprising and able to market and sell, including through social media;

have a passion for good customer service and high quality service delivery;

be a confident, organised and experienced manager of people and budgets;

share their vision for local churches growing and serving their communities.

This is full-time post, with a salary of £27,000-30,000.

Launch of first ever Centre For Pioneer Mission

In a joint initiative between CMS and Chelmsford Diocese, the Bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell, has launched the first ever local Centre for Pioneer Mission at a special commissioning service in Romford.

The St Cedd Centre for Pioneer Mission, which takes its name from St Cedd, a 7th century missionary to the East Saxon people, will act as a focal point for locally based mission pioneers and entrepreneurs seeking to reach out into their local communities.

The Centre will be based at The Church of the Good Shepherd, Collier Row as an overflow of the local mission taking place there. The vision for it has emerged from Chelmsford Diocesan Synod’s decision that every Mission and Ministry Unit should have at least one fresh expression of church.

In a service also attended by the Bishops of Barking and Bradwell, Bishop Stephen commissioned the Rev Vernon Ross, the Rev Canon David Hague, David Harrigan, Julie Clay and the Rev Canon Martin Wood alongside the Rev Johnny Sertin and Debbie James from CMS, to implement this new initiative.

Bishop Stephen said that there was a need to shift more resources towards mission pioneers whose focus was 'the world as it could be' rather than 'the church as it is'. The Centre aims to provide an environment that identifies, equips and supports Christians across the Chelmsford Diocese to serve as pioneer missionaries.

Celebrating the launch of the new centre are (left to right):

Debbie James, CMS Director of Church and Community Mission;

Rt Rev John Wraw, Area Bishop of Bradwell (hidden);

Rev Vernon Ross, Mission and Ministry Adviser for Barking area;

Rev David Hague, vicar of the Church of the Good Shepherd and Area Dean of Havering;

Rt Rev Peter Hill, Area Bishop of Barking;

Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford;

Julie Clay, St Cedd Centre coordinator and integration leader for the Church of the Good Shepherd;

Rev Canon Martin Wood, Mission and Ministry Adviser for Bradwell area;

Rev Johnny Sertin, CMS Pioneering Mission Adviser;

David Harrigan, resident pioneer at the Church of the Good Shepherd and currently on the CMS Pioneer Mission Leadership Training course preparing for ordination.

Pioneer Minister

Under its Live: Pray: Serve strategy, the Diocese of Portsmouth is developing pioneering ministry, focusing on hard-to-reach areas, new housing developments, and on working with young people. As part of a £1.6 million investment, we have created three new full-time stipendiary pioneering posts, with diocesan support for the development and evaluation of new ministry.

An ordained pioneer who will encourage and nurture fresh expressions work with children, families and schools and all parts of the community within this growing area of Portsmouth.

An opportunity to work with local people to discover their needs, desires, hopes and aspirations and to find out how and where the church can meet them.

Our ordained St James Pioneer Minister will have:

inspiration, energy, ambition, vision and ability to work collaboratively as part of a dedicated and enthusiastic team;

commitment to play their part in caring for the pastoral wellbeing of the worshipping community and enquirers with devotion, sensitivity and skill;

ability to work within the Anglican catholic tradition (extended episcopal oversight from the Bishop of Richborough).

Pioneer Minister

A pioneer who will create and establish a fresh expression of Christian community for the unchurched within the PO9 (North Havant) area.

An opportunity to nurture communities where people can belong, learn, and contribute to each other’s growth in faith and to express the Good News of Jesus through both actions and words, allowing people to address life issues, to explore spirituality and to build Christian community.

Our lay or ordained PO9 Pioneer Minister will have:

an ability to speak from personal experience about the enrichment that Christian faith brings to everyday life;

experience and commitment to working in nontraditional ways that are appropriate to pioneering a Christian community among unchurched people;

a spirituality that is not imprisoned by tradition.

Pioneer Minister

A pioneer at the heart of Gosport to establish, nurture and grow a new Christian community for Leesland.

An opportunity to develop fresh expressions of worship, ministry and mission in keeping with the needs of the unchurched community and to nurture and equip others to explore and develop their own pioneering ministries as members of congregations across Gosport Deanery.

Our lay or ordained Leesland Pioneer Minister will have:

a lively faith and a personal confidence in the love of God;

a passion for working in non-traditional ways;

experience of having pioneered a Christian community among unchurched people;

imagination for programmes of mission centred on people;

an innovative creativity.

Hay Mills CC

Judith Mbaabu tells how Hay Mills CC, supported by the Congregational Federation, is encouraging a fresh expression for adults with learning disabilities.

Hay Mills Congregational Church, Birmingham, closed down a couple of years ago but conversations about its future took a turn when we spoke to the manager of the neighbouring residential home for adults with learning disabilities.

Many of the adults had loved coming to services and couldn't understand why the church had closed; they were disappointed and wanted to continue to meet together. Meeting the residents, it became quite clear that we needed to open it up in a different way and encourage a new form of church.

One of the many interesting things that came up as we started on this fresh expressions journey was the question, 'Why do you still need to use the church building?' We know about fresh expressions – going out and staying out, forming church where people are and possibly meeting in all sorts of places as a result.

The answer for us is that this particular building has significance for the people we serve. The residential home is where they live, their 'house'; they like to leave their 'house' and go next door into 'church'. There is something about their connection with that building and, for them, if we said, 'Let's have church in your house', it wouldn't have the same meaning. We have listened to what they've said about that and respect it.

The Congregational Federation's North West Midlands Area is giving its support and the local Ladypool Road Congregational Church is also playing a vital role; we couldn't do it without them. This initiative, which has been funded as a three-year project, is for all the activities associated with Hay Mills as a whole but the emphasis is on the fresh expression for our neighbours with learning disabilities. We are 'building' that alongside everything else we're doing – and planning to do – for people across the community.

Conversations continue about the name of the church. We've looked at all sorts of things like Community Church, Congregational community church, Community hub, Church hub. We are Church. We are Congregational. We are Community. How we behave is maybe more important than what we call ourselves but our name is the first thing many people hear about us, and their assumptions matter.

We asked our friends with learning disabilities because we are here to serve them, after all, and their views are very important. One lady wanted to call it, 'The church where we make friends'. For now, we have agreed on Hay Mills CC, and people can decide for themselves what CC stands for!

Stephane Vickers, who lives locally, is our Church Development Worker. He has been in post since the end of June 2015 and is working closely with the team of volunteers at Hay Mills.

One of Stephane's starting points was looking at our base as others see it, and opening it up as much as possible. During his early conversations with local people he found that many of them didn't know where Hay Mills Church was – even though they walked passed it regularly! The church is back from the main road and cars often park in front of it. If people cannot 'see' us, how are we likely to become a presence in the community? There are of course, a number of answers to that question, including going out to where people are and being a living presence through our actions, and working hard to let everyone know where we are through advertising, social media, networking and invitation. But it's also important to get the basics right so Stephane swung into action cutting back trees, power-washing the front, and sorting out the noticeboard.

Autumn is also going to be a busy time. At the moment, we run a monthly Messy Church for the adults with learning disabilities but a launch event for the whole church programme is scheduled for the end of October. We will hope to have a monthly café church and additional all-age Messy Church, for instance, but a lot will depend what people want to have there.

Currently we have a team of about eight, very dedicated, people who enable us to run the Messy Church for adults. Three of them come from Ladypool Road Congregational Church; others travel from Bristol, Gloucestershire, Wales and Nottingham. The Messy Church format remains pretty standard but we adapt it according to the needs of our friends with learning disabilities – between 15 and 20 of them. We have activities and refreshments on arrival with time to chat followed by worship songs, Bible input, and prayer (in a variety of forms), and then a main craft activity building on the worship.

We are now aware there are two other residential homes within the local area so Stephane is getting to know them and say they’d be welcome to join us in what we're doing. It really is a step-by-step process in building the community at Hay Mills CC, we are very much at the listening stage of the fresh expressions journey.

I read an article on Growing Mature Disciples on the Fresh Expressions website which gave good advice on the importance of being understanding with new believers, walking at their pace, and remembering how patient the Holy Spirit is with you and be patient with them. But how does it work if your companion has no spoken language? How does it work when your companion has a learning disability, and you have limited knowledge of how they understand the world around them?

To begin to address those questions, we are linking with Prospects – the Christian charity for people with learning disabilities – and they are going to come and do some training for us about the best way we can communicate with those who understand things in very different ways.

The Congregational Federation has funded this initiative for three years and part of Stephane's role is to raise money so that it can stand alone as a church in its own right. Sustainability is really important. It would then become a self-financing, independent church – as are all other Federation churches. The challenge is how to achieve sustainability, but we believe that if God has a plan for Hay Mills, then he will make it happen.

Another question centres on membership; how is that defined in the context of a non-traditional church? This is a question relevant to all of our churches that are moving forward and trying new ways of being church. If you have a Messy Church on a Wednesday afternoon, a café church on Friday evening and traditional church on Sunday morning, each with its own committed 'congregation', what is that people actually become members of?

Membership within all Congregational churches is about commitment to Christ, and commitment to the church, but we have to be prepared to think long and hard about what 'the church 'part of this looks like, and what exactly is it that people may want to become a part of. How do we establish membership with our community; what does it mean to them to belong? It's going to have to be a very different experience of membership. Traditionally the Church Meeting is where the decisions are made so, again, we are going to have to consider carefully what that means for us.

It's very important for us to have a clear plan, with short and long-term goals, and regularly review the work we are doing, revising our mission statement as needed. If you do not know what you are trying to achieve, how do you know if you are making any progress? For Hay Mills it means:

reminding ourselves why we are there;

checking that the plans we have meet the plan that Federation Council agreed to (and if not, why not);

making sure we have events and activities planned that will allow the Kingdom to grow;

enabling the community church hub to become a reality in the lives of people around;

becoming a spiritual home for our friends with learning disabilities.