Author: fewebadmin

Director of Mission

The Diocese of Oxford are looking to appoint a new Director of Mission for one of the largest dioceses in the Church of England. This is an exciting opportunity for someone looking for a challenging but rewarding senior missional role.

The new Director of Mission will:

  • provide leadership in the development and implementation of the mission strategy across the Diocese of Oxford in line with the priorities of Living Faith for the Future.

  • as a member of the Bishop's Staff and of the Senior Management Group, lead diocesan engagement with the 'Reform and Renewal' and other key national missional initiatives.

  • lead the work of the Department of Mission, which involves being responsible of a team of 26 staff members with 7 direct reports.

The successful candidate will have a significant track record of strategic mission planning and evangelism. They will have a sound theological and practical understanding of holistic mission in contemporary society, alongside a proven ability to lead and motivate others in a collaborative manner. They will be a practising Christian, passionately committed to the life, work and growth of the Church.

This role offers a salary of £49,843 – £65,881 per annum or stipend at the Residentiary Canon level and housing allowance.

Fresh expressions of the United Reformed Church

Linda Rayner updates the United Reformed Church's progress in taking fresh expressions of church to heart.

These are exciting times for the United Reformed Church (URC). As part of our ongoing restructuring programme we recently appointed three Deputy General Secretaries: one each for Mission, Discipleship and Admin/Resources. The first two indicate that the attention of the denomination is clearly on mission and discipleship, and talks are continuing in order to discern how best to inspire our churches to share the gospel message with people in our local communities, helping church members to recognise that we are all today's disciples – and as such, Jesus has called us all to share in his mission.

The ideas that mission is local and growth is more than 'bums-on-pews' are hugely challenging for many of our 1,500 congregations, and fresh expressions is proving a powerful tool as we work together to become a truly missional denomination.

In 2011 I was privileged to be appointed half-time URC coordinator for fresh expressions, and after much prayerful deliberation (during which time I confess to having had some serious doubts about God's plans), I'm now thanking God every day that the post was extended to full-time this May. This has provided me with the luxury of time to think about how to develop a deliberate strategy for embedding a fresh expressions mindset into our denomination. It's challenging, but for me to see the penny drop as people 'get' the idea, and the excitement as they realise their own church can be part of this movement, is hugely rewarding.

The URC is divided into 13 Synods – huge geographical areas including the Synods of the whole of Scotland and the whole of Wales. Each Synod has at least one dedicated coordinator for fresh expressions of church, and according to the level of understanding and adoption in each area, I work with them in setting up local strategies for introducing/continuing to encourage fresh expressions into each Synod. We are committed to theological and cultural diversity, which means that each congregation is different and has its own ideas regarding mission priorities – and being a conciliar church means that no-one can instruct them to develop a fresh expression, it's a case of persuading them that this is important and effective local mission.

So the intention is to continue with a rolling plan of vision days and mission shaped intro in each Synod, taking into account the specific needs of each area as we go. (Such is the nature of the URC that this type of programme is already well underway in some areas, whilst others have barely heard of fresh expressions of church and need an introduction that is shorter than a vision day). We are also encouraging churches to send teams to mission shaped ministry courses, and talks are continuing at denomination level regarding training for pioneer ministry, both lay and ordained.

The denomination is halfway through a ten-year strategic framework called vision2020, which was adopted in order to inspire and support mission planning at all levels. It consists of ten statements and a check-list of missional indicators like 'intentional sharing of the gospel' and 'inclusivity'. Fresh expressions sit beautifully in many of the statements – including 'spirituality and prayer', 'hospitality and diversity', 'evangelism' and 'church growth'.

These are indeed exciting times for the URC. We now have nine pioneer ministers, and many truly missional churches with a fresh expressions mindset. Our Annual Church Returns now ask which churches are involved with fresh expressions, and I'm really looking forward to being in touch with the ones who ticked the box. It will be great to discover just how much is really going on. I have a feeling there's a lot more than I know.

PPP Messy Church

Emma Major tells how she followed a fresh expressions 'journey' to develop People, Prayers and Potatoes (PPP) Messy Church.

People, Prayers and Potatoes at St Nicolas, Earley, does what it says on the tin – we bring people together once a month at midday for a Bible story, craft, activities, worship and prayer before sharing a jacket potato meal. Since we started four years ago, we've served up over 2,200 jacket potatoes!

I will tell how it developed through the fresh expressions' journey of Listening, Loving and Serving, Building Community, Exploring Discipleship, Church taking shape, Doing it again.

Listening

PPP Messy Church - giantAfter completing my training to become a Licensed Lay Minister I spent a year in formation discerning what God wanted me to do at St Nicolas, Earley. Being a mum in the playground at the local primary school it became clear to me that there were many families searching for something 'God shaped'. I was forever being asked things like, 'What do you believe in?', 'Will you pray for me?' I encouraged them to come along to St Nicolas, and for their kids to join the thriving Sunday School, but the majority of the families had never come to church so this was a step too far.

Our standard 10am service at St Nicolas is quite formal so it's just not the right place to bring people into a church environment if they've never known it before. It really wasn't attracting the people who don't have a background in church.

Loving and Serving

Over several months of prayer and conversations with the unchurched families, the concept for People, Prayers and Potatoes evolved. Over the years I've found that God tends to speak to me in images and it was at this stage that I got an image in my mind of people sitting down and eating together, I then wrote what I thought that was all about in terms of exploring faith.

It sounds incredible but, within two weeks, I knew how it was going to work in practical terms and I'd chatted it all through with my vicar, Neil Warwick, who was really supportive. A friend offered to come and cook a jacket potato lunch for whoever was going to turn up and we'd see what happened.

With the help of a few keen teenagers, and two expert cooks, PPP was born as a place where families could come and meet God, many for the first time. Interestingly I only discovered Messy Church, and its resources, after about a year of us running PPP! So I did not have that model in my head and we are not exactly like a Messy Church because there is no set format each month but it gives a verbal shorthand for the type of thing we do.

PPP takes place on Sundays at mid-day. If children are involved in football on Sunday mornings, the matches have finished by then so it seems to be a good time. We don't try to make something that suits everybody because you can't but we keep it very simple with a talk, doing something with the kids, go into the church for some worship and prayer – and, of course, eat together.

Building Community

PPP Messy Church - craftAll we did was ask people we knew from the school and the community to come and join us. We told them that we didn't really know how it was going to look but that we'd have a God story in one way or another and that it would be a type of church. The line was, 'Come and try it. What have you got to lose? We'll feed you lunch!'

I thought no-one was going to come but People, Prayers and Potatoes, as a Messy Church, was popular right from the start and six families turned up for the first one. It was all very informal and unthreatening. Within three months, those initial families had brought friends who also kept coming; and families approaching St Nicolas for baptism came to PPP to explore faith as a family. Now, four years on, we regularly have 50-60 children – and their parents and carers – who worship together. We've got babes in arms, children at every primary school level and four teenagers who are part of the leadership team.

Exploring Discipleship

We have a jacket potatoes rota where the families volunteer to cook lunch for everyone else and we also have a craft team who come up with wonderful ideas every month. PPP is truly a community of families exploring and growing in their faith together. Two years ago I started the 'Mums and More' group to which a dozen mums from PPP belong; this is a group which explores prayer, the Bible and what it means to be a Christian. We also ran a nurture course which fed them further.

I am a person who likes to take the risks and start something new; I want to keep pioneering and you can't do that until you help what you have started to grow to be sustainable. In saying that, PPP is extremely cheap to run with the food costing about £30 and the craft materials no more than £10. It's also interesting that the families who come along now take it in turns to do the jacket potatoes; they say it's their gift to the community of PPP – others might donate some craft resources for use in our activities. That culture of giving is already there.

Church taking shape

PPP Messy Church - EasterWe have never had a huge team but have grown a planning and leadership group of three from the families who call PPP their church. Over the last two years we have had three Messy Church adults' baptisms and we are thrilled that six of the PPP mums will be confirmed in a Messy Confirmation at the start of September 2015. People, Prayers and Potatoes is truly a church in its own right at St Nicolas, Earley.

Doing it again

I am now in the process of handing over the leadership of People, Prayers and Potatoes – partly in response to the fact that a decline in health means I need to step back from those particular responsibilities. That's OK with me because I never wanted to hold on to the reins too tightly. When you step out to do something, you should create space for others to flourish and I've already been fortunate to see that happen. The leadership team have run three PPP services to great acclaim alongside the clergy worship team. They are gaining confidence in planning the year ahead and it is a joy to see their faith grow as they lead others as they were led. I have no doubt that People, Prayers and Potatoes Messy Church is in extremely safe, motivated and enthusiastic hands!

Jesus my bulldozer! (Jonny Baker)

Jonny Baker explores what Missio Africanus has to say to Fresh Expressions.

Ever since reading Vincent Donovan's Christianity Rediscovered in the late 1970s I have been fascinated by the challenge of mission across cultures. The book tells of mission amongst the Masai in Africa and the quest to share Jesus in such a way as to grow a Masai expression of Christianity rather than impose a Western one.

It is a book which has inspired many, myself included, to address the same challenge to reach people in our own communities. Thirty years ago, a group of my then fellow youthworkers looked at how we could we share Jesus in a way that would lead to expressions of church, what we now call fresh expressions, in those cultures – rather than expecting people to 'buy into' the imposed church culture.

Three decades on and I continue in the quest; the latest iteration being the training of pioneers at CMS. After all this time, two things never cease to amaze me:

  • the inspiring and creative things pioneers are doing;

  • the difficulty the church still seems to have with things that are different.

Since Donovan's work, African Christianity has seen an explosion of growth, with the heartlands of the Christian faith now most definitely located in Africa (and China and Latin America) rather than Europe. That growth has been accompanied by the development of African contextual theologies and spiritualities as they have sought to find their own voice and shake off the Western clothes that Jesus was initially wrapped in.

There has also been considerable migration in the last 20 years so that, in Britain, there are now many fast growing and replicating African churches that are part of the blessed reflex – i.e. a mission movement back in the direction of Europe. At CMS in Oxford, we recently heard more of what is happening from a gathering of African leaders working under the umbrella of the innovative Missio Africanus mission movement.

It was an absolute treat to hear respected African theologian John Mbiti who has sought to connect faith with indigenous African spirituality and religion. He told how he has been exploring African answers to the question 'Who is Jesus?'. Developing an African Christology is an exciting process of the naming of Jesus in people's own languages as related to their lives and communities. They locate Jesus in the African setting; he is at home with them rather than sounding like he belongs elsewhere. Together they exude a deep love for who Jesus is and he is at the heart of their Christianity, present with – and in – them.

Mbiti says,

This is not an ecclesiastically formulated Christology of any institutional church. It is a spontaneous Christology, a collective Christology, a mass Christology, a lay persons' Christology, a Christology in the fields, in the streets, in the villages, in the Christian homes, in the shops and schools… It is a lived and living Christology of African Christianity. It is literally infectious and self-propagating!

Some of the names of Jesus are ones we would recognise – 'door', 'king', 'path', 'hiding place'. Others come as more of a surprise, such as a name that translates as 'put down your load and have something to eat' and one that Mbiti expanded upon, Jesus the Bulldozer. This came from a group of charismatic Catholic Christians in a prison in Benin who had an intriguing song that included the lines 'bulldoze the lawyer, bulldoze the judge, Jesus is my bulldozer!'

Harvey Kwiyani is the man behind Missio Africanus and he is generating a conversation about African Christianity in the West. Unusually in my experience, he is at home both in the Western missional conversation and in the African diaspora churches. His recent book Sent Forth explores this challenge of African mission in the West. The questions of culture and translation and migration in mission are huge. Many African churches initially recreate the culture of Ghana or Nigeria in the churches in the UK and rapidly attract those like them but struggle to reach their Western neighbours. Missio Africanus is helping them read British culture and reflect on cross-cultural mission from Africa to Britain.

I hope and pray we will be seeing fresh expressions of African churches as they seek to follow the beckoning of the Spirit into the future. I suspect they will also be reading Christianity Rediscovered to help them share Jesus in a way that connects with the contexts they are in rather than imposing African cultures!

Having been encouraged in my initial ventures into mission by Donovan's story, I find I am now being inspired and challenged in new ways by:

  • stories of mission and African Christianity. The thought that our faith is essentially a migrant faith has blown me away and made me reimagine who I am, who God is and what mission is. I think the challenge to do local theology that expresses questions such as 'who is Jesus?' is exciting and one that we in the West – and in fresh expressions – have not engaged with in anything like the depth we could. Our inherited and systematic theologies with the 'right answers' weigh us down more than we know. Is it time for some more risky theologising, for a lay persons' Christology, a Christology in our communities?

  • the love for Jesus that is at the heart of African Christianity – where he is at home with them and among them.

  • the call to join in the mission challenge that Missio Africanus is exploring together rather than apart so that we build communities of faith that are missional and multi-cultural. The mission challenges of our times never stay still!

Jonny Baker is mission education director for Church Mission Society and heads up the pioneer mission leadership training programme. See also www.missionafricanus.org.

msm Kent and South East – Bluewater or Folkestone

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, URC 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.

The course leaders and teachers include Jean Kerr, Kerry Thorpe, Penny Marsh and Geoff Cook.

Course timetable and venue

Saturday 19th September 2015

Tue 13th or Mon 19th October 2015

Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd November 2015

Tue 15th or Mon 14th December 2015

Tue 12th or Mon 18th January 2016

Tue 9th or Mon 8th February 2016

Tue 8th or Mon 14th March 2016

Tue 12th or Mon 18th April 2016

Saturday 7th May 2016

Tue 14th or Mon 20th June 2016

Tue 12th or Mon 18th July 2016

Tuesday course: 19.30-21.30, Bluewater Management Suite, Upper Rose Gallery, Greenhithe, DA9 9ST.

Monday course: 19.45-21.45, St John's Church, St John's Church Road, Folkestone, CT19 5BQ.

Both courses share Saturdays, 09.30-15.30 at St Justus Church, Rochester, ME1 2LT and the residential at The Emmaus Centre, Layhams Road, West Wickham, BR4 9HH.

Cost

£250 per person, which covers all materials, refreshments and the weekend away. Financial support may be available.

Book

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

Contact

Carol Evans

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 ecumenical partnership. 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

Henley-on-Thames vision day

Speakers

Linda Rayner, Sheila Thatcher

Cost

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

Programme

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

10.15 Registration and refreshments

10.30 Welcomes and worship

10.45 Session 1:

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

12.00 Break

12.15 Session 2

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

13.10 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:

Ruth Heine

development@urcwessex.org.uk

023 8067 4513

Sanctum: a gathering for emerging sacramental groups

Transcendence and friends present a gathering for emerging sacramental groups – time away to worship, to create, to dream dreams together.

A space for those who are involved in sacramental Alt Worship/emerging church/fresh expressions of church to cross pollinate and dream dreams. Wherever you come from and whatever you are hoping to see develop in the future, Sanctum could be the place for you to explore missional worship from a sacramental tradition.

There will be several practitioners involved including Sue and Malcolm Wallace from Transcendence, Eddie and Sarah Green, Robb and Ruth Sutherland from Metanoia and the Rock Mass and others.

The venue is the Community of the Resurrection in Mirfield, with worship in the newly reordered lower church. Full board is £104 and spaces are limited so please get in touch ASAP to book.

Further details

Please contact Eddie Green on father.eddie.green@gmail.com for further information or booking details.

Prune and prioritise

Phil Potter discusses making space for new things.

A group of people were preparing for an ascent to the top of Mont Blanc in the French Alps, and were told to leave behind all unnecessary equipment as it was an arduous and difficult climb. A young Englishman disagreed and went ahead of the group carrying his usual very heavy load. The rest of the group followed and on the climb noticed certain things that someone had left along the way… a blanket, some large blocks of cheese, a bottle of wine and several heavy pieces of camera equipment. When they reached the summit, they discovered their now wiser companion who had decided (the hard way) to jettison everything unnecessary!

One thing I am noticing increasingly as the Church continues its ascent towards becoming more effectively mission-shaped is that pioneer leaders at every level are grappling with what it means to prune and prioritise. We are recognising (sometimes the hard way) that we cannot introduce and pioneer new ways of working without first of all dealing with the way we work now. Let me give you one or two examples.

In the Church of England, the eight bishops' staff teams who have attended an Inter Diocesan Learning Community over the past three years have all now made significant moves to make regular space in their crowded agendas for serious reflective thinking and decision making on the ways in which they will increasingly learn how to innovate for the future. They have recognised that unless they own that as a priority, the urgency of the day-to-day business will always extinguish their genuine desire to keep looking forward and think more radically.

In the Missional Leaders' Community that I created for lay pioneers, we recognised that every good intention to make this a source of support and refreshment would be seriously undermined if we simply added another meeting to all of the other demands faced by these leaders on a daily basis; not least in their local church. We decided from the beginning, then, to enable them to prune their commitment to other things, and deliberately decided to gather once a month on a Sunday morning or afternoon. In doing this we negotiated with their church leaders to release them from their usual commitment to church attendance on those days, and we were grateful to those who gave their blessing for graciously realising that some of their best leaders needed a Sabbath too, and would never get it without some innovative pruning and prioritising.

In fresh expressions of church that first set out with a monthly rhythm of meeting, many are wisely not assuming that growing into maturity is about turning the monthly gathering into a weekly one. Instead of trying to repeat and clone what is already happening, they are seeing the four weeks of a standard month as an opportunity to offer people a varying diet. They may, for instance, gather for collective community and worship twice a month, but on the other weeks introduce discipleship groups or social events… in other words they don't assume the old paradigm of 'service every Sunday' and extras if you're really committed!

Finally, as a team and organisation, Fresh Expressions has now entered a period of 'pruning and prioritising' as we continue to wrestle with how we can best serve the Church as the fresh expressions story transitions from 'initiative to movement'. The list of possible priorities is huge and the challenge at times daunting, but a generous and faithful God has already multiplied the available resources way beyond a single team and we are so thankful for our 'associate' friends in every sense.

Please pray for us then as we increasingly seek in our role to catalyze, encourage and connect the many thousands of us who are working in different and dynamic ways to champion fresh expressions of church. The pruning and prioritising is bearing fruit.