Start The Week

Back To Church Sunday - your feedback needed

 

As I write (early Sunday morning), Back To Church Sunday 2008 has begun with great media coverage and lots of enthusiasm. Churches using the national material will be able to use their "friendly feedback" to find out how it was received locally. And we have a meeting later in the Autumn to say thankyou to dioceses and to gather stories.

But it would be also very helpful if diocesan mission staff could email me in the next two or three days (paul.bayes@c-of-e.org.uk) with your perspective on preparing for Back To Church this year, and your first snapshot impression of how it went where you are.
By Wednesday evening if at all possible.

Thanks!

Marriage Measure 2008 - October 1

The occasional offices remain a royal road to evangelism and church growth in England for those who want to take this opportunity seriously. Certainly our latest research shows that couples coming to the church for a wedding want to take God seriously. This week sees new legislation that offers local churches ten ways to say yes to couples coming to them for marriage.

For more see (live from October 1) www.yourchurchwedding.org. Also http://www.cofe.anglican.org/news/pr6608.html

And please pray for the national Weddings Project as we try to find the best way to build on the spiritual seriousness of our culture.

Group for Evangelisation - priorities

Jim Currin with news from GfE and a request for help:

Dear all, 

The Churches Coordinating Group for Evangelisation set priorities for 2008 on the following topics: 

Evangelisation and Migration

Evangelisation and New Housing Areas

Evangelisation in a Virtual World

With the theological question: ‘Proclamation in a Post Modern Context’.

By the end of the year we shall have produced a summary account of our considerations for all our networks and posted material on websites. We also plan to have a consultation on ‘Proclamation’ next year. We have collated a good deal of information and have built networks with key people concerned with these issues, but I am writing to ask the following:

Do you have articles, information, people, resources or any other material relating to any of our above priorities?

If you have anything I can follow up as we continue this collating work, I’d be grateful to hear from you.

Many thanks.

Jim

Captain Jim Currin, CA. Executive Secretary Churches Coordinating Group for Evangelisation

Churches Together in England, 27 Tavistock Square. London WC1H 9HH

Home Office 02476 261895 jim.currin@cte.org.uk

Fresh Expressions (1) - spirituality-shaped mission

From Colin Brown:

A Day of Prayer and Reflection on Spirituality-shaped Mission led by Colin Brown of Fresh Expressions and Adrian Chatfield of The Simeon Centre for Prayer and the Spiritual Life, on Saturday 18th October 2008 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. Registration fee: £20.00, payable on arrival. Please bring a packed lunch and email your name and details to Adrian at ac588@cam.ac.uk for registration. Drinks will be provided.

Mine's a double scotch.

Fresh Expressions (2) - monthly podcast

Norman Ivison writes:

Fresh Expressions has launched a monthly podcast.  The September edition features an item about Nexus – an edgy Methodist fresh expression in Manchester, advice from Steve Croft on financing fresh expressions, a meditation by Colin Brown and a feature on pioneer ministry.  You can subscribe via iTunes (search for Fresh Expressions) or download from the FE website. 

http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/section.asp?id=3901

John & Olive Drane Summer School 09

Up at Cranmer Hall Gavin Wakefield understands the need to get things in the diary early. Here's advance notice of their Summer School 09. More details in the coming months.

"Summer School 'Spirituality and Creativity for Evangelism and Worship'
13th - 17th July 2009
St John's College Durham

With John and Olive Drane
John and Olive have run a course at Fuller Seminary for a number of
years on 'Spirituality and Creativity for Evangelism and Worship'.  They
have teamed up with St John's College Durham to run a British version of
the course at a Summer School in July 2009.

They will be helping you understand major cultural trends and work on
creative approaches to contextualising the gospel. The Summer School can
be taken as a stand alone module or as part of the Durham MA in Theology
and Ministry.

Play Your Part - discipleship resource

I've commended this beautifully produced resource from Liverpool before, but now it's generally available and here's a flyer for local chuches and groups to use in ordering copies. Well worth a look.

Download play_your_part_word_flyer_2.pdf

For more about the folks who made Play Your Part see www.windmillsonline.co.uk

HOPE 08 Prayer support - Friday Focus

Jane Holloway has been co-ordinating prayer support for HOPE 08 through the year of Hope. Here's her final "Friday Focus" for the coming three months. Download ff8_standard_version.pdf

Jane writes:

Thank you! First of all, thank you so much for standing with, and for, the Hope08 vision these past couple of years. It is incredible to think that it is just under two years ago that Hope08 was launched in prayer at Trumpet Call V at the NEC in Birmingham.  For the last two years thousands of people have been faithfully praying that the whole gospel would be shared with the whole nation during 2008.  Thank you so much from all at World Prayer Centre and the Hope08 Leadership Team.  None of what we are seeing now, in terms of the fruit from all that has taken place associated with Hope08, would have happened if we had not gone before our Lord in prayer!

 

Friday Focus. For the final three months, we want to invite you again to partner with us in praying for our government, families, friends and neighbours, Hindu and Sikh communities, those affected by personal debt, the Armed Forces, prisoners, prodigals and then in December we focus on issues linked with Christmas and the final High Point the Gift of Hope.

 

And what next?  Well the vision of Hope08 is now – over to you – as we as the Hope08 leadership team step back from the scene… In terms of Friday Focus, we at World Prayer Centre will continue to provide weekly prayer points on our website  January through to March only and will keep you informed as to what happens after that.

 

Blessings

 

Jane Holloway

World Prayer Centre  Cornerstone House

5 Ethel Street  Birmingham  B2 4BG  UK

Back To Church Sunday, September 28

BTCS 2008 is next week; please be sure of prayers from here for all your parishes as they prepare for this. 38 dioceses are formally involved, with some others who are running parallel projects of their own. Plus terrific buy-in from ecumenical partners, especially in the Baptist Union and the Methodist Church.

Please pray too for the national co-ordinating group as we discern the way forward for BTCS in the future.

http://www.backtochurch.co.uk/

 

Resourcing Mission

From Philip James at the Church Commissioners. Please get back to me with any ideas or examples of your own, which I'll pass on to Philip and his colleagues in the Commissioners' policy unit.

Dear Colleagues,

Various research notes have been prepared over the last couple of years on 'resourcing mission' issues.  The most recent - on the new approach to providing ministry support to parishes which is being adopted by Canterbury diocese - is at the attached link:  

http://cofe.anglican.org/about/churchcommissioners/missionandministry/newapproach.pdf

Other research notes are at: 

http://cofe.anglican.org/about/churchcommissioners/missionandministry/

The forthcoming report analysing dioceses' use of the mission development funding will be added to the site over the next few weeks or so.  Hard copies of the report will also be circulated.

I hope the note is of some interest.  Feedback is welcome.  Please do also contact me if you believe that a 'resourcing mission' development in your diocese would be worth documenting and sharing with others.