Start The Week

Plans for the Missioners Conference 09 - nearly there

Many thanks to those who sent us feedback from the 2008 Conference. We're in negotiation with venues and speakers for 2009 and should be in a position to announce date and venue very soon - please forgive the delay and bear with us for a few more days.

The 2009 planning group will be Bishop John Went, Nigel Hand, Janet Russell and Mark Rylands together with Rachel, Jayne and Paul. Please pray for good planning and a great event.

Youth Evangelism Fund, and Forum: December 6th

The Youth Evangelism Fund (YEF) enters its 2008 grant round in a few weeks, and this year's eight dioceses are already sending us their applications at the moment. Please pray for that process, for the grants group, for Jayne, Rachel and Paul as they administer the Fund, and for the young people and diocesan staff across the church as they seek to make the most of this opportunity. Over the five years of the Fund we're aiming to give away a total of £1 million so that thousands of groups of young people can receive small grants to do evangelism in their own creative ways.

As part of the Youth Evangelism Fund process we are organising a Forum for young people from every diocese, to meet and discuss how they have been using (or hope to use) their YEF grants to share their faith with their friends in ways that make sense to them. It'll be in the Assembly Hall here at Church House Westminster on Saturday December 6. The event is generously supported by the Jerusalem Trust.

Rachel Jordan is organising this one together with Peter Ball and the DYOs network. If you'd like to come along to give a diocesan mission flavour, get in touch with Rachel  - rachel.jordan@c-of-e.org.uk

Future Church conference

Janice Price and Tessa Stawski over at CTBI's Global Mission Network have this news of their latest "Future Church" conference: October 30/31 in Selly Oak.

This year the annual Future Church Conference will focus on the diverse nature of the God’s mission and how the church is shaped to reflect that diversity. We will use Contextual Bible Study on Acts 18 and 19 to provide a framework for our exploration as well as hearing from the Irish situation and local stories from the West Midlands. The aim of the conference is to provide tools to enable churches to discover their unique part in God’s mission in the future.

I enclose a programme and leaflet about the conference.  We would be most grateful if you would let clergy or lay people, with whom you are in contact and who may be interested in the conference, know about it.

Leaflet and draft programme are here:

Download future_church_conference_2008_leaflet.doc

Download draft_programme_fcc_08.doc

Birmingham (1) new director of welcome at the Cathedral

Many readers will know Mark Hope-Urwin who is a good friend of Back To Church Sunday and has wise and incisive things to say about customer service in a church context. He's just picked up a new responsibility at Birmingham Cathedral.

The Sunday Telegraph writes:

The first "director of hospitality and welcome" at an English cathedral has unveiled far-reaching plans to make its operations more business-like.

Mark Hope-Urwin, a former executive with the John Lewis deparment stores chain, has been recruited by Birmingham Cathedral to oversee a radical change to its image and branding.

His plans, revealed today, include a chain of city-centre wine bars and "loyalty cards" for regular worshippers to obtain discounts at the cathedral's shops.

The new approach to attracting and retaining worshippers could become a blueprint for dioceses across the country.

Full article here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2652359/Cathedral-turns-to-wine-bars-to-woo-new-business.html

Birmingham (2) new Bishop of Aston

Warm congratulations to Andrew Watson, presently Vicar of St Stephen's East Twickenham and a member of our Mission & Public Affairs Council, on his appointment as Bishop of Aston with a specific missional brief. The Birmingham mission team is now really something; first Peter Howell-Jones & Nigel Hand, and now Mark and Andrew. Watch that space; revival by next Easter...

Press release here: http://www.birmingham.anglican.org/content/content_yourchurch_news_story.asp?id=347

Liking Jesus but not the church

This has come our way both from Peter Crumpler at Church House Comms and via Malcolm Chamberlain in Liverpool; an interesting book by Dan Kimball who is genuinely trying to listen to unchurched people and to grapple with the culture-church gap in a US context, together with an attendant website, video clip and training course here: http://www.zondervan.com/Cultures/en-US/Use/Lead/They+Like+Jesus.htm?QueryStringSite=Zondervan

Pic of the author is below. Check the hairstyle; wow.

The Jesus Deck on the streets

Penny Horseman sends this report from Chelmsford on the use of the Jesus Deck on the streets, together with a request for anyone who's been doing similar work to get in touch. phorseman@chelmsford.anglican.org

The full report is here: Download the_jesus_deck_at_hope_08_in_the_streets.doc

It begins:

This report is written because a number of people have been interested in what we were doing. The use of the Jesus Deck is on the increase but much of the use has been at  Body ,Mind, Spirit Fairs and it is more unusual to take it out into  a busy shopping  area of the town. It is hoped that these reflections will help others considering doing this and enable those who have been praying for this enterprise to hear what God has been doing through this slightly unusual project.

Blah...Manchester with Tom Sine

This from Ben Edson & Jonny Baker: worth a visit if you're within reach.

The New Conspirators with Tom Sine.

We are excited to announce that Tom Sine will be coming to Manchester this Autumn. He'll be spending 24hrs with us where we'll be exploring his recently published book "The New Conspirators", discovering more about him and learning about the hopeful mustard seeds that are being sown here in Manchester.

This non residential conference will take place at the Nazarene college in Manchester (Dene Road, Didsbury, M20 2GU) from 30th Sept until 1st October. There will be three sessions during our time together plus plenty of time for networking and discovering more about what God is doing in the North West.

30th September, 15:00 - 17:00. Session 1: Travelling in Turbulent Times with the New Conspirators.

30th September, 19:00 - 21:00: Session 2: Taking Turbulent Times Seriously.

1st October, 10:00 - 12:30: Session 3: The imagination of the Future.

For more information about the sessions click see here: http://blahonline.wetpaint.com/page/Tom+Sine+-+The+New+Conspirators

Book online at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/144262493

Alternatively send a cheque made payable to CMS to: Alice Morgan, CMS, Watlington Road, Oxford, OX4 6BZ and include a covering note stating that the cheque is for the Tom Sine event in Manchester.

This event is hosted in partnership between Blah...manchester and Network Manchester/EA