Links to other missioners' resources

  • You can download the Code of Practice on Bishops' Mission Orders, plus skeleton Orders and other information, from the Church Commissioners' Pastoral website here.
  • The Share website – run by Fresh Expressions and Church Army - contains information on Learning Networks and a Guide with 100+ pages of how-to-do-it advice on starting, developing and sustaining fresh expressions of church.
  • EvangelismUK works in partnership with Start The Week. An ecumenical resource, it brings you regular, brief news items on evangelism across the UK. It's maintained by Jim Currin of the Group for Evangelisation.

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October 18, 2008

Mission Development Funding - report

MDF The Church Commissioners have produced an excellent report on the use, and the principles behind the use, of Parish Mission Funding/Mission Development Funding since 2002. 

The introduction by Professor Peter Johnson is vital reading.

All diocesan mission staff will be receiving a copy in the post from the Commissioners' Policy Unit. Diocesan Secretaries will also have received copies for themselves, Bishops' Council members and others.


Please read this one, and discuss how this funding is used, and what the priorities are and should be in your diocese, with your diocesan colleagues as and where appropriate.

BBC director-general on faith, morality and the media

Here are details, and the full text and podcast, of "Faith, morality and the media", Mark Thompson's Theos lecture on broadcasting and religion

2590_MarkThompson
Full text: Download MarkThompsonSpeech.doc

In his speech, Mr Thompson said that the relationship between religion and the media was important "because, quite simply, religion is back. It's not just in the news, but often leads the news." The assumption when he joined the BBC back in 1979, that the decline and marginalization of religion was a straightforward corollary of modernism and was inevitable, was in the process of being disproven, he added.

You can't sue God

You may or may not be glad to know the following (from the Daily Telegraph:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3212596/You-cannot-sue-God...-he-has-no-known-address.html)

An American politician's attempt to sue God has been thrown out of court after a judge ruled the suit could not be served because the Almighty has an unlisted address.

Ernie Chambers, a Nebraska state senator, sought a "permanent injunction" that ordered God to stop causing "widespread death, destruction and terrorisation of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants".

The suit listed examples of God's wrath including "fearsome floods, horrendous hurricanes, earthquakes, plagues, famine, genocidal wars, birth defects, terrifying tornadoes and the like".
It identified the defendant, said to be "also known by various aliases, titles, names, designations" as "present in all places at the same time" and "the admitted perpetrator of the deleterious acts complained of herein".

The suit also claimed the "defendant" has "manifested neither compassion nor remorse, proclaiming that Defendant 'will laugh' when calamity comes".
Mr Chambers, of Omaha, has said he filed the lawsuit not because of any conflict with God but to make the point that everyone should access to the courts. It was response to proposals to prohibit the filing of lawsuits deemed too frivolous to be heard.

The senator argued that laws should not restrict lawsuits and the courts should be open to all. "The Constitution requires that the courthouse doors be open, so you cannot prohibit the filing of suits," he said after he filed his suit last September. "Anyone can sue anyone they choose, even God." He also argued that because of God's omnipresence, "the defendant is personally present in Douglas County (Nebraska)."

But Marlon Polk, Douglas County district court judge, ruled that under state law, a plaintiff must have access to the defendant and be able to serve papers on him or her for a lawsuit to go ahead.
"Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant this action will be dismissed with prejudice," the judge wrote.

Mr Chambers, 71, Nebraska's longest serving state senator who has been dubbed "defender of the downtrodden" and the "maverick of Omaha", disagreed with the judge's ruling.
"The court itself acknowledges the existence of God," he said. "A consequence of that acknowledgment is a recognition of God's omniscience."

Therefore, "since God knows everything, God has notice of this lawsuit", he added.
The senator, an independent, has served a record 38 years in the Nebraska Legislature and will not return next year because of term limits. According to the Associated Press, the self-proclaimed agnostic skips morning prayers during the legislative session and often criticises Christians
He has 30 days to decide whether to appeal the ruling.

Fulcrum Reflection on "Mission-Shaped Church"

John Clark, our previous boss at Church House and a co-author of "Mission-shaped church", sends this interesting article by Jody Stowell which is also available on the Fulcrum website (http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/). Some of the arguments may seem familiar, but it's a clear exposition and well worth a read.

Jody Stowell is a theology student at Spurgeon's College, which trains Baptists for ministry and mission. She, however, is an Anglican, and soon to begin training for ordained ministry in the Church of England. She is also a self-confessed internet junkie and can be found commenting about most things on her own blog www.radical-evanglical.blogspot.com. Jody is on the Fulcrum leadership team

Conference - Catholicity, Ecclesiology and the Mission of the Church of England

St Stephen's House are hosting this one in January - I very much hope some of us will be able to attend.


Here's the full flyer: Download SiteAsPDF.pdf

Some details from the organiser, Fr Andrew Davison:
The Church  of  England  finds  itself  at  a  decisive moment.  Just  as  the  tensions which 
tear at  the  fabric of  the Anglican Communion are being  replicated close at hand,  it 
faces  pressing questions of  its own: not  least,  the place of  the Church  in  public  life, 
and the willingness of the public to find a place in the life of the Church. The mood of 
the  Church  is  low  and  yet,  within  theology,  there  has  been  an  unprecedented 
acknowledgement  over  the  last  century  of  the  significance  of  the  Church. 
Theologians of all traditions have come to stress the communal dimension of salvation 
and the centrality of incorporation into the body of Christ.  
 
After  the  Lambeth  Conference  the  question  is  asked  ‘where  is  the  Church  going?’ 
Returning to the Church will address this question by first asking a deeper one: ‘what 
is  the Church?’  It  seeks  to  revive  ecclesiology;  to  bring  the  renewed  confidence  in 
the Church found within theology into the life and practices of the Church of England, 
for the renewal of parish life, education, spirituality and ecumenism.  
 
Returning to the Church seeks to reconnect with the traditions of the past as the basis 
for  an  openness  to  future  renewal.  It  will  value  orthodoxy  and  open-mindedness. 
Through papers, panels and discussions it will address: 
 
    Lay vocation and education 
    Social Justice, Politics and the Church in Public Life 
    The Organisation of the Church 
    The Anglican Communion and Ecumenism 
    Doctrine and Liturgy in the Church of England 
    Religious Life and Movements 
 
The  conference  is  chiefly  focused  upon  the  Church  of  England,  but  with  the 
conviction  that  its mission and  identity are only  truly  to be understood as part of  the 
universal Church. Here  too, attention  to  theology  is helpful: at  the end of a century 
that  saw  ecumenism  born  and  then  wane,  one  of  its  most  striking  successes  is  in 
academic theology, which is now a thoroughly ecumenical endeavour. In the face of 
divisions among catholic-minded Anglicans, the conference is for all who identify the 
roots and future of the Church in its catholicity.

Cell UK Leadership Link

Laurence Singlehurst over at Cell UK has this:


Dear Friends 

I am writing to send you our latest Leadership Link letter which is written by my good friend Rich Wilson.

Download leadership_link_oct_08.pdf

I also wanted to take this opportunity to make you aware of an exciting new conference day being hosted at Manor Park Christian Centre, East London on Saturday 15 November.  David Foster over the last six years has brought his missionary heart and experience to building a church using the cell model. This is an urban and truly multi-cultural area in one of the highest concentration of Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs in the UK. In this time the congregation has increased from less than 120 to over 300 regular members of the MPCC’s church family.

During this cell day David will host a track looking at how he has used the cell principles in this urban multi-cultural context and what practical principles and strategies he has implemented which have helped contribute to his church’s growth.

Manor Park Christian Centre, Manor ParkEast London  
Cell UK hosts our first Urban and Multi-cultural Cell Leaders and Coaches Training day 

Saturday 15 November 2008

The four tracks will be:
Track 1 - David Foster sharing on cell church in an urban and multi-cultural environment
Track 2 - Cell leaders and cell coaches. Laurence Singlehurst speaking on the dynamics of leading and coaching including
Core values and skills of cell leading
Cell coaches – cell coaching through understanding the DNA of cell 
Making cells missional and how the cell leader and cell coach work together for that to happen
Track 3 – Paul Hopkins - youth cells
Track 4 – Andy Kennedy - children
The cost for this day is £15 including a hot lunch and continental breakfast and it runs from 10.00am to 4.30pm (9.45am for breakfast)

Venue: 
Manor Park Christian Centre, East London E12 6RH

Yours for His kingdom

Laurence Singlehurst

Cell UK Ministries

Highfield Oval

Harpenden

Herts  AL5 4BX

01582 463232

www.celluk.org.uk

 

Latest York Course - John Young

John is an elder statesman of our mission network. Here's news of the latest round of his York Course material. Full details to download here: Download FHL.doc


Our new group discussion course for Lent 2009 is now available.

2009 FHL course cover

 

These three... Faith, Hope and Love is based on the three great qualities celebrated in 1 Corinthians 13. This famous passage begins and ends in majestic prose. But the middle paragraph is practical and demanding. St Paul’s thirteen verses take us to the heart of what it means to be a Christian.

 

Participants on the CD/audiotape:

o   Tom Wright (Bishop of Durham)

o   Abbot Christopher Jamison (Abbot of Worth)

o   Anne Atkins (Writer and broadcaster)

o   Dr David Hope introduces the course

o   Professor Frances Young (Closing Reflections)

 

The accompanying COURSE booklet - which includes questions for groups - is written by Canon John Young.

 

The 5 session titles are:

 

Session One -            Believing and Trusting

Session Two -            The Peace of God

Session Three -         Faith into Love

Session Four  -          The Greatest of these

Session Five -            All shall be well

 

Details of the new course, including biographies of the contributors, sound clips and sample pages, are available at www.yorkcourses.co.uk - or you may click on the direct link below : 

 

http://www.yorkcourses.co.uk/cgi/shop/shop.cgi?cart_id=&page=courses

 

CAN - retelling the Christmas story

From Churches Advertising Network:

Could you tell the Christmas Story in under 30 seconds?

The Church is fighting back against what they say is the rebranding of Christmas to a 'winter festival show' with a hard hitting advertising campaign.

The Churches Advertising Network is also challenging people to tell the Christmas story in under 30 seconds....and to discover the real Christmas story at their local church.

It comes as the latest research shows  just 1 in 8 of Britons have a detailed knowledge of the Nativity dropping to 7% of under 18- 24 year olds.*

CAN, an ecumenical group that includes representatives from most of the mainstream churches, is targeting youngsters in a series of radio ads in the style of  football and horse racing commentaries..

Other previous controversial campaigns include a poster depicting Jesus as the revolutionary leader Che Guevara and one suggesting that Mary was having a "bad hair day" when she discovered she was pregnant.

Chair of CAN, Francis Goodwin said: "Political correctness has gone mad when some people are afraid to use the word Christmas, or stop Nativity plays in schools, or to even use Jesus' name. It is important for the churches to fight back and re-establish in this generation the wonderful story of the Nativity. We hope youngsters will write, text, record, video, paint the Christmas story in under 30 seconds. This campaign and the competition will be a catalyst for churches to get involved all over the country. We're confident they will use this to reach out to a new generation, that often isn't being brought up with the message of hope embodied in the news of Jesus' birth at the heart of the Christmas story"


CAN is an independent ecumenical group of Christian communicators providing high quality national Christian advertising campaigns linked to major Christian festivals. This year CAN will be running a national advertising campaign through December on commercial radio to encourage more people to discover the real Christmas story at their local church. The key message for the campaign is 'be a part of the action'

The Churches Advertising Network is also issuing a challenge to people to tell the Christmas story in under 30 seconds. There's a prize of £500 for the best entry. All entries must be received before November 30. To hear the radio adverts and to find out more on the competition, please go to www.churchads.org.uk