Mission Network News

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 ([email protected]) 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 [email protected] 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.

Fresh Expressions Day of Pilgrimage, December 8

Steven Croft has this for us: please share the news where you are

National Day of Pilgrimage 8^th December in Coventry

The Archbishop of Canterbury is leading a national day of pilgrimage on forming fresh expressions of church in a catholic and sacramental tradition in Coventry Cathedral on Monday 8^th December.  

A PDF of the brochure for the day is attached: Download national_day_of_pilgrimage_invitation.pdf

All are welcome but it will be particularly helpful for clergy and lay leaders in an anglocatholic tradition who are beginning to explore fresh expressions of church.  The day is centred around the Eucharist. 

 Please send on the attached invitation to everyone within your networks who may be interested.  A number of fresh expressions in the catholic tradition are offering prayer stations to tell their stories including Blessed, Contemplative Fire, Feig, Glorious, mayBE, Moot, Nightchurch and Visions.  

Numbers are limited.  Booking is essential and you can book online or download a booking at www.freshexpressions.org.uk and follow the link from the home page.

Oxford cutting edge ministries - report

Oxford diocese have been at the forefront of experiment in the mixed economy church for five years with their "Cutting Edge" programme. 

Their report on the initiative, collated by project director Angie Paterson, is enormously helpful; view it here:

http://www.oxford.anglican.org/files/documents/Cutting%20edge%20web.pdf

Preach it, baby

Alan Wilson (http://bishopalan.blogspot.com/) has drawn attention to this priceless video clip. As he says, "all behaviour is learned behaviour"...

NB. Start The Week is NOT recommending that you try this at home.

Smile if you like. But what do the 18-monthers do in YOUR church?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4FNGsNY3nI

ReSource (Mission & Renewal) - new booklets

Alison Morgan sends news of these new materials:

Two new mission booklets from ReSource

We are finding increasingly that we are being invited to work both with mission partnerships and groupings, and with individual churches to provide support and training for mission. To help meet this need we have just published two new ReSource booklets by Roger Morgan. Roger has for years been involved in mission and evangelism, working amongst university students, for a time with Daniel Cozens and Through Faith Missions, and latterly in his own parishes of St Columba’s Corby and then Holy Trinity Leicester. Roger has now joined the ReSource team as a strategist and specialist missioner.

The first booklet, Stay Evangelism, is written to encourage ordinary Christians to develop  a transparent and friendly lifestyle which makes it possible to share their faith unthreateningly and in a servant-hearted way with others. The second, Decision, is for those who are thinking of making a step of commitment, and is ideal for use with Alpha or in the context of parish missions and outreach events.

Stay Evangelism costs £3; Decision is £2 or £10 for a pack of 10. Both are available through www.resource-arm.net.

ReSource (Sheffield church planting) new course

The other ReSource have sent details of their latest course for emerging church planters, starting soon. Downloads are below:

Download whole_postcard_08.pdf

Download 2008_application_form.pdf

Dave Male - new book "Church Unplugged"

From the Cambridge Federation Dave has written of his experience as a pioneer with "The Net" in Huddersfield, and the lessons learned and applied from there.

Details are here: http://www.wesleyowen.com/WesleyOwenSite/product/9781850787921.htm

Dave writes: "It partly tells the story of the Net but then draws out 10 essentials that anyone starting a church plant/fresh expression needs to think about.It is very practical with resources and questions for group discussion at the end of each chapter. I hope it will really be a useful guidebook for people starting new things".

Wolverhampton Pioneer Ministries

From Fresh Expressions Andrew Roberts writes:

If you have five minutes and a cup of coffee please take a look at the you tube piece below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2r0CVgBsVOA

The film is all about Wolverhampton Pioneer Ministries the fresh expression we set up in the centre of Wolverhampton as a joint venture between the Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury District and Lichfield Diocese. It was a labour of faith and love getting it together but you can see on the film how it is beginning to impact the city.

The clip is also a good example of a fresh expression engaging with Hope 08.

RG moving on - Robin Gamble

This news in from Bradford diocese. Please pray for Robin and Maureen as they go home, and rejoice with Bradford that they'll have one of the finest evangelists in England among them again.

Check out this picture too - from the Bradford "Telegraph & Argus" under the headline "Rockin' Reverend Robin Returns"...

The Revd Canon Robin Gamble, a renowned evangelist in the Church of England, is returning to his home town of Bradford after seven years in Manchester.

Currently Canon Evangelist in the Diocese of Manchester, Robin has been appointed as Priest-in-Charge of Holy Trinity, Idle and Part-Time Diocesan Evangelist.

Robin has had a colourful ministry. He set up the world's first Christian pub, led a "rock mass" in Bradford cathedral and used Bart Simpson and the music of Queen to spread the gospel message.

Before going to Manchester in 2001 Robin had spent most of his ministry in Bradford. He was vicar of St Augustine's for 13 years (on the brink of closure, it was transformed under his leadership) and he was Diocesan Adviser in Evangelism for eight years.

Robin says, "I've had a fantastic time in Manchester, but as a family, we've missed Bradford constantly and always knew we would come back.

"Bradford people are very warm, open and interested in having conversations about Jesus, and I can't wait to pick up those conversations again. (And it'll be great to have fish and chips again - I'd given them up as Bradford has the best fish and chips in the world).

"It'll be a privilege to serve at Holy Trinity in Idle - it has a great spiritual history and a wonderfully committed congregation. But as I haven't been a parish priest for 14 years, I'm a little nervous - I'll have to have my L plates on again. But I'm really looking forward to being the vicar of Idle, and I've no intention of being an idle vicar!"

The Bishop of Bradford, the Rt Revd David James, says, "I'm delighted to welcome Robin back to Bradford. Many people - on both sides of the Pennines - have come to know God's love for them through his ministry. His additional post as Diocesan Evangelist will mean he'll be sharing his remarkable gifts and unique ministry across Bradford and beyond".

Robin is married to Maureen and they have two children, Zoe and Phil.

The licensing will take place on Monday December 8 at Holy Trinity, Idle at 7.30pm.

RG moving on - Rob Gillion

More changes in our network; Rob Gillion is also on the move, across London to become Rector of Holy Trinity Sloane Square in succession to Bishop Michael Marshall. This will enable Rob to sustain his vital ministry as an evangelist/artist at the heart of the Capital. Please pray for Rob and Janine as they prepare for Rob's induction on October 1. 

For more about Rob and Holy Trinity, you can download this info sheet from the churchwardens:

Download rector_announcement.doc

Statistics for Mission 2008

The annual Statistics for Mission returns are a key building block in finding out how the Church of England is developing and changing in these days. Lynda Barley and her colleagues have sharpened and redesigned the forms, and as well as the usual parish-based returns it will be very important to make sure that any fresh expressions of church in your diocese play their part in the data-gathering exercise. Details are on the covering note for download below.

Diocesan secretaries will have a copy of the forms, but here are downloads for diocesan mission staff too, in Word 07 and .pdf format. 

Please work with colleagues in your diocesan office to make this exercise as comprehensive and useful as possible. MANY thanks!

Download 2008StandardMembershipNotes.doc

Download statistics_for_mission_form.docx

Download statistics_for_mission_form.pdf