Two new pieces from the latest Fresh Expressions news which particularly stand out. Rachel Jordan, Associate National Mission & Evangelism Advisor for the Church of England and Fresh Expressions Associate Missioner, spoke in Canada recently on there being ‘no plan B’. It’s well worth a read: http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/news/noplanb
Also, Bishop Graham Cray, head of Fresh Expressions spent some time chatting on the CPAS leadership podcast. He said, “we need thousands upon 
thousands of new fresh expressions of church, the vast majority will be lay-led, lay-initiated and one thing ordained leaders will have to do is to be much less controlling – you will have to trust people to do things you can’t, rather than only let people do the things you understand or you can control…” Listen to more here: http://www.cpas.org.uk/church-resources/downloads-podcasts-and-forums/audio
posted by barry
Ideas, resources, a prayer card and even videos. All to download now from the Back to Church Sunday section of the diocesan website. Why not visit this new section now ate : http://www.leicester.anglican.org/your-church/subsite/back-to-church-sunday-2010.aspx
posted by barry
New world, new church? Our world and lives have changed radically in the last twenty years, but has the church adapted to this change? Do we need a changing church for a changing world? Are new forms of church really possible and, if so, what might they look like?
Mission Shaped intro (MSi) is a six week course to explore these questions through a mix of teaching, reflection and story. A new MSi Course for the Diocese of Leicester is starting on Monday 12th April, being co-hosted by Mission Enabler, Barry Hill and Associate Vicar at Holy Trinity, Leicester and former leader of Hope Hamilton Church, Phil White. It runs for six weeks (missing out the bank holiday), and each evening starts at 7:30pm and finishes at 9:15pm. It all takes place at Holy Trinity Church, Regent Road, Leicester. If you’d like to explore more about Fresh Expressions, or go deeper in understanding the culture we live in and how our faith relates, this is the course for you!
For more information or to book your free place(s) contact Maggie on 0116 248 7438 or maggie.clarke@leccofe.org
posted by barry
BigChurchDayOut
Last year saw te first Big Church Day Out in West Sussex with all 15,000 tickets beng sold out for a day of worship, prayer and having fun together for all ages. New for 2010 is a brand new venue at Stanford Hall (close to Loughborough), where we are expecting about 10-15,000 to attend on Saturday 29th May. The heart and vision behind the event is to draw all ages and shades of the Church together for a day of celebration and relaxation in a beautiful setting, and to give us the chance to celebrate that we are all part of something much larger than just our own local Church community.
With a focus on worship, prayer and having fun together, the lineup includes HILLSONG UNITED, SWITCHFOOT, TOBY MAC (DC Talk), ISRAEL HOUGHTON, TIM HUGHES (Worship Central), BRENTON BROWN, GRAHAM KENDRICK, LOU FELLINGHAM, TOM & OLLY, LZ7, THE KINGS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, STUART PENDRED and TRENT.
The event is suitable for all ages, and also will appeal to those inside and outside the church, with a programme of music that stretches both from the contemporary end through to classical. For more details visit http://www.bigchurchdayout.co.uk/
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A new improved Back to Church Sunday was launched this week and a range of resources to help make this years Back to Church Sunday especially effective are coming soon! Visit the national website to see:
- The 2010 invitation-and-prayer card, poster and scripture gift card, tried and tested with real inviters;
- New ways for your churches to register and receive this year’s resources;
- New plans for nationwide radio advertising; and
- Back to Church Bingo, a 7 minute myth-busting video, plus a bank of new films for you to use where you are.
Back to Church Sunday 26th September 2010 is supported by Traidcraft. Catch up at www.backtochurch.co.uk Also, for the first time this year, there’s a roadshow available to come and visit your Mission Partnership (or to a group of churches if you are not in a Mission Partnership yet) to spend an evening thinking about how Back to Church Sunday can work best where you are. This is available during late April, May and June, so if you are interested in booking an evening please contact Barry Hill (backtochurch@LecCofE.org) by the middle of March to discuss further. There’s two stories of how churches utilised last year’s Back to Church Sunday particular effectively in the next edition of Shaped by God News, due in late February.
posted by barry
For those considering entering the competition to win a new church noticeboard (see here http://sbg.dioceseofleicester.com/?p=135 for more), here’s two more rescources which might help:
First,from from Divine Inspiration (who help churches in this area and others in Warwickshire) a leaflet on different things to consider with noticeboards http://www.divine-inspiration.org.uk/resource.php?id=11 Thanks to Helen from Divine Inspiration for the link.
Secondly, a website: http://www.getyourchurchnoticed.com/ which includes a fantastic cartoon on its front page (worth a visit just for the laugh!).
posted by barry
Please find below the link to a document being sent to all Treasurers with the annual financial returns, and which has been e-mailed to all incumbents. It is available here for wider circulation, especially to Church Wardens, other clergy and members of church Standing Committee’s, and is in reference to how we hope to improve the statistics we collect for and of mission. The link to download the note is: http://leicester.strawberryadmin.co.uk/swat/resources/549-Statistics%20for%20Mission.doc
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Win a new noticeboard for your church, courtesy of a special new mission driven competition.
Think about your favourite shop, restaurant, café or bar. Now think what the entrance to it looks like. What does it tell you about them? What draws you to go inside? Consider how much most shops, pubs and restaurants spend on their entrance, on their signage, on the lights illuminating it and the messages it sends about their business. How do our churches compare…
To continue to read and for more details of the competition and how to enter click here
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To download the dates of resourcing times for Mission Partnerships, Mission Action Groups, Area Deans and others who maybe interested click on this link: Dates for 2010
posted by barry
The introduction to Christianity website, ReJesus, has had a funky Christmas makeover. Visit it here: http://www.rejesus.co.uk/ and, if you have one, why not include on your own church website or as a link on the back of Christmas service sheets for peope to find out more on…
posted by barry
If you haven’t yet visited http://www.paperlesschristmas.org/ it’s well worth a little visit. Nine, well produced, short ‘road movies’ putting the Christmas story into a modern day setting. Good for a church website, e-mailing to friends and provoking a few thoughts. Produced by the Bible Reading Fellowship.
posted by barry
This morning the ‘parliament’ of the Church of England in Leicester and Leicestershire (the diocesan synod) strongly endorsed a review of Shaped by God, its main findings and the way forward. Far from being a re-write this was an opportunity to take stock on where we are four years on from its launch, where necessary re-focus, learn the lessons we need to learn, and re-envision. An exciting, stimulating and challenging review, it will take the leading of the Spirit of God and the whole hearted engagement of His people for its vision to reach fruition. Please do read it, pass it on to others in your church and more than anything please pray for an ever realising of the vision of transformed lives and communities across the county and city.
Download the Shaped by God review here
posted by barry
The latest Fresh Expressions newsletter is here: http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/node/299?newsletter-view It features some interesting articles on new churches or ministries (including the story of our very own St. Christophers in Saffron Lane) plus a nw Fresh Expressions DVD and a thought for the day from leader of Fresh Expressions, Graham Cray.
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Last weekend, over 250 people from around the county and city gathered at the lay congress to hear the Bishop of Reading, Stephen Cotterell speak on evangelism. He was gracious, practical, funny, and hugely insightful as to many peoples reactions to evangelism and where we go with them. The talk is in two parts which can be downloaded free here:
Bishop Stephen talk on evangelism Part 1
Bishop Stephen talk on evangelism Part 2
These talks remain the copyright of Bishop Stephen Cottrell, and should be downloaded solely for personal use and not further distribution.
posted by barry
In a new book on Mission Action Planning (a really worthwhile read by Mike Chew and Mark Ireland, published this week by SPCK and entitled ‘How to do Mssion Action Planning: a vision-centred approach), I just saw this lovely quote from Antoine de Saint-Exupery, “If you want to build a ship, don’t summon people to buy wood, prepare tools, distribute jobs and organize the work, rather teach people to yearn for the wide, boundless ocean.”
Was just left pondering what this looks like in practise in the various meetings (Partnership Mission Action Groups, as well as others) and in our constant re-envisioning of Shaped by God. How can we set our hearts on something greater, before we get into the detail of how we do it?
Incidentally, the book on Mission Action Planning is a really helpful read with a good mix of practical ideas, stats on what has been helpful in other places and much more. As they say, available from all good bookshops, but the Amazon link is here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-do-Mission-Action-Planning/dp/028106122X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258151010&sr=8-1
posted by barry
