Monthly Archives: July 2012

Jul 26 2012

Upcoming Autumn Workshops

 

Interested in coming to hear more about Mission and Discipleship or Missional Communities?

Our workshops are a great place to explore some of the key principles, tools and vehicles that form the basis of the movement. They are also a fantastic opportunity to bring others from your local church/community and process the day together as a team. 

All of our workshops are run by the 3dm UK team, who combine their many years of experience in leading huddles, missional communities, senior teams and churches using the principles of mission and discipleship.

We have 2 dates confirmed for 3dm UK Workshops in the Autumn:

Missional Communities Workshop (Sheffield): 22nd September - Book here

Discipleship and Mission Workshop (London): 27th-28th November - Book here

Click on the image to view and download a copy of this flyer.

Jul 24 2012

Abiding: as a community

 

So far we have explored the idea of  ’abiding’ in an individual, personal context – and this certainly needs to be part of the story – but it’s not the whole story.  Since we believe in a 3-dimensional lifestyle we also believe that ‘abiding’ can happen in the ‘in’ and ‘out’ dimensions as well as the ‘up’ dimension.*

So, how do you abide with others, in community?

Firstly, set aside 4-6 weeks of the year (often the school summer holidays) which is going to be ‘abiding’ time for your MC.  This is a time to stop the regular meeting pattern you might have and adopt a new rhythm for this time.  Abiding doesn’t necessarily mean stopping meeting altogether (although it might if that was appropriate), but rather to slow down together in fun, laughter and in a much more relaxed pace of life.

Eat together – lots!  If the sun is out, BBQ or picnic with everyone bringing things to share. If it’s wet, well eat indoors!  If it’s not a financial barrier to anyone, eat out.  Do day trips together – explore new and familiar places together.  Go to conferences or festivals together. Some Missional Communities have even been known to go on holiday together!

If you have children in your MC use this as an opportunity for them to spend more time together – especially good if they go to different schools.  Book playdates in your homes, the park or elsewhere…you could even use this as an opportunity to invite other friends along.  Invite those who don’t have kids to be part of this too, they and your kids will both benefit from this, and parents might appreciate some respite whilst someone else pushes them on the swing!

Look for simple opportunities to serve each other.  Offer to feed people’s pets or water their plants whilst they’re on holiday.  Leave a meal in their fridge for when they return.  Take their kids out for the morning.  Trade your glut of runner beans with their glut of tomatoes! If people can’t afford to go on holiday see if you have friends in other parts of the country who could house swop.

You don’t need to stop doing any ‘God stuff’ over the summer…why not all agree to read the same book together (biblical or other Christian) as holiday reading material, or do some informal, spontaneous prayer and worship times. Use 1 Corinthians 14:26-33.  You might decide that some of you want to all want to study the same theme through the Bible over the summer and compare notes as you go.  Share what God has been speaking to you personally too and encourage each other. Remember to keep it low-key.

Above all, invest in friendship with each other.  Fun is an important part of that!  Sowing into friendship in this time will reap rewards when time is tight and life is busy. Be spontaneous and informal as much as possible.  Feel free not to meet.  Get others to organise anything you are doing.  Respect people’s need for rest and introvert time so don’t worry if they need ‘time off’ from other people. Don’t do anything that requires much more than 10 minutes planning!  If you are a church leader, strip back all evening meetings to allow people space to ‘be’ community together and keep services shorter, more family friendly and relaxed.

Hopefully that has given you a few thoughts on how to abide together as community. Doing this will also give you an idea of how well people are operating as ‘oikos/extended family’ together, and help to build on it more.

Helen Askew lives in Deal, Kent along with her two young children and husband Ben who is training for ordination. She works for St George’s Church with responsibility for everyone under 30. They have just planted a new MC for young adults there, are working to establish youth MCs and also work with 3DM UK from time to time!

 

 

* For more on Lifeshapes go to www.weare3dm.com

Jul 16 2012

Abiding: as an individual

 

This week we continue our series on Abiding by looking at how we might ‘abide’ as an individual.  You can read previous posts on this subject here and here.

Abiding for me is about being before doing. It’s about being pruned back to the essentials of who I am so that I can connect with who God is.

It’s about coming back to the God whose name is ‘I AM’, connecting with His character and hearing His voice. It’s about being reminded of what God has done and how that reflects who he is. Abiding is about celebrating His goodness in the previous season, reflecting honestly on its challenges and seeing that He was always there. It’s retreating into the safe harbour of His person and allowing His word (written and spoken) to build into the wind that will move me forward into the next adventure.

It’s a place of rest, retreat and re-creation of everything that He says I am. It’s about reminding myself of what God has already said about me. It’s about taking the time and making the space to reflect on what He has done and grown in my character over the previous season. It’s about listening for His right-now word in my life. And it’s also about working out what He’s saying over me for the next season.

Abiding is not a stand-alone time, disconnected from the rest of life. In the winter there are always remnants of the previous season (the autumn leaves lying on the ground) and signs of the season to come (the lightening days, the green shoots that hint of spring).. In the same way, abiding is always about looking back and looking forward. It’s about making space to store up the already-won fruit and allowing seeds to be planted for the next crop.

But how do I do this? What does it actually look like for me?

Being before doing doesn’t mean doing nothing! It means doing those things that express who I am – the gifts, skills, and passions that God has given me. For me, it’s things like sitting in coffee shops, walking round a park, cooking, and hanging out with friends. Doing the things I enjoy, the things which come naturally to me, often helps me let my guard down. As I stop striving to get things done or achieve certain goals, I relax – and that’s when I open up to God.

Abiding also doesn’t have to mean ‘in a room on your own.’ The degree to which that is helpful will depend on how introverted/extroverted you are. As an extrovert, part of abiding is learning the discipline of being with God on my own, learning to be comfortable with myself. However, I also need the life that comes from being with others.

The people that God has put around me can be so helpful in helping me reconnect with who I am – reminding me of what God has said, asking me questions to help me dig deeper, talking over the previous season and pointing out what God has done, mourning over the disappointments, celebrating the successes, and helping me see what He’s saying for the future.

There does need to be an intention to it though – a choosing to make the time and space for this, without the need to rush on to the next thing and the next thing. It means I can linger over a coffee if God is revealing something to me as I talk with a friend. Or that I can push myself to climb that next hill and learn something about how God is calling me to persevere, without worrying about being late back. Or that I can take the time to express the creativity I’ve been given by a creator God by experimenting in the kitchen, without stressing about how successful the end result is.

I’m really looking forward to making some time to abide over the next month or so and seeing what God says and does in me. What about you? Will you be abiding? How will you be connecting with God’s character and who He says you are?

 

Pip Martin lives in Sheffield and works for 3dm UK as Operations Manager. She has led several Missional Communities with a heart for internationals.

 

 

(Picture taken by Pip in Aix-les-Bains, France)

Jul 9 2012

Abiding: top tips for planning rest

 

Do you have to fight really hard to make yourself take time to stop?

Whenever I read John 15 it never ceases to challenge me. For example from verses 5&6  ‘If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing….. if you do not remain in me you are like a branch that withers’.

To ‘remain’ or ‘stay’ requires a good rhythm of life and must include times of rest.

We all know how vital it is to rest both for ourselves and our ministry but making it happen is sometimes incredibly hard. Yet the process must be fundamental to our fulfilment of the vision we are called to.

It is not enough to work hard in our own strength. We must be sure to step back and let God guide us. Taking time to rest is part of that.

Here are my top tips for making rest happen:

1. Choose the time and stick to it.

It’s best if it’s not a last minute decision. Rest time needs to be put in the annual calendar as you’re planning ahead so that it becomes a period to anticipate, plan for, and look forward to.
If you’re like me this is a challenge. I may forward plan a time to rest but making it happen especially when you are in church leadership can be the hardest thing. In the UK August is often a good time, it is traditionally a time when many people take a holiday. Meetings can’t be scheduled as easily because folk are away; we had a rule that our Missional Communities did not formally meet in August.

2. Create some parameters: what you will and will not do.

Try to stop as many of the routine things as you can – especially meetings! This particularly applies to your missional community.  If you can, go away. It is good to get away from familiar surroundings. If you’re not going away try to adjust your routine. When you need to be in your place of work don’t stay late. To ensure people are not disappointed tell your missional community, colleagues and those who report to you that you are taking time to rest and are therefore not available in the way you usually are. Strongly urge them to do the same.

3. Be kind to yourself.

Have fun. Do the things you enjoy. Spend quality time with your friends and family. Do things that help you relax and try to forget about the routine. Make space in the day  when you do nothing. Get some good times of sleep. Ask friends to pray for you to be refreshed and revitalised over this time.

When on holiday in Scotland we visited a viewpoint near the junction of the A83 and the B828, named – Rest and be thankful.  These words are inscribed on a stone  placed there by soldiers who built the original military road in 1753,  The section is so named as the climb out of Glen Croe is long and steep that at the end it was traditional for travellers to rest at the top, and be thankful for having reached the highest point.

In church leadership there are always immediate pressing needs to be met but unless we can take the time away from these needs we may lose clarity in terms of our calling.

You may not feel that you have reached your highest point but rest and enjoy what you see!

‘Failing to plan is planning to fail!!’

 

Jenny Rosser lives in Durham with her husband David. They have been involved in the developement and implementation of missional communities for the past 10 years. 

Jul 4 2012

Abiding: Seasons

 

One of God’s gifts to us in creation is the seasons. The shifts we experience, which are more pronounced in some parts of the world but felt in all, teach us something deep about Christian life and discipleship and are a theme that the bible comes back to frequently.

In John 15 Jesus describes two seasons of life in the disciple, a time of fruit and a time of pruning. No one is fruitful all the time, and individuals and communities all experience both seasons. The key to continued growth is to abide in Jesus in both these times just as a branch lives in the vine of which it is a part.

The season of rest, when growth is pruned away, can be a hard and difficult time, it can feel like a little death. In our experiences such times can involve the failure of a vision, the end of a community or the absence of roles or tasks to follow. They often force us to confront the darker sides of the visionary’s life and face down the lie that our community’s success is dependent on us or on the work we put in. They remind us that apart from Jesus there is no fruit.

God will lead us into such seasons as he chooses, but often individuals and communities will also choose to embrace a time of rest where the activities of the group are pruned so that together they may focus on abiding in Jesus. Many places do this in the summer, at a time when in the UK at least, there can be a natural slowing of pace.

Over the next few weeks our contributors are going to tell you how their communities have sought rest and helped one another embrace abiding. We invite you to follow their stories, and consider how you might purposefully invest in your life with God.

What season of life does it feel like your community is in?
How might you make some space to abide in Jesus this summer?

If you can’t wait till next week, check out our friend Andrew’s recent post on seasons here.

Ben Askew

 

The picture at the top is by Cabodevassoura and found on Flickr.

Jul 2 2012

Summer blogging

 

Hello to all our readers!

Firstly you may have noticed a slow down in the posts over the last couple of weeks…sorry about this!  Hopefully as this academic year draws to a close you will be able to look back over the past few months and see what God has been doing in you and amongst your Missional Communities and your church.  We would love to hear some of your stories and testimonies.  If you have any you would like to share please comment below!

Secondly, we will be taking the whole of July to look at the topic of ‘abiding’.  John 15 speaks really clearly about the importance of ‘remaining’ or ‘abiding’ in Jesus the true vine, and that it is only in doing so that we can ‘bear much fruit’ in the season to come.  The summer is usually (although not for everyone) a time when things slow down a little and we can adjust our rhythms to spend more time resting, giving thanks for what’s gone before and abiding in Jesus.  We hope that the next few posts will help you to be able to do this as an individual, with your community, and using relaxed missional opportunities to connect with others who need to know Jesus too.

We hope you enjoy reading.