Tag Archives: sheffield

Apr 9 2013

Missional Communities Workshops: Norwich and Sheffield

If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to come on a Missional Communities Workshop, or perhaps you’ve been to one but have been thinking about bringing a team from your church.  Or if perhaps you simply want a refresher on some of the principles then look no further!

Over the next few months 3DM UK are hosting 2 fantastic workshops designed to inform and inspire you in all things discipleship and mission.  For more information about the content of these days then click here.

The next 2 Workshop dates are:

Saturday 8th June 2013 in NORWICH - click here to book.

Saturday 13th July 2013 in SHEFFIELD - click here to book.

We hope to see you there!

mc taster day seminar

Mar 25 2013

When it went wrong…and what we learnt: freedom to fail

 

Life doesn’t always go to plan. You get soaked on the way to work, despite the weatherman’s promises of a heat-wave; you burn the food for the important dinner guest; your compliment is taken offensively. Yet despite life’s clear message that things don’t always go to plan, we are often surprised when they go awry.

Missional communities, like many well-made plans, also go wrong. And that’s ok.

It’s important that we set a culture where there is freedom to fail. This is both a culture set by the church leadership, but also it’s important that as a missional community leader you give yourself the permission to not always get it right. Jesus didn’t choose the most qualified or well-educated to be his disciples: he chose those who were willing to follow him, knowing they would likely fail.

fire engine fail flickrMe and my husband often joke that we’ve learnt more through where we’ve got it wrong in missional community than where we’ve done it right. But we’ve been privileged to have leaders who continued to invest in us and encouraged us, so that we didn’t just give up after the first try.

There are too many ways that things can go wrong to name them all here, but in case you’re wondering, here are a few examples that I’ve experienced or seen…

  • Unbalanced missional communities – e.g. focussing mainly on the Up (relationship with God) and Out (relationship with non-Christians) elements of missional community, but having no focus on the In (relationship within community).
  • Using language without explaining it – e.g. sharing some of the Lifeshapes tools, but not giving members of the missional community proper bible-based teaching so that they can fully understand what it means. This leads to a disconnect between the leaders and the members of the community.
  • Lack of missional vision – with no clear focus on reaching the lost, missional communities can become inwardly-focussed, consumeristic and ‘cosy’.
  • Failing to clearly communicate the missional vision – people misinterpret what they’ve signed up for and either make difficult demands on the leaders, get bored/frustrated or leave.
  • Forgetting to raise up leaders within the missional community – the current leadership might be brilliant and this means lots of people join them, but there is no one ready to step up to lead new missional communities that might multiply from this original one.

In all of these potential failings (and many more besides) the important thing is to assess and reflect on what is happening within our missional community. This is why we use the Learning Circle: the process of observing, reflecting and discussing so that our perspective can be transformed by God, in order that we then make faith-filled plans which we are accountable for and take action on. (You can learn more about the Learning Circle and Lifeshapes tools at www.3dmuk.com)

This is a process of realising and responding to the weaknesses of ourselves as leaders and the communities we lead. The above examples can solicit a number of responses: sometimes the issue can be directly addressed and fairly quickly remedied; other times it takes a much longer overhaul of a community to bring things around; sometimes it takes a clean break, ending the community but then letting the leaders have space to process what happened and be ready to try again.

My top 3 tips for when it goes wrong…

Be thankful – in the midst of failure don’t miss the things that have actually been really good about your community. Remember the good things that God has done through it and the values that you have had which have been really positive. Particularly if you’ve decided to end the missional community, make sure you take space with the group to have a celebration of the journey you’ve been on.

Be honest – use the Learning Circle process to fully reflect on what it is that hasn’t worked. If you don’t have a good understanding of why things have gone wrong, you won’t learn from them next time and may overcompensate in an area that isn’t a problem.

Be brave – when you lead a missional community and things go wrong it can knock your confidence. Remember, Jesus put the responsibility of starting the church into the hands of Peter who’d just denied him and run home scared. We’re not called to be perfect, but we are called to ‘…press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.’ (Phil 3:14). Have another go – if it goes wrong, it won’t be as bad as the last time!

Jon and Helen Bearn

 

Helen and her husband Jon  live in Sheffield and are part of St Thomas’ Church, Philadelphia.  They’ve been part of and led missional communities for the past 5 years and are passionate about seeing young adults released into their missional vision.  Helen works for 3dmUK, a ministry which trains and equips church leaders in missional discipleship.

 

Photo from flickr 

Mar 14 2013

Lessons in Mission: Young Adults

 

Over the last few years of being involved in mission with young adults, I have always had it on my heart to lead and help others grow communities where people know that they are “sent”. I can remember long conversations – with both those who are Christians and those who are not – about how God is a sending God, that He sent Jesus to die for us and that He has now sent us into the broken world around us to represent Him and help see it restored into His image.

Within this, lots of us have (slowly!) learned how to get better at knowing who God has sent us to and how we can be good news to those around us. However, what I have realised along with others that have shared this journey with me is this: it’s not just who He has sent us TO, but who He has sent us WITH that’s important.

I think there are 2 key things within this that God has taught us:

1. We PARTNER WITH HIM

Matt 28:19 – “Go and make disciples… and surely I am with you, even until the end of the age.”

So there is this great paradox with living in the Kingdom – that God sends us, but is also with us. Confusing? Maybe. Reassuring? Definitely! I suppose what I have missed out from the long conversations I mentioned earlier is the realisation that God has sent His Holy Spirit to live in us and lead us. No longer do we go anywhere on our own.

I remember being part of a young adult/workplace focussed missional community years ago when God first spoke to me about how much He wanted to come to work with me! My whole outlook on my work changed; I started looking to go on little adventures with God, and I can honestly say that it marked a turning point in seeing numerous opportunities to share Jesus with people and see them discipled in various ways.

2. We PARTNER WITH OTHERSteam-huddle

Why did Jesus bother to recruit 12 down-and-outs at the start of His ministry? Why did He send the apostles out in 2’s to the towns and cities ahead of Him (Luke 10)? Why did He get 2 people to fetch a donkey (Mark 14)?? There’s a common theme – we don’t work alone!

Again, I think choosing to partner with others in mission is one of the best things some of us as young adults have learned to do. Missional communities are about being on mission together! In our current community, we are really enjoying the opportunity to introduce our people of peace to each other and inviting them to join in more with the whole community, through various things that we do. Maybe it’s just me, but sharing the Good News with others and trying to disciple them can be really tiring and hard when I do it alone! I need other people to encourage, challenge and inspire me in mission. I’m fairly convinced that going alone also prevents people from experiencing the fullness of the Gospel message: God IS COMMUNITY – He shares 3 relationships within Himself – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They partner together in relationship with us and so when we go with others, we represent this to the world around us.

Two of the biggest giants that we have seen in young adult culture are probably individualism and consumerism. In essence, both of these are about putting “me” at the centre. What we have found is that if, as those trying to reach young adults, we buy into either of these 2 ways of thinking, we cease to be effective in mission. This is because mission isn’t about putting “me” at the centre – rather, it’s about God and others around us. So when we choose partnership it allows God’s natural grace for mission to flow and for others to experience God for who He really is – the One who is committed to relationship and adventure with others, no matter what. To a broken, lonely and frustrated generation, that’s incredibly Good News.

Who has God sent you to?

Are you partnering with Him?

Who are you taking with you as you go?

 

si ford

Simon Ford lives in Sheffield, is part of the King’s Centre Church and works for 3dm UK. He has been part of and led various young adult and workplace-focussed missional communities over the last 9 years.

Mar 5 2013

Community Values…LIMBS: Incarnational

 

limbsmcs

A few months ago we looked at how communities and central gatherings can work together as one body.

Communities are the LIMBS on this body – the moving parts that give the body its mission-reach. They are also our primary place of belonging, making disciples and developing leaders.

We also looked at the first of our LIMBS values; the importance of being love and service-motivated.

L ove and service motivated
I ncarnational
M aking Disciples
B eing Family
S ent & Sending

This time I’d like us to explore our second key value – what it means to be an Incarnational people.

We know that Jesus left everything to come and live among us. His love was so great that the most powerful being in the universe made himself nothing – beginning life as a vulnerable and dependant baby and even as a grown man, he made himself the servant of all. He had 30 years of being among the people to whom he had been sent, before embarking on any public ministry. He took time to know the hearts and ways of the people He was revealing Himself to.

In the same way, Jesus told his disciples to “Go” and represent Him and preach the good news in all the world, making disciples of all nations/peoples – beginning in Jerusalem, (the most familiar place), extending to Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth. (Matt 28:16 & Acts 1:8)

The call to these first disciples was not to be content to just reach people who were very similar to them, but to be willing to move from their familiar culture and location and make disciples of people who were very different to them.

If they were to follow the example of Jesus, this would mean living amongst those to whom they were being sent, taking the attitude of servants by learning their culture and ways, and then living and communicating the good news in ways that were meaningful in that culture.

thumbtack map

I would suggest this same call to incarnational mission has not changed. It may be that you are called to the equivalent of Jerusalem – to live, love, serve and incarnate the good news amongst people who are very like you – and to grow missional community there.

But it may also be that God is calling you to leave what is familiar to you and go and live among a people who are only a bit like you (Judea and Samaria), or not like you at all (the ends of the earth) – and grow community there.

Every generation needs people who are willing to pay the price and respond to the call to go to people who are not like them. God’s love in us compels us – God so loved that He gave, He sent, He came and dwelled among us – and it cost Him everything.

The Codinas and Nunns are a great example of this here at St Thomas’ Philadelphia in Sheffield. Charlotte, the Team Leader, has a PhD and could have gone anywhere and done anything as a young adult. However, she chose to move to a tiny terraced house in one of the poorest estates in Sheffield. She started with a Stomp Club (for 7-11’s), and now has a flourishing community with schools work, toddler groups and youth work all a part of it – all because she was willing to say, “Yes, I will go and live among that community and be good news to them.”

We are not all Charlottes, but that doesn’t mean that God doesn’t want us to live these principles in smaller ways… For example – if you are a community of English students, God may ask you to welcome some international students into the family…If you are a community in suburbia, He may ask you to open your hearts and homes to a failed asylum seeker…It may be that one of your small groups can be sent out to begin a new community in a completely different context…

The most important thing is that we are willing to continually go and be among those we are trying to reach – and not get too comfortable where we are. I’d encourage you to ask God to show you how you can be a more effective incarnational missionary/community wherever you are.

LindsayLonchar

 

Lindsay Lonchar leads the Missional Communities and Training Team at St Thomas’ Church Philadelphia in Sheffield and is also training to become a Baptist Minister.  

 

 

 

Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Feb 7 2013

LAST CHANCE BOOKINGS for MC Workshop next week!

If you’re interested in finding out more about Missional Communities then make a date to come to our next Missional Communities Workshop on February 14th in Sheffield.

For more details click on the flyer and click here to book on.

We look forward to seeing you there!

20130207-155336.jpg

Jan 22 2013

Missional Communities Workshop – February 2013

If you’re interested in finding out more about Missional Communities then make a date to come to our next Missional Communities Workshop on February 14th in Sheffield.  

For more details click on the flyer and click here to book on.

We look forward to seeing you there!

mc_workshop flyer feb 2013

 

Dec 20 2012

Real Life Discipleship: Starbucks or Stable?

This is the last post from the Missional Communities Team for 2012.  Thank you for reading and we look forward to seeing you in the New Year! Merry Christmas!

Mince pies, mulled wine, lights, turkey, toffee-nut latte, wrapping-paper, mince pies, carols, charades, real trees, fake trees, mince pies, nativity plays, mistletoe, baubles, mince pies, stuffing, crackers, bad TV… oh, and did I mention mince pies?!

Christmas is crazy.

In between the parties, concerts, last-minute dash for presents, getting tied-up in the sticky-tape and changing the fuse on the Christmas lights, sometimes it’s hard to remember Jesus at the very time of year we should be celebrating Him.

In the past few years the word ‘incarnational’ has become prevalent in our conversation about being missional disciples.  Incarnational mission, incarnational discipleship, incarnational community: the idea of living amongst those we want to reach has captivated our understanding of what the Christian life is all about.

And this is no surprise.  Jesus is the very picture of incarnation: He took on flesh and embodied the Good News in the way He lived, died and rose again.  And Christmas is a great time to remember this!

As we think about our own discipleship and how we disciple others there are so many challenges in the way that Jesus came into the world.  Here are just a few to consider:-

“She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.”  Luke 2 v 7

Jesus made Himself utterly vulnerable and dependent on others.   Babies are helpless, requiring all nurture and sustenance from their parents.  It’s amazing to think of the level of vulnerability Jesus experienced and the sacrifice that this was in order to be our Saviour.

  • How are you returning to Jesus in this season, seeking rest and sustenance from Him, rather than relying on your own strength?

 

“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” John 1 v 14

He became like us, putting Himself under all the temptations, challenges and difficulties of this world.  Jesus knew that the most effective way to disciple the next generation of leaders was by walking alongside them and inviting them on a real life journey with Him – not just grabbing Starbucks once a month.

  • Where do you need to change the way that you disciple others – placing yourself within their culture and inviting them into your life so that you are closely journeying together – even when that context presents challenges and difficulties for you?

 

“Rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2 v 7

Jesus chose the messy places to walk out His calling – from the manger in the stable to the tax collector’s home, Jesus invited people into relationship with Him and chose to live that out with them, even when they were challenging and it was uncomfortable.

  • Where are the messy places / the messy people that God is asking you to go to … and stay?

 

Jon and Helen BearnHelen Bearn lives in Sheffield with her husband Jon, and are part of St Thomas’ Church, Philadelphia.  They’ve been part of and led missional communities for the past 5 years and are passionate about seeing young adults released into their missional vision.  Jon works for Sheffield Council in procurement and Helen works for 3dmUK, a ministry which trains and equips church leaders in missional discipleship.

Nov 29 2012

Sustaining a Life of Mission…Spiritual Disciplines

 

Discipline…. Ooh I can just feel the shudder down my spine!

I wonder how many of us grew up in the Discipline = Death generation??

I’m fairly sure I did.

I think that when we think about “discipline” or discuss it in our communities, it can often be met with a similar level of enthusiasm to cleaning the toilet, or emptying the dustbin!

“OK – I’ll do this ‘cos I should, but let’s just do it as quickly as possible and move on!”

I think a helpful shift I have seen in communities is where we understand that discipline is a practice that helps us to grow as a disciple (they come from the same word after all), rather than associating it with something that always involves pain and punishment! I don’t know about you, but that is something I can get much more enthusiastic about.

So what on earth do we mean by spiritual disciplines then? From reading the New Testament, we can see how the disciples devoted themselves to such things as prayer, reading the word and fasting. In communities I have been part of, these are the things we would call disciplines, as they help us to grow as disciples. We encourage and challenge each other to grow in each of these areas. If we want to sustain a missional lifestyle, these are vital, because any heart/desire for mission is always birthed in a place of drawing near to God and hearing His heart for others. Spiritual disciplines enable us to do this.

One of the reasons I love missional communities is because they are places where we engage with these kinds of disciplines together – with others – and not just by ourselves. I really enjoyed Ben Askew’s summer post on reading the Bible in community, because I thought it was a helpful reminder not to be doing this stuff just as individuals. In our community, we read a passage of scripture together every time we meet. Sometimes we discuss it over the dinner table, other times on the sofa with coffee, but we make a point of reading together and then asking each other questions about it and how we can respond.

We also pray and worship together – and I would say that as the weeks and months go by, we can see each other to grow in our personal walk with Jesus. This is because as we practice doing this stuff together, people get inspired and challenged to do it more on their own. We can’t wait for everyone to nail spiritual disciplines magically by themselves and then bring this personal discovery into community! That’s not what missional communities are about – instead, they are about ordinary, busy, not-there-yet sorts of people trying to discover together how to live more like Jesus.

And the key to making all of this work? If you ask me, it’s simply accountability. The most fruitful, long lasting change I have seen in our young adult community this year has come from people being honest and accountable about the discipline God has asked them to engage with – not trying to do it by themselves, but asking others to help, pray for them, encourage them, or even join in. This has unlocked huge amounts of grace, provision, healing… I think this applies to spiritual disciplines too. The only areas of spiritual discipline that I have managed to sustain and grow in my own life are the ones that others in the community know about and can hold me accountable to.

And the great thing about all of this is – as we go through this process, it changes from becoming a just a discipline, to becoming a habit, to becoming a lifestyle and rhythm of community life. It’s how we live.

So my testimony and challenge would be that, in terms of seeing growth in spiritual disciplines and our personal walk, we have faith for as much change as we are accountable for. I can’t see that God ever designed us to operate in this alone. Discipline doesn’t have to mean death any more! It’s an opportunity to grow as a community of disciples trying to follow Jesus.

Which spiritual disciplines are you growing in as a community?

Is it part of your rhythm?

How much discipline are you accountable for/sharing with others?

 

Simon Ford lives in Sheffield, is part of the King’s Centre Church and works for 3dm UK. He has been part of and led various young adult and workplace-focussed missional communities over the last 9 years

Nov 12 2012

Celebrating Festivals as a Missional Community: Advent

All churches will differ in the way they celebrate the different festivals in the church calendar (Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost etc), but engaging in these can be a really helpful way to add rhythm to your MC, and often these things can become part of your identity or like ‘family traditions’. They can also be a great way to involve your people of peace in your MC.  Liz Lovell, Campus Chaplain at St Thomas’ Church Philadelphia in Sheffield, shares some of her tips and ideas on this topic.

The Liturgical Year is not about Sundays, rules and regulations, but about rhythm and creativity, richness of symbol, Word and Spirit, highs and lows. It is about celebration and memorial. Festivals help us celebrate our relationship with God, relationships in households and belonging community. They are opportunities for inviting others into our rich celebratory lifestyle. This was something I experienced when I was 12 and a Jewish school friend invited me to celebrate the Jewish ‘Feast of Tabernacles ‘with her family.

A festival is like a good meal – unhurried, joyful preparation, a celebratory meal followed by relaxation.
The challenge of Advent is choosing to ‘go against the flow’ of the world, making time for relaxed, enjoyable preparation, and using the period after Christmas to reflect and make life changes before the New Year.

Below are ideas used by households and Missional Communities – celebrating tradition yet bringing in the new.
• De-clutter before Decorating. To receive the new, first get rid of the old and make it fun! Items in good condition can be donated to charities. For children (as for all of us) it is discipleship in ‘simplicity’ and ‘generosity’.  Are there things in your community and household lifestyle which need simplifying?

• The Advent Crown – with community, friends and neighbours make simple advent wreaths – 4 candles with a central candle set in greenery. Seasonal food, music and a simple ‘devotional time’ set the scene.

• Assail the Senses – find creative ways of doing this – scented candles, mulled wine, spiced biscuits, the Christmas Greatest hits CD, Christmas lights inside and out. Even making a Community Christmas Cake together is symbolic of the rich ingredients of a life lived together with Christ.

• Do things differently – food, music and decorations. Create new traditions and memories. Our children came to enjoy the classical albums and carols played in December. During Advent they came downstairs in pyjamas for bedtime stories, hot chocolate, spiced biscuits and candlelight. These simple pleasures can help us all engage with the ‘deep magic’ of the Narnia stories.

• Try something unusual – on the Christmas dinner table I put a small ‘gold’ bowl with tiny amounts of frankincense and myrrh. Others may not notice, but the symbols of someone else’s birth and death are there for me.

• Santa’s Grotto or Prayer stations? Yes – your home can be like a series of prayer stations!

o Well-worn decorations trigger memories. Use them to give thanks for these and for people who have helped your spiritual journey. Particular tree decorations can remind us of family and friends who we miss.

o The Nativity Scene was never static – try putting 1 item out each day or move the Wise Men gradually towards the stable each day.

o The Advent Calendar – along with chocolates or small gifts put verses of scripture in the pockets – one for each member of the household. How about a community calendar – each person responsible for one day?

o Put decorations, story books or Bibles open at the Christmas story in unusual places- as you move around the house they are reminders of who we celebrate. Yes – even the loo can be a place of reflection! Scented candles are particularly useful in this context!

o Use your home prayer stations when you gather as a community.

These ideas may be helpful but I would encourage you to create traditions which help you to look back yet eagerly look forward, so that like the Wise men you too can ‘go back a different way’. (Matthew 2:10 – 12)

 

Liz Lovell is married to John and they have 2 grown-up children.  Liz is the Campus Chaplain for St Thomas’ Church Philadelphia, Sheffield. 

Oct 15 2012

Community Values…LIMBS!

 

I was thinking recently about how at our church in Sheffield we are one body of people who both gather and go; we regularly come together to be sent back out again. This gathering and sending happens within MCs as well as in the way that MCs relate to what goes on at the central campus.

As I was pondering the unique way our church works, the following picture came to mind, along with the thought that “Communities are LIMBS.”

The central resource base is like a torso with lots going on inside – a place we can come to in order to celebrate with our wider family, encounter God with a larger group of people and be equipped and resourced. Communities on the other hand are limbs, the moving parts that give the body its mission-reach. They are the primary place of belonging for people, as well as the primary place for mission, discipleship and developing leaders.

I think LIMBS, when used as an acronym, expresses the values that are most important to Missional Communities:

L ove and service motivated
I ncarnational
M ission and Discipleship
B eing Family
S ent & Sending

Let’s have a look at the first one – Love & service motivated.

1 John 4:8b says that “GOD IS LOVE.” Surely these are 3 of the most important words in the whole of scripture! John 13:35 says that it is “by our love” that the world will know we are his disciples. Luke 22:27b also says that Jesus came among us as “one who serves” and that the greatest among us is the “servant of all”. (Luke 22:26)

We can’t give away what we haven’t first received, which is why it’s so vital that we constantly prioritise spending time in His loving presence and inviting Him into all the details of our lives.

The unconditional, no change required love we enjoy from our heavenly Father has to extend beyond ourselves and be a seeking, welcoming and embracing love for those new to our community and outside of it.

Loving others is costly and sacrificial – love is not self-serving but serves the interests of others and considers them above ourselves. (1 Cor 13, Phil 2:3.4) Who is God calling you to love and serve, at personal cost to yourself?

As Paul makes clear, without God’s 1 Cor 13 type of love we are “nothing.” My prayer is that we would be people and communities who are known for our love and servant hearts above all else.

We’ll unpack the other values in future blog posts!

 

Lindsay Lonchar is part of the Communities and Training Team at St Thomas’ Church Philadelphia in Sheffield and is also training to become a Baptist Minister.