Town Centre Churches day Life in the heart of the community

Town Centre Churches day

Life in the heart of the

community

www.lightproject.org.uk

http://www.lightproject.org.uk/about_us.html

Actively demonstrating the Christian message

The Light Project is a national charity working in partnership with over 20 Churches in 40

youth and community projects.

We train people nationally in community evangelism through our FdA validated by the

University of Chester.

A disclaimer…

I am an evangelist

www.getinthepicture.org.uk

Objective

To be people who love ‘the lost’ in such a way that the things we do as ‘Church’ give people in our towns/ cities a choice to become followers of Jesus Christ or not.

Aims/prayer •Inspired to lead our congregations to reach out more to those in our town/ city centres and towns/cities

•Filled with the Holy Spirit to do new things that will mean people will ‘get it.’

•To hear from God so that we may be strengthened, encouraged and comforted in our ministry

Overview •Session 1:Inspired to be life givers

•Session 2:How to be life givers

•Session 3:What can we do?

Session 1:

Inspired to be life givers

•Things are pretty pants.•People need life in Jesus.•Faith comes through…•The best time to plant a tree is…

Session 1: Inspired to be life givers

•Acts 10 •A new paradigm•Need to do something new•To do our ‘I have never.’


“Having talked with many of the church leaders whose churches are seeing this great response (people

becoming Christians) I’ve learnt that the key thing is that they see themselves as missionaries and their Church as missional. By missional I mean that these churches don’t just have an evangelism programme

but see their church as a mission.”

p.21 They like Jesus but not the Church- Dan Kimball


“The new paradigm, a missionary paradigm that beckons to us, necessitates a shift from institution to movement, from structures that invite people into sacred space to an infectious spirituality that invades secular space. The idea is not so hard to express, describe and grasp. The difficulty arises in actually living the paradigm because the old one constantly draws us back.”

How can we begin to create the new paradigm as more than just a fleeting experience?

Invading Secular Space, Strategies for tomorrows Church. Robinson and Smith, p.109


• Personal transformation • Genuine diversity in leadership• Creating organic movement • The Church as dispersed presence

50% 50% Equal measure: dispersed presence/ gathered centre

How would you measure your church?


The Celtic echo

• Commitment to a Cause • Contagious relationships • Rapid mobilization • Adaptive methods “The Irish could follow Christ without becoming Roman.”


The Celtic echo…

“It’s time we reached those Barbarians!”


The Celtic echo…Contrast from Paganism: ‘Christianity portrayed a more gentle

society where poor people were valued as well as rich, where God was seen as being interested in those who were never invited into the kings hall as in those who were welcome within it.’

Fastidius 411: ‘A Christian is a man who… never allows a poor man to be oppressed when he is by, whose door is open to all, whose table every poor man knows, whose food is offered to all.’

Recovering the Past, Celtic and Roman Mission. John Finney 127


“The Church was first established and organised with a worldwide mission for a world-wide work. It was a living organism composed of living souls deriving their life from Christ, who was it’s Head. It was an organism which grew by its own spontaneous activity, the expression of that life which it had in union with Christ, the saviour.”

Roland Allen- The Spontaneous Expansion of The Church (1927) p.126


Living the life…

A poem


Session 2:

How to be life givers

Session 2: How to be life givers


Roman

1. Present the Christian message2. Invite them to decide to believe in Christ and become Christians3. If they decide positively, welcome them into the church and its

fellowship.

Celtic

1. First establish community with people, or bring them into the fellowship of your community of faith

2. Within community, engage in conversation, ministry, prayer and worship;

3. As people discover their gifts and faith, to invite them to commit to discipleship.



Believe Behave Belong Belong Believe BehaveObserve Believe’ish’ Behave


Experience

Express

Explain

Explore


Love for people

•Experience •Match the message with the means •Encounter the living Christ in us


Session 3:

What can we do?

Session 3: What can we do?

3 ideas to get started:

•St St•2 or 3 times a year…•A poem

• Funday on a Sunday •From 200- 12,000

•Model it!



3 ideas from PRBC- Peterborough:


Q & A


Documents

Town Centre Churches day Life in the heart of the community