David Male, College of Evangelists

Also announced this week , another honour for an Ely cleric. The Revd David Male, who is our advisor for Fresh Expressions as well as tutor in Pioneer Mission in Cambridge has been elected as a member of the prestigious College of Evangelists. 

The College was set up by the Archbishops in 1999 to recognise and affirm evangelists whose ministry is nationwide or at least beyond the confines of any diocese, and is a support and resource group for its members.

This year’s Commissioning Service will take place at St Martin’s in the Bullring, Birmingham. We are pleased to welcome Mr Richard Chewter and Revd Ian Mosby to the college at the service, which will be lead by the Rt. Revd. Andrew Watson, Bishop of Aston.

Before coming to Ridley David was for seven years Vicar of the Net Church, Huddersfield. This ‘network type’ church which he started with a small team was one of the pioneers of fresh expressions in this country, and is the first church mentioned in the Mission shaped church report. He is an Associate Missioner of The Fresh Expressions team and is involved in helping other new churches and their leaders develop fresh expressions throughout the country. Leader of the Mission Shaped Ministry Course for Cambridge and Suffolk, he has also been working in Australia and the USA helping to develop new churches in these countries. David is Guest Lecturer for the Global Missional Leadership DMin through George Fox Evangelical Seminary.

David is passionate about creating communities that connect with unchurched people and helping to create the leaders to enable this to happen. He describes his work at Ridley as creating the ecosystem to enable pioneering ministries to flourish.

His book Church Unplugged: Remodelling Church without losing your soul (Authentic Books) looks at how to create a new church through ten essentials that create an indispensable framework.

He served two curacies in Leicester and Huddersfield.

David is passionate about creating communities that connect with unchurched people. Married to Heather, they have 3 children, Jenny, Holly and Callum. He loves playing and watching most sports which involve a ball and no water! He is an avid Huddersfield Town fan. His other interests include the media, films and eating!

Email: dm432@cam.ac.uk

Read more on Dave’s blog

Filed under: Church of England, mission, College of Evengelists, Diocese of Ely, Fresh Expressions

10 Types of Emerging Church

Andrew Jones, the “Tall Skinny Kiwi” has a good following in the blogoshphere, and I am always interested in what he has to say. He describes himself (apart from being tall, skinny and a Kiwi) as an emerging, missional conspirator.

He recently blogged on 10 types of emerging church that will no longer upset your grandfather that gave, I thought a helpful categorisation of what we might call “Fresh Expressions”, as well as the obvservation that they are not feeling anything like as radical as they were. In fact – I suspect I am not alone in thinking that many of these forms of activity have been around since time immemorial, though under different names. What is different is that they are now being billed as fully “church”, not supplements or introductions. My concern if that is the case is (a) that they develop all the full marks of church, and (b) that they do not part company with the historic church either in faith or fellowship. Anyway – here is the TSK himself:

On New Years Eve, exactly ten years ago, I wrote a piece on the 5 types of emerging "postmodern" churches as I saw them. Now, on the eve of the next decade, I want to expand that number to the 10 types of emerging church models that we have been starting, promoting, raising funds for, training leaders for, and, of course, taking a whole lot of criticism for.

A decade ago, these emerging church models would have horrified your grandfather, especially, if he was anything like the every-Sunday-morning-Presbyterian that my grandfather was. Today, the controversy in most places [depends where you live] has subsided to the level that no one will call you a heretic or the anti-christ if you start up a church that looks like one of these models.

Of the 10 types listed below, I have taken lumps for all of them. But that criticism slowed down to a tiny trickle by the end of the decade. Here are 10 types of emerging churches that were often considered highly radical and offensive when the decade began, but now operate with relatively little or no resistance, and many of which are promoted by even the most traditional denominations.

1. Culture-based communities like the skate churches, surf churches, hip-hop churches, and the alternative culture churches built around metalheads/goths/punks. Some of them were accused of being "Satanic" but not any more. You will find them everywhere (the Southern Baptists have some great examples) and without much controversy.

2. GenX, Postmodern, and "Emergent" churches were once accused of being a "protest movement" but that kind of criticism is much harder to find. These days, the criticism tends to be around particular beliefs that dont match up to denominational or doctrinal creeds but no longer about the forms of church which have proved to be an attractive model for many traditional churches who want to maintain their younger flock.

3. The new-monastic orders and intentional communities, as well as Celtic churches, operating as spiritual communities of faith inside a mostly Protestant world. They raised eyebrows a decade ago but today are quite common and acceptable.

4. House churches, simple churches, organic churches. I was told they were "not real churches" and were filled with people too lazy to get up on Sunday morning and attend a real service. Not any more. It was noted at the 2009 Global House Church Summit that house churches outnumber traditional churches in some countries and are perhaps becoming the new mainstream.

5. Cyberchurch and virtual online communities had their first symposium in 2009 in London with no protest at all from those who used to say they were a rebellion against "physical" church worship services. A lot of ordinary traditional church folk are now also involved in some sort of online spiritual community.

6. Alternative worship/fresh expression/new-liturgical churches were once highly controversial but now leaders from these churches are asked to set up worship for large scale Christian events and provide worship resources for all kinds of church.

7. Pub churches and coffee shop churches and other "third space" churches that were once chastised for meeting in "profane" places are now a viable option for traditional churches and mission societies as a cheap and accessible place to start a new church. There is still a little criticism floating around but it tends to be directed at the drinking of alcohol and the occasional profane language, rather than the profane place in which it happens.

8. The contemplative prayer movement was accused of pagan practises in the past and attracted a daily dose of web criticism. Today, through the influence of groups like 24-7 Prayer [who have actually become a dynamic church planting movement in their own right], it is common to see multi-media prayer spaces in all kinds of churches all over the world and without the controversy.

9. Christians who dont go to church, sometimes called "Churchless" Christians" or "believers who don’t belong". A decade ago they were "backslidden" because they didn’t turn up at a Sunday worship service. But thanks to the research and reflection of people like Alan Jamieson and George Barna, it is now acceptable to talk about the other half of the church who practise a spiritual rythmic lifestyle of fellowship and worship without the programs of a local church. The controversy that erupted after Barna’s book ‘Revolution’ has died down to a whisper.

10. Social enterprises leading to missional communities, often buried deep inside urban centers. A decade ago these were sanctioned as "ministries" and "mission stations" and "projects" but eventually, everyone had to go to some church on Sunday. Now they can emerge as their own church without a lot of fuss. These types of emerging church, which I think will mushroom even more in the next decade, are the least likely to use church language. Not even emerging church language. 

Well, thats how I see it from where I am. I dont think my grandfather, if he had kept up with changes in the global Christian landscape, would have gotten really upset with any of these. But maybe your grandfather is different than mine.

Happy new year.

Filed under: Christianity, Churches, mission

Fire hits partner church

News has just reached me of a bad fire at the old Mission House at Breklum, in our partner church of North Elbe. It seems to have been started deliberately by burglars. No-one was harmed. Our partners write:

Dear sisters and brothers, dear co-workers of NMZ in our partner churches,

The weeks before Christmas are a time of expectation and joy. We are looking forward to the day when we celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. However,
in the midst of preparations for
Christmas we have to share with you the sad news of a deep loss that we have experienced in the Northelbian Mission Centre (NMZ) and the Northelbian Evangelical-Lutheran Church.

In the night to the Second Sunday of Advent the old Mission House in Breklum was severely damaged by a strong fire. The outside walls are still standing, solid  as they are, but the interior is totally destroyed by fire and water. Parts of the historical archives of the Breklum Mission were lost in the flames, many books were either burned to ashes or are soaked with water, offices were damaged. Thank God, human beings were not harmed. The other buildings at the campus – the guest houses, the Festsaal and the Martineum – were thankfully not affected by the fire. Several fire brigades were at the spot during the whole night as well as many co-workers of the Christian Jensen Kolleg, the NMZ and other institutions. They all had a very hard time with the fire fighting operations and rescue measures, and they did what they could in order to extinguish the fire and rescue valuable items and personal belongings from the building.

According to police investigation the fire was set on purpose at four different places from inside the building. It was apparently a burglary, and perhaps these people have, out of frustration, set fire to the building. Over the last years, the Mission House functioned as the central administration building for the Christian Jensen Kolleg, an educational and ecumenical centre in the North-Western part of our Church. It contained offices of colleagues from the Christian Jensen Kolleg, the NMZ, and the regional educational centre of several church districts in the region. Over the last years, the buildings had been restored and refurnished. We share these sad news with you because Breklum, the Mission House and the Christian Jensen Kolleg are known to many of you.

Breklum is a small village in the northern part of Germany, but it is also a place of affection for many Christian sisters and brothers around the world with whom we are connected in partnership. Breklum is the place where Rev. Christian Jensen started in the 19th Century the participation of Christians from the far Northern parts of Germany and from across the border to Denmark in world mission and where he established a number of institutions related to missionary outreach, health services, Christian education and care for Christians in diaspora situations in North America. In the 1930s, during the time of the Nazi regime, Breklum was also an important centre for the Confessing Church. We are shocked about the disaster and feel sorrow and empathy with all our colleagues who have lost their offices and personal belongings. We do hope and pray, however, that this experience of a useless crime will in the end nevertheless strengthen us to continue with our mission. The seminaries and workshops will continue anyhow, and the building, that was destroyed, will hopefully be restored as soon as possible.

On Saturday, December 12th, we will gather in Breklum for a worship of mourning and remembrance. But we also want to gain new strength and courage to move forward in responding to God´s call for participation in His mission. We greet you with the watchword for today. It is a remembrance on the wandering of the people of Israel, but it is also a word that comforts us today: “You let people ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.” Ps. 66:12

We thank you for your prayers and affection! We greet you all in name of Christ!

Yours in Christ´s service,

Dr. Klaus Schäfer and all co-workers of the NMZ in Hamburg and Breklum

Filed under: Current affairs, mission

More than Gold

Here’s news about a launch event for the “More than Gold” campaign to be run in association with the 2012 Olympics: King’s School Ely, 7.30pm on Tuesday 26th January. Your contact for more details is Dave Male, dm432@cam.ac.uk

Filed under: Christianity, Events, mission, Olympics

Liquid Worship at Ely with Archbishop Sentamu

Have you ever found it hard to sit through a whole service? (Or just one of my sermons?) Have you thought you could do a better job than the Vicar at putting the service together? Then come and try Liquid Worship at Ely Cathedral on Saturday 21st November between 1.30 and 5.00. Jokes about beer and sandwiches and Cafe Church apart, the ‘Liquid’ bit means that all round the Cathedral there will be opportunities to engage in the different elements of worship – prayer, praise, study, silence – and you can flow between them in your own way and at your own speed. One section, for instance, will have a selection of Bible passages with comments by those who chose them, figures past and present, as to why they are special to them. (I’m just choosing mine now.) And the Archbishop is bringing his drums …

Filed under: Church of England, mission, Worship

Fresh Expressions Teach-In

Dave Male, our Fresh Expressions adviser, is busy giving some really good teaching on F Ex, pioneer ministry and all stations in between. He’s made his Powerpoint presentation available and you can download it here. You can contact him at dm432@cam.ac.uk.

Filed under: Church of England, ministry, mission, Fresh Expressions, Pioneer ministry

Impact of Reconxile Business Training on Poverty in Uganda

Report on the 2009 Survey of the Date: 5th October 2009

Introduction

This survey was initiated to assess the longer term impact of a training programme to equip people in the slums and impoverished areas around Kampala with basic business skills. The people in these areas have little opportunity for employment and rely on one of three options to sustain themselves and their families: a dependency on charity, falling into criminal activity, or their own attempts at small businesses. The programme, initiated in 2006, was designed to address the high failure rate in small businesses, which was observed to be largely due a lack of basic awareness of simple business skills. The training materials were developed to be simple, focused on the main causes of failure, exercise and discussion centred, and easy to cascade through the local structures. An initial survey conducted in May 2008 demonstrated a marked impact on business success, raising the figure for the number of successful businesses from 17% pre-training to 72% post-training. Over a period of one year, approximately 400 people had been trained through the cascade programme (where local people train others in their community on a voluntary basis), and this extrapolated to 220 newly successful businesses as a direct result of the training. This survey was conducted to assess whether the positive impact has been maintained, whether it continues to grow at the original rate, and also to look at the influence of the training and business success on employment in the area. Conducting surveys in the developing World is notoriously difficult, and we are very grateful to Mr Livingstone Mukasa for his efforts to gain accurate data through September 2009. 54 past trainees were surveyed on a sample basis across a range of locations around the Kampala area. All trainees had been through the training at least 6-months prior to the survey, and six of them had been previously surveyed in the 2008 survey.

Results The overall figures for the impact of the training in the 2009 survey are very similar to those achieved in the 2008 survey (see the table on the right) and although there appears to have been a slight drop in the percentage of successful businesses generated out of the training, this is not particularly significant and could easily be the result of statistical variation given the relatively small sample, but may also be due to a number of other possible factors:

• September (unlike May) is not a good time for seasonal businesses, and at least one of the 2009 respondents is running a seasonal business

• The minimum time period from training to survey was reduced from 9 months in 2008 to 6 months in 2009 and this may have meant that some people have not had enough time to establish their business.

• A greater proportion of the trainees surveyed in 2009 started from a base of having no business at all, and that may represent a ‘bigger hill to climb’ than turning round an existing failing business.

These last two points are reflected to a degree in the free-form comments which respondents made in reply to the question: “How do you feel about the training you have received?” In response to this question, 7 of the ten trainees who were ‘Not in business’ in the 2009 survey reported that they had definite plans to start a business, but in each case they were waiting for something – three of them for finance, one to complete their research by physically working in a business similar to the one they were planning, one to finish their schooling, one for the ‘season’, and one is still assembling what they need to do. In the event that these trainees follow the pattern of their cohort, we can expect them to push the percentage of people in a successful business to over 80%. Further confirmation of the success of the programme comes from looking in further detail at the small subset who have now been surveyed both in 2008 and 2009. While six people cannot really be seen as a statistically valid sample, they were selected as a random set and their stories offer hope even to those who are failing in business a year after completing the training. In the 2008 survey three of these respondents were in a successful business and three in an unsuccessful one. In the 2009 survey five of those same respondents were in a successful business and only one in an unsuccessful one. Furthermore the one respondent who was now in an unsuccessful business was one who had had a successful business in 2008, but who had fallen prey to the recession, and all those who were originally unsuccessful were now successful. This supports our belief, that while individual businesses may succeed or fail due to a whole range of circumstances, the training fundamentally equips people to ensure their economic empowerment on a sustainable basis, and it also gives us hope that the person who has now lost their business will soon have established another one. Finally, the 2009 survey also asked how many people were supported by each of the businesses pre-training and post training. We asked this question because we had anecdotal evidence out of the 2008 survey that some businesses were supporting more than one person, and therefore the influence of the training was greater than could be assessed by simply counting the number of successful trainees. The implications of the table above right show that on average each successful business businesses supports two families through employment, and this then doubles the estimate of the economic impact which we previously assessed.

Assessment of Economic Impact Since the initial cascade training in 2007, we have not been able to keep track of all of the cascade channels which have arisen out of the training, since the intention is that many will be informal and ad-hoc. We have however kept in contact with two ‘organisationally supported’ channels, one through the Full Gospel Church and one through Net2Work Uganda. Between them, these two organisations have overseen the training of over 930 people to date. Based on extrapolating the statistics above for a total of 930 trainees, we estimate that the impact of this training will be the creation of over 450 newly successful businesses, and the economic empowerment of over 980 families. Using the definition of success being the ability to support the family in food and shelter and finance school for the children (a minimum of £1000 p.a. in Kampala), and assuming (based on the sustainability observed in the data) that this will be maintained for at least ten years, we calculate the economic impact of this training to be the equivalent of over £9.8M in Aid and Charitable donations. This figure is perhaps made even more impressive by the fact that it was initiated by a team of just 4 people in just 2 weeks, and by the sure expectation that it will continue to grow over time, independent of that team.

For further information on this project, please visit www.reconxile.org

Filed under: mission, World Development

Uganda Project Update

June Darmody writes from Ramsey: The Principal of the North Kigezi Diocesan Bible College, Rev’d Canon Gershom Muhanga has settled happily to his ten week studies in Wycliffe Hall College in Oxford. The Anglican C.M.S. (Church Missionary Society) have provided him with all his immediate needs and he has accommodation and meals at the college. Richard and I took him out for a meal and with funds provided by St Thomas a Becket Church purchased a local sim card and air time for his mobile phone so he can contact his family regularly and also CMS which is on a site the other side of Oxford. It started to rain heavily so we also got him an umbrella! Gershom as been able to worship at a local church. There are fellowship groups in Wycliffe Hall College and the students and staff meet together for weekly communion services. We continue to pray that his time of study will be of great spiritual benefit. Rev’d Canon Gershom hopes to visit Ramsey in November. Richard and Gershom in Oxford

Andrew the student from Ridley Hall Theological College, Cambridge reported that he enjoyed his student placement at Kinyasano, Rukungiri. He was able to spend some time with Gershom and family too. He has sent us pictures of the school we would like to support. This is a secondary school which has very basic amenities. The main need is to complete the school hall and science laboratory building which currently only had its foundations laid. Although it is named Bishop’s School it is not actually a church property and is in great need of support. We feel our help would be a Christian witness in this area. Pilgrimage to Carrow Road I am sure you know Richard has been a life long supporter of Norwich City Football Club through thick and thin. He is planning to do a sponsored walk to raise money for Bishop’s School, walking from Ely Cathedral to Carrow Road Football ground, Norwich. Richard has started training under the guidance of our local gym. The Bishop of Huntingdon is going to send him on his way from the west door of Ely Cathedral with a prayer. Already one of the daily papers, The Cambridge News is interested in the story. Richard will probably do the walk next Spring, in stages of about fifteen miles a day. Please follow the blog he has started, which seems easiest to access through Google: www.walkforuganda.blogspot.com

Filed under: Church of England, mission, World Development

Ice cream evangelism

Young people in Coventry Diocese are opening an ice-cream parlour, to give away ice-creams and host events for young people in the area who fancy a fun flavour of Church life.

It’s part of the response to the Youth Evangelism Fund, in which young people bid for national money to put mission-minded ideas into practice.

Ely Diocese YPs have had a chance to bid this year and I’m waiting to see what they’ve come up with! Our new Youth Council meets at our place on Saturday so I should get a preview then.

Filed under: mission

New Fresh Expressions website

http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/news/new-website-launched

A new Fresh Expressions website has been launched

This new site has been launched after a series of consultations and a major survey and we hope it will continue to be the first stop for anyone wanting to find out about the Fresh Expressions initiative and how they might be involved.

The new site is focussed around telling stories of fresh expressions which will give good examples of new forms of church and provide inspiration and share good practice. You can search the stories by location or by keyword or you can simply browse.

We’ve also updated the back end of the site to allow us to integrate more audio and video material and improve the layout and navigation. We’ve got a new media section and an area with ways you can get involved.

You’ll also still find lots of information about us as an organistion, about our training and events and our resources – purchasable from our improved shop.

Filed under: Church of England, mission, Resources, Fresh Expressions