The article below is from the summer 2012 edition of WEBA news which has just been sent out to all church secretaries. It launches our New Churches Initiative focus for 2012.
Our idea of hope is often based on certain ideas about
aspiration (ie getting a job, personal achievement), but is that what Jesus
means by hope? By living in community where hope seems all but lost is a way of
rediscovering the depth of what hope is really about. In the process we find we
have to deal with our own internal anxieties and prejudices – and get healed as
we do that. That’s what I see as incarnational. Rev Mike
Pears
The WEBA New Churches Initiative is part of a dream to plant 10 new
churches in 10 years. Like planting seeds, this is a task which requires great
care and patience. This year’s focus will be Urban Bristol, where ‘seeds’ are
now growing in some of the city’s most challenging areas.
Phil and Alice Lawrence
and their three daughters moved to the Knowle West estate when Phil began his six
year course on the Urban Ministry track at Bristol Baptist College. They are
one of several families who have followed God’s call to work and live in that
area, and form a ‘community of households’ to support one another for an
incarnational approach to mission. The community have intentionally taken a
long term view, letting relationships and opportunities develop organically.
They are encouraged to see, growth is emerging in the gaps between the
‘community of households’ and the traditional churches on the estate.
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| Phil Lawrence |
popular monthly event for
everyone, with a full-on, all options fry-up that goes on all morning (there’s
even black pudding). Recently people have started bringing instruments along to
play hymns and songs during breakfast – and the church organ is getting some
exercise!
Each of these groups
feeds and cross-fertilizes the others, and there are usually conversations
going on just outside the doors too. Phil uses the image of water splashing, an
outpouring of the Holy Spirit that splashes people who are standing nearby. The
challenge is what should happen next. “At what point do people become
disciples?” Phil asks. “Do we drag them into a service? What should grow, the
community of households, the church services, or the breakfast?”
Jesus means by hope ? We
can’t know until we live in community and discover for ourselves, dealing with
our own internal anxieties and prejudices. We get healed as we do that. That’s
what I see as incarnational.”
This year’s gifts to the
WEBA New Churches Initiative will help towards a transitional, start-up fund
for urban ministry in Bristol, enabling people to take bold steps like the one
Phil has taken with his family. “We’re working in areas where no church can
offer transitional support” says Mike. Through the New Churches Initiative we can provide that together.
As in previous years, we would like to suggest that each church gives £200, or £75 for smaller churches. Please make cheques payable to WEBA, marking them New Churches Initiative on the back, and send them to the WEBA office.
Churches and individuals can also contact us to set up a payment by Standing Order.
