Cycling to Calne

The day after Bradley Wiggins arrived in Paris, the Home Mission video of me arriving in Calne by bicycle is finally released! This is the first in a cycling tour of WEBA films we're making to promote Home Mission over the next two years. (Read more about that here)

You can give to Home Mission now via my Just Giving page:

Creative Calne

On Monday I visited Calne Baptist Church to plan a film we're going to make together with the BUGB communications team. It will draw together the rich history of Calne Baptist Church, which goes back to the English Civil War, and contains far too many stories to fit into our five minute film, and the creative ways the church is proclaiming the gospel story now.

I'm not sure whether we'll fit in this one - on Good Friday the church held a service 'in the round' and suspended a giant crown of barbed wire in the centre of the room. A clever technology teacher filled ice cube bags with red coloured water and froze them - by the time the service began they began to drip onto the communion table below, creating a powerful focus for reflection.

Calne's minister Sam King was called to the church thanks to a grant from Home Mission, and with his creative background he has acted as a catalyst, bringing into being desires to connect and transform that were latent in the congregation.  Our thanks go to all those churches whose faithful giving has made stories like this possible.

BUGB has just released this prayer video featuring Simon Shepherd, minister-in-training at Stonehouse Baptist Church in Gloucestershire. When I saw this, I realised we've never shared the story of Simon's call to Stonehouse on this blog, which featured in our Baptist Times supplement in November. I'll copy the story below.

Stonehouse is a small Gloucestershire town where two large estates flank a single high street. One of the five churches in town is Stonehouse Baptist Church, where Joy Ramsbottom has been a member for fifteen years. She’s never seen a baptism there, and for most of that time the church has been without a paid minister. With an elderly congregation that reduced to about ten, things got rather depressing and Joy wondered about moving on.

She’s glad that she didn’t. The church became one of WEBA’s growing number of partnerships between larger churches and struggling fellowships nearby. Stonehouse made a two year agreement with Minchinhampton Baptist Church. There was help with finance, leading services, and preaching, and several people took on dual membership for the duration. Then the two churches decided to appoint a minister who would divide his or her time equally between the two churches, strengthening the partnership. A grant from Home Mission would make this possible.

Simon Shepherd was an IT professional in membership at Minchinhampton. Joy told me that the first time he ever stepped across the threshold he felt that God was calling him to be the Minister of Stonehouse Baptist Church. He hadn’t had any formal ministerial training at that point, but he followed the call and applied for the job.

Simon’s call was unanimous from both churches, and since he took up the post in January 2011, change has been dramatic.

“It’s really changed beyond all recognition” says Joy. “Everybody’s so much happier!” Attendance has increased from around 10 to 50 at some services. The church has got involved with a churches together initiative, using an empty shop in the town centre as a Youth Drop In. There’s a service for older people once a month, and a new mums and tots group, and also a parenting course, will be starting soon. There’s also a wonderful lively lunchtime Bible Study, which was filmed recently as part of a new BUGB video to promote Home Mission.

The biggest change Joy has noticed is in peoples’ willingness to join in and help out. She was recently part of a team organising Harvest Supper for 70 people. “I didn’t have to ask anyone to help clear up” she said – “they just got up and did it!” Although Simon works incredibly hard for the church, he has also been a catalyst, breathing life into all the church’s missionary disciples.

The increased numbers are mostly a result of Christians choosing Stonehouse when they move into the area, or locals who chose to stop travelling elsewhere to church. One or two spiritual seekers have come along too. There’s just one thing Joy can’t wait to see: “We’re longing to get the baptistry open!”

What does Home Mission mean to you?

WEBA churches gave £26,000 to Home Mission during August 2011. This is a really encouraging monthly total and brings us close to the giving levels we saw last year. In a time of financial hardship, when we know many churches face difficult choices, it's clear that enabling mission in this region through support for ministers and special projects is important to you.

For the autumn edition of WEBA news, we asked one minister, one church secretary, one treasurer, and one Regional Minister what Home Mission meant to them:

Carmel Murphy is a student Minister at Lydney Baptist Church in the Forest of Dean. Her stipend is funded by Home Mission. "Through more consistent, Home Mission enabled ministry at LBC we have been exploring what it might mean to be a more mission focused church.  We have always desired to share God's love with those around us and make disciples but are now trying to think more creatively about what that might look like in our community."

Andrea Parker is church secretary and PA to the minister at Amberley Road Baptist Church in North Bristol. This is a small but very active church which benefits from a Mission through Ministry grant and has also been awarded more than one Mission through Project grant.

“With Home Mission funding we have been able to make radical and pioneering moves towards networking with two other local churches which are small in number.  Not only are we, at Amberley Road Baptist Church a recently, rejuvenated, now medium growing church, but we will be able to invest time in helping two other smaller churches move forward and grow; part of that strategy will be planting a church that will be suitable for students and young adults.”

Andrew Small is treasurer of Downend Baptist Church in Bristol:

“I believe it is important to give 5% of our income plus collections from Home Mission boxes to support our fellow Baptists in places where there are financial restraints. This money is used to support churches and other projects so that the 

gospel can be made known, nationally and locally.”

Gordon Hindmarch is the WEBA Regional Minister with specific responsibility for monitoring and encouraging giving to Home Mission.

“As a Regional Minister, I know Home Mission makes a difference through grants for ministry and mission projects acoss WEBA. As a minister who benefited from Home Mission support in my first church, I am convinced Home Mission creates new openings for the gospel.”

Future Fit for Knowle West

A project called Future Fit is hoping to win funding to make homes on the Knowle West estate in South Bristol more environmentally friendly, and at the same time lead directly to helping people into work in an area where some families have no experience of employment.

If you're wondering why this story has made its way onto the 'Making a Difference' blog, the official answer is a little convoluted:

Mike Pears is funded by a grant from Home Mission and by support from WEBA churches to work on the estate as the co-ordinator of re:Source Bristol. Together with the Community of Households, a group of people who have felt called to live and work on the estate, he set up the Tree of Life, a charitable trust to carry out community projects. Future Fit Bristol is a collaboration between Knowle West Media Centre, re:work and Tree of Life.

In other words, we are working with local partners in Knowle West to Make a Difference.

The Future Fit Bristol project, which will support Knowle West residents and builders to make their homes more sustainable, is through to the next round for Energyshare funding.

"We couldn't have progressed this far without our online supporters and signatories and we’d like to thank everyone who has already supported the project," says Mike.
"However, in order to be in with a chance of securing the funding we need more like-minded supporters. Please support the group if you haven’t already and invite your friends to do the same. 'Likes' on Facebook aren't counted, so please visit http://www.energyshare.com/future-fit-bristol and click the red 'Support this Group' button"

Future Fit Bristol will:
• 'retrofit' local homes - adding new features to existing buildings to make them more environmentally friendly
• support builders to develop skills in renewable and green construction
• work with residents to encourage more sustainable living

Future Fit will make a difference to Knowle West, a South Bristol estate that ranks highly in statistics for poverty, poor health and educational under-achievement, but where, through the Carbon Makeover project, residents have already shown a commitment and determination to become more sustainable. Every supporter counts - so please add your name to the list.

Home Mission Giving News

On Tuesday this week WEBA tried to hold its AGM.

Unfortunately there weren't enough church representatives present to vote, and so we're going to stage a re-run at the final 3 in 1 Event at Clarence Park Baptist Church on Sunday 19th June.

I felt a little sorry for those who had given up their evening for a meeting which will have to happen again, but we went through the substance of the agenda anyway, and one really useful bit was Gordon Hindmarch's summary of where WEBA is in regard to Home Mission.


All Baptist Union churches are encouraged to give at least 5% of income to this fund so that mission can be enabled across the country.

Recently, WEBA has been one of the highest giving Regional Associations. This May WEBA churches gave £22,228, which we think is brilliant considering the financial climate and the uncertainty faced by so many. There's really only one explanation: you, our churches, trust God, and you really believe in the growth of his kingdom.

What's really interesting, which Gordon pointed out on Tuesday, is that the 2010 total for Home Mission Giving in WEBA (£258,742) was so very close to the total we received that year ( £ 257,431 ) in terms of grants for ministry, projects, special grants to church planters and chaplains, and to the Association itself. So, as your church gives to Home Mission, mission in this region moves forward. A big thank you is due to all of you who make and approve the decisions to give. If you want to find out more about giving to Home Mission, please contact Gordon Hindmarch via the WEBA office.

WEBA 3 in 1 Events

This year's first WEBA 3 in 1 Event takes place at Counterslip Baptist Church in Bristol on Sunday 20th March. There are four 3 in 1 Events this year, and they're simpler, no AGM or seminars, just a chance to worship and share stories together and hear from Nigel Coles on our focus for the next two years, Encouraging Missionary Disciples.

The WEBA staff team met on Wednesday to see which church stories we might want to highlight at each event. I think we all went away uplifted because we could think of so many good news stories - but there will be others we don't know about. If you've got an interesting answer to any of these questions, we'd love to hear from you:

• How are you seeing people coming to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?
• How are you integrating these new Christians into the life of your church?
• How are you discipling people in your church?

Please don't think that your story isn't big or impressive enough, often the little stories that encourage others the most. Please get in touch with the WEBA office (0117 965 8828 or office@webassoc.org.uk) and we'll put you in touch with the Regional Ministers.

For more information about the 3 in 1 Events, please go to news and events on our website.

Home Mission Giving News

By now your church should have received a certificate to say thank you for giving to Home Mission during 2010. Please make sure it's on display somewhere! As we've now said many times, giving during 2010 was fantastic and we are extremely grateful for the faithfulness of our churches in difficult times.

Figures for giving in February 2011 have now been published. The good news is, we're still the highest giving association, with gifts for the month totalling £16,010. This is, however, short of the average of £20,000 per month we need in order to provide the support we have planned for. It's extremely helpful for us if churches give regularly by standing order throughout the year so that we can plan realistically - perhaps this is something your church could consider.

Jigsaw's Home Mission Mat

Andrew Stammers of Radstock Baptist Church sent us this lovely photo showing where a little bit of your Home Mission giving went this year:

The children attending JIGSAW, the toddler group at Radstock Baptist Church,  have a giant new play mat to use thanks to a Project Mission grant from the Baptist Union of Great Britain. This is the first stage in an extensive refurbishment of the Church school room and kitchen which the church hope to complete by the end of Spring.

JIGSAW meets on Tuesday mornings 10:00 - 11:30 at Radstock Baptist Church for play, crafts and songs whilst parents and carers have the opportunity to socialise and support one another. The group continues to grow; 52 children are now registered with 30-35 regularly attending each week. Excellent relationships are being formed and monthly 'seeker services' are now being started to help 'bridge the gap' to Sunday worship.

It is fantastic to see so many children happily playing at the group and we are keen to continue to improve facilities for our community so as to continue to build relationship.

Andrew Stammers

Home Mission Giving: Gordon puts up the flagpole

Regional Minister Gordon Hindmarch is very excited about our final total for giving to Home Mission in 2010. I can't resist copying his email to the office here:

Even without the one-off of £10,000 from Emmanuel Trowbridge WEBA churches would have achieved the Association's highest ever total at £258,738 (now confirmed by BUGB), which is £19950 (8.3%) more than the 2009 total figure.
This means December's giving was just over £31,000, which was our highest monthly figure in 2010..
Also our 2010 HM Giving/member was £37.85 (£32.47 in 2009) which makes us the highest givers among the 13 Associations in BUGB.
If we were feeling a bit triumphalistic, it might be worth investing in a flagpole for The Old Forge so we can hoist the Premiership Flag, which was previously held by the South West Baptist Association.

Take care
Gordon

Thank you again, WEBA churches. We can't get over your generous giving and hope we will be able to let you know more about what your money is doing in this region over the next year. A certificate thanking your church for its gifts will be on its way to your church secretary in February - make sure it goes up on the wall!

Your Gifts for Mission

WEBA retained its position at the top of the Home Mission Giving charts in November, with gifts totalling £20,731. Our total for the year is now £227,500  that's £33.28 each, a higher rate per church member than any other regional association.

This is great news as the resources we have to spend in this region as a result are directly affected by local giving. Many of the stories in this blog, and many others like them, are made possible by Home Mission funding.

So- thank you, churches, large and small, your faith and generosity overwhelms those of us who collect these gifts month by month.

• If you are responsible for passing on Home Mission cheques, please make sure your gifts reach us by Friday 17th December so that they can be included with this year's total. 
• If your church receives, or has received a Home Mission grant, please tell us your story! You can comment below, or send your own blog post, ideally with pictures, to ruth.whiter@webassoc.org.uk

Your Giving - at an All Time High

We think that WEBA churches gave more to Home Mission up to the end of July 2010 than during the same period in any other year.

The year-to-date figure of £141,704 did include an unusual one-off gift, but even without that we would have topped our previous record of £131,336 at the end of July 2008.

What's really exciting isn't breaking records (or being, as we are at the moment, the second highest giving Association in the Baptist Union) It's not even about surviving the recession without losing what we have - the exciting thing is that our churches are taking mission seriously, supporting those churches who need a little extra help to follow their dream of connecting with their communities and being Christ among their neighbours.

Please pray for everyone who will have responsibility for using this money wisely, when there are still so many more dreams than grants available.

And if you're involved with budgeting for your church this year, please take the time to ask these questions:

• Is your church giving at least 5% of its income to Home Mission?
• Is your church giving regularly to help us with our planning?
• If you're in Pastoral Vacancy, could your church consider giving a month's stipend to Home Mission?
  

Thinking Big at Radstock

"We're a small church but we realise we've got to think big and expect big!" said Andrew Stammers, Minister in Training at Radstock Baptist Church in Somerset. In the run up to the World Cup the church went all out to let the community know that they were showing matches on their big screen. They had 1,000 flyers professionally designed and printed; they festooned the church with flags and inflatable footballs, and also got attention from the local newspaper.

"You've got to think like companies think" says Andrew, " find ways of attracting attention - I don't see anything wrong with that. The press are interested in why a church would show football in its main sanctuary - we've got to take advantage of that. The amount of people who say, yes, you're the church who showed football. It's been a big profile builder, if nothing else."

The matches themselves presented lots of opportunities for bonding, as older church members debated team formation with teenagers. The popularity of the matches tailed off after the England team came home, but the challenge, says Andrew, is to build on the community links they have begun to build.

The church have secured a Home Mission 'Mission through Project' grant to build a new kitchen.
"Our mission strategy is pretty much orientated around food" says Andrew. They already run 'jam' sessions for local musicians on Tuesdays evenings and on Sunday mornings, when a full fry up is included, and there are plans to use the 'Table Talk' resource as a way to invite people in for good food and discussion. (www.table-talk.org)

Andrew Stammers' energy is infectious when it comes to mission. "Give it a go!" he urges. "What's the worst that can happen? Tens of thousands of people don't know Christ, that's what."