Town Centre Churches day Life in the heart of the community

1. Town Centre Churches dayLife in the heart of the community

2. www.lightproject.org.uk

3. 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.

6. A disclaimer… I am an evangelist

9. www.getinthepicture.org.uk

12. 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.

13. 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

14. Overview • Session 1: • Inspired to be life givers • Session 2: • How to be life givers • Session 3: • What can we do?

15. Session 1: • Inspired to be life givers

16. 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…

17. Session 1: Inspired to be life givers • Acts 10 • A new paradigm • Need to do something new • To do our ‘I have never.’

18. Session 1: Inspired to be life givers “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

19. Session 1: Inspired to be life givers “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

20. Session 1: Inspired to be life givers • 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?

21. Session 1: Inspired to be life givers • The Celtic echo • Commitment to a Cause • Contagious relationships • Rapid mobilization • Adaptive methods • “The Irish could follow Christ without • becoming Roman.”

22. Session 1: Inspired to be life givers The Celtic echo… “It’s time we reached those Barbarians!”

23. Session 1: Inspired to be life givers 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

24. Session 1: Inspired to be life givers “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

25. Session 1: Inspired to be life givers Living the life… A poem

27. Session 2: How to be life givers • Session 2: • How to be life givers

28. Session 2: How to be life givers

29. Session 2: How to be life givers • Roman • Present the Christian message • Invite them to decide to believe in Christ and become Christians • If they decide positively, welcome them into the church and its fellowship. • Celtic • First establish community with people, or bring them into the fellowship of your community of faith • Within community, engage in conversation, ministry, prayer and worship; • As people discover their gifts and faith, to invite them to commit to discipleship.

30. Session 2: How to be life givers

31. Session 2: How to be life givers • Believe Behave Belong • Belong Believe Behave • Observe Believe’ish’ Behave

32. Session 2: How to be life givers

33. Session 2: How to be life givers • Love for people • Experience • Match the message with the means • Encounter the living Christ in us

35. Session 3: What can we do? • Session 3: • What can we do?

36. 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!

37. Session 2: How to be life givers

38. Session 3: What can we do? 3 ideas from PRBC- Peterborough:

39. Session 3: What can we do? Q & A