Dreaming Big Dreams
Colin Baron
"My reply, instinctively and audibly back to the cassette recorder was, I want to plant 20 churches in Greater Manchester."
‘The trouble with many leaders is that they have lost the will to dream big dreams!’
Vineyard church planter Steve Nicholson’s words rang out of my car’s cassette player. It was 1993 and I was on my way from London to the great city of Manchester. ‘What are your big dreams?’ he asked.
My reply, instinctively and audibly back to the cassette recorder was, ‘I want to plant 20 churches in Greater Manchester.’
I may have already been hurtling up the M6, but for me, that moment was the real start of the journey. Suddenly I realised we were about a big thing, a massive vision, a seemingly impossible challenge. I was captivated, and so was the small team I gathered to begin the work of planting not just one church but many churches,
You see, the ‘normal’ strategy says that the way you plant churches is to build a large resource church and then plant out of the centre. Our plan broke those rules. In the first year, while we were busy gathering our first 50 people, we also started two new churches. Even more church plants followed as we took risks and reached out across the North West. Faith was high and an empowering ‘have-a-go’ culture permeated the people as they served and celebrated the successes of one another.
All-night prayer meetings gathered large crowds; daily early morning prayer meeting at 6am were signs of the grace of God. Owning a really big vision caused us all to over-achieve.
Now, as we build our sixth church in Greater Manchester, this time in the under-churched and poorer east side, again we need to emphasise the bigger vision. Small-mindedness and self-interest is a curse: we are always looking to lift people’s horizons, to have a concern for the whole of Greater Manchester, this nation and all the nations of the world. This type of church culture is hard to generate and even harder to maintain. With the passing of time and new people joining the church, it is crucial that we keep highlighting and living out the vision and values that create this life-changing culture.
Over the next few weeks, I want to open up different values that help make this church culture such a great place to belong.
It’s A New Day!
Colin Baron
"This launch is part of a vision to see a vibrant church on the east side of Greater Manchester."
'It's a new day' can be such an over-worked phrase, but I must admit I quite like it. It's a phrase full of hope, possibility and empowerment.
A couple of years ago, Mary and myself drove from Jo’burg to Cape Town via Lesotho and Durban. It was a long drive full of memories, of great hotels and lovely people, interspersed with the occasional tense husband-and-wife moments (‘You gave me the wrong directions!‘).
As part of this journey I spoke at the pre-launch of two new churches. The anticipation in the churches was very high. The amazing buzz that this was ‘a new day’ permeated the people. In Manchester and Boston (US) I have had the same excitement, and fear, as we launched very pioneering groups in people’s homes, hoping and praying that someone will turn up. Then enjoying the real pleasure of prayers being answered and guest arriving.
This month I am part of another launch: Christ Church Manchester (CCM). This is a little different to most that I have been involved in. We have been going for some time under the name of East Manchester Family Church and have grown to around 60 people.
It is amazing how times like this can mean different things, and evoke a variety of reactions in people. For some, they think, ‘What’s the fuss? We are just carrying on being church and reaching out, with a new name.‘
For Simon, the pioneer of the church, CCM is an exciting fulfilment of a vision he has for many new churches and other initiatives that advance the Kingdom of God, and so EMFC has much more to do. For others, this launch is part of a vision to see a vibrant church on the east side of Greater Manchester having a positive effect on the city.
Last month at one of our prayer meetings, a visitor had a strong sense that God was speaking to us as a church: she saw us like a book and the page was turning. There was a new page opening and God was writing new things about the church.
As she spoke, it came home to me again that even part-way on the journey, there are times when God seems to say, ‘This is a new day!‘
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Colin Baron
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