CCM:City loves Yalova

"Yalova is in Turkey. We want to support the Church there."

On April 22nd and 29th we are going to do a special offering for the Newfrontiers Church in Yalova, Turkey. Watch the video below to see why.

CCM Day with Dave Devenish

Finally the day is drawing close! Saturday 10th March (that’s soon) will be our CCM day with Dave Devenish. It promises to be an excellent day, with worship, teaching, kids work and food.

We are at Luther King House in Fallowfield (Off Brighton Grove, Fallowfield, M18 8RL).

A limited kids work will be available for children up to 10 years old. This has kindly been provided by our very good friends at Vinelife Manchester, so if you see a kids worker then thank them for giving up their Saturday to serve us.

The day will look a little bit like this –

10am START
We will worship God, Dave Devenish will speak.

12:30pm Lunch
A two course meal with food for kids as well!

1:30pm – Afternoon Session
We will worship a little more and Dave D will speak some more.

4pm – we will finish. Probably.

If you have not yet booked in please contact me (Tim) by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call me – 07961233768

Venue Change for CCM:Gorton on March 4th

"On March 4th 2012 we shall meet at Luther King House in Fallowfield at 1030am."

Due to circumstances beyond our control we have been forced to leave Wright Robinson School with immediate effect. So this Sunday (4th march 2012) we shall meet at Luther King House in Fallowfield.

Luther King House is off Brighton Grove in Fallowfield (M14 5JP). Click here for a map

We shall meet at 10:30am and have kids work as usual.

Please contact Tim Simmonds (if you haven’t spoken to him already) to confirm you got this info or if you have any questions! - 07961233768 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

Obviously, these circumstances aren’t exactly ideal but we are believing God that good things will come out of this time!

See you Sunday.

Pioneering a Church Plant – Members “Sundays”

"For some groups it can take a few years to gather enough people to start with a good crowd on Sundays"

#32

How many people you have is one of the major factors that should govern when you start your Sunday meeting. Twenty people meeting in a hall is often not very exiting and you will not be able to have the quality of children’s meetings etc., that would make it attractive for new families to join. In fact, one major church planter said that starting with too few people puts the church on public display at the worst time in the church’s development. The midweek meeting in a house, based around hospitality, has much to offer for this sort of group size. Where possible you should resist going into a more public venue until there are at least 30 to 40 people. Having said this, some pioneer churches start with less than this and do well, and others have found it wise to wait until they are much bigger. The following are some of the factors that should be borne in mind when making the decision:

How near you are to a related church is one of the key factors governing this decision. Where there is a related church that is within reasonable travelling distance, the small pioneer group should try to attend on a Sunday. This means that the people have access to a wider range of ministry and all the benefits of a larger church. This often leads to people asking “What are we joining?” It should be clear that they are joining the pioneer group, and the larger church is being used as a welcome resource. The leaders of the larger church will need to understand their role. It can be helpful to call the pioneer group meeting Church in the Home. This helps people, who tend to think that Sunday is church, to understand that their midweek group is actually the church that they are joining in their location.

What public ministry gift the pioneer leader has will be a factor. A very gifted bible teacher, who will gather around their teaching ministry, should consider starting on Sundays early. The church will often have a growth spurt at this stage due to their gift quickly attracting the extra numbers. A reaping evangelist with a public ministry may also start public meetings earlier. Another question that should be asked is whether a Sunday morning is the best time to begin with this type of ministry. Should the Sunday night or another evening be a better time to attract the unbeliever?

For some groups it can take a few years to gather enough people to start with a good crowd on Sundays. They eventually find that the journey and fragmented church life which occurs with meeting with another church on Sunday mornings very de-motivating. This, in the end, can be a good reason to start on Sundays, accepting some of the difficulties and pressure they will face.

Often pioneers find themselves in a new town and, increasingly, in another country and don’t have the luxury of finding a church that they can relate to. This is a major challenge for the pioneers and also the apostolic teams that are seeking to support the endeavor. Again, the Church in the Home is one of the major ways forward. A Sunday meeting in the home based around the meal and the breaking of bread can be great fun, with the possibility, where appropriate, for the children to have some time in another room for their own teaching. This can also free up the midweek for evangelism. For some this has been a real blessing, while others have found the pressure of their home being used so much places a major strain on the family. Apostolic teams and churches that want to help these pioneers need to look at how they can send people to join with the pioneers in these meetings. It can be one of the most rewarding things a church member can do - to go and travel to the pioneer’s town and spend a day with them, praying, taking them out for a meal and helping boost the numbers of their small gathering.

Having the right team is also a factor when looking at the best decision about holding a Sunday meeting. Some pioneer churches may not have the ‘big gifted ministry’ that can gather, but when the team are together there is energy and life that is very attractive. This again could be a reason to start earlier rather than wait for the critical numbers. There are other factors that you will need to consider, but the main decision should be based on answering the question “Will meeting on Sundays help or hinder the long-term growth of the pioneer church?”

Pioneering a Church Plant – Members “Structure”

"Where there is limited private transport it may be easier to multiply into two smaller groups."

#31

Two of the questions I often get asked by pioneers are: “Where do we meet on Sundays?” and, “How should we structure the midweek group?” This often leads on to another question, “What should be the main time priorities of the pioneer leader?” Due to the diverse circumstances people find themselves in, there can be many ways of answering these questions; it is more important that we try and understand some principles and then apply them to each unique set of circumstances. The following points are some of the main factors that should be taken into consideration when making these decisions.

The visionary leader needs maximum exposure to the first people joining the church. This ensures that these people are totally immersed in the vision and values of the church. This can mean that the first group becomes larger than would be normal before it multiplies into two groups.

The first group can be made up of people with various commitment levels. Multiplying a group based on numbers can sometimes be frustrating, especially if some people drop out as they become more aware of the type of church they are part of. This can mean the two groups becoming too small and having to regroup.

What the main focus of the church should be at this particular time will also have a major bearing on the structure of the church. If there are people on the fringe that would make an evangelistic group like an Alpha course feasible, it might be more appropriate to keep the group together. This gives new leaders time for running the outreach group.

The make-up of the group will also have a bearing on the appropriate structure. Where there is a babysitting need, two groups meeting on different nights can help this. All-age midweek groups may be more appropriate for some people, however this increases the numbers and therefore the pressure on accommodation.

In a highly mobile community, drawing the small group together from different parts of the city may be feasible. Where there is limited private transport it may be easier to multiply into two smaller groups.

As we pioneer churches into large cities around the world, we will find people from different cultures who speak many different languages sometimes living in the same street. This also should have a bearing on how we structure the church.

Pioneering a Church Plant – Vision “Dreams fulfilled”

"it is one thing to have a vision, but quite another matter to see it fulfilled"

#29

Colin Dye says, “it is one thing to have a vision, but quite another matter to see it fulfilled. To bring vision into a reality takes time, effort and commitment; it means a single- minded dedication and unrelenting persistence, never giving up until everything is established. Someone has wisely said, ‘happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to make them come true!’ Many Christian leaders have great dreams and wonderful God-given aspirations, but it seems that few really take hold of the things God has said and battle through until everything is accomplished.”

Getting started, keeping focused and persevering to the end: these are some of the main ingredients for fulfilling what God has given you. Nehemiah is a great of example of this and a life story any pioneer should keep reading. I want to use one incident in the life of Nehemiah to illustrate how he communicated vision in such a way that motivated a dispirited and downcast group of people, to achieve an amazing building project.

There are a number of hindrances to people confidently communicating their vision:

Past disappointments
Fear of Failure
False humility
Lack of Faith

These and other hindrances have to be faced and over-come, whether it is in the mind of the pioneer or of those he is gathering. Nehemiah faced some of these when he set about the task of leading the people of Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city. I believe we can learn lessons from how Nehemiah went about this.

Nehemiah found himself in Jerusalem looking at a city whose walls were broken down and whose people were very vulnerable to an enemy. As he walked around the walls he realised that for nearly a century the people of God had attempted to complete the work. God raised up some great leaders to enable the whole project of a temple and city to be rebuilt. Morale and energy for the task was at a very low ebb. We can learn from the way Nehemiah handled the situation - how he sowed vision in such a way that he motivated and energised the people to set about a way of completing the task.
“Then I said to them, ’You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and it’s gates have been burned by the fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.’ I also told them about how the gracious hand of God was upon me and what the king said to me. They replied, ‘let us start rebuilding.’ So they began this good work.” (Nehemiah 2:17-18)
We can see the different aspects that Nehemiah addressed in the statement and how he faced up to the problem, helping them deal with some of the hindrances to their faith. He put a challenge before the people and then delivered some fantastic words of encouragement.