Transforming lives & communities

Transcription

1 Transforming lives & communities The Bible Reading Fellowship BRF

2 The Bible Reading Fellowship is passionate about making a difference through the Christian faith. We want to see lives and communities transformed through our creative programmes and resources for individuals, churches and schools. Cover images L-R: RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, North-East Scotland SAC Charlotte Hopkins; older people who benefit from Anna Chaplaincy in Alton Amanda Bollini; children at a Barnabas RE day in Northumberland Chris Hudson; a Who Let The Dads Out? family at Rainbow Preschool, Dunedin, New Zealand Wendy Anne Jarvis; a Messy Church in South Wales Lesley Cox

3 Making a difference I am delighted to introduce BRF s first annual impact report. The following pages provide a snapshot of our work during the financial year. At BRF we re passionate about making a difference though the Christian faith. We want to see lives and communities transformed through our creative programmes and resources: Individual Christian growth Through our Bible reading notes, books, digital resources, Quiet Days and events, we re resourcing individuals, groups and leaders in churches for their own spiritual journey and for their ministry. Church outreach in the local community BRF is the home of three programmes (Messy Church, Who Let The Dads Out? and The Gift of Years) that churches are embracing to great effect as they seek to engage with their local communities and transform lives. Teaching Christianity in primary schools We work with primary school children and their teachers, enabling them to explore Christianity creatively and confidently. Children s and family ministry We re working with churches and families, enabling them to explore Christianity and bringing the Bible alive. In addition, we have a new programme called Parenting for Faith which is focused on inspiring and supporting Christian parents to bring up their children in the Christian faith. None of what we do today would be possible without the support of all those who pray for us, give to us and get involved in our programmes in their local church or community. Thank you for standing alongside us. Richard Fisher, CEO of The Bible Reading Fellowship

4 Transforming lives Resourcing all ages and stages of the Christian journey: developing people s understanding of the Bible and its application to daily life developing people s life of prayer and spiritual formation developing and deepening faith

5 Equipping people for their faith journey This has been a core strategic priority for BRF since its founding in The primary means for delivery continues to be through the Bible reading notes, books and other resources that BRF produces each year in print and digital forms. Through our resources and annual programmes and conferences, we are constantly exploring how we can best resource all ages and stages of the Christian journey. We are also resourcing ministry particularly among children in churches and families at home, through our websites and publications, which enable children under eleven and the adults alongside them to explore Christianity creatively, to bring the Bible alive and to find God in the everyday at home. Highlights Publishing our four regular series of Bible reading notes along with two other journals. Our Advent book Comings and Goings by Gordon Giles. Our Lent book Dust and Glory by David Runcorn. Holding the fifth annual Festival of Prayer in collaboration with the Diocese of Oxford. Holding a one-day conference for women Seasons of the Spirit in collaboration with CPO s Woman Alive. Shaping the national thinking about ministry among children and families through our active participation with Children Matter. Working with The Consultative Group on Ministry among Children, and playing a significant role in the annual Hand in Hand Children s and Family Ministry Conference.

6 About ten years ago, I became interested in liturgy and the daily office but, coming from a non-liturgical tradition, I was struggling to find a contemporary guide for beginners. BRF s The Rite Stuff (2004), a collection of short essays on ritual in contemporary worship and mission, was a great introduction and very thought-provoking. I have been using BRF resources for over 15 years in my work as a Baptist Minister and for my own study and discipleship. I find a constant challenge for my faith to connect with what is going on in life and the wider world. In my experience, without this connection faith becomes stale, irrelevant and pretty tasteless. I have found BRF resources really helpful in meeting this spiritual dietary challenge. In my everyday reflections I enjoyed using the Guidelines daily notes for a number of years. I wanted more than just inspirational nuggets in a devotional study and Guidelines delivered in-depth reflections without giving me theological indigestion. Baptist minister Top 5 Bestsellers: Dust and Glory Extreme Crafts for Messy Churches The Contemplative Minister Comings and Goings Postcards from Heaven

7 Parenting for Faith BRF s newest programme aims to inspire and support Christian parents to bring up their children from an early age in the faith of Christ. Parenting for Faith became part of BRF in 2016

8 Transforming communities We aim to maximise the potential of BRF s programmes that help community transformation and impact local communities: Messy Church, Who Let The Dads Out?, The Gift of Years and Barnabas in Schools. We want to enable greater engagement with different interest groups, as well as creating synergies and learning from each of our programmes.

9 We baptised our first Who Let The Dads Out? dad on Sunday; it was brilliant. If you run a group, be encouraged: God is at work in the hearts of men. Who Let The Dads Out? group leader Missional outreach to fathers Who Let The Dads Out? inspires and equips churches for effective missional outreach to fathers, father figures and their children. Our vision is to transform family relationships by turning the hearts of fathers and children to one another (Malachi 4:6). We want to make ready a people prepared for the Lord (Luke 1:17) and cause a cultural shift, encouraging churches to value and invest in ministry to fathers. Highlights The team of volunteer Regional Representatives, who are helping us to support and develop the network of Who Let The Dads Out? group leaders grew to 22. In November 2015 the Who Let The Dads Out? team was delighted to receive the silver award for Best replicable project at The Christian Funders Forum Awards. Continuing to develop collaborations with: Christian Vision for Men, Cinnamon Network, Cliff College and Kick London.

10 32 new books published 141,131 readers of our Bible reading notes and books 15 specialist INSET sessions for teachers 234 people attended 10 Quiet Days 145,382 Barnabas in Schools website visitors 26,021 ideas to use downloaded 124,337 Barnabas in Churches website visitors 26,247 ideas to use downloaded

11 RE days 158Barnabas experienced by 32,000 primary school pupils 500, registered Messy Churches estimated attendees at 50-60% Messy Church each month of attendees have not attended church before 26network members working with 3000older people 206 groups reaching 7000 fathers and children each month

12 Older people matter The Gift of Years vision is to inspire, equip and enable every church across the UK to improve the spiritual lives of older people by: increasing the provision of spiritual care services for older people raising awareness of older people s spiritual needs improving the skills, knowledge and confidence within communities in addressing these needs supporting carers and attending to their spiritual needs as well Highlights Development of the Anna Chaplain model of ecumenical, communitybased chaplaincy. Team Leader Debbie Thrower continued to be in great demand as a speaker and workshop leader. Consultations took place with Anglican dioceses, Methodist districts and Churches Together groups. First 24-hour gathering of The Gift of Years network to share experience and resources with others engaged in similar ministry among older people. Development of a reflective research tool to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the work of Anna Chaplains. Our new website (thegiftofyears.org.uk) launched at the beginning of the year: a source of ideas, inspiration and resources.

13 I want you to let Helen [an Anna Chaplain] know, she said, that she has helped me so much. She s even made me think about my own spiritual life, and I never thought I d say that! A care worker I m waiting to hear about the date for my big operation. I feel completely calm about the whole thing and I like to think that is, partly, because you have given me so much help. A widow in her eighties in a letter to an Anna Chaplain upon news of a cancer diagnosis

14 Doing Church differently Messy Church enables people of all ages to belong to Christ together through their local church. It is a way of being Church which is particularly suited to families but welcomes everyone. It meets at a time and on a day that suits local families, and is especially aimed at people who have never belonged to a church before. God is on the move in 3000 churches of all denominations in more than 24 countries churches are delighted to offer hospitality and fun to outsiders teams of lay people are doing a fantastic job at bringing more families into a relationship with Christ who meets them in their messy lives ministers are seeing the joy of their churches turning to face outwards. Lucy Moore, Messy Church Team Leader on reaching the milestone of 3000 Messy Church registrations in October 2015

15 Highlights Growing Messy Leaders training day, developed with CPAS, was successfully piloted with two dioceses. Social media is an important community builder for Messy Church through Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. It enables churches to share ideas and encouragement and to connect wherever they are in the world. The Facebook page reaches more than 8000 people weekly. An intern who travelled around engaging and encouraging teenagers supported the Messy Church team. Two new books published to resource Messy Churches: Messy Prayer and Extreme Crafts for Messy Churches.

16 Bringing Christianity alive in schools Our Barnabas in Schools team is working with primary-aged children and their teachers, enabling them to explore Christianity creatively and confidently within the curriculum. This professional education service provides RE days and INSET sessions across England and Wales. Your input, followed by Year Five s Easter Experience trail round school this week which other classes have visited and a moving performance of Easter Children in Church today, have left me feeling that we have really given the children a good understanding of what the festival means to Christians. As teachers, we often worry about our approach to Easter as there are difficult themes to explore and we don t always feel well-equipped to answer children s questions your input really helped with this. CofE primary school

17 Highlights Delivering 158 creative arts-based Barnabas RE Days to 32,000 pupils. The new theme for 2015, What s money worth?, tackled the subject of our view on money, the value of people and objects and how to make wise choices surrounding money. Equipping individual teachers through our publications, training and web resources. BRF continued to contribute actively to the national debate on RE through our membership of The Religious Education Council of England and Wales.

18 Financial sustainability Charitable activities 42.78% ( 1,041,247) Income 2,433,661 Bank investments/ other income 0.23% ( 5,721) Grants, donations & legacies 56.97% ( 1,386,693) Charitable activities 94.35% ( 1,726,944) Expenditure 1,830,247 Raising funds 5.64% ( 103,303) For more detailed information about our income and expenditure for , please see our complete report and accounts at brf.org.uk/funding

19 Get involved Give Regular giving is a vital source of income for BRF. It allows us to plan for the future and invest in new initiatives that would not otherwise be possible. The easiest way to give regularly to BRF is by direct debit. If you feel able to support us in this way, please visit brf.org.uk/donate to set up a direct debit quickly and easily, or call Pray We are very grateful for those who have stood alongside us in prayer over the years. Please pray that all we do will continue to make a difference to individual lives and communities, even as we re very aware that this is God s work. To find out more about how you can pray for us, visit brf.org.uk/pray Do Keep in touch with us by signing up to our latest news and updates at brf.org.uk/keepintouch Inside images: Richard Fisher Rebecca J Hall; RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, North-East Scotland SAC Charlotte Hopkins; woman reading DesignPics; child with balloons Philippe Put; a Who Let The Dads Out? group at Rainbow Preschool, Dunedin, New Zealand Wendy Anne Jarvis; ipad tuition, Harborne, Birmingham Catriona Foster; lady with Bible Reflections for Older People Benedict Jones; a Messy Church Baptism in Australia Greg Ross; a Barnabas RE Day in Oxford Sue Fulford

20 brf.org.uk BRF, 15 The Chambers, Vineyard, Abingdon OX14 3FE +44 (0) BRF The Bible Reading Fellowship is a Registered Charity (233280)