13/10/2016. Lomas Hall, Sheffield 22 Oct. Thriving as a mixed economy church

Transcription

1 Lomas Hall, Sheffield 22 Oct Thriving as a mixed economy church

2 Inherited church and Messy Church: a peaceful co-existence? Photo flickr Gilles San Martin I ve come to bring life, life in all its fullness! The goby fish and the trigger shrimp

3 New adults New children New teens Opportunities for lay ministry Challenging of assumptions Hope and a future Infrastructure (DBS etc) Buildings Street cred! Money Wisdom and experience Team Prayer support Wider belonging Messy Discipleship

4 George Lings research into 300+ Messy Churches Messy Church is less likely than most fresh expressions of church to: Hold groups or courses Serve the community Build relationships with others 1:1 Help people grow by bringing them onto the team Share our story of faith Invite people to worship Invite people to events Hold Holy Communion and baptism Bob Jackson Messy Church Theology Many Messy Churches are reluctant to push a strong Christian message for fear of putting parents off. unless Messy Church is about helping people to catch a genuine Christian faith it is hard to see it having a deep and lasting impact either on individuals or on society as a whole.

5 1. We re starting a long way back, so can expect things to take a long time. And we re a young church. A story...

6 Engel Scale simplifed Spiritual awareness !!!!! No knowledge Closed Gray Matrix used by kind permission of Frank Gray Gray Matrix heart Spiritual awareness !!!!! No knowledge Open

7 cynical suburbia Closed desert Gray Matrix used by kind permission of Frank Gray Spiritual awareness !!!!! No knowledge oasis Open 1. We re starting a long way back, so can expect things to take a long time. And we re a young church. So what might this mean for the goby/shrimp relationship? Need to work hard on understanding (especially the name ) Need for good communication Need to allow time (before people are ready to start contributing )

8 Five main things about messy discipleship: 1. We re starting a long way back, so can expect things to take a long time. And we re a young church. 2. It s all about relationships with Christ and with each other 13/10/2016

9 It s all about relationships with Christ and with each other So what might this mean for our goby / shrimp? Encouragement to non-messy people to come and just be Prayer Compare the quality of relationships in inherited congregation Forbearance How we use the opportunities of team membership 1. We re starting a long way back, so can expect things to take a long time. And we re a young church. 2. It s all about relationships with Christ and with each other 3. It s about us, the team. If it isn t church for us too, we ll always be doing church at or for others it will remain an event

10 Our next Messy Church is this Saturday we have no families in traditional church but families look forward to MC and we have some regular attenders. We only meet every two months as our team are also heavily involved in keeping rural Anglican and Methodist churches going in the village. MC has been a real encouragement to us, a wonderful model to follow. to BRF last week from rural Suffolk

11 It s about us, the team. If it isn t church for us too, we ll always be doing church at or for others it will remain an event So what might this mean for marine symbiosis? Blessing the leaving and cleaving Opening our minds to new ways of being disciples Opening our minds to old ways of being disciples 1. We re starting a long way back, so can expect things to take a long time. And we re a young church. 2. It s all about relationships with Christ and with each other 3. It s about us, the team. If it isn t church for us too, we ll always be doing church at or for others it will remain an event 4. We need to reimagine extras for a Messy context and think about homes

12 Ways of growing as a disciple Social learning We need to reimagine extras for a Messy context and think about homes So what might this mean for our fishy friends? Being good hosts on a Sunday morning (Bishopstoke) might mean setting aside our own preferences A change in attitude and strategy towards a focus on homes, on doing nothing separately that we can do together

13 1. We re starting a long way back, so can expect things to take a long time. And we re a young church. 2. It s all about relationships with Christ and with each other 3. It s about us, the team. If it isn t church for us too, we ll always be doing church at or for others it will remain an event 4. We need to reimagine extras for a Messy context and think about homes 5. It s about doing Messy Church itself well Martyn s Maths! Rather than add-ons... and rather than take-aways... and rather than dividing up the messy congregation... instead it's all about the times that you are together! It's about multiplying the depth of the experience of what you already doing In other words the key to journeys into faith at Messy Church lies in a multiplication of what we're doing rather than a take-away, add-on or divide-up model that is traditional discipleship!

14 It s about doing Messy Church itself well So what might this mean for the goby and the shrimp? Learning about and from the sacraments Taking the 5 values seriously Letting go of power Opening up training to lay and lay lay leaders Putting Christ at the centre again and again and again He is before all things and in him all things hold together Colossians 1:17

15 Lomas Hall, Sheffield 22 Oct Messy Church is part of The Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF), a Registered Charity (233280)