The Ford Missional Community Profile 1
1.0 About The Ford Chapelford is a large housing estate in West Warrington. Building began over 10 years ago, and when completed over 2000 houses will have been built. The early residents were generally middle-class in employment, with 3-5 bed houses but later developments have incorporated much more modest housing with starter homes, 2 bed terraces and some social housing. The estate falls within the boundaries of St Philip s and St James. It was only in 2012 that any community facilities, a supermarket and a pub-restaurant opened, a county primary school opened in 2013. No church building exists and there is no community building available for use by local groups. When Peter and Sarah Baker moved to the estate in summer 2010 there was very little community spirit, no community activities and a sense of isolation from surrounding communities. Some local church leaders had been meeting for over seven years trying to agree a way forward for taking church to Chapelford. Peter and Sarah held a street party for their neighbours and started to link up with other local Christians and discuss with local church leaders. A meeting was held with invitations from the local church leaders for people from the different congregations who might be interested in taking mission forwards on Chapelford. From this The Ford was born. The Ford is not a traditional church plant, but an ecumenical missional community supported (spiritually rather than financially!) by local Anglican, Methodist and Elim Pentecostal churches, and has been formally adopted into the missional structures of these churches. The Ford is a group of Christians who come from a range of churches who want to share their love for God with their neighbours by building relationships and community demonstrating God s love in service talking freely about our faith, being intentional, courageous, sensitive and wise. providing opportunity to explore issues of faith in a friendly, non-threatening environment discipling those who wish to grow in faith through cell and celebration We are informed by a set of values All involved Becoming disciples Creating Community Doing Evangelism Encountering God We have two key informing scriptures "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself" "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. " The Ford is named in keeping with the Lake and River imagery used widely within Liverpool Diocese, and building on the name of the place, it signifies crossing the ford to the chapel, a metaphor for the journey we hope to walk with people as they develop in faith. The underpinning theology is that being a Christian is all about being in relationship. Relationship with God the Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ by the power of His Spirit. Following the Great Commandment when we love God, we necessarily have to love our neighbour as ourselves. 2
Our aim is to live in the community, be of the community and to meet the community where they are. We are being salt and light in the community. Why is this Church and not just a community group? It is very clearly God ordained. Whenever we have tried to plan anything it hasn t progressed. When we simply pray What are you asking of me today? then remarkable things have happened. Whenever we have felt despondent, then something has happened to affirm and bless. It seems that God is drawing together Christians from a range of backgrounds giving them a heart for mission in the place where He has put them. To address different backgrounds, faith journeys, theologies and churchmanship we have had to strip our faith down to the bare essentials. This has, on occasion, being painful and difficult. We have identified three key elements. Follow the great command Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and love your neighbour as yourself - as a unifying purpose. Saying the prayer that Jesus taught us, on every occasion we come together. A powerful unifying thread. Taking Holy Communion together in a very simple rite acknowledging that we all approach this differently in our home churches. The FORD is a fresh expression of Church, it is seeking to BE Church without becoming another local church. It IS Church by virtue of demonstrating all three dimensions. UP by regular prayer and worship, OUT, by engaging widely and deeply with our local community and IN, fellowship and support for one another. 2.0 All involved: The Ford People Current active core team members are The Ford is led by Local Missional Leaders, Chris and Tony Mullen. Chris and Tony have a wealth of experience at growing cell groups and churches having worked extensively with Phil Potter and other key church leaders. Tony, a retired police inspector, has lots of experience in community engagement and development work, and Chris is a sensitive and skilled pastor and prophet. The Ford started in August 2011 they started with a team of 6 people representing 4 churches. Membership of the core team has fluctuated over time as individuals have moved into different seasons. Janet Houghton (Kings) Tony Mullen (The Ford) Prayer Lead. Experienced pastor with a passion for prayer LML, Community Development Co-ordinator. Retired Police inspector with great experience in ministry, especially community development. 3
Chris Mullen (The Ford) Ian Richards (St James) Doug Smith(St Mark's Haydock) Chris Smith (St Marks Haydock) Graham Houghton (Kings) Mike McDade Pat McDade LML, Prayer and Pastoral care Co-ordinator. Experience in beauty and retail industries. Experienced pastor and counsellor. Reader. St James Church Link. IT lead. Works in mobile communications/it. Worship Lead. Works in education. Two teenage children. Retired CofE Minister supports all celebration and community events Retired Baptist Minister Experienced pastor. We are developing the use of Life Shapes as developed by St Thomas Crookes and others to provide a common language for discipleship. As such we have explored the Five fold ministries of core team members. Following our All involved value each member of the team has a lead responsibility. Each member of The Ford team is also a member of a home church. These are not mutually exclusive. God is calling each of these individuals to Go OUT from their home church to do a new thing. We adopt the low control, high accountability model for individual responsibilities. Tony and Chris are jointly accountable to Sarah as Team Rector and to Canon Linda Jones, Director of Church Growth in the Diocese. 3.0 Becoming disciples As a Missional Community we are very conscious of research and work that describes the process of coming to faith and discipleship. We have found this a very helpful tool for understanding that much of our work is about walking alongside individuals in the -1 to 10 stages. We are very much working with people at the fringe, befriending them and sharing our own experiences of faith with them in the hope that they come to some point of decision. We have had several people got through this process and go on to worship at one or other of the supporting churches. Some see The Ford as their church so only worship with us. In consequence we are now beginning to develop as a more conventional church plant in some respects. We find we work with people of faith who have had issues with the traditional church and people who are exploring but wouldn t go near a traditional church but find that we are unthreatening and open. We disciple people through personal friendship and living our lives alongside of them. Chris Mullen leads a nurture group on Wednesday mornings which has moved several people on through decision to gaining more confidence. We will invite people and go with them to worship at any of the supporting churches according to the individual s preferences. 4
Members of the core team will gain some teaching through their home churches but our key point of nurture and growth is our weekly Wednesday night core meeting. This follows a weekly pattern of Week 1: Bible Study Week 2: Accountability Week 3: Praise,worship and prayer Week 4: Witness - planning our outward work such as community events, Ripple Plus events etc. Every month with a fifth week we have fun! (well we have fun all the time but this week we major in it)- go to the pub, have a BBQ etc. The accountability week is based on the circle Lifeshape using a set of questions to prompt reflection. Our whole ministry is underpinned by regular prayer between members of the core group. We pray proactively and regularly for all the streets on Chapelford and periodically undertake prayer walks. We have a weekly celebration of worship and praise on Sundays at 4.00pm which brings everyone together and provides an opportunity to invite those we have befriended in the community engagement activity and events to a worship environment. Chris and Tony have accountability huddles or spiritual direction outside of the team. 4.0 Creating Community Community Engagement Ripple groups are small gatherings and events that provide an opportunity, twice a week on Monday and Thursday morning, to bring people together, get to know their neighbours and grow community. Advertised on Facebook neighbours are invited to each other s homes for coffee and chat, strangers become friends. Ripple groups offer an opportunity to build community, neighbourliness, and offer practical support and prayer. Every Ripple has at least two members of The Ford team present. It is mainly mothers and children, but husbands and grandparents have joined on occasion. In addition Ripple Events find us going to the races, the theatre, out for a meal or a picnic in the park. Our last annual BBQ had over 100 people attend. 5 Evening Ripples are also held on an ad hoc basis for those who cannot attend during the day. More recently a Gripple aimed specifically at men (a Grumpy Ripple) has been very successful. These events are primarily about creating community, but also offer an opportunity for talking freely about our faith, being intentional, courageous, sensitive and wise, and for demonstrating God s love in service with the follow on contact and support offered. True to their name they are having a Ripple effect in the community
and are already a well recognised part of life on the estate. Community Events We also lead bigger one-off events (Waterfalls) aimed at building community. We ensure that they also include an opportunity for a clear presentation of the Gospel, or demonstration of love in service is part of the offering. Examples are, 2011: with other West Warrington churches, hosted 3 nights of on the Move BBQs to which over 1000 residents came Christmas 2011 an outside Carol Service with mulled wine and mince pies, inviting the local primary school to sing, with a clear telling of the true Christmas Story. 300 residents attended. Summer 2012 we worked with the Residents Association to host a Jubilee Party in the Park to which over 1500 people came. We had a Ripple tent where people could come and meet us. We also raised > 1000 for the Community Centre. This established The Ford as community leaders, provided opportunity for neighbourliness and a focus for growing community resilience. Christmas 2012 a Christmas Market where we invited another Fresh Expression In Another Place to bring their oversized puppets to perform a Christmas Play. We ended the event with a Carol Service and worship. Again we raised > 2000 for the Community centre. Summer 2013 a huge Chapelford Fun Day - with over 2000 attendees. The Ripple members hosted a vintage tea and scones tent which again raised the profile of The Ford and led to new contacts. These events, although led and organised by the Ford involve dozens of other people from the estate and are developing a shared sense of belonging, sharing and caring that was not previously present. All events are shared on Facebook and it is clearly understood that it is Christians who are involved, with some healthy theological debate in some Facebook posts. Community Centre There is no focal point for community gatherings on the estate. Sarah and Peter established the Chapelford Community Centre company to raise money and then build a community centre, from which in future we will provide services to meet the needs of the community, in service. The Directorship of the company has recently been refreshed and now has a very broad base of resident and community membership. An active partnership with Great Sankey Parish Council is being developed. 5.0 Doing Evangelism Everything we do is intentionally meant to provide opportunities to share and demonstrate the Love of God. We aim to always be open to the promptings of the Spirit to speak of the things of God, but 6
often it is through just being there, sharing in people s lives and offering to pray, offering to help, that the Good News is shared. 6.0 Encountering God Our main purpose is to walk alongside others and help them begin to encounter God for themselves. All members of the core team commit to being faithful in prayer and study of the word on our own account. Members of the core team meet weekly on Wednesday nights as described earlier and for prayer on Tuesday morning. Although all members of the team worship at their home churches we encourage members of the team to visit and worship at each other s churches to be able to experience and value the diversity we have within the team and to learn from one another. Our Wednesday worship is very eclectic reflecting the range of backgrounds within the team. We have shared celtic liturgy, Taize chants, meditation, poetry, classical music as well as modern worship songs, traditional hymns, written prayer and extempore prayer. Our weekly celebration of worship and praise on Sundays at 4.00pm brings everyone together and provides an opportunity to invite those we have befriended in the community engagement activity and events to a worship environment. This is a new development and the style has yet to emerge but it is based around a very loose structure of a worship time, mostly contemporary songs, teaching, breaking of bread and prayer. We use some liturgical components. We are keen to ensure times of quiet to enable personal reflection. 7.0 What we have No buildings to worry about Some support from the diocese for housing for Tony and Chris Initial support from St James and Methodists for start up Modest income but also modest outgoings Church App database, AV and catering equipment 8.0 The Team Vicars we want People who lives out servant leadership. understand and live out low control high accountability can value difference and diversity can work with all styles of churchmanship seek to identify and develop the ministry of others know both how to lead and be a member of a team understand and value the ministry of volunteers 7