I AM PRAISING JESUS
Church “Annual General Meetings” are not dry, dusty
and dull. No! They resonant with life and vibrancy and
energy. Why? Because they are a moment to celebrate what
God has done and to seek God together for what he will do. I hope you will find twenty minutes at work
or in a slow evening at home or while the kids slouch in front of the TV to
pause, enjoy, and praise God as you read through these reports. [Note: this blog post is only my introduction and not the whole, exciting pack of information!]
Our values remain loving people, courageous in
mission, Bible saturated and Spirit dependent.
What this annual moment allows us to see is how God has moved us forward
from a tentative sense last May to a reality of being ‘beacons’ (in Chris’
image); of a response to Ali Boulton’s question (‘Is God calling us to move
from a local church to a regional movement?’); of a fulfilment of Sue and
Ruth’s word ‘pioneer’.
I am praising Jesus!
Making Jesus Known
The Apostle Paul writes: ‘…I have made myself a slave to everyone to win as many as
possible. To the Jew I became a Jew to
win the Jews…To those not under the law I became like one not under the law…so as
to win those…To the weak I became weak to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so
that by all means possible I might save some.’ (1Corinthians 9:19-23)
We do not compromise ‘keeping his Word’ nor accept ‘denying
his name’, but we do courageously and together walk through the doors ‘he opens’ willing to compromise our
preferences and comfort for his glory (Revelation 3:7-8). It’s our value of courageous in mission.
This year God has quite amazingly created the
resources to purchase ‘Beacon Church House’ on Marston Grange, working to provide us with a house bigger and
better than we planned ourselves! On May
8th Kevin and Wendy Mills ‘preach with a view’ to join our staff
team as our ‘evangelists’ leading our mission there.
I am praising Jesus!
As I write (Thursday evening April 28th)
our first ‘core group’ gathering of those potentially called to reach the Highfields Estate are meeting and
praying together. The seed is sown on a
remarkable journey. God has opened doors
into some of the most resistant families on the estate; into Castlechurch
School (185 children came into the centre for ‘Easter Explorers’); and in terms
of unexpected but welcome funding. It
was only in September Matt was formally
ordained and called, partly to lead this mission.
I am praising Jesus!
This Sunday (May 1st) is the third week
of ‘Simply Church’, our new Sunday
afternoon meeting at Sandon Road with a solid core group establishing
themselves ready for mission. Our
mid-week activities at Sandon Road are at new ‘highs’ with the transition of
pre-school to full time hours with almost 60 children (around half from the
MOD) executed excellently by Ruth and her team.
Brigades and Marching band are filling the space; BFG is growing into a
permanent home; and our Tuesday Stay and Play is planning for a new ‘mission’
focus for its growing numbers; plus countless other activities and programs
too. Our links with John Wheeldon remain
fantastic and plans for ‘phase 2’ and a completion of the building are
underway. I also remain a governor at
John Wheeldon Primary Academy and Western Road Academy.
I am praising Jesus!
Our morning service at Beacon International Centre continues to grow, perhaps most
excitedly with the 12 and 13th baptisms of the last 12 months on May
1st, with more already scheduled for July. (Should we think about a second morning
service?). Our business operations, led
by Andy Oxlade, and our mission here, led by Matt, are both strong – bolstered
by newly introduced ‘chaplains’. Mid-Week Connect is now
well-established with its own distinct group of people meeting weekly and Chinese Church is healthy and strong.
I am praising Jesus!
After a wonderful trip I was privileged to make in
December, in June 12 of us head to Smile
in Nepal to support and learn from Nawaraj and Vidya’s incredible work
there.
I am praising Jesus!
It’s also been a delight to be released to preach at two University missions and around a dozen
outside ‘evangelistic’ preaching opportunities this year as well as offer some
support to fellow-ministers and churches in our HEBA network. Later this year we will have some
‘ministers-in-training’ spend a month or so learning with us and a number of
ministers from our region and beyond continue to visit and share ‘best
practice’. Later in May our ‘General
Sectary’ who oversees the 2000 odd churches that are BUBG has asked to visit
and explore our ‘model’ of church. All
this is a great way to ‘partner in God’s grace’ with other local churches.
I am praising Jesus!
Knowing a few
people well
It’s about making Jesus known (our value of
courageous in mission) but also about knowing one another – realistically a few
people well. Of sharing life in all its
complexity. To this end we remain
committed to growing in such a way that no ‘main meeting’ (a church service in the traditional language) is
ever much more than a hundred regular adults (yes, I know Sunday mornings are
already past this!). It means they can
be relationally high (no one feels lost or overwhelmed and people are quickly
able to contribute); specific in their mission (meeting at lunchtimes, or
speaking Chinese, or for a particular estate); but supported and resourced by
the wider, larger body. But alongside
this in January we focussed on our smaller
groups, launching a number of new ones and creating further opportunities
to get to know a few people better. Our weekends away this year I hope will
prove another great way to get to know and love each other well – and how
fantastic to have two for the first time!
I am praising Jesus!
Trellis to support
the Vine
God has moved us from last May when we articulate a
vision of being ‘beacons’ – perhaps in four local communities (and what an
outrageous, gospel ambition that was) – to very really if tentatively and
initially being one church used to grow God’s kingdom from within four local
communities. Alongside our established
‘main meetings’ of distinct groups of Mid-Week Connect (Wednesday), Chinese
Church (Thursday); Sunday Morning at 10.30am and Sunday Evening at 6.30pm, we
now have Sunday Afternoon at 4.00pm; a Highfields core group meeting; and later
this year every expectation God will have begun something more than just bricks
and mortar on Marston Grange.
I am praising Jesus!
But this needs ‘trellis’ to support and enable the
vine to grow. A trellis partly made of
money, staff and leaders.
Over the
last three years God has moved us from a £25+k deficient to this year an
expectation of around £4.5k deficient.
This is remarkable.
As a
church we are responsible for 17 remunerated staff across church, pre-school
and businesses. Three church (Alex,
Matt, Roberta); nine pre-school; five business.
I directly have the pleasure of line-managing Matt, Ruth and Andy who
then oversee their own teams.
Our
leaders are exceptional across the church in a 100 ways. Chris and Lawrence personally for me are
fellow-elders of the highest calibre and their leadership is used by God to
bring liberty, creativity and courage to my ministry personally and our mission
corporately. They are not, by far, the
only leaders we have but they are deserving of ‘double honour’ as 1 Timothy
commands.
I am praising Jesus!
Challenges
The year has of course had challenges.
Though in some ways our engagement with the MOD has
increased, the formal ‘OCM Chaplaincy’ role I have had for the last few years
is being made nationally redundant later this year. There may actually be some advantages to this
as we work on a new mechanism to allow me access.
As we grow I have expected to find a challenge to
some of my primary focusses – will I neglect praying or become casual about
preaching or disengaged pastorally or fail to offer a God-discerning lead? I hope I have served the gospel well by
maintaining a right focus on ‘prayer and ministry of the Word’ (Acts 6:4). I think I have, not least because of the
leaders who encourage, enable and insist on that!
I am praising Jesus!
And next
On the latest ‘Pray Continually’ my favourite day
is 30th. It’s a great way to
launch you into the pages that follow:
“Pray for new ventures, steps of faith and ways we
could be used by God to initiate new mission or rejuvenate stagnated
churches. Pray we would have open ears
and obedient wills to God’s calling. ‘It
has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known…" (Romans 15:20)”
‘Not to us O Lord, not to us but to your name be
the glory…’ (Psalm 115:1)
Alex
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