Autumn 2016 Edition
Helping independent churches grow www.churchgrowth.org.uk
Church Growth Trust championing church planting Church Growth Trust not only holds church properties and advises churches on property related matters, but also promotes and actively supports church planting of independent and evangelical churches.
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hurch Growth Trust (CGT) was set up in 2010 to take on the property and trusteeship services of Stewardship (previously known as UKET), which had been providing these services for independent churches (and particularly the Brethren movement) since 1906. It continues the vital work of holding these church properties on a long term basis for Brethren assemblies, other independent churches and evangelical churches to use as places of worship and outreach to their local community. CGT also sees as part of its role, set out in its objects, the support and promotion of church planting. (cont. on page 2) www.churchgrowth.org.uk // t: 01536 201339 // e: enquiries@churchgrowth.org.uk
CGT has the opportunity to do this in a number of different ways. One major way is through supporting the Church Planting Initiative (CPI), by giving a substantial annual grant, by nominating two trustees and by offering practical assistance to many of the CPI church planters, particularly in property and trusteeship matters. More specifically CGT may be purchasing a church building for one of the CPI church plants in Wolverhampton for the church to be able to use. The church building has been redundant for a number of years and will require substantial refurbishment and remodelling, but is ideally located for the church to use as a community hub. Gill Pedler, CGT’s architect, has been able to draw up plans for the building and the local planning authority are being very supportive. Church Growth Trust helped with the negotiations for a lease of another West Midlands CPI church and even acted as guarantor to the lease. CGT has also helped to give advice about the lease for the CPI church plant in Teignmouth, has given advice to the CPI church plant in Yeovil and has granted a tenancy at a low rent of one of its own properties for the CPI church plant in Stockport. Further articles on the work of Church Planting Initiative can be seen elsewhere in the magazine. Where assemblies occupying CGT’s buildings decide to close, CGT makes every effort to find another evangelical church to take on the Gospel work from the building and sometimes the most appropriate work is a church plant. Some examples are discussed later in the magazine. Often these will involve letting the buildings at 2
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nominal rents, in order to help the new church focus their resources on outreach. In addition sometimes CGT has the opportunity to grant fund work to adapt buildings for the new use or carry out vital repairs. Giles Arnold, CGT’s General Manager, comments, “We see the historical work of CGT and UKET before us as being part of the Brethren movement in the UK and this movement in its hey-day saw church planting as a vital ingredient to the huge expansion of the Gospel work and the growth of new assemblies across the country. We therefore see church planting as part of our DNA. It is for this reason that we look for opportunities to support and encourage church planting wherever we can”.
Giles Arnold
Four ways to make your church plant bloom! It may surprise some people, but not all church plants are the same! James Hyde, a paid elder of Grosvenor Church, Barnstaple and National Co-ordinator of Church Planting Initiative (CPI) in the UK looks at some different approaches to church planting.
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ames believes that one of the major keys to successful church planting is simple—the church planter(s) must know the values of the church they are going to grow. Every church planter wants to spread the good news of Jesus Christ and grow a church that plants other churches, but each church achieves that in a unique way. Explaining further James says, “A successful church is a living thing. So like all living things it has a natural pattern of growth. You ignore this pattern at your peril. Some people hate this talk of patterns. Isn’t planting a church about imagination? The great church planters didn’t sit around studying theory. I can only say that the more I see churches fail or succeed the more I believe there are patterns to their growth that have to be worked with to ensure success”. James understands these patterns well enough to start telling other people about them. He suggests that any potential church planter should first ask ‘what do I value?’
because what they value shapes the kind of blooms the church plant will display. He sets out below some of these values, using four different Church Planting Initiatives plants as examples: • Value 1: Something for everyone. Programme plants, like Mars Hill, Teignmouth, Devon make sure that both young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated all have a programme to participate in (see www. marshillchurchteignmouth.co.uk). • Value 2: Balance. From crèche to senior citizens, everything in a purpose-driven plant like Forest of Dean Community Church, Cinderford, Gloucestershire (see www.fodcc.org) will show the five purposes of church (these purposes are ministry, evangelism, fellowship, worship and discipleship)— even the church budget! • Value 3: Relationships. They may have programmes, but it is not the priority in a relationship plant like Windmill (cont. on page 4)
church growth trust // www.churchgrowth.org.uk
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Photos: 1 and 2: Mars Hill Church 3: Brinnington Community Church Foodbank. 4, 5 and 6: Forest of Dean Community Church 7: Windmill Community Church
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Community Church, Wolverhampton (see www.windmillcommunitychurch.co.uk). The leadership team will be friends and even go on holiday with each other. • Value 4: Serving the lost, least and last. Ministry plants, like Brinnington Community Church, Stockport, identify the needs of the community and then secure funding to meet those needs, whether it is Foodbank, addiction support or community gardens to feed the poor (see www.brinningtoncommunitychurch. co.uk). Although James believes that this basic principle of church planting— knowing the values of the church you are building—is straightforward, he also realises that a lot of hard work is involved in church planting. He says, “Of course success generally involves hard work, lots of it, but if you love disciple-making you are up for it. With the right people and the right motivation, you will enjoy it most of the time—church planting is simple, but it is not easy”. Church planting involves making hard choices, not often, but occasionally. Although these choices are not usually as hard as they look. Most planters know from scripture what they should do. It is just a matter of doing it. However James would challenge anyone thinking about planting a church to consider: How will your church plant bloom? He invites the person to take the first step towards church planting by visiting a church plant that values what they value. To arrange a visit call James Hyde on 07899 670924 or email him on james.hyde@cpi-uk.org.
James Hyde is Church Planting Initiative’s Co-ordinator, leading the team that helps church planters clarify and implement their vision across the UK. He stands alongside church planters, with his 20 years of church leadership experience, to coach them towards realising the God-sized dream of making disciples through church planting. As James states, “Church planting is scary, intimidating and the most thrilling ride of a lifetime. I see myself as a travelling missionary willing to go on the ride with brave church planters. My contribution is maximised through my experience and my passion to see healthy new churches started. I am focussed on making disciples. I live and breathe it and don’t plan to ever do anything else but be involved in it”. James is married to Debbie, has two sons and lives in Barnstaple, Devon.
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New life in old buildings Church Growth Trust (CGT) is passionate about supporting church planting and encouraging the growth of the Kingdom in local communities. Ruth Leigh paints a picture of some of the ways CGT does this across the country.
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irstly Ruth spoke to New Life Community Church in Crewe. As Andy Taylor Senior Pastor at the church explains, “We had no intention of taking on another property, but God had other plans! New Life started in 1998 when a Christian leader moved on to the estate where our building is situated and thought it would make a great church building. He had real vision, as at the time it was a row of six derelict shops! It’s now our main site, accommodating around 250 people, with extra rooms we hire out to groups in our community”. All was going well with their outreach activities, such as exercise classes, a toddler group, Slimming World and a drop-in café. In 2013 however Andy took a telephone call from Giles Arnold of CGT. Giles offered them the use of Bethany Chapel, which was two miles away across town. The church had been praying for that area for years, but with no thought of moving into it. Then the remaining elder of the Brethren assembly moved away, the trustees gifted the property to CGT and Giles gave them the keys! Andy says,
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“Every time I opened my desk drawer, there they were looking at me”. New Life did not see how they could afford to rent the building and how they would use it if they did. However, when plans for a huge new housing estate were tabled and they realised that there would be no other places of worship within a mile of it, they began to think about taking it on. They prayed for ages about it. CGT were very kind and generous in supporting them so they did eventually decide to take it on. They renamed it the Bethany Centre. CGT let the church have the building rent free for the first year and paid for some urgent repairs. The church has now taken on a longer term tenancy which is also at a low rent, enabling them to focus on their Gospel work. The church started putting on outreach events such as open days, fun days and afternoon teas. “We found that people who wouldn’t normally go to church were happy to come along to our events,” explains Andy. “There was nothing else like it on the estate and after a while, we started running our own Sunday night service in the building. We look
New Life Community Church, Crewe
on Bethany as our church hall, albeit two miles away from our main church building! We now work with YMCA who run a club on Monday nights and an afterschool club for junior school children. We ran two holiday clubs in the summer and have a rapidly expanding toddler group and a Youth Club.” The centre has proved to be a beacon of hope on the estate. A number of people now come to our Sunday evening services, have come to faith and joined the congregation, which is wonderful. Locals who cannot travel across town to New Life also now attend. Andy is also delighted about their partnership with the local council, Cheshire East. They have a policy of partnering with churches that have an outward looking philosophy and are working in the community. The church ticked all the boxes and have been given grants (e.g. for ramps and non-slip flooring) which has helped. Members carry out surveys in the area on the council’s behalf making for a great working partnership, which they believe will continue to flourish.
What does the future hold for the Bethany Centre? Andy says, “If we had the resources, there would be a lot more we could do. That said, we are so thankful for what we do have and there is plenty of scope for the future. We’re praying for a centre manager, believing God put Bethany into our hands, so I’m sure he has plans for its future”. Down in Haywards Heath, the former Franklynn Gospel Hall is now being rented by the Ruwach Christian Church. Sophie Partis is the Church Secretary there and comments, “We began renting the hall from CGT last summer and launched it last September. We hold evening services there which are amazing times of worship. We find it a very freeing experience as people come hungry for the Spirit, with words of knowledge, pictures and Scripture often shared during the service”. They also use the hall for outreach; held a launch event in September and invited the local community to a barbecue. Since then they have held a fashion swap event (cont. on page 8)
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there and found it to be a real asset to their church. Ruwach has exciting plans for the future. They are in the process of selling the offices that they have outgrown and will be moving into the building at the back of the gospel hall this autumn. “We are so thankful to have the space and very grateful to CGT. They are really on our side and have given us freedom to grow our vision. We never feel constricted by them as a landlord, but very supported and encouraged.” CGT’s architect Gill Pedler has been to visit the property and produced a feasibility study to consider ways of extending the building to accommodate separate rooms for children’s work, enlarge the worship area and provide a café and welcome area. Gill explains: “We are always excited about working with growing churches to help them use their buildings to full capacity. We are looking forward to working closely with Ruwach to transform the property for the 21st century”. Meanwhile in Derby the former Brunswick Street Gospel Hall in Normanton is now the home of Derby Community Church. Hub Manager Phil Coltman has Brethren roots but by 2000 was worshipping at the 800 strong Community Church in Derby. “My uncle was one of the elders at Brunswick Street Gospel Hall. He told me that they were low on numbers and looking to close the assembly. Last year we had a chat to Giles about it and we went from there.” The property was in a good state of repair, so after a bit of sprucing up, the church turned it into one of their ‘hubs’ with Phil as the manager. Renamed the Brook Centre, it hosts Jigsaw Nursery, 8
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which is run by the church and takes place on weekdays; the youth group on a Friday; the Persian community (part of the church) meet there on Thursdays and the Eritreans (also part of the church) on Saturdays. Phil is clear on the building’s significance. “It’s situated right in the middle of Normanton, a suburb of Derby and we feel that we are shining a light into this part of the city. Since the building re-opened, lots of local people have come in to have a look and we’re really engaging with the community.” As to CGT’s role, Phil is enthusiastic. “Working with Giles and CGT has been excellent,” he states. “They have a real understanding of the background and traditions of the Brethren movement and are sensitive to what the buildings were made for and a vision for what they can be now. These transformed buildings glorify God which is admirable! There are so many Gospel Halls across the UK and it’s great that CGT are looking out for them. With my own Brethren roots, I can understand that the buildings often
Brook Centre, Derby after refurbishment
Legacy Church, Skellow, giving out hampers and door-knocking
need a fresh expression of church to revitalise them and that’s exactly what’s happening here.” 50 miles away in Doncaster, Legacy Church occupy another former Gospel Hall in Skellow. Malcolm Haynes is the Campus Pastor for the site. “Skellow Evangelical Church, as it then was, closed and the leaders, via Church Growth Trust, handed the keys for the building to our Pastor in 2013. The church has a good reputation for doing community work which may have been the reason for them being selected to take over the site. The Pastor formed a team of 10 people who would get a Chinese takeaway, go to the building, turn the lights on and pray. We wanted the locals to see that the church building was being used again.” The team hit the ground running. Having made themselves known in Skellow, they hired a skip for two weeks and invited locals to use it; the next week they offered make-up and beauty sessions at the church and finally in week four they did a litter-pick. Following some door-knocking work they gave out a few
hampers to residents they had spotted with particular needs and relationships blossomed. Malcolm explains, “We went to the local café, gave them £100 and asked them to give £1 off the bill for each visitor. We wanted to bless the owner for enriching his community. Referring to us as the hamper church, he backed us 100%, as he could see we really cared.” Skellow hosts a mid-week life group and various outreach events. As with other churches, ‘Legacy’ has found that working with CGT is an encouraging experience. Malcolm enthuses, “Giles comes to see us regularly for a progress report and we value knowing we have his backing. We are about encouraging discipleship and that’s what is happening at Skellow” In the busy garrison town of Colchester, the Anglican Fresh Expressions DNA Network are a lively outward looking church community. In 2014 they were offered the Maldon Road Chapel, a former Brethren Gospel Hall. Associate Minister Enoch Kunarajah takes up the story: (cont. on page 10)
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“We’d known about the chapel for some time and it had been offered for rent or sale to us and several other local churches by its then owners. However in 2014 the trustees gifted it to CGT and our church leader and I were approached to see if we could work together. Our heart is for the local community and we felt that this was God’s leading.”
In March 2015 the church leased the chapel from CGT for five years, but there was a lot of work to be done as it had been empty for several years. After it had been painted and everything reconnected, DNA Network began to ask God what He wanted them to do with it. “A friend who works for a homeless charity asked us if they could use it over the winter. This was agreed and for two days a week from September to December, the charity used the chapel as a drop-in centre for the homeless in Colchester. In January 2016 myself, my wife Pinceau, who is also an Associate Minister, and our two little girls, Tabitha and Lydia were sent out by the main church to work on community outreach from Maldon Road. We got involved with the local primary school, held a Light Party at Halloween and hosted a Christmas lunch for the Syrian refugees we welcomed to Colchester on Christmas Day.”
Fresh Expressions DNA Network, Colchester: Light Party (top) and Christmas with Syrian families (bottom)
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Enoch and his family continued to seek God’s will, feeling that He was saying that events and activities are great, but they must be undergirded in prayer. They are on a journey to seek God’s presence and meet to pray regularly. The chapel is opened twice a month for children’s Scripture Union activities on a Sunday morning. During ‘Holy Week’ they held Easter Prayer Space at the chapel and children from two neighbouring primary schools took part in it. Enoch says, “We are so thankful to God for opening the door to enable us to share Bible stories regularly at the school assembly using ‘Open the Book’ resources, which has been so amazing. We are taking it very slowly and at present only have a few families who attend, but we ran two family fun activities in the school holidays and welcomed 15–20 children, which was wonderful. From that a couple of the mums expressed interest in a playgroup being started. The Brethren congregation ran a playgroup for years at the chapel, so that is something we are currently considering doing.” Having leased a building which had been empty for some time, Enoch was very grateful to CGT for their help and support. Enoch enthuses, “They found paperwork for me, helped us with a few minor repairs, clarified things on which we had questions and helped me to reassure our elders on the state of the building. If we continue to lease the building, they have told us that they can draw up plans and that we can use their in-house architect, which is very reassuring”. There has been historic structural movement to the front of the building and CGT would love to work with the church to rebuild this section,
Kings Church, Harrow: BBQ
creating a new welcome/lounge area at the same time. As Enoch and his family continue to reach out, the future of Maldon Road Chapel looks bright. God has impressed 2 Chronicles 7:14 upon their hearts. “We are thinking about a Prayer Hub for Colchester and perhaps renaming the chapel ‘House of Prayer’. Who knows? God is in charge and it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to share the Good News from Maldon Road.” At King’s Church in Harrow, Pastor David Straughton has only just started his relationship with CGT. He says, “Giles offered us the former Roe Green Hall last summer and we took it over at the beginning of this year. Our Sunday services take place at Whitmore High School in Harrow about 15 minutes from (cont. on page 12)
church growth trust // www.churchgrowth.org.uk
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Kings Church worship at Roe Green Hall
the hall so currently we meet weekly to worship and pray to prepare the ground for our new outreach work which starts this autumn”. In common with New Life, Crewe; Ruwach in Haywards Heath, Derby Community Church, the DNA Network in Colchester and Legacy Church, Doncaster; King’s Church has a real vision for reaching out into their community. For some time they have felt God’s leading in planting in two new King’s Church venues. However they were not expecting the offer of the hall from CGT last summer, but having viewed it the elders immediately felt it was an answer to prayer. They collected the keys on 1st January this year. David is clearly excited about the future. “We’ve been opening the hall on Saturdays for informal welcome events, for the Easter service and some healing seminars. Our 12
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goal is to use the hall as a second new church venue in 2017 and then work towards another brand new church plant encompassing the whole of our town. About 250,000 people live in Harrow and we would love to see three church venues drawing in new people and shining a light into the community.” David is enthusiastic about his working relationship with CGT. “It’s marvellous in every way!” With such a strong vision for the future, it will not be long before the former Brethren Gospel Hall is alive with the sound of worship once again.” To enquire whether buildings may be available for a church plant or whether your gospel hall could be reused for church planting work, please call Giles Arnold on 07721 666660 or email him at giles.arnold@churchgrowth.org.uk.
Church planting – a personal perspective Richard Canham shares how taking early retirement has opened up opportunities for him to encourage church planting and church revitalisation.
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ichard took early retirement from the finance industry during 2014 in order to spend more time on charitable activities. He currently lives in Enfield and is part of Albany Church, where he served as one of the church leaders for over 30 years. He is now a trustee of other organisations including Counties, Church Planting Initiative (CPI) and The Evangelization Society (TES). Since his retirement Richard has had some involvement in church planting: “I have been a trustee of CPI since May 2015. Part of my role is to work with the team in London and the South East. In London we have wonderful opportunities to establish new churches where no witness is currently occurring. Sadly we are seeing many churches in our land closing for numerous reasons, including those that are no longer where the people live or where they do not meet the local people’s needs. “Over the last 12 months or so we have been holding bi-monthly meetings bringing together folk who have recently started a church (or home group) or are in the process of starting one; offering to mentor and train them on a 1:1 basis.” Richard is also a trustee of several local churches. At one church in North London
several of the leaders are moving on and he, with the other trustees, have been trying to assist them through this change. The trustees have agreed to gift the property to Church Growth Trust (CGT) and Giles Arnold, CGT’s General Manager, found nearby a much larger church (and three other local churches it works in partnership with), who are happy to work with the assembly, providing new leadership and encouraging members of the four churches to become part of this church. This is seen as revitalisation rather than a church plant but as Richard enthuses: “We are looking to the Lord to see the church grow and continue their local witness”. The trustees have engaged CGT to take on the property, enabling the leadership team to concentrate on the members, their witness and how the church grows in the future. As Richard states: “My passion is to see churches built up and opened in new areas; making sure Christ is proclaimed so that people come to know Him as their Lord and Saviour”. Since the trustees made the decision to gift the property in North London to CGT, Richard has been invited to become a trustee of Church Growth Trust and this will hopefully happen in February 2017. church growth trust // www.churchgrowth.org.uk
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Church planting initiatives in your community Brinnington is considered to be a tough place to go, a hard place where no one responds to the gospel! “It’s the deep love God has given us for the people that keeps us here,” says Martin Korchinsky, CPI planter, Counties Evangelist and pastor of Brinnington Community Church, Stockport.
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rinnington Community Church occupies a Church Growth Trust (CGT) owned building and is one of seven young churches that the Church Planting Initiative (CPI) is supporting financially in 2016. Currently CPI is actively working with 16 individuals who are already planting a church or are seriously considering doing so. However through its seven geographically-based connecting Hubs CPI has links with over 400 people. Some of these people are exploring the idea of planting a church and contact the Hubs for advice, support and guidance, whilst others have church plants up and running. Many of these church planters are independent or from the Brethren movement, whilst some attend from mainstream denominations. They come to the Hubs because they know, as all the church leaders do, that iron sharpens iron and contact with others going through similar situations
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can be a great encouragement. Founded in 1999 CPI is currently sponsored by Counties, Gospel Literature Outreach Europe, Church Growth Trust and Partnership. Initially various grantmaking trusts contributed to a central fund from which CPI provided substantial financial support for individual church plants. Generally each church plant would be supported for a period of seven years, but after the first three years the finance given was reduced year on year in order to encourage these growing churches to become fully independent. This funding model worked successfully for approximately 10 years, but, due to changes in funding, CPI’s trustees and staff re-examined this centralised church planting model in 2009. Out of this season of struggle the new network model emerged. Local Hubs were created to initiate church plants and encourage existing church plants within the locality. Today each
Hub holds a meeting every other month to which churches, individuals and organisations that share a passion and vision for proclaiming the good news through church planting are invited. The meetings emphasise the three-fold purpose of Hubs: relationship, spirituality and mission. Part of CPI’s mission is to start churches which will themselves be a church that starts new churches. The local Hubs can help this process. This network model has allowed CPI’s impact to grow exponentially and new church initiatives are being birthed. In the summer of 2014 CPI’s trustees gathered to discuss this growth and emerged with a commitment to team leadership within the CPI organisation. Consequently when Julian Marsh retired as Director of CPI in the autumn of 2015 he was replaced by a team of four part time staff members (three of whom are paid), who all have different roles and responsibilities within the organisation as follows:
• James Hyde oversees the whole organisation and seeks to optimise the service provided to church planters. • Ian Smith deals with finance and administration. • John Jenkins administers the Hubs and search for new church planters. • Julian Marsh heads up the pastoral support team for the church planters. This style of team leadership was also put into place within the regional Hubs so that each Hub will have a leader, a church planting coach and a pastoral support team. In addition each Hub will have a particular CPI trustee linked to it. The financial support that CPI gives to the Hub staff varies according to the Hub and individual circumstances and requirements, with some only claiming their expenses. It is estimated that 32 million people in the UK do not have any church contact. The Church Planting Initiative seeks to make a difference so that some of these millions of people, for whom God deeply and desperately cares, have some connection or access to a local church. If you want to know more about the work of CPI visit the website at www.cpi-uk.org or contact James Hyde on 07899 670924 or james.hyde@cpi-uk.org and find out how CPI can work together with you to plant a church in your community.
Martin & Angie Korchinsky (Brinnington) church growth trust // www.churchgrowth.org.uk
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Multi-cultural churches Language: Barrier or Catalyst for Growth? Mark Davies of GLO Europe writes his second article on cross-cultural church, looking particularly as to how British churches can interact better with emerging minority language/cultural churches.
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o you speak more than one language? Is a question I often ask when talking on cross-cultural mission, or simply on how to understand the Bible (a text written originally in Hebrew and Greek). The predictable answer of a British church goer is ‘no’ with a tone of voice that frequently implies don’t be ridiculous, of course not! From my time spent in central Africa and my travels throughout Europe I know that this is not a common answer world-wide, where the ability to function in more than one language is a given. Having lived and taught in a second language for over 20 years, I am also personally aware of how difficult it is to worship and to pray in a second language, even if one is able to be functionally good in that language. There is a uniqueness about your mother tongue and the capacity it brings to communicate with God from the depths of your heart. Language as a controlling factor in church growth: Why is this relevant to church planting? In the UK, and in fact across Europe, we have seen significant increase in numbers of new churches being established, and a basic analysis would show that the main
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driver is the need to worship God and witness effectively in the mother tongue of a particular group of immigrants. Sometimes the only practical option is to start meeting and functioning as church exclusively communicating in Farsi, Arabic or French, as those meeting have virtually no English. Yet even after a functional level of English has been achieved, the strain of worshipping and praying to God in a non-mother tongue remains. So where does the phenomena of the emergence of non-English language (or in some cases bi-lingual) churches fit into the spectrum of church planting in UK? In what ways can it be strategic and how can it more effectively contribute to the overall growth of the Kingdom of God in the country and indeed the world? The advantages of working with nonEnglish language ethnic churches are clear: • Restoring spiritual heritage and zeal to British churches: Many migrants come as believers from parts of the world where the church is growing and vibrant, with a confidence in the Gospel that we need to recover. Do British churches have the humility to receive and learn again?
• Effective witness within the subgroups here and back in their home countries: This is especially critical if congregations are from countries difficult to access with the Gospel. Wien Fung a pastoral worker for the English congregation at the Chinese Church in London says, “Ethnic churches provide the necessary language and cultural bridge for the gospel among Diasporas and they facilitate the crucial reintegration of disciples to their mono-ethnic cultures upon their return to their homelands”. (www.eauk.org/idea/are-mono-ethnicchurches-a-good-thing-no.cfm). • Providing a second generation bonanza: While the first generation immigrants lack English, their children growing up here certainly do not. Socalled Third Culture Kids (like Missionary Kids) have been recognised as a key bridge between cultures to enable churches to grow more effectively in the multi-cultural context of the global world. Generally three models are seen in what is happening on the ground: • An independent church functioning in its own language and reflecting the culture of the their birth country: There is more rapid growth within that sub-culture, more appropriate discipleship and higher potential for witness within the culture, but it can be divisive and exclusive in terms of fellowship and of little impact on British society. • A language group functioning as a distinct fellowship but within a local church that is English speaking and indigenous: This can be good for integration and very valuable where the number of believers in the sub-group are too small to support each other as a local church. It can also be a good learning curve for the British church to handle
Wembley Christian Fellowship
cross-cultural partnership. • Indigenous British local church which integrates non-English speaking people gradually and deliberately into active fellowship: This model requires language support in early stages and aims for maximum local integration, but carries with it the risk of an imperialist attitude regarding the English language; a subtle message that the only Christian way in the UK is the British way. It can be compensated, so that we do not lose the benefits of these other cultures, by deliberately adapting key elements of the sub-group into the British church. British churches have a lot to learn from Biblical strengths found in other cultures. What can you do about mono-ethnic and non-English language churches? • Where they exist, you could take positives steps to build relationships: Churches could also give practical help with the use of buildings, but should not view it just as a rent-a-room service. Think about how your church and the new group can function in effective fellowship with each other, to support one another pastorally and combine forces in terms of (cont. on page 18) church growth trust // www.churchgrowth.org.uk
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Mono-ethnic congregation
outreach, to achieve true fellowship in the Gospel. • You can stimulate their emergence: If your local church constituency has seen particular groupings settle into the area, whether Polish, Romanian, Francophile African or Iranian, then the church can consider finding help to run some activities in those languages. Finding existing believers in the area with the language would be the ideal, but where that has not been possible, you can make contact with mission groups or other churches that have believers with those language abilities. • You can build relationships, especially between the younger generations: As the second generation of immigrants struggle themselves to adapt to a blend of their parents’ birth culture and the often confusing British culture, by God’s grace they can be key conduits for the zeal and confidence in the Christian faith that their parents have brought with them into UK. • You need to understand the role that speaking the right language plays in a sub-culture: It is not just languages, but dialects and sub-culture slang that has been, at times, a serious block to church growth in the UK. The middle-class lift or gentrification of many evangelical 18
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churches has led to some groups of believers still meeting in a hall in an area where the local residents speak a different language from those travelling in to attend. As with all good missionaries, we need to ask the question: what language do we need to learn to effectively reach the people of this area (swearing apart!?), rather than expecting outsiders or new believers from the area to learn our church’s sub-cultural dialect in order to become followers of Jesus? God has consistently spoken in local dialects, and the realities of his incarnation in Jesus says it all the more so. Mark and his wife Shirley served as missionaries in Zambia for 20 years engaging in Bible teaching and church/ community development projects. From 2003 Mark worked at Tilsley College, Scotland, recently leaving his role as Principal to continue serving with GLO Europe as the Training Director and Coordinator of a national training network. Mark and Shirley are now based in London at Highgate International Church.
Public Benefit Requirements One of the recent contentious issues around setting up, registering and continuing as a charity is the subject of public benefit and the requirement for a charity to provide this.
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lthough the requirement for charities to be for the public benefit has been a legal requirement for hundreds of years in English law, there arose considerable confusion with the passing of the Charities Act 2006 which stated that ‘there was to be no presumption in law that charities were set up for the public benefit’. If these charities were shown not to be for the public benefit, they would lose their charitable status. The Charity Commission have issued guidance in order to clarify its public benefit objective and to promote awareness and understanding of the operation of the
public benefit requirement. For many independent churches, now having to consider registering as charities and for new churches being planted, there are still major concerns as to how the changes in the law affect them, including a fear that they may fall foul of the requirements and lose their charitable status. Church Growth Trust (CGT) has produced a briefing paper on the subject, specifically aimed at helping independent churches address these issues. This, and many other briefing papers on practical issues affecting churches, can be found on CGT’s website: www.churchgrowth.org.uk.
Living the Passion – Regional South Conference A fter the success of the national Living the Passion Conference in October 2015, plans are underway for a Regional Conference on 10th to 12th February 2017 at the Hilton Hotel, Swindon. The main speakers will be Glynn Harrison, Martin Erwin, new CEO of Counties, and Stephen McQuoid of GLO Europe. Bookings, including early-bird prices, can be made on www.livingthepassion.org
and enquiries can be made by telephone on 01373 823013 or email at: info@livingthepassion.org.
church growth trust // www.churchgrowth.org.uk
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Three reasons why online learning could be the future of church planter training
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n 2012 Church Planting Initiative (CPI) jointly published with Partnership a book entitled ‘Fresh Shoots in Stony Ground’ to provide insights into church, culture and mission highlighted through UK case studies of churches that are reaching their communities today. It comprises 18 chapters on the principles and practice of church planting and 10 case studies which show what church planting is like on the ground. Later this year in collaboration with GLO Tilsley College, CPI intend to transfer the book online. Here are three reasons why it is believed online learning could be helpful: 1. It allows students to work at their own pace. According to one survey, the primary reason students of all ages prefer online learning is that it enables them to work slowly or fast, based on whether they ‘get’ the information. 2. It empowers interaction, even for the shy students. Shy or introverted students are more likely to join in a discussion when
it is a digital dialogue, as opposed to faceto-face, where they might get intimidated. 3. It allows a virtually unlimited amount of students to enrol. One big challenge for all churches (and indeed many individuals) is time. Flexible pathways are needed where working people can find time to learn. Does online learning lower the standards for leadership? Time will tell, but perhaps using this technology could help train enough workers to reach the 32 million lives who are waiting to hear the gospel for the first time. You can register your interest in online training for church planting by emailing planterdiscovery@ cpi-uk.org or calling James Hyde on 07899 670924.
This ‘One Twenty Seven: One’ publication is one way of us keeping in touch with you. For those that have not already worked it out the clue is found in Psalms! Church Growth Trust is a Trust Corporation with the aim of helping independent churches grow by owning and acting as trustee of church properties; letting properties to growing churches; offering professional property advice; giving guidance on church governance and supporting church planting.
Designed and printed A5 size to save on postage. We encourage you to recycle. Better still, sign up to receive future editions by email. Please email us on: 127-1@churchgrowth.org.uk The views and opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official views or position of Church Growth Trust.
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