eVision winter 2015

Winter 2015/16

GLO Europe

Church

Planting

Edition Gospel Literature Outreach

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

I

4

Ten good reasons to plant a church

3

What does church planting look like in the 21st century?

Stephen McQuoid

Stephen McQuoid

Preparing the Ground

Building a Church Planting Church

6

Philippe Perrilliat

Church Planting Resources

11

Andrew Lacey

8

Patrizio Zucchetto

Summer Team Focus

12

This magazine is published twice yearly to report on the work of GLO in Europe and around the world and to promote mission interest. There is no subscription rate but readers are welcome to send gifts towards postage and production.

GLO is a charity registered in Scotland: SC007355 If you would like to contribute financially to the work of GLO this can be done directly using the bank details below or by contacting our Finance Director Ian Smith (ismith@glo-europe.org).

Keeping the Church Plant Growing

10

Andrew Burt

Training to Plant

14

Simon Marshall & James Hyde

Leaving a lasting legacy M

any people have a concern about what the long term impact of their lives will be on others. As Christians this is a big issue because the Bible encourages us to live our lives in view of eternity. GLO,

BANK OF SCOTLAND, 72 BRANDON PARADE, MOTHERWELL ML1 1UW ACCOUNT NAME – GLO TRUST SCOTLAND, SORT CODE – 800915 ACCOUNT NUMBER – 00400636

2

along with many other Christian organisations, benefits greatly from legacies that people leave behind. It is a way of significantly helping the work of the kingdom by organising your giving after you have gone.

We have produced an information booklet on the use of legacies and if you would like to have one then write to: Stephen McQuoid, GLO Centre, 78 Muir Street, Motherwell ML1 1BN smcquoid@glo-europe.org

hope as you looked at the front cover of this edition of e-vision you found it to be a little provocative; that was the intention! I have been involved in church for almost all of my life. Before I became a Christian my parents compelled me to attend; once I became one I had a desire to be part of a church. After many years of attendance I have become convinced of the importance of church. I hear complaints about church, but the biggest problem with church is that there are not enough of them! This issue is particularly marked in Europe where Christendom has all but collapsed and evangelical Christians are only a small minority. The great need of our age is to have more churches, and this means that we as Christians need to think seriously about planting them. As the front cover suggests, when we walk down one of our city streets and see all the people, we need to see them as Jesus did as ‘sheep without a shepherd’ and we need to ask how we can bring them together to form living and dynamic churches that impact the community.

It is possible that you have never thought about being involved in a church plant. Perhaps the thought scares you! This edition of e-vision is designed to give the reader an insight into the kind of church planting in which GLO is involved. I hope it will encourage and challenge you to pray about each situation mentioned. However, before you read the rest of this magazine, allow me to give ten reasons why church planting should be done.

1

It is a biblical thing to do Even a cursory glance at the New Testament would reveal a theme of church planting threaded throughout.

In the gospels Jesus told his disciples that he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Mt.16:18). At that point no church had been planted, but planting churches everywhere in response to the Great Commission (Mt.28:18,19) would be the preoccupation of those who claimed to follow Jesus. The book of Acts is full of stories of Christians sharing their faith and planting churches wherever they went (Acts 11:1921). Moreover the Pauline epistles are the follow-up documents of Paul’s church planting career. The very fact that the New Testament is so replete with references to church planting should force us to think about its importance.

2

Churches die and need to be replaced It is a simple fact that churches die and consequently need to be replaced.

Whatever the reason for churches dying, if new ones are not planted there is no future for the church!

3

It is healthy for existing churches It is healthy for existing churches to reproduce themselves by church planting. There is an initial cost in sending people out to plant, but if churches don’t do this they miss out on the blessing of giving birth to new churches.

4

Churches become calcified and are no longer fit for purpose Just because a church exists it does not follow that it is fit for purpose. Many churches become ineffective and irrelevant; when that happens new churches should be planted that can reach the communities that need them.

5

Church planting is among the most efficient ways of evangelism Church planting is such an intentional activity - those involved are totally focussed on sharing Christ with others and do not get distracted. This makes church planting a very efficient form of evangelism.

6

Changes in culture require fresh ways of reaching people and doing church Church planting is necessary because rapid change in culture often makes it difficult for existing churches to keep up. Where churches are highly resistant to change, church planting becomes a better option.

for young people, encourage cohesion and bring about positive social change.

9

Population growth requires church planting Many European cities have become huge and diverse urban sprawls due to population shift and immigration. Church plants are required to meet this need.

10

Development of gift in existing churches requires an outlet One of the challenges for existing churches, especially large ones, is how to make use of all the gifts available. Untapped energy and gift will lead to a sense of frustration.

Church planting gives the opportunity to release this potential.

This edition of e-vision is dedicated to church planting. GLO has a heart to plant churches all across Europe. Throughout this magazine we will mention specific places where we would like to plant churches in the future. If you would like to know more about any of these locations or learn about church planting, then please contact me: smcquoid@glo-europe.org. We would love you to work with us to see new churches established in this needy continent.

7

The presence of subcultures in society require culturally nuanced churches to reach people A huge change that has taken place in society over the past 50 years is the appearance of a great many subcultures throughout Europe.

Sometimes these subcultures are defined by language or religious belief, at other times by private interests and lifestyle such as the biker community, the clubbing community or young urban professionals. In some of these situations existing churches might not be equipped to reach out or disciple effectively, so church planting is the answer.

8

Church planting gives life to a community The social impact of new churches can be immense.

Many churches have been greatly used

by God to ease community tensions, care for the poor and the marginalised, provide positive outlets and mentoring

10 Good Reasons to Plant a Church

by Stephen McQuoid

3

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

I

4

Ten good reasons to plant a church

3

What does church planting look like in the 21st century?

Stephen McQuoid

Stephen McQuoid

Preparing the Ground

Building a Church Planting Church

6

Philippe Perrilliat

Church Planting Resources

11

Andrew Lacey

8

Patrizio Zucchetto

Summer Team Focus

12

This magazine is published twice yearly to report on the work of GLO in Europe and around the world and to promote mission interest. There is no subscription rate but readers are welcome to send gifts towards postage and production.

GLO is a charity registered in Scotland: SC007355 If you would like to contribute financially to the work of GLO this can be done directly using the bank details below or by contacting our Finance Director Ian Smith (ismith@glo-europe.org).

Keeping the Church Plant Growing

10

Andrew Burt

Training to Plant

14

Simon Marshall & James Hyde

Leaving a lasting legacy M

any people have a concern about what the long term impact of their lives will be on others. As Christians this is a big issue because the Bible encourages us to live our lives in view of eternity. GLO,

BANK OF SCOTLAND, 72 BRANDON PARADE, MOTHERWELL ML1 1UW ACCOUNT NAME – GLO TRUST SCOTLAND, SORT CODE – 800915 ACCOUNT NUMBER – 00400636

2

along with many other Christian organisations, benefits greatly from legacies that people leave behind. It is a way of significantly helping the work of the kingdom by organising your giving after you have gone.

We have produced an information booklet on the use of legacies and if you would like to have one then write to: Stephen McQuoid, GLO Centre, 78 Muir Street, Motherwell ML1 1BN smcquoid@glo-europe.org

hope as you looked at the front cover of this edition of e-vision you found it to be a little provocative; that was the intention! I have been involved in church for almost all of my life. Before I became a Christian my parents compelled me to attend; once I became one I had a desire to be part of a church. After many years of attendance I have become convinced of the importance of church. I hear complaints about church, but the biggest problem with church is that there are not enough of them! This issue is particularly marked in Europe where Christendom has all but collapsed and evangelical Christians are only a small minority. The great need of our age is to have more churches, and this means that we as Christians need to think seriously about planting them. As the front cover suggests, when we walk down one of our city streets and see all the people, we need to see them as Jesus did as ‘sheep without a shepherd’ and we need to ask how we can bring them together to form living and dynamic churches that impact the community.

It is possible that you have never thought about being involved in a church plant. Perhaps the thought scares you! This edition of e-vision is designed to give the reader an insight into the kind of church planting in which GLO is involved. I hope it will encourage and challenge you to pray about each situation mentioned. However, before you read the rest of this magazine, allow me to give ten reasons why church planting should be done.

1

It is a biblical thing to do Even a cursory glance at the New Testament would reveal a theme of church planting threaded throughout.

In the gospels Jesus told his disciples that he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it (Mt.16:18). At that point no church had been planted, but planting churches everywhere in response to the Great Commission (Mt.28:18,19) would be the preoccupation of those who claimed to follow Jesus. The book of Acts is full of stories of Christians sharing their faith and planting churches wherever they went (Acts 11:1921). Moreover the Pauline epistles are the follow-up documents of Paul’s church planting career. The very fact that the New Testament is so replete with references to church planting should force us to think about its importance.

2

Churches die and need to be replaced It is a simple fact that churches die and consequently need to be replaced.

Whatever the reason for churches dying, if new ones are not planted there is no future for the church!

3

It is healthy for existing churches It is healthy for existing churches to reproduce themselves by church planting. There is an initial cost in sending people out to plant, but if churches don’t do this they miss out on the blessing of giving birth to new churches.

4

Churches become calcified and are no longer fit for purpose Just because a church exists it does not follow that it is fit for purpose. Many churches become ineffective and irrelevant; when that happens new churches should be planted that can reach the communities that need them.

5

Church planting is among the most efficient ways of evangelism Church planting is such an intentional activity - those involved are totally focussed on sharing Christ with others and do not get distracted. This makes church planting a very efficient form of evangelism.

6

Changes in culture require fresh ways of reaching people and doing church Church planting is necessary because rapid change in culture often makes it difficult for existing churches to keep up. Where churches are highly resistant to change, church planting becomes a better option.

for young people, encourage cohesion and bring about positive social change.

9

Population growth requires church planting Many European cities have become huge and diverse urban sprawls due to population shift and immigration. Church plants are required to meet this need.

10

Development of gift in existing churches requires an outlet One of the challenges for existing churches, especially large ones, is how to make use of all the gifts available. Untapped energy and gift will lead to a sense of frustration.

Church planting gives the opportunity to release this potential.

This edition of e-vision is dedicated to church planting. GLO has a heart to plant churches all across Europe. Throughout this magazine we will mention specific places where we would like to plant churches in the future. If you would like to know more about any of these locations or learn about church planting, then please contact me: smcquoid@glo-europe.org. We would love you to work with us to see new churches established in this needy continent.

7

The presence of subcultures in society require culturally nuanced churches to reach people A huge change that has taken place in society over the past 50 years is the appearance of a great many subcultures throughout Europe.

Sometimes these subcultures are defined by language or religious belief, at other times by private interests and lifestyle such as the biker community, the clubbing community or young urban professionals. In some of these situations existing churches might not be equipped to reach out or disciple effectively, so church planting is the answer.

8

Church planting gives life to a community The social impact of new churches can be immense.

Many churches have been greatly used

by God to ease community tensions, care for the poor and the marginalised, provide positive outlets and mentoring

10 Good Reasons to Plant a Church

by Stephen McQuoid

3

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

g n i t n a l P h c r u Ch in the

by John Speirs

O

y r u t n e C

t

s 21

4

een ve b s ha life rche ing chu ring New up b g is ngin h T ht . spri y t i roug l vita as b h and ent f lopm ms o deve new for it with hat t rch the chu ent plem com al ’ ition urch trad d ch here ‘gat el mod

ne of the most exciting developments in European Christianity over the past few years have been the increased focus on church planting. While Christendom has collapsed and evangelicalism remains small, all over the continent new churches have been springing up bringing life and vitality. This development has brought with it new forms of church that complement the traditional ‘gathered church’ model.

A good example of innovation is cell church which has seen growth, particularly in the UK. There are different varieties of cell church but they contain the same basic ingredient of Christians gathering together in small groups enjoying the benefits of close fellowship, often in someone’s home. Often cell groups cluster in geographical locations so that they can support each other and frequently share the same leadership structure.

The emphasis on simplicity is strong so the term ‘simple church’ is sometimes preferred.

Café church is a similar kind of innovation with the emphasis on developing relationships in a relaxed setting. In city centres where purposebuilt church buildings would be expensive and where young professionals feel at home, café church has proved to be a significant blessing.

Community churches have also been impacting.

While every church ought to be a community, this particular model of church takes the issue to a whole new level. The focus of many community churches is not just the declaration of the gospel, but rather ‘being church’ in the community, caring about local issues such as crime, homelessness and debt. This social dimension has made a difference, especially in areas of social deprivation.

We should not forget commuter churches either which have tended to be larger and rely on the willingness of people to travel miles to get to a church that meets their needs. They seek to run dynamic multimedia services with high quality music and a varied, engaging programme. The rationale is that if church is done well people will come.

As well as a diversity of church models there has been diversity in the way churches are planted. One of the most popular could be termed the mother/

daughter approach. Stated simply, this involves an existing church sending out a significant group of its members to begin a new church. Sometimes this situation has evolved naturally because a significant number of church members live in a particular geographical area and perhaps attend a house-group there. The advantage of planting in this way is that the new church begins life with an already mature group of Christians who know each other and work well together. Moreover the new church will have a strong relationship with the mother church and will derive support from it.

An adaptation of the mother /daughter church plant is when a larger church identifies a small group of Christians trying to develop something and it adopts this work as its own. Sometimes the adopted group is a church that once thrived but is now dying. History tells us that unless the reason for decline is radically addressed, this situation will be a drain on resources and will not work. Wisdom and discernment are needed.

Church planting also occurs in a collaborative way when several churches work together to plant a new one. Often this happens because none of the partnering churches feel they can establish a new church on their own. Collaborations sound good on paper, but issues such as ecclesiology, geography, methodology and levels of input need to be agreed on. However these are not insurmountable and collaborative church plants have happened not just between churches in the same denomination but also interdenominationally.

As well as planned approaches to church planting, there are ways in which churches have come into being without initially being intended. I call this spontaneous generation. This happened in the New Testament in Antioch. Today there are situations where Christians living is areas where no church exists have led people to faith and once they have a group of converts around them they have decided that the best way of caring for these people is to form a church, even though this was not their original intention. Another unplanned way in which churches have been planted is

as a result of a church split. Churches inherently have problems and internal tensions and, sadly, this sometimes ends up in a parting of the ways.

Hindsight would suggest that planting out is always better than splitting because it causes less hurt, however, some good can come from a split if both groups move forward and establish vibrant churches and when this happens the Kingdom can still be extended.

Church planting has also been done by mission groups (including GLO). Frequently mission groups have sent either a gifted individual or a team into an area where no church exists so they can church plant. This has been done in a variety of ways. Sometimes, the team is comprised entirely of people who are ‘full-time’ Christian workers, at other times the team consists of both full-time church planters and people with regular jobs who will commit to being part of the team.

One of the differences between this method and the ones mentioned above is that the mission team is accountable to an organisation as well as a church. The team will also normally consist of people from different churches and indeed even from different countries. It is also generally the case that these team members will have gone through a fairly rigorous application and training process organised by the mission organisation and may be part of a pan-national strategy.

Where individuals rather than teams have planted a church they have tended to be very driven and gifted people. They are totally focussed on the task of planting their church and are not easily deterred. They possess something that cannot be taught in a Bible college and that is the sheer determination to succeed. Some have even become serial church planters, that is, they have moved from one church plant to the next and seem to be able to plant a church in a remarkably short period of time.

The lesson that we need to learn from this is that church planting can happen in many different ways utilising a variety of approaches.

This does not mean it is an easy task! It does, however, demonstrate that it is possible, indeed it is happening all over Europe. Given the enormous spiritual needs of Europe and the many communities with no church, we should make church planting an absolute priority. If you belong to a good sized church that has been in existence for decades but never planted, perhaps questions need to be asked, especially if there are areas in your town or city with no church. If you are a committed Christian who believes in evangelism and think your church could survive without you, perhaps you could think about getting involved in church planting. You could be part of a plant out from your own church, the new church might even begin in your home. Perhaps God wants you to sell your house and move somewhere where there are very few Christians so that you can begin something exciting for him. It may even be that God is calling you to give up your job and train at Tilsley College so as to prepare you for whatever he has in store for you. If any of these things were to happen you would be joining an exciting movement of church planters who are helping to transform the spiritual landscape in Europe. Does that interest you? Why not contact us and we might be able to work together on this.

by Stephen McQuoid

5

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

g n i t n a l P h c r u Ch in the

by John Speirs

O

y r u t n e C

t

s 21

4

een ve b s ha life rche ing chu ring New up b g is ngin h T ht . spri y t i roug l vita as b h and ent f lopm ms o deve new for it with hat t rch the chu ent plem com al ’ ition urch trad d ch here ‘gat el mod

ne of the most exciting developments in European Christianity over the past few years have been the increased focus on church planting. While Christendom has collapsed and evangelicalism remains small, all over the continent new churches have been springing up bringing life and vitality. This development has brought with it new forms of church that complement the traditional ‘gathered church’ model.

A good example of innovation is cell church which has seen growth, particularly in the UK. There are different varieties of cell church but they contain the same basic ingredient of Christians gathering together in small groups enjoying the benefits of close fellowship, often in someone’s home. Often cell groups cluster in geographical locations so that they can support each other and frequently share the same leadership structure.

The emphasis on simplicity is strong so the term ‘simple church’ is sometimes preferred.

Café church is a similar kind of innovation with the emphasis on developing relationships in a relaxed setting. In city centres where purposebuilt church buildings would be expensive and where young professionals feel at home, café church has proved to be a significant blessing.

Community churches have also been impacting.

While every church ought to be a community, this particular model of church takes the issue to a whole new level. The focus of many community churches is not just the declaration of the gospel, but rather ‘being church’ in the community, caring about local issues such as crime, homelessness and debt. This social dimension has made a difference, especially in areas of social deprivation.

We should not forget commuter churches either which have tended to be larger and rely on the willingness of people to travel miles to get to a church that meets their needs. They seek to run dynamic multimedia services with high quality music and a varied, engaging programme. The rationale is that if church is done well people will come.

As well as a diversity of church models there has been diversity in the way churches are planted. One of the most popular could be termed the mother/

daughter approach. Stated simply, this involves an existing church sending out a significant group of its members to begin a new church. Sometimes this situation has evolved naturally because a significant number of church members live in a particular geographical area and perhaps attend a house-group there. The advantage of planting in this way is that the new church begins life with an already mature group of Christians who know each other and work well together. Moreover the new church will have a strong relationship with the mother church and will derive support from it.

An adaptation of the mother /daughter church plant is when a larger church identifies a small group of Christians trying to develop something and it adopts this work as its own. Sometimes the adopted group is a church that once thrived but is now dying. History tells us that unless the reason for decline is radically addressed, this situation will be a drain on resources and will not work. Wisdom and discernment are needed.

Church planting also occurs in a collaborative way when several churches work together to plant a new one. Often this happens because none of the partnering churches feel they can establish a new church on their own. Collaborations sound good on paper, but issues such as ecclesiology, geography, methodology and levels of input need to be agreed on. However these are not insurmountable and collaborative church plants have happened not just between churches in the same denomination but also interdenominationally.

As well as planned approaches to church planting, there are ways in which churches have come into being without initially being intended. I call this spontaneous generation. This happened in the New Testament in Antioch. Today there are situations where Christians living is areas where no church exists have led people to faith and once they have a group of converts around them they have decided that the best way of caring for these people is to form a church, even though this was not their original intention. Another unplanned way in which churches have been planted is

as a result of a church split. Churches inherently have problems and internal tensions and, sadly, this sometimes ends up in a parting of the ways.

Hindsight would suggest that planting out is always better than splitting because it causes less hurt, however, some good can come from a split if both groups move forward and establish vibrant churches and when this happens the Kingdom can still be extended.

Church planting has also been done by mission groups (including GLO). Frequently mission groups have sent either a gifted individual or a team into an area where no church exists so they can church plant. This has been done in a variety of ways. Sometimes, the team is comprised entirely of people who are ‘full-time’ Christian workers, at other times the team consists of both full-time church planters and people with regular jobs who will commit to being part of the team.

One of the differences between this method and the ones mentioned above is that the mission team is accountable to an organisation as well as a church. The team will also normally consist of people from different churches and indeed even from different countries. It is also generally the case that these team members will have gone through a fairly rigorous application and training process organised by the mission organisation and may be part of a pan-national strategy.

Where individuals rather than teams have planted a church they have tended to be very driven and gifted people. They are totally focussed on the task of planting their church and are not easily deterred. They possess something that cannot be taught in a Bible college and that is the sheer determination to succeed. Some have even become serial church planters, that is, they have moved from one church plant to the next and seem to be able to plant a church in a remarkably short period of time.

The lesson that we need to learn from this is that church planting can happen in many different ways utilising a variety of approaches.

This does not mean it is an easy task! It does, however, demonstrate that it is possible, indeed it is happening all over Europe. Given the enormous spiritual needs of Europe and the many communities with no church, we should make church planting an absolute priority. If you belong to a good sized church that has been in existence for decades but never planted, perhaps questions need to be asked, especially if there are areas in your town or city with no church. If you are a committed Christian who believes in evangelism and think your church could survive without you, perhaps you could think about getting involved in church planting. You could be part of a plant out from your own church, the new church might even begin in your home. Perhaps God wants you to sell your house and move somewhere where there are very few Christians so that you can begin something exciting for him. It may even be that God is calling you to give up your job and train at Tilsley College so as to prepare you for whatever he has in store for you. If any of these things were to happen you would be joining an exciting movement of church planters who are helping to transform the spiritual landscape in Europe. Does that interest you? Why not contact us and we might be able to work together on this.

by Stephen McQuoid

5

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

‘Building a

Church Planting Church’

“My dream is not to become a king”, said someone, “but to put crowns on the heads of kings around me”

by Philippe Perrilliat

I

n a country with only one church for every 35,000 people, church planting in France is a vision that meets a real need. Some years ago, a group of church planters met and dreamed. Their dream was to see one day the intermediary goal of one church for every 10,000 people. The journey to reach this goal would perhaps be long, but this was a starting point.

The best locations to realise this goal are cities and towns, preferably with big universities.

Situated not far from Marseille, the town of Aixen-Provence, with a population of 140,000, has less than one church for every 10,000 inhabitants, and a campus population of 35,000 students.

However, church planting is not only about figures, it is firstly about call and vision. My wife and I were ready to leave Marseille, after 22 years of pioneering, in order to start again. When my phone

6

rang that afternoon of September 2012, I was praying, and once more Aix-en-Provence came to my mind. “Hi, who’s there?” I said. It was Brad Dickson, who had pioneered for the last 25 years in Grenoble. “Philippe”, he said, “I am going to share with you something a little bit…crazy”.

Coming from such a quiet and modest person, the statement awakened my curiosity. Brad and I were good friends, who had worked together for the last 10 years running camps for young adults.

“Phil”, he continued, “my wife and I are ready to leave Grenoble and come to help you in the south, to work with you and Marie. We have on our heart to come to Aix…”.

The rest of the story included many prayer meetings between us, and lots of consultation with different boards and resource people. When God calls he makes things clear. As all the lights became green, we prayed for a team.

Two years later, the team came together – 13 people coming from all over France, Germany, and even Korea! We all moved to Aix and found flats (when many said this would not be easy). The team is composed of full-time Christian workers and also some in secular employment, (an engineer, nurse, teacher, social worker, psychologist, gardener...). Jobs were found, and the work started, not easy, but exciting - understanding a new culture, confronting new challenges, new schools, new neighbours, and new colleagues.

Open airs held regularly in a park proved to be a means of reaching lots of students. Then came the vision of buying a building. With a low level of support the very idea was a huge challenge; a full time church planter has less support than a church pastor, for instance. This is the reason why many genuine church planters are sometimes obliged to accept a job as a pastor, when in fact their gifting would be better used in a church plant situation.

This is another challenge! An old lady gave us £10 one day – small beginnings should not be despised!

One year later, people had promised gifts for half of the total sum. We continued to pray, and in the meantime rented a restaurant for our initial meetings. People have now been added by the Lord to the team and we are a small community of twenty, plus children. We already have seen two baptisms, with a third one coming soon.

Our goal is to create a community in this town, a community of disciples who are making disciples. This requires understanding and fitting

by Philippe Perrilliat

into our community, being visible, meeting the authorities and having inclusive projects. The church we want to see planted in Aix is not an end in itself. Around Aix, there are seven other locations with less than one church for 10,000 people. The actual church plant can be used as an opportunity to train several other church planters, and, even before the task is ‘finished’ in Aix, to send them to those locations, situated less than one hour’s drive from the hub. In September 2016, we want to start a Training Centre for new church planters working in close partnership with Bible schools and mission agencies.

There are many other challenges that we have to face. “My dream is not to become a king”, said someone, “but to put crowns on the heads of kings around me”. This is what represents a reproducible church planting model.

All across the country of France, there are many other towns that could be a location for other such ventures, among them: Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Salon de Provence, Rennes, Nantes, Reims, Lille…

There are many people who are waiting for a group of dedicated disciples to meet them, and who in turn will become vibrant disciples of Jesus Christ, ready to reproduce their spiritual life in others. France is not an exception, nor is Europe.

Mission can be here and now. The Spirit of God is blowing on our European continent too, as he does in other faraway places. A church planting team can sometimes be compared to a small sail. The wind power belongs to our God. We still need new sailors, by this I mean, new workers to be sent. If you have found this article helpful please don’t put down the magazine without praying. Pray as did Jesus, the Master, and Ultimate Disciple Maker, who prayed for people to be sent, for he never doubted that “the harvest was ready”!

7

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

‘Building a

Church Planting Church’

“My dream is not to become a king”, said someone, “but to put crowns on the heads of kings around me”

by Philippe Perrilliat

I

n a country with only one church for every 35,000 people, church planting in France is a vision that meets a real need. Some years ago, a group of church planters met and dreamed. Their dream was to see one day the intermediary goal of one church for every 10,000 people. The journey to reach this goal would perhaps be long, but this was a starting point.

The best locations to realise this goal are cities and towns, preferably with big universities.

Situated not far from Marseille, the town of Aixen-Provence, with a population of 140,000, has less than one church for every 10,000 inhabitants, and a campus population of 35,000 students.

However, church planting is not only about figures, it is firstly about call and vision. My wife and I were ready to leave Marseille, after 22 years of pioneering, in order to start again. When my phone

6

rang that afternoon of September 2012, I was praying, and once more Aix-en-Provence came to my mind. “Hi, who’s there?” I said. It was Brad Dickson, who had pioneered for the last 25 years in Grenoble. “Philippe”, he said, “I am going to share with you something a little bit…crazy”.

Coming from such a quiet and modest person, the statement awakened my curiosity. Brad and I were good friends, who had worked together for the last 10 years running camps for young adults.

“Phil”, he continued, “my wife and I are ready to leave Grenoble and come to help you in the south, to work with you and Marie. We have on our heart to come to Aix…”.

The rest of the story included many prayer meetings between us, and lots of consultation with different boards and resource people. When God calls he makes things clear. As all the lights became green, we prayed for a team.

Two years later, the team came together – 13 people coming from all over France, Germany, and even Korea! We all moved to Aix and found flats (when many said this would not be easy). The team is composed of full-time Christian workers and also some in secular employment, (an engineer, nurse, teacher, social worker, psychologist, gardener...). Jobs were found, and the work started, not easy, but exciting - understanding a new culture, confronting new challenges, new schools, new neighbours, and new colleagues.

Open airs held regularly in a park proved to be a means of reaching lots of students. Then came the vision of buying a building. With a low level of support the very idea was a huge challenge; a full time church planter has less support than a church pastor, for instance. This is the reason why many genuine church planters are sometimes obliged to accept a job as a pastor, when in fact their gifting would be better used in a church plant situation.

This is another challenge! An old lady gave us £10 one day – small beginnings should not be despised!

One year later, people had promised gifts for half of the total sum. We continued to pray, and in the meantime rented a restaurant for our initial meetings. People have now been added by the Lord to the team and we are a small community of twenty, plus children. We already have seen two baptisms, with a third one coming soon.

Our goal is to create a community in this town, a community of disciples who are making disciples. This requires understanding and fitting

by Philippe Perrilliat

into our community, being visible, meeting the authorities and having inclusive projects. The church we want to see planted in Aix is not an end in itself. Around Aix, there are seven other locations with less than one church for 10,000 people. The actual church plant can be used as an opportunity to train several other church planters, and, even before the task is ‘finished’ in Aix, to send them to those locations, situated less than one hour’s drive from the hub. In September 2016, we want to start a Training Centre for new church planters working in close partnership with Bible schools and mission agencies.

There are many other challenges that we have to face. “My dream is not to become a king”, said someone, “but to put crowns on the heads of kings around me”. This is what represents a reproducible church planting model.

All across the country of France, there are many other towns that could be a location for other such ventures, among them: Toulouse, Bordeaux, Montpellier, Salon de Provence, Rennes, Nantes, Reims, Lille…

There are many people who are waiting for a group of dedicated disciples to meet them, and who in turn will become vibrant disciples of Jesus Christ, ready to reproduce their spiritual life in others. France is not an exception, nor is Europe.

Mission can be here and now. The Spirit of God is blowing on our European continent too, as he does in other faraway places. A church planting team can sometimes be compared to a small sail. The wind power belongs to our God. We still need new sailors, by this I mean, new workers to be sent. If you have found this article helpful please don’t put down the magazine without praying. Pray as did Jesus, the Master, and Ultimate Disciple Maker, who prayed for people to be sent, for he never doubted that “the harvest was ready”!

7

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

Opportunities to serve with GLO in Church Planting

SCOTLAND Several people are needed to church plant in the greater Glasgow area.

FRANCE People are needed to help in church planting in Aixen-Provence, Rennes and Salon de Provence.

ITALY

Piemonte: Mombello Monferrato (Alessandria) • A mature couple, who have experience and a desire to help in the only evangelical church in the area.

• A couple or individual to help a small group of Christians in Brusasco primarily with evangelism.

Molise • Experienced ‘English as a Second Language’ teachers.

• Children and Youth Workers.

• University students - be a help and blessing to the church while studying.

• Church planters - a younger couple, open to living in a small town setting.

• Tent makers - anyone with the possibility of bringing their work with them to move to Molise.

Naples - Campania region • A couple to work in the Fuorigrotta church in the centre of Naples.

• A couple to work in the province of Avellino, preferably in a tent-making capacity. The ability to teach English or Spanish is a significant advantage.

by Patrizio Zucchetto

ALBANIA People are needed to help in a variety of ministries in Vlorë, Albania.

For further details contact Stephen McQuoid: smcquoid@glo-europe.org

Preparing the Ground M

y desire to share the gospel in Campania (the Greater Naples area) brought me to the knowledge that the heart of my region is a mission field. Precisely the county of Avellino, the Irpinia region. Irpinia has 119 towns a population of around 429,000 and very little evangelical presence, just 33 churches in 30 of the towns. We have covered 29 towns of the 86 that don’t have a church. How? Let me explain.

We began ‘preparing the ground’ with prayer and researching the territory. Jennifer and I travelled around getting to know better the infrastructure and the possibility for mission. Our desire is to evangelise unreached areas. Just as the apostle Paul preached the gospel where it had not been preached. We became aware that even though we were in the same region of Napoli, the culture and life style changed. There’s a lot of Catholic religiosity- part of identity and belonging, lots of tradition and above all superstition and idolatry. In this phase we have a large project. To distribute the gospel of John to every family in every

8

town and village that has no evangelical church. Starting with the towns that are known and have a good town centre “i.e markets or main streets where people meet or shop. The people from smaller towns visit them on a regular basis.

Slow work? Yes. Generally the people of this province take much more time to open up and talk, partly due to culture but also a closed tradition. The first thing that strikes you when you enter each town is that they are structured in a similar way. There’s the main square and beside it the town hall just beyond it the Roman Catholic cathedral nearby there is a war memorial monument dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives in the 1st and 2nd world wars. In some of the villages it appears that time has stopped 30 years ago!

Our strategy is to get to know these villages, walking through the streets, going to every house to place the gospel of John, a reply card that offers a Bible, a postal Bible study or a booklet called ‘The gift’.

This work is being fulfilled by the help of GLO teams or by Italian youth groups. We have days ‘in mission’ where a team from our church in Fuorigrotta Naples come to reach a town in a day then returning home late in the evening. Another project is the distribution of calendars each year, then at Easter and All Saints Day a booklet.

We are evangelising two strategic towns, firstly Solofra with 12,000 inhabitants. Solofra is known for its leather factories for this reason we get the chance to be in touch with people from different towns as they come for work or shopping. Once a month we have a book table in the market offering literature. Occasionally we have open air meetings in the square. Over time we have been building up contacts and slowly we are gaining their trust. We know the authorities and different shopkeepers. The

town Serino has 7000 inhabitants, it is famous for tourism due to Mount Termino and its beautiful views.

In September we started a book table in the market. In August a lady replied a year after having distributed in her town (Montefalcione 3300 inhabitants) asking for a Bible. She had chosen not to throw away the gospel or card. This is such an encouragement because God promises that His Word does not fall to the ground empty. It seems to be just like that in Irpinia (the name of this region).

Our desire is to see a missionary resident team in this part of the region. We trust the Lord will open a door for us. Pray our place and ministries will soon be filled in Fuorigrotta Naples so that we can seriously focus on the next goals and take the next step. We desire to put down roots in the new fertile ground in the heart of Campania. We are faithfully praying that the Lord of the harvest is ‘preparing and equipping a team of workers’ who are up for the challenge in this spiritually arid land.

We began 'preparing the ground' with prayer and researching the territory. Our desire is to evangelise unreached areas.

9

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

Opportunities to serve with GLO in Church Planting

SCOTLAND Several people are needed to church plant in the greater Glasgow area.

FRANCE People are needed to help in church planting in Aixen-Provence, Rennes and Salon de Provence.

ITALY

Piemonte: Mombello Monferrato (Alessandria) • A mature couple, who have experience and a desire to help in the only evangelical church in the area.

• A couple or individual to help a small group of Christians in Brusasco primarily with evangelism.

Molise • Experienced ‘English as a Second Language’ teachers.

• Children and Youth Workers.

• University students - be a help and blessing to the church while studying.

• Church planters - a younger couple, open to living in a small town setting.

• Tent makers - anyone with the possibility of bringing their work with them to move to Molise.

Naples - Campania region • A couple to work in the Fuorigrotta church in the centre of Naples.

• A couple to work in the province of Avellino, preferably in a tent-making capacity. The ability to teach English or Spanish is a significant advantage.

by Patrizio Zucchetto

ALBANIA People are needed to help in a variety of ministries in Vlorë, Albania.

For further details contact Stephen McQuoid: smcquoid@glo-europe.org

Preparing the Ground M

y desire to share the gospel in Campania (the Greater Naples area) brought me to the knowledge that the heart of my region is a mission field. Precisely the county of Avellino, the Irpinia region. Irpinia has 119 towns a population of around 429,000 and very little evangelical presence, just 33 churches in 30 of the towns. We have covered 29 towns of the 86 that don’t have a church. How? Let me explain.

We began ‘preparing the ground’ with prayer and researching the territory. Jennifer and I travelled around getting to know better the infrastructure and the possibility for mission. Our desire is to evangelise unreached areas. Just as the apostle Paul preached the gospel where it had not been preached. We became aware that even though we were in the same region of Napoli, the culture and life style changed. There’s a lot of Catholic religiosity- part of identity and belonging, lots of tradition and above all superstition and idolatry. In this phase we have a large project. To distribute the gospel of John to every family in every

8

town and village that has no evangelical church. Starting with the towns that are known and have a good town centre “i.e markets or main streets where people meet or shop. The people from smaller towns visit them on a regular basis.

Slow work? Yes. Generally the people of this province take much more time to open up and talk, partly due to culture but also a closed tradition. The first thing that strikes you when you enter each town is that they are structured in a similar way. There’s the main square and beside it the town hall just beyond it the Roman Catholic cathedral nearby there is a war memorial monument dedicated to the soldiers who lost their lives in the 1st and 2nd world wars. In some of the villages it appears that time has stopped 30 years ago!

Our strategy is to get to know these villages, walking through the streets, going to every house to place the gospel of John, a reply card that offers a Bible, a postal Bible study or a booklet called ‘The gift’.

This work is being fulfilled by the help of GLO teams or by Italian youth groups. We have days ‘in mission’ where a team from our church in Fuorigrotta Naples come to reach a town in a day then returning home late in the evening. Another project is the distribution of calendars each year, then at Easter and All Saints Day a booklet.

We are evangelising two strategic towns, firstly Solofra with 12,000 inhabitants. Solofra is known for its leather factories for this reason we get the chance to be in touch with people from different towns as they come for work or shopping. Once a month we have a book table in the market offering literature. Occasionally we have open air meetings in the square. Over time we have been building up contacts and slowly we are gaining their trust. We know the authorities and different shopkeepers. The

town Serino has 7000 inhabitants, it is famous for tourism due to Mount Termino and its beautiful views.

In September we started a book table in the market. In August a lady replied a year after having distributed in her town (Montefalcione 3300 inhabitants) asking for a Bible. She had chosen not to throw away the gospel or card. This is such an encouragement because God promises that His Word does not fall to the ground empty. It seems to be just like that in Irpinia (the name of this region).

Our desire is to see a missionary resident team in this part of the region. We trust the Lord will open a door for us. Pray our place and ministries will soon be filled in Fuorigrotta Naples so that we can seriously focus on the next goals and take the next step. We desire to put down roots in the new fertile ground in the heart of Campania. We are faithfully praying that the Lord of the harvest is ‘preparing and equipping a team of workers’ who are up for the challenge in this spiritually arid land.

We began 'preparing the ground' with prayer and researching the territory. Our desire is to evangelise unreached areas.

9

GLO Europe

E

nniscorthy Christian Fellowship started officially in March 2004. As a GLO team we had been thrilled to see a small community of Christians come together over the previous 5 years through a variety of outreaches including door-to-door work, Bible studies, coffee mornings, children’s and youth clubs.

It was so exciting to start worshipping and serving together as a church in an area of such obvious spiritual need. However, looking back we realise now that we had no idea of all of the ups and downs that we would go through together.

Over the past 11 years there have been many changes. The other GLO workers moved on and my

GLO Europe

sister Magdalene joined us in 2005. Some of our initial church members are still with us, but many others have moved away for work, while some have sadly drifted in their faith. But through it all, God has continued to touch hearts, change lives and build his church.

We’re still a young church. These Sundays we have between 50-70 people meeting, with just under half being children and young people. Many are young Christians, rejoicing in their new-found freedom in Christ and learning from God’s Word for the very first time. It has been amazing to see many people declare their faith in Christ, be baptised, pray in public, share from God’s Word and step into a variety of ministry roles.

However we still struggle to see people with the spiritual maturity for the challenges of leadership.

I am still the only elder and take the responsibility of the Bible teaching just about every Sunday.

Magdalene is working on building a worship team but she still needs to be present every Sunday to lead this. We are so encouraged to have many young people helping at our children’s and youth ministries, but our presence is essential both to run these ministries and train these young workers.

It has also been so encouraging to see the level of care expressed within our fellowship. God has impacted many people’s lives through this love.

However, I still spend a lot of my time speaking individually to those who have major issues in their lives. I don’t have any expertise in this area, but seek to listen carefully and advise biblically those who are struggling with marriage, abuse, mentalhealth, family, financial and spiritual problems.

We also don’t have a building to call our own and so at times we struggle to find places to run our various ministries. Our worship services are at present held in a restaurant connected with a community workshop for special needs, and it can get very tiring setting up and tidying away all our equipment every Sunday.

We are encouraged to have many young people helping at our children's and youth ministries

There is still a lot of practical work that Lorna and I need to do to keep our church functioning from things like website maintenance to finances and publicity. Sometimes it can be frustrating as we feel we don’t have as much time as before to actively reach out to those in our community.

However, we passionately believe that the most effective way that we will see Enniscorthy and this area impacted for Christ is through a changed, committed, celebrating, caring and contagious community of his people. We believe, and have started to see the evidence of this, that the local church can be much more effective than a mission team could ever be.

And so we are praying that God will empower us ‘to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.’ Ephesians 4:12 and that we will see more and more come to know the love of Christ, become passionate followers of Jesus, members of his body and committed ambassadors of Christ to take his message of grace to their friends, family, neighbours and colleagues in Enniscorthy!

Keeping The Church Plant Growing

by Andrew Burt

10

by Andrew Lacey

Church Planting Resources I

am delighted to contribute a few words about ‘books on church planting’ for this edition of e-vision! Firstly, though, it’s only right to say that we need to rely on the Bible, the ultimate Church Planting Manual, whenever we think or look at church planting. Difficulties faced by church planters today are as nothing compared to the issues confronted by the early apostles. Yet, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, they succeeded in most remarkable ways – turning the world upside down in the process!

The first book to look at is the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, closely followed by the Epistles of Paul – describing the vibrant spread of the Good News, and then the corrections and encouragements needed by the young churches. Look into the Gospel of John to see how Jesus himself describes the values that should characterise his churches.

Read the Letters to the Churches in Revelation to see how the Saviour is deeply concerned for the new churches his apostles have planted. Take time to read through these sections – or the entire New Testament! – in a modern ‘thought-for-thought’ translation like the NLT or The Message. Let the Word of God re-kindle your wonder at his amazing power, the Spirit moving in a pagan, hostile world, calling out a new people for himself.

What’s changed? Very little! The world we live in is still pagan and hostile, but God still moves in grace and power. The history of the New Testament church is now backed up by the stories of new movements of God, and our Bookshop has many books that examine both these stories, and offer advice for existing or would-be church planters.

GLO partnered with other organisations in publishing ‘Fresh Shoots in Stony Ground’, a series of practical essays on the challenges of church planting, aiming to give practical advice on how to plant churches successfully, discussing the theological framework for church planting, gives wise advice and tells ten honest stories of real-life church plants.

Graham Beynon’s ‘Planting for the Gospel’ is an excellent guide, recognising that no church starts out the same and there are several different models that can be followed.

Coming from an author with real experience, this is a tremendously practical and helpful introduction that will lay the foundations for a group of Christian people, a church, to be committed to one another; praying, learning and growing together; seeking to be healthy, flourishing and biblically grounded.

‘Planting Churches’ comes from the pen of Stuart Murray, who has written extensively

Fresh Shoots in Stony Ground Normally £9.99 – e-vision price £6.00 Planting for the Gospel Normally £5.99 – e-vision price £4.00 Planting Churches Normally £9.99 – e-vision price £8.00 The Nuts & Bolts of Church Planting Normally £10.99 – e-vision price £10.00 FREE post & packing in the UK, overseas post & packing at cost. Offers end 31st March 2016

on the subject of church planting. Although still very practical, this book looks in a more in-depth and analytical manner at church planting, across a wider range of different traditions.

‘The Nuts & Bolts of Church Planting’ is a contribution by highly respected churchplanting expert, Aubrey Malphurs. The book does come from an American perspective, but the writer succinctly shares the basic steps any church planter will need, regardless of generation or location, now or in the future.

Yet with the aid of the Holy Spirit, they succeeded in the most remarkable ways turning the world upside down

11

GLO Europe

E

nniscorthy Christian Fellowship started officially in March 2004. As a GLO team we had been thrilled to see a small community of Christians come together over the previous 5 years through a variety of outreaches including door-to-door work, Bible studies, coffee mornings, children’s and youth clubs.

It was so exciting to start worshipping and serving together as a church in an area of such obvious spiritual need. However, looking back we realise now that we had no idea of all of the ups and downs that we would go through together.

Over the past 11 years there have been many changes. The other GLO workers moved on and my

GLO Europe

sister Magdalene joined us in 2005. Some of our initial church members are still with us, but many others have moved away for work, while some have sadly drifted in their faith. But through it all, God has continued to touch hearts, change lives and build his church.

We’re still a young church. These Sundays we have between 50-70 people meeting, with just under half being children and young people. Many are young Christians, rejoicing in their new-found freedom in Christ and learning from God’s Word for the very first time. It has been amazing to see many people declare their faith in Christ, be baptised, pray in public, share from God’s Word and step into a variety of ministry roles.

However we still struggle to see people with the spiritual maturity for the challenges of leadership.

I am still the only elder and take the responsibility of the Bible teaching just about every Sunday.

Magdalene is working on building a worship team but she still needs to be present every Sunday to lead this. We are so encouraged to have many young people helping at our children’s and youth ministries, but our presence is essential both to run these ministries and train these young workers.

It has also been so encouraging to see the level of care expressed within our fellowship. God has impacted many people’s lives through this love.

However, I still spend a lot of my time speaking individually to those who have major issues in their lives. I don’t have any expertise in this area, but seek to listen carefully and advise biblically those who are struggling with marriage, abuse, mentalhealth, family, financial and spiritual problems.

We also don’t have a building to call our own and so at times we struggle to find places to run our various ministries. Our worship services are at present held in a restaurant connected with a community workshop for special needs, and it can get very tiring setting up and tidying away all our equipment every Sunday.

We are encouraged to have many young people helping at our children's and youth ministries

There is still a lot of practical work that Lorna and I need to do to keep our church functioning from things like website maintenance to finances and publicity. Sometimes it can be frustrating as we feel we don’t have as much time as before to actively reach out to those in our community.

However, we passionately believe that the most effective way that we will see Enniscorthy and this area impacted for Christ is through a changed, committed, celebrating, caring and contagious community of his people. We believe, and have started to see the evidence of this, that the local church can be much more effective than a mission team could ever be.

And so we are praying that God will empower us ‘to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.’ Ephesians 4:12 and that we will see more and more come to know the love of Christ, become passionate followers of Jesus, members of his body and committed ambassadors of Christ to take his message of grace to their friends, family, neighbours and colleagues in Enniscorthy!

Keeping The Church Plant Growing

by Andrew Burt

10

by Andrew Lacey

Church Planting Resources I

am delighted to contribute a few words about ‘books on church planting’ for this edition of e-vision! Firstly, though, it’s only right to say that we need to rely on the Bible, the ultimate Church Planting Manual, whenever we think or look at church planting. Difficulties faced by church planters today are as nothing compared to the issues confronted by the early apostles. Yet, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, they succeeded in most remarkable ways – turning the world upside down in the process!

The first book to look at is the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, closely followed by the Epistles of Paul – describing the vibrant spread of the Good News, and then the corrections and encouragements needed by the young churches. Look into the Gospel of John to see how Jesus himself describes the values that should characterise his churches.

Read the Letters to the Churches in Revelation to see how the Saviour is deeply concerned for the new churches his apostles have planted. Take time to read through these sections – or the entire New Testament! – in a modern ‘thought-for-thought’ translation like the NLT or The Message. Let the Word of God re-kindle your wonder at his amazing power, the Spirit moving in a pagan, hostile world, calling out a new people for himself.

What’s changed? Very little! The world we live in is still pagan and hostile, but God still moves in grace and power. The history of the New Testament church is now backed up by the stories of new movements of God, and our Bookshop has many books that examine both these stories, and offer advice for existing or would-be church planters.

GLO partnered with other organisations in publishing ‘Fresh Shoots in Stony Ground’, a series of practical essays on the challenges of church planting, aiming to give practical advice on how to plant churches successfully, discussing the theological framework for church planting, gives wise advice and tells ten honest stories of real-life church plants.

Graham Beynon’s ‘Planting for the Gospel’ is an excellent guide, recognising that no church starts out the same and there are several different models that can be followed.

Coming from an author with real experience, this is a tremendously practical and helpful introduction that will lay the foundations for a group of Christian people, a church, to be committed to one another; praying, learning and growing together; seeking to be healthy, flourishing and biblically grounded.

‘Planting Churches’ comes from the pen of Stuart Murray, who has written extensively

Fresh Shoots in Stony Ground Normally £9.99 – e-vision price £6.00 Planting for the Gospel Normally £5.99 – e-vision price £4.00 Planting Churches Normally £9.99 – e-vision price £8.00 The Nuts & Bolts of Church Planting Normally £10.99 – e-vision price £10.00 FREE post & packing in the UK, overseas post & packing at cost. Offers end 31st March 2016

on the subject of church planting. Although still very practical, this book looks in a more in-depth and analytical manner at church planting, across a wider range of different traditions.

‘The Nuts & Bolts of Church Planting’ is a contribution by highly respected churchplanting expert, Aubrey Malphurs. The book does come from an American perspective, but the writer succinctly shares the basic steps any church planter will need, regardless of generation or location, now or in the future.

Yet with the aid of the Holy Spirit, they succeeded in the most remarkable ways turning the world upside down

11

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

Mission Teams Change Lives Andy McLachlan - Avellino Province, Italy “My highlight of the GLO trip to Avellino was seeing God accomplish great things through a small group. Our diminutive team was able to spread the gospel en mass and openly preach in public despite local opposition due to God's provision.

He showed yet again he is capable of far more than our efforts by blessing our distributions, preaching and conversations.”

Katrin Nagy - Dömös, Hungary “Our evangelistic week for children from Pilismarót and Dömös broke all records. More than 70 children came and they could not be more different; we had Hungarians and gypsies, some from wealthy backgrounds and others from poor backgrounds, some with behaviour problems and others computer wizzes. At the beginning of the day we all met and sung enthusiastically about God's love.

Love knows no language barriers, and the 10 member English-speaking team led by Roger Brind impressed God's love on the children. It was a real experience for them.”

Alan Guy – Avellino Province, Italy “We enjoyed four days in Italy on this short team to deliver the Good News to Italian villages in the Avellino Province. The mission was marked by lovely weather and great scenery as we delivered copies of John's gospel to thousands of homes. We even managed to brush up on our Italian as we met local people on our book stall at the market in Solofra and as we held a public outreach event in the main square that evening. It was a great experience overall, and we were personally challenged as we shared the Good News through our testimonies and sang a song or two for the local people.......we also made the most of the local pizzeria which was an added bonus! As a short-term mission this is an ideal opportunity for people who have limited holidays available throughout the year and it is a team suitable for any age! It was also notable that this small gesture of support for four days made such a difference to the local missionaries and church.”

“Love knows no language barriers, and the 10 member English-speaking team led by Roger Brind impressed God's love on the children. It was a real experience for them.”

Ian Smith – Vlorë, Albania “The impact on the community, on team members and on the church in Albania was fantastic. God helped and encouraged us as a team and many were challenged and touched by the gospel. Opportunities to share were everywhere!”

“God really showed me that even before the team began he was hard at work in Eger - raising up local people to win their city for Christ.”

Pam McFadden, Eger, Hungary “It was so encouraging to see a young Christian teen coming along to our open air after receiving an invitation through the door. She came again the next day with flash cards; and taking the microphone, shared the gospel with her city so enthusiastically! God really showed me that even before the team began he was hard at work in Eger- raising up local people to win their city for Christ. It was great just to have a small part in that work and I'd recommend Hungary to anyone thinking about a team for next year!”

12

Lyndsey Marcu - Sázava, Czech Republic “Working in the GLO team allowed me to live out my faith through my actions!

It was a fantastic opportunity to get to know people at a personal level and share my faith in a very real way.”

Judith McKeown – Rambouillet, France “Seeing the passion the local Christians had for sharing their faith - we can often live in a Christian bubble in the UK and to see those with much less of a Christian support network sharing their faith was very inspiring!”

13

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

Mission Teams Change Lives Andy McLachlan - Avellino Province, Italy “My highlight of the GLO trip to Avellino was seeing God accomplish great things through a small group. Our diminutive team was able to spread the gospel en mass and openly preach in public despite local opposition due to God's provision.

He showed yet again he is capable of far more than our efforts by blessing our distributions, preaching and conversations.”

Katrin Nagy - Dömös, Hungary “Our evangelistic week for children from Pilismarót and Dömös broke all records. More than 70 children came and they could not be more different; we had Hungarians and gypsies, some from wealthy backgrounds and others from poor backgrounds, some with behaviour problems and others computer wizzes. At the beginning of the day we all met and sung enthusiastically about God's love.

Love knows no language barriers, and the 10 member English-speaking team led by Roger Brind impressed God's love on the children. It was a real experience for them.”

Alan Guy – Avellino Province, Italy “We enjoyed four days in Italy on this short team to deliver the Good News to Italian villages in the Avellino Province. The mission was marked by lovely weather and great scenery as we delivered copies of John's gospel to thousands of homes. We even managed to brush up on our Italian as we met local people on our book stall at the market in Solofra and as we held a public outreach event in the main square that evening. It was a great experience overall, and we were personally challenged as we shared the Good News through our testimonies and sang a song or two for the local people.......we also made the most of the local pizzeria which was an added bonus! As a short-term mission this is an ideal opportunity for people who have limited holidays available throughout the year and it is a team suitable for any age! It was also notable that this small gesture of support for four days made such a difference to the local missionaries and church.”

“Love knows no language barriers, and the 10 member English-speaking team led by Roger Brind impressed God's love on the children. It was a real experience for them.”

Ian Smith – Vlorë, Albania “The impact on the community, on team members and on the church in Albania was fantastic. God helped and encouraged us as a team and many were challenged and touched by the gospel. Opportunities to share were everywhere!”

“God really showed me that even before the team began he was hard at work in Eger - raising up local people to win their city for Christ.”

Pam McFadden, Eger, Hungary “It was so encouraging to see a young Christian teen coming along to our open air after receiving an invitation through the door. She came again the next day with flash cards; and taking the microphone, shared the gospel with her city so enthusiastically! God really showed me that even before the team began he was hard at work in Eger- raising up local people to win their city for Christ. It was great just to have a small part in that work and I'd recommend Hungary to anyone thinking about a team for next year!”

12

Lyndsey Marcu - Sázava, Czech Republic “Working in the GLO team allowed me to live out my faith through my actions!

It was a fantastic opportunity to get to know people at a personal level and share my faith in a very real way.”

Judith McKeown – Rambouillet, France “Seeing the passion the local Christians had for sharing their faith - we can often live in a Christian bubble in the UK and to see those with much less of a Christian support network sharing their faith was very inspiring!”

13

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

It is good to know about evangelism too.

After all, the key issue in church planting is talking to people about Christ, if we don’t do that, the church will never get planted. Good evangelism training helps the student understand what the gospel is and helps them to grasp the best methods for getting the message out.

3

This brings us to the issue of worldviews.

Again when a church is planted it involves people who not only are affected by their culture, but they will also have a belief system. They may be agnostic, Muslim, nominal Christian, Hindu, or atheist. Whatever they believe and whatever perspective they have on life it is important to understand the major faiths and philosophies of our culture so we can grasp where they are coming from.

4

First year Certificate students

First Serve participants

A

cross Europe many church leaders are excited. Their churches are replicating themselves by starting new churches as they achieve the goal of bringing a clear gospel message to the community at large.

However, other leaders are frustrated; following exactly the same model, they find they have lesser results. In other words, the way one person does something does not always translate to a different context; the impact you have on your community will be affected by the way you do things. Missionaries have known this for centuries.

One size does not fit all, but there are models that all leaders must be mindful of if they want to be successful in their specific mission context.

For many, the idea that one size does not fit all seems odd. After all, they do not think of Europe as being a mission field – there are already lots of churches! No matter what you believe about the European context – largely reached or unreached, sending nations or mission fields, Islamised or Christian, we can all agree that large segments of people in our society have not yet heard the Good News of Jesus.

Applying missionary principles in our European context means understanding our communities is a necessary prerequisite to reaching them with the gospel. GLO workers in Europe have been working on this principle for forty years, and for most of that time, Tilsley College has played a central role in preparing church planters for the mission field.

Over the last few years, the college has developed close links with the Church Planting Initiative (cpi-uk.org), which started when GLO, Counties, Partnership and Church Growth Trust brought together their experience and expertise. CPI-UK helps establish witnessing communities that replicate more churches, and has supported 21 church planters in the last 15 years.

Tilsley College offers courses in church planting in both the first and second years of its programmes.

James Hyde, the CPI Coordinator, is the main lecturer on these courses, joining Stephen McQuoid and others as they seek to answer the question, “How can we teach our leaders to move beyond recycling and reproducing church models and move towards a more mission minded approach in each of their unique settings?”

14

Preparing to Plant

by Stephen McQuoid

I Second Year Diploma students

Training to Plant

t seems a bit of an obvious question, but it is important none the less. If I am going to be involved in church planting, what kind of training do I need? There are, of course, those exceptional individuals who have launched into church planting without proper preparation and have succeed, however having met many people like this a common theme that comes through is that they generally wished they had undertaken some training before they began.

If however you have not begun to church plant and want to know how to prepare, here are a few training suggestions that you need to take on board:

You need to know what the church is. If you will spend the next 15 years of your life planting a church it helps to know what you are dealing with! That requires theological reflection in the area of ecclesiology. What does the Bible say about church and what structures should be built into it?

1

It would also be good to know about culture.

After all, no church plant takes place in a vacuum. Whenever we plant a church we do so in the context of a culture and one that will have made an indelible impression on every person who becomes a Christian and joins the church.

2

5

Given that we are dealing with worldviews, it is also important for church planters to have a grasp of apologetics so that can defend their Christian faith. When questions arise about the origin of the universe and of life, or about the historicity of the gospels or the uniqueness of Christ, it is important that the church planter can give credible answers.

6

We should also not forget the importance of the Bible itself. If new Christians are to grow in their faith they need to be taught the word of God which will become a foundation for their faith. And that means that the church planter will need to have a good grasp of the Bible and be able to interpret and communicate it.

Looking at this list seems daunting. How could anyone find enough time to focus on all of these issues and become sufficiently conversant with them? The good news is that both the two year Diploma and the one year Certificate courses at Tilsley College provide all these components and are therefore an invaluable preparation for any church planter. I heartily recommend them!

by Simon Marshall and James Hyde

The church planting units are taught in the spring of each year and are available as ‘stand-alone’, or Open Access courses, with accommodation at the college. They are a great opportunity to explore the biblical basis, various models, and practicalities of church planting, with contributions from people experienced in starting new witnessing communities both in the UK and the rest of Europe.

Learning about how to reach our local communities is not something that is of interest and importance only to those engaged in pioneer church planting. All churches have a responsibility to communicate the Good News to those around; these courses at Tilsley

are, therefore, relevant for anyone keen to be better equipped to serve our God in his mission in this world. For more details, please contact Tilsley College on college@glo-europe.org or 01698 266776.

The church planting units are taught in the spring of each year and are available as 'standalone', or Open Access courses.

15

GLO Europe

GLO Europe

It is good to know about evangelism too.

After all, the key issue in church planting is talking to people about Christ, if we don’t do that, the church will never get planted. Good evangelism training helps the student understand what the gospel is and helps them to grasp the best methods for getting the message out.

3

This brings us to the issue of worldviews.

Again when a church is planted it involves people who not only are affected by their culture, but they will also have a belief system. They may be agnostic, Muslim, nominal Christian, Hindu, or atheist. Whatever they believe and whatever perspective they have on life it is important to understand the major faiths and philosophies of our culture so we can grasp where they are coming from.

4

First year Certificate students

First Serve participants

A

cross Europe many church leaders are excited. Their churches are replicating themselves by starting new churches as they achieve the goal of bringing a clear gospel message to the community at large.

However, other leaders are frustrated; following exactly the same model, they find they have lesser results. In other words, the way one person does something does not always translate to a different context; the impact you have on your community will be affected by the way you do things. Missionaries have known this for centuries.

One size does not fit all, but there are models that all leaders must be mindful of if they want to be successful in their specific mission context.

For many, the idea that one size does not fit all seems odd. After all, they do not think of Europe as being a mission field – there are already lots of churches! No matter what you believe about the European context – largely reached or unreached, sending nations or mission fields, Islamised or Christian, we can all agree that large segments of people in our society have not yet heard the Good News of Jesus.

Applying missionary principles in our European context means understanding our communities is a necessary prerequisite to reaching them with the gospel. GLO workers in Europe have been working on this principle for forty years, and for most of that time, Tilsley College has played a central role in preparing church planters for the mission field.

Over the last few years, the college has developed close links with the Church Planting Initiative (cpi-uk.org), which started when GLO, Counties, Partnership and Church Growth Trust brought together their experience and expertise. CPI-UK helps establish witnessing communities that replicate more churches, and has supported 21 church planters in the last 15 years.

Tilsley College offers courses in church planting in both the first and second years of its programmes.

James Hyde, the CPI Coordinator, is the main lecturer on these courses, joining Stephen McQuoid and others as they seek to answer the question, “How can we teach our leaders to move beyond recycling and reproducing church models and move towards a more mission minded approach in each of their unique settings?”

14

Preparing to Plant

by Stephen McQuoid

I Second Year Diploma students

Training to Plant

t seems a bit of an obvious question, but it is important none the less. If I am going to be involved in church planting, what kind of training do I need? There are, of course, those exceptional individuals who have launched into church planting without proper preparation and have succeed, however having met many people like this a common theme that comes through is that they generally wished they had undertaken some training before they began.

If however you have not begun to church plant and want to know how to prepare, here are a few training suggestions that you need to take on board:

You need to know what the church is. If you will spend the next 15 years of your life planting a church it helps to know what you are dealing with! That requires theological reflection in the area of ecclesiology. What does the Bible say about church and what structures should be built into it?

1

It would also be good to know about culture.

After all, no church plant takes place in a vacuum. Whenever we plant a church we do so in the context of a culture and one that will have made an indelible impression on every person who becomes a Christian and joins the church.

2

5

Given that we are dealing with worldviews, it is also important for church planters to have a grasp of apologetics so that can defend their Christian faith. When questions arise about the origin of the universe and of life, or about the historicity of the gospels or the uniqueness of Christ, it is important that the church planter can give credible answers.

6

We should also not forget the importance of the Bible itself. If new Christians are to grow in their faith they need to be taught the word of God which will become a foundation for their faith. And that means that the church planter will need to have a good grasp of the Bible and be able to interpret and communicate it.

Looking at this list seems daunting. How could anyone find enough time to focus on all of these issues and become sufficiently conversant with them? The good news is that both the two year Diploma and the one year Certificate courses at Tilsley College provide all these components and are therefore an invaluable preparation for any church planter. I heartily recommend them!

by Simon Marshall and James Hyde

The church planting units are taught in the spring of each year and are available as ‘stand-alone’, or Open Access courses, with accommodation at the college. They are a great opportunity to explore the biblical basis, various models, and practicalities of church planting, with contributions from people experienced in starting new witnessing communities both in the UK and the rest of Europe.

Learning about how to reach our local communities is not something that is of interest and importance only to those engaged in pioneer church planting. All churches have a responsibility to communicate the Good News to those around; these courses at Tilsley

are, therefore, relevant for anyone keen to be better equipped to serve our God in his mission in this world. For more details, please contact Tilsley College on college@glo-europe.org or 01698 266776.

The church planting units are taught in the spring of each year and are available as 'standalone', or Open Access courses.

15

GLO Europe

Contact Details

GLO Board Members

Stephen McQuoid (General Director) smcquoid@glo-europe.org 01698 267298

Stephen Cracknell Mark Davies Graham Edwards Richard Elliott Sam Gibson Karen Macrae Stephen McQuoid Mike Packer Philippe Perrilliat Ian Smith Patrizio Zucchetto

Mark Davies (Training Director) mdavies@glo-europe.org 07503 953259 Sam Gibson (Missions Director) sgibson@glo-europe.org 02890 479411 Ian Smith (Finance Director) ismith@glo-europe.org 01698 263483 Admin office admin@glo-europe.org 01698 263483

Short term European opportunities to serve available now

College Office college@glo-europe.org 01698 266776

Check out our website: www.glo-europe.org or contact our Mission Teams department: missionteams@glo-europe.org / 01698 263483

GLO Bookshop books@glo-europe.org 01698 275343/ 252699

GLO Europe Vision Statement Our vision is to grow mission focused churches in Europe.

Our focus is to:

EVANGELISE:

to proclaim the gospel to as many people as possible in Europe

Tel 01698 263483 Fax 01698 253942 E-mail: admin@glo-europe.org Internet: www.glo-europe.org

Gospel Literature Outreach 78 Muir Street Motherwell ML1 1BN

using every method available

ESTABLISH: to ensure believers are established in their faith, strengthen existing local churches and plant new mission focused churches in Europe

TRAIN:

to prepare and equip people for mission, to evangelise and church plant and to serve God and his Kingdom with excellence in a wide variety of vocations

RESOURCE:

to provide resources that support mission activity through finance and literature, strategic input and pastoral care

16