New Wine Magazine - Issue 56 - Autumn 2012

Autumn

Growing Pains Listening intently, welcoming adversity, the odd u-turn. The Kingdom model of growth isn’t straightforward or easy, Gary Best explains

p.22

Teaching

Stories

Culture

Jesus in the Mess Living gloriously in a chaotic and muddled reality p.26

The battle isn’t over yet The now and not yet of a mother’s tragic loss p.40

Just do it Francis Chan takes God at his word p.44

AN EVENING OF WORSHIP WHERE GOD TAKES THE LEAD

NOVEMBER 2012

21 - BOURNEMOUTH 22 - SWANSEA 23 - DUNSTABLE 24 - BATH

28 - BRACKNELL 29 - PETERBOROUGH 30 - NOTTINGHAM

DECEMBER 2012 1 - LONDON

www.BigChurchNightIn.com

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News Teaching Stories Culture

Autumn 12 Issue 56

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0208 799 3777 advertising@new-wine.org The next edition will be published in January 2013.

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Editor Mark Melluish Magazine Manager Diana Mackie Commissioning Editors Clare Rogers Sara Phipps Advertising & Classifieds Jeremy Geake Creative Tom Morton Print Halcyon Get In Touch Find us: 4a Ridley Avenue Ealing London W13 9XW Phone us: 0845 437 8656 Email us: mag@new-wine.org Visit our website: www.new-wine.org facebook.com/newwineuk youtube.com/newwinetube twitter.com/newwineuk

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What’s happening.

Learn together.

Our God at work.

Looking at our world.

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32

44

Grown-up church: wisdom, re-evaluation, and adversity

Get the low-down on a busy summer season

Church planting the hard way with Francis Chan

A note from John Coles

Calling on the Lord whatever the circumstances

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North & East Region

Giving God a human face

Growing Pains

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We are Bikers Church!

Get on your bike with Ian Francis

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London & South East Region Birthing radical faith communities

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Conference round up

36

New Wine International

Crossing borders with Christ’s love

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He hung out in the wrong places too

A near scrape for a Chief Superintendent

Jesus in the Mess

Faith at Work

Central & South West Region

Building relationships, community – and a new café

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In Brief

News, stories, tweets and more

Just do it

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Tough Questions

How much is enough?

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Choosing to Make the Journey

A broken-down car is just the beginning

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40

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Mother knows best, says Lin Button

Struggling to see the sense in a son’s death

Helpful material for you, your small group or church

The Nurturing, Mother Heart of God

The Battle isn’t Over Yet

Recommended Resources

NEWS

A note from John Coles Dear Friends One delegate at the LSE Summer Conference commented: “We’ve often been challenged by the weather – this year we were really challenged by the Lord himself”.

This reflects a miracle and an emphasis that we long for in New Wine. The miracle was the Lord’s ‘parting of the waters’ as the storm clouds split west of Shepton Mallet and rejoined east of it; the forecast 30mm of extra rain never fell on us and we had an exceptional six days of sunshine. A professional meteorologist who saw the satellite pictures said, “You probably don’t understand how extraordinary that is”. I’m grateful for all those who joined us in our new practice of prayer and fasting together for the Summer Conferences this year – the benefits were clear.

A key New Wine emphasis is to pray that God will ‘stretch out his hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through…his holy servant Jesus’ (Acts 4:30). The book of Acts is littered with stories of miracles, and the result is that friends and acquaintances of those healed come to faith in Jesus.

We were thrilled that so many people gave their lives to the Lord during each of the conferences (more than any previous year that I remember). And we were also thrilled to hear of many being healed. One man even jumped from a height to see if his ankle, healed after 16 years of pain, was really healed (it was)! We are now praying that the story of these miracles will challenge people in communities all around the country to consider faith in Jesus.

This magazine focuses on what it means to grow in our faith as individuals, as churches, and in the ministries that God gives us; the common (if sometimes unnamed) factor is that people ‘called on the name of the Lord’ (Rom 10:13).

The challenge for all of us is continuing to do this even when we don’t get our preferred answers immediately, or sometimes even at all. Our faith is demonstrated by continuing to ‘call on the Lord’ whatever – this is what draws us near to the Lord and distinguishes God’s people from all others: ‘What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?’ (Deut 4:7). And in the end this is what leads us into the fullness of the salvation that Jesus has won for us: ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’ (Rom 10:13).

I pray that you will be encouraged and challenged by the Lord as you read and find yourself ‘calling on the Lord’ with renewed faith and ever–increasing effectiveness.

With very best wishes,

John Coles Director of New Wine

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New Wine’s vision To see the nation changed through Christians experiencing the joy of worshipping God, the freedom of following Jesus, and the power of being filled with the Spirit.

To see churches renewed, strengthened and planted, living out the word of God in every aspect of life, serving God by reaching the lost, broken and poor, and demonstrating the good news of the kingdom of God to all.

New Wine’s values Continuity & Change – we want to be faithful guardians of an unchanging message about the person and work of Jesus, and the need for personal salvation and sanctification, while also adapting ways of worship, teaching, being church and doing mission according to culture and context.

Cross & Resurrection – we want to honour all that Jesus has done for us on the cross, and to embrace the way of the cross for ourselves, while also knowing the power of his resurrection to set us free.

Gracious & Truthful – we want to be kind and generous in the way we think and speak about others whether they agree or disagree with us, while also clearly communicating what we believe and why we believe it.

Leadership & Every-member Ministry – we want to train and deploy anointed, courageous and missional church leaders, while also equipping every Christian to serve like Jesus in their home, church, work and life-place.

Mission & Community – we want to see the church become a missionary movement to love and reach the lost, to care for the poor and to bring justice to our homes, neighbourhoods, workplaces and nations, while also being a gracefilled community in which people can find relationship, healing, faith, hope and love.

Natural & Supernatural – we want to see every Christian using all the natural reason, wisdom and skill that they can, while also learning to operate in the supernatural gifts of the Spirit to minister to others in love and power as Jesus did.

Now & Not yet of the Kingdom – we want to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God and to see that confirmed by miraculous signs and wonders, while also ministering grace to all, knowing that suffering will be part of life until Jesus returns and makes all things new.

Transcendence & Presence – we want to live lives that celebrate God’s awesome power, transcendent majesty and sovereign work, while at the same time experiencing his intimate presence as we encounter him in heartfelt worship.

Unity & Diversity – we want to work with everyone who holds these values in open, mutually accountable friendship, while also acknowledging and honouring differences in leadership style, church characteristics and denominational emphasis.

Word & Spirit – we want to derive all we believe, teach and do from the Bible as the written word of God, while also learning to hear and obey the voice of the Spirit speaking to us individually and collectively.

UPCOMING EVENTS

How can I help change this nation?

Mens Day 20 October Bristol

New Wine is a movement of churches working together to do just that!

This includes working with our network of church leaders, hosting summer conferences, delivering training events and providing resources.

November 2012

If you would like to help us change our nation – and are prepared to support us financially for as little as £3 per month – we would love you to become a New Wine Friend.

October 2012 Third Person 20 October London

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Special Needs Special Ministry 10 November Woodford Green, Essex

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Third Person 16 November Cheltenham Kingdom Day 20 November Ealing, London Kingdom Day 21 November Marple Mens Day 24 November Southampton

January 2013 Retreat to Advance CSW Weekend 11-13 January Longleat Retreat to Advance LSE Weekend 11-13 January Elvedon Retreat to Advance N&E Weekend 18-20 January Sherwood Forest Youth Work Training Day CSW 19 January Cheltenham Mens Day 26 January Manchester

www.new-wine.org/friends

CHURCH LEADERS’ NETWORK JOIN A GROWING NETWORK OF OVER 1,200 CHURCH LEADERS AND PASTORS Are you a church leader? Join TODAY • Share, grow and build relationships with like-minded church leaders

Lots more events planned for 2013 To find out more about all our events and to book, go to www.new-wine.org/events

• Encourage, inspire and challenge through relationships at a peer to peer level • Participate in specialist networking ministry • Access our useful library of resources for church leaders • Receive a range of discounts on New Wine resources

PHONE US ON 0845 437 8656

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N&E REGIONAL NEWS

NEWS

AREA FOCUS

Have you ever noticed how many of Jesus’s descriptions of the kingdom of God have an agricultural background? What is common to most of them is an understanding that just like seeds planted in the ground, there is an expectation that the kingdom of God is something which grows on its own.

On the one hand, this is a bit of a relief. We are not responsible for conjuring up growth whether in our own lives or in our churches; this is God’s responsibility.

On the other hand, why do we see growth in some places and not others? Why does it seem so hard for me to make any headway with my friends at work, in the pub, with my family?

Put simply, it’s all to do with the quality of the soil. Good quality soil involves removing weeds and putting in nutrients such as manure and compost. To help growth take place in our own lives, churches and communities, we need to get rid of bad attitudes, faithlessness, persistent sin and idolatry and to pour in the ‘fertiliser’ of worship, joy, love and faithfulness.

In this edition of our New Wine magazine we are focusing on Kingdom growth, which should be our natural expectation. Let’s make sure that we are doing all we can to create exactly the right conditions for it to come about.

In Christ,

Ian Parkinson Regional Director, New Wine North & East

N&E SUMMER CONFERENCE The God of all seasons from Stuart and Louise Cornes

My abiding memory of the Summer Conference at Newark is the year when a month’s worth of rain fell on the first weekend, and I saw a young child trying to swim in the pools that developed around the showground.

That was the year that we brought a mum and four kids to New Wine – we were worried about how they would find it, but she was bowled over by the children’s work.

The next year this lady brought her husband and others, telling them how good it was for the kids. She went forward when a call for faith was made.

Afterwards, she said that while she was up at the front, people were asked to put their hands up if they wanted prayer to be an evangelist, so she did. Then she asked, “What is an evangelist?”

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We won’t get into the discussions we had then; but she is an evangelist, and through her, and others sharing about the conferences, our group now includes people coming from the church, from the community and from other churches who just want to be part of it all. What is even better is that these people also share about how great they find Jesus to be.

NEWS

ReflectION Not just filling the gaps Morag Borthwick reflects on being a minister’s wife, and discerning God’s call When I first came to our church, I thought, “Lord, I know you’ve called me here”. However, I wondered about what I could offer. I’ve got a prophetic gift but I thought it too heavenly to be of any earthly use. But one day when I was crying and thinking, “What am I doing here?” the Lord said, “You are a gift to this church and I don’t give rubbish gifts”.

Then he spoke through Psalm 113:7-8 ‘He...lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes...’ and

‘ As a minister’s wife I’ve always felt that I didn’t want to just fill in spaces’

showed me a vision of my hand opening and a pink rose inside.

I knew he was talking to me about the healing of women, particularly those who have been sexually abused. So I ran a women’s group for five years in our front room, and a lot of the women who came had known sexual abuse. About 70 women have passed through it. It was a real blessing to them, and I couldn’t have done it without the confidence and vision that being part of New Wine has given me.

For the past 18 months I’ve not really known what my role is in our church.

That’s quite hard; as a minister’s wife I’ve always felt that I didn’t want to just fill in spaces. I’m seeking the Lord again, trying to download what he’s saying to me. It’s about the need to rest in him, and to go after love. There is a lot of emphasis in church about gifts and empowering, yet the two greatest commands are about love. With such an emphasis on doing things, we can forget that. Even in church life when we start to really reach out in mission, we can be so focussed on doing and

DO YOU HAVE a job vacancy to fill?

www.new-wine.org/jobs

what our skills and gifts are, that it kills off friendship and fellowship; we start to compete in gifting or we get over-busy. I’ve been seeking the Lord

about balancing these things. I don’t see the point in a church that’s frantic with activity. If we bring people into that, they’ll end up thinking, ‘Why are we here and what’s it all for?’ But our primary purpose is to love God, and to love others with all that he’s given us to love them with.

Morag Borthwick Morag has been married to Kenny for 30 years and they have two adult children living at home. She has a particular interest in building up women, encouraging leaders and serving the persecuted church.

Find a Job gives churches (and other organisations) a quick and easy way to advertise jobs, with access to a large target audience.

You can use this service to advertise church leaders’ appointments, as well as all other roles within the church including worship, youth, children’s and community work, internships, managerial, administrators and other support roles).

And if you’re a member of our Church Leaders’ Network, you’ll receive a 50% discount on each advertisement.

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N&E REGIONAL NEWS

NEWS

AREA FOCUS

N&E Feature The different face of Wester Hailes It’s tempting to rubbish God’s plan - but be careful what you throw away

What took you to Wester Hailes in Edinburgh?

The congregation sent me a letter asking me to join them, and I threw it in the bin. But later I agreed to visit, and was impressed that they’d been fasting and seeking the Lord. When I prayed about it I realised that God was in their request.

Tell us about Wester Hailes

When it was built in the early 1970s, Wester Hailes was a place of hope.

But then the drugs came in. Now about 80% of the parish are on benefits; there’s a huge percentage of single parent families, and a higher than average percentage of unemployment.

How do you go about ministering to them?

One night I felt the Lord prompt me to ‘make the face of God human’: to show that God loves people whatever struggles they are in; to show them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.

We have a mother and toddler group, where the majority are single mums; somebody looks after their children, we give the mums breakfast and a talk, connected with parenting. The best bridge we’ve got into the community is a community café. We do literacy work and we have life skills groups, to help with

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budgeting or making a meal. We’ve also established a food bank. The amount of food we give away is quite staggering and how God provides for that also seems to defy explanation, but there’s always enough to meet the demand.

Our counselling service is open for everybody, and people have come to faith through our Christians Against Poverty centre.

‘ One night I felt the Lord prompt me to “make the face of God human”’ In your Summer Conference talk you mentioned honouring older people. How do you do this?

We want every age group to feel honoured. We have a weekly prayer meeting and the older people pray for the younger people, which takes up at least half of our prayer time. We’ve established a group for older people, ‘Prime Timers’. Because people don’t feel safe in Wester Hailes, there’s hardly anybody out on the streets. So it’s lovely that Prime Timers seems to provide a place where people feel safe, and can come and meet with folk of their own generation.

NEWS

What are the threats to growth for you?

The challenge can be one of resources; financial and people resources. Sometimes we can see opportunities and think ‘Who can we ask to do that?’, but the people we think of are already busy.

What is there to celebrate at the moment?

We are growing. We have re-worked our system of small groups; we wanted to build church family, so we re-formed the single-generation house groups into inter-generational

The other threat in an urban priority area is that as people come to faith and as their lives become more stable, they have the ability to move out of that type of parish. There is no way that you could not wish that for them. But obviously when believers move out you have to start again.

Rural & Village Church Leaders’ Forum 5-6 February 2013 Hothorpe Hall, Leicestershire

life groups. The hope is that these will be able to take on responsibility for aspects of the church’s life or work.

When we had small house groups we had 30-40 people meeting; now there’s 150-160 who have signed up for the new groups.

Kenny Borthwick Kenny Borthwick has been a Church of Scotland minister in the Wester Hailes parish in Edinburgh, an urban priority area, since 2005.

YOUTH WORK TRAININg days Jus

per pter£10 son

Taking a look at the future of youth ministry in our churches. Learn about the challenges we face now, as well as looking ahead to the youth work of the future.

Saturday 19 January 2013: TriniTy, ChelTenham

Saturday 2 February 2013: all SainTS’, marple

Saturday 9 February 2013: ST paul’S, ealinG

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speCIAl Needs speCIAl MINIstRy Jus

per pter£10 son

A one-day conference for parents, carers, workers, church volunteers and leaders.

Working with those who have special needs, enabling them to meet with Jesus and grow in faith.

saturday 10 November 2012 All saints’ Church, Inmans Row Woodford Green

Imagine how God could use you at

Haven of Peace Academy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Are you a qualified teacher or school administrator?

Are you flexible and teachable, and willing to let God use you in new ways?

Do you have a desire to play a vital role in African missions and in shaping future African leaders?

Do you have a heart for missionary kids and a vision to see Hindu and Muslim kids and their families come to know Christ?

Then we would love to hear from you!

Haven of Peace Academy (HOPAC), an international Christian K-12 school overlooking the Indian Ocean in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is recruiting experienced, Christian teachers and administrators.

Contact the Personnel Coordinator at personnel@hopac.net for more information or visit www.hopac.net.

KINGDOM DAYS 2012

From £10 per person.

Third Person Trinity Cheltenham

Naturally Supernatural with Christy Wimber

Being Naturally Supernatural with Christy Wimber and Mike Pilavachi

Take space to connect with other leaders, and for leadership-focussed teaching and prayer ministry

Friday 16 November 19.30-21.30

Tuesday 20 November St Pauls Ealing

Wednesday 21 November All Saints, Marple

Find out more and book at: www.new-wine.org/events

Saturday 17 November 2012, 09.30-21.30 Find out more and book at: www.trinitycheltenham.com /3rdperson/

C o uragEOus

Living DangerousLy – rejecting MeDiocrity

A day for men who want to make a difference speakers incLuDe: Carl Beech, Anthony Delaney and Mark Melluish southampton saturday 24 november 2012 Kings Community Church

manchester saturday 26 january 2013 Audacious Church

‘Join us for a day of learning, inspiration, encouragement and friendship’

Find out more and book online at www.new-wine.org

‘Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me...’ Matthew 25 : 40 Give something for those who have nothing this Christmas.

Find out more at www.boaztrust boaztrust.org.uk  boaztrust



LSE REGIONAL NEWS

NEWS

AREA FOCUS

What was your highlight from the London & South East Summer Conference this year? For me, it was the hundreds who came to faith. Every day we heard stories of youth and children who gave their lives to Christ, together with a significant number of adults. What a privilege to be part of that story!

We experienced profound teaching, great worship and significant ministry. We were all challenged in so many ways and our prayer is that this conference continues to change lives in, and through, our churches.

Wouldn’t it be great if the ministry we experienced became the everyday story of our local church? There is no reason why it shouldn’t, because lives committed to Christ, sold out for him and proclaiming his Kingdom are what will change this nation.

Scattered throughout the magazine, as well as in this section, you will be able to read stories of lives that have been revolutionised through meeting Jesus Christ. Our prayer is that you will be inspired to continue the good work that God has prepared to do in you and in us. I very much hope that I will be getting round to many more churches before the end of this year to encourage them in their ministry. Please ensure that your church is part of the ongoing story of the work that God is doing through New Wine.

This comes with my love,

Mark Melluish Regional Director, New Wine London & South East

LSE SUMMER CONFERENCE My wife and I have been attending New Wine’s Summer Conference for close to twenty years. What keeps us coming back? We have seen so many people meet with God in significant ways. It’s the depth of the worship, the standard of teaching but also the closeness of community created through camping together.

This year, many in our church family have been impacted by hearing testimonies of changed

lives and experiencing children committing their lives to Jesus. One person described being on team as an opportunity to serve others and get something for yourself as well.

For some, the highpoint was Francis Chan and his talks on character; for others it was the worship in Venue 2; for yet others it was the freedom that their children could have during the week.

For me, it was the new morning alternative, held in the Hungry venue.

It was not pretending to have a mass appeal but was much more raw and inner city focused. In fact it was aimed at people serving estates just like the one we are seeking to reach in our home town. There was an intimacy and intensity that we loved.

So, will we be bringing a group back to New Wine next year? You bet!

Will Cookson is the incumbent of Springfield Church who seeks to serve the people of Wallington in South London.

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NEWS

ReflectION Growth in the suburbs St Peter’s Church, West Harrow, has just knocked down its back wall to accommodate the growing congregation. Mark Melluish asked Vicar Will Van Der Hart to tell us more

You have seen remarkable growth at St Peter’s over the last four years. How has this happened?

Firstly, my predecessor’s development of a core group at St Peter’s of well discipled, Spirit-filled Christians who were ready to get behind the next stage of vision. The church was filled with ‘co-workers’ as much as ‘congregants’.

What sparked the next wave of growth?

Taking over a church is hard, but you need the courage to express the vision that God has given you for that place. If you don’t lead like you are confident in God’s call, then you can’t expect anyone to follow.

I had to carry the vision on my own for a while. I also had to prune back ministries that had grown at a tangent to the church’s core path.

‘ If you don’t lead like you are confident in God’s call, then you can’t expect anyone to follow’ So you did less at first?

I hold to New Wine’s core values of worship, teaching and ministry. If these are in place then everything else will come together. In churches that seek to do everything, the quality of Sunday worship can drop off, which affects all the other ministries.

How do you manage a larger church without a team of clergy?

With the offer of support and mentoring, some of the most gifted leaders in the church were willing to join the staff unpaid. The diocesan Commissioned Minister Training gets them trained and licensed for ministry with me.

How much growth is people coming to faith?

I was told, “The Alpha Course doesn’t work here”. I didn’t believe it. We got 11 delegates on our first course – two came to faith and are still regular members. Subsequent courses had 22, 32, and 46. About the same proportion (20%) of the delegates came to faith and joined the church each time. We seek to be in the heart of the community, playing host to 37 different weekly groups. We have a Christian medical practice in the building, so people who are exploring faith keep on walking through the door.

‘ I hold to New Wine’s core values of worship, teaching and ministry.

If these are in place then everything else will come together’ What’s next?

I see no reason why the church should stop growing, so long as we remain in love with Jesus Christ and share his heart with everyone we interact with.

Will Van Der Hart Will is Vicar of St Peter’s West Harrow, and founding director of Mind and Soul, a Christian charity that provides an interface between mental health issues and Christian spirituality.

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LSE Feature Simply is the best We caught up with Shane Claiborne at the LSE Summer Conference to find out about radical love, exposing injustice and tackling poverty

LSE REGIONAL NEWS

NEWS

AREA FOCUS

What is the Simple Way community all about?

It started almost 20 years ago, out of a struggle over local homeless families living in an abandoned cathedral and facing eviction. As students we got involved, and most of those families got housing and became close friends.

We moved into a house nearby. The Simple Way is now a village in our neighbourhood, inner city Philadelphia, just trying to love our neighbours.

‘ You’re not saved because you’re good; you’re good because you’re saved’ But to love your neighbour also means trying to do something about the wheels that are running them over, like gun violence and anti-homeless legislation. So we’ve held prayer vigils outside gun shops and conducted direct actions. Dr Martin Luther King said ‘We have to expose injustice, so that it becomes so uncomfortable that people have to do something about it’.

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You describe yourself as only truly becoming a Christian when you engage with the call. Is making a commitment not enough?

I differentiate between being a believer and being a follower or a disciple, because Jesus did. He sent us into the world to make disciples, not just believers. Can we believe something and it not demand any responsibility of us? If we believe that Jesus meant the Sermon on the Mount, then we hold our possessions differently.

In Jesus we see an invitation to join a movement that’s embodied in God’s love. In Matthew 25, judgement is being asked; ‘When I was hungry, did you feed me?’; ‘When I was naked, did you clothe me?’; ‘When I was in prison, did you visit me?’ We’re called to actions of responsibility to poverty, injustice and love for our neighbour. An old saying I learned is, ‘You’re not saved because you’re good; you’re good because you’re saved’. It should change the way that we live.

NEWS

As a Christian living in a middle class neighbourhood, with no contact with poor people, what first step could I take to be an ‘ordinary radical’?

The real place to begin is with that lament, that everything in the world is separating us from those who suffer. The challenge is not that rich folks don’t care about poor folks, but that rich folks don’t know poor folks.

We can find an old folks’ home where there’s someone alone; we can have lunch once a week with the homeless person that we pass on the way to work. Just as important as making poverty history is making poverty personal. That’s what Mother Teresa said; ‘It’s very fashionable to talk about the poor but not as fashionable to talk to the poor’.

‘ Just as important as making poverty history is making poverty personal’ Is marriage a compromise?

I’m really grateful to be married but I’m really grateful for what singleness taught me, and I think we should be content with whatever we’re given.

What I learned from singleness is that our deepest longing isn’t for sex but for love. We all long for intimacy and marriage isn’t the only way.

We can find that through living in community and in covenant with other people. I’m really grateful for my wife; I’m also grateful for what community has been teaching me for the last 20 years.

Shane Claiborne Shane is a founding partner of The Simple Way, a faith community in inner city Philadelphia that has birthed radical faith communities around the world.

His books include The Irresistible Revolution and Jesus for President.

Family time Conference

Would you like some help introducing or developing prayer ministry in your church?

New Wine Training Days are intended to do just that. They are an opportunity for a fellow church leader to visit and lead training for your church family – and others – to build their experience of, and confidence in, praying for healing.

Saturday 2 MARCH 2013

St Paul’s, Ealing 09.30-16.30 Hosted by Mark & Lindsay Melluish

Book online at www.new-wine.org Paul & Christine Perkin

A conference for all who want to build family life • Practical teaching on how to enhance your family life • Sessions on how to run both the courses • Sample sessions from the ‘Parenting Children’ and the ‘ Parenting Teenagers’ courses • Introducing Family Time New Parents with Will and Lu Van Der Hart

For further information please contact us

www.new-wine.org/healing

020 8579 9370

info@family-time.co.uk

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CSW REGIONAL NEWS

NEWS

AREA FOCUS

I have been drawn to the advertising strap line ‘Just do it’. Why? Well, I’m not one for sitting around and talking about big dreams; I’m a character who likes to be on the field of play, trying to make things happen. And that’s true of others at New Wine as well.

I remember a TV commercial where workers are sitting around a table while one of their colleagues chokes, almost to death. All they do is talk about what needs to be done to help him, and then eventually someone else walks over and performs the Heimlich manoeuvre and saves his life. The message is simple – talk is no substitute for action.

Often we don’t risk because we fear the possibility of failure. But the truth is, the path to success is littered with failure. There is no reward without risk!

So, here in New Wine Central & South West we want to keep growing – stepping out in faith. As I dream about what God has in store for us, I get fired up. I see us reaching out into our local communities, making a difference in other people’s lives as they come into contact with the life-changing message of Jesus, through a variety of ministries and churches.

Let’s move past just talking about it, so that we continue to say, “Look out, here we come!”

With my love and prayers,

Mark Bailey Regional Director, New Wine Central & South West

CSW SUMMER CONFERENCE CSW: Seeing Transformation It doesn’t seem like two months ago since the conference this summer. We had wonderful worship, great teaching, with friends ministering to us from overseas and from around our own region and country.

We saw more ministry than we’ve seen for a very long time at one of our Summer Conferences - more people saved than I can ever remember, more healings, people being set free, people being transformed, people being envisioned, and huge generosity of giving in our offerings.

If you were part of the team that helped make the Summer Conference happen, can I once again say a massive thank you to you all? We couldn’t do it without you.

If you were able to be there and share with us, thank you for joining with us on the journey of adventure. We managed to negotiate extraordinary weather but come away talking about Jesus, about encounter, about the lost and the need for mission. Praise the Lord!

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Jesus’s infinite miracle-working power hasn’t changed. He’s still the same ‘yesterday, today and forever’ (Heb 13:8).

So I encourage you to lean into his presence and power that is available to us today. Then let us witness that power flowing through our lives as we seek to play our part in transforming this region and this nation.

Mark Bailey

NEWS

REFLECTION To the Lighthouse Andrew Alden became Vicar of St Paul’s Church, Weston-super-Mare, five years ago with ‘the thrill of releasing well-trained people into ministry’. How has this come about? He reflects together with Curate Tom Yacomeni

‘ We changed our services to be louder, with worship songs that emphasised freedom and overcoming, because people in recovery understand battle’ Andrew Alden:

Part of our plan is to send two young adults to training for ministry every year. We’ve not hit two each year yet!

But some are on the way to ordination.

Andrew Alden:

My approach has been to release ministry rather than direct it. Our vision is to transform our town; the church is God’s tool for doing that.

We identified five target groups to reach that were underrepresented in the church. St Paul’s congregation now ranges from professionals through to homeless people, and those in recovery from addiction.

We changed our services to be louder, with worship songs that emphasised freedom and overcoming, because people in recovery understand battle. In 2008 I took the funeral of a young man who’d died tragically. I was able to build a relationship with his family, who were the directors of our local addiction treatment centre.

Suspicion between the church and the treatment centre was broken down over time and we developed a fruitful partnership.

Christian charity, signed up to the Faithworks Charter, and provides training in parenting, marriage, basic skills, conversational English and work placements. We now have three staff and work with business and government agencies.

So, over the course of five years, St Paul’s has doubled in size and become very busy. Before we launch a new five year plan, we will spend a year encountering God in worship, listening in prayer, and discerning what he’s asking us to do next.

Andrew Alden:

A number of the local community have got involved in Lighthouse projects; some of them come to worship and have become believers.

Tom Yacomeni:

In addition to Lighthouse I lead 3rd SPace, a young adult congregation.

In Weston the demographic is principally older people, so the fact that we have a growing 18-30s congregation is great. They have very varied theological positions, so we explore them together rather than trying to impose one view.

Tom Yacomeni:

When I arrived at St Paul’s in 2009, Andrew appointed me director of the not-yet formed charity, Lighthouse.

Lighthouse was set up to enable St Paul’s to work with secular agencies who may mistrust the church. It’s a

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CSW REGIONAL NEWS

NEWS

AREA FOCUS

CSW Feature Espressos out of an eyesore Rev David Izzard helped to turn a derelict toilet block into the attractive ‘Café on the Square’. He explains how local churches in Sea Mills, Bristol, delivered their collective vision

The formal opening of the café by HRH Princess Anne

Our church wanted to outreach to the community, make connections and serve others. We thought a café would be spot-on for that. So we made a bid for a disused toilet block in the centre of Sea Mills when it was auctioned off by Bristol City Council in 2005; unfortunately we were out-bid by a local development company.

The purchaser of the former toilet block submitted two or three planning applications to convert the building into an internet café, all of which failed, because local planning policy required it to be retained for community use. Meanwhile I hooked up with Andrew Street from a local independent church, Highgrove, who was interested in what we were doing.

I said to him, “Just keep praying; if God wants this for the community then he will open the doors”.

Over the next 12 months a team from the two churches in Sea Mills assessed the project and developed a business plan,

The toilet block before restoration

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setting up a local charity to independently represent the local churches. We approached the purchaser directly, who must have realised that he wasn’t going to get any further along the road with his plans. We finally completed the purchase of the toilet block in May 2010 and began to fundraise.

How did you go about raising money?

God was clearly calling us to do this.

So we started to apply for funding from local churches, grant-making bodies and various charitable trusts.

The Lord is gracious, and over the next 12 months or so we raised the money we needed to deliver the project – around £140,000.

The building conversion work started in April 2011, and was completed by the end of November; the new café opened on 6 December 2011. In May 2012 the café was formally opened

by Princess Anne, which was really exciting for the local community.

The café after restoration

NEWS

We have two paid part-time managers and a volunteer team of about fifty people. The café opens Monday to Thursday, 9-5pm and Saturday, 9-2pm. We offer drinks, including fair trade coffee, and good value food.

lives. Ultimately the café is proving to be a local centre of community integration, where everyone can meet together. It’s also a project which has engendered a real sense of pride for the local community.

Since opening we have also used the café in the evenings for two CAP (Christians Against Poverty) debt advice courses and a short Alpha course, with local people from the community attending. People know that they can drop into the café for a listening ear, and if they want specific help we point them in the right direction.

What next for the café?

A lot of this it is about building relationships. It’s great if people do end up coming to church but the priority is to transform people’s

to help the community, and creating a local play area. We want to continue to express – in a practical way, and at the centre of our community – God’s heart of love for Sea Mills.

We continue to need some external funding, especially as the project is being run on a not-for-profit basis. We’ve also got some plans for other projects locally, including the reinstatement of former allotment areas David Izzard David is Vicar of St Edyths Anglican church in Sea Mills.

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NEWS

IN BRIEF

GIFT GIVING, SHINING LIGHTS AND SPOT YOUR SUMMER TWEET

100 million reasons for an extra Christmas gift Do you usually fill a Samaritan’s Purse shoebox for a needy child at Christmas time?

The charity is calling on all UK churches, families and individuals to help them achieve a remarkable milestone – reaching the 100 millionth child with a gift-filled shoebox during this year’s OCC (Operation Christmas Child) campaign.

Over the past 22 years, through OCC, Samaritan’s Purse has delivered 94 million shoeboxes to needy children in over 100 countries on six continents.

“What a great way to celebrate Christmas, by showing children,

Christ’s hands and feet At 2011’s LSE Summer Conference, delegates supported the work of International Justice Mission Bangalore.

The charity’s director, Peter Williams, responds from the heart: ‘Thank you, New Wine for your generous contribution to the work of IJM Bangalore. Last year, thanks in part to your efforts on our behalf, 205 bonded labour slaves found freedom.

We know very well that as we work to rescue bonded labourers, our hands and feet are joined with your prayers, commitment and passion for this cause of justice, and that together we are able to see miracles of our Lord and Saviour wrought for freedom. To see God work in this way is a great blessing, which I hope and trust you have also discovered through your role in this mission.’

most of whom live in the most difficult circumstances, that God loves them and cares for them, that he’s not forgotten them”, said Samaritan’s Purse UK’s Executive Director Simon Barrington.

He added: “I can’t visualise what 100 million children would look like – I’ve been told that if they were to stand hand-in-hand they would circle the globe twice”.

Samaritan’s Purse works in 100 countries providing aid to victims of war, natural disaster, famine, disease and poverty. To find out more about Samaritan’s Purse in the UK, visit www.samaritanspurse.org.uk.

Shine a light Did you know that the Children’s Society first introduced Christingle to the Church of England in 1968?

The candlelit celebration remains a popular Christmas time event for many churches.

The charity is encouraging people to access resources, including wax candles and posters, to help create their own Christingle this Christmas. You could raise money for the charity and help their work with vulnerable children; for example by organising

a collection or baking cakes to sell after the event. The charity also provides fundraising hints and tips to help you get started.

For full details please visit www.childrenssociety.org.uk.

Thank you from John Coles At the Summer Conferences this year, many of you generously signed up to become a ‘Friend’ of New Wine, committing to a suggested donation of £10 per month, and to stand with us in prayer. I wanted to say how grateful I am for your support, especially in these times of financial uncertainty. New Wine will use your gifts to continue to run our network of church leaders, host summer and other conferences, deliver training events and provide resources, all in pursuit of our vision of local churches changing nations.

If you have not yet signed up and would like to know more, please visit the ‘Support Us’ page of our website.

Thank you, John Coles

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www.new-wine.org/friends

NEWS

Summer tweet round up Reliving #NWNE12 by making late night hot chocolate with marshmallows #ILovecamping #notquitethesameinachinamug by rach_sheff (Rachel Atkinson) Just learned that in John 1v14 it actually means “he pitched his tent among us” - he certainly did that last week! #nwne12 #Godlovescamping

by Wiggleigh (Kirstine Buchan) Sovereign Over Us by @aaronkeyes AMAZING song from #NWNE12 to take home to church! http://t.co/p7BxaXKL

by NadParkinson (Nadine Parkinson) My kids won’t take off their #NWNE12 wrist bands.

Little lives changed. Children’s workers rock!

by ThompsonKathryn (Kathryn Thompson) @CharlGambill thanks for dynamite talk at #nwcsw12 and your book Identity - inspiring, motivating, encouraging. A refreshed plan of action!

by Smith_Oz (Austin Smith) just finished 1st book I bought at #nwlse12 ‘Concrete Faith’ by Matt Wilson about the Eden Project - AWESOME. God moving powerfully. by drjoewalsh (drjoewalsh) Caravan emptied, camping gear put away but the memories of @newwineuk #nwlse12 and #nwcsw12 are ever present.#thankful

by LindsayMelluish (Lindsay Melluish ) Francis Chan was amazing at #nwlse12 pointing us towards God’s amazing grace by david_watt (David Watt) Amazing to watch the Olympic opening ceremony with so many people! Great atmosphere! Thank you new wine! #nwlse12= by emzieh79 (Emily) @Canonjjohn ‘none of us have got it together but together we’ve got it’ #nwcsw12

by LRY2303 (L YATES)

GET IN TOUCH We love to hear your feedback and ideas of how we can improve the magazine, so don’t hesitate to get in touch with any stories, jokes, questions, tips or advice.

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21

TEACHING

Listening intently, welcoming adversity, the odd u–turn.

The Kingdom model of growth isn’t straightforward or easy, as Gary Best explains

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Learning to grow

When I think of what it means to grow from a Kingdom perspective, I ask, are people within a church moving towards Jesus or away from him? Are we involved in one another’s journey; are we helpful to one another? Is a church increasingly eliminating barriers between rich and poor, different races and generations? If so, it is by its very definition growing, becoming more like Jesus and the Trinity. If you don’t intentionally and specifically define growth, measure it and set goals, then other, automatic, measurements will drive who you are and what you will become.

Strong voice, weak community

One key to growing is learning to listen more effectively than you speak. We’re often thinking about our ability to communicate and cast vision, and that’s an important function. But a community with a very strong leader’s voice – the singular voice – is a weak and fragile community. If you want to grow in effectiveness and maturity that means inviting your community into a place of ownership and accountability; hearing from God. It takes a lifetime of learning to listen to hear the Holy Spirit’s voice in a community. So if you want to learn to grow, learn to listen.

Don’t run from adversity. James says ‘welcome adversity’. It’s the soil in which trust is built. Trusting God doesn’t happen in the great times of favour, it happens in the time where it feels like he’s absent, or at least blessing is absent. Trust is really tested in that place where you say, “I don’t understand but I’m going to lean towards him. If I’m going to fall I’m going to fall forwards”.

From God’s perspective that’s probably what growth is; that’s what most of the Christian life is all about

– Jesus’s invitation bringing us to the place where we’re trusting him and his love. When we don’t trust God we start to manipulate, to try to see how we can build our story by using him to do it.

To grow, don’t be content with quick and superficial answers.

There’s a lot of pressure on pastors to grow churches numerically. It takes a courageous person to help people to realise what they’re really hungering for is something other than what they want to grab right now. If we want to grow, we have to learn how to embrace questions; we have to learn how to wrestle with things and get to a deeper level of understanding.

‘ It’s anchored by wrestling with God to understand how we can be an unanxious presence in the midst of an anxious world’ We need growth in wisdom and depth, and we need it now. We are living in a time when there are so many things offering to entertain or to medicate people; how in the world can we compete with that?

The only way we can be effective is to penetrate to the heart of people’s issues. It means that we engage and dialogue without being able to bring closure. The ability to hold that tension really causes us to grow.

There is a confidence that can come which isn’t necessarily anchored by certainty, it’s anchored by relationship, and it’s anchored by wrestling with God to understand how we can be an unanxious presence in the midst of an anxious world.

Trying and tiring

Are you getting increasingly shallow, giving out more than you actually have? It requires getting off the treadmill and being willing to re-evaluate where you are going.

What we need is integration in our lives, a re-connection with our neighbourhood, a re-connection with real relationship, with solitude, with reflection. It takes a tremendous amount of courage.

TEACHING

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hat does the term ‘growth’ mean to you? As soon as we say ‘growth’ in the Church we think of people and money, visibility and status. I’m not saying that these things are meaningless, but I’m not sure that they equate with Kingdom growth.

I meet so many pastors who hate their jobs, because they feel like they have to drive to try to stay ahead. I’m saying: don’t play that game. Remember what called you in the first place, get back to what following Jesus and community is all about. Even if you end up being bi-vocational, doing something else, I’ll tell you what – you’ll finish well.

When we stop playing the game of constantly motivating and medicating and entertaining, that’s tremendous growth. Sometimes you have to go backwards in order to really grow.

Steering wheel or accelerator?

Sometimes before we have growth, we need redirection. So the beginning of growth is constant evaluation, to say, ‘Are we going in the right direction?’ If we aren’t, we don’t want to grow, we want to turn.

And that’s why cars have steering wheels and gas pedals. There is a time where the best ‘growth’ is to turn around and start going in a different direction.

Often we are methodologically rich and absolutely poor. We have huge motors, we can get anywhere fast, but we don’t know where we are going. We don’t think it matters as long as we are moving. I think it really does matter where we’re going, and so that’s the bigger question – what are we going towards?

Gary Best Gary is the founding national team leader of Vineyard Churches in Canada, alongside wife Joy. His book Naturally Supernatural is considered one of Vineyard’s key resources for understanding and practising the ministry of Jesus.

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TEACHING

We are Bikers Church!

B

ikers who love God, motorbikes, and are not afraid to wear leathers in church: this is church like you have never seen it before, a church for bikers by bikers. It doesn’t matter how you dress, what you look like, or what’s happened in your past.

Christ on a bike

Attending rallies and biking events, coming alongside the broken, neglected souls in the biking world and showing them Christ’s love, members of CMA (Christian Motorcyclists Association) show that there is someone who cares.

They are willing to stand with people whatever they are going through, whether addiction to drink or drugs, or recovering from being crushed by life.

Bikers Church has expanded its ministry with the opening of the first CMA Bikers Church in the UK, located in Warrington.

At the beginning of 2010, some brothers from CMA went to Johannesburg in South Africa to meet up with the CMA president and to attend a rally. On Sunday they were invited to Bikers Church.

They were so impressed with the experience that when they came

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home they couldn’t talk about anything else, and immediately started looking for suitable premises to start Bikers Church UK. An unsuspecting Methodist minister called Sally mentioned to Colin, CMA chaplain, that she had a church that was only used for two hours every week on Sunday mornings; could he use it for anything? Well, that was the premises sorted.

We are the Church

The majority of CMA members attended other churches and once Bikers Church was a reality it was obvious that it would take more than just the enthusiasm of four brothers to make it work. From these other churches, resources were pulled in for sound equipment, musicians, computers and everything needed to

start holding services and running a church. Over the past two years attendance has ebbed and flowed between 60 and 120 individuals, with newcomers turning up at every meeting.

Bikers Church serves the biking community, as CMA does, but with the added benefit of being able to perform weddings, child dedications, baptisms and funerals.

Attendees are attracted from most areas north of Birmingham.

Many bikers have bad memories of going to church when they were young. This church encourages them to throw out everything they remember about what ‘church’ was like; Bikers Church is for anyone and everyone, and says: ‘We don’t go to church, we are the Church’!

Ian Francis Ian Francis is Secretary of Bikers Church, which is affiliated to Christian Motorcyclists Association UK. Bikers Church meet at Rixton Methodist Church, Warrington, on the first Sunday of the month and all are welcome to attend. More information can be found on www.bikers-church.org

DON’T HAVE A FILLING STATION NEAR YOU?

THE FILLING STATION exists to help bring Spiritual renewal and evangelism to your area. Using informal mid-week monthly celebration meetings, we have seen many come to faith, healings occur and the Christian population of an area strengthened in their confidence and purpose. The Filling Station is not a new Church denomination, rather a group of Christians who want to help you live better.

The Filling Station currently has meetings taking place in Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Kent, Bedfordshire, Suffolk, Derbyshire Scotland an France. Find your nearest Filling Station online:

Wanting more? Need a credible place to bring your friends to meet God? Feel like you are alone in your area as a Spirit-filled Christian? We can help.

Help others to be transformed through experiencing the love and care of Jesus

Contact the Filling Station Director, Rev Richard Fothergill about starting your own local meeting. We will be able to help you launch a relevant, accessible, informal meeting where people encounter God.

thefillingstation.org.uk Contact Rev Richard Fothergill 01225 832806 or 07835263706

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TEACHING

IN NEED OF FUEL? TOP UP SPIRITUALLY AT A FILLING STATION NEAR YOU!

TEACHING

The prayer ‘your Kingdom come’ can take on a different meaning in the everyday. In the sequel to her article, Messed Up? in the Winter 12 issue, Nikki Groarke takes us deeper in

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hat a mess! Our world is not the beautiful place it could be.

Those of us who don’t like mess struggle to admit it exists; we do a surface tidy to keep up appearances. Yet in order for beauty to come from within the mess, we need to acknowledge that the mess exists. It’s what we’re called to do as God’s kingdom people.

Jesus intervenes right into our own mess, and shows us that the way to his Kingdom is not along a sanitised super highway or VIP Games lane, but through the rubbish-strewn, chaotic network of streets and alleyways in which we may find ourselves.

We were created to live amazing, beautiful lives, but we don’t. We cannot on our own. We are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives of beauty that God desires for us.

Paul says in his letter to the Romans: ‘There’s nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. They’ve all taken the wrong turn; they’ve all wandered down blind alleys. No one’s living right...

‘And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin’ (Rom 3:9–20, The Message).

Sinking ship to saviour

We live messy, muddled lives, wandering down blind alleys, trying to bail out of sinking ships, and we’re all as bad as each other.

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‘But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened.

The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him.

For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ’ (Rom 3:21-24 The Message).

This is what Jesus’s incarnation is all about, and this is what our mission and ministry can be all about. It’s why our presence speaks volumes, even if we sometimes feel we aren’t achieving very much.

A safe haven

Most of the young people who are involved in our youth project, Urban Hope, do not have an active Christian faith. Many don’t even realise at first that we are a church-run project.

They come because we believe in them and their potential, because we walk alongside them on their journey, enabling their personal development and transforming the community we share. They come because team members are prepared to engage in the messiness of their lives, be there with them when they get arrested, find out they are pregnant, or get turned down for yet another job or college place.

TEACHING

‘ Do we try to keep things clean and neat, rather than get right back into the struggle and muddle and mess where our presence might just bring hope and signs of God’s kingdom?’

Jesus didn’t stay remote from the mess and struggles of human life; he entered in, mixed with prostitutes and down and outs, hung out in the wrong places. Jesus spent very little time in religious buildings with cleaned up people, where there was less obvious mess. He was out and about countering injustice, bringing good news to the poor, order in the chaos of it all, offering his presence.

His presence made a difference.

Does ours? Having been wonderfully cleaned up ourselves, rescued from the sinking ship and restored, do we try to keep things clean and neat, rather than get right back into the struggle and muddle and mess where our presence might just bring hope and signs of God’s kingdom?

is the way things really are. His announcement was nothing less than revolutionary. Maybe it was the clash of opposites or the paradox that Jesus’ kingdom exists in parallel with many lesser kingdoms, but either way, his followers were not quick to pick up on the revolution. They longed for another world – a world without oppressors, injustice, beggars, or messes. For three years, Jesus walked among a people overcome with longing and spread the good news of his Kingdom. And he said that his Kingdom was already happening all around them.’

The kingdom of God is here, among the mess. The kingdom of God is within us. When we are present, through God’s Spirit, Kingdom realities can break through wonderfully, beautifully.

God’s transforming presence is still at work in and through his people, who take on Jesus’s mandate to bring Heaven on Earth.

Fishing rods

This kind of presence, this way of doing Kingdom work is not glamorous, is usually very practical, mainly goes unnoticed – but matters beyond measure. To people like Roy,

who through our homeless drop-in project was bought a fishing rod – not a miracle cure for his long term alcohol abuse, but a tool to aid his recovery by occupying his time, and reducing his social isolation. People like Mick, who we supported over many years to the point where we were able to fund him to pass his driving test and do The Knowledge – now he’s off the streets and in his cab! People like JC, who was told the Manna was a place he could get a meal. He’s been coming back for about two years for company and support and says, “I’m a chronic alcoholic and the Manna is encouraging me to do a detox programme. If I wasn’t here, I’d be sitting in the park, contemplating self-harm. I wish it was open seven days a week”.

Fishing rods, The Knowledge, detox programmes – the more unconventional stuff of the Kingdom?

Being representatives of Jesus in the litter-strewn blind alleys of life in a messed up world longing for hope.

Being a light in the darkness. Perhaps this is what we mean when we pray, ‘Your Kingdom come’.

Find out more about Urban Hope at www.urbanhope.co.uk

Rick McKinley, in his book This Beautiful Mess (Multnomah Books, 2006), says, ‘When Jesus was on Earth, he painted a radical vision for his followers. He called it the ‘kingdom of God’. His Kingdom is a heavenly reality that lands smack in the middle of everyday life. Even here, Jesus said – in the harshness and mess of earth – his Kingdom

Nikki Groarke Nikki Groarke is Vicar of St. Stephen’s Canonbury, London.

She trained at Ridley Hall in Cambridge, and then served as Curate and Associate Vicar at a church in South London before taking up her current post in 2008.

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TEACHING

The Nurturing, Mother Heart of God

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hen we are told we are members of a ‘royal priesthood’ (1 Pet 2:9) we believe we belong. When Jesus says he is going to ‘prepare a place’ for us ( John 14:3), deep within we will feel safe and know there is a welcome for us when we arrive.

But what happens when we have not experienced this loving secure relationship with our own mothers?

We feel empty, lonely, sometimes experiencing an internal physical void. We can close our hearts and stop trusting, because we do not want to acknowledge the emotional pain and fear further rejection.

The mother intention

I have ministered to hundreds of people who have discovered the nurturing, mother heart of God to be an extremely significant part of their freedom from addictions, lack of well-being and inappropriate loneliness. For as God created us in his image, this means that God too is both masculine and feminine.

An example of God’s feminine characteristics can be found in Isaiah 49:15: ‘Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne?

But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!’ (Isa 49:15)

Sometimes our experience of our earthly mothers does not match God’s plan. Lin Button identifies the potential consequences and puts forward steps to healing

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We all need this aspect of God’s love, and his intention was that we would first experience this through our own mothers. In a healthy start, we experience mother and father’s joy, excitement, affirmation, encouragement and welcome.

Mother pours love into us through her eyes; we first see ourselves as how mother sees us. She is our source of life, our source of being. This healthy beginning enables us to have an open, trusting heart and a secure sense of belonging and well-being.

We believe we are wanted, that we are known and there is a place for us. However, if the pregnancy is not

This feeling of abandonment and dread of aloneness can cause us to seek comfort through sex, food, drink, drugs, masturbation and all manner of self-indulgent, addictive lifestyles. If we have a ‘less than’ or damaging experience of primal connectedness with our earthly mother, how can we experience God spiritually? We struggle to believe the promises of being loved, of belonging, and being welcome.

‘ Like medicine I do not understand how it works or what the ingredients are to make it work, I just took it’ Prophetic dream

I was at a Christian conference when one night I had a dream about a baby boy and a little girl of about four years old, who for some reason both went away for a week. At the end of the week, the little girl bounced in and immediately started to play, but the little boy returned withered inside his loose skin. I heard God say to me in the dream, “Pray for him to be filled up with love and cuddles”. As I held him to myself and cuddled him, he began to grow into his skin, the flakiness fell off and his skin came alive again.

The next morning I was praying for a young man who was desperate.

His deep distress was because of his addictions. After several prayers that obviously didn’t really help, the dream came to my mind so I asked, “Have you got any older brothers or sisters?”

He answered, “I have got a sister nearly four years older than me”.

Encouraged, I then asked, “Did anything happen when you were first born?”

And he said, “No”, then he said, “Oh, I think my mum haemorrhaged when I was about a week old and she had to go back into hospital.

My sister went to an aunt but I had to go into a children’s home”. He added, “I think I was there quite a long time”.

Using the language of the dream, I prayed that God would fill him up with love and cuddles. I’m not saying he was healed that morning but he certainly started to change.

I kept in touch with him after the conference and following some more prayer and godly wisdom from some wise friends, he was healed and set free.

Filling the void

TEACHING

wanted, or mother is depressed, or no emotional welcome is being prepared for us, instead of feeling loved and secure we experience the early wounds of rejection. This profoundly affects our view of ourselves, how we see the world and our view of God.

‘ Using the language of the dream, I prayed that God would fill him up with love and cuddles…’

2. We need to confess our sins

Pray: I confess all the ways (be specific if able) that I have attempted to fill my own emptiness.

I confess where this has led to a self-indulgent lifestyle, addictive patterns and self-pity. I confess where I have built a fortress and hidden from love. I confess the shame I have felt about who I am and the shame I have felt about the ways I have managed my anxiety and sought to be comforted apart from you.

I then began to pray for myself and my own lack of connectedness to God, due to the difficulties in my early upbringing during World War II rather than neglect. Like medicine I do not understand how it works or what the ingredients are to make it work, I just took it. And this is true with lots of prayers.

I ask that you God will now bind away from me the effects of my sins and wash me in the blood of Jesus.

We pray these prayers to a motherly Father. Remember God is both masculine and feminine.

Remember, although our adult mind may understand ‘where it all went wrong’ our deep heart may still hold resentment.

Steps for praying for healing

1. Make connection with God’s nurturing and substantial presence

Place your hand where you can feel the emptiness. If you do not experience any physical symptoms put your hand on your heart. Raise the other hand towards Heaven.

Pray: Thank you Father that you live in me. Thank you that the Holy Spirit lives in me. Thank you that you, Jesus, are in the Father, and I am in you. You, Jesus, and the Father are in me, and I am part of an eternal circle of love. Amen.

Help me now I pray to open my heart to receive your forgiveness, love and grace. Amen.

3. W e may need to forgive our mothers

Pray: Father, I forgive my mother for not being there for me in the ways I needed. I confess where I have nurtured unforgiveness towards her and I now release her to you. I confess where I closed down and refused what love she did have to offer. I forgive her for all her failures, her absence and abandonment of me. I forgive her for not ever having me as the focus of her maternal love.

I turn to you to comfort me, heal me from the grief I feel at the loss of nurture and touch. Meet me in my longing for attachment, I pray. Amen.

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TEACHING

4. W e need to pray for our minds to be renewed

Pray: Father, I ask that you will renew my mind. I pray that where my mind has not made healthy connections that you will come and re-wire me.

Eliminate all negative and unhealthy thoughts and replace them with truth.

6. Then pray for a sense of security, belonging and peace (to be prayed daily) Place your hands on the area where you feel the emptiness. Do not worry if you are unable to identify a place.

Help me know that I am welcomed, I belong and I am loved and accepted. Open my mind to receive your love. Amen.

Pray: Father God I pray you will fill me up with love and cuddles.

Enlarge my capacity to receive from you. Set in place the core of my being. Fill me with security. Give me a firm foundation. Fill in the bottom of the well of my being with your rock of truth and security so that as I am filled I no longer leak. Pour in your nurturing presence and peace.

Rest in me as I rest in you.

Like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content; may it be so for me. Amen and Amen.

5. We need to pray for the healing of our emotions

Pray: Father, I ask you to untangle my emotions. I know you are able to take the hurt, grief and anger into yourself on the cross. I walk away from defence mechanisms, false identities and personas. I give you my deep-seated dread, fear and anxiety, which have controlled me for so long. Free me I pray from this place of denial and greyness. Cover me with your constant love and set love in order. Amen.

Lin Button Lin has been involved in healing prayer for more than thirty years through teaching, prayer ministry and counselling.

New Wine Women’s Days 2013

3 EVENTS IN

3 REGIONS

Worship, teaching and ministry especially for women

North & East: International Conference Centre, Harrogate 16 March 2013 Central & South West: Lighthouse Poole 20 April 2013 London & South East: Jesus House Brent Cross 27 April 2013

Feedback from previous Women’s Days

‘It was one of the most amazing days ever. To see so many women together in one place showing their love for the Lord was so inspiring, and I spent most of the day in tears.’

A‘ s a first timer I was very impressed. I went by myself, but made new friends on the day. The speakers were engaging and the theme was excellent: spiritual, inspiring and very moving. An emotional rollercoaster of a day – it certainly won’t be my last.’

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STORIES

SUMMER 2012: UNLEASHED As we gathered in our tens of thousands in Shepton Mallet and Newark for the Summer Conferences this year, prayers were answered and lives were changed. Here’s a small sample of what happened…

I have lived in a horribly painful marriage for 24 years. We have four teenage children, and worked as missionaries for seven years. My husband has always been committed to his frontline Christian work and my needs have got in his way. I came to New Wine for the first time last week with two of our children. My husband said he did not want to come. One week before New Wine started we discussed how dead the marriage is. We have been to marriage counselling twice, and I had tried everything I could do. It was all so incredibly painful that we were discussing whether to divorce or separate. I had been turning to a friendship with a male friend: only talking, but we were getting closer to more.

I had been drinking wine too often just to make it through the day.

I came to New Wine with a friend and told her what was happening. She arranged, later in the day, to pray with me. As we prayed she focused on John 4:46; Jesus healing at a distance and turning water into wine. We prayed through the passage with a faith that God will do something to break the chains in my marriage. Later that day, as I got into my seat during the evening celebration, I totally fell apart. The pain and sobbing came from very deep within me. It was not the normal tears I cry; this was different. I went forward for prayer not knowing why. A lovely Dutch lady asked me what I wanted prayer for and the words came out of my mouth, “I need to forgive my husband”. We spoke the words of forgiveness in the name of Jesus and I was filled with amazing love from the Holy Spirit.

‘ I had a wonderful week meeting with God at the 2011 Summer Conference, but I was also struggling with the pain of not conceiving, which was causing me sadness and disappointment. I knew that God had the best in store for me, and I felt him saying to me to be patient, but still, at the age of 39, I was finding it very hard. On the last night my friend and I stayed longer than we planned at the end of the main meeting, just enjoying being in the presence of God. She heard a call out for couples struggling with infertility and gave me a shove. I ran to the front and was first in the queue to be prayed for. My prayers for a baby for my husband and I were not answered immediately - but God gave me an encouraging word in the autumn, challenging me to be courageous in my workplace, and to keep being patient. The great news is that I was not at New Wine this year as I am pregnant!’

Deborah, at Newark (N&E)

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Afterwards I rang my husband and told him that I forgive him.

He immediately softened and said he needed to hear that. The next day my husband told me on the phone how dreadful he felt about our marriage and how bad a husband he had been. He thanked me for forgiving him and said it was what was needed to draw a line in the sand. I came home last night to a new husband. We have a new marriage. It’s miraculous.’

Anonymous, at Shepton Mallet (LSE)

STORIES ‘ Evening worship was wonderful, with a great focus on Jesus.

Singing ‘Jesus the name high over all’ had me standing with tears flowing. After the talk, as the Holy Spirit was invited again, a song in tongues bubbled up within, and kept repeating. When those aware of the Holy Spirit were invited to come for prayer ministry, I went forward. The guy prayed alongside me for a good length of time. He asked the Holy Spirit to let me know what I was singing. Words then came, of praise and encouragement to speak out the truth. I returned to my seat and carried on in prayer and worship, sensing Jesus very close. Specific encouragement came to work on a book I am writing with main points and a title, similar to what I have been thinking but with differences.

I returned home much refreshed and energised. Thank you very much indeed!’

Roger, at Newark (N&E)

‘Two weeks before New Wine, my son Jack (7), was told that he would need to wear a hearing aid and we had an appointment to have one measured the week we returned.

This was due to glue ear and congestion which he had had since a baby and was showing no signs of going away. The hearing aids were to help him deal with the hearing loss while we waited to see what had happened.

While we were at New Wine, I heard amazing stories of how God has worked healing miracles in people’s lives – I asked him to show me his power and to heal Jack’s hearing. During the week I prayed for this and the team in Groundbreakers also prayed for Jack. When we returned we attended the appointment to have Jack’s hearing aid measured. At the appointment they conducted another hearing test and the report from the audiologist was that his hearing had improved significantly from the last test “even though it was only conducted three to four weeks ago” and that “Jack’s hearing was currently too good to warrant the use of hearing aids”. The last time Jack’s hearing was this good was when he had grommets fitted two years ago.

God has surely answered my prayers and I feel truly blessed by his amazing power.’

Tanya, at Shepton Mallet (LSE)

‘ Our nine year old son was ill from Tuesday with a high fever, headache and swollen glands. My husband fought through the crazy rain on Thursday morning to take him to the doctor, who checked him over, decided it was viral, and prayed for him. Within one hour he was out on his bike and feeling completely better – he didn’t miss any more meetings. Praise God for the doctor!’

Helen, at Shepton Mallet (CSW)

‘ At New Wine in 2009 I attended a prophecy seminar. We had some practical time at the end where, in groups of three, we shared prophecies for each other. At this I was given a picture of rings; I had been with my partner since the January but hadn’t shared this with those in my group, so I was quite surprised. My partner Henry and I married in September 2011, two years after this prophesy was spoken over me.’

Liz, at Shepton Mallet (CSW)

How was this Summer’s Conference for you? It’s not too late to share your story of God’s amazing work with us! stories@new-wine.org.

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STORIES

NEW ZEALAND

NETHERLANDS

SWEDEN

Internati

Autumn 2011 was New Wine New South Wales, Australia’s first conference. Six months later, Mark Aldridge spoke at a Melbourne conference on evangelism and mission in the power of the Holy Spirit, at which many people came to faith.

FINLAND July 2012 1,750 people

This was our biggest ever New Wine Summer Conference in Finland. The national leadership team gave seminars on pioneering, intimacy with God and empowering people in the Kingdom. The challenge to take God into your everyday life was tested as members of the Healing on the Streets seminar took to the streets of Jämsä, offering people prayer and a glimpse of the Kingdom.

IRELAND August 2012 1,400 people

The biggest turnout to date was seen, and every major city in both Northern Ireland and the Republic was represented, along with a host of rural communities. People came from across all the denominations, including more Roman Catholics than ever before. The overriding sense of this conference was of unity across geographical, political and denominational divides, with a renewed sense of responsibility to reach the nation with the gospel.

THE NETHERLANDS July 2012 3,500 people, plus 300-400 day visitors daily

The theme for the conference was ‘Living Water’. Gary Best, the main speaker, elaborated on this during the morning sessions, while speakers in the evening connected the theme with daily practice, seeing many of the delegates come forward for ministry.

NEW WINE EUROPE (English speaking) July 2012 305 people, of which 50% were first-time delegates

Delegates came from twenty international churches, drawn from six European nations. The Bible teaching theme ‘Stand’ challenged us to stand up for Jesus. One typical, precious testimony came from a cautious Dutch lady, “For the first few days I was overwhelmed with all the challenges [the worship and prayer etc] and asking whether I want all this. By the end of it I am still overwhelmed but now I am overwhelmed with God!”

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NETHERLANDS

SCOTLAND

FINLAND

nal

AUSTRALIA May 2012 650 people

IRELAND

AUSTRALIA

FINLAND

NEW ZEALAND January 2012 2,000 people

Three summer conferences saw nearly 2,000 people gather together across North and South Islands. The theme ‘How Will They Know?’ saw many energised to return to their churches and communities in the name of God and give their best for the least. The earthquake-torn city of Christchurch was encouraged by the generosity of the New Wine family as people donated sufficient funds to pay for all kids to come free to the South Island event.

SCOTLAND (CLAN Gathering) July 2012 3,500 people

Several new things launched this year: creative arts were on display throughout the week, and the transformation centre opened, offering one-to-one appointments for prayer, prophetic and healing ministries to all delegates. Over 850 people came to the centre – many were healed and lives were restored.

And kids and youth teams were ‘on fire’, with tremendous testimonies of salvation and healing.

SOUTH AFRICA August 2012 180 people

The theme was ‘The Better Connexion’, with the challenge to get better connected to Jesus, each other, the world and ourselves, in the power of the Holy Spirit and the inspiration of God’s word. David Stansbury lead the teaching and asked, “Is it well with your soul?”

SWEDEN August 2012 2,000 people (a 120% increase on 2011)

The theme was ‘Under an Open Heaven’. Teaching centred on the Kingdom, hope for poor people, call to mission and social responsibility. This year we took the risk of holding a second conference, with Swedish speakers only, at Örnsköldsvik in the north. With three days to go only 50 people had signed up and 120 were needed to reach break-even point. A nervous step of faith to follow through was taken… and more than 400 people filled the evening services.

NETHERLANDS

SWEDEN

SOUTH AFRICA

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STORIES

Persecuted under the communists in Romania, Pastor Lucian Chis is a man who knows what it means to stand up for Christ in tough times. As we talked, he explained that the kitchen we’re sitting in was once a garage where he used to hide Bibles, smuggled in to Romania during the Ceausescu regime...

H

e told me how he had been the only Christian in his school and would be made to stand in front of all his fellow pupils while the town’s mayor ridiculed him for believing in God. I heard how his wife’s family had been forcibly moved from one side of the country to another at just two hours’ notice, and then left to build their own home in the middle of a harsh eastern European winter; and how for months they lived in a cave.

Romania is a very different country now and part of the European Union, but poverty and struggle continues. I am told one in four Romanians still go to a well to collect water. There is very little in the way of a welfare system and Pastor Lucian’s largest church has over 1,500 families to care for.

I’m humbled that this man who has planted over 60 churches across Romania, and who has stories of God’s upholding power and

36

provision, wanted New Wine to come alongside his ministry.

I knew that I had much to learn from him, but what is it that we can do for him?

Now let’s travel to Brazil. Last November I had the privilege of meeting a Reformed Anglican Bishop, Josep Rosello, who has a passion for Jesus Christ that blazes like the Brazilian sun. Bishop Josep will plant a church wherever he can find four disciples of Jesus ready to hear the call and go for it! He has planted churches across Brazil from Rio to the Amazon, meeting in church buildings, or in cafés, or simply under trees.

As I met with Bishop Josep, I noted that nearly all of his church leaders were young men and women in their twenties or thirties, and mostly they were bi-vocational. Once again I was humbled at lives being laid down

Equipping

Many people who attend New Wine conferences may not be aware that New Wine is about far more than conferences, and its ministry extends far beyond the shores of the United Kingdom. Within the last two years, New Wine has started in Australia, and as with some other countries they do not have a national summer conference. Instead they are building through growing networks of church leaders and training days, delivering training to the body of Christ in order to continue Jesus’s ministry through his people. Certainly our strap line of ‘Local churches changing nations’ is going to need more than Advert atoccasional bottom ofconferences page if it is ever to become a reality!

At the present time New Wine Romania and New Wine Brazil do not exist – we simply have a relationship with churches in those countries who want to partner with us, and who believe that we can be helpful in ‘equipping the saints for acts of service’ (Eph 4:12).

Today, New Wine is present in each of the UK nations, Jersey and Guernsey, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, South Africa, USA, New Zealand and Australia. Beyond those we have an affiliation with a number of other countries. Through national conferences, regional training days, networks and faith sharing teams, the ministry of Christ through his people is ever expanding.

Grow and give away

So what is it we can offer others?

I have often asked this question of the pastors and people I have met in the 25 nations I have enjoyed ministering in. Very often it is not so much what we believe, but how we practice our ministry that they find

‘ Once again I was humbled at lives being laid down sacrificially for the Kingdom’

gospel of the Kingdom moving very powerfully, through the service we offer across all kinds of cultural and ethnic differences.

STORIES

sacrificially for the Kingdom and again I found myself asking what it was that New Wine could offer such dedicated disciples.

so helpful. They do love to learn, and in Russia as well as parts of Africa you are in trouble if you teach for less than two hours! But it is the way we do ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit which is so attractive to others.

Hearing God’s voice

There is the importance on hearing God’s voice: simply asking the Lord how he would have us pray, or command someone’s healing, for example. Jesus could only do what he saw the Father doing ( John 5:19); so this is a key ministry skill we need to grow in, and give away to others.

Everyone gets to play

Then there is the importance of all the members of Christ’s body being involved. As John Wimber used to comment, ‘everybody gets to play’.

There are no superstars in the body of Christ but each one of us should expect to be used by God in the power of his Spirit.

Naturally supernatural

Finally, others comment simply on the way we can be ‘naturally supernatural’. He can use us without us having to shout or act in ways that will drive huge gaps between ourselves and those we seek to serve.

Ministry as we might do it in church on a Sunday needs to be transferable to the office or the classroom on a Monday. New Wine is a ministry of both Word and Spirit, and it has been my great joy to see the

Spirit led

So finally, returning to Timisoara in Romania. Pastor Lucian has taken off his jacket and his tie and he stands in amazement watching his people prophesy over one another and pray for the sick. People are beginning to talk about what God is doing right there and then and how he is using them to do it! I turn to him and say “This is church”, and to quote David Pytches, “The meeting place can be the training place for the market place.” This wonderful man of God smiles broadly and proclaims, “So now I don’t have to do it all myself!”

Indeed not. New Wine is about equipping and releasing the people of God in to their destiny and purpose as a people who move powerfully in the fullness of life that comes from the Holy Spirit. In that way the local church can change communities and even nations.

New opportunities often arise for teams from the UK and elsewhere to send faith sharing teams or to equip the wider body of Christ.

Remember, it says in Matthew 24:14 that the gospel of the Kingdom has to be preached to every ethnic group before Christ will return.

Mark Aldridge Mark Aldridge is Overseer of New Wine International. If you would like to know more about the ministry of New Wine International please do get in touch with Mark on mark.aldridge@new–wine.org

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The nature of policing is such that we enter the crisis points of people’s lives – and those can sometimes be very dark places. It can be anything from a fatal road accident to a serious crime scene, from the case of a missing child to the man holding a knife to his throat, threatening to take his own life. All police officers have their coping mechanisms. For me, it comes down to a combination of faith, family and friends – that, and a flat refusal to give up hope.

STORIES

What are some of the challenges and how do you deal with them?

How do you try to live out your faith through your work?

In any way that I can; in the way that I go about my duties, in the way that I treat people, in the view I take on the challenges we face every day.

And I pray. For the peace of London; for crime to fall; for the protection of those I work alongside; for answers in impossible situations. My faith is not something I shout about at work, but it is completely fundamental to who I am and what I do.

Can you think of a particular time when you’ve experienced God with you at work?

I was working a night shift in West London when I stopped a man who was acting suspiciously. I was on my own and the streets were completely deserted. I began to search the man and, without warning, he punched me hard in the face and ran off.

John Sutherland loves his job – even after twenty years of service. He is a Chief Superintendent in the Metropolitan Police and combines his day job with acting as a negotiator in hostage and crisis situations

What’s a typical day like for you?

Our job on any given day comes down to just two things – to reduce crime and to serve the people of London. A day can begin with anything from a dawn raid on a crack house to closing in the early hours of the morning following a major incident or, slightly earlier, in the pub, telling stories with colleagues.

What do you most enjoy about your work?

I love almost every passing minute of what I do – and have done for the best part of the last twenty years. Policing has at its core a very remarkable set of values and responsibilities. I count it as the greatest of privileges to serve alongside the men and women in blue who step in where most would fear to tread.

I called for ‘urgent assistance’ on my radio – and set off after him, blood pouring out of my mouth. He ran down what turned out to be a dead end street – and I discovered later that he was in possession of a knife. So there I was, running down a blind alley after an armed man. But as I continued running, I stumbled across a milk float making some (very) early morning deliveries. It’s sad to say, but people are often reluctant to help the police. Not so the milkman! He took one look at me, jumped out and joined in the chase. He helped me to detain the man safely – and then the rest of my team arrived.

The suspect got six months in prison. I discovered afterwards that the milkman was actually a police officer from New Zealand on a sabbatical, delivering the milk to earn some extra cash!

That was one of many moments when I have just known that someone was watching over me…

39

STORIES

The battle isn’t over yet

Philippa Skinner’s son, Jim, died five years ago.

Here she tells some of his story – and a little of what his death has taught her

A

t 21 years old, everything seemed to be going well for Jim. He was thinking about his future, becoming more confident, and his faith in Jesus was getting stronger. After years of adolescent tunnel vision he was beginning to admit that he could learn from others. He was a loved and respected member of St Stephen’s Society in Hong Kong, serving and helping to bring heroin addicted men off the streets and into community. Yet, at 21, Jim died of a heroin overdose.

Our son had grown up like any other young lad. He was bright and sensitive – and could also be naughty, lazy and rude – the full spectrum of behaviour found in any child intent on exploring the boundaries of their world.

When he was about fifteen, cannabis entered Jim’s (until then) childish world. As he began to grow from child to adult and to experience the emotional ups and downs that go with the physical changes, this drug became part of his life too. Much of his behaviour – less communication, less willingness to join in with family life, more grumpiness – could be explained simply by the process of changing from boy to young man and trying to find his own identity.

40

‘ A God who weeps for all the pain, the mess, the utter ghastliness and sheer sadness of senseless loss’ So when we found the drug hidden in a sock in the washing, we were deeply shocked. For us, parenting and family life were our first calling.

I wouldn’t want to suggest our family life was perfect, because of course it wasn’t; but we had tried so hard to be good parents.

Out of control

Jim believed he was in control of his cannabis use and told us we didn’t need to worry, as he could look after himself. I now know, however, that cannabis is not as easy to control or as harmless as many would want us to believe . For some young people it affects them profoundly at a time when their brain is developing fast and they don’t yet know who they are. I know that many will use the drug, or other drugs, move on, and grow out of it; I thank God that most will be safe. For Jim, though, I think it found a weak spot – maybe chemical, maybe genetic. The drug

Through attending New Wine and Soul Survivor, Jim came into contact with Jackie Pullinger and

St Stephen’s community in Hong Kong. It seemed to him that there he would find the support he needed, in a totally different environment.

It could have gone so well. We and many others were praying for and supporting Jim, but the sad reality is that Jim’s story ended in stark contrast to what we had hoped for, despite all our love, prayer, and faith.

At some point unknown to us, Jim’s habit of smoking weed developed into occasionally injecting heroin, a much more deadly adversary; a drug that feels to me as if it is cloaked in evil.

Three years and two months after he first went to live in Hong Kong, he was found dead, having overdosed on heroin accidentally.

Silence from Heaven

I felt utter shock and devastation.

How could my beloved son have died in such a terrible way? I was swept away with the grief, and as the parent of a young man who died of drug abuse, I also felt failure, guilt and shame. Had God heard any of our fervent prayers for him?

I wanted to beat my fists on the door of Heaven and demand an explanation. In the first year or two after Jim died I searched endlessly for answers, did my fair share of yelling at God, read books of theology and on loss and grief – and found silence.

This was not the silence, however, of one who turns away and doesn’t care. It was the profound silence of one who cares so much that he sits beside us wordlessly; a God who weeps for all the pain, the mess, the utter ghastliness and sheer sadness of senseless loss.

Jim’s death is our family tragedy. It is also a microcosm that brings into stark reality the battle that we are all involved in. Jim’s story, sadly not uncommon, is part of the struggle we all have ‘against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places’ (Eph 6:12).

It is also a real, though horrible, illustration of the ‘now and not yet’ of God’s kingdom: God is at work in the world, his Kingdom is present here and now, but the battle isn’t over yet. I don’t know why Jim died while others are wonderfully healed from their addictions; but I do know that

God asks me to trust anyway, and to do all I can to keep working for his Kingdom to come on Earth, knowing that one day there will be no more tragic stories or tears. ‘He will wipe

every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away’ (Rev 21:4).

STORIES

became stronger than him and after a year or so of trying to convince himself and us that there wasn’t a problem, he admitted he was hooked and that he wanted to get away from its influence.

Not staying silent

So, I’m doing anything I can to reach out to others in pain through losses of various kinds; directly, through volunteering for groups such as Care for the Family and DrugFam, and indirectly, wherever and to whoever God leads me.

I’m also speaking out to create awareness in our churches of the shame and stigma felt by the loved ones of those with addiction issues.

Too often such families feel a need to hide the reality of what’s happening for fear of being judged, but keeping silent can sharpen the pain and isolation of families who need love, care and support.

I’m still discovering how God is calling me to live my life and respond to all I’m learning through losing Jim. Though the hopes I had for his future life on Earth were cruelly dashed, I have, in the dark and silent place that my grief took me to, rediscovered hope in a God who loves me and loves Jim. Though I understand little, I believe in a God who holds on to us both in life and death and won’t let us go.

Phillippa’s book, See You Soon, is available from www.seeyousoon.me.uk Amazon and other outlets.

It gives a fuller account of Jim’s story and living again after bereavement by addiction.

All proceeds go to St Stephen’s Society and DrugFam www.ststephenssociety.com and www.drugfam.co.uk

Philippa Skinner Philippa Skinner is a member of St Mary’s Upton where her husband Graeme is the leader. She is a counsellor with local agencies and volunteers for DrugFam and Care for the Family’s Bereaved Parents’ Support. Graeme co-leads the New Wine network on the Wirral.

1 See www.talktofrank.com/drug/cannabis

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CULTURE

Just do it Francis Chan talks to us about the pitfalls of being a Christian celebrity, church planting the hard way, and taking God at his word Two years ago, Francis Chan was the popular teaching pastor at megachurch Cornerstone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, which he and his wife Lisa planted in 1994. Their decision to leave Cornerstone in 2010 came as a surprise to many. Now, he is kickstarting a church planting movement in inner city San Francisco. We took the opportunity to ask him a few questions at the London & South East Summer Conference…

Why did you leave Cornerstone?

In part, because the church had become so centred around me. I had built it that way, sadly, and hadn’t taught people about the power of the Holy Spirit, or trained them to make disciples. It had reached the point that I was actually keeping the church from becoming all it could be. I believed it was time for me to go away so that people could focus on the Holy Spirit instead. And being an American ‘celebrity pastor’ is not healthy. Once you get a little bit of fame you start to like it. I could see some of that creeping into my heart.

What do you do now?

I spend a lot of my days knocking on doors in the low income housing areas of San Francisco, talking to the homeless, trying to meet their needs and share the gospel with them. It’s terrifying for me to share the gospel with individuals. I don’t enjoy that rejection, the awkwardness, doing what the world tells you is politically incorrect, looking like a fool.

I get accused of trying to force my religion on others, of being judgemental… the world says there’s one God we’re all worshipping and there’s no hell. And San Francisco is possibly the most liberal city in the US, so it’s going to take a miracle for people to listen to the message and fall in awe on their faces before God; that’s why I chose this city.

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‘ It’s terrifying for me to share the gospel with individuals. I don’t enjoy that rejection, the awkwardness, doing what the world tells you is politically incorrect, looking like a fool’ Are you planting a church there?

Currently we gather people on a Sunday, I teach a short message from Scripture, we worship for a short time – and then we go out on the streets and minister to people however we can. Afterwards we come back, have dinner and talk about how the Lord moved, because we believe worship is more than singing and hearing the Word – it’s going out and loving people and sharing the gospel. That’s a ministry to the Lord.

We haven’t officially called ourselves a church yet but we will soon. The problem with the word ‘church’ is that people assume you’re going to go into a building, someone will preach for forty minutes, we’ll sing for forty minutes, the kids will have a programme, and then we’ll go home – we did our duty. I just want to kill that right off. I want to live as family with people, and make it clear that we are all disciple makers, even the kids, who are disciple makers at school.

So someone who comes to your church for the very first time will find themselves back out on the street again?

Yes, and that’s actually happening! I don’t want to make it sound like there’s a lot of fruit – there has been some heartbreak – but we are seeing God move. One guy had been a drug addict for 40 years, met the Lord, got baptised, and we said, “It’s your turn now – you need to start ministering to people in your apartment building. Name one person you want to pray for”. So we started praying for this guy he suggested, Tom, an alcoholic. Two hours later we get a call, “You’ll never believe it. I get home and Tom knocks on my door for the first time ever, asking for prayer”.

So they’re seeing that even a couple of weeks into being disciples, they need to start praying and ministering. We don’t usually have that expectation in the States. It’s all about ‘Come forward, receive Christ, pray this prayer, and keep coming to our church – we’ll just enjoy God together in this room’.

I want to start something like Christ did, ‘Follow me and I’ll make you fishers of men’. It’s scary and hard.

Most days I don’t want to go to my own church! But this is what church is supposed to be. Hebrews 10:24 says, ‘We spur one another on towards love and good deeds’, and I think we need to be spurred, regularly.

We need fellowship that does that.

What advice would you give to anyone planting a new church?

Every leader needs to look at his own life first and ask, ‘Am I a fisher of men? Am I out there loving people and sharing the gospel?’ We can’t expect our people to do what we’re not willing to do. Otherwise we’re like the Pharisees who heaped heavy burdens on people without lifting a finger to help.

And I recommend going first to the homeless and those on the lowest incomes. Not many people want to minister to them, which is heartbreaking; but they will make time for you when those who are wealthy will not.

Has anyone criticised you for taking the Bible too literally?

Oh yes. In a way that’s who I am – I am a very simple person. But the first principle in Scripture interpretation that most of us learnt in seminary is: if the literal sense makes sense, seek no other sense. If I tell my daughter to clean her room, she can’t come to me later and say, “I memorised your command. I can quote it in Greek – I did a room study with my friends about what my room would look like if I cleaned it”. No, she knows what I mean when I tell her to clean her room. But Jesus says, “Go and make disciples,” and what do we do? We have Bible studies on it. We’ll stand before the Lord and say, “I memorised the Great Commission”, and he’ll say, “What? Show me a disciple! Who have you baptised?” If I’m going to err, I’ll err on the side of taking it as literally as possible.

‘ It’s scary and hard. Most days I don’t want to go to my own church!’

Is there anything else you would like to say to our readers?

I would strongly encourage people to study the Word for themselves, then just do what it says. People complain about the teaching and leadership in their churches, but that’s no excuse. You have it in your hand; study it, read it, go and do it. God will hold each of us accountable for what we know, and there has never been so much teaching and knowledge available to Christians. There’s just a lack of courage to go out and apply it. Let’s be honest about that, pray for courage for one another, and go out and do what he’s calling us to do.

Francis Chan Francis is the founding pastor of Cornerstone Church, California, and the founder of Eternity Bible College.

He lives in Northern California with his wife Lisa and their five children.

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CULTURE

IF SHOPPING CENTRES ARE THE NEW CATHEDRALS, HOW CAN WE HANDLE OUR MONEY WITH HOLINESS? Steve Melluish ponders what greed looks LIKE and how we CAN put God before wealth

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TOUGH QUESTIONS

D

espite talk of ‘times of austerity’, many of us live with a sense of material comfort.

Shopping centres are the new cathedrals.

Some of us have wish lists of the next items that we ‘need’ - another pair of shoes, golf club or new kitchen. When do we stop?

Wish lists

The Bible warns us that a wish list raises a question about what captures our hearts. It’s not wrong to have a list of desires, or things that are important to us.

Yet purchases can signify where our attention and effort are focussed.

In Luke 12:13 Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool. He turns to the listening crowd and says, ‘Watch out…be on your guard against all kinds of greed’. Greed sneaks up on us, without us realising. Greed is wanting more, without having a proper need for it.

Viral culture

Ours is a culture of clothing catalogues and ‘material pornography’. The problem with this type of culture is that we can unknowingly pick up ‘viruses’. The first virus challenges who we are or where our identity is found.

A modern translation of Descartes’ famous reasoning, ‘I think, therefore I am’, could now be said to be, ‘I have, therefore I am’. Our identity can become so consumed by what we have.

Despite being wealthy, King Ahab lost all sense of ‘enough’. He wanted more, and when he couldn’t have it, he sulked, and then enlisted the help of his wife Jezebel.

What followed was murder, lying and theft. His insecurity and uncertainty about life was only relieved by possession.

When Jesus says, ‘A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions’, the word ‘consist’ means ‘defined by’. It refers to people who, if they lose their money, do not have ‘self’ left. Just contrast Jesus, who emptied himself for others’ sake.

The next ‘virus’ is anxiety and worry. In Matthew 6:9-14 Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray. ‘Our Father in Heaven, give us today our daily bread’. The key word is ‘daily’. Regular, trusted. And then ‘bread’. Basic need, enough for life. Learning the profound freedom of daily bread is liberation from worry and anxiety.

It is no accident that Jesus follows the Lord’s Prayer by speaking about materialism. Verses 25-34 are all about worry and learning to trust. Jesus warns us about what leads to worry; what we look at with our eyes reveals what has captured our hearts. And he tells us a servant cannot serve two masters. Either God will have captured our hearts, or the estate agent.

‘ It refers to people who, if they lose their money, do not have ‘self’ left.

Just contrast Jesus, who emptied himself for others’ sake’ Earthly natures

Idolatry is the third virus. In Luke 18, a young nobleman comes to Jesus asking what he should do to receive eternal life. The parable establishes that he thinks Jesus is his ‘good master’ and that ‘God alone is good’. He also claims to keep all the commandments.

Jesus asks him, and us too, an awkward question.

‘Would you sell everything you have and give it to the poor?’ The nobleman’s answer revealed his true God. Paul says that greed is a form of idolatry. Colossians 3:5 tells us to ‘Put to death therefore whatever belongs to your earthly nature...greed, which is idolatry’. Idolatry is the worship or trust of someone or something other than the true Creator. Greed leads to idolatry because it contains a desire to put the possession of something or someone at the centre of our existence. We do not have to own things to love them or serve them. Equally, just because we have them, doesn’t mean we serve them or trust them.

The antidotes

1 Timothy 6:6 states, ‘Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world and we take nothing out’. Developing contentment is the antidote to idolatry. We don’t actually need a new kitchen or car. So often we fear not having enough!

Frugality for ourselves and generosity towards others might make us feel vulnerable. But that’s all right, if Jesus is in the boat with us.

In Acts 4 we are told of Barnabas, who sold a field and ‘put the money at the apostles’ feet’.‘Barnabas’ means ‘son of encouragement’. Barnabas’s real name was Joseph, but his modeling of generosity was such an encouragement to the Church that he was renamed.

What does it mean to be uncompromisingly generous?

While we trust possessions and allow them to define us, I suspect we will never know. Generosity moves us beyond thinking that a ten per cent tithe will do. Generosity is arms outstretched, lavish. It is the prostitute pouring oil on Jesus’ feet, not counting the cost. ‘How much is enough?’ becomes an irrelevant question when we discover the simplicity of contentment, the calm of peace, and the joy of generosity.

Steve Melluish Steve leads St Michael’s, Southfields, with his wife Kathy.

St Michael’s is a vibrant young church in South West London. Steve is a New Wine Network Leader.

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Choosing to make the journey What drives us to make a journey that, at times, is tough, discouraging and sometimes very slow... when we could easily avoid it and be comfortable?

I

had no idea that a broken down car could be a holy thing!

That was until I got stuck in a small Cambodian village in 2002. I ended up speaking with a woman who told me that just a few weeks earlier she had given up her twin baby boys to an orphanage because she didn’t have the means to look after them. This made me angry.

And so I asked, “Who’s doing something about this?” That’s when I was told about Hagar – a Christian organisation helping women and children through recovery shelters, economic empowerment programmes and reintegration. The Bible tells the story of Hagar the slave woman who cried out with her child in the desert and is rescued by God.

Hagar in Afghanistan

My life changed in that moment as I waited for the car to be fixed, and I soon began working with Hagar in Cambodia, helping to develop new training and employment programmes for women and youth. But when a chance came up to lead Hagar’s work in Afghanistan, I found myself asking to be sent. If I’d stopped to think about what others thought of the idea, I probably wouldn’t have gone because, quite honestly, I think I’m the last person anyone expected to go! But I knew God was calling me and thankfully he uses ordinary people.

When I arrived in Kabul two smiling Afghans were waiting to receive me – they would soon become like family.

I led a team of 29 and together we ran a safe house for trafficked and abused women and children. We provided counselling, medical care, education and training as well as support for reintegration whenever possible. One of the first girls who came to us was Lailuma*.

Lailuma’s story

The local police referred Lailuma to us. A workman raped her while she was at home alone and, ashamed, she fled with her abuser who took her as his second wife. For the following year his first wife and children taunted and beat her – she was just an extra mouth to feed – the second, unwanted wife.

Lailuma chose to return to him after staying with us for just a few days. She could not go home with such shame and so returning to an abusive situation was the only choice she felt she could make.

I still think of Lailuma and pray that things changed for her – that she found hope. But I don’t know and all I can do is trust that God knows, that he sees her and hears her.

Walls come down

This is when I learned that you can’t go into a new culture expecting things to be the way you want them to be. You go first to learn. And through learning, you begin to understand. My team and I slowly learned together, and as we began to understand we began to see different outcomes, different endings, and we saw ground-breaking changes made. That journey wasn’t easy but it was worth it. As we began to push boundaries we learned for ourselves that change was possible.

We saw the first legal guardianship of a child awarded through the court. We saw a new precedent established for the safe reintegration of unaccompanied children deported back to Afghanistan. And we saw the formation of an innovative capacity-building programme that taught border police, judges and lawyers about trafficking, and the need to recognise victims, not as criminals but as women and children who need support.

48

* H agar pursues the highest degree of care and protection for each of its beneficiaries. To protect the identity of clients, names have been changed and pictures do not necessarily represent the individual profiled.

‘Remember those in prison as if you were their fellowprisoners, and those who are ill-treated as if you yourselves were suffering…’

Who are these prisoners? They are girls like Lailuma, trapped in abusive marriages. They are women escaping forced marriages or girls who fall pregnant outside of marriage (even if raped), facing prison or execution.

They are young boys trapped in slavery in border hotels, migrating for work but instead exploited for labour or sex.

Karim’s story

They are people like Karim. He was just 11 years old when he was persuaded to leave his family and travel to Iran for work to support his poor family. As he travelled through Kabul he was told he’d end up in prison if he arrived in Iran with no money. Karim became afraid and ran away.

Lost on the streets of Kabul, a Hagar partner found him and brought him to our shelter. A month later Karim’s whole family travelled from the north to bring him home - they had been looking for him for weeks. They were in tears when they saw him and rushed to hold him. Karim turned to us as he left and said, “Thank you for helping me”. Karim got to go home but many don’t.

shock, disbelief, anger and deep sadness. Through it all I had to say, “Jesus, I still trust you. I don’t understand and it hurts, but I believe you are still sovereign”.

CULTURE

One of the most challenging verses I’ve read this year is Hebrews 13:3:

Back in the UK

I went back to the UK at the end of the year and took on the role of setting up Hagar UK the following summer.

Leaving Afghanistan was hard, but I knew it was time to hand it over.

I was surprised again by what God had in store for me.

Within a few weeks of returning to the UK I met Ben, who was soon to become my husband! We were married eight months later and we’re now expecting our first child. God is good and so very faithful.

Hagar UK was launched in September 2011 as a support office for our international programmes. What a privilege it is to be able to tell the stories that help people capture Hagar’s heart, and ultimately God’s heart, for every woman, girl and boy that comes into our path.

I believe that life with God is an adventure. We don’t know where he will lead us, what will happen along the way, but we know he can be trusted.

So the next time your car breaks down – watch out!

In August 2010 I learned that friends of mine had been shot dead in the north east of Afghanistan. The following weeks were really tough. Grief brings a lot of emotion -

Myriam Harley Myriam has spent the last nine years working with Hagar, an international Christian organisation dedicated to the recovery of survivors of extreme human rights abuses in Cambodia, Vietnam and Afghanistan. She now heads up Hagar UK.

build your church What builds churches for mission?

Have your say and find out how we can help at www.cpas.org.uk/build

making disciples, developing leaders, growing churches 49

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A fresh, passionate sound of worship from local churches in the UK

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e are looking for an Office Manager to take responsibility for ensuring the smooth running of our head office on Tower Bridge Road, London, including PA to the Chief Executive and committee clerk services to Trustees. We are a 206 year old Christian charity with a happy atmosphere and a progressive attitude, and an Investor in People.

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Featuring Worship Leaders and Songwriters from around the UK: Becky Drake, Gareth Robinson, Nicole Brown, Sam Bailey, Melody Ball, Susie Woodbridge, Lauren Keenan, Rich White, Jamie Thompson, Eoghan Heaslip, Neil Bennetts, Nick J Drake, Nick Herbert, Quinton Delport, Chris Sayburn, Chris Jones, Elim Sound, Matt Macaulay.

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The job will appeal to a committed Christian with a hard working attitude and team spirit; with excellent organisational skills and an eye for detail as well as good interpersonal and IT skills, and the ability to work to tight deadlines.

We work for the wellbeing of the older people in our housing and care and nursing homes, and the Office Manager’s job is challenging and fulfilling.

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Contact Human Resources on hr@pilgrimsfriend.org.uk, or call 0300 303 1400, or through our website www.pilgrimsfriend.org.uk

Drowning in the Shallow

Unreachable

I’m surprised that I’ve not listened to Andy’s material before; and my attention was grabbed straight away by the beautiful cello in the first song. The songs are deep, such as The Reason (around discerning calling) and Whole (brokenness and longing). The songs on the album would be great in the background at guest events. The music is very accessible and will appeal to the current revival of interest in the folk genre such as Mumford & Sons/ Ed Sheeran as well as the Rend Collective Experiment.

Sarah Harrison is Director of Music at St Barnabas, Middlesbrough.

This book is Darrell’s honest, candid and self-reflective story of how he progressed into the world of drugs, dealing, crime and then into the prison system. The realness with which he describes his encounter and journey with Jesus will fill your heart with faith. This is a book to read and a book to give away to those who know Jesus and those who don’t know him yet.

Helen Shannon is Neighbourhood Pastor at St Barnabas’, North London.

Andy Flannagan

Drama out of a Crisis Peter Shaw

This is a collection of short sketches to help church groups engage with a broad range of justice and poverty issues. Such books are almost always a bit of a mixed bag and this is no exception. Some of the pieces suffer from being too obviously vehicles for information transmission, while others are rather too preachy. However, there are several gems, such as Massive Earthquake and What If?, that would work straight off the page, as well as others that could be very powerful with a bit of tweaking. I found Deadlier than the Male, for example, very strong as an introduction to the themes around violence and abuse against women but would want to tweak a little. It is a worthy attempt to offer in-roads into issues that very often church leaders struggle to open up.

Ashley Collishaw is Vicar of the Glenfall Church congregation in Cheltenham and a former professional actor.

CULTURE

Recommended Resources

Darrell Tunningley

The Generous Heart – Exploring the Economics of God’s Kingdom Mike Davies

This book sets out to ‘reveal some straightforward values that can lead to a wealthier and more wholesome existence’. The author has a background working in accountancy and financial services and is now a church pastor. He looks at the importance of tithing, careful financial planning and of having the right attitude to money. The overall premise of the book, and what it sets out to do, is very good; however there were parts which I disagreed with and parts which I didn’t really understand. Ultimately I found it quite confusing and difficult to follow and unfortunately I didn’t feel that the book delivered what it might have done on this topic.

Kate Wharton is Vicar of St George’s, Everton.

Give me 5

Olly Goldenberg

Give me 5 is a treasury of ideas intended for those who work with young people and children. Olly’s aim is to help us provide a balanced diet of five stages of a meeting: welcome, worship, word, warfare (prayer) and witness. Most of the ideas are simple and practical, and with over 700 activity ideas it should be hard to make things repetitive. Although intended for children, there are many good ideas for leading all-age and adult teaching and worship. After all why should the kids have all the fun!

David Bartlett is Team Vicar of St Margaret’s, Thorpe Market, Norfolk.

RESOURCES GIVEAWAY! Simply email the title of one of the above resources to mag@new-wine.org for your chance to win a copy. One entry per person. Winners will be chosen at random and notified by email by the end of February 2013.

51

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Be equipped to help others Developing Pastoral Care – Part 2: Developing Christian Vocation 6 Thursdays, fortnightly, starting 10 January 2013 at Waverley Abbey House Examine Ephesians and its pastoral care principles.

Introduction to Biblical Care and Counselling Mon–Fri 19–23 November 2012 at Pilgrim Hall Mon–Fri 18–22 March 2013 at Waverley Abbey House Understand people from a biblical perspective and help them get to the roots of their problems.

‘The course has been amazing, challenging and very thought provoking.’

Counselling Training Enquirers’ Morning Sat 12 January 2013 at Waverley Abbey House Find out if counselling training is for you. For both experienced counsellors and those just thinking about training.

For info/to book: visit www.cwr.org.uk/training or call 01252 784719 Waverley Abbey House, Waverley Lane, Farnham, Surrey GU9 8EP Pilgrim Hall, Easons Green, Uckfield, East Sussex TN22 5RE (Waverley Abbey House and Pilgrim Hall are part of CWR)

Applying God’s Word to everyday life and relationships

WavErlEy Training & EvEnTs

www.cwr.org.uk

CoMPANy RegiSTRATioN No. 1990308. RegiSTeRed CHARiTy No. 294387.

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To find out more about organising an individual or group trip to Israel, please visit

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Walk Where Jesus Walked

Interested in studying theology?

Train towards leadership or just gain a greater understanding of theology with a Kingdom focus

You too can invest in training to see God’s kingdom grow, becoming a change agent for Jesus in your life or workplace.

New Wine offers a range of training in line with its vision and values, with part-time, university-accredited courses delivered through WTC. A range of courses in Kingdom Theology enable you to: · Deepen and broaden your faith · Fit studying around your work and personal life · Join a worshipping, learning community close to you

www.new-wine.org/training

“My heart and mind have been expanded in ways I never thought possible” “The content is rich, challenging and relevant to today”

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regional Leadership ConferenCes 2013 for aLL invoLved in Leadership in the LoCaL ChurCh.

ConneCt with other leaders to help shape our nation.

Come and enCounter life Changing leadership

disCounts for earLy bookings, under 30s and Leaders in training Who are MeMbers of our ChurCh Leader’s netWork. see www.new-wine.org for more details.

neil Cole is an experienced church planter, author and pastor. he is the founder of awakening Chapels, which reaches young postmodern people in urban settings, as well as of Church Multiplication associates.

robby dawkins is one of the most sought-after speakers in the vineyard church movement. robby ministers extensively and internationally, equipping churches in power evangelism.

look out for more details at www.new-wine.org

north & east

4-6 March 2013, britannia adelphi hotel, Liverpool Featuring Neil Cole

Central & south west

6-8 March 2013, trinity Church, Cheltenham Featuring Robby Dawkins

london & south east

11-12 March 2013, st paul’s ealing and ealing Christian Centre, London Featuring Robby Dawkins

n&e dates are residential with full board.

Csw and lse dates are non-residential.

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Equipping 18-30s for radical Kingdom living If you are between 18 and 39 join us for a long weekend in Center Parcs.

Enjoy teaching, relaxing, spending time with friends and, of course, full use of all Center Parcs facilities!

THREE EVEnTS FOR 2013!

CSW WEEkEnd Center Parcs Longleat: Friday 11-Sunday 13 January 2013

Hosted by Gareth Dickinson and Hannah Bailey

LSE WEEkEnd Center Parcs Elveden: Friday 11-Sunday 13 January 2013 Hosted by Pete and Bee Hughes

n&E WEEkEnd Center Parcs Sherwood Forest: Friday 18-Sunday 20 January 2013

BOOk OnLIn nOW E

Hosted by Luke Smith and the BURN team

Friday-Sunday Remember conference ends on the Sunday but you are able to stay on until the Monday to make the most of the Center Parcs facilities.