Mission21 final reflections

If you have been following this blog you will know that the organisers of a Church Planting Conference this week invited us to blog or twitter on the event. Here's my overall reflection.

I met some wonderful people for the first time and met up with other wonderful people I haven't seen for some time. The four main sessions were very well prepared (apart from one where someone had to stand in at the last moment). All gave us much to think about as well as being challenging and inspiring.

I was part of a small group looking at Cross Cultural Church Planting. After the first session I wasn't sure how much value these would prove to be but by the end of the conference I think that these highly interactive sessions stimulated helpful thinking. For me there was little that was new (after all I have been relating to church planting since 1966!) but it helped me focus on some important issues.

The one hour given for specialist topics, where I led a session on rural church planting, was rather frustrating as far as I am concerned. I could have used the time more effectively I think. However, most of those attending commented that it was helpful But it could have been more helpful if I had not felt so limited in time.

I was very glad to be there. They worked us hard - days started at 9.00 and ended twelve hours later. It was well planned (apart from the one hour only specialist time) and deserving of twice the number attending. Would I do it again? YOU BET!

Mission21 Day 2 Rural Focus

We discovered something very interesting today. I was leading a specialist session on church planting in rural areas. As part of this I spoke of a project where a small church plant in Cumbria has inspired the whole village to engage in a mission project in Congo. Now they have more people wanting to go to Congo - despite danger and hardship - than they have room for. They are busy fundraising as a community and have recently had a special day that was featured on regional TV!!!

As soon as I mentioned this I discovered two others in our small gathering at the conference group who were also running with similar schemes.

I believe that this could be a process by which people can find their way to a personal relationship with Christ. I think that this is a "programme" worth exploring.
Any comments?

Church Planting Conference - Unconditional acts of service

Here's an interesting argument we had today in our "stream". It related to the debate on social action. I stated that I could not recall a single time when Jesus responded to a need conditionally.

Our stream leader seemed to think that if Jesus never made a condition before he always made one afterwards! Of course I think I'm right! The question is whether we engage in good works ONLY if we offer our service with a slice of gospel proclamation. I'm all for passing on the gospel message but I am unhappy about insisting that acts of genuine love must only be undertaken on condition that we can share the story.

Any comments?

Church Planting Conference Day 1

I'm attending the Mission21 Conference in Bath for three days this week and have just finished day 1 (running 14.00 to 21.00 with a 2 hour break for evening meal). Its a mixed bunch of people drawn from all kinds of churches and I hope I will be able to learn from those from other traditions and those who are working in other contexts that "rural" (my area of expertise).

As part of this programme we are spending much of the time in "Streams" and I opted for "Cross Cultural Church Planting". My thinking was that most villages are microcosms of multi culturalism, but I suspect we will steadily see people from ethnic minorities moving into British villages in increasing numbers so we need the debate.

Much time in our evening session revolved around how we might measure "success" and that led to a debate on churches that are genuinely agencies for transformation because of social action engagement. The group leader placed his emphasis on numerical growth through conversions. I found myself sitting in the middle but I'd be grateful for some comments on the following please:

In 1Peter 3:15 we read "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect," and it was suggested that if we live Christian lives marked by appropriate good deeds people will ask us about our faith. My concern about this is that most rural Christians do live lives of loving service to others, but I am yet to hear of a single instance in a rural context where this has led to anyone asking "for the reason for the hope". It seems to me that people expect us to be nice and helpful but I'm not sure how often this leads to anyone then asking us to explain the gospel.

So if any reader can enlighten me otherwise - and remember it has to be a rural context - I would be delighted to hear from you. Meanhile, I'm off to bed!