1min 40sec clip - How the Separation of Church and State Shapes America's Political Landscape

quote: #trapped in the #past

 

1hr 18min clip - #Dementia Inclusive #Church Workshop with Charlotte Evans , Story Chaplain

text from youtube "13th April 2021, 7.30pm 

 This is the recording of an informal, two hour workshop hosted by Charlotte Evans, Story Chaplain, exploring how churches can support those living with dementia and their carers, particularly given the last year that we have all lived through. 

 The session covered:

 • Reflection on what those who live with dementia and carers have faced in the last year, and the impact this has had; 

• Discussion on what the wider church community can do to ensure that those living with dementia and carers continue to be included in church family life right now; 

• Sharing specific resources to support those living with dementia and carers, both within our church families and in the community, in terms of outreach work, and being in touch to address loneliness and isolation. 

 This workshop was aimed at church leaders, pastoral teams, and anyone who is interested in supporting those living with dementia and carers within a church context and beyond.

For more on Charlotte's work: www.storychaplain.com The resource page for this event & work with churches around dementia in the Diocese of London can be found at: www.compassionatecommunitieslondon.org.uk "

4min 38sec @churchofengland clip - Justin Welby launches his Commission on #Housing, #Church and #Community

Text from youtube "The Archbishop’s Commission on Housing, Church and Community will explore a Christian perspective on housing policy, with a particular focus on providing good homes and promoting thriving communities. 

Find out more about the Commission’s work at www.churchofengland.org/ABChousing

#ruralpresence blog post - Rural Church ideas from Exeter Diocese’s 1st annual report on Growing the Rural Church

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)

Back in February 2018 @CofEDevon tweeted about the launch of their first Growing the Rural Church Annual Report.  The 16 page document covers the first year of their 7 year project, which is funded by the Church of England’s Strategic Development Fund and their own Diocesan Synod.  With a project team of 4 the spend in 2017 was £106k (£49k in salaries) and the budget for 2018 is £287k (£144k in salaries).

Reflecting on their experiences so far they report that two things stand out: 

1. People are passionate about heritage buildings, for “their” church, a symbol of their village or community identity which should be open and available to them. 

2. For rural worshiping communities their church building often feels more of a burden than a blessing taking resource away from their passion for mission.

Through their pilot projects they are starting to see glimpses of what can happen when conversations are facilitated between people with one or both of these passions.  These develop when worshipping and non-worshipping members of communities come together to ask two questions, first, ‘What does our community need?’ and second, ‘How might our church, as people and a building, meet that need?’

As a quick heads up for you I’ve summarised below the projects and ideas the report covers.

1. St Mary’s, Walkhampton – Champing™ with The Churches Conservation Trust – the church is used regularly for worship and community events.  From spring 2018 it will also be used as accommodation for tourists.  This will provide income for the church as well as for local food businesses.
2. All Saints, North Molton – Developing a Community Enterprise with Stir to Action – the community is exploring, with Friends Provident Foundation’s Stir to Action consultancy, options for the development of a community enterprise.  Ideas include: a cinema, a business hub, a community energy company and a café.
3. Shirwell Mission Community – Stories on the Street – 7 rural parishes are partnering with Mosaic Creative and Mothers’ Union to pilot a UK version of Tearfund’s Church and Community Mobilisation initiative.  It uses bible study, workshops and initiatives to support community action addressing local challenges.
4. Two Rivers Mission Community – Exploring Community Involvement in Caring for Church Buildings – 4 of the communities’ 11 rural parishes are partnering with Devon Communities Together  and engaging over 400 people in their communities to developing a shared vision for the future of their churches.
5. Sharing learning – there are webpages with advice and guidance.  Over 40 enquiries from Mission Communities have been given guidance, signposting and case study examples.  They are also engaging in ongoing learning conversations, exchange visits and learning events with 10 other diocese.
6. Communications – With 3 explicit communications aims for 2017 they have used webpages, videos, case studies, magazine/newsletter articles and speaking engagements.  Videos are popular and Twitter @GtRCDevon has been used to build connections with potential partners at county and national level.
7. Monitoring and Evaluation –  By March 2018 they aim to develop an Impact Measurement Framework to examine their activities, the outputs, how they help meet desired outcomes, and their learning.  For example, one key outcome is that mission communities have more energy and capacity for mission and discipleship.
8. Other activities from the 8 pilot projects in 2017 (including those in 1-4 above)

• Supporting the review and implementation of Mission Action Plans
• Exploring releasing people from administrative or governance tasks into mission
• Piloting resources that support the development of mission focused initiatives
• Delivering community consultations
• Exploring alternative governance structures for the care of rural church buildings
• Developing enterprise uses of church building
• Supporting the development of community groups to share the care of rural church buildings.

9. Plans for 2018

• Increasing resources to support mission and ministry
• Developing best practice approaches – e.g. support to different ‘categories’ of rural churches, such as festival churches, rural resource churches and tourism churches.

#ruralpresence - Seedtime

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)

Reflecting on what it means to lead churches in a rural context. 

The Germinate Leadership course from Germinate: the Arthur Rank Centre is an 18-month programme that "combines leadership theory, theological reflection on the nature of leadership in ministry, the development of co-consultancy groups and practical leadership issues including conflict resolution, team building and group dynamics, and the importance of deepening emotional intelligence." 

This latter area - a session on emotional intelligence - from consultant Jill Garrett of LT Consulting - was one of the best elements in the residential gathering I attended and provided some valuable insight into my own practice as well as helping to understand others I work with. 

Also excellent was the session on models and skills for leadership in rural churches from Amiel Osmaston, until recently Ministry Development Officer for the Diocese of Carlisle and contributor to to Reshaping rural ministry (the lecture was largely based on her chapter in this book - well worth a read). 

Course members are a mix of lay and ordained, from different denominations and levels of experience of rural church. And this is one of the course's strengths: the opportunity to meet and share with people from across the country, so you get a wider perspective on the present realities of rural ministry. The co-consultancy groups look to be a helpful addition, as does the provision of a mentor for the duration of the course. 

If you're interested, apply , the next round starts in September 2018.

#ruralpresence - Independent review calls for greater #community use to give #church buildings a sustainable future

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)

Commissioned in 2016 to report to the Chancellor and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport - this review considers the funding and sustainability of listed church buildings.  Published on 20/12/17, the press release for the review says....

" The review panel highlighted the best practice of many churches and of volunteers around the country, with buildings adapted and used for cafes, playgroups, and in some cases NHS and post office services. The panel said it wants to see more innovation of this kind."

But the press release also commented that....

"Congregations are individually responsible for the care of their own buildings and despite the commitment and hard work of volunteers, the panel found a lack of consistency in the ability of many churches to carry out routine maintenance and repairs."

The press release goes on to summarise the reviews recommendations as shown below - and says that these should be tested through pilot schemes in both rural and urban areas.

• "creating a national network of Community Support Advisers to help churches identify and strengthen wide ranging relationships within their local area".  The review hopes that "through greater community engagement, churches will be used more frequently and can maximise new funding options reflecting this broad community involvement."
• "creating a group of ‘Fabric Support Officers’ who have practical heritage buildings expertise to ensure that all churches have access to high quality advice"
• churches should "develop annual minor repairs plans. This will mean that repairs can be addressed immediately and prevent the development of more costly major repair."
• churches should prepare " a rolling ten-year major repairs plan" and that these be "kept up to date so that larger works can be planned and given the best chance of being properly funded."

It's worth looking at the letters in response to the report in the Church Times this week.  These wondered about the role of the proposed Fabric Support Officers and Community Support Advisers and questioned how far community use ideas for church buildings were viable for remote rural churches.

And it's also interesting to compare the current report's proposals with recommendations in the Church of England's Church Buildings Review report, issued in 2015.

#ruralpresence - After Easter till August 2018 – Ideas for church services and events

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)

Around now might be the time you are bending your mind to events and services for after Easter – say April to August 2018.  Along with some of the red letter days, I’ve collated a number of other ideas.  The “usual suspects” are listed below along with – I hope – some other useful ideas and links.  If you have any ideas to add then please do share them via a comment – maybe with links – on this post.  In next year’s version of this post I’d love to include your ideas and credit you.

APRIL

Start a Men’s – or Women’s – or both – monthly pub lunch – Over Lent how about asking people whether they’d be interested in the idea of a monthly pub lunch.  You could encourage people interested to let a a named person in the church know.  OR – you might just go ahead and arrange one anyway.

Pub lunches are a great way to provide something to a community.  They bring people together and grow relationships.  Both times I’ve seen one set up at the initial lunch they had 5 or so attendees  – but within a year attendance had grown to 15 or so.

They’re also very resource-lite.  All you need is somebody to send out an email reminder the week before  and probably to make a booking at the pub.  And  it’s good to encourage attendees to invite neighbours and friends to the lunch.

A couple of swipes down this page is an example of publicity for a Men’s pub lunch organised by St. Mary’s church in the market town of Saffron Walden.  And a couple of swipes down this page is the information for a similar men’s pub lunch set up in my 5 parishes.

You’ll notice the publicity focuses on simple, informal, no strings, no agenda and each pay your own messages.

16th (Monday) – In Essex – parents/guardians find out which primary school their child will attend.  Why not include prayers for those involved in the process the Sunday before?  With a bit of planning ahead you could also include some prayers in your April magazine and in webpage and social media updates during early April.

23rd (Monday) – St. George’s Day – A service the Sunday before could invite uniformed organisations like the Brownies, Cubs, Guides and Scouts to take part.  They – and you – might link into Earth Day (22nd Sunday) and its 2018 theme of End Plastic Pollution.

MAY

6th (Rogation Sunday) – Organise a walk between some of your churches with short reflections at each, bacon butties at the start and a buffet lunch at the end.  The following text may help spark some other ideas as might the Chelmsford Diocese’s Agricultural Festivals pack, (towards the foot of the page I’ve linked to), which has further ideas on Rogation.

Formally the rogation days are the three weekdays before Ascension day but some churches celebrate this around May time if Easter is early.  Apparently Rogation took over a Greek/Roman annual procession in which the Gods were asked to protect crops.

The poet George Herbert interpreted the procession as a way of asking for God’s blessing on the land, of preserving boundaries, of encouraging fellowship between neighbours with differences, and of charitable giving to the poor.

The tradition of ‘beating the bounds’ – the parish boundary lines or some walk across parishes stopping at churches for refreshment and a short reflection – continues in some churches.

In more recent times, the scope of Rogation has been widened to include petition for the world of work and for accountable stewardship, and prayer for local communities, whether rural or urban.

Also … 6th May – Godparents Sunday – As the site says

“For the third time in 2018, it will take place on May 6th, but you can celebrate the role of godparents at any time of year if you wish.  One of the biggest findings of the research was that godparents really, really matter to families. Godparents are part of family life for all the years ahead, a relationship that will last into adulthood and beyond. “

10th – 20th May – Thy Kingdom Come – global wave of prayer  from Ascension Day (Thursday 10th May).   Website includes helpful resources for churches and families, including ideas for prayer stations and 24-7 prayer events.

13th (Sunday) to 19th (Saturday) – Christian Aid Week – Feed the hungry and welcome the stranger.  Be there for people facing poverty and injustice.

15th (Friday) to 17th (Sunday) National Weekend of Invitation  – “One weekend.  Multitudes of personal invitations to those outside our churches.  All with a simple request to please ‘Be our guest’. ”

20th (Sunday) – Pentecost – the birth of the Christian Church.  Whit Sunday is a favourite day for baptism in some places and Whitsun is the time for walks and processions.  The traditional “Procession of Witness” has long been celebrated throughout the North West.

Or another idea is a Pentecost Pudding and Pimms Party – see page 4 of this Norwich Diocese monthly magazine for more information on how one church does this.

25th (Friday) – General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) takes  effect  – in the UK from this date.  The Parish Resources website has various resources on what you need to do.  As a 1st step they suggest you carry out a data audit.

27th (Trinity Sunday) – dedicated to the Christian belief in the Trinity.

JUNE

3rd (Sunday) – The Big Lunch – The UK’s annual get together for neighbours –  a free starter pack is available.

8th & 9th June (Friday & Saturday) – Rural Ministries Annual Conference 2018 –
The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick. Rev. Cannon Dave Male, Church of England Director for Evangelism & Discipleship is their key note speaker.

“The two days together bring an opportunity to receive core biblical teaching through a range of workshops and seminar programme. “

It costs £90 per person including all accommodation, meals and conference pack. (Found via Rural Ministries March e-news)

9th (Saturday) to 17th (Sunday) – Children’s Art Week – a theme to bring into a Sunday service.

10th Open Farm Sunday – “Opening your farm for LEAF Open Farm Sunday is a fantastic chance to show people what real farming is all about and why supporting British farming matters. Get involved in the farming industry’s annual open day on the 10th June and demonstrate the skills, technology and passion that goes into producing nutritious food and managing the countryside.”  Resources are available to order here.

15th (Friday) to 17th (Sunday) The National Weekend of Invitation – As their website says “One weekend. Multitudes of personal invitations to those outside our churches. All with a simple request to please ‘Be our guest’.” The National Weekend of Invitation reflects 14 years of experience of Back to Church Sunday in the UK and internationally. It is an initiative of the Unlocking the Growth Trust – a charity.

17th (Sunday) – Father’s Day – Who let the Dads out – a Messy Church event for Dads, Grandads & kids  – with food, games, a bible story, songs and craft activities.

22nd (Friday) to 24th (Sunday – The Great Get Together weekend – as the website says

“A celebration of your choosing!  Arrange something with your neighbours, find an event taking place near you or join in online. Whatever you decide, you’ll be part of a huge national celebration. “

(Found via a @ACRE_national tweet)

JULY

15th – Rural Mission Sunday – As the webpage I’ve linked to from Germinate: The Arthur Rank Centre says …

” we feel passionately about the importance of small churches: we know they do mission and we want to celebrate that fact.  Rural Mission Sunday is an annual event celebrating the work of small rural churches”.

The page says their 2018 resources will be available by 1st May.   This page shares their stories from 2017 covering examples of what churches did like:

– a Pet Service;

– a BBQ and treasure hunt round the churchyard, a prayer station in church, and ending with a celebratory service;

– Fun, Frogs and Bishops, a community outreach event with a bouncy castle, games, Open the Book displays, Messy Church crafts – and a bishop!  The church building hosted a teddy bears’ picnic, a bear hunt and a quiet cafe area.

AUGUST

1st (Wednesday) – Lammas –  What about a Lammas service the Sunday before?  Or a Bread Making event – Messy Church or one-off Adult Fresh Expression?  The following text may help prompt some other ideas as may Chelmsford Diocese’s Agricultural Festivals pack, (towards the foot of the page I’ve linked to), and its Lammas ideas.

Lammas or ‘Loaf-mass’ is an English feast in origin traditionally held on 1 August.  Now- a-days at others times also.

Its a thanksgiving for the first-fruits of the wheat harvest.  Traditionally, a newly baked loaf from the wheat harvest was presented before God within the mass of that day.

The Lammas loaf might be baked by members of the congregation, using local produce if possible. Other small loaves or buns, in the tradition of ‘blessed bread’, may be distributed to the congregation.

Part of the Lammas loaf might be used as the bread at a Holy Communion.

#ruralpresence - #Community owned businesses that use #rural #church #buildings help sustain the church @GerminateARC @heritagelottery @PlunkettFoundat @UniofNewcastle

 

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)


This research used 5 full case studies and 2 shorter ones to consider whether community owned businesses can help sustain rural places of worship.  Social enterprises, (more recently called community businesses/co-operatives), are trading organisations with social and community objectives.  Any surplus funds they generate is used to fulfill social purposes.   Examples are community owned shops or pubs or broadband and energy schemes.

The research was commissioned by the Heritage Lottery Funding in 2012 supported by a steering group comprising: Plunkett Foundation; Cathedral and Church Buildings Division of the Church of England; Germinate: The Arthur Rank Centre; Newcastle University.  A report was published March 2017.  

Headlines from the research are:

• Social enterprise had a positive impact on the long term sustainability of the place of worship. This was through increasing use, additional income generation and the involvement of more people.

• The needs of the wider community must be the starting point for considering the potential of a social enterprise. Solutions that are solutions for community needs and problems are more likely to be successful than those which are merely solutions for the problems of a place of worship.

• The benefits and wider impacts of a social enterprise extend beyond meeting the initial service need or resource provision.

• High quality advice, support and promotion are needed to ensure good practice is shared and built on.

• There are three challenges to address in the use of social enterprise in places of worship:
  
  (a) The social enterprise should meet the community’s needs and not be developed
  solely as a solution to problems of a place of worship;
  
  (b) Recognising and addressing the tensions that may arise in using a spiritual
  place for secular purposes;
  
  (c) The process for working through the planning system and listed building
  consent, including denominational systems.

#ruralpresence - Rural #resource #churches

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)

Can you send me and support me?   The question came from a faithful children’s worker in a market town resource church.  
This woman got the idea – and felt that God was calling her to leave the large market town church she’d attended and the work she had been doing in order to serve the parish church in her village. 

She was asking her home church – this resource church – to help by releasing her from her current role and mentoring her as a leader in the church in the village where she lived.

If you thought resource churches were just for urban contexts, think again.

And if you’re uncertain about what a resource church really is, then how about this view from the Diocese of Leicester: “it is expected that, in every sense, Resourcing Churches will “give away” for more than they “receive” for the sake of the Kingdom of God.  Resourcing Churches will embody the values of generosity, partnership, audacity and humility.”

At a conference organised by Jill Hopkinson, National Rural Officer for the Church of England, the potential for resource churches in rural areas was explored.  Presenters told the story and reflected on the theology of established and very new rural resource churches from around the country and within and beyond the CofE.

Highlights included reflections from Barry Hill, Diocese of Leicester Resource Church Enabler and Team Rector in the Market Harborough Team, who provided the anecdote at the start of this post.  Barry outlined the Diocese’s approach to resourcing churches, where the expectation is that these will largely not be new churches, but form the next stage of development for existing churches and will be in a mix of city centre, town and rural  locations.  Joining a six year learning community, those designated as Resourcing Churches will receive a range of additional resource, including an associate vicar, second curate and mission apprentices.  The broad expectation is that these churches will plant or transplant a new congregation or fresh expression of church every 18 to 24 months.

The potential for resource churches in market towns like this was underlined in the presentation by David Jennings, Head of Funding at the Church Commissioners.

Also there was a skip through the data from newly appointed Church Army head of research Tim Ling, considering the Day of Small Things research on Fresh Expressions in the CofE, along with the question of how to define rural (the current approach used by government – rural-urban classification for output areas – appears to offer a helpful direction for researchers and others).

Many presenters were at pains to stress that resource churches are not about colonising or brand development – and that there is no requirement for resource churches to be charismatic-evangelical in spirituality – this, after all, is the stereotype.

Another helpful insight was provided by a team from the very new Potting Shed Church, an emerging resource church in the Southwell and Nottingham Diocese. Trustee Emilie Rathbone and Pioneer Curate Ant Dixon outlined progress so far. This is a church that currently meets in a field (in a marquee)- you couldn’t get much more rural than that. 

Alongside the monthly gathering (deliberate choice of term), there are weekly meetings of the core group of Christians involved and plans to roll out Alpha early next year and to recruit a worship leader to work in (as it were) the Potting Shed itself and for neighbouring churches and the wider community. A key value in the beginnings of the Potting Shed is the quality of engagement with local churches and church leaders: from the outset the team has been meeting and praying with local clergy and other church leaders about the way forward.

The day ended on a high with National Mission and Evangelism Advisor Rachel Jordan-Wolf reminding us about the output of the Talking Jesus research: 36% of adults come to faith through conversations with Christians…. and with the helpful analogy that we are all tripadvisors for Jesus.

Background image created by Jannoon028 – Freepik.com

#ruralpresence - #Agricultural #festival resources

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)


In rural churches we don’t just celebrate harvest: there’s also Plough Sunday, Rogation and Lammas (and probably some more). 



A new resource pack focusing on these four named festivals has been put together and test driven by Revd Janet Nicholls (Chelmsford Diocese Rural Adviser and Agricultural Chaplain), Mark Tiddy (Bradwell Area Youth Adviser) and Archdeacon of Chelmsford Ven Elizabeth Snowdon.  

Alongside some theological context, there are also ideas to help with messy church, youth groups and collective worship in schools as well as traditional Sunday services.

Find details of how to obtain the pack in hard copy or download it from the diocesan website

#ruralpresence - @GerminateARC Toolkit - using your #church #building to offer an open #welcome

(this post was 1st published on the Rural Presence Blog)

Open Welcome is a new resource from Germinate: The Arthur Rank Centre.  

It is designed to help rural churches consider how they might use their building to offer welcome and hospitality to those in their community, both residents and visitors.

Church buildings have the capacity to move people.  So we need to view them as more than just bricks and mortar. 

The 8 page Open Welcome document is a free, practical resource covering topics like opening the building, welcoming visitors and telling the story.   

It is divided into the sections described below and it can be downloaded here. Introduction Section 1 - Why open your buildings Section 2 - Extending the welcome Section 3 - Telling the story Section 4 - Practical steps Useful information and resources