Dear Church Planters
About 80 planters (including pastors and members) attended the British Church Planters X-Change, organised by David Cox, Humphrey Walters and Paul Haworth, this last weekend. Pastor Cecil Perry, leader of the Adventist Church in Britain, set the stage with his focus upon the fact that the future of the church needs to be sown and planted in new churches today. Well know author and researcher, Martin Robinson, was the guest presenter on Saturday afternoon – challenging planters to ‘invade secular space’ for God.
Building upon a strong heritage, church planting is becoming part of the culture of the church in Britain. Humphrey Walters and Paul Haworth, church planting coordinators for the South and North Conferences respectively, are fostering ‘New Church Incubators’ and coaching support systems for new churches and the planters; ‘Church Planting Awareness Days’ as a regular feature on their Conference calendars – to keep all informed and inspired; and, encouraging more local churches to plan and hive off groups of members to plant new churches.
The Adventist Church in Welwyn Garden City, with a membership of about 130, planted a new church 15 months ago and is now planting a second. On Sabbath I preached at the large Brixton church – a church that has planted 5 churches in the last 25 years, some of which have grown into the largest Adventist churches in London. Two weeks ago a team of 30 members – enthusiastically supported by their pastor, Hamilton Williams – hived off to plant their sixth church plant in London.
In this NEWS we share some insights into this growing planting movement in Britain. This is just a sample. Other church planting initiatives are developing or growing in Bracknell, Epsom, Ruislip, Kennington, Ashford, etc. You will be encouraged. You will find new ministry ideas. And, you will get a lot to pray for!
Christian regards
Peter Roennfeldt
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CHURCH PLANTING NEWS – 26 Apr 05
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In this NEWS …
Ø PUBLIC EVANGELISM TO PLANT A NEW CHURCH IN ELEPHANT & CASTLE
Ø SLOUGH GHANAIAN CHURCH SPONSORS NEW CHURCH IN READING
Ø ‘THE CHURCH’ IN ENFIELD
Ø RE’VIVE GETS INSPIRATION FROM ‘TWIN’
Ø HOUSE GROUP GROWING INTO NEW CHURCH IN BOROUGH
Ø LUTON NORTH CHURCH PLANT – NOW HAS 6 HOUSE GROUPS
Ø RUSSIAN SPEAKING GROUP GROWING
Ø WELWYN GARDEN CITY ADVENTIST COMMUNITY CHURCH ATTRACTS FRINGE-DWELLERS!
Ø WEST BLETCHLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH GOES DOOR-TO-DOOR
Ø BRISTOL PLANTING – REACHING NEW AREAS
Ø SUREWAY COMMUNITY CHURCH – ACTIVE!
Ø YEOVIL FAMILY CHURCH IS BEING PLANTED FOR FAMILIES
Ø HOPE COMMUNITY CHURCH REACHES THE COMMUNITY WITH CREATIVE MINISTRIES
Ø HORDEN GROUP ‘GROWING’
Ø INTERNATIONAL Church Planters X-Change 05 – Friedensau, Germany (24 – 31 July 2005)
PUBLIC EVANGELISM TO PLANT A NEW CHURCH IN ELEPHANT & CASTLE The London Community church and London Ghanaian churches have teamed up to conduct a month-long evangelistic series which commenced on April 7. About 50 people are attending each evening. Those who will come to Jesus and are baptised will be added to the new church launched on April 2 in Elephant & Castle, London.
SLOUGH GHANAIAN CHURCH SPONSORS NEW CHURCH IN READING The Slough Ghanaian church is sponsoring a new church plant in Reading that was launched on April 2 with 40 people attending public worship. There is a growing number of Ghanaians coming into the area around Reading – people who have had contact with the Adventist Church in their home country. A series of public evangelistic meetings is planned for August-September this year.
'THE CHURCH’ IN ENFIELD ‘The Church’ was planted in Enfield Town in November 2003 by Jon Gendle and a core team of five – plus visitors. The Church meets in Kingsmead School and began after four members from the mother church in Waltham Abbey departed and the remaining members felt released to engage in more contemporary forms of church. This was coupled with the closure of the Abbey meeting place by the landlord—clearing the way for a move to Enfield, where all but one of the remaining active members lived. The Church’s major initial activity was to build a vibrant contemporary worship and a friendly, welcoming Sabbath morning experience to which friends and contacts could be invited without any fear or “cringe factor”. Our live worship band and moving video song backgrounds are appreciated by all.
Promotional activities have been key to making contact with the community beyond our small numbers. Jeff first visited after seeing our ad on screen at the UGC Cinema next door—he is now a member. Derek has been attending regularly for the past eight months after responding to our first monthly Newsletter. He now helps distribute this to 1200 households and also attends meetings in members’ homes. Amber is looking forward to baptism—her first contact being made after noting our details on the Alpha website, maintained by Holy Trinity Brompton. Robert came for the first time in April after being interviewed on camera by us in the town centre as we sought the opinions of members of the public. “As one can appreciate, we are very creative and inventive in our activities,” says planter Jon Gendle. “We are excited by the concept of “church without frontiers” and praise God for the way he has blessed us. Our membership is now 11. We have 2 baptisms planned and our worship attendance regularly hits 20 and more.” John Surridge, Communications Director for Adventists in Britain, who spoke at The Church last Saturday was impressed and commented, “The group does seem to be attracting the genuinely unchurched.”
RE’VIVE GETS INSPIRATION FROM ‘TWIN’ Members of the Re’vive (Grantham) plant have just spent a weekend with their ‘twin’ – the WATT plant in Assen, Netherlands. By ‘twinning’ with a plant that shares similar values and ministry approaches church planters encourage and inspire each other. Both Re’vive and WATT are building networks of friendship and small groups.
HOUSE GROUP GROWING INTO NEW CHURCH IN BOROUGH Eric Neale, a member of the Croydon church, decided to establish a group in Borough, London, as there was no church in the area. It started off as a house group – but, 16 people now attend and the launch of a new church plant is not far away.
LUTON NORTH CHURCH PLANT – NOW HAS 6 HOUSE GROUPS Luton North church plant started in October 2003 and by November 2004 it was organised into a church. The believers in both Luton North and South are very active in evangelism. Currently Luton North has 6 house groups that meet on Wednesday and Friday evenings – with about 40 people in participating weekly. Luton Central is currently conducting 3 house groups each Friday with approximately 25 people attending.
RUSSIAN SPEAKING GROUP GROWING A small Russian-speaking group of 5 believers began meeting in London on 5 May, 2001. This group has grown through sharing faith and there are now 21 members with 35 to 40 people meeting together for worship each Sabbath. Four small groups contribute to the vitality of this group. A fund raising concert in 2004, with the involvement of Russian groups, proved to be such a success that another is planned for this year.
WELWYN GARDEN CITY ADVENTIST COMMUNITY CHURCH ATTRACTS FRINGE-DWELLERS! The Welwyn Garden City Adventist Community Church had their first worship service on 13 September 2003. The core team (made up of David Neal, Gary and Julie Wynne, Trudy Young) were joined with a group of 15 adults and 10 children – former members of the St. Albans church. The new plant is seeking to make new friends in this burgeoning town in Hertfordshire, England. Some who were on the fringe of the church attend this warm and friendly fellowship. Worship is a combination of traditional with elements of praise and worship. There are many gifted musicians with an ensemble playing for worship. Connecting with the community has initially been slow, but the team are working on this.
WEST BLETCHLEY COMMUNITY CHURCH GOES DOOR-TO-DOOR West Bletchley Community Church is a church plant led by Pastor Colin Stewart and a group of 10 to 12 leaders. The community is being reached by a strong emphasis on door-to-door work that takes place most Saturdays after the worship service. The church recently celebrated its first community member being baptised into church fellowship after joining the group. Many contacts have been made from the door to door programme and many come to church on a regular basis. A community survey is currently being conducted – to ascertain the needs of the community. The leaders have also started receiving training in a Spiritual Gifts Seminar. This will be ‘rolled out’ for all the core team, members and friends who are joining. “Truly this is an exciting project,” says planter Colin Stewart.
BRISTOL PLANTING – REACHING NEW AREAS Both in South Bristol (Bedminster) and Bristol Central planter and pastor, Richard Daly, and the core teams are building small groups. The Bristol Central core team (launched in March this year) is working on familiarising themselves with their community.
SUREWAY COMMUNITY CHURCH – ACTIVE! The vision for planting a church was birthed by a group of 12 individuals through the study of ‘Revolution in the Church’ by Burrell. The group wanted to recapture early Adventist roots for ministry. A subsequent group of 10 led by Mfakazi Ndebele realised the vision by planting the small groups based SureWay Community Church in the Clayhall & Barkingside areas of Redbridge, Essex in April 2002 with a focus to 'help people find the Way' to Jesus. The main activities are LinkUp – a youth ministry involving sports and socials, SureWay Felt Needs seminars and a soon to be launched Trailblazers Pathfinders Club in May 2005. The group now averages 25 members on Sabbaths. In October 2004, four of young people were baptised.
YEOVIL FAMILY CHURCH IS BEING PLANTED FOR FAMILIES Yeovil Family Church is being planted for families in the community by a family. Leslie and Dana King along with their daughter Sarah and Gemma moved to Yeovil with the aim of 'turning the hearts of the parents to their children and the hearts of the children to their parents…' This is being accomplished through the charity called Time Out Together which they formed with a group of community parents. Local funding has enabled them to offer youth clubs, holiday activities, parenting programmes and family camps. One of the parents who attended the very first parenting group in March 2000, and a founder of the charity, started her own parenting group September last year. It runs every Thursday evening for her friends. Dana has just been asked to chair the South Somerset Play Association which enables her to network with all the project leaders and managers of children's and families activities across south Somerset.
HOPE COMMUNITY CHURCH REACHES THE COMMUNITY WITH CREATIVE MINISTRIES
Hope Community was planted by Pastor Bobby Bovell with a core group from Croydon SDA Church in the Beckenham area. Their first worship service was held in a community centre on Christmas day 2002. The main ministries used to reach out to the community have been Body Sculpt (keep fit), Singology (a 12 week vocal training course), The 'Community Thank-You dinner' (an evening of thanks to the local community leaders for their service to us) the 'Let's make a Difference' survey (door to door contact making) and Soul Symphony Choir (a dynamic community choir for 14-19 year olds). “We have a baptism is on the 7th of May,” says planter Bobby. “We continue to move towards the vision of a church that is successful in reaching unchurched people.”
Hope Community was planted by Pastor Bobby Bovell with a core group from Croydon SDA Church in the Beckenham area. Their first worship service was held in a community centre on Christmas day 2002. The main ministries used to reach out to the community have been Body Sculpt (keep fit), Singology (a 12 week vocal training course), The 'Community Thank-You dinner' (an evening of thanks to the local community leaders for their service to us) the 'Let's make a Difference' survey (door to door contact making) and Soul Symphony Choir (a dynamic community choir for 14-19 year olds). “We have a baptism is on the 7th of May,” says planter Bobby. “We continue to move towards the vision of a church that is successful in reaching unchurched people.”
HORDEN GROUP ‘GROWING’ “For some time now the Middlesbrough church has been working in Horden, a small town near Peterlee on the north-east coast,” writes pastor and planter Peter Jeynes. A small group has been meeting in a community centre each Monday evening – encouraged by Middlesbrough elder Jill Geldart. “Recently we have been trying to develop the group's understanding of God,” says Peter. “Glen attends with his Mum and Dad. Aged 14 – he is autistic. Communication is rather difficult for him. As we were studying a passage on Luke 2 I asked 'what is the most beautiful thing you have seen'. The answers that you expect were returned. Then I asked Glen what was the most beautiful thing he had seen. The reply came back 'Jesus'.”
INTERNATIONAL Church Planters X-Change 05 – Friedensau, Germany (24 – 31 July 2005)Emerging Churches – for an Extraordinary Life with JesusFor applications and more details contact your Church Planting Coordinator.
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CHURCH PLANTING NEWSTED
Church Planting Office
Peter Roennfeldt
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