Celebrate the last Friday of the month in style! Starting on Friday 28th March, and continuing every month thereafter, come and join a bunch of people from across the Co-Mission congregations for probably some drinks, possibly some food, and definitely some fun!
The venue for Friday 28th March is the very stylish bar at The Grosvenor Hotel, Buckingham Palace Road, next to Victoria Station, SW1W 0SJ, kicking off at 7:30pm. Contact Olivia Dunigan (07813 099229 / via Facebook) or Tim Doyle (07866 491983 / tim.doyle@canadalife.co.uk ) for more information. Hope to see you there!
Tuesday 18 March 2008
Worship to the Glory of God
This three evening course for musicians and music leaders will run in the Factory, Raynes Park on Monday 12th, 19th and 26th May from 8:00 – 9:15. We will be in the Ridley Room.
Though focussed on musicians and music leaders, it will also be of use to those who lead Sunday meetings, and others interested in understanding why we gather, why we do what we do when we gather together, and how music & singing fits into that.
Andrew Towner, the Director of Music at The Bible Talks and Christ Church Mayfair, who will lead the sessions hopes also to get towards a practical theology of music in the final session.The format will be interactive, including talks from the front, Bible Studies, discussion in small groups, and question times.
For more information see the contents in the Prepare book, on page 6. The 3 week structure will basically focus on Worship, Church and Music.
If you're interested in attending please e-mail Peter Judkins, who will co-ordinate our involvement on peter@peter-clairelise.co.uk.
Though focussed on musicians and music leaders, it will also be of use to those who lead Sunday meetings, and others interested in understanding why we gather, why we do what we do when we gather together, and how music & singing fits into that.
Andrew Towner, the Director of Music at The Bible Talks and Christ Church Mayfair, who will lead the sessions hopes also to get towards a practical theology of music in the final session.The format will be interactive, including talks from the front, Bible Studies, discussion in small groups, and question times.
For more information see the contents in the Prepare book, on page 6. The 3 week structure will basically focus on Worship, Church and Music.
If you're interested in attending please e-mail Peter Judkins, who will co-ordinate our involvement on peter@peter-clairelise.co.uk.
Dear Friends - March
Dear Friends
In the second week of February we embarked on a mission we called The God Confusion. The main foil for the week was the recent, popular and influential atheistic book by Richard Dawkins entitled The God Delusion. In assessing our mission these are my three concluding observations.
1. It was a bit of a stretch
When we last ran a mission we had a series of three talks on two Sundays and midweek on a Wednesday. That was two years ago. It would be fair to say that the schedule of events this time around was a little more ambitious!! Behind the scenes many people were ‘flat to the boards’ making things happen. Lots of people made the mission a priority and invited their friends. Many others turned up at events to express their support and provide the all important ‘rent a crowd’! And many were occupied with that essential unseen work of asking the Lord to do His work of bringing people to faith in Christ.
2. It was a qualified success
Although we may have stretched ourselves a little more than we have done before, we achieved the following things. The quality of the events was high, the range of events was varied, the number of guests was encouraging, the level of participation was high and the idolatry of unbelief was exposed. The main talks sought to prosecute unbelief. Our intention was to identify, evaluate and critique the case for atheism. The other events sought to engage with culture from a Christian perspective. That’s a legitimate exercise for a church and a relatively new thing for us. It doesn’t mean that we’ve given up preaching the gospel. We do that frequently throughout the year and in Christianity Explored. It means that we took a step back to engage the culture and expose the futility of idolatry. This assessment prompts the question ‘why then consider the mission only to be a qualified success?’
3. It was just a start
This was not the mission we wanted to run. The mission we wanted to run would have been a series of Bible talks where the gospel was clearly expounded and applied to a heaving mass of unbelieving friends. But the culture is not where we’d like it to be; Christianity is regarded as irrelevant. The events we ran provided alternative ways to connect with an otherwise sceptical and dismissive culture. Our church is not where we’d like it to be; when we planned the mission we were aware of our track record. How can I put this? We’ve not set the world alight with our evangelistic prowess! We’re not where we’d like to be; a number of people have realised that we’re disconnected from non-Christian friends. Some have begun to address this in characteristically adventurous ways. Even though this wasn’t the mission we didn’t want to run it was the mission we felt we could run.
But we’re not too disheartened; we’ve remembered that though we’re not where we should be, we’re not where we were. And that’s a good thing. God has enabled us to make significant strides forward since our last mission two years ago. This mission was just the latest in a long line of events that we seek to provide to bring unbelievers under the sound of the gospel. It’s just a start which means that there’s more to come. And we’ll get better. But we’re going in the right direction.
In the second week of February we embarked on a mission we called The God Confusion. The main foil for the week was the recent, popular and influential atheistic book by Richard Dawkins entitled The God Delusion. In assessing our mission these are my three concluding observations.
1. It was a bit of a stretch
When we last ran a mission we had a series of three talks on two Sundays and midweek on a Wednesday. That was two years ago. It would be fair to say that the schedule of events this time around was a little more ambitious!! Behind the scenes many people were ‘flat to the boards’ making things happen. Lots of people made the mission a priority and invited their friends. Many others turned up at events to express their support and provide the all important ‘rent a crowd’! And many were occupied with that essential unseen work of asking the Lord to do His work of bringing people to faith in Christ.
2. It was a qualified success
Although we may have stretched ourselves a little more than we have done before, we achieved the following things. The quality of the events was high, the range of events was varied, the number of guests was encouraging, the level of participation was high and the idolatry of unbelief was exposed. The main talks sought to prosecute unbelief. Our intention was to identify, evaluate and critique the case for atheism. The other events sought to engage with culture from a Christian perspective. That’s a legitimate exercise for a church and a relatively new thing for us. It doesn’t mean that we’ve given up preaching the gospel. We do that frequently throughout the year and in Christianity Explored. It means that we took a step back to engage the culture and expose the futility of idolatry. This assessment prompts the question ‘why then consider the mission only to be a qualified success?’
3. It was just a start
This was not the mission we wanted to run. The mission we wanted to run would have been a series of Bible talks where the gospel was clearly expounded and applied to a heaving mass of unbelieving friends. But the culture is not where we’d like it to be; Christianity is regarded as irrelevant. The events we ran provided alternative ways to connect with an otherwise sceptical and dismissive culture. Our church is not where we’d like it to be; when we planned the mission we were aware of our track record. How can I put this? We’ve not set the world alight with our evangelistic prowess! We’re not where we’d like to be; a number of people have realised that we’re disconnected from non-Christian friends. Some have begun to address this in characteristically adventurous ways. Even though this wasn’t the mission we didn’t want to run it was the mission we felt we could run.
But we’re not too disheartened; we’ve remembered that though we’re not where we should be, we’re not where we were. And that’s a good thing. God has enabled us to make significant strides forward since our last mission two years ago. This mission was just the latest in a long line of events that we seek to provide to bring unbelievers under the sound of the gospel. It’s just a start which means that there’s more to come. And we’ll get better. But we’re going in the right direction.
Prayer Triplets
In general, as you would imagine, prayer triplets are three people who meet to pray. The clue is in the name! The specifics of how you run your triplet are down to you. In the past people have found that meeting fortnightly for an hour in the morning before work has been a great way to get started. Yes that means an 0630 start for some but for some of us that's a lie-in! Some prefer to meet for longer and some more frequently. Usually, it's the fairer sex who go down this route. Some enjoy meeting for a meal first and then spending an evening together during which time they chat and pray. Most of us face pressures of work and family life and so it's important to be realistic and make what oughto be a terrific time of encouragement into an unnecessary burden. An hour every two weeks tends to work well.
If you'd like to be part of a prayer triplet then contact Ed Drew if you're male and Audrey Nelson if you're female. They will then co-ordinate names and liaise with people. You can get Ed on edward.drew@btinternet.com and Audrey on nelsona@parliament.uk.
If you'd like to be part of a prayer triplet then contact Ed Drew if you're male and Audrey Nelson if you're female. They will then co-ordinate names and liaise with people. You can get Ed on edward.drew@btinternet.com and Audrey on nelsona@parliament.uk.
April Women's Breakfast
Audrey has been able to recruit Carrie Sandom for our Women's Breakfast in April.
Carrie is currently on the staff at The Bible Talks in Mayair. Prior to being employed by the Co Mission Initiative she's been the Women's Worker at St Andrew the Gerat in cambridge and St Helen's Church in Central London.
She'll be speaking on 'Lessons for Life from the Prayers of Hannah' from 1 Samuel 1.
It'll take place at the usual venue, Lil Houghton's house 27 Downton Avenue, Streatham Hill, SW2 3TU.
Starts at 9.30 am and finishes by 11.30 am. Contact Audrey Nelson for more details on nelsona@patliament.uk.
Carrie is currently on the staff at The Bible Talks in Mayair. Prior to being employed by the Co Mission Initiative she's been the Women's Worker at St Andrew the Gerat in cambridge and St Helen's Church in Central London.
She'll be speaking on 'Lessons for Life from the Prayers of Hannah' from 1 Samuel 1.
It'll take place at the usual venue, Lil Houghton's house 27 Downton Avenue, Streatham Hill, SW2 3TU.
Starts at 9.30 am and finishes by 11.30 am. Contact Audrey Nelson for more details on nelsona@patliament.uk.
Christian Summer Camps
Following on from the recent doctrine slot on Christian Summer Camps a number of people have expressed interest in volunteering. If you're keen to be involved with the Pathfinder Camps [aged 11-14] contact Ed Drew on edward.drew@btinternet.com. If you're keen to be involved with CYFA Camps [aged 14-18] contact Richard Perkins on richardperkins@btinternet.com.
Every year thousands of children and hundreds of young adults go off on residential Christian summer camps. They are usually about one week long. They often take place in the public schools of this country and so the word camp is misleading. Only the very hardy continue under canvas!
Christian camps are different from many other worthwhile camps that operate over the summer because of the gospel priorities that underlie their organisation. They exist not only to give teenagers a great summer holiday but to help them engage with the bigger issues of life.
They support the work of the local church and do not replace it. Overall camp leaders should go to great lengths to work in consultation with the local church youth group leaders. They work with the kids all year round and know them better than we do. They have organised teaching programmes and a wide range of exciting activities.
Over the last half a century they have had a significant impact on the evangelical churches in our country. Many of our senior church leaders were recruited, converted and trained on camp. The recent leaders of All Souls, St Helens and HTB were all involved with camps as young men.
Why do camp?
Every year church leaders encourage their congregations to volunteer, camp leaders send out requests for help and friends commend the wisdom of doing so. But why would any right thinking individual give up a week of their holiday period, sleep in a dormitory of teenagers and return to work less rested than when they went away. Let me give you three reasons.
1. They reach children with the gospel
This is the primary reason for organising camps and therefore the most important. Children are not innocent and therefore if they are to be saved they need to hear the gospel and combine that with repentance and faith. It’s often hard to persuade teenagers to go to church or perhaps to a school Christian meeting but it’s easier to recruit kids to a Christian camp. The kids are at a stage in life where their readiness to listen to the gospel has yet to be tarnished by the cynicism that often comes with age. On a residential camp, whilst we want to distance ourselves from anything that whiffs of manipulation, teenagers are away from other distracting influences, they will experience a Christian community and can ask their questions free from unhelpful peer pressure.
2. They provide opportunities to serve
Summer camps are like a much more intense experience of church. The priorities are the same since Bible teaching, personal evangelism and encouragement to holiness are at the heart of both. However, the audience at camp is much more focussed in terms of age.
Camps, like church, have lots of different opportunities to serve. We can often think that the only useful people on camp are Jason Robinson or Natasha Beddingfield. But the kids at camp come in all different shapes and sizes with all sorts of different interests and so we need a variety of leaders. Camps need people with technical expertise, with sporting ability, with culinary flair, with artistic talent, theatrical tendencies, with financial acumen and with administrative gifts, to name a few. They need ‘up front’ people who can run games but they also need ‘behind the scenes’ people who make it all happen. It’s very unlikely that we’d be unable to make a useful contribution to a summer camp.
3. They equip us to be useful in the church
Church leaders will often say that the people that are of most use in their local church setting are those who have had some experience of camp. There are things that we can learn on camp that are immediately useful in church.
We can learn how to understand and teach the Bible and so we can help run a small group. Or we learn how to participate usefully in a small group because we know how valuable it is to have people who contribute.
We can learn how to lead a meeting or run a seminar and so we can take on teaching in Sunday school, doing a kid’s spot or speaking at women’s breakfasts.
We can learn to explain the gospel and respond to people’s questions and so we can begin to grow in confidence in talking to our friends and colleagues.
We can learn how to personally encourage a teenager in their Christian life and so we can begin to be of help to others in our congregation perhaps reading the Bible with them one to one.
Who could get involved?
The NT requirements for leadership are giftedness and godliness. So if you could contribute something useful to a camp, your lifestyle will not bring the gospel into disrepute and you’re willing to get involved then why not commit to it.
There are some camps represented at CCB. Pathfinders are camps for 11-14 year olds and CYFA are camps for 15-18 year olds. They happen at various locations throughout the country and they are spread over a range of dates. Most require attendance at a training weekend and at a reunion. It'll be the best week of your year.
Every year thousands of children and hundreds of young adults go off on residential Christian summer camps. They are usually about one week long. They often take place in the public schools of this country and so the word camp is misleading. Only the very hardy continue under canvas!
Christian camps are different from many other worthwhile camps that operate over the summer because of the gospel priorities that underlie their organisation. They exist not only to give teenagers a great summer holiday but to help them engage with the bigger issues of life.
They support the work of the local church and do not replace it. Overall camp leaders should go to great lengths to work in consultation with the local church youth group leaders. They work with the kids all year round and know them better than we do. They have organised teaching programmes and a wide range of exciting activities.
Over the last half a century they have had a significant impact on the evangelical churches in our country. Many of our senior church leaders were recruited, converted and trained on camp. The recent leaders of All Souls, St Helens and HTB were all involved with camps as young men.
Why do camp?
Every year church leaders encourage their congregations to volunteer, camp leaders send out requests for help and friends commend the wisdom of doing so. But why would any right thinking individual give up a week of their holiday period, sleep in a dormitory of teenagers and return to work less rested than when they went away. Let me give you three reasons.
1. They reach children with the gospel
This is the primary reason for organising camps and therefore the most important. Children are not innocent and therefore if they are to be saved they need to hear the gospel and combine that with repentance and faith. It’s often hard to persuade teenagers to go to church or perhaps to a school Christian meeting but it’s easier to recruit kids to a Christian camp. The kids are at a stage in life where their readiness to listen to the gospel has yet to be tarnished by the cynicism that often comes with age. On a residential camp, whilst we want to distance ourselves from anything that whiffs of manipulation, teenagers are away from other distracting influences, they will experience a Christian community and can ask their questions free from unhelpful peer pressure.
2. They provide opportunities to serve
Summer camps are like a much more intense experience of church. The priorities are the same since Bible teaching, personal evangelism and encouragement to holiness are at the heart of both. However, the audience at camp is much more focussed in terms of age.
Camps, like church, have lots of different opportunities to serve. We can often think that the only useful people on camp are Jason Robinson or Natasha Beddingfield. But the kids at camp come in all different shapes and sizes with all sorts of different interests and so we need a variety of leaders. Camps need people with technical expertise, with sporting ability, with culinary flair, with artistic talent, theatrical tendencies, with financial acumen and with administrative gifts, to name a few. They need ‘up front’ people who can run games but they also need ‘behind the scenes’ people who make it all happen. It’s very unlikely that we’d be unable to make a useful contribution to a summer camp.
3. They equip us to be useful in the church
Church leaders will often say that the people that are of most use in their local church setting are those who have had some experience of camp. There are things that we can learn on camp that are immediately useful in church.
We can learn how to understand and teach the Bible and so we can help run a small group. Or we learn how to participate usefully in a small group because we know how valuable it is to have people who contribute.
We can learn how to lead a meeting or run a seminar and so we can take on teaching in Sunday school, doing a kid’s spot or speaking at women’s breakfasts.
We can learn to explain the gospel and respond to people’s questions and so we can begin to grow in confidence in talking to our friends and colleagues.
We can learn how to personally encourage a teenager in their Christian life and so we can begin to be of help to others in our congregation perhaps reading the Bible with them one to one.
Who could get involved?
The NT requirements for leadership are giftedness and godliness. So if you could contribute something useful to a camp, your lifestyle will not bring the gospel into disrepute and you’re willing to get involved then why not commit to it.
There are some camps represented at CCB. Pathfinders are camps for 11-14 year olds and CYFA are camps for 15-18 year olds. They happen at various locations throughout the country and they are spread over a range of dates. Most require attendance at a training weekend and at a reunion. It'll be the best week of your year.
Good Friday Tea
This Good Friday come and join members of the All Age Congregation and the Evening Congregation for a time of reflection as we consider together the death of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We'll eat a simple tea, share the Lord's supper, pray, sing and think about the events of that first Good Friday.
We'll be meeting and eating in the Theatre at Chestnut Grove School from 3.30pm till 5.30pm. It'll be very informal and child friendly. Tea will be sandwiches, lite bites and cakes. It's intended to 'fill a hole' for the adults and be sufficient for the children. You'll probably still need to eat an adult meallater in the evening! The talk will be intended for adults but will aim to include the children present.
We'll be meeting and eating in the Theatre at Chestnut Grove School from 3.30pm till 5.30pm. It'll be very informal and child friendly. Tea will be sandwiches, lite bites and cakes. It's intended to 'fill a hole' for the adults and be sufficient for the children. You'll probably still need to eat an adult meallater in the evening! The talk will be intended for adults but will aim to include the children present.
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