The need to change

I  think there is a lot the church can learn from this story
see here

Kahaila Cafe London

Great coffee and scrumptious cake is a wonderful recipe for a busy ,profitable and very friendly coffee shop in Brick Lane in London Kahaila is not just a coffee shop though ,it is also a small church planted primarily to reach the twenty's and thirty's age group.
This very new church not only runs a coffee shop,it also supports a mission to prostitutes and is in the process of gathering money and materials to open a safe house in the area for the victims of trafficking.The whole enterprise is about blessing the community

A group of us from church met with the pastor and leader ,a guy called Paul Unsworth who has carried the vision for Kahaila over the last few years .His passion to share good news relevant to his local community was very evident and a huge priority is given to relationships This is summed up on Kahaila's website
"We are a church, but not church as you might understand it. We do not see ourselves as religious we see our selves as being relational. We live in relationship with God and with each other, therefore we see ourselves as a family rather than as an institution. We are a group of people who aim to live life in all of its fullness, understanding that the teaching of Jesus Christ brings that fullness. We are people on a journey, we are not perfect, so we would ask you not to judge us before you get to know us and we promise not to judge you."
We were there on a Wednesday night for the churches weekly time of prayer and worship together which takes place in the cafe and which in this occasion brought together about 20 young people (and the 5 of us not so very young people)
The simple,but meaningful worship began with a time of singing beautifully led by a woman from the church and this was followed by bible teaching on Ephesians 4 and 5 delivered with humour, but also with real passion by Paul Unsworth who clearly wants to relate the bible in a relevant way so that the young people present understand more clearly what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
What we saw and learned at Kahaila will inspire us as we think about the next stage of the journey at Shrewsbury and we need time to think through the lessons we learned and to see how they might apply in our very different situation.
 Paul and his team had the courage not only to do something very different but to dare to do something very bold They have taken what Hybels calls big,hairy audacious steps of faith and God has honoured them again and again Following the teaching we gathered in small groups around the coffee tables to chat and attempt to earth the teaching we had heard in to our daily lives.we then prayed ,talked said our good byes and left with so much to think about   There really is nothing to stop us doing the same!

More on Kahaila here

Momentum!

Not the best quality video but Neil Coles says some important things in an amusing  way

Our destination!

We continued our series on 1 Peter yesterday morning looking at the start of Chapter 2 and thinking about the fact the church and it's future.The above video reminded us of our destination and therefore how we ought to live now " punching holes in the darkness"

Flower Show weekend at Central

The Flower show is a big event in Shrewsbury.

People come from far and wide to see the flowers ,exhibits, stalls and events and listen to the music.

Our Central building is on one of the main routes to the show.

An obvious opportunitY ,therefore,for us to engage with our local community not only by being open for teas, coffee's and cakes, but by doing various things outside the building like giving people the chance to write on a wall the one thing they wanted to do before they die, ( we got some fascinating answers!)

 We  also did face painting , made balloons into animal shapes,and a whole lot of other stuff. Upstairs we held an art exhibition and discovered our versatile building works very well as a gallery among many other things

All these things were great fun and gave us the chance to meet loads of different people,listen to them,and also have some pretty deep and important spiritual conversations with people who we otherwise would not have met. I think the team who did it were tired but exhilarated

at the end of it all

A really good weekend was finished by meeting together on Sunday morning at Central for worship

This is not something we will do often on a Sunday morning at Central, but is was good to do  it yesterday

Worship was led by our young people's band which gave our worship band a bit of a rest and wefinished of by sharing lunch together

Not a restful weekend but an inspiring one!

Now looking forward to 3 days of Senior Moments starting Tuesday

The Big Society Shrewsbury

We were  surprised  and delighted to receive a Mayors award for  Shrewsbury Baptist Churches outstanding contribution to the community.The citation  read out when the award was made was clear that the award was for the work with the community that we do in both Crowmoor and Central.
In truth I guess  a great many other churches in the area, are doing similar or better stuff  and could have recieved an award ,but all the same,it was nice to be recognised, because we are passionate about our community.

It was a great joy that the top prize in the community category went to Shrewsbury Street Pastors,they have made a great start and so many congratulations to them,it was richly deserved.


The other award winners ranged from the people at the Parks department who look after the wonderful flower displays ,to the Horticultural Soceity who put on the Flower Show.
In between were people who run dance classes for the community (including our own Pauline ,pictured below) and

a pub landlord who distributes free food to senior citizens , a lady who runs a stroke club and a guy who has created an amazing wildlife garden near a sewage works (if I understood correctly!).Young people and their organisations were also well represented- An amazing bunch of people who were the Big Soceity long  before the term was even invented

We often hear the bad stuff but in truth there will be people like this in nearly every community and in austere times they offer huge hope for the future ,they also demonstrate the importance of building community and I feel the church has a critical role to play here

The awards were a certificate in a frame The whole thing was of minimal monetary value but would be a great boost and encouragement to everyone who recieved them. Saying thank you is powerful- so well done to The Mayor!

 On the way home we did wonder aloud about doing a church awards ceremony ,we concluded it would be great but not without its hazards!Anyone have any experience of doing this? Did it work?

 

Central is open for business!

I feel full of joy this morning!

It is a lovely sunny day,I have a cup of good coffee in front of me as I write, but above all,,there is a powerful sense of passing a significant milestone when we had the Civic Opening of Central last night.

I thought it was a wonderful occasion shared with so many good people who had travelled the journey with us,who have endured the lows and can now enjoy the satisfaction that by the grace of God,this phase is complete.
The ribbon was cut by Anna and Elliot on the oldest and one of the youngest people in the church respectively signifying this is a church for all.
It was also great to have present many friends ,other Christian leaders in the town  and elsewhere ,who have been, and were again last night, incredibly supportive!

We were grateful for the opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to the architect, the developers,the amazing young people from the 6th form college who all competed to design our logo.

I felt the collaboration was just a sign of good things to come
It was also wonderful to see Roger and Lesley Sutton and to get the chance to chat to them over a meal afterwards.

Roger spoke briefly but very powerfully about the fact that we wanted this building to be a place for the whole community especially the weak and vulnerable, and assuring The Mayor ,councillors,the local M.P. and everyone else  that we want to partner with them, as we seek to bless the community in which God has placed us.

 Loads of people ranging from church leaders, to people who worked for Shropshire Council, commented on how helpful the talk was. I have no doubt it will help as we seek to develop these relationships in the future

Both Roger and Adrian from the Heart of England Baptist Association prayed poweful prayers of blessing on church and community alike

So onto tonight when we have the church opening, as together,and I hope with incredible joy we celebrate all that God has done for us.

After that, it is all about being the church God has called us to be in the town centre and in our other building at Crowmoor.

Our vision has never been about  building  a building, it is about building community ,sharing Jesus love, and together with others ,building The Kingdom of God in this community!

The work continues at Central

I havent blogged about the new Central building recently
Of course a lot has been happening as we and indeed others in the local community have begun using the building.

This has meant that we have got ot get all kinds of policies and proceedures in place and think abot fire drills kitchen equipemnt and a hundred other things . Much of this work has fallen to Jude, though she has had a great deal of support from others including other local churches who have been kind enough to give us lots of good practical advice
. We are also looking forward enormously to the opening events planned for next month with Roger and Lesley Sutton.

The comments about Central  have been universally positive and the truth is we have an excellent new building ,the answere to the prayers of generations and a great facility to help us in our work and witness.

Yesterday we had our first communion service in Central at the start of Lent.
 A good number came and we used Lesley Sutton's meditation as well as some stuff from Eternal Echoes -Sally Colemans blog Sally's blog
It was a joy to celebrate communion together. So much has happened since we last did that in the town centre, and though the road to this day was not easy ,we have indeed been blessed.

Afterwards I had the pleasure of meeting Matt ,the gifted young man from the local 6th form college who designed our logo- He is a talented guy and is coming to our opening.

Church stats !

I am no good at maths but I have always enjoyed looking at church statistics and quoting them when appropriate.
In some ways they make depressing reading ,as they show a dramatic decline in church attendance in the UK, and  record our failures,but they should also shake us out of our complacency and tendency to bury our heads in the sand , and encourage us to be more innovative, as we seek to reconnect with our culture

I was therefore delighted to see Peter Brierleys website see here 
.Peter must know more about church stats than anyone else in the UK. I heard him speak many years ago and found what he said fascinating This bit on the website is certainly worth studying where is the church going?

It does not always make comfortable reading but if we are to get where we want to be ,we need to start by understanding where we are!

Movement over Mega- Mike Breen

 
A quite long but fascinating post by Mike Breen  that is well worth reading see here

Fish and Chip supper -Crowmoor building

Last night we had one of our regular community meals this time
.Following curry evenings and Italian evenings and South American evenings we wnet for traditional British fish and chips with the amazing Delyth cooking the fish (with a little help from her friends!) and the great chippy down the roads doing the chips

It was another great evening and it always amazes me how many of the local community of all ages turn out to these evenings and once again we had people present who had never been in our Crowmoor building before There is something powerful about eating together!
We ran past the everyone present the idea of doing something for the Olympics or the Queen.s Jubilee together and there was a positive response -so watch this space!

Approaching the finishing post!

....or should that be the starting post!

The new building is very nearly ready for hand over
One of the things we are now able to do is to show people who have travelled the long journey with us around the building
This morning it was a joy to show some of the more senior people the Central building(hope they dont mind me calling them that!)
It was thrilling to see the positive reaction they all had
The developers have done an amazing job, and we are very excited about all the possibilities the new building opens up
Pictures below

The front door

the lift (not yet in use)

 
                                                        Toilet and shower

part of kitchen

 upstairs again!

 
                                                 From Claremont St

Ruth, Peter Roy Mary

                                     

Latest photos- Central buiding

Kate Tebby from BBC  Radio Shropshire came to see the new building this morning and spoke to Jude and I about our vision and hopes for the new building.
If you are in the area I think it will be played on Sunday morning at some point
If you are in Torquay or Toronto it may be available online or on Listen Again.

Anyway while we were down at the building I took the opportunity to take some photos and here they are!

The entrance

The Stairs

Upstairs

Upstairs kitchen

A morning with our church leaders

We had a great session with our church leaders yesterday !
We gathered on a beautiful October morning to think and to pray about about our priorities in the next 1-3 years.

These are a great bunch of people, who have stuck with the church through good times and the bad, and we have travelled an exiting but not always easy journey together

In the process we have grown and built strong relationships with a high level of mutual trust.
Given all that it was no surprise that we were agreed as to what those priorities should be.

I won't post them on here yet because we need to share them with the church first(though reading this blog would allow anyone to make an educated guess as to what they are !)

The task now is to make sure that we focus our prayers and energy on those priorities and make sure we have the people and the structures in place to fulfil God's purposes for us

We enjoyed lunch in the garden together before heading for home!

As a postsript in the morning we asked ourselves these questions to both give us context and guide our prayers.I found them online (but have forgotten where Sorry!)
and adapted them slightly for our situation


1. When was the last time I heard from God? Am I doing what he called me to do?

2. What should our church be known for in this community?

3. Are we really focusing our time, money, leadership, prayer behind the things that will produce life change and community impact?

4. Is our church growing both spiritually and in numbers?


5. Is there a clear path to help people take steps in their faith with the ultimate goal of them becoming fully-devoted followers of Christ? (ie disciples)

6. What does a disciple of Christ looks like?

7. Are we empowering the people of God to do God’s work?


8. Are we developing leaders?

9. Do believers see their ministry happening only at the church or have they become missionaries to their families, their neighborhoods, their workplaces, their schools, etc

10 Do I have the right leaders around me to accomplish the vision?

Visit to The Hub

Some time ago I blogged about Altrincham Baptist Churhces The Hub here

Today 3 of us went for a visit to see it in action.

We were met by one of the workers who showed us around and later we had the chance to meet the Hub's manager who is also a church leader at Altrincham Baptist Church

Our visit began with a tour around the building which was flexible,accessible ,well equipped,clearly signposted , and where appropriate, decorated with some taste and even flair! Besides various offices of various church leaders (which they hope will return to the other building when refurbishment is complete) there were kitchens and counselling rooms ,a quiet room and great space for toddlers and young people as well as a cafe which was open for most of the week serving coffee and delicious food (coffee only on Fridays ).

 It wasn't the building that really impressed me though, but the absolute determination of the Christians working there to be good news for the people in that community.Working together with a number of partners, including the local council, they have set out to bless their neighbours.
That is evident in pretty well everything they do from the choice of a neutral name which makes it easier for local people to enter the building, to the fact that the food they serve is wholesome ,delicious and very reasonably priced and and the various  ministries that operate in ,and from, the building

Though they probably dont realise it a number of ministers and others from Altrincham Baptist Church have been very helpful to us over recent years and without perhaps realising it have helped guide us on our journey

Transitioning from  a fairly traditional church which seeks to serve primarily the needs of its membership to one that seeks to share and be good news for  its neighbours, is a tough journey for a church to make .At times it cannot have been easy but I am sure it is one that God has called them to travel. It's exciting and scary to think we are travelling in the same direction!

Our new town centre building!

 Today has been a wonderful autumn day in Shropshire.
In some ways too nice to spend in meetings but they were scheduled anyway and all went well
Following an excellent admin meeting with Liz ,our wonderful admin person, and Jude;Jude and I travelled to the town centre for a meeting with Rob and Steve.  

Steve is the the developers representative, a very helpful and courteous guy, whose forefather helped carry Spurgeon's coffin at his funeral!
Once the meeting was over we went across to the building site,the first time I had visited for a month or so.
I was staggered by the progress in that time. A great deal of work has been done including some plastering ,and there are 2 kitchens and a small but wonderful prayer room as well as meeting rooms of various sizes.Everything designed to help us to be missional in all we do and to put down very deep roots into the local community we are called to serve

I know God does not live in buildings made by human hands,but even so I was very moved by everything I saw.This is going to be a great building from which to serve the  communbity and share Jesus .

At times   had to pinch myself that what we were seeing is real! This is The Lord's doing and the fact that this building is going up and that God has brought weak people like us, through so many struggles to this point, is a huge witness to His love ,grace  and faithfulness
Our continuing task is to make sure everything that happens in the building is to the glory of God!

As we left we saw hundreds of sixth form students streaming out of college ,past our building and into town .Now there is an opportunity to bless people!