MATHETES TRUST MISSION AT ST LAWRENCE CHURCH NORTH WINGFIELD, 17 – 24 JUNE 2018

The Mathetes Trust exists to help promote a culture of discipleship and disciple-making within the local church, and one of the ways we do this is by helping with parish missions. Over the last few months we have been working closely with Colin Cooper and St Lawrence, North Wingfield (near Chesterfield), and in June Roger Morgan led a full ten day mission titled ‘Love North Wingfield’, staffed by a joint team of people from the local church and visitors from the Mathetes Trust. We were very encouraged by the way things went – not just because of the many people who responded to an invitation to enter into a relationship with Jesus, but also because we feel that we are learning a huge amount about how an ordinary church can grow today. Here’s a report from Colin, followed by some reflections on mission from Roger.

Team Rector Colin Cooper writes:

“North Wingfield is an ex-mining village with a population of about 7,500 people. It is mainly working to lower middle class in its social make-up and is generally a friendly and pleasant place to live.

“This mission took place as part of a year of mission from St Lawrence Church with the title ‘Love North Wingfield’. The church prepared for the mission using the Beautiful Lives material and it followed the usual Mathetes Trust style of special events, home meetings and door-to-door visits with a ‘Home’ team of 14 and an ‘Away’ team of 12, forming a foundation of personnel enabling the wider church to engage in mission.  We were blessed with beautiful weather which enabled us to use to full advantage the light summer days and evenings.

“The church at St Lawrence responded very well to the challenge and most took some kind of part with real generosity shown in providing hospitality of different kinds.  Perhaps the greatest blessing (among many) was the emergence of a committed and competent group of  people trained and excited about the future and evangelism.

“All special events were well organised and well-attended with around 600 people attending them in total (there was obviously some overlap as some people attended multiple events) with clear Gospel teaching from Roger Morgan, Richard Scott and Gary Ralls.  Personal contact was made with 115 people on the doors (although many more doors were knocked). By the end of the week, 16 people prayed a prayer of commitment to Christ following a ‘Bridge’ presentation and another 20 are being followed up as meaningful contacts. 2 small Alpha groups have begun, with another small group studying Mark’s gospel.  If there was a disappointment, it was the relatively small uptake on the Alpha course, leaving me to question whether this is the right approach for reaching completely unchurched people.

“This mission was a pleasure to be part of and was made possible by the amazing commitment of Roger and his ‘Away’ team, and the hard work and commitment of St Lawrence ‘Home ‘ team and other church members who played a full part.  We are now looking forward to future outreach and mission in the Autumn and 2019 as the ‘Love North Wingfield’ project continues.”

So what are we learning about mission?

We all know that the typical local church has seen its membership decline over recent decades. A huge amount of energy has been poured into trying to do something about this, with initiatives of all kinds both local and national. Many of these are innovative and experimental, and many are bearing fruit. But the trouble is that many ordinary churches feel that these initiatives are beyond their reach; they require entrepreneurial skills, technological ability, financial resources, dynamic full time staff, and lots of time.

So what about the ordinary church whose ordinary members have ordinary skills and live in an ordinary place? Colin had been told by one national leader that he was simply too old to grow his church – only churches with young leaders grow! North Wingfield is short on innovation, resources, and youthfulness. And yet it is growing…

How did they do it?

Colin is a member of one of our EQUIP support groups for church leaders, and has been meeting three times a year with Roger and a group of local colleagues to think and pray together about how to grow his church. Colin decided that a simple strategy was the best. He invited the entire church to start by exploring their own discipleship. “I want to provide a way for people to explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus which is thorough, interesting and which does not ‘soft sell’ the demands of discipleship,” Colin wrote. He ordered copies of our discipleship programme The God Who is There, and the church met in small groups over a period of two years. Those who complete the course emerge with a strong personal faith, a strong fellowship with one another, and a shared determination to share that faith with anyone who is attracted by it.

Colin followed this discipleship training with a focus on evangelism. How do we equip ourselves, as disciples of Jesus, to share our faith with others? He used Roger’s Beautiful Lives course. 1 Peter 3.2-4 speaks of the beauty and reverence which should characterise our lives as Christians, and the course is built on the assumption that it is beautiful lives, lived in the power of the Holy Spirit, which lead others to faith. Disciples of Jesus are people who are gradually being transformed into the likeness of Jesus. They have something to share, something which is found not in glitzy programmes but within our own, ordinary hearts.

Beautiful Lives encourages people to reflect on their own story, to share it in gentle ways, to invite their friends and neighbours to attractive and appropriate events which help them to find out more. And that is what the mission was based on. Church members talked with their friends and invited them to things they thought they’d enjoy. The mission team knocked on doors and invited people to some of those things too. People came, people responded, and Jesus was made known.

So over the last two years St Lawrence has pursued a strategy focussed solely and simply on discipleship; the mission flowed out of that, and out of the mission has come not just new disciples, but a new conviction that the church has in some sense found a pathway to growth. If we are not excited about Jesus, no one else will be either – and the people of St Lawrence have a new determination to forge forwards in mission.

How about you?

We think any church could do this! If you think we can help, please do get in touch.

Find out more about growing disciples with The God Who is There here

Find out more about evangelism with Beautiful Lives here

Find out more about parish missions with the Mathetes Trust here

Contact us here

All those who responded to the invitation to find out more about Jesus were given a copy of Decision, a simple illustrated guide to becoming a Christian.

Making disciples in Africa

We have just published a blog post “Mind the gap!” with recent news from the Diocese of Toliara, Madagascar, where it seems that all the churches now have Rooted in Jesus Junior groups; children quote memory verses to their congregations, and such is the excitement about the programme that they have made T shirts with the RinJ logo on them to promote it! Read the post here, and enjoy some inspiring personal challenges from those working there.

Meanwhile in Uganda John Musaasizi continues with his tireless visits to group leaders, this time moving rocks from the road with his bare hands in order to get through in his hired car; on every visit people give their lives to Christ. Why does John go to such lengths? “Rooted in Jesus training multiplies church membership,” he says simply.

And Nelson Saya has travelled again to the South Sudanese refugee camps in Uganda to provide further training for the fledgling Rooted in Jesus groups meeting there – 20 people have given their lives to Christ, and the groups are growing: “Many people are experiencing the power of God at work in their lives during the studies; they are growing strong in their faith, and it has enabled families to put their trust in God.”

Making disciples at home

We will write soon with news from our latest parish mission, in Chesterfield. In the meantime we are pleased to announce that we have just reprinted our Beautiful Lives evangelism course, which was a key part of the preparation for the mission – find out more about that here.

Finally, can we commend a new book by Arani Sen, who has seen steady growth among both the English and the Iranian communities in his inner city parish of Upper Armley, Leeds. Arani writes compellingly about how people come to faith when churches pursue a gospel-centred policy of social engagement. It’s called Holy Spirit Radicals: Pentecost, Acts and Changed Society, it offers  a dynamic and contemporary reading of Luke and Acts, and it’s out in July!

We have just released our latest prayer diary, covering the months July to September. If you would like a copy just let us know.

Thank you to all those who have offered to pray for us during this week of mission, when Roger will be taking a visiting team of eleven people to North Wingfield near Chesterfield.

Roger was in North Wingfield last weekend meeting up with the forty people from the church, mostly very inexperienced, who have agreed to work with us during the mission week. The response was very positive. They learned how to share the gospel. They learned what is involved in doing follow up, and they each agreed times when they will invite friends to their homes to meet the visiting team. We identified 250 people with whom they already have close relationships; the priority of the mission week will be to reach these 250.

On Sunday the sermon was about the Holy Spirit. There was an invitation to come for prayer and the response was overwhelming. They were all in different places but all needing the Spirit to bring changes to their lives and ministry. Roger was particularly pleased about one person with a very painful knee who was much better half an hour after the prayer and walking well. God’s presence was manifest last weekend; let’s pray for more during the week when the team is there.

To find out more visit the St Lawrence North Wingfield website.

Preparing for mission

As part of their preparation for the mission, church members have been following our discipleship course The God Who is There. Rector Colin Cooper writes:

“We are an active church. During 2016-2017 up to 60 people have engaged with the Beyond Ourselves and The New Community courses. We began Shining Like Stars in September. This means clear biblical teaching about being a disciple of Jesus is becoming established in the DNA of St Lawrence Church. 

This has represented a focus on building up the core congregation both spiritually and numerically (longer standing members are reporting spiritual growth and new people have joined). Our community connection is good with a growing ‘wider fringe’ through Messy Church, Messy Extra, Baptisms, Small Wonders and St Lawrence Pre-School. 

From this strong position 2018 should be a season of reaching out into our community in mission.”

The aim is that the mission should be followed by an ALPHA course, and that those completing ALPHA will then be invited to grow further in discipleship by joining a Beyond Ourselves group.

To find out more about Beyond Ourselves, The New Community and Shining Like Stars please visit our Discipleship page. To find out more about how we can support you through a parish mission visit our Missions page.

Did you know?

North Wingfield is listed in the Domesday Book (1087)  – by which time it already had a priest and a church! The gospel has been passed down from generation to generation here for over a thousand years – and it’s still going on. Let’s pray for the church as they reach out to their friends and neighbours next month.

Posted 22 May 2018

One of the things we do at the Mathetes Trust is provide support, training and teams for parish missions, either for a single church or for a group of churches working together.  In March we were pleased to help with a mission organised by Anglican ministers Josias de Souza and Sean Sheffield, under the title ‘There is Love in Dover.’

Josias and Sean were working in partnership with their colleagues from other denominations: Graham (Baptist), Gary (Lighthouse Church), Henry (The Ark), Marcus (Living Well) and Dave (Roman Catholic). Roger Morgan and Richard Scott brought an ‘away’ team of members from our Kent EQUIP group of church leaders and from Through Faith Missions. And there was a much larger ‘home team’ of local people.

Richard writes:

TRAINING

Training sessions were run by Richard and by Roger in advance of the mission, with some 90 people taking part. During the mission week approximately 30 local people joined in door to door work; they included a homeless man, Lee, who recommitted his life during the mission, served us meals and worked with us. His faith had initially sparked after surviving a motorbike accident aged 29. A low point recently saw him helicoptered from a cliff – but this week gave him hope for a better future. He would also receive new accommodation at the end of the week.

A separate team of 5 Brazilians worked throughout the week in schools. They were joined by a small UK youth team from PAES for one day.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE MISSION

Weekdays began with worship in our hub at Dover Baptist Church. We talked with many people during the week.

• One young man showed interest, despite having been stabbed previously by his Christian ex-wife! Dover is a tough place with so many walking around apparently hopeless. Another man told me, “I don’t envy what you’re doing, talking to people” – but took a booklet.

• In a school, Josias’ talk went so well that after giving out invitations to events this week, some kids asked for more for their friends.

• Gary told of meeting a young man with a can of solvent in one hand on the doors yesterday. Wrapping the can in the questionnaire then receiving a booklet, it was a picture of light coming into his darkness.

• Clare asked why her husband had been murdered in Folkestone harbour last August. He was a traveller, with 7 children. Offered hope, she brought one daughter to that evening’s talk “Why do bad things happen to good people” and after speaking to the Deacon @ the Beacon, joined this church afterwards.

• Another lady, Bridie, came to Christ, whilst Sean was the right person to direct a 21 year old pregnant girl (Courtenay) with some faith, to Mums & Todds and to answer her baptism request

• A young goth, tattooed from head to foot, received prayer and – like so many this week – was open to ALPHA.

• Terry attended a 50 year lady who wanted to end it all, but who ended up praying the prayer. Another single parent had had enough. Life was tough, benefits issues etc. Asking God for a sign, the next day our boys turned up!

Throughout the week God blessed church unity and the number of locals involved. Sean Sheffield wrote afterwards: “I just wanted to thank you once again for your support, guidance and your input into the There is Love in Dover mission week. It was wonderful to work alongside you and to share the experience of the week. I know from conversations with others, that the training events you ran really made the difference to those who attended feeling somewhat unsure about whether to go out or not.”

WHAT NEXT? 

The aim is for mission, including door to door visiting, to continue – with a repeat mission in 2019/20.

PARISH MISSIONS WITH THE MATHETES TRUST

If you would like to find out more about how we can help with planning, training and resourcing of parish missions please visit our Parish Mission page, send us an email or give us a call!

We have just published the Rooted in Jesus Annual Report for the year 2017. It includes news from the seven dioceses in which we ran conferences as well as feedback from those who have continued to use Rooted in Jesus in places where we have previously offered training. It has been encouraging and humbling to receive so much positive feedback, often from places where life is very difficult.

We have posted the report in two formats:

• Download the report as a pdf file HERE

• Read online on your phone or PC HERE

In the meantime we continue with our calling to help foster a culture of discipleship both here in the UK and in Africa, mindful of the Great Commission and hugely grateful for the prayer and support we receive. Pastor James Chegem from Uganda sums up the difference it makes when churchgoers become disciples:

“Rooted in Jesus has done a lot in the church I am leading; I used to struggle a lot but when I introduced RinJ it has helped me to grow the church numerically and spiritually. A woman called Lucia had never gone to school but kept on coming to attend RinJ meetings, and learnt how to memorize verses; now she is a good evangelist and quotes scriptures in the Bible which she has memorized. Many of the members who attended RinJ meetings in the church are now committed to church programmes. The church now has 300 members in attendance.”

Rooted in Jesus is a ministry to people who have few material resources, and depends wholly on donations – if you would like to help please visit our support page, or make an online donation here.

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” Col 2.7

Posted on 28 February 2017 by Revd Dr Alison Morgan.

Church growth statistician Bob Jackson has famously said that if you want your church to grow the key is to do something, rather than nothing; ‘it is those who intend to grow the church who grow the church.’

We have just had an email from Revd Justin Randriambelotsoa. Justin is a retired priest in the Diocese of Fianarantsoa, Madagascar, and Justin is doing something rather than nothing. Having planted and built up a church of 500 people in one place, he has now moved to another. And Justin’s retirement project is to plant the first Anglican church in this new place. He has a simple strategy: he uses Rooted in Jesus with a group of adults and, following the training conferences last summer, Rooted in Jesus Junior with their children. And Justin’s new church is growing. Meanwhile his colleague, a much younger priest named Pez Raobison, is doing the same thing in another town, where he baptised his first new Christians last year. This is how Fianarantsoa has grown from a single church plant to a fully functional diocese in just thirteen years; step by step, in place by place. To find out more about Justin’s new church click our new blog post HERE. Justin asks for our prayers.

The same holds true here in the UK; we have to do something rather than nothing –  and it doesn’t need to be clever or complicated. As Bob Jackson is fond of saying, ‘it’s not rocket science.’ A growing number of churches are now using The God Who is There, which is our UK version of Rooted in Jesus. It’s a simple, interactive discipleship course in three parts. At St Lawrence, North Wingfield the whole church has been working its way through the three books; their faith has deepened and they are now planning a parish mission, which Roger will lead in June. In March we will support a mission in Dover, and in October in Bedworth. Don’t forget to let us know if you would like to join a team, either for a parish mission in the UK or for a Rooted in Jesus team in Africa  – for you too, doing something will grow your faith! If you would like to find out what others say about going on teams take a look at Ian Cripps’ testimony, or visit the Rooted in Jesus team page.

If you haven’t come across Bob Jackson’s down-to-earth books you will find synopses on the books page of Alison’s website.

Posted by Revd Dr Alison Morgan January 12th 2018

As we move through the season of Advent we would like to share some of the feedback we have received recently from those who have given up their time to go on the road with Jesus.

Blessings at home

Ian in his mission kit!

Breaston parish church

Have you ever thought of joining a mission team? Often we fear that evangelism is for other people; and yet God has a habit of working through us if only we give him the chance. Ian Cripps pulls no punches in his account of what it felt like to follow Jesus on a daily basis on one of our recent parish missions:

“Stepping out of my regular life of marriage, employment, faith, family, golf and watching rugby, and going straight into mission was a shock of adrenalin and fright. To be surrounded by a combined ‘Home and Away team’ for 8 days, with complete freedom to think, speak and sing of the gospel is a privilege, exhilarating and joyfully exhausting all at the same time. I was paired with Pete from Coventry and Terry from Barnsley. Both had an irrepressible sense of humour; the three of us were consistently dissolving in laughter throughout the week. Both Terry and Pete have wonderful powerful family based testimonies, which clearly touched the people God intended to reach. Since the Mission I have a renewed hunger for the word, and my prayer lists have joyfully expanded. God is amazing.” For an insider’s view on the mission, read Ian’s full account here. And if you would be interested in joining a future team (we have three in the planning), please do let us know!

Blessings away

Conference participants, Mityana Diocese

Last month a team led by Revd Tim Carter led two followup Rooted in Jesus conferences in the Diocese of Mityana, Uganda. We’ve posted a full account on the Rooted in Jesus blog, but sometimes it’s good to take a more individual view too, focussing not on what the Lord does among our brothers and sisters in Uganda but what he does among us. Nick James writes:

“The visit was exhilarating in many ways. Such appreciative people, such vibrant worship and such a wholesome, challenging course (I felt personally challenged by some of the material…). I think it more than lived up to my expectations on account of the people we met who were on fire for the Lord, despite little material resource. The chief impact on my ministry is a refreshing of my own call to make disciples (very helpfully challenging), and a firm understanding that Ugandan Christians face exactly the same fundamental issues as I do: am I willing to trust God and follow him wholeheartedly? And the things I need to trust him for are exactly the same: material provision and spiritual strength. The main circumstantial difference is that I am anaesthetised to my need of God by all the provision I have made for myself in fear of not having enough while my Ugandan brothers and sisters are to some extent handicapped and diverted by fear or frustration of not seeing how God will provide for them tomorrow. And both of us are spiritually poorer for it.”

It sometimes seems odd for a small organisation to be working so widely. England and Africa are very different places; and yet, as Nick points out, many of the challenges we face are the same. How do we reach and disciple children? How do we cope with situations in which there are many small, rural churches and just one leader? How do we help clergy to keep the fire within them burning when the demands placed upon them are so great? And how, above all, do we ensure that we depend on God in all that we do, and that we trust in him and follow his guidance? We cannot do these things alone; but we can perhaps do them together. As we wait afresh for the coming of Christ in this season of Advent, let us commit ourselves to living in the knowledge that he is with us in all that we do.

Posted 14th December 2017 by Revd Dr Alison Morgan

As autumn slides into winter, for us at The Mathetes Trust there is much to be grateful for, with parish missions and Rooted in Jesus conferences bearing fruit. Roger is getting stuck into supporting multi-parish benefices, and we will write to you about that before too long.

We have a Rooted in Jesus team in Uganda at the moment, and have just had a report from the Diocese of Butere, Kenya where a team went in June: Diocesan Coordinator Benjamin Kibara says there are now 87 groups in 36 parishes across the diocese. He writes that “the impact has already been felt in many ways:

Many have grown in their faith and practice
Commitment and turn up in local church prayer meetings has increased
Stewardship and giving has improved as disciples get rooted in Christ
Marriages that were at the verge of breaking up have been restored
More people have volunteered to serve in church.”

Finally, Benjamin says that “The RinJ books were recommended as the confirmation books in the diocese.”

Soon Christmas will be upon us, and then Lent. So we would like to take this opportunity to remind you of some of our publications. Our poetry anthology Something Understood – Poems for Reflection and Meditation makes an excellent Christmas gift, and includes the magnificent Christmas poem ‘Wenceslas’ by Carol Ann Duffy. It’s been well received; poet RV Bailey wrote “Your lovely anthology came today, and it’s full of good things – it’s a handsome volume at an amazingly reasonable price. You range very generously over a wide field, and though there are old favourites there are some welcome introductions to new poets.” Fully illustrated, it costs just £8 and can be ordered directly from our publications page, or by email.

If you are even more forward thinking than that, you may be interested to know that our Lent course Season of Renewal, by Bill Goodman and Alison Morgan, is also available on our publications page, along with a flyer and a sample session. It’s proved an increasingly popular course since it was first written 10 years ago, and is now on its 4^th printing. It comes in a Leader’s Manual and a group member’s coursebook which offers spiritual exercises to follow during the week between meetings. It’s a good way to introduce a small group ministry to your church, and makes a good followup to Alpha too, providing a gentle introduction to the work of the Holy Spirit, the agent of renewal both in our hearts and in our world.

• “A group of about ten of us finished ‘Season of Renewal’ last night. It was unanimously agreed that it had been the most inspiring and helpful Lent course we had ever shared in” – Canon John Gunstone

  

Meanwhile we continue in our life of prayer, thanking those of you who pray with us. The psalm set for today is Psalm 34: My soul shall glory in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.

It’s good to do that, as we watch the glory of autumn fade into the darkness of winter.

Posted 17th November 2017

by Revd Dr Alison Morgan 

The Mathetes Trust offers various programmes to churches in the UK, and among these is an offer to take a team for a week of mission. We have just completed two of these, one in Purley near Reading and one in Breaston near Derby. The missions were both fruitful and immensely encouraging.

• A highlight of both missions was the door-to-door visiting, with more people stopping to talk and inviting us in than I have ever known, and a surprising number making solid commitments of faith within minutes – we had the feeling almost that people were ready and waiting for us! All team members found a steady stream of people wanting to know more and to pray with them – one man found himself so unexpectedly interested that he abandoned his half-mixed quick drying cement to its own devices in order to hear more…

• Each member of the local team held a meeting in their own home to which they invited friends and neighbours. We saw fruit from these meetings too; in particular team member Ian led four to the Lord at one meeting, where the host had been praying for her friends for a whole year.

• Thirdly, in each place we had a mission to children which also bore fruit, with 40 children at an after school club, a Messy Church session on the theme of ‘power’ with most people responding to the invitation to receive the power of Jesus into their lives, a family Fun Fest and a Youth Chill-Out evening.

  

• Finally we held open meetings every day. New for me were a Ceilidh where I was cast as the storyteller; we alternated short talks with dancing, and set up prayer stations for people to come to – the team were kept busy praying throughout the evening. Other events included a Gospel quiz with quiz rounds alternating with gospel presentations; a men’s evening where 23 men crowded into a local bistro to talk about God and Science; a ladies’ pub night; a Sunday service on stress (lots of people in tears!); a men’s breakfast where businessman Gary spoke on ‘how to make your first million’; and a choir evening with excerpts from Handel’s Messiah alternating with gospel explanations from me. All of these events ended with people praying prayers of commitment or wanting to know more.

Evaluation

In both places we found people coming to faith, Christians touched in new ways, people wanting to know more. Having a trained home team meant that all those who expressed interest or prayed prayers were immediately followed up, with more help to come over the next few weeks. The teams were large, the events were many; I have no accurate idea of the response in terms of numbers – but one measure is that we gave out about 500 copies of the Decision booklet to people who asked for one. The churches now have their work cut out!

Our experience in both places makes me feel that the tide may have changed in this country – many are ignorant of the gospel but open to it, and I suspect that door-to-door visiting (in which it was good to be working closely with Richard Scott from TFM) should become a key strategy for the future. The home meetings also bore fruit, but were not as successful as I have known before, which suggests that Christians may be less well connected than they used to be. In terms of response by age, we found that young adults were particularly open, perhaps because our culture has now become so secular that it’s all new to them. This is very encouraging as we look to the future – the opportunity to make a real difference is there, if we are willing to step outside our comfort zones!

Matthew’s story

I met Matthew in the street. He was very friendly, listened to the gospel carefully, and committed his life to Jesus there and then, reading a prayer of commitment aloud in front of his colleagues. The next day Chris and I went to visit Matthew, and met his wife – who also prayed a prayer of commitment.

Looking ahead

Everyone on both the visiting and the home teams (many of whom had been apprehensive, particularly about the door to door visiting) ended the mission greatly encouraged, and strengthened in their own faith. So we plan to press on. We have already accepted invitations to run missions in June and October next year – but think we should aim to do many more. If you would like to talk to us about a possible mission in your own church, do take a look at our missions page and get in touch!

Finally, we are grateful to those who came on the teams, to those who offered them hospitality, and to those who prayed each day – as well as to all those in Purley and Breaston who put so much time and effort into the missions, especially church leaders David Archer and Chris Smedley who had the faith to invite us in the first place; and of course to those of you who provide the support and encouragement to make this ministry possible.

Roger Morgan

Posted 19th October 2017