HUGH'S BLOG
REFLECTIONS ON THREE RECENT GATHERINGS #1: Relational Mission 'Unpacking the Vision' Gathering
REFLECTIONS ON THREE RECENT GATHERINGS
I recently been to three significant gatherings. I have outlined the gatherings below and then in separate posts I will fill out my reflections
The FIRST was our network’s (Relational Mission) ‘Unpacking the Vision’ days where the apostolic team and others unpacked how, as a family of churches, we are responding to what we feel God has called us to.
The SECOND was a gathering of leaders representing the churches that were planted out of and/or are are in partnership with The City Church, my former home where I served as an elder for seven years and from where we were sent from to plant Redeemer Church Colchester.
The THIRD was The City Church’s ‘Global Sunday’ gathering when the church take a Sunday to celebrate all that God has done and is doing in them and through them - inviting churches that have planted out of City to join them. They also take up an offering to further advance church planting initiatives.
Relational Mission Vision Days
The City Church Pioneer Leaders Gathering
The City Church Global Sunday
#1 Relational Mission ‘Unpacking the Vision’ Gathering
Two days together with elders and other leaders across the Relational Mission family during which the apostolic team and others unpacked how, as a family of churches, we are responding to what we feel God has called us to. Things that I was struck by;
AUTHENTICITY
One of the things I love about RM and those that lead us is the aroma of authenticity. Our leaders are not trying to be something they are not. They are not trying to fit a mould of what some expect ‘leadership’ to look like. They are honest, open, vulnerable, faith filled worshippers of Jesus who are seeking to serve God in the sphere of influence given to them.
VISION
I often get asked the question for us as a church plant ‘what is your vision’ and I often wrestle with the question because I think I know what people are after…a succinct, heart stirring, action directing, resource calling goal. That’s great - I am pro-vision! I think the Bible is packed with vision that stirs our hearts, directs our actions and calls us to give everything for…however I am always uneasy when the vision as outlined in a statement or the like stirs my heart more than the Bible does with its grand vision! I realise the two are not necessarily separable…all godly vision should be a clear outworking and faith goal of what is already laid out in the Bible…maybe broken down into what we feel God has particularly called a specific group to at a specific time. So hear me - I am pro-vision! But I know my heart and want it to be as excited day in day out to outwork the holistic biblical vision that will live beyond me…many ‘heroes of the faith “died not having received what they ‘had vision’ for”. It did not deter them…
These ‘Unpacking the Vision' were brilliantly put together and led by men who live out the above. They first love Jesus, His Church and have a vision to see Him and His bride glorified. Any numbers, goals, resolve were brilliantly expressed as our ‘faith response’ to that much larger and far more sustaining vision. If you are a wonderful vision caster it can be easy for people to each year look forward to being stirred to action by another ‘exciting vision’ chapter…that is not necessarily bad! But the only vision that will sustain you, fuel you, call you to sacrificial grace given resolve and action is one of Jesus and His grand mission. I get nervous when I, or our people, are more stirred by my best efforts to express vision than they are by Jesus, his purposes and the glory of His bride. I walked away from these days more eager to serve Jesus, more excited about Jesus and His church. I love the dates, the numbers and the goals…they bring focus for this people in this season - fantastic! But the way the Vision was unpacked was brilliant - humble, faith-filled, Jesus saturated.
HUMILITY
Similarly to the above, the ‘aroma of humility’ was tangible. Someone once said that humility is not thinking less of yourself, of thinking of yourself less…the difference is that thinking less of yourself leads to ‘I can’t do it/I am nothing…’ whereas thinking of yourself less leads to ‘Jesus I look to you, you can, you are almighty, by your grace we can…’ During these days humility was tangible…there was faith, resolve, hope and hunger fuelled by the grace of God and His greatness and goodness.
We were also wonderfully led to ‘weigh together’ the prophetic words that had shaped the particular vision being expressed. The ‘vision’ was the na response to ‘If these words are legitimate then what is our faith-response.’ Stef Liston led us through this asking the following helpful questions;
Is the word-piece reliable and trustworthy?
Does it chime with other prophetic words?
Does a word like this reflect the expression of New Testament Christianity?
Does it reflect the character of God?
FRIENDS
It was a joy, as alway at these gatherings, to have such fun, depth, honesty and camaraderie with dear friends. This sustains and strengthens me. I am grateful that such a culture is modelled, prioritised and facilitated. It smells New Testament like! It is not professionals simply coming to be ‘trained’…it is family - brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers coming to be drawn together, equipped and sent out to enlarge the family - HIS family.
I am very grateful to be part of such a family, led by such Fathers who call us to our best and in all things point us to Jesus.
Pioneer Couple to Eldership Team – The Journey
Pioneer Couple to Eldership Team – The Journey
I was recently chatting with someone I respect greatly and he asked if I had recorded our journey from church plant kick off as a ‘pioneering couple’ in our living room to establishing an eldership team…I hadn’t, so this is my ‘looking back’ at our journey.
Background.
In July 2015, having moved to Colchester to plant a church our family started to invite people to join us for midweek ‘Connect Nights’ as we called them then. It was me, my wife (who we were to find out was pregnant by then) and our two children (4 & 2). We knew that within a few months another couple from our sending church were coming to join us. Nothing else was certain. Just over three years later on the 31st March 2019 we commissioned four elders to serve what had become Redeemer Church Colchester.
Three Starting Points.
Three key convictions that were key to outworking this journey;
1. Be Convinced
I am convinced that getting an eldership in place was absolutely vital for the health and growth of our church. Paul writes to Titus and tells him to get elders in every church to ‘straighten things out’. I am convinced that churches need elders to ‘get straightened out’ and move forward healthily.
I am convinced churches should multiply (plant churches) and therefore we need more elders all the time – for here now, here as we grow and there (planting or strengthening other plants).
I am convinced church leadership should be a team of elders – therefore we needed more than just me!
2. Be Deliberate
I am convinced that we need to be deliberate in prioritising, developing and identifying elders for the reasons above – but in a church plant situation it is very easy to be overwhelmed with lots of day to day tasks and to think ‘what’s the need today, we will get to elders in time’.
3. Begin with what you have
I am convinced that you can disciple elder-like men as the qualifications for elders are Christ-like character. The worst that will happen is good discipleship and good men!
Timeline.
I’ll begin with simply outlining the key markers/steps along the way and then fill out what the journey was like – many of the steps we got to were ‘fruit’ of the culture of the journey.
July 2015 – December 2015 – Midweek gathering in homes
On Sundays we travelled 40min to a nearby church expressing something of what we wanted to become.
January 2016– April 2016 - Sunday & Midweek gatherings in homes
May 2016 onwards - Sunday gatherings in public venues, Midweek in homes
May 2017 – ‘Planning Team’ established (not publicly announced)
Jan 2018 – ‘Leadership Team’ established (publicly announced)
Jan 2019 – Eldership Proposal (publicly to the church)
March 2019 – Eldership Commissioned
If I was to summarise the process it would be;
Relationship – getting to know the person
Gathering for relationship
Releasing – giving opportunities to discover and use gifts
Giving Room
Recognising - getting a sense of the ‘grace’ on people
Grace recognition
Recruiting - gathering men who I’d recognised ‘grace’ on for shepherding
Gathering for purpose
Raising – discipleship & training
Growing together
Cycling through ‘Recognising, Recruiting and Raising’ - for us this was Planning Team —> Leadership Team —> Eldership
Key Considerations.
Some key considerations that emerge from unpacking the above summary. These are somewhat ‘summary points’ too and could be unpacked more comprehensively.
1. RELATIONSHIP
If the church is to be a ‘real family’ then this needs to be modelled by the ‘fathers’ in the house.
As the elder qualifications in the Bible are mostly about character you actually have to know each other beyond a meeting context to ‘get under the bonnet’.
Unless you are looking for yes men, there are going to be challenges and conflicts in the team – strong relationships mean these are fruitful not fatal!
Whilst not all having to be ‘best friends’, deep godly friendships are vital if we are to ‘guard each other’. Relationship means bringing challenge into each other’s lives can be done more effectively, precisely and winsomely. You have to know someone well to know how to do that!
As the ‘point leader’ or ‘team leader’ you have to set the culture and be open and vulnerable too. You must lead by example.
Being in each other’s homes is helpful, it immediately removes formality and gives you an insight into each other that you might otherwise miss.
2. RELEASING
You need to create contexts where gifts can emerge.
Drawing others into pastoral meet ups, preach planning, meeting leading, small group leading and sometimes letting them take the lead must be deliberate and purposeful.
The longer you wait to do this you more you perpetuate the ‘single pastor/man of God’ culture in your church which will forever undermine anyone else’s contribution or authority. Also, the longer you wait the higher the stakes – set the culture now! Obviously, this is not done recklessly and you guard the culture.
A lot of this can be done subtly and privately simply by inviting people to speak into areas of your life and church life/pastoral situations.
3. RECOGNISING
I love this part – seeing what God has put in people! Always be looking for it, just as a Father seeks to nurture the talents and abilities of their children we get to do the same in each other’s lives.
It is vital to be deliberate in inviting outside eyes and counsel from early days – prophets, apostolic leadership, fellow church leaders. This avoids you only recognising those in your ‘mould’ and helps avoid any sense of blindness!
Ask God for discernment, and – one of my favourite phrases – follow the fruit – where is this person being fruitful (even if they don’t see it!). How do others speak of them/commend them. What do they pray fervently about?
4. RECRUITING
Whilst all the above is done informally (although some setting might be more ‘formal’ (e.g. planning team) there comes a time to explicitly ‘test’ the call, qualification and desire more deliberately and publicly.
This also allows the church to journey with you and is an opportunity to educate the church and get prayer!
Some people change significantly when given a ‘mantle’ or ‘role’ – this can be positively or negatively and you are then given the chance to work that through (it could be due to pain/previous experience/wrong timing/calling/insecurities).
This also helps bring the sobriety of eldership to the fore – being before the church, carrying responsibility, living with the ‘whole body’.
Deliberately ensure everyone is fully invested in this stage.
Whilst more ‘public’ it is healthy to set a culture of investigating and growth – take the church on the journey. Not everyone in this phase may be become elders, that is ok. If that is a problem for an individual it is likely revealing something that needed to be revealed!
5. RAISING
The whole process is ‘raising’ but there comes a time, often alongside the ‘recruitment’ phase to deliberately train and focus on eldership qualifications and roles.
We met very regularly in this season – it was high commitment.
We worked through scriptures and books.
Alexander Strauch ‘Biblical Eldership’ / PJ Smyth ‘The World needs More Elders’.
I connected our emerging team to apostolic ministry and trusted friends
We prayed weekly together on Friday mornings (you catch much culture in praying together!).
Get the others raising others too!
We’ve learnt much and keep learning. These are very much ‘summary notes’ and may raise some questions that are not answered, but hopefully gives you an insight into our journey and maybe of some help in yours.
CHURCH PLANTING TIPS...
I was recently asked for a short response to ‘What would your top 3 church planting tips be?’ - the below answer took into account the person asking, our relationship and their setting. Below is what came to mind immediately…what would you say?
PERSONAL
1) Be Real
People are attracted to authenticity
It is exhausting not to be
If you are not, you’ll need to keep up the show to keep people
People follow someone who is real before someone whom is right (Craig Groeschell)
2) Be Connected
apostolic fathering
brothers
movement/network
3) Be at peace
God is Sovereign you’re not
Jesus is building his church
His yoke is easy
His kingdom is increasing
He pursues people
He has people in your city
He called you
PRACTICAL
1) Prepare / Structure for growth ahead of time
leadership
website / database
serving expectations and excellence
But like a Swan...people experience the serene floating on calm waters (the fruit of the structuring), but you are working hard beneath the surface.
2) Prioritise eldership/leadership
something is left ‘unfinished’ until that’s in place - Titus (brings security)
3) Pursue Partnership
mainly with apostolic/churches in your network for support/sensing
STRATEGIC
1) Focus on developing culture
above quantity, appearance, quick fix
tell stories
structure calendar for the outworking of mission and community
2) Build deep community but always talk mission
Community on mission
the two are not mutually exclusive but rather mission is inevitable fruit of authentic gospel community - and community the means of discipleship.
3) Connect your People apostolically
invest in getting guest speakers
Invest in taking them to conferences, telling stories, road trips
Connect them relationally to the ‘bigger picture’ = ownership
4) Work hard, rest deeply, play well
Embrace seasons
Don’t fear lulls/holidays,
Enjoy drinks/meals with leaders in your church and friends
Build into budget
Enjoy journey
—> If I had to choose just 3
1) Be real
2) Structure ahead
3) Focus on culture
HOW WE DECIDE WHAT TO PREACH
HOW WE DECIDE WHAT TO PREACH
We sometimes get asked how we decide what to preach on at Redeemer. This is a general overview of he head, heart and hands (persuasion/ passion and practicalities) of how sermon series are decided upon at Redeemer..
HOW WE DECIDE WHAT TO PREACH
We sometimes get asked how we decide what to preach on at Redeemer. This is a general overview of he head, heart and hands (persuasion/ passion and practicalities) of how sermon series are decided upon at Redeemer.
PERSUASION & PASSION
We believe there are numerous styles/methods that can be used to preach and decide upon preaching series – there seems no biblically restrictive guideline on WHAT to preach when, and HOW to do it. The Bible reflects a variety of methods. One essential factor is to aim to ‘preach the whole counsel of God’ (Acts 20:27) in some way. For us that means ensuring a balance of topics and styles (e.g. exegetical, topical, character led).
Regarding what it means to ‘preach the whole counsel of God’, D. A. Carson is very helpful; (http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2007/11/20/preaching-whole-counsel-of-god/)
When Paul attests that this is what he proclaimed to the believers in Ephesus, the Ephesian elders to whom he makes this bold asseveration know full well that he had managed this remarkable feat in only two and a half years. In other words, whatever else Paul did, he certainly did not manage to go through every verse of the Old Testament, line by line, with full-bore explanation. He simply did not have time. What he must mean is that he taught the burden of the whole of God’s revelation, the balance of things, leaving nothing out that was of primary importance, never ducking the hard bits, helping believers to grasp the whole counsel of God that they themselves would become better equipped to read their Bibles intelligently, comprehensively. It embraced
- God’s purposes in the history of redemption (truths to be believed and a God to be worshiped),
- an unpacking of human origin, fall, redemption, and destiny (a worldview that shapes all human understanding and a Saviour without whom there is no hope),
- the conduct expected of God’s people (commandments to be obeyed and wisdom to be pursued, both in our individual existence and in the community of the people of God), and
- the pledges of transforming power both in this life and in the life to come (promises to be trusted and hope to be anticipated).
PRACTICALITIES & EXPECTATIONS
Practically then at Redeemer, the elders are primarily responsible for forming and preparing the sermon series and preachers. We have 4 guiding reasons why we pick a series. These are helpful guidelines for us, and not restrictive rules!
1. Progressive.
When we see the Bible as the ultimate authority we simply choose to work our way through it over the years.
The strength in this means that you will have a balanced diet of topics and will be forced to preach on things you perhaps wouldn't want to. The challenge can be that if there are other things you really feel the church needs to hear about, but aren't covered in your ‘current’ text, you can try and bend scripture to cover it in unhelpful way.
2. Pragmatic.
This is where the decision is made to preach on a subject in a series because it simply needs to be covered. It is not necessarily that there is a lack in this area, or a particular desire to preach on it from the elders. But in a kind of ‘you need to eat your greens’ family kind of way this approach to a sermon series I think is legitimate. Rick Warren has stated that there are five key elements to a healthy church; worship, fellowship, discipleship, serving, and evangelism. He says to focus on church health not church growth, and systematically makes sure each of these five main areas has a sermon series that preaches into theme every year. The strength of this approach is the producing of a balanced people.
3. Pastoral.
This is when a book or theme is chosen because of a loving concern from the elders. It is driven from an observation of church culture more than a prophetic burden. As overseers we have the privilege and responsibility of observing trends. And so we yearn to see people made aware of potential wrong thinking or wrong behaviour that may be church-wide to some degree. It is more bottom-up driven than top-down driven.
4. Prophetic.
This is very top-down approach i.e. a strong sense from God that he wants to impress something to a greater measure into his church family. It can come from a variety of settings but the overall effect is an unavoidable deep frustration in the heart of the leaders that God has placed there and wants to pour into his church.
