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Life and Witness
The purpose of the Life and Witness Committee is :
to enable the local church to capture the vision of God’s mission for itself and to plan its life accordingly;
to encourage growth in faith among people of all ages;
to challenge members in their stewardship and witness;
to encourage the local church to engage with its community in evangelism, if possible ecumenically; to enable each church to engage with its local community in partnership and service; by gathering ideas and experience, including best practice, and advocating these to the local church; by monitoring and assessing relevant government policy and advising the local church accordingly;
to support the work of elders and the work of the district councils in their oversight of the local church;
to stimulate district councils and synods in the development of their own strategies for mission;
to support the work of the Windermere Centre and of the Rural Officer/Consultant;
to enable ongoing reflection on issues related to the Community of Women and Men in the Church.
Committee Members Convener: Revd Brian Jolly Secretary: Revd John Steele Revds, Eddie Boon, Linda Elliott, Ken Forbes, Suzanne Hamnett, Angela Hughes, Peter Hurter, Bob Warwicker, Mrs Jenny Carpenter, Mrs Alison Lowe, Mrs Sheila Thatcher, Mr Jim Wilkinson Convener of Stewardship Sub‑Committee: Mr Keith Webster
1 People
1.1 Since the committee last reported to Assembly in 2001 it has been strengthened by the presence of Peter Hurter and Linda Elliott as new members, and by Brian Jolly as Convenor.
1.2 Frank Beattie resigned as Convenor of the committee at the end of 2001 and we thank him for his leadership. Elizabeth Kam and Peter Ball left us at the last Assembly, and at this Assembly we say farewell to Eddie Boon, Suzanne Hamnett, Sheila Thatcher and Bob Warwicker; we sincerely thank them all for their contributions to the work of Life & Witness.
1.3 We continue to be indebted to John Steele for all he does in his role as Secretary for Life and Witness, and have been pleased to learn recently that Mission Council has reappointed him for a further term of 3 years from September 2003.
2 The Windermere Centre
2.1 The new Director of the Windermere Centre, Lawrence Moore, began his work on 1st April 2002! Around the same time Mission Council commissioned the first ever review of the Windermere Centre. The findings of the review group are awaited, and will have been presented to Mission Council by the time Assembly arrives. Representatives of Life and Witness, and the Windermere Advisory Group, together with the new Director, met with the review group and shared their vision for the future of the Centre: to be a space within the church to dream, to plan and develop life‑in‑mission and to be a catalyst and location for much of the strategic planning, thinking, training and spiritual development across the Church.
2.2 There is a new rolling programme aimed at developing the different aspects of life‑in‑mission: biblical and theological, worship and preaching, pastoral care and practice, a critical engagement with contemporary culture, ecumenical life and prayer and spirituality. The Centre is liasing with Assembly committees to offer events that promote and develop their work and disseminate mission theology and practice throughout the Church. The new programme also has a particular eye to the needs of ministers via the CME programme. A number of events focus on empowering the ministry and witness of lay people. Churches and groups continue to use the Centre to enrich and develop local life. Undergirding all of this is the conviction that life‑in‑mission is Spirit‑life and cannot be sustained without a deepening and vibrant personal faith and spirituality.
2.3 The Centre now has a fully equipped conference room with digital projector and Smart Board. Chairs and beds have been replaced and facilities continue to be upgraded. There is an urgent need for the Centre to increase its en‑suite accommodation, and several possibilities are being explored. There has been a positive re‑appraisal of links between the Centre and Carver Memorial Church which share the same site, and it is hoped that enhanced co‑operation may benefit both in the future.
3 Stewardship Advocacy
3.1 Following last year’s narrow defeat of the Southern Synod resolution to establish one or more national stewardship advocacy posts, Life and Witness has been working to find another way to develop effective stewardship advocacy throughout the church’s life. Consequently funding has been secured to provide for the training of stewardship advocates for each district and synod. These councils are being invited to send specially selected people ‑ those who are willing to grasp the importance of stewardship advocacy and regard it as a ministry of encouragement and prayer ‑ for a short intensive course at the Windermere Centre. Following training, advocates will become part of a network, facilitated and supported through the Stewardship Sub‑Committee, through which they will share information, good practice and experience, and help make the connections between the mission needs of our church and available resources.
3.2 Two courses are already planned, for August 4th‑7th and December 12th‑14th and they will be repeated in following years. Funding will cover costs and accommodation; it is hoped that districts and synods will be able to contribute to a fares pool. Contact the Life & Witness Office for further details.
4 Church Membership resources
4.1 Towards the end of 2001 David Jenkins and his team began an initiative to create new materials for church membership, with a view to having them available from this Assembly.
4.2 From initial research a flexible approach seemed to be preferred to another ‘rigid’ programme. They are currently putting the finishing touches to a ‘A Gift Box’ – a variety of articles on basic faith themes from a wide spectrum of authors and prese
nted in an easy to handle card‑index format. ‘A Gift Box’ will be a versatile resource for individual and group study as well as in membership preparation, and will shortly be available.
5 Evangelists
5.1 The 2001 Assembly acknowledged the need to identify those in lay and ordained ministry who have the gift of evangelism, and directed the Life & Witness Committee to initiate work towards finding ways of releasing and supporting men and women to exercise ministry as evangelists. As a first step in this process the committee has, through the production and distribution of the booklet ‘Growing Up to the Ministry of Evangelists’ undertaken a significant exercise of direct consultation across the church. Local churches, districts and synods were asked to respond to several questions and to share news about individuals in the churches already engaged in ministry as evangelists. Now the information and comments received are being analysed and explored, and discussions with other committees of the church are underway in order that issues (for example, to do with assessment, training, accreditation) can be worked through before recommendations are brought to a future Assembly. It is critical that such preparatory work is thorough in order to lay sound foundations for the future ministry of evangelists within the United Reformed Church.
6 Community of Women and Men in the Church
6.1 With the aid of a substantial grant from the Council for World Mission a consultation was held at the Windermere Centre in September 2002 bringing together Synod, General Assembly Committee and women’s organisation representatives with the core group of the Community of Women and Men in the Church.
6.2 This explored two issues. Firstly, sexual harassment and the strategy required to ensure that related good practice and guidelines are in place in all the councils of the church, from local church to General Assembly. It is hoped that an interdisciplinary working group will be established to take this work further. Secondly, priorities for future work. It was agreed that inclusive participation within our church life is vital; there was a hope that Equal Opportunities, Racial Justice and the Community of Women and Men in the Church would continue to work together to increase awareness of this issue and offer education so that opportunities for service are open to all.
6.3 Violence against women is an issue that is being covered by ecumenical bodies and other churches. The Community of Women and Men in the Church networks with many of these (eg the Churches Together in England Women’s Co‑ordinating Group). The United Reformed Church is responding to the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland report ‘Time for Action’ – Sexual abuse, the Churches and a new dawn for survivors.
7 The Rural Officer/Consultant
7.1 Jenny Carpenter, in her joint United Reformed Church/Methodist role, is based with ecumenical colleagues at the Arthur Rank Centre in Warwickshire. She is available to churches and Synods for preaching and training events (she recently led a workshop at Fury Assembly on “We are what we eat!”).
7.2 Jenny services the Churches Rural Group, a Co‑ordinating Group of Churches Together in England, which recently commended a key Methodist paper ‘What is an effective Christian presence?’ It argues that an effective Christian presence in each village depends on ecumenical approach and understanding, strategic planning in the deployment of ministry, whether lay or ordained, and Christians identifying fully with the well‑being of their village. Northern Synod is tackling such issues ecumenically to ensure that ministry and mission are not further diluted in rural Northumberland.
7.3 The rural church is experiencing high regard, not least because of its stance with farmers and other rural people during the Foot and Mouth Disease crisis. Through administration of the ARC‑Addington Fund, which made hardship grants of £10.3m it became clear that many rural businesses were crippled with debt and that many needed help in finding an appropriate exit strategy. The Fund’s new role is to offer affordable alternative housing to country people enabling them to relocate with dignity whilst continuing to reside in and contribute to the well‑being of their community.
7.4 The website (http://www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk) is being remodelled to offer a much wider range of resource materials, including seasonal worship material, farming briefings and articles. The thrice‑yearly magazine Country Way gives useful insights on life and faith in the countryside.
7.5 Synods have recently been challenged to appoint a rural link person to alert the Synod to rural issues, to liaise with the Rural Officer/Consultant, and to represent the Synod at ecumenical gatherings of Rural Officers.
8 Mission Enablers Network
8.1 Life & Witness continues to facilitate and support the growing network of those involved with mission and evangelism enabling in the United Reformed Church. Currently there are some two dozen people regularly in touch and sharing experiences, ideas and good practice across the three nations, as well as in occasional residential meetings. Working patterns vary according to the needs and priorities of the Districts or Synods in which they work, but the network enables everyone to keep up to date with current mission thinking. Last year, they produced ‘Out and About’ a CD‑ROM of tools and resources for use in local churches and communities, and material is already being gathered for a second edition.
9 Local Church Leadership
9.1 The 1998 Assembly encouraged synods and district councils in consultation with local churches to identify forms of local church leadership and to explore ways in which these may be recognised, affirmed and developed using Guidelines agreed by the Assembly. Over the past 18 months or so Life and Witness has been pleased to facilitate two consultations in which representatives from synods met to share the ways in which local church leadership had been developed. Understandably synods have moved at different speeds, for a variety of reasons. Some have put a lot of resources into developing the concept and, with district councils, have progressed to identifying, training and commissioning local church leaders; others are exploring the concept tentatively. The consultations were valuable opportunities to exchange experience, ideas and reservations. The Life & Witness Committee will continue to monitor developments and facilitate further opportunities for sharing between synods as appropriate, and will report further to a future Assembly.
10 Holiday Forum
10.1 Since the last report, numbers at Holiday Forum, held at The Hayes, Swanwick, have increased with under 18’s taking up almost a third of the places available. This year it may be necessary to refuse people, for the first time ever! It is good to note that we are attracting people who are ecumenical partners.
10.2 The Steering Group continues to try and vary the programme. This year there will be canoeing on The Hayes Lake and BMX biking for the over 12’s, in addition to the usual activities for the youngsters, together with more traditional activities such as ‘Songs of Praise’, Bible Study, Discussion Groups, Forum Quiz Evening. All of these are knitted together by the daily services and theme talk– this year the theme leader is David Cornick, the worship being led by Paul Floe. Tom Bayliss leads the music.
10.3 In 2004 we look forward to Lawrence Moore as the Theme Leader, assisted by John Cox.
11 Literature
11.1‘Interim Moderators in the United Reformed Church’
This revised and updated booklet has only been produced recently and is already proving a useful resource for local churches and District Councils, as well as to those currently serving, or thinking about serving as Interim Moderators.
Available on the website (www.urc.org.uk) the Bookshop, or direct from the Life & Witness Office on receipt of an SAE (33p postage).
Stewardship Sub‑Committee
Sub‑Committee Members:
Convener : Mr Keith Webster Secretary : Revd John Steele Members : Mr Mick Barnes, Mr Frank Dale, Mrs H Anne Mitchell, Mrs Sheila Yates and Revd David Legge
12 Introduction
12.1 The sub‑committee has the aim of developing and promoting ways in which the church at all levels can exercise real stewardship of the gifts entrusted to it.
12.2 People
During the past year we have welcomed David Legge as a member of the sub‑committee. At this General Assembly Frank Dale and Sheila Yates come to the end of their terms of service, and we take this opportunity to thank them for their contributions to the work of the sub‑committee.
12.3 TRIO – The Responsibility Is Ours
There has been a continuing demand for the updated version of TRIO. It remains a very powerful means by which local churches can effectively focus on basic financial stewardship matters and enable an increase in the overall level of direct giving. We continue to commend TRIO to the churches, together with the TRIO follow‑up booklet.
12.4 ‘ACT’ – Acclaim Christ Together
This new publication is a resource to help local churches develop their thinking about what might be required for a mission enterprise or initiative – the very thing for a church which might be sure of mission possibilities and opportunities surrounding it, but less sure about how to swing into action! ACT arises from ‘Growing Up’, in particular the practical consequences of the 5 Marks of Mission, and looks at stewardship in the widest sense with the aim of ensuring the most effective and efficient use of resources. It lays out processes and procedures and gives guidance on planning. ACT will soon be available, and we commend it to the churches.
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