Jesus-shaped people - a Good News story from Baildon

Baildon Methodist Church is often seen as a successful church with few needs. That is not how it has seemed for us at closer quarters! We are conscious that unless we renew our congregation, our building may well become a carpet warehouse in about five years. So, in January, following six months’ preparation, we started a 15-week programme of study called “Jesus-shaped People”, an Anglican programme designed for estate parishes by Rev Canon Gordon Dey. The strap line is “Everything you need to be a Christian and nothing you don’t”. The texts are all from earliest and most authentic accounts of the life of Jesus, largely Mark’s Gospel.

The programme is divided into five aspects of Jesus’ ministry:

Jesus was most concerned about people on the edge of society: children, women, foreigners, sick people.
Jesus taught in the common language and used illustrations from everyday life.
Jesus recognised people’s strengths and used them to develop a team to take his work on.
Jesus frequently retired into prayer and reflection to check he was on the right track.
Jesus spoke truth to power. He was not afraid to criticise the scriptures or the religious establishment.

We organised fifteen services and chose preachers with the help of the Circuit, and we ran a training course for all group leaders and preachers. We prepared a booklet with a double page for each week and everyone attending a service, cell group, prayer group, or youth group during the week receives a sticker with the reading and challenge for the week, to put into the booklet.

The whole church is now buzzing with conversation about the life and characteristics of Jesus. Discussion groups after service aim to identify changes that we need to make - unlearning some traditional teachings or changing our ways to become more Jesus-shaped. We aim to follow up with “Affirmation Classes” to prepare for church membership. Attendance is increasing. We no longer concentrate on income and fundraising. Our challenge is to become more Jesus-shaped in all we do, as individuals and as a church. We commend this programme to others.

Dr Mervyn Flecknoe Lay Pastor for Baildon Methodist Church<

Comments

HOPE Together & HOPE Revolution

Dear friends, You are personally invited to attend an exciting evening at Bradford Academy that we hope will bring people together from Bradford and Leeds to see how further Unity, Prayerful Worship and Missional Transformation can develop between the two cities. Back in July 2012, we saw over 50 young people, 12 leaders and several churches from across Bradford and Leeds join together in a 2 day pilot mission. We partnered with a local church in Bradford to share and witness to Christ's love in word and deed. In addition to this, we included young people in the conversation of ways in which to help connect both cities in the future. There are many people interested in exploring the potential of developing something on a larger scale, culminating in a week of mission across the two cities in 2014. Your attendances and input will help shape the way forward: We would like to invite you to an exciting evening of information about HOPE Together and the y...

July message from Rev Phil

Dear Friends, The Methodist Church makes provision for its ministers to take a three-month sabbatical break from the routine of ministry every seven years – this year, in my case! By the time you read this letter, I will have already started my sabbatical and I will be absent from the circuit from mid-May to mid-August. This is not an extended holiday but an opening to do something different, as a way of being refreshed in ministry; an opportunity to ‘power down’ and to get away from a hectic, diary-driven ministry, in order to spend more focused time with God. It is a requirement and not an option for ministers to take their sabbatical break. There have been two main aspects to consider in planning the sabbatical. The first has been to decide how I should use the time. For your interest, I am pressing on with studies begun through Leeds University (which could lead to the award of a PhD), reflecting on my wor...

Summer Coffee Evenings raise over £1,200

Wilsden Trinity Church We would like to say a big thank you to all who supported us for your help in making our Summer Coffee Evenings such a brilliant success. The evenings have proved to be very popular and have been really well attended, attracting people from Wilsden village as well as members of other churches in the circuit. Together we have munched our way through a tonne of biscuits and home-made scones and consumed gallons of coffee and tea. We have baked and bric-a-bracked and book sorted and are all exhausted and half a stone heavier than we were in May but feel it has been well worth the effort. In addition to enjoying very pleasant social evenings, with God's help we have succeeded in raising over £1,200 - approximately £250 each for the five chosen charities: Yorkshire Air Ambulance , Parkinson Society , Alzheimer's Society , Multiple Sclerosis Society and Martin House Children's Hospice . We are already planning for next summer and look forward t...

Bradford North Circuit

Search This Blog