by Pete Wildman | Mar 19, 2020 | Circuit News
Free Uniforms for Primary Schools (FUPS)
At St Andrew’s United Church we are the Wallasey Hub for FUPS. This is a venture which we share with Seacombe United Reformed Church and it is proving very successful.
School uniforms which are no longer required, usually because children have outgrown them, are donated by parents and carers either through the school or directly to us at St Andrew’s. We check and sort them, wash and iron them if necessary (though most are immaculate!), and sometimes replace lost buttons or do other minor repairs. We then store them in our very organised and efficient storeroom until they are needed.
Parents and carers can request any items of uniform and we will do our best to supply them. If there is something we don’t have we can contact other Hubs to see if they can help.
This service has been an enormous help to some families who have financial difficulties, and we are very pleased about that. However, this service is open to everyone, not just those in need. Its purpose is much wider than that. It helps to protect the environment by recycling good quality used clothing which would otherwise probably end up in landfill. Any donated items which are not suitable for redistribution are collected as waste and then used for a variety of purposes.
Thanks go to all our volunteers who help to provide this very worthwhile, successful, and much appreciated service for our community.
Sheila Fidler, St. Andrew’s
by Pete Wildman | Mar 19, 2020 | Circuit News
Claremount is one of the many churches and voluntary organisations with a vision and determination to do something about the mismatch between the food needs of local people and food loss from supermarket and other wastage.
We were intrigued by the idea of being a local hub for people who need a bit of help, and for the opportunity to make new friendships while at the same time preventing staggering food waste. We felt this went hand in hand with our aim to serve the community with the love of Jesus Christ and to care for God’s creation.
We therefore entered into a partnership with ‘Fed Up’, a project run by the Wirral Development Trust and funded by Wirral Borough Council set up to combat the rising levels of food poverty in the Wallasey constituency. Their goal is to work with existing charities, community groups, faith groups, schools and businesses to setup hubs within each ward, with the aim of giving people the support they need to move out food poverty.
We are one of fifteen hubs operating throughout the wider Wallasey area, offering a range of services. Claremount offers a social supermarket, open three days a week, where food which would otherwise go to waste can be put to good use.
This initiative goes hand-in-hand with our determination to become a church which cares for the earth. Towards this, the church has recently been awarded a Bronze Award as an Eco church, and is progressing towards the Silver award, joining together with such disparate churches as Salisbury Cathedral and Romsey Methodist Church in Hampshire. You can read more about this initiative at https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/.
Amanda Pauls, Church and Community Development Lay Employee
by Pete Wildman | Mar 19, 2020 | Circuit News
Evangelism & Growth
“We are at the beginning of a dynamic new Church-wide focus on evangelism as a crucial dimension of our mission and ministry in 21st century Britain. We believe that God has called all of us to speak, live, and listen for the Good News of Jesus Christ in the world.” (From the Methodist Connexional Website)
The Liverpool District 2020 Vision conference felt like a significant step in moving forward the thinking and practice of our churches in this vital mission. Organised by the Resourcing Mission Group, the conference brought together four experienced and able practitioners to speak and lead workshops for the some 200 church members who gathered in the impressive surroundings of Linacre Mission, in Liverpool.
The challenge throughout the day was simple: See-Hear-Respond. It was a day for envisioning what could be, rather than bemoaning what no longer was. It was an opportunity to hear wise counsel and encouraging stories. It prompted all those who were there to consider: What commitment will you make to yourself and God today?
Here are some headlines and notes of the day. If you want to know more, there is a list of resources at the bottom of the article which will help you and your church to start thinking about where you are now, and where you want to be in the future. Which leads us nicely to the first session.
Vision
Trey Hall – Director of Evangelism and Growth in the Methodist Church
Trey recounted his experience attending an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Chicago. He was struck by the parallels between AA and the outreaching church. It was a meeting full of joy and laughter, where people shared their stories to a sympathetic and empathetic audience, where there was an acknowledgement of need and weakness, and a determination to help one another on the path to sobriety.
Notably there were no “experts” – no therapists or experts, no administrative hierarchy, no book-learning or superior wisdom – just starving people helping one another to find bread. The reliance was on one another; the wisdom was what each could bring.
Most critically, the meeting was full of people who had hit rock-bottom, had come to the end of their resources, and had surrendered their lives to a “higher power” – however they conceived that power.
This is our only starting place as churches. We begin by acknowledging that we can’t do it alone. We recognise and glory in our inadequacies. We surrender our pride, our traditions, our judging, our desire to be in control. We begin, not with the needs of those outside the church, but with our own needs.
The starting point is personal discipleship, and encountering God in a life-changing way. The foundation of the AA programme is the famous “12 steps”; churches can learn from that by realising that discipleship doesn’t just happen – there are steps in growing into Christ, and we would do well to start with those who are already inside our walls.
Do we actually know what the “good news” is? We are involved in many activities; but do we understand the “why?” What is the gospel, and how is it transforming us and expressing itself in our church?
Trey gave an example of a growing Methodist church in Berlin whose single-minded mission was simply this: “teach people how to pray”. If all Methodist people were encountering God, understood the message of the gospel, were learning how to pray and had a story to tell, evangelism would grow naturally. “Hi; my name is Pete. I’ve been a Christian for 53 years, and this is how my week has gone.”
Discernment
Bishop Bev Mason – Bishop of Warrington
My vision or God’s vision? Our natural tendency is to shape the church according to our own needs, desires and preferences. Discernment is tuning in to God’s channel, and tuning out the extraneous noise and competing messages. Are our churches shaped by what we want to do for God, or by what he calls us to?
Who does God call? All of us. Our baptismal promise is to “turn from our sins and serve God”. Our calling is to serve Christ and to serve others in him.
We all know the experience of waiting on the sidelines to be “picked” – for a team, a job, a position. It’s frustrating. What can we do? We look, we listen and we test. Jesus said that “my sheep know my voice”; when we are called, we will know it.
Who does God call? Not just the strong, the clever, the capable. In 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, Paul reminds his readers of this: “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters; not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.”
God doesn’t call the equipped; he equips the called. We are all apprentices in the things of God.
One thing we can always do: watch for what God is doing in the lives of others and encourage them to follow their calling. Rejoice in what God has equipped them for, and get behind them. Serve one another as we serve Christ.
Leadership
Revd Dr Calvin Samuel – Methodist Minister and theological educator
There are three related concepts: vision, leadership – and power. We don’t tend like the idea of “power” when it is in the hands of individuals. But there are different kinds of power, not all bad. Power is simply the ability to influence others. If you are in a position to influence others – then you have power.
Writers list various kinds of power – the power of the expert; the power of the one to whom people naturally defer – the power that comes from how people perceive you. Then there is the legitimate power that comes from holding a certain position. Church stewards have this kind of power: it goes with the job.
For the Christian, our view of and approach to holding power is shaped by the cross: the power of servanthood and sacrifice. We see the leadership of Jesus exercised through inspiring, not through controlling.
Leading is different from managing: management is about order and stability; leadership is about change and movement. (Do we suffer from well-managed churches?)
Leadership is about vision – creative imagination, the ability to conceive a different reality to the one we currently inhabit. Visionary leadership also helps us make sense of where we are today; it helps us to find meaning in what we are doing, understand the “why?”, and see an alternative. For most Methodists, all we have experienced in our lives is decline. Vision enables us to imagine that things could be different.
Where does vision come from? It’s a gift of God; it is given to the body. It is not the “positional leader” – the king or priest – to whom vision comes, but to the prophet, the one outside the power structure. We need to hear one another.
The primary object of vision is to see God. Think of Isaiah’s vision (Isaiah 6). The primary outcome is personal renewal. And obedience to the vision is always costly.
Mission and Growth
Revd Peter Hancock – Mission Consultant for the Chester and Stoke District
The church doesn’t have a mission; the mission of God has a church. “The church exists by mission just as a fire exists by burning” (Emil Brunner (1931): “The Word and the World”).
Where there is mission:
- Unforeseen resources emerge
- Esprit de corps grows
- People grow in faith
- Some come to faith
- We are energised
- We are more aware of the Holy Spirit
- God opens up the way
Several writers have identified three stages in the life of a church:
Movement: A healthy church is born as a burst of positive gospel energy. Such a church has a sense of mission, even a sense of destiny.
Monument: The spirit of the church changes from hunger to self-satisfaction, from eagerness to routine, from daring new steps of faith to maintaining the status quo, from outward to ingrown.
Mausoleum: If this trend is not arrested, the church will decline and become a mausoleum, a place of death. The church as an institution may have enough social momentum and financial resources to keep churning on. But as a force for newness of life, it no longer counts. (see Ray Ortlund, https://in-the-meantime.com).
John Wesley said this: “I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid, lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power.” (“Thoughts upon Methodism”, 1786).
Peter conducted a rough and ready survey in his workshop regarding the strength of churches in the four statements of the Methodist Calling. The results were startling but unsurprising. Worship – OK; Learning and Caring – better; Service – good; Evangelism: non-existent. How does that feel for our churches, and where to we take it from here?
Final Thoughts (Editor)
All who were at the conference will have taken something away which was particular to them. Here are my key points, responses and commitments.
- Start with our own congregations. Meet their needs. Help them to encounter God. Teach them to pray. Make disciples. Help them to become a people who know the Good News and can share it with others.
- Open the door to change: radical change, not tweaking. Instead of assuming that new growth will develop from what we already have, be ready for something out of nothing.
Further reading..
https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-work/our-work-in-britain/evangelism-growth/changing-growing-churches/mission-planning/mission-planning-toolkit/
https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-work/our-work-in-britain/evangelism-growth/
by Pete Wildman | Mar 19, 2020 | Circuit News
Transforming Lives Together (TLT) is a Joint Venture between the Diocese of Chester and the Church Urban Fund. We are part of a network of over twenty Joint Ventures across England.
TLT is a local advocate for social justice and equality. Our main aim is to encourage churches to increase their engagement with their local communities, particularly around issues of food poverty, and loneliness and isolation. We want to see churches being a central part of spiritual and social transformation in the places we live.
We work with churches of all denominations and also support the building of relationships with voluntary, faith and statutory sectors. We have worked with Methodist churches on the Wirral for some time.
Four churches are ‘Places of Welcome’. This is a national network of churches and other organisations which provide a weekly welcome to people from all backgrounds and ages to come together to meet, chat, and enjoy simple refreshments. Here’s just one example:
We met a lady who was struggling with her home circumstances, was very distressed, anxious and lacking in confidence. Our Place of Welcome gave her somewhere that was easy to drop into without needing to belong in any formal way or have to do anything other than sit and have a drink. It provided her with a time and place that she could meet with those giving her support in any way and was a relaxed atmosphere in which to get to know people.
To cut a very long story short, she now attends church regularly, is a volunteer within our Charity Shop and at our ‘Knit & Natter’ group, the monthly Messy Church – and anything else that needs an extra pair of hands! She is now confident and much happier and, whilst not all of her personal problems have gone away, she knows she has friends she can turn to. A church member recently helped her secure a part-time job which is another hurdle crossed. She will admit that, had she not got to know us, she ‘probably wouldn’t be here’.
For more information please have a look at our web page https://www.tltogether.org.uk/places-of-welcome
‘Filling the Gap’is a network of churches delivering food and activities during the school holidays, enabling children and families to eat healthy food and play together. See more at https://www.tltogether.org.uk/holiday-gap
Know your church, know your neighbourhood
We have also been working with several Methodist churches to support them in a 5 session programme called ‘Know Your Church, Know Your Neighbourhood’. This is a facilitated process to help churches think about themselves in relation to the wider community they seek to serve and to make prayerful and informed decisions about their mission in their local area.
If you would like to know more about any of our work, please contact Wendy Robertson wendy.robertson@tltogether.org.uk.
by Pete Wildman | Mar 19, 2020 | Circuit News
Wirral FUSS & FUPS has certainly become better known: mainly by word of mouth as we have not spent a lot on publicity. The project has become much busier mainly due to the continuing impact of austerity policies and a growing awareness of the environmental and social implications of compulsory school uniform.
In the twelve months to the end of September we have:
- responded to 2151 requests from Wirral families ( up nearly 25% on the previous year!)
- given away 12,848 items of clothing for re-use (up 17%)
- waste-prevented nearly 6 Tonnes of textiles from entering landfill (up 15%)
Since the project began, back in 2012, we have now responded to well over 8500 requests from families.
Opening just two days a week, our Birkenhead Shop Hub accounts for over 60% of our activity – 1235 requests responded to just this year. A big ‘thank you’ to our stalwart team there: Pat, Allison, Chris, Margaret, Tina and her family, and other occasional helpers. All of the above has been undertaken without any substantial increase in volunteer help – we have all been working harder, but we do need more help!
Now we are six seven (again)
2019 saw a long-awaited new arrival among our Local Hubs. The project operates from the Shop Hub in Birkenhead, and well-established Hubs in local churches: St Luke’s Hoylake, Lower Bebington and Moreton Methodists, Parkgate & Neston URC, and our processing Hub in Heswall above The Beacon Café. In March this year a new Hub opened serving all 14 Primary Schools in the Wallasey area. A substantial storage and processing room has been kitted out at St Andrew’s United Church in New Brighton, contacts made with nearby schools, and drop-off and pick-up points established at St Andrew’s and at Seacombe URC. Gradually, over the summer, the word has spread and the Hub is now fully up and running – all thanks to the hard work of Reverend Lorraine, Doris, Yvonne and their team of helpers.
Fellow travellers
Enquiries about how we work have continued to come in from other parts of the country. We have corresponded with those setting up projects in Leicestershire, Luton and South Yorkshire, and most recently we have ‘mentored’ the Morecambe Bay Foodbank as they set up their own mini-version of our Uniform Shop Hub.
The end of the beginning
For quite some time it has been evident that the project aspires to work Wirral-wide and needs the support and resources to do so. At a meeting on 21st March 2019, Wirral Methodist Circuit agreed: to adopt Wirral FUSS & FUPS formally as a Circuit Project:
- to fund, manage and support a 20 hours per week Project Coordinator, with expenses etc. for two years;
- and to continue to fund the Shop Hub during that time. The Coordinator will be based at and resourced by the Wirral Methodist Centre in Thingwall.
This gives the project some much needed security, and a bit of breathing space. To direct this development phase, a new Management Group has been established, chaired by Reverend Helen Jobling with assistance from Pam Simms (Finance), Steve Pillow (Senior Circuit Steward) and several of our Hub volunteers. This all marks a significant turning point in the story of Wirral FUSS & FUPS so far.
The Management Group appointed Petra Dye-Davies to the new post of Project Coordinator and she began work in January 2020. We are really delighted to welcome Petra ‘on board’ again. She worked closely with the project from summer 2015 to February 2017, when she was Project Worker at Oxton Gateway, and was the instigator of our first pop-up shops which led to the establishment of the Birkenhead Shop Hub.
With the new Project Coordinator in post, Andy Kemp will continue in his development role (working rather fewer hours!), focusing on securing longer-term funding, as well as line managing the Project Coordinator.
People first and last
Apart from all those mentioned above, a very big ‘thank you’ also goes to: Alison, Ann-Marie and Susan at Hoylake; Sarah, Frank, John, Helen and Jean at Moreton; Dylys, Margaret, Andy G, Kathy, Barbara and Val at Lower Bebington; and Jenny and her helpers at Neston. We also greatly appreciate all those staff members in schools who help us through the year, and of course all those families who take the trouble to donate their children’s’ outgrown uniform! We have also received encouragement from two of our local MPs.
An exciting and challenging time lies ahead for all of us: come and get involved! Visit our website for more information.
by Pete Wildman | Mar 19, 2020 | Circuit News
Just over 20 years ago I found myself in St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem on Easter Sunday, taking Holy Communion.
There were about sixty of us. We were standing in a circle round a communion table in the centre of the Cathedral. The Minister walked round the circle giving each of us a piece of bread and he was followed round by two women, each with a chalice giving out wine.
As the Minister gave me a piece of bread our eyes met. In that brief moment it was as if I was looking into the eyes of the Lord: a moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life. When I spoke to the Minister after the Service that recognition was no longer there.
You will recall that on that first Easter Sunday Cleopas and a friend were walking to Emmaus when they met the Lord, but somehow they did not know him even though they became involved In a prolonged conversation with him. It was only later after sharing a meal, when he blessed the bread broke it and gave it to them that “their eyes were opened and they recognised Jesus…..then he disappeared.” (Luke 24 v.1325). A striking parallel to my experience.
All I can say is that I know Jesus died a horrible death on the Friday; but I know he is alive; I saw him in Jerusalem on Easter Sunday.
Robin Carlisle, Bromborough
