Saint’s Stories #8

SAINT PIRAN

Having failed to write a saint’s story last month due to a holiday to Cornwall, Piran is our 8th saint, the patron saint of Cornwall.

Why Church Plant?

I’ve just stumbled across a page on a blog that gives reasons for planting churches, and it’s very comprehensive, very interesting and very good.

Newport Prayer

Last night I barely slept. Going off to sleep I felt burned to pray for Newport as a whole, as that’s where I’m considering the possibility of planting. Now, I’ve been praying occasionally for Newport recently using the map below which lists all the electoral wards. So from memory I prayed through as many of them as I could remember. The particular wards I’m considering for planting are #4 The Gaer, #20 Victoria and #3 Caerleon. Other wards that are particularly deprived and needy are #8 Pillgwenlly, #13 Alway, #18 Ringland and #2 Bettws. I’ve decided to pray for a month every day for all the wards in Newport. I wonder if you’ll join me in prayer even if only the one time that you read this post. If you wish you can click on the image below to get a larger HQ map that you can print off.

The Birds and the Bees of Church

We’re talking reproduction here, not of the human kind but of the church kind. I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently (again the church kind not the human kind…!) And the thing my thoughts have centred around are that if a church is going to reproduce lots and regularly within short spaces of time, then it is beneficial to be simple.

Who Lives in a House Like This?

It’s interesting: as I’ve been working away at renovating a bathroom in the old house I live in it’s provoked some thoughts in my head comparing the type of house you look to buy or live in with the type of church that a ‘minister of the gospel’ looks to do ministry in. Here’s what I mean:

I Can’t Make Tents, So What Else Can I Do?

If you’re out planting churches, then you’re going to have to get your support from somewhere other than the church you’re planting, at least in its initial stages. So unless you’ve got a church or other supporters supporting you then you’re going to have to do as Paul did and have a job. Paul’s job was making tents (or doing leather-work of some kind). If, in nine months time, I find myself in a position where I am starting to plant a church and I haven’t got enough support for me to not work, what can I do?

Placement at The Bay Church – Part 3

I’ve been with The Bay Church for a month now and I would say that one of the most beneficial things of this placement has been chatting to Ian Parry. Every week Ian has set aside an hour for us to chat through whatever is on our minds before we went out and posted some flyers about the women’s meeting. On Tuesday after we’d chatted for half an hour it started to drizzle and though it only lasted 5 minutes, it was enough to justify not going out, so we chatted for something like 3 hours! So here’s some gleanings about planting a church from what Ian has shared with me.

Where do you Plant?

Last Monday, I met with David Ollerton, founder and chairman of Wales Wide. He’s a guy who once pointed at me whilst speaking at WEST and told me after finishing studying to not go to a fat church with a fat wage and a fat wife in Reading.  So since I’m considering church planting at the moment, I asked to meet up with him with essentially two questions, how do you decide where to church plant and how do you do it? He was such a help that I even videoed it and put it on the proGnosis website.