Doing Your Best

The church has been in decline in the UK for several decades now, strategies have been tried and though some ground has been recovered there seems to have been no way to stop the leak. In 2004 a group got together to try and come up with a new strategy, the result was not only a change in worship style, but a fundamental change in how they understood the nature of the church. One person involved in the process was George Lings. George is the director of the Sheffield Centre in the UK an organisation that works with existing and emerging Church groups in promoting, equipping and discerning how they can do mission in their local communities. It’s a great chance to hear some of stories to take courage from what is happening in the UK and to discover ways of working with God in His mission here in the Nelson region. If you want to explore some of the ideas further then here are some web links:

http://www.encountersontheedge.org.uk
http://jasonclark.emergent-uk.org
http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk
http://markjberry.blogs.com/way_out_west
http://www.emmaus-way.com http://www.mhbcmi.org
NZ based
http://theobloby.blogspot.com
http://emergentkiwi.org.nz