Baptists Together Mission Forum – November 2023

 

The Baptists Together Mission Forum met recently via Zoom.  Discussions, thinking and praying continued from the themes which came out of our previous gathering in July when our theme was ‘What is it that you want to plant?’

We began by thinking about new wine and new wineskins from Matthew 9.  Lindsay Caplen introduced us to a new word ‘bibbling’ describing the little plumes of air which pop as the wine ferments. As the new wine is put into a new wine skin the bibbling stretches it, but if an old wine skin is used there is no longer any ability to stretch so it tears.  Jesus is teaching that that the ways of his kingdom won't fit into the old container of the Jewish law or the existing frameworks of the temple because they have already been stretched to the max. We began by praying that we would remain flexible so that God could reshape us according to his desire.
 

Fruitfulness

Mission Forum have been thinking for a while about the statistics gathered on Annual Returns, and the numbers of closed churches reported at each Baptist Union Council, does this only tell only one part of our story?  Do we adequately capture and report on the new things God is asking us to invest in, do we hear the stories of tender green shoots which need careful, intensive nurturing to allow them to flourish into something new and different? What are the measures of fruitfulness in church life?  Is it just about numbers in attendance on a certain day, baptisms, and  levels of giving?  Where does engagement with social and justice issues fit in to these measurements?   How do we notice how churches are actively engaged in issues in their local communities?  What are we trying to record and why? Indeed should we even be trying to measure the Kingdom of God?  If we consider churches to be like gardens are we only interested in those which are like National Trust gardens or are we also interested in window boxes, guerilla gardens or shared space allotments too?  A small group will be meeting with Alex Harris to look at this further and the conversation will continue at Mission Forum and also at Assembly next year.

Project Violet

Clare Hooper brought us an update from Project Violet, for which Mission Forum are one of the primary stakeholders.  Participants had been asked to watch the recent video featuring Jane Day and Helen Pankhurst, this was followed by some silent space for reflection on 3 questions:

• In your context – how do you listen to the experiences of women and girls?
• How might we, as individuals, and as a project, exercise our agency? What is in our power to change?
• What help might we need from others in order to change? 

A ‘request for change’ report from Project Violet report is due out on 2 May 2024, with actions and decisions being sought for BU Council in Oct 2024.    Podcasts and briefings will begin to be available and it is important that the outcomes from Project Violet are heard and responded to, there is a need to walk carefully, gently and prayerfully as we hear the stories and respond to the report.   This will be continue to be a key item on Mission Forum’s agenda in 2024.   

24 month Focus on Evangelism and Church Planting

Following a number of adjacent conversations within different Baptist spaces  over a significant period of time Alex Harris led a conversation and request for prayer for plans for a 24 month Focus on Evangelism and Church Planting from April 2024. The focus will firstly be raising ordinary peoples confidence to talk about Jesus, secondly creating confidence in local churches to starting new churches/pioneering adventures/new monastic communities/new expressions of church. Thirdly how do we do this in collaboration and across our diversity.   We discussed the issues of what would enable this to happen well and what may de-rail this.    This focus would also signpost existing material and resources for people to use as together we go on this journey.   
 

Listening to stories of what God is doing in our midst

We made space to hear stories from our various Round Table gatherings.

• Children Youth and Families Round Table – A continuing priority is enabling churches, Associations and Baptists Together to listening to the voice of children and young people. They are endeavoring to hear the voice of 200 young people and reflect on how that impacts the priorities of Baptist Together. 
• Pioneer Round Table – Pioneers often live and work on the margins, however there is a need to continue to find strategic ways to ensure their voice and experience doesn’t remain on the margins within Baptists Together.  We heard about the challenges of pioneers, they are often self-financing and this can lead them to being over busy and in danger of burnout.  There are financial challenges too and that impacts the possibilities of meeting in person, the Round Table have not yet been able to meet in person due to financial constraints.
• Joint Public Issues Team – Steve Tinning updated us about the current focus on immigration, the issues around the Rwanda plan, and government changes making it harder for people to find accommodation.   Other focuses of JPIT currently are the Warm and Welcoming Spaces and the ongoing cost of living crisis.   A new coalition called Let’s End Poverty will be a big focus next year leading up to the general election .
• Young Adults Round Table – Mission Forum helped to fund a group of young adults to attend the SENT conference, Andrew Ginn reported this has supercharged this group with their focus on making disciples particularly from 18-30 year olds.  There’s now lots of resources on the BUGB website for this age group.
• Digital Round Table -  This brings people together from our movement who are primary players in the digital world, they are looking at four areas
  • Digital as broadcast, helping churches to bridge the gap into the digital world and do it well
  • Digital community, what does ministry and community look like in the online space?
  • Ethics of digital engagement, looking at safeguarding and accessibility
  • Theology of digital ministry and mission

 
The next meetings of Mission Forum will be:
24 hour gathering 18-19 June, Yarnfield Park, Stone, Staffordshire
Tuesday 12 November - via Zoom
 

Sandra Crawford chairs Baptists Together Mission Forum