The following links will open up download materials. The first group are the original teaching materials from our Sunday series that explains why our RNLI model of small group church is based on scripture.
To hear the short introduction to the series, click here.
The second set of materials are the initial discussion notes for new (or existing groups getting ready to evolve) small groups to help them discover their new way forward to suit their own mix of folk and local networks.
RNLI SMALL GROUP CHURCH TEACHING MATERIALS
TALKS & HANDOUTS (YOU MAY FIND IT HELPS MORE TO DOWNLOAD THE HANDOUT AND THEN LISTEN TO THE TALK)
Our thoughts for what has become a way forward for our Small Groups began with us looking again at the vision given to William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. It was powerful enough to send him off with a passion and drive to bring about a major missionary movement at the end of the Victorian era. It speaks of the need to join with Jesus in rescuing the drowning and of the problem of churches that didn’t seem to care. It spoke to us in similar ways.
This sparked our own desire to ensure Mission stays at the front of all we do and it led to our interpreting church with an analogy based on the UK based seagoing lifesaving organisation – the RNLI.
RNLI Small Group Church
The RNLI has headquarters in Poole, Dorset. There they help with fundraising, carry out training, encourage life saving teams, and provide the resources to enable life saving to happen around the shores of the UK, through well trained volunteer teams. But the HQ doesn’t directly save anyone. It enables teams to do the saving, based locally where people often get into trouble. The teams form to suit their local need.
They might be a beach based small team with surfboards and floats.
Or they might be a slightly larger group who operate the semi-rigid inshore lifeboats.
And then there are the much larger teams who man the deep sea lifeboats.
We give each of our Small Groups full permission to explore how they will meet the needs in their situation.
Paul and his letters
As we looked closer at the analogy, we realised Paul wrote to churches in his letters – not individuals, apart from the Pastoral letters to Timothy. All those instructions and exhortations to worship, have fellowship, grow as a disciple be involved in ministry to the church family and reach out in mission were written to groups. He expected all those things to happen amongst groups. Our large Sunday Church models are too big for almost all of the things he called for us to be involved in. Small Groups are needed
The RNLI analogy continued
Therefore, we reasoned that the Small Group needs to become more like the biblical church – effective in all the areas of life Paul spoke into – but together as a group.
So we used RNLI as an acrostic to help us remember what we need to be involved with
R escuing
It begins with the thing most easily put aside which is arguably the most important. The whole analogy is based on saving lives. This is outreach in a way that suits each group. It will begin with discovering the sort of social things they like to do – then invite friends to join them – as a group. Eventually, we rely on the prompting of the Holy Spirit on what to say when. The time for that part of the process is not in our own hands, we just provide suitable environments, the rest is God’s domain with the individual.
N urturing
We want to ensure part of the Small Group’s year is spent growing as disciples of Jesus. We want everyone in each group to become more like him.
L oving
We need to keep the great commandments together. Finding ways appropriate to our groups to show God we love Him and ways we can minister to each other and serve the family of God.
I ncluding
Fellowship is crucial for the lives of our groups and our church. Groups need to be open to each other in confidence, but also learn to live with the tension of being open to new people joining them. In time, groups will grow to a size when they may need to form a new offshoot with their same DNA, who will start to explore again the values around which they will reform anew.
Keeping on with the Vision
There is a story told of an Eastern seaboard life-saving station that turned from its primary mission to become an inwardly focused club. We don’t want this to happen in St Jude’s…
More?
Want to know more about our Small Groups as they evolve? Please just ask or look at our Small Group Portal where we’re putting details of the groups as they become live and open. This is new to St Jude’s from the Spring of 2010 and we look forward to watching what happens for Jesus and His Kingdom as we try to change.
The teaching series talks that gave the theological background, and the handouts that went with them, as well as the start up materials for the Small Groups can be found here to listen to or download.
It is church. A regular gathering of up to 20 or so folk in homes, instead of the church buildings, who want to worship God, grow in Jesus and each other, find a ministry and be involved in mission - and are therefore open to folk joining them. (We also have several Fellowship Groups who have chosen, for a while, to be closed to new members – our definition of the difference between Small Groups and Fellowship Groups) Clergy are not needed for the groups. The life of the group and worship is defined by the group under the sole leadership of Jesus as they wait on Him.
Small Groups will form a major component of the life of St Jude’s across Plymouth as they evolve. While we are a parish church, we recognise we are also a city church, and we want to make provision for folk to have close fellowship in their own local area as we grow.
Planning for Small Groups
Across January and Febuary 2010 we ran a series called RNLI Small Group Church, and then in April we launched some material for our current groups to explore how they may evolve to fulfil the varied need of their group to be Rescuing, Nurturing, Loving and Including.
How do I join a Small Group?
The whole of our Small Group set up is evolving across the summer of 2010. The best thing is to come into one of our services and ask folk what is available. You can also get a feel for the character each of our group’s by having a look through our Small Group Portal.
Watch a short video for an intro to our ideas on Mission and Discipleship where settings are important – TheGarden, Dining Room and Kitchen with its Sink and Oven.
(If you want to download a higher quality version of it without any of the main text right click here and select save and then choose your destination folder. If you just want to watch it left click only)
An Intentional Outreach & Discipleship Strategy For St Judes
C4 is not just an explosive, it is also the shorthand for our aim as a church that if you read on will become unravelled. “Danger-Explosive!” signs warn of the potential to explode – not of an actual explosion. We believe St Jude’s is on the brink of something really exciting.
We might have a Vicar, a Youth Minister, a Curate, five Readers – two Church Wardens and a Parish Council – several missionaries overseas from our own congregation, last year trained and sent out to another parish a new priest but we have also enabled one young adult to be a Christian Youth Worker in Canada and a second to attend Bible College, but that is not all – because we aim to be a fellowship of ministers.
Our vision is to enable everyone to discover Christ and all that it means to grow in him as we commit ourselves to him and his Church. In growing we can all discover the gifts he gives us and use them within ministries that will suit our own God given characters to finally explore our mission in life – joining in with God’s mission to his world. Our aim is to be a church that is about “CHRIST and our COMMITMENT to grow in him and his COMMANDMENTS and COMMISSION”. C4 Church.
Our Mission Action Plan
Exeter Diocese is wanting to encourage individual and groups of churches to form Mission Communities – fellowships large enough to be self sustaining, discipling and outreaching – under its strategy called Moving On In Mission And Ministry. St Jude’s has now submitted its Mission Action Plan to be considered as a Mission Community in its own right.
It is built around the strategy of Gardens, Dining Rooms and Kitchens initiated by our Vicar, Tim Smith, that ties together Outreach AND Discipleship in a way we believe is crucial for growth individually and communally. (If you are interested in the book click on the image of the book cover)
It also means reviewing how we do church in our Small Groups – that has begun through our RNLI Small Group Church process – with lots of exploration to come! We are also looking at all of our church buildings in our Next Era project to adapt a Victorian set of buildings into a unified site which can work for us in varied and flexible ways. St Jude’s is on the edge of something new and exciting – following Jesus has never been dull!
(Special thanks to Architects Design Group in Plymouth for generously producing the walkthrough video for us and in giving permission for it to be freely used publically.)
So much of church life is about being together and doing things with others. And if you like cute, you’ll like this short cartoon that helps to illustrate community…
Apart from the services, we also have a range of Small Groups that get together, a variety of social events across the year such as beach days, quiz nights, Sing-a-long film evenings, book clubs, film nights, the World Cup on large screen tv…
If you look at our News page you’ll get the most up to date events – or maybe just have a meander around the site!
