Email update 4 July 2008
Quite a brief update this month – and the last until September due to holidays. But please take note of the attached questionnaire and let me have your responses if at all possible.
Associates’ Day 2008
We gave you the date of our annual Associates’ Day in an earlier update, but we can now give you more details of what is planned.
The Associates’ Day will be on Saturday 22 November in Birmingham (same venue as the past three years – the International Mission Centre in Selly Oak), running from 10.00 until 4.30.
Our guests this year will be George Lings and members of his team at The Sheffield Centre (Steve Hollinghurst, Claire Dalpra, Mike Collyer, Andrew Wooding, Laurence Keith). You can read more about them at www.churcharmy.org.uk/sheffieldcentre.
George is responsible for the quarterly series Encounters on the Edge, which many of us have found very helpful – stories of fresh expressions of church and theological reflection on these stories. He was also one of the main contributors to the Mission-shaped Church report and has a wealth of experience in helping churches grapple with a changing culture and think missionally. Members of his team bring expertise in various areas: working with older people, the under-5s, people involved in alternative spiritualities, etc.
We look forward to an invigorating, inspiring and challenging day together. There will also be a full children’s programme for school-age children and facilities for a crèche with parents sharing responsibility for this. The cost (held at the same price as the last two years) will be as follows:
Adults: £15.00
Unwaged: £11.00
Pre-school children: £2.50
Other children: £5.00
However, if the cost is the only reason for you not coming, please let me know as we can offer some subsidised places.
I will send out a reminder about this in September, but feel free to book in any time from now on, letting me know if you are coming and the ages of any children you are bringing with you. You can pay on the day.
Events
Most of these events were mentioned in previous updates, but in case you did not take note of them then…
UE London open day on Saturday 20 September: an opportunity to learn more about the work of UE in London, to meet some team members and to explore the possibility of getting involved. Interested? Do you know anyone else who might be? For details, contact enquiries@urbanexpression.org.uk.
Incarnational Mission on Thursday 9 October in Oxford. A day with Michael Frost, author of Exiles and co-author of The Shaping of Things to Come, exploring what it means to be incarnational in our approach to mission. Further details can be found at: www.urbanexpression.org.uk/incarnational_mission_day_with_michael_frost. THIS IS BOOKING UP FAST, SO PLEASE BOOK IN IF YOU PLAN TO COME.
Preaching in a Changing Culture on Saturday 18 October in Birmingham. To be held at the venue where Associates’ days take place, an opportunity to explore the impact of cultural changes on the practice of preaching and to look at alternatives to preaching. See www.anabaptistnetwork.com/node/481.
Crucible course 2008-09: the first weekend of the new course takes place on 25-26 October at the usual venue in Birmingham. The subject is Creating New Churches. Please publicise this to anyone who might be interested. Further details can be found at www.cruciblecourse.net.
New Associates
We welcome one new Associate this month:
• David Roissetter: 21 Kennedy Crescent, Gosport, Hants PO12 2NL (02392 527766). Email: davehil@tiscali.co.uk
David is a chaplain based in Portsmouth and working with the Royal Navy.
Address Changes
• Archie de Ceuninck van Capelle (Nijmegen) has a new email address: a.ceuninck@gmail.com
All for this month. Hope you have a good summer. Please let me have anything for the September update by the end of August.
Stuart