Part of our vision as Kx is to see 1 missional expression of church planted for every 1000 people in England and Wales. That’s over 56,000 missional households, communities or churches in every neighbourhood across our villages, towns and cities. Now, we’re not going to be able to do this on our own – God is doing exciting things across our nation with lots of different churches, networks and organisations. But we want to plant our flag in the ground to say this is one of the key things we are focusing on over the next few years and hope you will join us in praying for and seek to plant #1in1000 in your area.
Here is a #1in1000 story from one of HBC Chester’s Missional Communities, called “Welcome” Missional Community.
‘As part of our missional community, we have operated a group called ‘International Forum, Chester’ for about a year. This group aims to welcome and engage with internationals in the Chester area. The IF group meets monthly in a neutral hired venue and has a talk for 20-30 minutes on a topic of international interest. Our numbers of attendees vary between a handful and 20. We have several Muslims from different countries who really enjoy the group and have become good friends.
In the summer we put on an additional event in conjunction with our broader Missional Community and wider people of peace. We had a BBQ in the local park and played ‘croccer’, a camp game based on cricket using a football. Our Muslim friends loved this event, and one of our Ugandan friends went to town bringing his BBQ and lots of food to share. Meanwhile friendships deepened and conversations went to a new level.
Our friends are asking questions about Christian faith and we have been able to share discussions in a natural and respectful way.’
One of the training options that we offer to churches is our Learning Communities. These are generally 4 immersions spaced out over 2 years and are an intensive way of getting teaching, process time and strategic planning for church leaders and their teams. The Tunbridge Wells Learning Community have just finished their 3rd immersion and Sean Dooley sent us this story about how they’ve been raising other leaders up to run LCs themselves.
“One of the great things about the Tunbridge Wells LC is that it has been the vehicle for Frontier Leader Training. We are clearly modelling to all the participants on the LC the taking of LC leaders around the discipleship square (see diagram). We deliberately point out to the participants on the LC that, for example, ‘Andy Strajnic is now doing L3 as a LC leader on this third immersion. Please encourage and support him.’
We call it Frontier Leader Training because we are taking a select group of people who have not only internalised missional discipleship, but are living it and have the anointing to coach others in it. Our hope is that they will be the guys that will develop missional discipleship training for other church leaders in their relational networks, using the 3DM material. In other words, that they would be leaders on the frontier of training church leaders in mission and discipleship. In turn doing what I have done with them – training other Frontier Leaders. In fact, Phil Stokes is doing that as I write!
I spoke to Paul Maconochie (Director of 3DM USA) recently and he reminded me that getting a movement going requires doing the same things, in the same way, over and over, until people ‘get it’ and begin to run with it themselves. The guys we are training are leaders on the frontier of making that happen in our nation and that is no overstatement. There are still thousands of churches in our nation that have not even begun to ask the right questions about what is wrong with the church, let alone begun to search for the answers. There is still massive scope for Learning Communities.
Those currently on Frontier Leaders Training are Andy Strajnic, Phil Stokes, Nic Bradshaw and Richard Glazier.”
We love Form! An intense year of discipleship, rooted in a culture of leadership and mission running in several Kx family churches. Last week we shared some stories from Form USA, here is a video of similar stories from Form UK trainees.
There are three ways you can get involved in form.
Give a year to form as a trainee yourself and see see what God can do!
Recommend form to one or two young adults from your church and send them off on a life changing adventure!
Start a Form training centre at your church.
To find out more about each of these head to www.form-uk.org.
FORM is an intensive year-long discipleship internship for young adults, currently running in 4 locations in the UK and also in the USA. Here are a few stories from this years trainees at Form Fort Wayne, Indiana about what God has done with them over the past year.
“FORM Fort Wayne year number two was a great success! We had nine new trainees and three young adults returning for a more intense year of leadership training. Here are some questions we asked them with answers…
How has FORM been worth the investment of the cost and nine months of your life?
Without FORM it would have taken me probably nine years instead of nine months to learn to hear the voice of the Lord – Hannah
It help me grow in commitment- Ross
FORM has been worth the cost because it has made a substantial and lasting difference in how I view my relationship with Christ, my relationship with others, and what following God with my whole life really means – Malachi
FORM has drastically changed my life. It has pruned my character, altered my life goals, produced many skills I was unaware I had, and has given me a deep hunger and thirst for Holy Spirit, His presence and His power – Wardell
It has taught me how to live opposite the American dream and truly live a life worth living and for a worthy God -Hayden
I think Form is an amazing opportunity. Giving up a whole year to hear/pursue God I think is something God really honors. If you allow Him, God can radically change your life through Form. It is definitely worth your time because it teaches you how to live in community and gives you some great tools to help you in your relationship with God -Brandy
It has shifted my perception of ministry and forever changed my approach to reaching people with the Gospel. Form experience = Priceless – Daren
How have you changed the way you live?
I consult God more with my decision making – Ross
I have an increased focus on intentionally making room for God’s will in my days and decisions both through more set aside time to spend with Him and a greater awareness of His desires for my life – Malachi
I no longer chase money, relationships, or self gratification. I now prioritize my time to read the word, pray, seek Holy Spirit, and share the Kingdom with everyone around me by sharing the Good News of Jesus’ death and resurrection – Wardell
I’ve gained freedom from sin struggles, as well as I don’t spend all my time worried about the pursuit of the American dream – Hayden
I quit neglecting the “little” stuff and do them despite not knowing the end results – Dan
Creating predictable patterns and rhythms. Used to fly by the seat of my pants, now I’ve learned to keep my belt on, and fastened tight – Daren
I’ve started to see my life differently than I have in the past. Everything is an opportunity. I have started to become more aware of God in day to day life. I’ve started to put on the armour of God before I go to work. I’ve started to see ways I can fight against the enemy. Praying/talking to God is becoming even more important to me – Brandy
You can find out more about Form USA here. Look out for some stories from the UK Form Trainees soon!
At the last Launch Learning Community we asked Kx family members Rupert and Sally Martin to tell us what they had gained from joining Kx. You can find out more about becoming a member church here.
r missional community, we have operated a group called ‘International Forum, Chester’ for about a year. This group aims to welcome and engage with internationals in the Chester area. The IF group meets monthly in a neutral hired venue and has a talk for 20-30 minutes on a topic of international interest. Our numbers of attendees vary between a handful and 20. We have several Muslims from different countries who really enjoy the group and have become good friends.
“One of the great things about the Tunbridge Wells LC is that it has been the vehicle for Frontier Leader Training. We are clearly modelling to all the participants on the LC the taking of LC leaders around the discipleship square (see diagram). We deliberately point out to the participants on the LC that, for example, ‘Andy Strajnic is now doing L3 as a LC leader on this third immersion. Please encourage and support him.’
spoke to Paul Maconochie (Director of 3DM USA) recently and he reminded me that getting a movement going requires doing the same things, in the same way, over and over, until people ‘get it’ and begin to run with it themselves. The guys we are training are leaders on the frontier of making that happen in our nation and that is no overstatement. There are still thousands of churches in our nation that have not even begun to ask the right questions about what is wrong with the church, let alone begun to search for the answers. There is still massive scope for Learning Communities.
