Filed under: estate churches, estate ministry, estates ministry, kingdom of god, Uncategorized
I spent an excellent day last week with estate church colleagues from Southwark Diocese at an event with the brilliant title Sowing in Concrete.
It inspired me to write a parable on the train journey there:
The kingdom of God
is like the gardener
who sowed in concrete
what looks to be
the least promising
of all the soils
yet when the seed grows
it is the strongest
off all the plants
and becomes a tree
where all the people shelter.
Filed under: estate church resources, estate churches, estate ministry, estates ministry, necn, Uncategorized | Tags: estate churches, estate ministry, estates, estates ministry, national estate churches network, necn
We are proud to announce NECN’s new website:
There’s still a little bit to do, but please share this with anyone involved in estate churches.
Please join in the conversation – we are very happy to publish guest blogs and articles
and please let us have any comments or suggestions
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The Apostle comes to my aid again to help me to fully realize this divine plan (to re-establish all things in Christ) and gives me a rule of life, ‘Walk in Jesus Christ the Lord, rooted and built up in Him, and confirmed in faith as also you have learned, abounding in Him in thanksgiving.
‘Walk in Christ Jesus’ appears to me to mean to go out of self, to lose sight of, to forget self, that we may enter more deeply into Him every moment – enter so profoundly as to be ‘rooted’ in Him, and that we may boldly challenge all events with the defiant cry, ‘Who then will separate us from the love of Christ?’
– Elizabeth of the Trinity
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We’ve done a bit of reflecting on some of this together before, but I would be really grateful for any responses you have to these questions:
1. What makes a flourishing and effective Estate Church Group?
2. What is a flourishing Estate Church?
3. What makes a flourishing Estate Church Leader?
thanks
Andy
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“Always room for one more”
Children, Young People and Estates; stories of participation and partnering
At the NECN Conferences this year, we will be focusing on participation and partnering in our mission on social housing estates with Children and Young People. What’s working? What resources are available? Who is there to support our ministry? It will be a day of sharing wisdom and stories from Estate Churches and projects around the country.
The Conferences are at Bradford Cathedral on Tuesday 18th June (click here to book) and Thursday 20th June at Birmingham Cathedral (for bookings, click here).
We are delighted that Jasmine Yeboah, the Methodist Youth President, will be with us and will give an address.
The fee for the day, including a light lunch, will be £25, but if this gets in your way, please get in touch.
Any queries, please get in touch with us at lynne.cullens@nationalestatechurches.org or on 07544 350692.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I’m really grateful to Stacey Rand for publishing this little article on the Anglican Carmelite Spirituality page. Reflections on Carmel, St Teresa, housing estates, God’s richness. I’d love this to be part of a conversation
This is another guest post – this time, written by Andy Delmege, who is an urban parish priest. Andy is also an Urban Estates Mission Enabler in his Diocese and the Chair of the National Estate Churches Network (NECN), which is committed to the flourishing and growth of estate churches.
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I am an Anglican parish priest serving in outer council estate parishes. I have found the insights of the Carmelite saints, and particularly Teresa of Avila, to be extremely helpful in this ministry. In this article I want to to start to sketch out one of the ways in which St Teresa’s insights on praying and living can be lived out in parishes in areas of deprivation. This is how her teaching that prayer and contemplation are available for all people can lead to a deepening of our life, and can help those who are overlooked in our world…
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Please use this link to read the Estates Evangelism Task Group Paper that will be debated at Church of England General Synod on Friday
