A Kairos Moment:

Welcome, I hope that you will find the encouragement to mission on this site inspiring and challenging.

In my Presidential year, and in light of the great national storm, pain and upheavals we are facing due to the pandemic, I believe along with so many others that we are entering into a Kairos moment and I believe that more than ever it is important to make Christ known through evangelism across Baptists Together especially as many in our communities are asking questions about spiritual issues and life.

I suggest that this Kairos (opportune) moment will play out chronologically in three seasons. The lockdown and the months immediately following it, offers us an opportunity to spiritually prepare in the second of the three seasons I see ahead of us.

The First Season:

The first season I suggest is already upon us. In this season we are all finding our feet and as Adrian Argyle of HEBA put it finding “a new rhythm for a new season”, as we work out new ways to support and love those in our church and wider communities.

The Second Season:

The second season leads us into a new opportunity. Here is a chance to allow the Lord to bring us into a new place of listening and of preparation for what is ahead. As Jesus put it “he (the Holy Spirit)  will tell you what is yet to come”. This season is a chance to reconsider and explore with the Lord and consider in each church how to restructure so that we can reach our friends, neighbours, and our community. Stuart Davison of SEBA says “we are not going back to the old” and this is an important thought that I am sure many of us share, and though we don’t know what the third season post lockdown will look like, the Holy Spirit does and he can guide us as Christ has promised. Therefore we can be prepared if we learn to partner with the Holy Spirit in this season of preparation. Our General Secretary Lynn Green has been encouraging us to rest in this place of prayer and leading us in going deeper as a movement in prayer.

I would use the analogy seen in the story of David to explain what could come of allowing the Holy Spirit to prepare us. When David’s family saw him, all they could see was a shepherd boy. But, his faithful stewarding of the sheep led to him developing a strategy for protecting them, he acquired fighting skills in order to defend the sheep, learning how to swing a sling and he deepened his spiritual life worshipping with music and recording his encounters with God as psalms.

The development of his emotional life was rigorous as he discovered the courage needed to face ferocious beasts. Some may have seen a shepherd boy but in this season of preparation when God saw David, God saw a king in the making.

For others, the story of the Macedonian call might be a more relevant analogy, as going into the prayer closet as a church may lead to a review of the call on the church or individual to the community. But taking the time to listen to and partner with the Holy Spirit will see many becoming empowered by him.

The Third Season:

The third season will be characterised by the launching of the new ministries and initiatives which will be seeded in believers hearts during the lockdown. And because they have been diligent in thinking, strategising, praying and collaborating as a community or team in the second season they will be in a position to provide leadership and launch relevant ministries in the third season.

Of course, the release from lockdown will be a series of steps, but that third season of release will see many new initiatives launched and churches or individuals finding a new shape to better reach their town or region

Could we be courageous like David and take the time to listen, re-evaluate and acquire strategies that transform our communities?

So this is my appeal, as a step of faith would you join with me and others and together as a Baptist family aspire to the launching of 100 new initiatives? Be they the launching of new home groups, new ministries, new communities or new churches? It does not have to be any of the ones on offer on this website but you can still register it below as one that you are going to pursue as an individual or community in sympathy with the aspiration to pioneer 100 new initiatives.

What we are offering:

The main vehicle for providing support will be threefold.

1. We are offering a basket of opportunities and approaches that associations, churches or individuals can sign up to. This will be available in the form of packs that will be a step by step practical outline guide of how to engage with the area on offer. So consider each pack and discuss it as a leadership team, could one of these initiatives be the right one for you? Again, if these don’t fit and you have another initiative that you wish to pioneer as a church or as an individual and if you want that to be counted towards the 100 pioneering adventures you can register that on our website and it will be counted towards the 100 new initiatives. How to include it is listed below.
2. We will also offer online monthly training and coaching in this season for those who sign up for these initiatives.
3. We will also offer an opportunity post-launch of your initiative to give us feedback.

How to register and join in:

1.  Pick one of the suggestions on offer on this website  and register on our form (click here for registration form) tolog your desire to go on this journey with us
2. If you have another ministry the Lord has shown you that is not on our list, but which you want to be counted as part of the 100 new ministries being pioneered, then please register that with us here (click here for registration form). There is space right at the top of the form to register an unlisted initiative.

I hope and pray that your experience and testimony will inspire an adventure in evangelism and mission for others to follow.

The packs will cover:

I also wish to cover and promote

1. Lessons from Where Do We Grow From Here (Ken Benjamin’s presidential year)
2. Firestarter’s (Alex Harris’s Ministry)

Signup and Enjoy!