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In the darkest of years, the gift of light

In this darkest of years, a new film can be used by churches and individuals to reflect the wonderful news that God sent light into the world (John 1.9). 

Produced by Stew Smith, CPO’s new chief creative officer, Share The Light is a Christmas present to us all from the organisation.

‘When Stew joined us in August, he was asked to address the question “What will Christmas 2020 be like?”’ said Alan Hare, CPO’s chief executive officer. ‘Three months later we have his answer! We are delighted to invite you to join in our Share The Light campaign.’

The film shows Christians spreading light and bringing hope and love into our world. They do that in many ways – with friends and family, at work and in their communities.

‘The film has had an extremely positive reaction,’ said Alan. ‘The CEO of one well-respected Christian charity described it as “absolutely stunning. It grabs your heart and is a work of art… executed to perfection.”’

Churches and individuals can also personalise the campaign by using a QR activation code that links to the film and to up to two different weblinks or to a page with a specific message.

‘Some churches have already used this to link to their home page and/or their live stream page,’ said Alan. ‘Alternatively, it can link to a page with a Christmas message for everyone who has that QR code.’

A range of social media clips can also be used to share the campaign more broadly and swiftly.

To see the film click here

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No Zoom at the inn? New resources for a creative Christmas

One organisation is determined to make it a cracking Christmas in spite of the limitations brought on by Covid-19.

Faith in Kids supports churches and parents so that children can engage with Jesus Christ and respond to him, having their hearts and minds captured by Christ’s words.

And this year they have created some unique resources to make that happen, including: 

• Bake-along-a-Christmas: real-time baking online with an all-age Christmas talk
• Walk about Nativity: an immersive walking tour through scenes of the Nativity
• Zoom Nativity: a virtual scratch nativity play
• Car park carols: a drive-in, all-age carol service in a car park
• Christmas came to me: a local outdoor community carol sing-along on your street

‘Let’s step out of our church buildings and celebrate the birth of Christ in ways we would never have considered before!’ said Ed Drew, director of Faith in Kids.

‘Too often churches are losing the hearts and minds of our children. Too many of the children who attend church grow up knowing Bible facts and a long list of Christian behaviours but without a love for Jesus Christ. Faith in Kids wants to see more children engaging with and responding to God personally. Children who are having their hearts and minds informed by Christ’s words, by God’s grace, will grow into teenagers who want to live for him.’

Click here for more information

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Inclusion ‘doesn’t stop at wider doors and disabled loos’

An organisation created to get children off the streets and learn about Jesus wants to help churches get back to ministering to children in a fresh way. 

Urban Saints, originally Crusaders, sees the current national situation as an ideal opportunity for churches to take a fresh look at their youth work.

‘We should be thinking about how to welcome children and young people back again,’ said Mark Arnold, director of additional needs at Urban Saints. ‘And that includes including children and young people with additional or special needs.’

Mark, father to James who is autistic and has associated learning difficulties as well as epilepsy and anxiety disorder, is also co-founder of the Additional Needs Alliance, a vibrant and fast-growing online community. He is an enthusiastic national and international advocate for children and young people with additional (special) needs or disabilities and is passionate about enabling everyone engaging with them to be inspired, trained and well resourced.

‘About 20 per cent of children and young people in the UK have an additional need or disability of some kind – that’s roughly 2.5 million,’ he said. ‘Every church youth group is likely to include children and young people with additional needs and many will need some support.’

A Mumsnet and Scope joint study shows that many of these children and young people, and their families, feel excluded from a wide range of social and other activities. Mark believes that inclusion is something that should be offered to every child and doesn’t stop at wider doors, ramps and disabled loos.

‘We should also be about creating a culture of welcome and belonging for all, as well as looking to develop the faith of every child whatever their ability or needs.’

Urban Saints lead training seminars on a variety of subjects including working with young people outside the church, disciple-making and wellbeing.

Click here for more information

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‘Overwhelming’ response to first Christingle chocolate orange

With traditional Christingle events likely to be cancelled or radically different this year, the world’s first Fairtrade chocolate orange box, with relevant symbols, is now available.

The box also doubles as a charity collection opportunity with a slot for coins. Everything is plastic free and can be recycled.

With a few simple tweaks to liturgy, order of services or events it is now possible to run a safer, socially distanced or zoom Christingle.

‘The box has been on the drawing board for the past seven years but I thought now was the time to do a pilot,’ explained David Marshall, founder of Meaningful Chocolate Co. ‘The response has been overwhelming. We have seen people buying for whole schools, Messy churches and as stocking fillers. One church leader, based in Chesterfield, wrote: “The Christingle chocs are great. Just what is needed this year.”’

In 1747 Bishop Johannes de Watteville started the Christingle tradition in Germany. The Moravian Church then spread the tradition. In the UK, since the 1960s, Christingles have been used in Advent to share the Christmas message and raise funds for charity. 

Meaningful Chocolate’s sugar comes from cooperatives in Paraguay and Belize. Most of the cocoa from cooperatives in the Ivory Coast (Kuapa Kokoo Co-operative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Union Limited Ghana). Beans are also sourced from cooperatives in the Dominican Republic, Peru, Panama and Ecuador. The chocolate is blended in Belgium.

Buying products from Fairtrade producers enables them to obtain fair prices for their crops and have decent working conditions.

Click here for more information

• Meaningful Chocolate Co. will be at CRE National 2021 (12-14 Oct, Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey)

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Remember them with brand new resources

Searchlight Theatre Company, together with international speaker and author Jeff Lucas, have combined to produce some helpful online resources for Remembrance Sunday and Advent.

‘All our tours are on hold for the foreseeable future,’ explains Searchlight’s David Robinson, ‘so we decided to join the great online migration of 2020 and professionally film some new resources for churches to use over Advent.’

The material for November includes extracts from Searchlight’s award-winning production of Woodbine Willie: Poet and Padre, as well as insights and devotions from Jeff Lucas. Woodbine Willie (real name Rev Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy), was an inspirational WWI padre on the front line who gave out cigarettes and New Testaments in equal measure.

‘The lads loved him for staying with them in the trenches,’ explains David. ‘He believed he could only pray for them if he was there with them and the soldiers never forgot him.’

Five scenes from his life have been dramatised and filmed by Searchlight and these, together with reflections from Lucas, make an ideal Remembrance Day online package for churches.

In December he will give four seasonal short chats based around Searchlight’s light-hearted festive sketches. These are ideal for services and small groups alike. An added bonus is a 25-minute sermon from Jeff entitled The Hope We All Wish For.

The two online packages are available for all churches for the price of one: £49

Click here for more information

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Your building is a partner in mission

Church buildings are not an end in themselves but active partners in local mission.

That’s the view of Nigel Walter of ChurchBuild (Archangel Ltd), who believes we can learn important lessons from the Covid-19 crisis.

‘New technology has enabled church members to engage effectively over the past few months,’ he said. ‘We might conclude we no longer need buildings at all. But is a Zoom meeting really “church”, or do we need to be assembled together in one place, as the Greek word ecclesia suggests?’

Even before Covid-19, many people found their buildings to be awkward, expensive and a distraction from the purpose of mission and worship. Yet they also help play a role in the formation of community.

‘If Jesus “moved into the neighbourhood” (as The Message renders John 1.14) then we shouldn’t be surprised that we, too, are called to commit to the places we find ourselves,’ said Nigel. ‘And for all sorts of practical reasons, that commitment often takes the form of bricks and mortar.’

His view is practical and down to earth – seeing buildings as important, not as an end in themselves, but as active partners in local mission.

‘We bring design skills and decades of architectural experience to churches and see our vocation as equipping them to deal better with their buildings,’ he explained.

ChurchBuild is the result – a suite of free resources to help churches create a better fit between a church community and the buildings it occupies.

‘We have also recently set up a Facebook group where people can share experiences and help each other to save time, money and heartache, and hopefully provide inspiration, too,’ said Nigel. ‘Beyond that, we can also offer paid architectural services, if relevant.

‘We live in an age of increasing rootlessness, made worse by the pandemic. In that context, buildings, and particularly old buildings, offer opportunities to build bridges with local neighbourhoods.’

Click here for ChurchBuild’s range of free resources

A free Cambridge Paper on Church buildings recently published by Nigel Walter is available here

• ChurchBuild will be exhibiting at CRE National 2021 (Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey, 12-14 Oct)

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140,000 reasons why charity has earned national accreditation

An independent Christian safeguarding charity has been awarded the national quality standard for ‘outstanding’ helpline provision.

Currently celebrating 30 years of continuous service, Thirtyone:eight’s Safeguarding Helpline is open to anyone and provides a free source of advice and support for churches, charities and faith-based organisations on all safeguarding concerns.

‘During the pandemic, two issues have been raised more than any other,’ said Thirtyone:eight’s Peter Wright. ‘Firstly, how to communicate safely online with children and young people and, secondly, how to deliver essentials safely to adults that are self-isolating or shielding – and whether these adults are classed as having care and support needs.

‘Additionally, we’ve seen a particular rise in calls around mental health issues, domestic abuse and how churches can help people with anxiety caused by financial loss.’ 

Answering the calls are a team of committed Christian safeguarding professionals with backgrounds in social work, education and the police. As one caller recently said: ‘Knowing you can pick up the phone and get access to a dedicated team of professional safeguarding advisors, who understand the specialist context in which you are working, is hugely significant for us.’

National accreditation has been awarded by the Helplines Partnership (the national body for helpline providers) and has been specifically developed for the helpline sector to recognise excellence and best practice in service delivery.

‘It is a huge privilege to be awarded this national accreditation which reflects the high level of service to which we aspire,’ said Barbara Ball, the charity’s head of advisory services. ‘Since 1990 the helpline has been there for people to answer any questions or provide advice on issues ranging from drafting a safeguarding policy to how to respond to a case of abuse. In that time our experienced team have answered well over 140,000 calls. We are especially delighted to receive this award as we celebrate an important milestone in our organisation’s history.’

In granting the award, the Helplines Partnership said: ‘It was clear that Thirtyone:eight’s helpline is strongly focused on meeting the needs of its callers. From observations and discussions undertaken during the assessment, the commitment to delivering an effective high-quality service was strongly evident. Helplines Partnership would like to congratulate those involved.’

Click here for more information

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When experience and expertise are striking qualities

Eight church insurance consultants now cover the length and breadth of the country – ready to support churches, parishes and dioceses. 

It follows customer feedback telling Ecclesiastical how vital and valued their support service is.

‘We would normally be attending and speaking at church events, as well as providing a local point of contact for our church customers,’ said Claire Woolway, customer relationship manager for Ecclesiastical. ‘In these challenging times, we are missing personal visits desperately but have had to adapt our ways of working, observe official guidance to keep everyone safe and instead remain available to offer support by phone, email and online.’ 

Church Insurance Consultant, Kay Short, who moved from the north to the south west just before lockdown, to cover the dioceses of Truro, Exeter, Bath & Wells, Bristol and Salisbury said: ‘We can’t wait to return to face-to-face meetings but there is still lots we can do in a different way.

‘Each week is full of variety for the team, even if a little different at the moment. It might include a call with an archdeacon about the financial issues facing many parishes; a Skype meeting with a diocese to offer training about metal theft; discussions with a church about cyber awareness; planning a webinar with police on reporting heritage crime, or a conversation with a Diocesan Advisory Committee.’

‘Together, our Church Insurance Consultants provide an incredible depth and breadth of experience and expertise in insurance and church life across the country,’ said Claire Woolway. ‘They work collectively as a team to provide incredible national and local support to all our church customers during these difficult times and continue to find creative ways of keeping in touch with our churches.’

She points out that the team can help churches understand their insurance and support them with health and safety or risk management. Their job is to provide reassurance to churches while the church concentrates on its missional role. 

Ecclesiastical’s Church Insurance Consultants are keen to offer and share their support in whatever way they can.

• To find out more about the team of Church Insurance Consultants please click here [WC1] [JA2] [SG3] or email meetus@ecclesiastical.com with your contact details and the name of your church, parish and diocese. Ecclesiastical’s local church insurance consultant will then be back in touch with you. 

• Ecclesiastical will be exhibiting at CRE National 2021 (Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey, 12-14 Oct)

CRE At Home

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Church rotas: software to make them simple

Love them or (more likely) loathe them, rotas are a vital part of church life – and now there’s a solution to help make them hassle free.

Cambron Software’s plan2gether is a brand-new product from the creators of Power Music. 

‘We have one underlying philosophy – keep it simple!’ explained Cambron’s Colin Cameron. ‘There are some very powerful (and complicated) church management systems out there but we wanted to create something that did one thing well – make life easier for the people who organise church rotas. It had to be accessible from anywhere and easy to make changes and send reminders to people.’

With plan2gether all the rotas are in one place – worship band, security, welcoming, coffee morning, creche, AV, flowers and cleaning.

‘You name it, plan2gether will manage your rota and most importantly, automatically notify people by email or SMS text when they are on duty,’ said Gordon. ‘Users can make themselves unavailable and edit their rota duties to swap with others.

‘Currently, many churches are not running services as usual but as we move to a more normal situation, this is the time to start organising your church volunteers using our new solution.’

The first rota is available free.

Click here for more information

CRE At Home

See the CRE At Home resources guide!

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