Ambassadors Football: Getting beyond the holy huddle
With 30 years’ experience bringing hope in Christ to communities, the people behind Ambassadors Football GB are keen share their vision.
‘We want to show others how simple outreach through football can have an impact on local communities,’ said national director Martin Bateman. ‘With women’s football, walking football for the over 50s and under-11 sessions on a Saturday morning, we will explain how churches can get involved in reaching others through our national game.’
Ambassadors host training days, when church leaders and volunteers are shown how easy it is to organise a football programme. A new initiative in the north west includes working alongside schools with a unique style of coaching.
‘We develop skills but also encourage character values,’ explained Martin. ‘In Christian schools that is linked to a Bible verse but in a non-Christian context we show how good these values are and serve the school and community through the football programme.’
A number of churches have discovered that forming a football team and playing friendly games, or even joining a local league, gives them the opportunity to emphasise Christian values to the players, with opportunities to witness to opposing teams.
‘We were founded in 1990 and work in partnership with other sports groups and denominations to see God’s kingdom established,’ added Martin, ‘especially in hard-to-reach places such as housing estates and with homeless and marginalised people.’
Visitors to the Ambassadors stand will be able to chat to the organisation’s representatives about the possibilities for sporting mission involving football.
• Ambassadors Football are on stand A36 at CRE North
• A CRE North seminar ‘Your church and sports ministry’ will be led by Christians in Sport, Scripture Union, Sports Chaplaincy UK, Ambassadors Football and the C of E Ministry of Sport Initiative at 4pm, Wed 13 Mar
> Who’s exhibiting at CRE North 2019?
> See the seminar programme for CRE North 2019
> Who’s exhibiting at CRE Sandown Park 2019?
Tackling taboos: Sarah calls for honest conversations about sex
With relationships and sex education statutory in schools since September, Sarah Smith (pictured) will be at CRE North to help Christian educators deliver this important topic in schools, churches and other youth settings.
In her seminar ‘A Guide to Growing Up: how to have honest conversations with young people about puberty, sex and God’ (date and time tbc), visitors will gain an insight into the relational and sexual health issues young people face today.
‘It is vital that parents/carers and youth leaders tackle topics often seen as taboo and become more effective in talking about bodies, relationships and sex,’ said Sarah, CEO of acet UK, a Christian charity delivering relationships and sex education in secondary schools and training to youth workers, teachers and parents.
Her book A Guide to Growing Up is published by CRE North exhibitor Lion Hudson, and features detailed chapters on topics such as masturbation and same-sex attraction. A Guide to Growing Up aims to support parents in talking to their children and is an essential guide in any young person’s journey – ‘a guide they can go back to time and again.’
* Lion Hudson are on stand B7 at CRE North 2018
Music in worship: panel aims to diffuse tensions and allay fears
The frequent tension between traditional and contemporary forms of worship will be one of the issues explored during Church Times Live at CRE 2018 (12.30pm, Thu 18 Oct).
Hosted by the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM), Inspiring Music in Worship aims to build mutual respect and trust between worship leaders, musicians and congregations. It will take the form of a panel discussion with the new director of The Royal School of Church Music (RSCM), Hugh Morris; the Revd Canon Helen Bent, head of ministerial training, RSCM; Alan Mitchell HonRSCM, St Augustine, Bromley and Revd Colin Randall, rector of the Coln River Group, Gloucestershire.
‘We will attempt to allay fears and gently challenge misunderstandings and prejudice,’ said RSCM’s Angela Hamilton. ‘We will also affirm what is good and encourage effective collaboration.’
The new director of the Royal School of Church Music (RSCM), Hugh Morris, will share some of his vision for how the RSCM will be working over the next few years to support and develop the worshipping life of the church.
The RSCM resources all kinds of churches: large, small, high, low, formal and informal. It helps church communities discover the best ways of using the resources they have, including through its new publication, also entitled Inspiring Music in Worship. Above all, it stands for the best of church music, in its rich tapestry of guises.
The panel includes
Helen Bent – Helen is head of ministerial training for the RSCM, in partnership with Praxis. She originally trained as a musician, specialising in singing and piano. Following a teaching career, she was ordained in 1998 in Norwich Diocese and has worked in parish ministry, both as a musician and a priest. From 2005 to 2015, she was the Bishop’s Adviser in Music and Worship for Sheffield Diocese. She has also recently written Inspiring Music in Worship, A Short Course of Guided Conversations for Churches, which pioneers something quite different for the RSCM.
Alan Mitchell – Alan is a lay minister at St Augustine’s, Bromley, and teaches a module on music in worship for the Rochester diocesan lay training scheme. He is as happy playing the violin at Prom Praise with the All Souls Orchestra or for a St Matthew Passion in a cathedral. A former trustee on the RSCM Council and chair of the Rochester Area committee, he encourages churches to widen their encounter with God through music, inspiring robed choirs to explore Stuart Townend and charismatic churches to discover the riches of liturgy!
Colin Randall – Colin is rector of seven rural parishes in the North Cotswolds in Gloucester Diocese and was previously worship adviser for Chester Diocese. He is a member of the Group for the Renewal of Worship (GROW) that produces the Grove Worship booklets.
Photo: Plum leaves
Sally Phillips will open CRE and celebrate ‘the topsy-turvy topology of the Kingdom of God’
Actress and comedian Sally Phillips will open CRE 2018 (9.45am, Tue 16 Oct) and encourage hundreds of churches to put people with additional needs at the top of their agenda.
Sally, whose son Olly has Down’s Syndrome, will be joined by a 12-year-old best-selling author – Jonathan Bryan has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and is entirely non-verbal. At the opening ceremony, blind singer-songwriter Marilyn Baker will be accompanied by a choir from Notre Dame School, Cobham, using Makaton, a language programme of signs and symbols to help people communicate.
CRE 2018 comes at a time when things are tough for disabled people and their families. The UNHCRPD investigation found the UK guilty of ‘grave and systematic violations of the human rights of disabled people.’
‘This concerned restrictions of welfare benefits, access to independent living and appropriate schooling,’ says Sally, ’but not included were the three avoidable deaths a day of people with learning disabilities within the NHS and the ethical questions around the commercialisation of our prenatal screening programme in the form of the roll out of the new “Downs test”.
‘I believe that the church is ideally placed to promote and model a way out of this miserable situation. Many of the problems faced by those with disabilities are mitigated by being loved. In community and in the church we are not only called to be blessed by carrying each others’ burdens but understand that in the topsy-turvy topology of the Kingdom of God, in which the weak are strong and the poor are rich, we will certainly be richly blessed for doing so. After all, we are only the body of Christ if we are all included. All in communion together.’
Sally will be at CRE to encourage churches to be accessible and welcoming to those suffering the effects of social and economic exclusion.
‘We can think creatively about church services and house groups as well as about buildings,’ she suggests. ‘There are also many job opportunities within the church. We could work with charities to open up some of these to people with different disabilities. We could also prioritise inclusion within our vibrant network of church schools at a time when exclusions of children with SEN are at an all-time high.
‘I also believe that we need the church as a body, and church members as individuals to speak prophetically about the need for an inclusive society. The prevailing political philosophy of utilitarianism has resulted in the normalisation of the idea that society will always have winners and losers – and we’re not OK with that, are we?’
It will be Sally’s first visit to an event often dubbed the ‘ideal church show’. She rose to prominence as one third of the all-female sketch show Smack the Pony, and then gained lead roles in the hugely popular BBC sitcom Miranda, as well as in the Bridget Jones films, as Bridget’s best friend, Shazza. As well as opening CRE, she will be interviewed by Rev Cindy Kent in Cindy’s Bar.
Gordon Temple, executive officer for Churches for All, an association of organisations seeking to improve universal access to church buildings and programmes, said: ‘We are delighted to welcome Sally to our zone at CRE, representing as it does a great opportunity to highlight the need to bring people living with disabilities into the centre of church life.’
• Sally Phillips will open CRE 2018 at 9.45am and be interviewed in Cindy’s Bar at 11.30am on Tue 16 Oct
Click here for a list of more than 200 exhibitors at CRE 2018
Click the button below to pre-register for CRE 2018 for as little as £3
Additional needs: Churches have a huge ministry opportunity
Three organisations will exhibit under the Churches for All banner at CRE 2018 – each committed to improving universal access to church buildings and programmes.
The initiative comes at a time when 10 million adults in the UK have a recognised disability – about one in five of the adult population. A further 700,000 children have one or more disabilities.
Exhibiting on stand B5, Churches for All is a partnership of UK Christian disability organisations. Count Everyone In, The Lodge Trust, and Torch Trust, all members of the association, will be at CRE offering visitors a breadth of experience and depth of knowledge on disability issues.
Churches for All’s Mark Arnold has a son with additional needs.
‘Additional or special needs parenting is tough because there is so much more to cope with,’ he says. ‘An increasing numbers of diagnoses in children at one end of the age range, coupled with an increasing older population at the other, present a huge ministry area for churches that is growing all the time.
‘Everyone, including those with additional needs and disabilities, should be included and valued in church. I hope to inspire CRE visitors as their churches plan to become fully-inclusive.’
Gordon Temple, executive officer for Churches for All, says: ‘CRE presents a great opportunity to support and encourage churches as they strive to welcome, include and involve people living with disabilities in every aspect of church life.’
The Torch Trust is promoting Sight Loss Friendly Church, a new initiative to enable churches to become more inclusive of people with sight loss. Count Everyone In aims to enthuse local churches about being more welcoming and relevant to people with learning disabilities through their new Know and Grow training while the Lodge Trust provides spiritual support to adults with learning disabilities.
• Mark Arnold and team will speak on Churches for All at 12pm on Tue 16 Oct
Click here for a list of more than 200 exhibitors at CRE 2018
Click the button below to pre-register for CRE 2018 for as little as £3
Tackling taboos: Sarah calls for honest conversations about sex
With relationships and sex education becoming statutory in schools in September 2019, Sarah Smith (pictured) will be at CRE 2018 to help Christian educators deliver this important topic in schools, churches and other youth settings.
In her seminar on Youth and Children’s Day at CRE 2018 – ‘A Guide to Growing Up: how to have honest conversations with young people about puberty, sex and God’ (11am, Thu 18 Oct) – visitors will gain an insight into the relational and sexual health issues young people face today.
‘It is vital that parents/carers and youth leaders tackle topics often seen as taboo and become more effective in talking about bodies, relationships and sex,’ said Sarah, CEO of CRE exhibitor acet UK, a Christian charity delivering relationships and sex education in secondary schools and training to youth workers, teachers and parents.
Her book A Guide to Growing Up is published by another CRE exhibitor, Lion Hudson and features detailed chapters on topics such as masturbation and same-sex attraction. A Guide to Growing Up aims to support parents in talking to their children and is an essential guide in any young person’s journey – ‘a guide they can go back to time and again.’
Acet UK are on stand S12 and Lion Hudson are on stand YZ11 at CRE 2018
ByCRE
Dan’s mission of mercy is right on the ball
World record-breaking football freestyler Dan Magness will perform his phenomenal tricks at October’s CRE 2018 encouraging churches to ‘make history’ with their own creative and sporting flair.
Dan kept a football in the air in Covent Garden for an astonishing 24 hours – making him the Guinness World Keepy-Uppy Champion. He also set the world record for the longest-ever recorded journey while continuously kicking or heading a ball, keeping the ball in the air for a staggering 36 miles, visiting every Premier League football club in London.
He became a Christian at 3am outside a Southend nightclub.
‘I was with a couple of mates and must confess I was full of another kind of spirit,’ he said. ‘We saw some street pastors talking to clubbers and I thought “I want to go and talk to them”. Minutes later, they were telling me about Jesus. Now I use my talent to praise his name.’
Dan is appearing at CRE in support of Mercy Ships, who are challenging churches to make history, by taking on one of three sporty or creative #MercyActs challenges.
Darren Richards, Church Partnership Manager at Mercy Ships, added: ‘Mercy Ships has launched a brand new set of resources that call on UK churches to use their talents and skills to help send free medical care to some of the poorest people in the world. The church is a treasure trove of talent. Imagine what could happen if everyone took something they loved doing – their hobbies and sporting passions – and then used that to help the poor in Africa?
‘Imagine if kids sang, teens vlogged, students shone on stage, parents picked up a paintbrush and grandma shimmied across a ballroom. Those who can’t draw or dance, can write or arrange flowers. Those who can’t cycle can swap clothes or bake. Everyone can do something! Everyone can love mercy, act justly and walk humbly by taking on a #MercyActs challenge.’
Founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens, Mercy Ships has worked in more than 70 countries. Today, Mercy Ships is a faith-based international development organisation with a creative solution to poverty – the world’s largest floating hospital, crewed entirely by volunteers. Their hospital ships serve some of the poorest countries in the world, delivering vital, free healthcare to people in desperate need.
Mercy Ships are on Stand S151 at CRE 2018
ByCRE
Football’s coming home – to a church near you
As World Cup fever grips the nation, Christians in Sport have told us of several churches showing the matches on big screens.
Before the little maestro had to fly home with the rest of the Argentinian squad, one church in Yeovil ran a ‘Messi Church’. Meanwhile, Town Church, Bicester (pictured), hosted a World Cup Sunday with five-a-side football tournament and BBQ. They shared a short gospel message before showing England v. Panama on a big screen. Town Church’s Jonny Reid, said: ‘It was great to welcome loads of people who wouldn’t normally think about coming to church and it gave them a chance to hear more about Jesus.’
It’s not too late to download a series of free World Cup resources in Christians in Sport’s Mission Pack that features a new multimedia World Cup quiz, an evangelistic short film, a guide to creating a ‘fan zone’ and a collection of school resources. The pack has already been downloaded more than 900 times.
‘While the World Cup is dominating the headlines at the moment, it only comes along every four years,’ said Christians in Sport’s Ed Mezzetti. ‘Let’s not see it as a one-off. Would Wimbledon tennis or the Ryder Cup golf work better for your church? We need to keep sport and big sporting events on the radar if we are to reach millions of people in this “nation” of sports lovers.’
Christians In Sport are on Stand A36 at CRE North (13/14 Mar 2019)
ByCRE
The Bible: all set to become cool on the curriculum
First-time exhibitors Museum of the Bible and RE Today magazine will be at CRE2017 to present the latest version of their groundbreaking Augmented Reality Bible Curriculum for schools.
Committed to making the Bible accessible to today’s generation, Museum of the Bible will show visitors how churches of all kinds can utilise smart phones and tablets to teach the stories of both Old and New Testaments to people of all ages.
At a seminar on the first day of CRE2017 (3pm, Tue 17 Oct), Museum of the Bible’s Mark Markiewicz and Julia Diamond-Conway, RE Today’s national adviser, will outline how technology is set to revolutionise RE in schools.
‘Visitors will also have an opportunity to see and use it for themselves,’ explains Mark, ‘and discover how it can be used in their schools and churches.’
As well as creating the most technologically-advanced museum in the world, opening in Washington DC in November 2017, Museum of the Bible has displayed artefacts and academic resources in cities around the world, including Vatican City’s Braccio di Carlo Magno and the Havana Cathedral in Havana, Cuba. Plans are already well advanced to bring a similar museum to central London.
Click here to watch a demonstration of the Augmented Reality Bible Curriculum in a US high school.
Museum of the Bible are on Stand 30 and RE Today on Stand 31 at CRE 2017.
ByCRE
How the mitres have fallen – but it’s not the end of colourful clergy
Mitres, stoles, capes and chasubles – the traditional clothing of Church of England clergy – may disappear from churches services after the Church of England voted last week to allow ministers to ‘wear what they want’.
It’s proved a difficult time for ecclesiastical designer Juliet Hemingray, a long-time CRE exhibitor, who has led the way in not only adding colour to vestments but, through her designs, making allusions to biblical narratives.
‘They are visual aids,’ she explains, ‘and do not form a barrier between wearer and observer. The subject matter on the stole or scarf, for example, can start helpful conversations.’
Juliet’s business began in 1979 when a close friend asked her to decorate a plain black preaching scarf with scenes that would appeal to children.
‘Orders poured in for bespoke designs reflecting the faith of customers,’ she recalls. ‘I have created 13 jobs and enabled more than 30,000 people to portray the Gospel in a way that is personal and meaningful. One friend in Tennessee told me he couldn’t remember any sermons from his early church life but recalled symbols on vestments and hangings. They meant a great deal to him.’
Juliet believes there is room for both options – vestments or more informal clothing.
‘My choice is obviously the first, purely from a Gospel-preaching standpoint,’ she says. ‘But you should make the most of whatever you are wearing and when you are not speaking, let the garment speak!’
Her view was reflected at two recent meetings in Lancashire. More than 4,000 schoolchildren gathered at Ewood Park, the home of Blackburn Rovers, for a talk given by the Bishop of Burnley, Rt Rev Philip North. Dramatically, he revealed an Arsenal shirt under his vestments, using the long-standing rivalry between Division One team Blackburn and Premier League Burnley FC to discuss the importance of loyalty.
Only a week before Canon Mark Jones, vicar of St Leonard’s Church in nearby Padiham, wore a Queen’s Park Rangers’ shirt – the team he supports – in front of 200 children from the local primary school. He wore it to illustrate how belonging to and supporting a child is an important part of any christening service. He ‘baptised’ a baby doll for two seven-year-old pupils.
In an area in which some members of the clergy have ignored the rulings and worn no clerical identification or the minimum for some time, the new pronouncement gives everyone the opportunity to be free and easy on some social occasions and add colour and pomp on others – without causing offence. It may even offer those ‘wearing parables’ to speak clearly to their congregation without uttering a word.
Step forward, Juliet!
David Hall
Juliet will be on Stand S129 at CRE 2017