Penny Marsh has been church planting for around nine years, initially in London Docklands where she was appointed by LBA to look at pioneering a new church on the housing estate. She has now moved on and is working with the South Eastern Baptist Association looking at the new housing developments between Dartford and Gravesend in the area known as Kent Thameside. Over the next 20-25 years it is expected that there will be about 20,000 new homes in this area, and Penny’s passion is to reach the people who will live in these new homes.
One of her visions is that everyone who moves in to these new housing estates will have an opportunity to meet with Christians. She hopes that the churches and groups of Christians there will begin to give a lead with aspects of the community, just like years ago when church really was at the heart of the community. There will be many ways of expressing practical Christian faith in a way that allows people to meet with Jesus. She will be looking for teams to be built up to engage with and get to know people and find the crossingplaces in their lives where they can express Jesus and church in ways that are easy to understand.
She will be looking to explore different models of church and different models of expressing Christian mission, including a congregation meeting together on a Sunday or different day; community projects around a community building; new community enterprises that engage people in different ways; projects linked to a school. There are lots of opportunities.
One of the key things is to ask the mission questions of how to share Jesus with people in really practical ways, and not expect people to come to a building or church meeting.
What's next?1. Introduction |
