“Pie in ear?!”…no I said ‘Pioneer!’

What is a ‘Pioneer?’ What does ‘Pioneer’ mean?

According to the dictionary, a pioneer is…1. a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others. 2. one who is first or among the earliest in any field of inquiry, enterprise, or progress: e.g. pioneers in cancer research. 3. one of a group of foot soldiers detailed to make roads, dig entrenchments, etc., in advance of the main body. 4. an organism that successfully establishes itself in a barren area, thus starting an ecological cycle of life.

Sorry about the pun in the title. It’s what I always think of when I hear the word ‘Pioneer.’

I’m writing about the word pioneer because last night at ‘Redefine‘, our Sunday evening youth Bible study, our centre director spoke about ‘Fresh Expressions of Church‘; and how they are pioneering new work and new ways to reach out into communities with the good news of Jesus.

There are some interesting articles here and here. for those who want to read more about ‘FXC’ (Fresh Expressions of Church) as it is commonly abbreviated to. In-fact there is an organisation called Fresh Expressions that is set-up to ‘champion and support the fresh expressions movement, working with Christians from a variety of denominations and traditions.’ You can check them out here.

Tim walked everyone present through some of the research that has been done regarding ‘FXC‘ and it was most interesting.

He then got everyone broken into groups and asked them to brainstorm areas where they could ‘pioneer’ a fresh expression of the life of the church as an exercise in creativity, to help us understand how these pioneering movements of God’s body work. It was a very interesting and eye-opening evening.

It makes me think of all of the ‘Pioneers’ in the Bible. People who dared to believe God when He called them to do something new. Something that no-one had done before. People like Noah – building a boat on dry land despite the ridicule of his neighbours. Abraham – leaving his family to travel to a land that God had called him to. In fact the whole of Hebrews 11 is full of pioneers who listened to God and by faith obeyed.

It was really exciting to see the young people responding to this message about where God is at work pioneering new ways of bringing the life of the church into the community in the UK. To see them come up with creative ideas that are outside of the box that we have for so-long labelled as ‘church’.

What ways can you reach out into your community with the love of God?

Maybe you can come along to our ‘Reverb Saturday Cafe @ St John’s‘ and minister to those that come in by serving them a tea or coffee and nice slice of cake? Maybe you can join us at our monthly prayer meetings as we pray for the young people in our area? It might be something completely different, but I’m sure that if you seek God and ask Him how you can share His love and light in new ways with your friends and neighbours, He will give you new and creative ways to share His amazing love.

Be blessed!

Dennis Andrus says:

May 9, 2017 at 12:06 pm

Todd / Tim.

What a great idea it was to ask young people how they see “a church.” It’s also very timely for a church such as Gloddaeth as it enters
a new era in its ministry to Llandudno. It is a time for Fresh Expressions of Church for us whilst being sympathetic to older members too.
Maybe we could look at their ideas?
Well done. Keep on, keeping onwards.
Dennis.

llandudnoyfc@gmail.com says:
May 11, 2017 at 8:31 am

Thanks for the encouragement Dennis.

Yes, it was great to see the young people engaging with new ways of thinking about church. In fact it seems as if recently God has been challenging me about being more creative. I listened to a talk on imagination and creativity within the context of our walk of faith with God on Saturday. Then last night at our church’s music practice we did some songwriting and got our creativity flowing.

It’s so good when God repeats a message or theme that He is wanting to bring to our attention. Hope you have a great rest of the week, and I pray that God keeps blessing all that He is doing in and through Gloddaeth.

Grace & Peace,

Todd