Ideas and
   Resources

We do welcome articles and news about the activities of our members. As more and more articles flood in,  I thought a few comments and hints on the preparation of material for the website might be helpful. You will know that requests for publication should first be sent to our CEDO, Major Gerald Peacock as the editor.  Once it has been approved for publication it is passed to me as the Webmaster to try and include it in the next update of our website.

It needs to be said that I am quite an amateur as webmasters go, (although I have been involved in ‘Desktop Publishing’ for many years and have my own website). Therefore, the technical expertise available is fairly limited, as is the software needed to maintain the website.

So here are a few tips to help us both:
:
1. Text, Tables and Graphics:  With all articles which combine text and graphics (ie: photographs, banners, logos, etc), please attach the full document as now (showing text and graphics), but please also attach the actual graphic items separately. They don’t transfer well together, - the whole document has to be made into one picture, which cannot then be altered, and which is then slow to load on your screen. If your document is formatted as a table, it cannot be transferred as such to the website. It can be captured as a graphic but will be of poor quality. Likewise, Also, Text documents produced by Windows 7 (Word - docx) cannot be edited in any way, so no errors can be corrected. They must be added to the website ‘as is’.

2. E-mails: Each month the material from contributors via Gerald comes in a variety of formats, doc, docx, pdf, jpg, rtf, etc., and quite often a mix of more than one. Some are
constructed, not as items for a website, but as chatty e-mails which include bits the
writer would like to see published, but goes on to assure us that it has been passed
by a virus checker! That leaves it to our CEDO and/or Webmaster to guess what is
required for publication and alter or rewrite the article, which is not something we can
really undertake month in month out. We like getting the chatty e-mail, but need to
have a separate attachment setting out what the contributor would like to have
published, and which, hopefully will require a minimum of further editing. So please
don’t include the actual publication in the body of an e-mail, - send it as an attachment.

3. Length: Please keep the article as short as possible, remembering it is read on a computer screen, which can be very tiring. Pictures, etc. help to lighten it and catch the eye, but see (1) above, and try to keep it within 2 x A4 pages.

4. Content and Format: If you are passing on, or have produced your own publication, please edit the content as necessary for a display on a website. For example, remember that application forms (for conferences, jobs, etc) cannot be separated from the rest of the web page (unless you are good at ‘screen-snatches’!) for filling in, and usually take up considerable space and a loss of quality. Also, flyers, leaflets, booklets, etc. occupying more than one page, eg: a 3-page leaflet, must appear vertically (one page under another) rather than horizontally.

5. Finally, please read it through carefully and be certain it contains all the information that will make sense to an uninformed reader.

Maybe this list will expand as time goes by, but I do hope it will not put you off or dishearten you in any way from becoming a contributor.

With many blessings to you all

Michael Carter

I would like to bring your attention to a free DVD, 'Ready to Run', available from More Than Gold which is designed to help your church capture the potential of the Games.

Fast-moving and with music by Delirious?, the creative production shows what's been done at past Games and what churches like yours could do here.

There are two versions, each designed for a different audience;

Church version (3 mins 39 secs) for services, home groups, etc, opening eyes to the opportunities the Games offer.
Leaders version (6 mins 24 secs) as above but with additional background and advice on the next steps.

To watch, order or download go to www.morethangold.org.uk/dvd

With best wishes,

Members of the Churches Group for Evangelisation met at High Leigh conference centre for 24 hours for the annual group residential.

We discussed a wide range of topics including the following:

Welcome
How do we get the principle of 'welcome' more in to the everyday life of the church? We discussed resources and training but chiefly compared notes about how denominations approach 'welcome'. One denominations has a national initiative planned while others have resources and training to offer. 'Back to Church Sunday' is being adapted by some denominations eg Baptists who produced the Big Welcome, while other churches are asking how an annual event like Back to Church can be built in to a regular pattern.

Mission Spirituality
How do we connect with the spiritual interest of people who don't go to church? How do we make our own spirituality missional? Have we created the church in our own image? We addressed some of these questions and revisted the CGfE book Equipping your Church in a Spiritual Age. We compared notes from our various perspectives and considered the question, what will revival look like today?'

Confidence and Discipleship
We looked at three aspects under this heading:

Methodist resources and plans for developing this key denominational theme

Catholic 'confidence' in the light of the Pope's visit - and how to build on that legacy

Evangelical Alliance, and a recent gathering 'Confidence in the Gospel' to help people speak of their faith

Global Day of Prayer
We heard from Jonathan Oloyede about the history, thinking and planning for GDOP which aims to eguip and encourage Christians across all denominational streams to pray and transform community. The Lord's Prayer is a unifying prayer as well as missional, and forms the basis of GDOP practice, whether in large gatherings like 1000 church leaders at Wembley, or daily with individuals praying at 12 noon. See a report and video link.
National initiative overload?
We considered the national initiatives like More than Gold and Hope, in the light of the current experience of Biblefresh and various other national initiatives aimed at helping local churches in mission. We considered the 'crowded space' and whether churches would engage and think strategically and together to make best use of the opportunities. Since the CGfE residential a statement has been issued about this and the legacy such national initiatives can leave. See the link to the statement here.

Missional communities and New Mission Orders
We noted the significant rise in 'new monastic communities' being a tool for mission and church planting, especially in the Anglican tradition. In our discussion we also found Catholic, Methodist, Baptist and Pentecostal examples of very live discussion and mission experiment. We also noted how agencies like Church Mission Society and Church Army were becoming new 'recognised communities' and how the Order of Mission in Sheffield has grown. We scoped the thinking / practice and considered both the possibilities and problems, while wanting to emphasise the 'back story' of how the denominatiuons gave space and encouragement for new mission practice. We discussed the ecumenical dimension and noted that many new mission communities were ecumenical by nature eg The Order of Mission.

Research MA and PhD papers in Evangelism online
In our last CGfE meeting we asked where dissertations in evangelism could be viewed online. Since then we have had a very positive discussion with the Sheffield Centre who already have an online library for such. We will report on this creative partnership as it develops.
Contact
For any question contact the secretary, Jim Currin.