Not sure about urban missions? Have a few tough questions you’d like to ask?

Why not come and visit a Mission Year house, meet the team and ask them some real, honest questions about how they’ve found living together and serving in the inner-city.

When:
Thursday May 24th
Thursday June 28th
Wednesday July 25th

If you’d like to come, email jessica.davies@act-network.org.uk to sign up. If you’d like to visit a team and can’t come on any of the dates above, just let us know!

Andy Walton on why he’s left suburbia behind

I first became inspired by the idea of Incarnational Mission by reading about examples of where it has flourished. Shane Claiborne’s Simple Way community in Philadelphia has been a model for many, and his books “The Irresistable Revolution” and “Jesus for President” were my gateway into attempting a new way of life.

Claiborne’s gift is in rooting what he is doing (something which is a ‘new’ concept to many Christians and non-believers) in the ancient tradition of the Church. He quotes the great Desert Fathers and Mothers as well as Mother Theresa with whom he worked in Calcutta.

Having spent my twenties living in comfortable middle-class areas, I was pining for a more ‘real’ experience of London. At the same time I was aware that I was ‘going through the motions’ somewhat it terms of my faith. The answer to both these problems presented itself in the form of the organisation Mission Year. It’s a simple idea which began 15 years ago in the USA. Participants commit to living in a house with others, praying and eating together and giving some of their time to the outreach work of a local church for a year.

 
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A message from Bart Campolo:

Our little fellowship is a motley crew, but we get along pretty well. I’m not saying we don’t have our share of irritation and conflict, but between our various faith commitments and our various experiences of failure and disappointment, we generally have plenty of grace to draw on when things go wrong. Which, around here, is almost always. I’m not sure how many Bible verses you could prove by us, but this one for sure: Love covers over a multitude of sins.Then again,

sometimes a multitude of little sins is a whole lot easier to cover than one great big one.

I would be lying if I said anyone was excited when Michael told us his wife Judy was pregnant again. After all, Michael and Judy were barely managing already, with three pre-schoolers, a slew of debts, convictions, and other children by other partners back in Georgia, and Michael working only sporadically as a welder. He’s a long way from his drug-dealing, meth-addict days, and she’s closing in on her certification and a job as a bookkeeper, but all that growth has required lots of investment already, and as a family they still have a long way to go. As Michael knew better than anyone, another baby wasn’t part of the plan.
 
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Mission Year Bermondsey team member Christa has recorded a spoken word about playing her part in God’s plan for His city.
Christa has been involved with Pavement Poetry and is a Mission Year team member in Bermondsey where she lives with her husband John and assists the vicar of her local church in its outreach to city workers.

Listen to her audio ‘My Mission Year‘

‘Learn more’ to read her poetry

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