The Big Conversation
The BIG Conversation

Reach and raise emotionally Healthy Spirit Empowered Disciples.
 
Before lockdown happened, Pastor Jim shared a prophetic word:
‘God is calling us to realign everything that we do. Things will not go back to normal but instead He will shake and stir us up into something greater. When God shakes and stirs, it won’t be comfortable. But in the end, many more will come to know Him.’
 
 
 (The sermon is available here https://www.facebook.com/burslemelimchurch/videos/510336553211865/)

As a leadership we are starting to prepare for change. Since this word, the leadership have met together regularly to pray, plan and reflect on where God is leading us.

Over the next couple of months, we are going to be having a conversation about how this is going to look. We want as many people as possible to be involved. We value your ideas and input during this time.
 

Going Forward: 

Our Mission (the reason we exist, the motivation behind everything we do):
Reach and raise emotionally healthy, Spirit empowered disciples.
 

 
Our Culture (the way we want to be in and around Burslem Elim Church)
 
Following Jesus – We are all on journey at different places with Jesus, seeking to become more like Him and do what He did.
 
Holy Spirit Empowered – seeking The Holy Spirit’s presence, gifts, holiness and transformation power.
 
Family Centred – we are a family, not an organisation or religion.
 
Visionary – daring to dream; never limiting God.
 
Generous – with time, money and forgiveness
 
Torch Carriers – running our race and passing on the fire to our generation and those to come.
 
Committed – we seek to be committed to God, each other and our community.
 
 
Our Vision 

Making Disciples
 
At the heart of everything we do is our shared mission to plant the gospel of Jesus Christ: in a relevant way; in individual lives and communities; making life-long disciples in the Stoke on Trent and beyond.
 
A disciple is more than just a church attender; disciples are prepared to submit their lives to the call and cause of Christ. Embedded in every sphere of society, they seek to live out their commitment in a real way within their communities.
 
 
Raising Leaders
We are committed to training, developing, and supporting leaders across our church and beyond, seeking to develop servant leaders who are committed to working on behalf of others and have a positive contribution to make in wider community life.
 
We are excited when we see men and women serving God to their fullest potential, and individual growth is always in the stretch; it is rarely comfortable, but always retrospectively satisfying.
 
We want to raise leaders who shape the future that God desires to see in our church, community and world.
 
 
Growing and Planting Churches
 
We are fully committed to our shared task of making the gospel of Jesus Christ known in individual lives and communities.
 
We aim to facilitate the Elim movement’s ever-increasing and effective planting of churches worldwide.
 
As a local church, we aim to do this by partnering with other churches to launch fresh expressions of church in the towns and communities around Stoke on Trent and beyond that do not have a Pentecostal witness.
 
 
Reaching Nations
 
Elim aims to be an international disciple-making movement with strategies for church planting and leadership development in every nation.
 
We will support this through our continued focus on surrendering to the Spirit, sending and supporting missionaries, and the promotion of the Church in the UK and overseas.
 
As a local church in Stoke on Trent, we aim to continue to develop ways to reach out and connect with the diverse nationalities that reside in our city.

 


The Conversation 


To help us achieve this vision and mission, we are putting together a roadmap to direct us towards our vision and the destiny we believe that God has for us.
 
If there were no limits (time, money or resources), what would you want our church to look like?

What small things can WE do now to bring us closer to our vision? For example, we wanted to develop more leaders, so we started the leadership course.

What practical thing could YOU do to bring us closer to our vision? For example, if you want the church to be more welcoming, try to speak to someone new every week.

What needs are there in our community? What opportunities are there to show Jesus’ love in response to these needs? For example, Sheila and Pastor Peter saw a need with asylum seekers and the Jubilee Project started.
 
 
 
 
Some Ideas for the shorter term:
  • Pop up church services in different locations
  • New house groups.
  • More ‘We love…’ events, community actions days in areas like Middleport, Cobridge, Burslem, Tunstall etc. but with an added invitation and direction to our digital material.
  • Emotional and mental health support, Kintsugi Hope (Google it!) - this will be a huge issue post COVID-19
  • How can Friendship Café connect better with lonely people? 
  • Looking to the Digital Future:
  • Digital Bible Studies, evangelism groups and support groups.
  • Digital area on the website to equip leaders, grow disciples and support new Christians in different languages, Video, blogs etc.
  • Digital ‘live’ service every Sunday morning at 10:30 a.m. - this would include a recording of the previous week’s message with some pre-recorded worship, an online host would encourage people to communicate during the service. Then there would be an invitation to attend the service in the evening.
  • Advanced database