Staff Update at The King's Church Mid-Sussex

It is such a privilege to lead a vibrant and growing team at The King's Church Mid-Sussex. We believe God has clearly spoken to us about the kind of church we are building and I'm so grateful that God is also providing some amazing people to help that vision become a reality. As we head into 2017 there are some staffing updates that I am keen to let you know about.

Rachael Turner

I think most people will know of this appointment already, however, for those that are not aware Rachael joined the staff team in October in a part-time capacity to serve as Terry Virgo's PA. Though this role is funded by Newfrontiers, Rachael is based at The King's Centre and is part of the team at The King's Church Mid-Sussex.

Dan Lank

Dan has done a superb job leading the worship team over the last 18 months and has been working two days a week for the church.  However, with two meetings beginning in January and the hope for further multiplication in the future, we invited Dan to join the team on a full-time basis and he began in this role at the start of December.  Dan will oversee and develop our worship teams, he will also develop our technical and audio-visual provision and be involved in developing creative arts in the church.

Nigel Goodenough

Part of our 2020 Vision was to see us establish houses across Mid-Sussex to accommodate and serve vulnerable people in our community. I am so excited to let you know that this vision is moving forward through an organisation called Hope Into Action.  From January 2017 Nigel will be joining the staff team at The King's Church Mid-Sussex for one day a week to establish 'Hope Into Action Mid-Sussex' with the view of us opening our first house at some point next year.

Angie Bee

Angie has been a superb addition since she joined the staff team in a part-time role in 2015 to co-ordinate our Sunday TKC Kids Programme. She has also delivered excellent events like the All-Age Christmas Cracker. The implications of running two morning meetings on our children's programmes are significant, and therefore, we have increased Angie's hours so she has more capacity to co-ordinate this growing area of church life. 

Penny McAdams

Penny has been on staff for over two years in a part-time capacity. She has fulfilled a hugely important role being the first face people see when they arrive at The King's Centre and being involved in the administration of church life. In 2017  Penny will be increasing her hours to work one additional morning and one additional afternoon each week.

Autumn Gift Days - Kenya and Haiti

Each year, at The King's Church Mid-Sussex, we have Gift Days in the summer and autumn terms. I am always amazed and so grateful to see the church 'excel in the grace of generosity' - our Summer Gift Days this year raised nearly £95,000. Incredible!

As a result of this generosity we have been able to make huge improvements to the King’s Centre as well as make gifts to New Ground – the family of churches we connect with - and to some superb local charities.

AUTUMN GIFT DAYS

In recent years, we have given a lot of money to local projects and to improvements at The King’s Centre. However, this Autumn we want to focus our energy on giving to projects that are working with some of the poorest in our world.

SEEKENYA

SeeKenya is at an exciting and important crossroads. There is huge potential for future development. Another team has just returned and, once again, hundreds and hundreds of lives were impacted by this practical demonstration of good news.

Some of the children that were seen in the eye clinics require additional specialist treatment and in faith SeeKenya, as a charity, has agreed to pay for this work.

We want to keep investing into ‘SeeKenya’ as we believe it is one clear way that God has asked us to get involved in his global mission to be good news to the poor.

Twenty percent of money given at the Autumn Gift Days will be given to SeeKenya.

HAITI

Many of you know that we have strong links with an amazing charity called ‘Hope House Haiti’. I am sure you will also be aware of the recent hurricane that has brought such devastation to this nation.

The team at ‘Hope House Haiti’ has asked for financial help so that they can help those in their community with the basics; food, clean water and shelter.

Twenty percent of money given at the Autumn Gift Days will be given to support those impacted by this hurricane in Haiti.

COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME - KENYA 

The Community Empowerment Programme (CEP) is a ministry of Edfri International in Kenya – run by our good friends Edward and Fridah Buria. It seeks to empower orphans, vulnerable children and young people to build a better future for themselves.

This happens in a number of ways:

• education programmes and sponsorship to provide school fees, equipment and uniforms
• provision of basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter
• medical care and provision 
• advocacy and legal support where required
• mentoring and counselling programmes
• job creation and business start up

But the need is so great and we want to be able to give a significant amount of money to Edfri International so that many more orphans, vulnerable children and young people are supported and given an opportunity to dream of a different future.

As a church, we are already connected with one family who have been helped and supported by CEP. A number of us have had the opportunity to visit and see the impact that CEP is having.





Our Gift Days are happening on 06 and 13 November. We have another opportunity to reflect God's heart of generosity as we give to these amazing projects around the world. Please join me in praying for these big moments in church life.  

Why are we multiplying to two meetings?

Why are we multiplying to two meetings?

On Sunday 18 September, at our Vision Sunday, we announced that we are going to be multiplying to two morning meetings from January 2017. If you were away that weekend and did not hear that message you can download it here.

Now..... we have been this route before. In our old venue in Haywards Heath we needed to multiply meetings to create room for growth. It was an adventure and, yes, it was hard work but we saw amazing fruit. The church grew by 20% in two-and-a-half years.

It was always our plan to multiple at some point in The King's Centre, but why now? Here are a number of reasons why we believe now is the right time.

1. Mission

The primary reason is mission. The King's Church Mid-Sussex exists to reach out to those who are not yet here. The simple reality is that by offering more choice more people can come. We live in a very flexible culture, people work flexible working patterns and therefore it makes sense to offer people different options regarding church attendance. Some of the churches that are seeing most gospel fruit are those that offer multiple options for when people can come. There are tens of thousands of people who don't know Jesus in our community, therefore we want to create more opportunities for them to find out more.

2. Momentum 

We have some growth momentum at present. Praise God! Our higher Sundays are higher and our average attendance is growing. If we are to keep growing we need to keep creating more space. Healthy things should grow and we are seeing that but we need to keep thinking through what the next 1, 2 and 5 years look like .

3. Multiplication

We feel God is calling us to begin thinking through what it means for us to be a church that multiplies. This won’t be the last move. We still have dreams of an evening meeting and think that will happen in the not too distant future. Beyond that we are beginning to explore what multiple congregations might look like for us as a church. In our future, The King's Church Mid-Sussex will not be defined by how many you can get in one room at one time.

4. Children's and Youth ministry

This is of huge importance. We want to offer the best children and youth ministry that we can and feel we have a responsibility to do this well. The reality is our children's and youth rooms on a Sunday have no room for growth. We want to be engaging in high value discipleship in our youth and children's programmes not crowd management. So we need to find solutions for growth in these groups and multiple meetings helps us with this.

5. Stretch of Faith 

There could be a danger that because we fill our venue once a week we fall into self-reliance (we know how to do this) or apathy (we don't need to do anything). The reality is, there are thousands of people in our community who know nothing of the amazing grace that Jesus offers. We have always been a church that reached in faith to things that would be impossible other than God's wonderful provision.  I want us to continue to be that kind of church.  If we are not being stretched, we can become safe and self-reliant. God calls us to an adventure to believe that he can do more than we can ask or imagine. Multiplication will keep stretching us to believe God for things that we can't do otherwise.

Yes there is a lot to arrange and work out. Yes we'll need more volunteers to make this happen. And yes our sundays will feel slightly different for a while. But remember....we have been this route before and the result was that many more people found their home in church. We are praying for that again! Please keep an ear out for news and information as it is shared in the coming weeks.

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5 Reasons To Get Baptised

I love this time of year.

September is soon to be upon us and there is always great momentum and excitement in church life. Our new Alpha course is soon to begin. We will be gathering for our prayer week. We have new initiatives beginning. And, we have baptisms.

On Sunday 25 September we will be celebrating together as another group of people get baptised - so far 4 people have express an interest. Amazing! 

Maybe you are reading this and you have never been baptised or you are considering getting baptised. Here are are 5 reasons why its great to get baptised:

1. Jesus was baptised

In the Bible, both Matthew and Luke describe Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist. You may ask why Jesus needed to get baptised. John the Baptist preached a message of baptism and repentance for the forgiveness of sins - but Jesus was perfect. He never sinned so he didn't need to repent. So why get baptised? In Jesus' baptism we see him identifying with us and setting us an example to follow. To be a Christian is to be a follower - or an apprentice - of Jesus. If Jesus was baptised, what better way to identify yourself with him then by also being baptised.

2. Jesus told his disciples to baptise people

After Jesus' resurrection, he was talking to his disciples and he commanded them to go to all nations and make disciples - we know this as the 'Great Commission'. These powerful words included the instruction to baptise people. Clearly, in Jesus' mind and his teaching, baptism was central to the Christian faith. 

3. Baptism was central in New Testament Church life

In the book of Acts, when the church began, we read that Peter preached about Jesus in the centre of Jerusalem and 3000 people responded and asked him what shall we do? His reply was that they should all 'repent and be baptised'. Baptism wasn't an added extra for the really enthusiastic or outgoing ones. Baptism was a central part of their response to the message of Jesus; an outward act followed an inward change. Baptism follows repentance and was central to New Testament Church life. 

4. Baptism paints a picture of what Jesus has done

The Apostle Paul talks about baptism in his letter to the church in Rome. He says that as we are baptised, we identify with Jesus' death and resurrection. The Bible describes being a Christian like being new creations, the old has gone and the new has come (2 Cor 5 v 17). As we are baptised, its like our old life is buried (as we go under the water) and as we come out of the water it symbolises that we have a new life in Christ. Baptisms tell a story, our story, and celebrates what Jesus has done in our lives.

5. It's a great opportunity to invite people to church

If you have recently become a Christian it is likely that your friends or family might be wondering why. What has happened to you? Why are you now going to church? Baptism is an opportunity for them to hear your story and for you to share why Jesus has changed your life. Your story is amazing, too good to be kept quiet, and baptism is a great opportunity to invite friends and family to church so they can hear first hand the difference that Jesus has made. 

So there you go, 5 reasons why to get baptised. If you want more info about baptism or want to get baptised contact The King's Church right away by e-mailing info@tkc.org.uk