25Apr 2018 by Nigel Ring

Finance 1. Why is the way that the church handles money important?

Church, Equipping, Finance, New Ground, Newfrontiers
Introducing Stephen Mathews and Stewardship Handling finance is a vital part of church life; it must be done with excellence and complete integrity. It is thus a great pleasure to have as a guest writer for this six-part series on Finance an old friend of mine, Stephen Mathews, who has been responsible for Stewardship’s accounting and consulting teams since 2004. Stephen has also been involved for many years in church leadership, primarily in Newfrontiers churches. (A fuller bio is at the end of this posting). As well as absorbing carefully what Stephen writes I encourage you to look at the excellent resources (mostly free) at the end of each part. The issue Money, sex and power: Three of the most significant and enduring dangers facing churches, church leaders and those…
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18Apr 2018 by Nigel Ring

Newfrontiers in the UK – an Update

Newfrontiers, News
It seems appropriate for the first posting on my refreshed website to be an update of the situation with Newfrontiers. Following Terry Virgo recognising fifteen apostles as the dispersed leadership of Newfrontiers in 2011 a redefinition took place. From being a 'family of churches' Newfrontiers became a 'group of apostolic leaders partnering together on global mission'. As part of this transition Steve Tibbert, leader of King’s Church, London, was invited to facilitate a gathering from time to time of the apostles who have responsibility for churches in the UK. This now happens for two days three times per year, primarily for fellowship and prayer - and lots of laughter! In this way the 'apostolic spheres' have intentionally become both autonomous and inter-dependent. Recently I had the pleasure of sitting with Steve to ask him to…
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12Apr 2018 by Nigel Ring

A New Website!

Equipping, News, Poor
Welcome to my new website! I launched this site in 2009 to share my passions and experience for good Church Administration and Ministry with the Poor. The title ‘Feeding 5000 is no picnic…’ was supposed to embrace these emphases. Then, when I came to ‘retirement’ in 2011, I felt God say that I should focus my own future ministry on two main areas: 1. Helping people and churches reach out to those who are Poor or in need, and 2. Capacity Building – training and equipping. New content I am encouraged by the number of people who continue to follow my blog and who contact me. Thank you supporters! Accordingly the site has been redesigned and includes more content, particularly Resources: Books, Videos and Audio recordings. There is a lot…
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04Apr 2018 by Nigel Ring

Building a Culturally Diverse Multi-site Church

Church, Cross-culture, Equipping, Multi-site, News
Over the past five weeks we have considered what is required to build a multi-site church, basing it on the experience with Emmanuel Church, Brighton. I want to conclude this series with the experience of Kings Church, London which changed to a multi-site church in 2011. A few years ago King's Church, Catford, as it was at that time, outgrew their building. They were also in a part of London which included very diverse cultures. In this conversation Steve Tibbert shares some of the issues they address as they grow, currently being on three sites with plans to open a fourth one in the next few months. They have been very intentional in approaching the diverse cultural differences in their congregations and have sought to build an integrated culturally-diverse church. This is part of their…
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28Mar 2018 by Nigel Ring

Multi-site churches. Part 5 – How to take the next step

Church, Emmanuel Church, Equipping, Multi-site
In this concluding part of the discussion that I have been having with Steve Boon, Executive Pastor of Emmanuel Church, Brighton, Steve offers some advice for those who are considering transitioning to a multi-site church. Nigel:     This has been so helpful, Steve. If I try to summarise some of the things you have said I think they would be first that your experience with multi-site stresses the importance of flexibility. Second, there are great benefits in being located near where people live. Third, the ability to have a strong core of ministries and support services allows the site leader to focus on local issues. Fourth that each site can take on the shape and style most appropriate to the local demographic. Fifth, in your situation it provides an excellent training…
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22Mar 2018 by Nigel Ring

Multi-site churches. Part 4 – An honest appraisal

Church, Emmanuel Church, Equipping, Multi-site
Steve Boon, executive pastor of Emmanuel Church in Brighton, and I continue to talk about multi-site church Nigel:     So far we have talked about some of the benefits of multi-site as being geography and reduced travel, and also the identification with the local cultural scene. What would you say are the disadvantages of going multi-site rather than building a big centralised church? Steve:    Yes, there are obviously disadvantages as well as advantages. One of the disadvantages is that with a church of our size there is always a turnover of people who leave for all kinds of reasons. Over one year it doesn’t seem to impact us much but over, say, five years you will have a number of people who may not have strong relationships or know key people…
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