A Vision For London from Phil Stokes
Something is stirring in the neighbourhood. As well as the well documented ‘Quiet Revival’, the unexpected movement of a younger generation back to church, I am noticing a spike in people expressing an interest in a different mode of doing church. The legacy model of church built around a Sunday morning service with (in some cases) midweek home-groups, just isn’t doing it for them. They are seeking a more flexible and relational mode of being church’ one with a different set of metrics and rhythms. These folk are exploring the place of the home and the meal table, exploring practices that can create a unique ecology of interaction that is not dissimilar to the way many of them have renegotiated their working week. They don’t just want to work from home, they want to worship at home and find ways to do relational discipleship in the home and in the many social spaces they inhabit. Folk are yearning for something that looks far more like the early church – meeting and eating from house to house and (maybe) occasionally at a pubic ‘temple’ gathering. These new expressions have been dubbed Micro-churches and they are on the rise.
While many church leaders wrestle with questions of minimum ekklesiology and economic implications, folk across the country are already forming and piloting these new churches. Young pioneers are meeting up and praying about what is God saying. Some older generation leaders are stepping into this vehicle, some acting as spiritual parents to a younger cohort; others are finding peers who are seeking for something more sustainable and intimate than a Sunday congregation.
Early signs were that they are forming around the country more than in the capital, probably due to the many large churches available in London, but the capital is showing signs of catching up,
As REACH we have connected with the Kairos Microchurch Network and the National Church Planting Network, and as we have started talking about Microchurch a small collective of London Micro churches have begun to find one another. One young missionary couple have planted 18 micro-churches on South Asian former Muslim background women believers, all scattered along the Jubillee line. They are around 10 women in each church. What is evident is that this vehicle is evidently fit for purpose for these women, who cannot be seen going into a Christian church, but are able to meet in one another’s homes or in semi public places.
Another Baptist church leader has taken the vehicle and is turning his church into a launchpad for Microchurches. In just under a year he has planted eight Microchurches that are serving in a diverse range of spaces and places, leading new folk to Christ, and in this way they are growing disciples who can make disciples.
Micro church is not a way to grow your church. But It is a way to sustainably multiply and make disciples who can make disciples. Our little Oikos Microchurch will not grow much beyond the size of our living room, but it can and it will multiply. In fact it already has. One young couple moved to Manchester and have already started a Microchurch there.
I am now believing that this expression of church will multiply and will begin to saturate London with the Gospel. I am praying toward a vision of seeing multiple Microchurch plants across the capital over the next ten years. REACH London want to play our part in facilitating this movement.
Nobody knows what will take shape, how many will start and fizz out, how many will choose to become congregations, and how many will multiply and collaborate. One thing is certain, we are all in the seat of learning as this takes shape. I am praying that God will breath into a rising generation and also into a setting generation to catalyse a Malachi moment of hearts turning to one another across the generations, leading to shared passion, shared resources and a momentum towards Gospel Saturation in London.
I am praying for a moment to movement revival that turns curses to blessings and transforms our capital. Will you join me in praying this? And to explore what God is saying to you about your calling, about your gifts and about your 5 capitals resourcing this movement?
Let’s join the conversation, champion the pioneers, and pray that God breathes on this seed and scatters micro churches across every corner of every borough.
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