Seize the Day podcasts

'Seize the Day' podcast #12 - February 2010: Bob Hopkins talks about how to make the transition to mid-sized missional communities. (17 mins)

Breaking the 'Sunday Service' model is one of the biggest challenges. For instance, even here at St. Thomas's (where we've been on the leadership in one form or another over fifteen years while we've been on this journey) - even six or seven years in, when certain changes happened, we saw people flipping straight back, in their cluster life, to thinking that they had to get a guitar and a worship group for thirty people, and, yes, have some sort of a preach...

In this podcast, we're talking for the third time to Bob Hopkins about clusters, or mid-sized missional communities. This month, we're talking about how to make the transition.

Bob and his wife Mary work with Anglican Church Planting Initiatives. They have pioneered the 'Clusters' approach to missional church-planting, at St. Thomas Crookes church in Sheffield, and now in a growing number of churches around the world.

This is the third of three conversations with Bob Hopkins. In November we were talking about what the clusters model is, and in December we discussed how clusters balance gathering for worship with scattering in mission.

'Seize the Day' podcast #11 - December 2009: Bob Hopkins talks about how clusters balance gathering and scattering. (17 mins)

We had previously, as non-Christians, been in Brazil. We came home to England, and a question the churches asked us was: 'Oh, you've been in Brazil, you get involved in mission' - thinking that mission was in places like Brazil. But we'd seen enough of Brazil to know that the church in Brazil was much healthier than the church in the UK, and that, therefore, the UK was a major mission field, in the state of the church at the moment.

In this podcast, we're talking for a second time to Bob Hopkins about clusters - mid-sized missional communities. This month, we're talking about how clusters resolve the tension between gathering for worship, teaching, and encouragement, and scattering for mission.

Bob and his wife Mary work with Anglican Church Planting Initiatives. They have pioneered the 'Clusters' approach to missional church-planting, at St. Thomas Crookes church in Sheffield, and now in a growing number of churches around the world.

This is the second of three conversations with Bob Hopkins. In February, we will be talking to Bob about making the transition from traditional church to cluster church.

Also in this programme, we're reviewing 'Clusters: creative mid-sized missional communities,' by Bob Hopkins and Mike Breen.

'Seize the Day' podcast #10 - November 2009: Bob Hopkins talks about Clusters - mid-sized missional communities. (17 mins)

Some people are cross-cultural missionaries, and are passionate: 'I want to reach this council estate. I'm not part of it but I want to reach it.' Or 'I want to reach Iranians and I'm not an Iranian.' But [for] most people it's 'I'm passionate about crafts,' or 'I'm passionate about rock-climbers and Outward Bound people...' - or whatever - '... and I want to see Jesus come and invade that context.' And where clusters form around that sort of passion that's when they last and when they really deliver the sort of fruit that Jesus says we'll be known by.

In this podcast, we're talking to Bob Hopkins about Clusters - mid-sized missional communities.

Bob and his wife Mary work with Anglican Church Planting Initiatives. They have pioneered the 'Clusters' approach to missional church-planting, at St. Thomas Crookes church in Sheffield, and now in a growing number of churches around the world.

With Mike Breen, Bob has co-authored a book called 'Clusters: creative mid-sized missional communities,' which we'll be reviewing on next month's show.

This is the first of three conversations with Bob Hopkins - next month, we'll be talking about how the Clusters model balances gathering for worship and encouragement with scattering for mission.

Also in this programme we're reviewing the new edition of 'Perspectives on the World Christian Movement,' edited by Ralph Winter and Steven Hawthorne.