UnderParty - DIGITAL CHURCH PLANTING

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Background

For the last 30+ years I have been involved (with my late-husband) in starting new groups. These days they might be termed Fresh Expressions or Church Plants. Some went well. Some had a limited life. Some were resounding disasters. Every time we learnt more about the dynamics of starting new things. We also learnt about the importance of journeying with others. Exploring can be lonely.

Our sister church in the USA, the United Methodist Church (UMC), is holding a Digital Church Planting Webinar for six weeks (August 4 - September 8) with a wonderful line-up of excellent speakers, some of whom I know personally. I decided I wanted to attend and, given that I am now alone, started to think about who I wanted to attend with.

Topics include:

• Theological Foundations of Digital Church Planting
• The Nuts and Bolts of Social Media
• How to create a budget for an online church
• Online Discipleship Options and Platforms
• Multi-Ethnic Church planting 

You can find out more on their website.

Although the speakers are embedded in ministry in the US, the webinar topics are relevant to our current and emerging contexts, especially while we are doing so much online. However, the time of gathering is difficult for those of us in Oz (early hours of the morning) and the cost is prohibitive for many of us (US$200-pp). I decided there were many people in the UCA that I longed to hear from about some of these issues. My dream was to find others who might be passionate about DOING things,

The Organisers have generously enabled me to purchase the recordings of the sessions to make them available for use with the UCA in Australia. I am committing to getting these 'up and available' and ensuring some of the most useful resources for us are available through our networks, resource people and libraries.

Three meetings were held to see how much interest there is...

Monday 27th July 5.30pm-6pm

Tuesday 28th July 10.30am-11am

Tuesday 28th July 5.30pm-6pm

Based on feedback from the first 3 briefing and brainstorming sessions, the links will be available to Facilitators on September 23 and we will hold Facilitator briefing sessions on September 30. Registered Participants will be able to download links for the first 2 sessions from October 1.

(A few of us will try to watch the whole lot by Oct 3.) 

Australian Webinar sessions 

Option 1:   Weekly - October 7-November 7 2020 

Option 2:   Compressed - November 4-7, 2020 

Both of these include 6 x 2 hours of input materials (12 presenters), and 6 x 1 hour Australian discussions and Worship and Prayer/Meditation bookends, plus access to the Open Space Day (with Action Plans for Australian context).

(see timetables below)

_______________

Timetable (with Options):

Welcome, Launch and Watchparty - 7 October (Daytime) and Repeated (Evening)

WEEKLY COHORT 

(Yes - It is possible to swap or change groups, but please be courteous and let me know and also be polite if a group is already established... don't just barge in!)

Wednesday afternoon groups  12.45-4.45pm

Afternoon Groups 1pm-4.45pm

1pm-1.15pm Prayer/Meditatiion

1.15pm-3.15pm Watchparty (Note - people can watch before this if they want)
3.15-3.30 Afternoon Tea
3.30-4.30pm Facilitated Discussion on Session     
4.30-4.45pm Gathering Worship

Wednesday evening groups  4.30pm-8.30pm

Evening Groups 4.30-8.30pm

4.30-4.45 Gathering Worship

4.45-6.45pm Watchparty (Note - people can watch before this if they want)
6.45-7.15pm Dinner Break 

7.15pm-8.15pm Facilitated Discussion on Session     
8.15-8.30pm Prayers/Meditation

#1  October 7

#2  October 14

#3  October 21

#4  October 28

#5  November 4 

#6 AND OPEN SPACE Event - Saturday November 7  

    (9am-11am Watchparty) 

    11.30-4pm Facilitated Discussions and Open Space Conference (see below)

COMPRESSED COHORT
#1-2  Wednesday November 4  10am-4.45pm

#3,5  Thursday November 5    10am-4.45pm

#4     Friday November 6         10am-1pm 

#6 and OPEN SPACE Event - Saturday November 7 

COMMON FINAL DAY

How the final day is likely to work...

Saturday November 7

9am Watchparty (Note - people can watch before this if they want)  

11.30am  Facilitated Discussion on Session 6       

1pm-3pm Facilitated Open Space - development of Action plans

3-3.45 Cuppa, Feedback and Polls

3.45-4pm Closing Prayers/Blessing

Participate

Method

- Facilitator Guidelines 

1. Please intro yourself - what land you are on, name, something about this that gives you energy

2. Invite others to intro, but hold them to a timer! ;)

3. Clarify the focus of the group this week... exploring the learning and how it influences our questions about local applications

Reading List (courtesy of Tim Hein - UCLT, Adelaide)

Church Planting
• Church Turned Inside Out: A Guide for Designers, Refiners and Re-Aligners by Linda Bergquist
• Anonymous: Naming the God of Esther and the Women Who Plant Churches by Dori Gorman & Sara McGue
• The Wholehearted Church Planter: Leadership from the Iniside Out by Allan Karr and Linda Bergquist
• The Multi-Nucleated Church: Towards a Theoretical Framework for Church Planting in High-Density Cities by Linda Bergquist and Sean Benesh
• City Shaped Churches: Planting Churches in a Global Era by Linda Bergquist and Michael Crane
• The Pioneer Gift: Explorations in Mission by Cathy Ross and Jonny Baker
• Church Planting in Europe: Connecting to Society, Learning from Experience edited by Evert van de Pol and Joanne Appleton
• Church Planting in the Inner City: The Urban Expression Story by Juliet Kilpin
• Missional. Monastic. Mainline.: A Guide to Starting Missional Micro-Communities in Historically Mainline Traditions by Elaine Heath & Larry Duggins
Missional, Spirituality, Emerging and other.
• Urban to the Core: Motives for Incarnational Mission by Juliet Kilpin
• Missional Mom - Helen Lee
• Urban Spirituality – Karina Kreminski
• Chasing the dragon by Jackie Pullinger
• Hope from the Margins: New Ways of Being Church by Anne Wilkerson-Hayes
• I Am Somewhere Else: Gospel Reflections from an Emerging Church by Barbara Glasson
• Untamed: Reactivating a Missional Form of Discipleship by Debra Hirsch
• Growing Churches in the Power of the Spirit by Cindy Strickler (one of three editors)
• Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good by Amy Sherman, Steve Garen and Reggie McNeal • The Mystic Way of Evangelism: A Contemplative Vision for Christian Outreach by Elaine Heath

Sessions 

(This is where you can go back and rewatch anything or choose something to watch in advance... etc...)

https://underparty-digitalchurchplanting.qiqochat.com/resources 

UnderParty Gathering

Pre-recorded Sessions

Moving Down Under - transition 

Facilitated Conversations

Open Space Gathering (Options and Actions)

Under and Out! (Sending Forth)

COSTS

Seed Fund Partner Contributions Participant Registrations

Assembly $150

Synod of NSW/ACT $150 (tbc)???

Synod of Vic/Tas $150

Synod of SA $100  

Facilitators $15
Participants $25
Unwaged  $12.50
Donations help someone else

Suggested contribution from Presbytery partners $100

What is included: 

(Digital Bundle will be available to partners and facilitators before the event, then participants after the event)  

12 hours of sessions

  6 hours of Australian-based contextual discussions (led by 2 people in each small group) and worship/prayer/meditation links

  2 hour Facilitator debrief and summary report developed for Partners (can be used at other gatherings, e.g. Presbytery Gatherings, Mission Strategy sessions, etc...)

Role of Facilitators

Pray

Facilitators will work in teams of 2. Each pair will have their own ‘zoom/Qiqo discussion space’.

Facilitators are asked to commit to facilitating at least 2 x 1-hour discussions. [If you are available for all 6 that’s great, but working for 2 allows you to access everything]

Tasks include:

• watching 2 or more sessions in advance of the discussions
• preparing a few points/comments about how the session raises issues for us in Australia - what is relevant and what is different?
• prepare (between the two facilitators) five minutes (maximum) to transition from watching the session to having a local conversation (this can be a single person or a conversation between the two, but still needs to be brief)
• prepare up to 3 questions to kickstart the conversation
• moderating the online group discussion (some guidelines will be developed by and shared with everyone)
• summarising the areas of conversation the group covered (without breaching confidentiality) for feedback to partners
• participating in the Facilitators’ Debrief OR filling in a Debrief report

Role of Partners

Pray

Partners - contribute $100-$150 (feel free to make donations if you are able) - AND have someone from your organisation participating (not as a facilitator, but just being in groups and being intelligent!… makes a big difference to the quality of the conversations)

Partners promote through their own digital platforms and generally be encouraging… focus on what is helpful and working and how it could be even better into the future.  :)

[Please note:  I’m doing this for love - I’m not paid for this, but I am passionate. I’m doing it because I know some of the presenters and I think they are great!]

Partners will receive access to the full digital bundle AND get a collected report after the event of how we went here. This may prove helpful in thinking about future events.

Method

We’ll use ZOOM and QIQO https://qiqochat.com/about 

QIQO is a wraparound for Zoom that allows us to name a series of ‘gardens’ (parallel zoom rooms) that people can elect to move between. It means we can create elective conversation groups and people can choose the rooms they go into. It also allows us to manage entry and feedback. The cost is per person per minute and per day, which we should cover with the rego. (Our license, to use the UMC materials, will be covered by the contributions of Partners).

People will get the link to the Sessions at least 48-72 hours before the Discussion groups, but there will also be a ‘watchparty’ 2.5 hours before the Discussion Group - to enable people to watch, break then discuss…

People are encouraged to do one of the following:

• watch from home
• watch in small groups in homes or other small gathering places
• connect with others at the Webinar/Conference

If someone volunteers, we could also have a Closed FB group - optional.

Note: We could also line up a followup conversation with some of the presenters, but I’m not promising that yet!

I will work with a couple of other people to provide a 5 minute intro to each session:

• Welcome
• Acknowledgement
• Centring Prayer/Meditation
• Introduction to the session
• Explanation of the group process

At the end of the whole thing, we will have a {very} short Plenary worship.