After a coffee and networking break Mike Farley led the room to share ideas responses to the following questions to bring out the richness of the “DNA” of Christian Community Hubs:-

What makes Community Hubs tick?

PRAYER – BELONGING – HEART TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE – COMMUNITY – DIVERSITY- WARM WELCOME – CHRIST CENTRED

What Values lie at the heart?

DEPENDENCE ON GOD – PRAYER – PARTNERSHIP – RELATIONSHIPS – PARTICIPATION

What are the most important aspects of your community hub?

SANCTUARY – FRIENDSHIP – VOLUNTEERS – CHANGED LIVES – OPEN TO ALL – JESUS!

Over a networking lunch we also had four highly relevant workshops from our exhibitors, this is a taste of their work:-

Afternoon Workshops

Good Help and Referral – Peter Heywood

The people who come to our Hubs have many different needs. How do we recognise those needs, and provide them with support ourselves, and how do we make referrals to other organisations ? This all starts with Good Help – long term personalised support – and about guiding some people to other places where they can receive the specific help that need. Click here for a full summary https://christiancommunityhubs.uk/good-help-and-referral/

Partnership – Mike Farley

Mike Farley is Community Connector Lead with Bridge Church in Lincoln, which is funded by the NHS to lead a network of community hubs in Lincoln and Lincolnshire. Click here for the workshop outline and some excellent case studies:- https://christiancommunityhubs.uk/partnership/

Growing Christian Community – Nigel Adams

As co-ordinator of the movement Nigel led a workshop on the core issue of how do we appropriately share faith in contexts where everyone is included and there are partnerships with secular agencies. It is possible to grow wonderful, vibrant Christian communities where all can learn to love one another and love God. Below is an excerpt from teh workshop and powerpoint available at Christ-centred Community

Concluding Comments and What’s Next

James and Nigel rounded up a wonderfully encouraging day. It is clear that there is so munch potential for mutual encouragement and learning as we are seeing God doing beautiful things in Christian community hubs nation wide. The day ended with Psalm 67 as a blessing and opportunities to pray for one another as God returns us to our different contexts

What’s Next

Online gatherings and webinars – starting with a gathering to particularly support those just getting started, early in the new year

Web based resources – as well as the launch event content we will be collating other resources as well – please do let us know if you have resources or stories you’d like to share

Local network gatherings – we’d love to encourage local networks, so if you’d like to see a network in your area do get in touch and we’ll do our best to support that.

Consultancy and Training – One of the benefits of a well-connected movement is that we can tap into all sorts of expertise and experience. If you think there’s anything you’d like help with, do contact nigel@transformingnottstogether.org.uk