Newhaven

Planting a church isn’t like starting a new club. It’s a spiritual activity that requires the leadership of the Spirit and the obedience and courage of his people.

Below is a list of things we’ve felt over time as we’ve tried to discern what the Lord is saying:

August ’22:

Reading ‘Multipanting’ by Colin Baron and dreaming about a vision to establish ‘extended family’ size churches of 150 in Newhaven, Denton and Alfriston a prophetic word came through:

“It’s time to go again… specifically with regards to church planting and new services.”

September ’22:

Prophetic word from church member confirming faith that God wants to move and restore people in Newhaven

October ’22:

Reading ‘Invisible Divides’ and sensing faith for a church that reaches and connects with people across social divides, particularly into working class communities.

January ’23

Loaves and fishes. At the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus spoke to his disciples saying simply ‘you give them something to eat’. The Lord has given us what we need to feed many, we’re to use what we have and trust that God will multiply it ad we go and that many will be fed spiritually through our work.

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As with a jigsaw without a master plan to go off, we don’t know what the final picture or people will look like but that shouldn’t stop us from making a start:

Overall I believe that God wants us to get started with whatever pieces are currently available. It may well take some time to get off the ground, but as soon as we’ve sorted the pieces and have spent time working out what the image is going to be, we’ll be able to work at completing the final picture. We know that in order to end up with a finished picture, it will involve many different pieces which will eventually come together to form exactly that which God has planned.

April ’23

After a time of prayer an individual sent the following through:

I feel that god is saying that there will be people who have fallen out of love with the bride of christ… the church (maybe they will have been hurt by the church) and they will come to the church and god will do a amazing change in them and they will fall in love with the church. After this the biggest export out of newhaven port will be people going and share the good news of jesus not materialistic and worldly items

June ’23

Someone shared an image of and faith for a pop-up cafe out of which people are given free drinks and refreshments and that this would be used to establish key relationships with people.

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Prayer. We must never downplay the significance of prayer. Rather than starting ‘on our feet’ with a Sunday gathering, perhaps we should be aiming to start ‘on our knees’ and establish a Prayer Room in Newhaven to meet in and intercede for the town from.

July ’23

A group of us at Everyday Church prayed for the Newhaven church plant initiative, during which someone felt they had a word to share…

“The Lord showed me a Community garden, growing a variety of plants and vegetables, each one a reflection of the different gifts the Lord can use in the development of the church plant, feeding the poor, reflecting the beauty of the Lord – Sunflowers that turn to the sun to receive the glory of God’s lovely light and encourage others to do the same. There were many different bright colours and sizes of plants but all watered by the same Spirit, and attractive to life around.  There were some succulents – that survive in dry conditions but keep on going and growing and stabilize the ground.  There were some sweet smelling and flavoursome herbs – each different but enriching the perfume as the warmth of the Lord’s love received enabled them to add to the flavour and enrich the experience of the church planting.