Our listening began as a whole district with the Superintendent Ministers and with the Equipping Mission and Ministry Group. Out of this listening came three strands which we believe are key to any NPNP in Yorkshire West and help us discern where to plant NPNP:
- We felt God was saying NPNPs will only flourish and new ecclesial communities begin where the ground has already been cleared. The ground clearing will be different in different places but will be identifiable as part of our discernment.
- In the places where ground has been cleared, the existing Methodist presence is not going to flourish or has already ceased. At the same time, we will be able to discern that Methodism is called to be present and therefore an NPNP is appropriate
- As a district we are committed to a Methodist Way of Life (MWoL). We believe NPNPs should be part of this commitment, our intention is that through MWoL new ecclesial communities will be developed.
Having listened and discerned these three strands, we looked for places where we could see these three strands. Two potential NPNPs emerged one, in Keighley (Pre-Loved) and one in Pontefract.
In Keighley the newly appointed minister, the Revd Nel Shallow, had a dream before she moved into appointment about a shop. When prayer walking the town in the first days of her appointment in September 2021 she found the very shop she had seen in her dream in the Royal Arcade. At the same time it became apparent that the LEP in Keighley shared Church would be dissolved (ground clearing). In conversation with the arcade management she discovered it was available for rent! Believing the dream was of God the circuit took a bold step and took a short lease on the shop. Since then, they have begun a trial of selling pre-loved children’s clothes as a way to engage with and listen more deeply to the community. This enabled the circuit to listen to a wide spectrum of the community from parents to grandparents, other shop owners and business managers, local churches and faith communities, and other charities. In this listening process, we have heard a desire from those not yet part of the church to be part of a gathered community. This desire includes worship, discipleship and mission - even if those words haven’t been used!
In Pontefract during lockdown the two Methodist Churches worshipped together online. When lockdown restrictions lifted this continued using both buildings, prompting a conversation about the future of Methodism in Pontefract. As a result the two churches decided to become one church on two sites with a renewed and shared vision statement – ground clearing. There was a clear sense that alongside the united ‘traditional’ congregation God was calling us to plant a NPNP.
In Keighley the project will build on the success of the trial Pre-loved shop. Firstly, it will increase the number of hours that it is open, enabling more people to connect, and for deeper personal relationships to be built. Some of those visiting the shop are already asking for a group to meet with and share conversation. This will be facilitated by a “Preloved First Contact” working a number of hours each week, alongside the growing number of volunteers. Secondly, a number of Pre-loved gatherings will be developed in a town centre housing community where many of those who currently use the shop live. These gatherings will be the primary places where intentional mission and discipleship are developed and the new ecclesial community will evolve. Read more about Pre-Loved in this article.
In Pontefract the project is at a different stage. Through the conversations with the local charities there is a sense that around one of the two church buildings (Micklegate) there is a significant at the margins need and the opportunity to develop Church at the Margins. The building is also in a part of the town where the council are investing significant money which they hope will increase footfall and opportunity. The clear intention is that the project will include a new gathered ecclesial community.