CRUCIBLE COURSE

Next course

Becoming Human
7pm - 9pm
9, 16, 30 October, 6 November 2024

£40
£20 unwaged

what is crucible?

A melting pot, where antiquated structures are made pliable and reshaped.

A place where different cultures or styles can mix together and produce something new.

A time when powerful political, social, intellectual or economic forces converge.

who is the course for?

Christians across western culture are facing profound challenges and fresh opportunities. The long era of ‘Christendom’ is coming to an end. We now live in a plural society, with multiple religious options alongside the prevailing secular assumptions, in which Christianity has lost its position of dominance and privilege and churches are on the margins of society. Although we seem to be declining in numbers and influence, this context offers many new possibilities – if we have the courage and imagination to grasp them.

Crucible is for Christians with courage and imagination, who suspect that:

We need to operate as cross-cultural missionaries because we live in a cross-cultural mission context.

We need to think creatively about incarnating the gospel and planting new kinds of churches in emerging and diverse cultures.

We need to recover the biblical vision of shalom and reflect on how we live as followers of Jesus in light of this all-embracing vision.

We need to pay particular attention to the margins, because we serve the God who frequently does new things there:
- On the margins of society among the disenfranchised and people experiencing poverty
- At the margins of culture, where creative thinking explores new possibilities.
- On the margins of the familiar, the spaces all around us, neglected or ignored, but full of potential.

crucible online

The Crucible Course moved online during 2020-21. All six modules were taught in this way and feedback from the participants has been really positive.
Since 2022 we have been partnering with the Methodist Church to offer the "On the Edge' module, which is open to all to book.

Crucible Flyer

Book Crucible Courses

what is taught?

stream 1

After Christendom investigates the many opportunities, as well as the challenges, that the end of imperial Christianity presents.

On the Edge examines the dynamics of mission and ministry in marginal urban and rural communities and offers biblical and practical insights.

Church Unplugged presents the challenge of pioneering creative and contextual forms of Christian community and explores the processes involved.

stream 2

Restoring Hope explores how, in light of God’s mission to bring shalom (peace) to all creation, we can live towards that hope and create communities of peace.

Becoming Human probes the dynamics of discipleship and asks how we can become more fully human as followers of the Son of Man.

Jesus Unplugged imagines how we might re-tell the story of Jesus today in ways that connect with contemporary cultures.

On The Edge

Examines the dynamics of mission and ministry in marginal urban and rural communities and offers biblical and practical insights.

This new module replaces the previous Urban Challenge module and will include sessions on:

Marginality
Urban and Rural dynamics
Good news to the poor
God on the margins
Missional listening

Becoming Human

Probes the dynamics of discipleship and asks how we can become more fully human as followers of the Son of Man. With thought-provoking insights into contemporary discipleship.

Sessions on previous modules have included:

Becoming Human – the journey we are on
Following the Son of Man
Becoming human ourselves
Helping others become human
Reflecting Together
Creating healthy communities
Group work: Struggling towards humanity
Becoming human together
Group Bible study: The Rule of Christ (Matthew 18: 15-17)
Discipleship and mission

Restoring Hope

Explores how, in light of Godʼs mission to bring shalom (peace) to all creation, we can live towards that hope and create communities of peace. A big picture module with stretching insights.

Sessions on previous modules have included:

Re-imagining hope
Re-neighbouring
Recounting stories of hope
Re-distributing power
Re-formatting church
Re-framing the city

After Christendom

Investigates the many opportunities, as well as the challenges, that the end of imperial Christianity presents. A core module which sets the context for all that we explore together in Crucible.

Sessions on previous After Christendom modules have included:

What was Christendom and why might we be interested?
What is Post-Christendom and how do we respond?
Group Bible study: church in Exile? Psalm 137; Jeremiah 29
Reading the Bible after Christendom: what if Jesus meant what he said?
Group Bible study: paradigm shift? Acts 11:1-18
Jesus, mission and church
Group work: Tension points?
The twilight zone: living between paradigms

Jesus Unplugged

Imagines how we might re-tell the story of Jesus today in ways that connect with contemporary culture. With freedom to push the boundaries we explore words, themes, images and methods which might help.

Sessions on previous modules have included:

Following the Way
Speaking my language: how different people learn
How did Jesus communicate?
Story telling
Film night
Why did Jesus die?
Why did they kill Jesus?
A story of hope

Running online

10 and 17 April, 1 and 8 May 2024
7pm - 9pm

see below for booking links

Church Unplugged

Offers resources for pioneering new churches and new kinds of churches and to pioneer these in emerging or marginalised cultures beyond the scope of many inherited churches.

Sessions on previous versions of this modules have included:

Planting, emerging, creating – where are we now?
A church planter’s story
12 ways to plant a church
What’s new – shape, ethos, theology, mission?
Creating new churches – creativity and case studies
Research and preparation
Team building
Group sharing
Group work: Church: essentials and non-essentials
Guided reflection

Running:
Saturdays 3 Jun & 1 Jul 2023

choose your course

See below for courses currently running, or planned.

On the Edge
Early 2024
18 January, 25 January, 1 February, 8 February,
Break,
22 February, 29 February
Closed for bookings

Jesus Unplugged
10 and 17 April, 1 and 8 May 2024
£50 / £25 unwaged
(Bursary places for mission partners, email [email protected]

Book

connect for support

Two ways you can connect during the course for additional support and engagement

community of practice

Our partners, Urban Life will be hosting a ‘community of practice’ after each module for those who want to dig deeper and reflect on how to apply what you have learned. These will be online and open to all course participants, instead of or in addition to the learning hubs. Urban Life describe this:

‘A Community of Practice is an online opportunity for practitioners from across the United Kingdom to gather together to reflect upon their work. If you would value a reflective space with a small group of others to unpack the themes and questions raised for you by the course and to relate them to your wider life and work then this could be for you. The Community of Practice will be made up of a maximum of eight participants and two facilitators. It will meet online via Zoom for a two-hour session each month, from September to December initially and is offered on a pay-as-you-feel basis. If there is interest from more than eight people then we can look at running more groups.’

trainers

The course will be taught by a team of experienced trainers, mainly drawn from the sponsoring agencies, all of whom will have practical experience and the ability to reflect theologically on the implications of mission in a changing culture. The core team and planning group consists of Alexandra Ellish, Simon Jay, Sara & Barney Barron, Stuart Murray Williams, Simon Mattholie and Carmel Murphy-Elliott.

Scroll through to see the bios of the various trainers who help to deliver Crucible Course.

South African by birth, Alexandra Ellish spent her teenage years in England, studied theology in Edinburgh and later Prague, where she was also ordained as a Baptist minister. Alexandra has been part of Urban Expression in various ways since 2009 and is now part of the team of co-ordinators for the organisation. Alexandra, her husband Philip and their two children live in Peckham, South London, where Alexandra is also the minister of Amott Baptist Church. Alexandra loves the Anabaptists, Woman’s Hour and long walks with her Jack Russell, Westley.to edit.

Stuart Murray Williams spent 12 years as an urban church planter in East London and has continued to be involved in church planting as a trainer, mentor, writer, strategist and consultant. Under the auspices of the Anabaptist Network and Urban Expression, he works as a trainer and consultant, with particular interest in urban mission, church planting and emerging forms of church. He has written books on church planting, urban mission, emerging church, the challenge of post-Christendom and the Anabaptist tradition. He is married to Sian and has two grown up sons and three grandchildren.

Simon Jay lives in Birmingham, and alongside his wife, Rachel, set up the Haven Community Project on the Welsh House Farm estate. They intentionally moved into the area and now lead an Urban Expression team who work alongside the community. He is currently studying for a master’s degree and ministerial training at Bristol Baptist College and also sits on various panels to approve foster carers. One of his proudest moments is when he completed the first Birmingham Marathon.

Sara Barron is an accredited Baptist minister and until recently she has had a pioneering ministry on a large council estate near Portsmouth where she lived for 16 years. Sara is a trustee of the Incarnate Network and a development worker for CURBS, which resources, trains and supports children’s workers in urban and estate areas. Having recently moved to Looe in Cornwall, Sara is spending a year of missional listening in this new context before embarking on pioneer ministry in Looe. Sara is married to Barney, also a Baptist minister, and they have four children.

Harvey Kwiyani is an African mission scholar and practitioner who has, since 2001, served in missions in several countries in Europe as well as the United States, working mostly amongst locals as a theological educator, missional coach and church planter. He holds a PhD in Mission and Leadership from Luther Seminary in Minnesota, USA, having done his research on the theological implications of the missionary work of Africans in the West. He oversees the work of Missio Africanus and teaches African Christianity, cross-cultural missions and leadership at Birmingham Christian College and at Church Mission Society’s Pioneer Leadership Training Program in Oxford. In addition to many scholarly articles published in journals, he is the author of Sent Forth: African Missionary Work in the West (2014) and Multicultural Kingdom: Ethnic Diversity, Mission and the Church (2020).

Barney Barron is an accredited minister with the Baptist Union of Great Britain, a founding trustee of the Incarnate Network and South-West Coordinator for Urban Expression. Barney served as a pioneer minister for 16 years on a large urban estate near Portsmouth. During that time, he planted Warren Park Café Church and re-planted a Baptist Church in Westbourne village. He also initiated and led Communitas, a youth and community charity. Following some research looking at marginalisation and deprivation in coastal communities, Barney moved in May 2018 to Looe in Cornwall.

Simon Mattholie is an accredited Baptist minister. Following a career in banking, Simon trained as a church planter/evangelist in the late 1990’s, with a passion for the rural context. Simon has led small and medium-sized churches as well as acted as a consultant for mission and church planting for the local Baptist associations. Since 2011, Simon has served Rural Ministries as the Chief Executive, promoting investment in mission which allows people to have permission to fail. Simon lives on a smallholding in Suffolk with numerous animals, his long-suffering wife, daughter, son-in-law and grandson.

Andrew Grinnell has been involved with developing responses to poverty for over 20 years. After working nationally with The Salvation Army, he spent 10 years living in a low-income estate in East Leeds seeking to develop places of hospitality with local people. Andrew is involved in developing a number of initiatives across Leeds that seek to address poverty and inequality. He is a facilitator for the Leeds Poverty Truth Commission that brings together people who struggle against poverty and leaders from within public, private, third and faith sectors. Together, they seek to address poverty within the city. He also supports other local teams to establish commissions across the UK. Andrew is a core team member of Urban Life where he teaches on a number of formal and informal training programmes. His doctoral research addressed the political and societal implications of the practice of Christians relocating to low-income neighbourhoods in the UK.

Emma Scott is a minister in the Salvation Army and has led both established churches and a new gathered community. She lives in Mitcham with her husband Mark and 3 children. During this time she has loved getting to know and working with the community. Mitcham Salvation Army has numerous smaller gatherings based around different ‘tables’ and seeks to offer hospitality wherever they find ourselves. Emma has a particular heart for women who have left abusive partners and has developed this area of work within the SA both locally and nationally. She has been around Urban Expression for a lot of years now and is currently a team leader.

Juliet Kilpin coordinates Peaceful Borders, a peacemaking initiative that grew out of grass-roots involvement in the Calais 'jungle' from August 2015 until its demolition in November 2016. Peaceful Borders seeks to accompany and equip peacemakers responding to forced migration and continues to support refugees and volunteers primarily in northern France and the UK. Juliet is also a Community Organiser with Citizens UK, building alliances to work for justice in Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. Previously, Juliet co-founded and coordinated Urban Expression, creating churches in marginalised urban communities, with whom she helped pioneer a church in Shadwell, East London. She also project-managed the relaunch of The Fishermen's Chapel in Leigh-on-Sea. Juliet is also a freelance consultant and trainer.

Simon Goddard is a Baptist minister and Third Order Franciscan. He has been a climate campaigner for a number of years and has been inspired by the principles and impact of Extinction Rebellion. He recently co-founded the Eastern Regenerative Land Society, which seeks to help communities work together and purchase land for tree planting and community agriculture projects. He is also founding director of RiverTree, through which he works in the pursuit of fruitfulness in the mission of God, and is co-author of the book Big Hearted: The Gospel of Simple Words and a Large Heart. He is married to Lisa and foster dad to Toby.

Sarah Fegredo is a Baptist minister working in a small church in North West Leicestershire. The church is inherited but runs a pioneering community café as its main ministry and is also considering how to respond to new housing estates springing up around the village. Alongside that, Sarah is a tutor and lecturer at CYM (Children Youth Mission) at St. John’s College in Nottingham, working with students in a variety of contextual ministries. She is also an associate tutor of Northern Baptist College. Alongside all that, she enjoys cooking and sharing hospitality, gardening and engaging with contemporary culture (aka watching telly)

Having been a physiotherapist for 13 years and a Youth and Community Worker in the West Midlands, Carl Smethurst trained for Baptist Ministry and moved to a small church in a beautiful but socially deprived part of coastal West Somerset. After an exciting, challenging and blessed seven years there, Carl became the Regional Minister for Mission for the South West Baptist Association with responsibility (amongst other things!) for pioneering mission and church planting within the Baptist family of churches in the region. More importantly, he is husband to Philippa and Dad to two wonderful girls (13 and 10). He enjoys playing the guitar, exploring the beautiful South West countryside on foot, good food and decent real ale with friends.

Karen Stallard is an Integrative Arts Psychotherapist and ordained minister. She currently runs her own private therapeutic practice business, ‘Feeling Found’ from her home in Islington. She works as a trainer for Trauma Informed Schools UK and also teaches Art Therapy at Goldsmiths University. Karen trained in Performing Arts and then in Church Planting and Evangelism at Spurgeon’s College. She was ordained as a Baptist minister in 2001 and spent seven years working with Urban Expression in Tower Hamlets. Karen then worked for eight years as the minister of Union Chapel in Islington, whilst training in Psychotherapy. Karen enjoys making art, playing music, brewing beer, doing anything creative and she loves living in London!

Anna Jacklin is a pioneer in Southampton, where she is one of the leaders of Monty’s Community Hub – a community development charity, social enterprise and fresh expression of church. Anna also works for The Children’s Society, developing networks and delivering training to support young carers. Anna is passionate about enabling people and communities to unlock their potential, and has enjoyed expressing this passion through education, community development, and youth work. Anna loves being creative, exploring nature, being in the sunshine, and hearing people’s stories.

Paul Keeble and his wife Judith have lived in a Manchester inner-city neighbourhood since the early 80s, raising a family and as part of a local church. After some years travelling as a bass-player in several bands he decided to concentrate on resourcing mission and ministry where he lived, and in 1996 co-founded Urban Presence with Derek Purnell to support this work. He has been involved in a number of local organisations, ministries, churches and charities, and a few nationally, including Street Pastors and Movement for Justice and Reconciliation (MJR). In 2002 he helped set up community organisation ’Carisma’, a grass-roots response to a gang violence issue in Manchester. In 2013 he completed an MPhil degree, ’Mission-With’, researching aspects of mission in the urban context. A Mission-With book was published in 2017 and the William Temple Foundation Urban Tract ‘Going the Distance’ in 2021.

Howard Jones has been a Baptist minister since 1988; previous to that he was a musician and music teacher. Having served in two Baptist churches over 21 years, in 2009 Howard and Iona took a leap of faith and moved to Cobridge in Stoke on Trent as an Urban Expression team of two (they’ve since been joined by others and love being part of a team which feels more like a family). Howard has a passion for cooking and teaches people how to cook healthy food on a budget. Over the past few years he has been undertaking a solo performance of Mark’s gospel in Stoke on Trent and across the country.

Book on the Crucible Course

partners

Crucible Course is based in the UK and is run by partner organisations:

Crucible Course is brought to you by Urban Expression

contact us:

Manchester skyline image: Carmel Murphy Elliot