The end of the first term...

Sorry for not updating the story for a while - a sign of so much activity and not enough time to write about it. That's about right I think for the age and stage of the church. We've gathered around 30 adults and spent the term establishing the culture of the church. After spending a couple of months training some people in how we run smaller groups in homes, we have launched three small groups in Redland, Clifton and Flax Bourton. To encourage everyone to find a small group to join we have just started doing alternate thursday large meetings of the church.

Our thursday larger gatherings have gone well, the regularity contributing to the growing sense of community. These evenings have often been the first place new people experience this new church, many commenting on the friendliness, warmth and sense of peace in the place. Many have been stirred and inspired as they have connected with God in new and surprising ways. People have heard about us through friends of friends, some have sought us out through knowing about our connection to Trent, some have sought us out as they have moved into the area looking for a new church. Many people just want a church that they feel they can bring their friends to, who don't normally do church.

We've found opportunities to serve in the community, and as a church we are already beginning to make a difference together, in a way that as individuals we couldn't. A team spent the afternoon entertaining kids at a local children's hospital, another team had the privilege of serving the homeless with food and hot drinks as part of the city soup run and will continue to on a monthly basis. After meeting the local prison chaplain we have begun to support the work of the prison chaplaincy on an ongoing basis. A group gathered in October to rake leaves on the gardens of the local neighbourhood in Long Ashton, we were a couple of weeks early, but were still able to do a good job and be generous with our time to our neighbours.

Two weeks ago we held a Carol service in a fabulous city centre bar - it was very popular with over 70 people turning up. An octet from the University of Bristol Barbershop Singers led the carols, there was mulled cider, mince pies, candlelight, everyone wrapped up and celebrating the reality of the birth of Jesus - it was a great event. In addition to the BBQ's of late summer, we had family activity afternoon in the park, a golf afternoon and a Body Shop Party. (We had the opportunity through Claire's voluntary involvement with a charity that works with female sex workers in Bristol, for Severn to donate a significant amount of beauty products from the body shop party for the girls on the street).

Road-trips to Cardiff and Trent Vineyards have given a taste of the Vineyard to many people whose involvement in Severn is the only experience of the Vineyard. Claire and I have continued to feel welcomed and warmly embraced by other church leaders in the city and within the southwest region of the Vineyard which has been fantastic.

We have our last thursday meeting before Christmas, small groups also have their last meeting before Christmas this week. We're having a Christmas party at ours this saturday and then a break over Christmas for two weeks (although the small groups may gather for a social over that period).

We are hoping to complete on the purchase of a house before Christmas and I'll be spending much of January and February renovating it. Meanwhile the kids are well and Claire is on top form getting us ready for Christmas.

As ever thanks for your interest in this adventure that started out as just ours, but now is weaving together with the adventures of lots of other people too! Thanks also for any time spent in prayer on our behalf, we are really grateful for your partnership with us in this.

much love

Owen, Claire, Jake, Dan and Millie.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

So we've spent the first four weeks demonstrating and describing the DNA of this new church we are building and it has been great - just great, making new friends and discovering other people with a similar passion as ours. There have been around 25 people who have showed up for each meeting at Bristol City FC, on thursdays. Thanks to Nige, Paul, Justin and Dave, musicians who have come from Trent to help lead the worship time and this week Jay and Abi - Severn's first resident musicians lead worship - I was with them watching them practice yesterday and they sound fantastic!

Now we have described the DNA in the first four weeks, we start the church, proper, this week. There are many who have heard and experienced 'the DNA' of Severn and want to commit to it straight away and there are others who want to stick around for longer to make sure that this really is the right church for them. So this week, Severn Vineyard, Bristol is established! One of the first things we are going to do is serve the local community - this sunday we are going to offer to clear gardens in our neighbourhood of leaves that have fallen in the last few weeks. As well, we are working to find practical ways of serving in a local prison and serving the homeless this autumn.

This month we are planning a weekly gathering in Starbucks (Park Street) after work (tuesdays) which we hope will be popular with students, a dinner party at Zizzi's, Clifton and Sunday afternoon at Ashton Park (see http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=104118701699&ref=share for dates) - all great events to bring friends to and have a blast - the perfect antidote to the darkening evenings! Claire and I will be doing some leadership training with some of those people who have already decided to get involved with the church with a view to start some small groups in December.

Meanwhile, we went to an property auction two weeks ago and bid on two properties to renovate, unfortunately the bidding was high and went above our maximum bids. Being the disciplined person, friends will know I am (!) we didn't blow our budget and so are biding our time, hoping and praying that an appropriate property comes our way soon. The auction room was packed and it was sheer comedy at times as I watched people agonise over whether they should bid more, one guy even got sent to the back of the room for being rude, by the remarkable auctioneer - not quite ebay.

Strangely familiar and yet so special...

First one in the bag, thanks to everyone who has been hoping, praying and sending messages of support, it was strangely like so many gatherings we're hosted before and yet so special as only the first gathering of a new church can be. 27 people turned up including some family and it was a great evening - mainly many of the people we met over the summer. The first four meetings (10th, 17th, 24th and 1st Oct) are all about sharing our story of why we are starting this church, some context of the vineyard, what we anticipate this church will do and the values and priorities that underpin all of that. Nige and Jay sounded fantastic as they led us in worship and the presence of the Holy Spirit seemed very tangible at times during the evening. The coffee was fantastic - not only fairtrade and organic, but also offset the carbon emissions produced flying it from Colombia to the UK. Not a bad start for a church that we want to establish on the most environmental and ethical footing. Praying for momentum and for the grapevine to get working as hard as we are!

Big day tomorrow...

Big day tomorrow as we gather together everyone who we have got to know over the summer who is interested in finding out if they like the idea of Severn Vineyard. Been mad busy with getting ready, but can't wait to get going now!

Praying that the Holy Spirit feels free to do what he wants and hoping that he will grow his church. We think we are doing everything we can, but knowing that prayer is the key to seeing the reality of his power at work among us - join us in praying for this if you can.

Thanks so much

Owen and Claire

When it rains it pours...

School's out and the house has been full of activity with visitors and the kids having a great time, courtesy of Mum. It's been busy period of work for me with the cleaning of the holiday homes in the Cotswolds - I never thought I would be a self-employed cleaner, but it fits well with setting up the church and is not too taxing on the brain - so I'm grateful for it. We continue to search for a house to renovate, but found nothing yet (really praying to find one in the next few weeks or we think I'll need to find additional paid work).

We've taken some holiday staying with Nanny and Grandad in Cheshire and weekend break in London with Grandma and Grandad - Big Ben was the star of the weekend for the kids (they were unbelievably fascinated by the Westminster tower) and I was finally able to introduce the kids to Paddington Bear on Paddington Station. We've read all about his days out with Mr Gruber and so finally we were able to meet the famous bear.

We picked the only day it didn't rain to get down to the New Wine festival where we did a seminar, it still took an hour to get there, even though I thought we were just up the road! It was fantastic to hear from a long time friend who has suffered for the best part of 20 years with rheumatoid arthritis, that her hip which was so affected by the RA, was healed (in other words the pain disappeared and the function returned) when she received prayer that week at New Wine. Having seen our friend badly affected by her illness for many years, this was an astonishing miracle, that encourages us to keep on taking every opportunity to partner with the Holy Spirit to deal with disease and illness ruthlessly.

We're grateful to Steve and Rachel who are helping with setting up the 'back office' of the church, as we ramp up for our first meeting on the 10th September. There is so much to do and get right before we start. We are thrilled that Clare S has got a job in Bristol and will be joining us in the next few weeks and hoping that Erika and Steve who are looking for jobs get sorted soon too. Do think of the kids who have moved down to Bristol - Hannah and Bethany start their new schools in two weeks, pray that they will settle easily and really enjoy making new friends, Jake is back to school too and we are hoping he will get a place at the school near where we live, however we are glad he has settled so well into the school 6 miles away. Dan starts pre-school around the same time.

We are thrilled to be meeting up with people who are moving into the area this summer who want to join in with the church and also people who have grown up in a church, but not really had much to do with it since they left home. Momentum is growing - it really is exhilarating to see the Holy Spirit drawing this whole thing together, we are thrilled to be involved in what He is doing.

We will meet on thursday evenings beginning on the 10th September at Bristol City Football Club (7.45pm) and over the first four weeks Claire and I will talk about our vision and values for the church. If you're praying for us, please pray that the Holy Spirit will have the freedom to do what he wants to do and that momentum continues to grow.

Another date looms large on the horizon, a certain half marathon on the 6th - training going ok, I inadvertently ran 11 miles on thursday when I took a wrong turning!! I was aiming for about 7 miles and ended up run 4 extra! Still, I needed to up the pace, so to speak!

By the way the title of this post relates to the rain in Bristol, it's almost tropical in intensity!

Anna and Farl had a girl by the way, for those who know them - Honey Tallulah!

lots of love

OC

Sweating it out...

Like most people I'm loving the warm weather, but isn't it close? What does that mean? I would have learnt that phrase from my Nan or my Mum, but not quite sure what it means, maybe the air feels close to your skin, I don't know - anyway it makes one sweaty! Especially as I am trying to keep up my training for the Bristol half-marathon in September. I mildly surprised at my efforts so far, training up to 4 miles at 7 minute mile pace (I'm probably boring you right now).

I haven't been out running for a few days, because during the last couple of weeks our activity levels are starting to get back to the normal pace of the last ten years in Nottingham! All the right stuff though; whether through the school gate, toddler groups, the night shelter, soup run, helping friends move house, meeting up with friends of friends, meeting up with people who have just heard about us and got in touch, the postman, the hairdresser, teachers, some colleagues and clients at work, we are having lots of conversations with people about the church. It's like the game Jenga where you push one or two blocks to find the one that moves freely. So we are finding some people genuinely interested in getting involved and many that aren't. We reckon 1 in 5 are genuinely interested. Naturally, we are just loving getting to know people and some people we meet now may become life-long friends, but they may never want to get involved with Severn. That's to our benefit.

I am now working cleaning and welcoming clients to some luxury holiday homes in the Cotswolds. It is about an hours drive and it takes maybe 12 hours a week, including washing and ironing the laundry which Claire is doing! Meanwhile we are looking for a house to buy and renovate and I am completing my Biblical studies with the Vineyard Leadership Institute.

Claire is full on with the kids, and is a taxi driver, going backwards and forwards to school which is in Nailsea (11 mile round trip) - most mum's will agree the school day is never as long as you think it is, and you can never fit all you have to do into it! Dan and Millie are loving minichamps, gymnastics and a couple of toddler groups, Jake too has joined a gymnastics group and swimming regularly. It is great to be getting them into activities that we had been holding off on in Nottingham, because of the move to Bristol.

One upshot of Jake's school being in Nailsea, was that we needed another car. Remarkably, a day before we needed a second car so I could get to work, we bought an absolute bargain, courtesy of my brother-in-law mechanic - Andy. I think Andy was more amazed than anyone else, it was a remarkable car for the money.

We have provisionally booked a room at Bristol City FC, since we think we have already got more people seriously interested in the new church than we can fit into our lounge, which is great. And we have a webpage designed that is the precursor to the website (www.severnvineyard.org), it should be live within a week or two. We have a dedicated public telephone number for the church which is 0117 996 0707 - so we are starting to get ready for the launch.

Sarah has already returned to Bristol after leaving Nottingham and the Roberts family move down from Nottingham next week, Erika will be joining us in September which is all very exciting. Pray for these guys as they make the same journey that we have, that everything will go smoothly.

Lastly, we have met a few people in the last few weeks with connections to famous people like Andy Murray (Go on Murray!) and Chris Martin, however the best was sharing a pint with the actor that plays Lunar Jim (crashing comets!!) - you've got to watch Cbeebies to understand the importance of this to our household!

Our thoughts are with Anna and Farl who are due to give birth to their third child tomorrow, in Adelaide, so that'll be today then, good luck Anna - we are getting excited for you!

It's just gone 9 and time to go and run in the relative cool of the evening and get sweaty!

and another thing..

If you'd like our new address and phone number, please can you email us at owenlynch@me.com

thanks

How many toddler groups can Claire get to?

With Jake safely arrived at his new school, which just happens to be very similar to his old school, Claire is busy enrolling Dan and Millie into champs ball training, gymnastics, preschool and sing a long groups for toddlers (how many groups can she get into?)  She is loving meeting up with other mums and getting into her rhythm of life again, after she had a week of mourning.  Jake's school is more than 5 miles away and so we need a second car so I can get to work and avoid the cabin fever of working at my bureau in our bedroom (thank goodness for broadband).

I am starting work as a cleaner! on fridays for a friend who has some expensive holiday homes, but I am also looking for other flexible work that will provide enough money to live on.  We hope to renovate a property or two, but you know how it is in the current market.  The faith/doubt tension is fairly evenly balanced at the moment.   We are totally committed now, but if I didn't know Jesus better I'd probably be freaking out just at the moment.  Hoping to get some breakthroughs soon.  

Meeting some great people down here who are really interested in what we are doing.  We have said that over the summer we want to gather as many people as we can and if there are more than can fit into our lounge by the beginning of September, then we will hire a room somewhere else.  Well I think with those who have spoken to us, we need to find a room somewhere else already!

I have been researching all the work that goes on in Bristol with the homeless and there is loads going on, which is fantastic.  Looking forward to getting involved in some of this in the next few weeks.  

Back in Nottingham this weekend for Jen and Tim's wedding, still feels weird living in Bristol and planning to drive to Nottingham!

Eleven years in Nottingham come to an end.

Over a month since the last entry and lots has happened.  We have an offer on the house and are looking to complete in a few weeks, we have a house in Bristol to rent near a school where we hope to get a place for Jake.  We spent a week in Bristol during April meeting up with friends of friends and generally getting to know areas of the city we didn't already know.  We have left Trent just last week and I am just tying up loose ends, making preparation for the new church and making the most of time with friends before we leave.

Can't believe we have been in Nottingham for 11 years, did you know that when we arrived in Nottingham in 1998, Google hadn't even been launched!  It's a long time in a young man's life! We're feeling like the Narnia kids who after living in Narnia for a 100 years, fell out of the wardrobe into their own world only to discover that they were still kids!   (watched Prince Caspian the other day - cute but that's all...)  Before we decided to move to Nottingham in 97, we were intent on moving to Bristol, but we were unable to.  Now the time is right.

So it's with a mixture of emotions that we say goodbye to friends in Nottingham - it's been an amazing 11 years - by far the longest period of our adult lives in one place.  We have made friends here who will be life-long friends, we have shared lives with a community of people in Trent and been part of contributing some good to our city, we have had our kids here and though our youngest may not remember Nottingham, for them it has been a tremendous start to their lives and we will always remind them of where they were born and the friends they started their young lives with.

Took Jake climbing at the climbing centre on Monday - he loved it....

First phase done....phew!

Just finished decorating and getting the house ready for sale.  It took longer than we expected, but thankfully is looking fab.  Had two viewings before we have even put it up for sale...which is great in the current market - estate agents gloomy and pricing low in order to get their commission [sorry if you are a estate agent :-(].  Hoping that we can get what we need for the house and that we can sell before we leave in mid May.  Spending a week in Bristol soon to look for houses to rent and schools (for Jake) etc.  Schools are pretty rammed full in Bristol and this will shape where we live to some extent, so hoping for a place within 3 miles of the city centre, also looking for associated pre-school for Dan.

Steve, Rachel, Hannah, Bethany and Sarah have told us that they are moving down with us - which is amazing!  They are changing jobs, homes and roots to help build this church - it is profound and humbling to see what God is doing in other people's lives.  Please pray for them and others who are considering this.

Steve, Rach and their girls have even done what I call a 'blessing the community' activity when they picked up heaps of tourist leaflets that some scallies had littered a place called Queens Square with - they spent quite a while picking them all up and then putting them back in the leaflet holders that they had been taken from....cool - starting as we mean to go on :-)

We have started to connect with a few people who are now living in Bristol and have heard and are interested in finding out about the new church, which is very exciting.  Claire and I are hoping to connect with as many people as possible who are not engaged in any other church, but who are curious about Jesus and about the new church that we want to build.  So if you have any friends, family or colleagues in that sort of situation in Bristol we'd love to connect with them.

God is seems to be speaking to us in very encouraging ways at the moment and this is fueling our prayer life.  We are exhilarated by the current experience, if not a little overwhelmed too!! Five sundays left until we leave Trent and there's lots to do.....

When we get to Bristol, I expect to spend one day a week, doing some work for a friend and spending 4 days a week renovating a small house - not the one we will live in, but a house that we can buy cheap and renovate quickly, in order to make a bit of money.  We have done two and a half house renovations in Nottingham and so we are reasonably confident that this will provide an income initially - but to do this we need to sell our house here in Nottingham.

Thanks for your interest in this, please do post a comment if you want to, cheers Owen and Claire

Where it all begins...

Since we announced our news about us starting a new church in Bristol called Severn Vineyard, we have been asked a number of times, 'how can we pray for you?'

A friend suggested a blog might be useful, so if you're interested to pray, or just interested in finding out more about this new church, then hopefully I'll be able to keep you up to date through this blog.

At the moment, we are focussing on talking with some folks from Nottingham who are interested in coming with us, getting our home ready to put up for sale and getting the charity set up.  We hope to move to Bristol in May, so that we can settle our eldest son into school for the last half term of the year, before the summer.  We plan to rent a house initially and spend the summer connecting with as many people as we can.