CTiC AGM – Sun 13th October 2019

Chelmsford – a City of Communication of the Gospel? Here’s Marconi’s very first radio workshop in Mildmay Road/Hall Street – you can see the spire of Life Church, our AGM venue, further along the road.

Communicating a vision for our city

A big thank you to everyone who came along to our 2019 AGM. Our time together was very much a time to explore and communicate vision of what we see The Lord doing and wanting to do in our City.

We invited all the Christians of our City, leaders and ‘grassroots’ alike to find out more. There were envisioning and motivating talks from local Christian leaders and influencers, opportunity for praise and worship and not least for prayer.

Below are some highlights:

AGM Highlights

Nearly 50 people were present, representing a number of our City’s Churches and ministries. CTiC Chair, David Gilbey, started the afternoon by reflecting on the legacy to our City of Marconi and the pioneer work with the development of wireless. This initially took place at the end of the same road, Hall Street, where the AGM was taking place. He expressed the belief that Chelmsford is positioned to be a City of communication of the Good News of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nation and nations.

‘Admin’ was kept to a minimum, but those present were called to endorse our Committee, to which we welcomed two new  members. The Committee now looks like this:

David Gilbey, Life Church, Chair
Pete Bardwell, Oasis Church, Vice Chair
Robin Stevens, All Saints’, Springfield, Treasurer
Richard Cecil, St Andrew’s, Sandon, Secretary
Sue Gibson, Skylark Church
Ben Gardner, Life Church
Roy Brackley, Foodbank
Rachel Hewings, Cathedral
Rev. Gemma Fraser, St John’s and St Luke’s, Moulsham -newly elected
Rev. Dan Pierce, St. Francis, Beaulieu -newly elected

It was great to hear from our Treasurer, Robin Stevens, that following a change from requiring subscriptions to requesting donations from our members, so far this year we have received more money than the last, with fewer (so far) having given! We already have enough in the bank to cover the Procession of Witness next year!

We heard from three leaders of Christian organisations who imparted short but insightful thoughts and vision:

Dave PYE, Chair of Made for More, (the new name of SYM, Chelmsford’s Schools Youth Ministries) reflected the conviction that so many secondary school children are not experiencing life as God intends. We are made for joy, for laughter and so Made for More have sixteen mentors to support particular students in secondary schools in Chelmsford. Dave then shared a vision for a chaplain in each secondary school in 3 years.

Diane Regan,  spoke of co-founding Kintsugi Hope, a Chelmsford based UK wide charity that comes alongside those with mental and emotional health problems. The name Kintsugi is based on the Japanese method of repairing earthenware with gold powder in the glue enhancing and beautifying the look of the repair. This is a parable for finding treasure in life’s scars. She then put the need to find Hope in Jesus at the centre and advised how Kintsugi Hope are providing a 12-week courses to help people find Him. It is not therapy nor counselling but it is facilitated peer mentoring.

Rev. Dennis Pethers, leader of international ministry, The Rooftop, spoke of the vision he has to help Christians, particularly leaders, to see a city like God does. In Acts 10 we see Peter going on the rooftop to pray and there he began to understand that the gospel is for all. Dennis said that the church needs to wake up to make disciples beyond the walls of the churches. He then spoke of how on 10th October 2020 The Rooftop ministry is organising what is being called The Global Encounter in which Christians from over 100 countries go to a high place in or near their town and ask Jesus, “What do you see and how can we join with you?”

Our Secretary Richard has kindly produced a more complete summary of the afternoon, in the form of Minutes. You can view or download these by clicking here.

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The journey of CTiC

Published before the AGM, some further reflections by CTiC Chair David Gilbey:

For the last two years or so, CTiC has become much more relational in the way we partner with the Christians of our City – the churches, para-church organisations and individually. We do not so much represent them, but aspire to champion, promote and be a catalyst to all The Lord is doing through each.

We want to see The Church, God’s Ekklesia in Chelmsford, together ‘As One’, friends, in partnership joining with Jesus in His mission here!

During 2019, we have started a more intentional journey to engage with the City itself, which included in June, our City Prayer Breakfast. Following this, opportunities to engage with the City Council are opening up.

We would like to see CTiC become a real ‘doorway’ between the Christian community and community at large in Chelmsford, signposting and bringing understanding between the two, so we can all serve our City better and at the same time see more of the light of the gospel message shine out to our streets and communities.