Wherever we are in life, we are building communities of some sort, be it family, a church life group or a whole congregation. In my role leading our new 3pm Blunham location, I’ve had the opportunity to learn quite a bit about building community and I’ve boiled down to these top five things I’ve been learning:

1. SMALL TALK, BIG TALK

Building community, small or large, requires people to connect and form relationships by talking to one another. To this end, we should always be asking ourselves, how am I making it easy to talk to each other in this community?

We have to make space for small talk: the weather or the football. We also have to make space for big talk, or else our community becomes just a social club. For us at Blunham, we love catching up over a coffee after services and prayer meetings, and we also love building time into our meetings to talk about the bigger things in life.

Small talk by itself won’t grow a community. Big talk only can become intense. In your community, are you building in time for both?

2. BUILDING COMMUNITY TAKES TIME

There is no replacement for time spent in one another’s company. There is no shortcut for this.

To truly know one another, we need time in each other’s company and time to develop trust to be vulnerable. Have you ever tried being vulnerable with someone you’ve only just met? Me neither. These things take time.

Communication is more about listening than talking, and so in your community, are you taking the time to listen well?

3. THE HARVEST IS PLENTIFUL

The rewards of building community are huge. One of my favourite weeks as a Sunday location was in March when we met as a community to have lunch. The overwhelming majority of the community came along and we had a great time of connection over some delicious home-cooked food. They had wanted to be part of it. This would never have been possible without having put the time in first.

4. BUILDING SOMETIMES MEANS BUILDING (FLATPACK)

One of my favourite moments in building the community at Blunham was the afternoon we literally spent doing some building! We had a delivery of flat-packed sofas and chairs to help refurbish the rear hall in the building. I made an appeal for helpers and was amazed at the number of people who showed up with their expertise, tools and time. What spurred us on was the fact that we were all working towards an endpoint we valued.

We wanted to see the room transformed, and what I learnt was that having a sense of common purpose bound us together.

5. ADVENTURE WITH PEOPLE YOU TRUST

Building a community of any sort is an adventure in itself, a step into the unknown. The future of your community might face unexpected challenges. The only way to approach this healthily is to go on this adventure with people you trust, people who you know will stand by you and fight for the community.

I have been so grateful for the community at Blunham who have been so trustworthy and dependable in all we have ventured in together, willing to help out in so many ways. I know that we can see through anything that comes our way.

Let’s continue building healthy, strong community around us as we become all that God has called us to be.

Much love,
John Wright and the eFocus team

If you’d like to see how building our Blunham community is progressing, or even considering joining us for a season as we seek to build and grow, we would love to have you! We meet on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of every month at 3pm.

Find out more at kingsarms.org/blunham

A couple of years ago my husband and I really felt God telling us to dig our roots deep into Bedford. Whether that meant we would be here for a short or long time, it didn’t matter. We knew God was telling us to serve and pray for our town, church and the region He had placed us in. I now have the privilege of leading our Re-Track outreach project which is all about helping people get their lives back on track. (Learn more about Re-Track here)

In this eFocus, we will be delving into some ways that we can love and serve our town and region that God has placed us in, making a difference in your neighbourhood:

1) Get Informed

We discovered that in Bedford, loneliness, littered streets and poverty are among the persistent issues the town is dealing with.

Every town and city will have different needs so it’s important to learn what the specific needs in your town are. Through Re-Track we are in ongoing contact with Bedford council and the Mayor to find out what the areas of greatest needs are and work towards blessing and helping in those areas where possible.

To learn more about the area/town/city you live in, you can research the following things:

Who lives in your area? What benefits and challenges do they face?
What ethnicities and social classes live and work in your neighbourhoods?
What specific challenges is your town council coming across?

2) Pray Specifically

“…Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Jeremiah 29:7

There is an importance and call for us to pray for the region God has placed us in as we can see from this verse. Prayer is so powerful and the most effective way to see God’s kingdom on earth!

Once we’ve discovered our town’s challenges, we can then pray specifically into those areas. Pray for God to lead you in prayer and show you His heart and vision for your town.

A practical way you could pray is by prayer walking around your streets and town. This can be helpful to stay focused and specific in our prayers, and to be immersed in the community we’re praying for.

3) Use your Passions and Giftings

Each one of us has unique desires and passions, with different God-given assignments to do good works. So, for many of us serving our town will look different.

Maybe you have a heart to see the lonely placed into family or the poor being looked after and provided for, or for the youth and young people of Bedford?

What is God placing in your heart to see changed in your town? What can you do practically to make a difference in that area?

4) Take Action

There are many practical ways we can take action, such as…

Loving our neighbours. There’s often so much need right on our door steps. Keep your eyes peeled on those who live locally to you. Maybe you will notice an elderly neighbour’s garden that has been left untended to that you can offer a helping hand with, for example.

Volunteering with a local charity or church outreach projects. There are so many local projects that are making a difference to the challenges our towns are facing. Recently, King’s Arms Project were recruiting volunteers to run their Winter Night Shelter supporting the homeless. Re-Track runs lots of events throughout the year that you can get involved with such as litter-picking, handing out LoveChristmas boxes, delivering Emergency Food Parcels, and more.

Starting something new. You may come across a need that you feel passionate about but there isn’t already anything in place to help. Could God be calling you to make a difference in this way?

God has placed us where we are for a reason. We are called to be a light shining on a hill and to bring light and good news to our town.

How can you dig your roots deep into where you live?

Much love,

Charlotte Knapp and eFocus team

Have you heard the old saying, “It takes a village to raise a child’?

We are keenly aware that a parent needs as much support as they can get to raise a child, despite the claims of our individualistic society. We might mostly live in nuclear families but we desperately need those who live beyond the four walls of our home.

Yet, how often I find myself limited in how I can be part of the village for the people around me. I so often lack the time, finance or wisdom to really support them and make a difference.

In comes the concept of prayer…

*Click to download a PDF version. The calendar can also be find in the Devoted booklets/journals.*

The reason I’ve loved using the prayer calendar is because it prompts me where so often my human efforts fall down. I love my Auntie, but sometimes she slips to the back of my mind. Now, on the 13th of every month, my prayers turn to her again, often accompanied by a message asking her how she’s doing.

I’ve found many times that on the day that I’m praying for a certain neighbour I see them in the street, or it happens to be a day of a hospital appointment when I text the person I’m praying for. I have had one university friend call me on the very day I’d first written down her name, to tell me that she had started Alpha. And two others I was praying for are now walking in relationship with God again after some time away. Our prayers are powerful!

Now I have a list of 30 people who I am in the habit of bringing before God in prayer each month and I’m loving those people in one of the best ways I know how: by praying for them.

If you, like me, need help to not get overwhelmed with a whole list of things to pray, can I invite you to join me in using the prayer calendar and set a daily reminder? I leave a physical copy by the chair where I sit to drink my coffee and read my Bible, it could be by the kettle or the toothbrush — whatever works for you!

Let’s partner with God in praying for those in our village.

Much love,
Katy Ryland and the eFocus team

Over the past term, as part of my role as Group Life team leader, I’ve had the huge privilege of visiting some of the groups that run across King’s Arms Church and it has been a revelation and an encouragement in some of the most surprising ways:

The Beauty of Unseen Faithfulness
One of my first visits was to a longstanding life group who, without attention or applause, have met weekly together for years upon years. Even as I arrived at the hubbub of chats, hugs and coffee, I could feel the history of friends who have walked through life together — through sickness, bereavement, new jobs, new children, the highs and lows and the everyday mundane.

And then they prayed. And my goodness do they pray! They prayed like they really knew each others’ needs and really believed in a God willing to answer. People walking through sickness themselves led the rejoicing, thanking God for others who had been healed.

This group has a prayer record going back around a decade of all they’ve asked of God and how He has answered. Few of us will know these men and women, or think about their group, but I wonder how many of us are unknowingly benefitting from their faithful prayers over this church?

Lesson 1: We can make an impact by being faithful, even behind the scenes. Being a part of a steadfast community that faithfully engages in fervent prayer carries a lasting legacy that goes beyond our now.

The Breadth and Diversity of God’s Goodness
I visited groups of all kinds, varying in size and purpose; groups for women, for the over 65s, for toddlers and for newcomers. In each one of these groups you can trace the threads of the faithful goodness of God.

Across our groups there are different expressions of His love. It’s just as evident in the coffee and tissue offered to a struggling new mum, as in the listening ear offered to an elderly, lonely neighbour.

Lesson 2: God is as much in the fun of playing games together, tidying toys, or serving meals as He is in the moments of prayer or bible study. He is the God of our everyday and embraces diversity — and that is wonderful!

The Unexpected Face of Courage
“Courage doesn’t always roar” as Mary Anne Radmacher (writer and author) says, but it certainly is powerful and I’ve witnessed it in spades across my group visits!

One lady in particular stands out in my mind. She’d been asked to lead the prayer time at a life group and opened up by sharing, very honestly, that whilst she felt able to pray to God in her own time with Him, she found the idea of praying in front of others quite overwhelming. She was apologetic that she had written it down to read out. It was such a joy to see the rest of the group rally around her and shower her with encouragement. And then she went for it!

For others, the idea of turning up on their own to a new group full of people they didn’t know, had been terrifying. But, they would now say that they found people who love them and they feel like they found their place as a part of a family.

Several of those who now lead thriving groups had once told me they could never possibly lead; they didn’t know how to or they didn’t think anyone would sign up. However, they stepped up, took a risk and now are flourishing in their leadership gifting!

Lesson 2: There can be tremendous breakthroughs and reward on the other side of courage. Even though it can be scary to step out of our comfort zone, God is faithful to meet us and He always comes through.

Building genuine community and relationships requires authenticity and vulnerability. Sometimes it is more than a little bit scary but the fruit of it is beautiful. As we are about to start another 6-month cycle of groups, what does it look like for us to take a risk so that we can reap the benefits of courage?

Much love,
Claire John and the eFocus team