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Rock The City set to rock ThurRock
 On Monday 6 September there will bean open meeting to discuss the proposed Rock The City (Epicentre) outreach to young people in the Thurrock area. The meeting will be hosted by Grays Baptist Church and starts at 7.45pm.
Originator of the local vision, Edwin Hughes (on the far right in this photo take at the previous meeting) - who first came across the idea at the Christian Resources Exhibition - describes this as "an opportunity to reach young people with the message of Jesus through the local church, to bring them into a living relationship with him and to empower them to build a generation of young people whose lives are full of zeal for Jesus."
If you intend to come along to the meeting, please can you contact Edwin to confirm. His email is: deaconblue@talktalk.net.
Edwin says, "If you were at the previous meeting about Epicentre but are unable to make this one,
could you please try to encourage someone else from your church to attend in your place as we are keen to try and ensure as many churches as possible become involved in this."
Edwin has told Transformation Thurrock that representatives from the Billy Graham Evangelism Association (BGEA) will not be present at the meeting as they were at the last. He explained that "this is a meeting to give an update and for the churches to get together and pray and discuss about whether to proceed. The BGEA will hopefully be present at the next meeting if we can get a consensus to go ahead with the project."
Transformation Thurrock are supporting and publicising Rock The City as it offers the opportunity for churches to join in united mission in reaching out with the good news and love of Jesus to the up-and-coming generation.
Edwin has kindly collated the following information about the project. Please read this before you come to the meeting on the 6th. Thank you.
Rock The City UK - intro and phases
Rock the City (RTC) has already proven to be a great success with towns and communities across the United States and Canada and the BGEA in the UK is keen to see RTC have the same or an even greater level of impact across the UK. RTC is an innovative evangelistic programme being launched in the UK by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA). The vision for RTC is to reach young people with the message of Jesus through the local church, to bring them into a living relationship with Him, and to empower them to build a generation of young people whose lives are full of zeal for Jesus. To encourage young people to have a long- term commitment to Jesus the BGEA believes that young people need long-term support and a strong church community. RTC brings local churches and the BGEA together for approximately 6 months to engage, challenge, and minister to both Christian and non-Christian youth.
 The impact of RTC on a community long continues even after the programme has completed the final phase. Church leaders from previous RTC events have seen stronger relationships between churches across the community, and have continued to come together for the common good of seeing the youth in their cities impacted in a positive way.
The BGEA is passionate about raising up young leaders through RTC. The vision starts from the moment that RTC is launched in an area. Church leaders and youth pastors identify key young people who have leadership gifting, and who would benefit from an opportunity to be developed in those skills. RTC offers leadership and mentoring through each phase, within the contexts of both practical and spiritual application. RTC aims to use an integrated approach to leadership training, and offers young people roles such as organising prayer initiatives, event organising, peer led evangelism training, worship leading, administrative tasks and so on. The BGEA will ask church leaders and youth pastors to develop a youth leadership team, with clear job descriptions for each specific role.
The BGEA will introduce churches to suitable leadership training resources, with churches setting up and facilitating the mentoring relationship between a mentor and a young person. Leadership is an exciting adventure, and one in which young people through the safety of a mentoring relationship, should develop and grow in their skills and giftings. During RTC there will be opportunities for the young people to participate in training for the youth leadership team.
Leaders Launch: Pastors and Youth Pastors / Youth Leaders, their spouses and key youth are invited to attend a morning breakfast meeting where the entire Rock the City Programme is explained. Promotional materials will be available to present the various phases of Rock the City to your church. This important meeting is the launch of the Rock the City Programme. Leaders return to their churches with a plan to involve the entire church in Rock the City.
Prayer is the key to seeing a movement of God in any community. Ignite the Flame is an exciting evening of worship and prayer that serves to kick off the prayer movement in the community. Emphasis will be placed on establishing ongoing prayer in congregations, youth groups and individual prayer.
Bring a Friend : The key to effectively reaching people for Christ and seeing them continue to follow Jesus is a relationship with a vibrant believer. Bring a Friend involves praying for your friends, cultivating the relationship, inviting them to Rock the City, and following up on their response to the message.
Community Action Projects: During the whole of the process churches are asked to love their local community by serving with practical and tangible service projects. The love of Jesus is a massive life changing message, and these projects will demonstrate in a tangible way the love of Christ and prepare for the sharing of the good news about Jesus to a local community.
Equipping: Taken from the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:19, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men”, FM419 teaches believers the foundations of the Christian faith. These dynamic seminars are held over a three-week period. Each of the three sessions is two hours in length and features music, videos and practical teaching focused on following Christ and sharing Him with others. During the sessions, participants will deepen their relationship with God, learn about the keys to an effective life in Christ, author their own personal faith story, and learn how to connect with their friends to effectively talk about Jesus. Opportunities are given for participants to put their faith into action, by leading others to Christ and mentoring them.
Rock The City: A top quality evening, with vibrant music, well led youth-worship and a life-changing spiritual message. Young people from across the local community are invited to come to this event where they will be presented with the gospel message, and given make a decision for Christ and live a life following Him. . Participants of FM419 will be connected with those who respond in order to lead them in their spiritual commitment and start the follow up process.
Discipleship: Velocity Bible Studies to be held in every church and youth group participating in Rock the City. Rock the City is not about registering decisions but about making disciples. An extensive follow up plan will be in place that will immediately connect the new believer with a church, and a small group bible study. These studies take place over a seven-week period and help encourage those who made a commitment at Rock The City to continue in their faith and follow Christ for their entire lives.
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Tim Harrold, 01/09/2010 |
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