Dear friends
It’s been a mix of pre-summer weather where we are and that’s got us thinking about the seasons of a unity movement. Sometimes there seems to be a downpour of activity and opportunity where it’s hard to keep up, and other times things seem to slow down and we are just waiting on God, basking in the warmth of His promises. Whatever season you are in, we pray that you’ll be refreshed and inspired to continue in your work towards unity and transformation in your place.
In this month’s newsletter we’re highlighting what God is doing through mapping Family Hubs and more with Hope Coventry. We also meet Steve Prince from the Gather Team and share Episode 4 of our Podcast with Prof. Paul Williams.
As we wind up the first half of the year we’ll be having our last Learning Community on Tuesday 10th June with Alison Dawson from One Voice York, sharing about their new project for a Poverty Free City. We look forward to a season of Your City, Your Summit kicking off with Reading on 18th June.
We also share a host of opportunities coming from our partners: the Bible Society’s new version of the Bible Course, Tearfund share their Transforming Communities Course, SJI host an online Roundtable on finding Jesus in adulthood.
Blessings
Gather Movement |
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Discovering the Scale and Scope of Hope for Coventry
Everyone knows the churches do a lot for their communities but this is far larger than anyone ever imagined! Hope Coventry, working with Gather and the council, have found some very surprising data.
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Your City, Your Summit Update
This year the Gather Summit is going local. Cities and towns are planning their own catalytic gatherings, each with their own flavour and feel.
Here are the dates which are confirmed so far…
Reading - 18th June 2025
Nottingham & Derby - 9th October 2025
London - 14th October 2025
Devon & Cornwall - 4-5th February 2026
If you’re interested in hosting a Summit type event (could be 2 hours, half day, one day or more) get in touch with kaygrieves a_t gathermovement d_o_t org for more information.
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Steve Prince shares about their upcoming one-day summit in Reading on 18th June
What are you planning to do on the day?
We were at the Gather Movement Summit in Derby last year, and we heard the idea to localise the Summits this year in towns and cities. A newer leader in our team called Andy was absolutely burning with the desire for something to happen in Reading.
We want to gather 100 people in one of the town centre Anglican churches for one day. The idea is to bring charity leaders, civic leaders and particularly church pastors together, because post the pandemic a lot of pastors have dropped off a little bit from Transform Reading (our unity movement) but they're gradually coming back into the room. The plan so far is Roger Sutton's going to share some big picture stuff, then we're going to give a little bit of a historical context. We'll spend time engaging around tables on 'what are we dreaming for?' and 'what does transformation look like for us?' And we're asking some of the town civic leaders the same question.
What are you hoping will be the outcome of the day? More people engaging, really! We're seeing the stirrings of a fresh momentum, which is really exciting. So, our expectation is that we'll meet with God and each other and have a fresh sense of purpose for transformation in our town.
If you’d like to know more about Transform Reading, visit transformreading.org.uk |
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This month we’ll be exploring the groundbreaking new project in York “No One Left Behind” which is a collaboration between the city’s unity group - One Voice York, Gather Movement and Christians Against Poverty. Join us to hear all about it from Alison Dawson, the project lead.
Please register in advance.
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Join us for our Gather Movement Learning Community.
Here’s the learning community programme for H2 2025.
Please register in advance
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10 JUN 2025 • SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION
Towards a Poverty Free City
Alison Dawson - One Voice Social Action York
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September to December schedule is now available online.
Here’s the learning community programme for H2 2025.
Please register in advance
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In May we had a thought-provoking Learning Community with Osoba Otaigbe and Tani Omideyi on Intercultural church.
If you missed it, you can catch up here.
You can also catch-up on any Learning Communities that you missed by visiting our Learning Community Playlist on YouTube.
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This month we’re getting to know one of our wider team and good friend of Gather Movement.
What's your name and where do you live?
My name's Steve Prince. I live in South Reading. I've lived in Reading all of my life, so I have a strong heart and passion for the town.
If you were a chocolate bar, which one would you be?
It sounds a little bit arrogant, but I think I would be a bar of Marvellous Creations! I like the smoothness of chocolate which makes me think of being pastoral and I like the surprises of the popping candy, that just reminds me of a prophetic edge, which I like to have and provoke people. Whether that’s in terms of unity in a city or in the local church, helping people to be the people they're created to be. So Marvellous Creations sounds about right!
Why are you passionate about unity?
We've been praying in unity in Reading for 28 years this July and I think we're seeing the fruits of it. But on the basis of Psalm 133, God commands blessing where there's unity. So it's a no-brainer, really, if you want blessing in your city. We were challenged by a guy called Ed Silvoso in 1997 to regularly pray blessing on the city, and he said “you have to live together in unity”. Unity is about building friendships and it's about honouring one another and I love being the answer to Jesus' prayer in John 17, where Jesus prays for his people and his followers down the generations to dwell together in unity just like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit do.
What is one thing that excites you about your region?
I think it's to do with the changing culture. When we started praying, there wasn't a great relationship between the Christians and the churches and the Council. That has turned 180 degrees! We have recently met with the leader of Reading Borough Council, and she's talked about how much she values what Christians, and especially organisations like Street Pastors who are massively contributing to the wellbeing of the town. We also asked one of the Police Commanders “what keeps you awake at night?” and he said “not having Street Pastors in our town!” Those signs of blessing are leading to all sorts of opportunities to be good news and it's a growing thing in Reading. So I'm excited.
What's your favourite part about working with Gather Movement?
I love the relationships. Expanding groups of friendships with purpose and sharing a common vision and heart for unity. Listening to stories from other towns and cities is so inspiring. Knowing if God can do it in one place, he can do it in another. I think being part of Gather also means that we can learn from others and hopefully avoid mistakes that other people have already experienced and learned from. So, learning from other people.
If you’d like to know more about Transform Reading you can contact Steve on steveprince a_t transformreading d_o_t org d_o_t uk
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Gather Movement Podcast Episode 4 out now!
This episode we are joined by Bible Society CEO, Professor Paul Williams who helps us think differently about our towns and cities as we work out a theology of city transformation. |
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Rachael Heffer, Head of Mission at Evangelical Alliance, will be sharing the findings and insights from a new piece of research: ‘Finding Jesus – Identifying pathways to faith in adulthood’. This piece of research, overseen by Rachael Heffer and Phil Knox, has surveyed just under 300 adults who have come to faith in the last 5 years and explored with them the who, what, where, when, and how of what influenced them in their exploration of the Christian faith and their decision to follow Jesus.
This is an opportunity for local churches and church unity groups to explore how best to use their resources to help people in our communities come to know Jesus.
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The Bible Society’s New Release: The Bible Course NEW EDITION
This new and improved, free small group resource will help you and your church discover how Bible characters, stories, and themes are connected, from Genesis to Revelation.
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Eight sessions with films, course guidebook and the Digital Hub
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Hosted by Dr Andrew Ollerton
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Inspiring personal stories
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Tearfund - Transforming Communities Course
We believe your church has the power to come together and bring lasting transformation to a community. Tearfund is excited to bring you a unique, free video series: Transforming Communities Bitesize. It aims to help you understand the root causes of poverty, and the key principles behind effective community transformation, and how you can adapt this to serve your own community.
The course is complete with an Alpha-style video series, thought-provoking questions to discuss in groups, study guides and tips for small groups, to help you run the course, and guided questions to spark conversation to transform your own community.
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Our Vision is to see a unified Church working together across every city and town, to see social, cultural and spiritual transformation across the UK. We are grateful to God for how far the Movement has come but we still have a long way to go.
Could you, or your unity group, help us to deliver this vision by becoming a Gather Movement Supporter?
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