Not all those who wander are lost
Ash Barker
Local community leadership developer, shalom activist, speaker, author. URC Minister in Winson Green. Leads ‘Seedbeds’ - growing leaders and communities into fullness of life.
'All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.'
(JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring)
In many ways Anji and I have lived a kind of odyssey. We married as 20 year olds wanting to change the world. We are coming up to 35 years married now and have had the privilege of intentionally living on the front line of urban poverty on three continents and ministering in many countries. We may not have changed the world, but it’s starting to feel like no attempts in faith, hope and love have been wasted. The organisational containers that hold these transformations may change, what we do for ego may evaporate, but the true contents keep bubbling away with a life of their own, far beyond our imaginings.
For example, Anji and I just returned to Birmingham after a month of itinerant ministry and connections. This included Queensland together and then I also went to Victoria where we are from. We had a blast speaking with many thousands of people in meetings, seminars, churches, connections, book launches and catching up with friends and family. Seedbeds Australia will now start with a pilot of Change Makers in May (Queensland and Victoria) and I was thrilled that my new book, No Wastelands, went to Number 1 on Amazon Australia for its category! We are from Australia and started ministry in Springvale in 1991 and so it was a special joy to meet again neighbours, colleagues and those who we had unknowingly impacted from our formative past and to see fruit in people’s lives we could not have predicted.
Anji travelled on from Queensland to Bangkok and the Thai-Burma border with friends from Birmingham. We have connections from our Springvale days there and lived in Bangkok for 12 years. Anji was able to build on our recent work with the National Unity Government and the beginnings of a Seedbeds Myanmar. They especially focused on creating new resource channels for entrepreneurs, educators and health care professionals who graduated from our Change Incubators programmes over the last 2 years. The war in Myanmar continues to be brutal, but the team had some quick wins helping resource a new medical clinic with medicines in a refugee camp, as well as a migrant worker school and buying product samples to sell in the West. It seems like our time there is not over. There is more fruit to come as we seek to establish Seedbeds Myanmar and grow the Change Incubator programme with locals.
We had a sense that 2024 could see Seedbeds grow our reach internationally, but what a start to the year it’s been! We are humbled by the? kindness, hospitality and appreciation we’ve received nearly everywhere we went. It’s not always been like that for us over the decades, but real connections seem to continue to live on and grow. There is so much more to come internationally this year too including returns to Thailand and Australia to grow Seedbeds there as well as ministry visits to Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Ukraine and Germany. Thanks to all who are making these opportunities possible.
We began this season of life in Winson Green, Birmingham in 2014. We felt, even then, that opportunities for growing capacities for change from within local leaders and their communities could happen not only locally, but across the world too.? The first few years here were like being buried as so much went wrong, but, it now turns out we may have been planted here for such a time as this. While we have a long way to go, Winson Green is now starting to see deep and multiple level flourishings. Not least with Newbigin Community Trust on four sites and with a new state of the art high school that opened in September. New housing and growing our congregations are also a focus of our place-making call in Winson Green this year. We love the life and challenge based from here and wonder what is possible here if this is our final relocation. We also began Seedbeds in Winson Green to release the unique potential in local people and places wherever they live. Winson Green has turned out to be a brilliant international base.
I hope you too can deepen your planted-ness and expand your reach this year. We all have unique calls, gifts and missions in life. When we find it, even feeling buried for a while can be worth it. That nothing done in faith, hope and love is wasted. Indeed, it’s all that remains.
We are so grateful for your love, support and prayers. Nothing we do would be possible without these. Much needed financial support can be given here https://seedbeds.org/join-us/
Shalom,
Ash Barker
Ps. Our Seedbeds.org programmes now include:
'Change Makers' in the U.K. and Australia.
Change Makers focuses on connections, self awareness and releasing local community leadership talents in community building, enterprise and campaigning. We have had 10 cohorts in England and Scotland over the years as well as two Young Change Makers cohorts led by Change Makers alumni. We have also been running Change Makers taster days this year in East London, Queensland and Brisbane to help recruit for upcoming cohorts.
Upcoming Change Makers taster days will be offered in Glasgow, Dublin, Belfast and Frankfurt. New Change Makers cohorts are currently being nominated for Queensland, Victoria, East London and West Midlands.
'Change Incubators' in Myanmar and Thailand.
This programme focuses on releasing potential for much needed income generation through enterprise, education and health care with Civil Disobedience Movement activists and their communities. Vital connections of solidarity between grassroots communities around the world are created. We have run two cohorts of Change Incubators over the last two years with nearly 200 participants. In February 2024 Anji Barker led a team to Mae Sot and Bangkok to follow up leads and participants to help create markets for goods generated from Change Incubators and create a kind of Seedbeds Marketplace.
Upcoming: Change Incubators III – Myanmar 2024 begins Friday April 19 to May 31 online only each Friday, with June 13-20 intensives and panels. Enterprise development will work again around the 9 building blocks of a business model canvas, as well as personal mission statements and how to pitch. We will run weekly Incubator Forums and English classes on zoom in the second half of the year.?In June 2024 Ash Barker and Paul Ellis will also seek to help ‘Seedbeds Myanmar’ become an entity (as we are doing with ‘Seedbeds Australia’) and also pilot work with veterans who are amputees.
Financial support is requested to help make this programme possible and can be given here.
'Scholars' based with NTC in Manchester and UETS in Kyiv.
These accredited formation programmes focus on recognising, resourcing and releasing local community leadership potential. These are often accessed by high capacity local leaders, some who come from our Seedbeds connections (see video here) and some from all around the world.
Our partnership with Nazarene Theological College (accredited by the University of Manchester) began in 2016 and includes designing and running units for an MA in Theology (Humanitarian Development and Social Justice) and supervising MA and PhD students. In January this year we had 8 high capacity leaders engaged with the MA unit ‘Social Justice Practices’. The students came from the U.K. Nigeria, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Kenya and the Caribbean. Ash is also supervising 2 MA dissertations and has a PhD student from America researching the impact of White Christian nationalism on local churches.
Our partnership in Ukraine with the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary began in 2018. We had a request to help with the design and delivery of a Masters in Urban Ministry. The initial connection was a mutual love for Lesslie Newbigin and a concern to see Christians make a difference in local urban communities. In 2019 our first intensive MA units began with Dave and Sally Mann and Ash Barker visiting the UETS campus in Kyiv. The Covid pandemic and then the Russian invasion restricted access, but zoom and in-person visits persisted. In 2024 there will be two units delivered in Kyiv as part of our Scholars programme with discussions for a pilot of Change Incubators in 2025.
领英推荐
Upcoming: PT7690 Resilient Discipleship with Dr Sally Mann (Red Letter Christians UK and Bonny Downs Community Church) and Dr Ash Barker.
1 – 8 June 2024 at Nazarene Theological College, Manchester.
This unit explores the nature and call of Christian discipleship as a core motif to sustaining life and ministry in complex urban contexts. This unit can be taken for a number of MA in Theology pathways through NTC and awarded by University of Manchester. Please apply here: https://nazarene.ac.uk/academics/postgraduate/
Dave Mann will lead the ‘Community Organising’ MA unit in Kyiv (15-19 April) and Ash will lead the ‘Holistic Mission’ MA unit in Kyiv (11-15 November)
'Communications' book launches of ‘No Wastelands’ happened in Manchester, London, Birmingham, Brisbane, Geelong, Melbourne, Rosebud so far this year.
In my latest book I share my odyssey of serving on the front line of urban poverty on three continents over the last 34 years. Through stories, scriptures, and challenging insights, I hopes to inspire readers to release the unique potential of their local communities. We’ve been thrilled by the responses so far.
Upcoming launches in Glasgow, Perth, Edinburgh, Dublin, Belfast, Bangkok, Mae Sot, Frankfurt and Kyiv.
'Pioneers' with local missional leaders in England and Scotland.
We run this programme in conjunction with URC, CF and CMS and focus on growing new opportunities to flourish. We long to discover, nurture, empower and release a new Community of Pioneers, able to see God’s love and shalom flourish in their local communities. Last year we had 18 participants pitch their idea and graduate. This year we have 8 participants and they have so far completed 3 of 6 units in the 11 month programme. A new cohort begins in September 2024.
Upcoming activities include the Annual Newbigin Public Lecture, retreats, open days and a new cohort of Newbigin Pioneering Hub starting in September 2024.
'Pilgrims' on St Cuthbert’s Way (Scotland and England) and Winter Camino (Spain).
These are sacred walks for awareness, growth and connections. We have found that the vision of shalom – where God, people and place live in harmony together – can be experienced in tangible ways on a pilgrimage. Out of our comfort zones, on an adventure with others in special places, unique self awareness and receptivity to God’s shalom can happen. Inside and out, body and soul, new connections, renewal and growth become possible in new ways. Shalom, once experienced, can renew us for a deeper love of the people and places we live with in regular life.
Upcoming pilgrimages on St Cuthbert’s Way (May and September) and a Winter Camino (November)
'Equippers' begins with training the trainers in the U.K., Australia and Myanmar this year.
A key challenge for Seedbeds is not creating new opportunities, but growing organisational capacities. A key strategy for us will be ‘Seedbeds Equippers’ to resource and recognise new Seedbeds trainers, coaches and panelists. Many of these will come from our Alumni whom they and their local community have benefited from our programmes.
Seedbeds Equippers aims to see:
1. Seedbeds members, trainers, coaches and panelists feeling connected and free to offer effective Seedbeds programmes.
2. Training, approving, networking and releasing Seedbeds Trainers, Coaches and Panelists to run effective Seedbeds programmes.
3. Seedbeds entities valuing the broader Seedbeds movement enough to reach out to offer and receive support from other trainers, coaches and panelists.? ?
4. Seedbeds members know there is a person to contact if they get stuck or face a problem they can’t resolve from within their Seedbeds entity.
Upcoming: Please pray as we offer Equippers programmes online and in person with? experienced local practitioners in Victoria (May), Queensland (May), Myanmar (June) and England (October).
Absolutely! Exploration nurtures creativity and innovation ??. Aristotle once hinted that knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. Keep wandering! ? #GrowthMindset