Restoring places long devastated

It was such a cold and dark Winter in so many ways, but the seasons have started to turn here. As the sun peaks through again and flowers open to bloom, the impact of the global pandemic is also starting to be seen for what it is too. Many of us feel fragile and exhausted, using up most of our reserves just to keep standing. At a personal level, our Newbigin House-hold have all now recovered from Covid and our lives too are beginning to open up again in fresh ways. It’s not just the natural environment that is opening up around us either, but the built ones too. 

We were drawn to live in Winson Green in 2014 with Isaiah chapter 61 on our lips. We focused on the verses we’ve spent most of our adult lives pursuing: ‘good news to the poor..  liberation for the oppressed..  freedom for prisoners..  year of jubilee’. However, the later verses of this chapter have also begun to have deeper meaning for us too. ‘They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.’  Our original sense of call was to pursue this planted locally in Winson Green and connected globally for urban leadership capacity building. Both these calls are growing and taking shape now around this Isaiah agenda for people and places in unexpected ways. 

In Winson Green we have begun to restore a falling down local Chapel for community use and have started new congregations there (Lodge Road Community Church). Anji also leads a team of over 30 local staff and key volunteers with Newbigin Community Trust on three sites (Newbigin House, Benson Community Hub and Lodge Road Community Church Centre), connecting hundreds of neighbours together each week. We’ve also successfully campaigned to transform local derelict land into new affordable housing and a new high school which we hope will open next year. The people and the place itself in Winson Green are slowly starting to be restored. 

In February last year we also took up responsibilities for a dilapidated retreat centre (Barnes Close) about 20 minutes drive from Winson Green. After huge community efforts during the pandemic it has now become The Greenhouse at Barnes Close renewing front line workers and their communities around the UK as well as our base for our residential leadership development programmes. We are so grateful to steward these remarkable buildings that would have been lost to our communities if it wasn’t for the building skills and commitment of our local workers and volunteers, especially John and Milan (pictured).

We’ve also needed to build our organisations to better release the unique potential of urban people and places. Seedbeds will be an expansion of the work we started in 2015 as Newbigin School for Urban Leadership CIC that included accredited and emerging leadership programmes like Change Makers and MA programmes. We have unashamedly taylor-made this venture to share our unique gifts and passions for empowering leaders and communities with local partners around the world including in England, Scotland, Ukraine, Myanmar, Thailand and Australia. I would love you to join us in person or live feed on the 10th July when we publicly launch Seedbeds at the Greenhouse at Barnse Close in our next stage to grow leaders and communities into fullness of life.

We can see where we need to get to both in Winson Green and with our Seedbeds venture, but we do face serious financial, team and timing challenges. These next 6 months may make or break some of our dreams. Pray we can overcome.

Below are some of our latest news and updates. We would love your continued support and prayers. This enables us to take up the most strategic opportunities, under the most challenging conditions. 

Shalom,

Ash Barker

Seedbeds.org

PS. If you would like to support us financially you can do that here.

Renewing Winson Green: Seeing our dreams coming true in the place we are planted

Covid-19 hit Winson Green hard and we became one of few organisations left standing here. Anji led Newbigin Community Trust’s (NewbiginTrust.uk) with its many emergency programmes, as well as the growth of our Church in a Yurt to the extent that we needed to start another service and gained a community building. We took over the local United Reformed Church building, became its Ministers and I was able to start a new 11am service there with local friends and new Christians. This is one of the few large buildings in Winson Green (it could fit 1000 people seated in it) and while it was close to derelict when we took it over in September last year, it is now the hub for the whole neighbourhood, used most days with all kinds of locally led community programmes and church services. A real hope is restoring the upstairs for an art, film and music studio.

We’ve also been able to campaign for better housing (including new 520 apartments with 52 affordable homes for our community) and a new high school which we hope will open next year.

Some recent highlights include: Black smithing, candle making, a new canoe club, a return to our community cafe, youth group, social club and 17 of our Soho Albion footballers now playing with the West Bromwich Albion academy.

Renewing leaders and their communities: Our leadership development dreams coming true

Sometimes we need signs of hope in dark times. Seeing our Change Makers emerging leaders programme return after the Pandemic to a renovated Greenhouse at Barnes Close was that for me. It was amazing to experience the joy of 20 emerging leaders from 4 Local Seedbeds (2 East London, 2 Birmingham) connecting together, engaging on the theme of innovation and community organising and working on their project to pitch to a resource panel on 26th June. Some even recommitted their lives to Christ. The Greenhouse at Barnes Close was basically derelict when we took it over in February last year and is now a brilliant residential centre for growing Christian leaders around the UK and beyond. 

At 7pm, 10th July we will finally do a public launch of Seedbeds with the annual Newbigin Public Lecture hosted by The Greenhouse at Barnes Close Keynotes: Rev Dr Ash Barker and John Newbigin OBS on the topic: “Seedbeds of Hope”. Responses: Bishop Mike Royal (Cinnamon Network and Chair of The Greenhouse at Barnes Close) and Dr Sally Mann (Greenwich University and Bonny Downs Community Church) and education partners. There are limited places so register for your free ticket on Eventbright.

Seedbeds will help us grow leaders and communities into fullness of life, expanding on the work we started as the Newbigin School for Urban Leadership CIC. Seedbeds will give us the freedom to focus on four areas: 

Seedbeds Learning releases the unique potential of urban people and places through offering leadership development programmes that includes:

School for Urban Leadership 

releases the unique potential of urban people and places through practical, formative and accredited leadership development programmes. We believe the most inspiring leaders grow in unexpected places. That hope for our world today rises and falls with urban leaders on the front lines of the most challenging urban situations. We work to see unique brilliance and influence released, the potential in communities, causes and ventures fulfilled and the God-given gifts of all urban people and places shared.

Our School for Urban Leadership exists to grow each participants capacity to take up their unique leadership opportunities and make a sustainable difference in the lives of those people and places they are called to love. Through our accredited and formative leadership programmes we offer to:

·       Engage with the best thinking and practices in the field of urban leadership, including community formation, community enterprise and community organising.

·       Be tutored by outstanding and experienced urban Christian leaders.

·       Learn in supportive, connected and inspiring environments.

·       Grow by continuing to live and lead from your own, unique urban community.

·       Be recognised by world class educational institutions.

The School for Urban Leadership works with various academic partners to help deliver accredited leadership programmes. These include: Church Mission Society (Undergraduate), Nazarene Theological College (MA programmes) and Bristol Baptist College (PhD research). We are also in discussions with Moorlands College and Spurgeons College about what might be possible too.

Our MA programme with Nazarene Theological College has been a real highlight. In the last academic year we have designed and led MA units of ‘Community Engagment’ and 'Resilient Discipleship' with Dr Sally Mann and ‘Social Entrepreneurship’ with Bishop Mike Royal. Shane Claibourne’s zoom into our class from a death penalty protest was particularly memorable. 

Change Makers emerging leaders programme

Empowers a new generation of urban leaders. The focus is on growing each emerging leader’s capacity in the critical qualities of compassion, innovation and resilience, as well as building life-long connections, self-awareness and skills for change. Participants are nominated as a small group (‘Pods’) from with their local communities (‘Local Seedbeds’) and join with others around the country to shape their ideas for change in the areas of community building, community organising and community enterprise. 

Change Makers programme is run over 6 months and includes 3 week-end residentials, 3 coaching sessions, 2 best practice site visits and a pitch of their own idea for change at the end of the programme to a resource panel and graduate. A highlight is the final residential on Holy Island.

Change Makers is accessible, designed so participants can be part of the programme even if they work or study full time. Participants come in pods together from your community and focus their idea for change within your community. This means that your community benefits from their growth and not just the emerging leaders themselves.

We just graduated our fourth cohort of Change Makers, all of who have grown into fullness of life in remarkable ways on the 26th July. This growth includes within the emerging leaders themselves as well as through launching their community-based initiatives (see Facebook Page here).

We have also commissioned a series of short films on our Change Makers that will be launched soon. Here is a sample one as well as a FAQ films with Change Makers co-founder Tim Even and myself. Please help us get these out to emerging leaders and communities who could benefit.

Could your local leaders be the next Change Makers? Please nominate here.

Seedbeds Local helps local communities to raise up leaders and discover deeper shalom together. 

We know the joy and also the pain of trying to live out God’s shalom in difficult urban settings. It can be lonely work and training rough-diamonds to become trusty leaders can seem like a huge challenge. We want to stand with you, help build capacity in your local community, raise up and equip leaders and work towards more shalom filled living together. This includes: mentoring, coaching, retreats etc, to help many other local communities grow their own leaders and responses to God’s Kingdom. I am grateful that Dave Mann, from East London, will lead this area. Dave shared some of his insights in Bonny Downs with our latest cohort of Change Makers recently.

Seedbeds Global enables our international partnerships to grow. We know unjust situations can change when growth and connections happen from the ground up.

Solidarity across boundaries can alter destinies of people and places. Sharing friendships, resources, experiences, insights and learning can make poverty personal and build capacities for all to grow shalom…  even in the most troubled contexts. We can offer opportunities to join in solidarity partnerships in Burma, Thailand, Ukraine, Germany and Australia. These include: 

“Stand with Myanmar”: The Military Junta in Myanmar have been slaughtering its own people for decades, but a fresh wave of brutality hit this year. On 1st Febuary 2021, the Military staged another violent coup. Many of its citizens have fled to safe areas while others have stayed to resist the Junta with direct action campaigns. Both are becoming more vulnerable as the military grows bolder. Would you stand with the people of Myanmar in their darkest hour?

A.   Write to our PM calling our Government to recognise and deal with the democratically elected government of Myanmar which is the National Unity Government (and not the Military Junta)? 

B.    Help fund urgent medical relief, shelter and training for those who are making it to safe areas? Through our partners on the ground we can get the aid to the right people there.

C.     Help fund those courageous activists who are resisting the Junta with a Civil Disobedience Campaign inside Myanmar? Through our partners on the ground in Myanmar we can get support to the right people.

School for Urban Leadership: Partners with educational institutions in the Ukraine and Germany for urban community development and ministry programmes. Partnerships include: Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary and Church in Action Germany. Recently John Hayes and I led an MA programme on life and ministry in urban contexts via with leaders from the Ukraine, Ghana, Kenya and India. Hopefully we will lead these in Kiev next year.

Immersion Courses Mutual learning and solidarity in Klong Toey slum, Bangkok. Partnerships include: Cooking with Poo social enterprises in Bangkok. Hopefully our next immersion course will be in Bangkok in February 2022.

Change Makers: Our emerging leaders programme began in England, but we hope to form an international network of emerging leaders’ programmes that plans to start with pilots in Scotland and Australia in 2022.

 Seedbeds Communications helps us inspire and inform deeper engagement with urban people and places.

We do this through our speaking, writing and media work. We have been speaking a lot on zoom, but can't wait to be with real people in real places again.

Anji will launch her first book ‘Missionary: Not just a position’ in September. This is what Brian McLaren wrote about it in an endorsement. “I once stood up to my knees in black muck (fertilized with human and animal feces) planting rice on a farm in Thailand. How could such a thing happen? Through my friendship with Anji Barker, of course. As I read her new book with its unforgettable title, I realized that her whole life has been one wild adventure after another ... linked together by a lot of love, a lot of courage, a lot of resilience, laughter, and tears, and a great sense of humor. This is a delightful must-read for anyone who dares to live a life for others. -- Brian D. McLaren, author of Faith After Doubt. The book will be available in brave bookshops and Amazon.

The Greenhouse at Barnes Close is a retreat and education and the key ministry of the Community For Reconciliation.

Since February 2021, we have been bringing it back to life for a new generation. Nestled amongst the Waseley Hills, this former home of Birmingham’s Cadbury family, the house is surrounded by extraordinary beauty & is a place of peace & calm.

If you are looking for a venue for a refreshing group residential event there is a warm welcome waiting for you at The Greenhouse at Barnes Close.

There are big and life-giving dreams held here. Led by the team at Community for Reconciliation, The Greenhouse is a 17 bedroom retreat house, able to accommodate up to 38 people. Four of these bedrooms belong to Dove Loft, which can be booked separately and self-contained. 

Our hope and prayer is that this house can become a place of belonging for growing leaders and communities into fullness of life.

Our goal is to equip & inspire communities and leaders in urban priority areas to flourish and thrive. It is also to provide an inspirational, restorative and peaceful space to learn, for those engaged in justice & development ministries. 

Every group that visits and supports us here, whatever their area of focus, becomes part of supporting this wider vision of enabling communities to flourish and grow.

For booking enquiries and prices* please contact Beki on 01562 710231 or [email protected] with your ideas. 

*We offer discounted rates to groups visiting from UPA’s (Urban Priority Areas) and Seedbeds Partners.