Faversham: All are welcome

Pioneer Leaders Bethany and Jonathan Munn share how God is opening new ways into church.

God said ‘go’

Although we both felt called to full-time ministry in our mid-teens, pioneering wasn’t something we considered. We spent a lot of time exploring ourselves and our calling further. We knew God was directing us to this place. We prayer-walked Faversham to better understand what God was saying and shared it with our DHQ. Only then were we guided to full-time pioneering. We knew we had to be obedient to God saying: ‘This is where I need you to be right now.’

We’ve been pioneer leaders here since late 2018. Our simple mission is to love everyone, serve our community and share the message of Jesus and the momentum of the gospel with the town and beyond.

Rooted in home

We recently acquired our own community space and are actively creating new ways for people to connect with God, church and each other. From the outset, we’ve listened to God and the community. Our language and approach to mission may seem different at times, but everything is a response to what God’s called us to do here for his Kingdom.

The Army hasn’t had a physical presence here since the late 1990s. We knew God was saying: ‘Now’s the time to put down roots and build on the old foundations’ (see Isaiah 61:4). We really felt in our hearts that God was saying to move on to this new stage of ministry, we needed a base.

We’ve broken down some preconceptions of what a church should look like and reimagined the space with a theology of home: a sofa area with a TV, a dining room area with a table and a little kitchen. People said it feels like home and we felt that God was affirming this as a place of rest, safety and security where people can learn and grow.

Developing disciples

In the early years of being here, we listened and prayed and we did podcasts, which produced lots of fruit for God’s Kingdom. We’re passionate that social media can be The Salvation Army’s modern street corner.

Now we’ve found and made our church home, it’s time for us to do the growing and the nurturing. We’re intentional in our Bible study and have been running a different type of discipleship programme using The Chosen.

We are living in a broken world, journeying with people and learning from them. On the wall alongside our table, which can be seen through our front windows, we have a donated tapestry that says: ‘We all have a seat at his table.’

We did a pastoral stock check at the beginning of the year, catching up with people where they are and asking what they want to do, how we should take their discipleship forward and what we can do for them. We asked what drew them to our church and ministry and their replies affirm our desire to be out in the community and to serve others without discrimination. One person said they loved that, no matter who comes to the table, there is no judgement, only love.

Prayer is the foundation of everything we do. We’ve had a few people challenge us recently about adding prayer-walks back into our programme. We’re going to be having monthly Sunday Strolls, an outdoor walking church service. There are lots of surrounding villages to explore and discern what God is saying.

Finding God’s rhythm in mission

Listening is key to fruitful ministry. Prayer-walking enabled us to be visible, to see things we never would have seen, hear things we never would have heard and to be slow and rhythmic, not rushing ahead with our own agenda but following God’s mission.

God is guiding us to show people new ways into church and to knowing Jesus.