Pioneer Stories

Ocean Church

Ocean Church 1 Ocean Church is a pioneering venture that reimagines faith as an adventure. Situated along the Dorset coast, we embrace the outdoors—paddleboarding on rivers, hiking the southwest coastal path, and swimming in the sea—to encounter the divine in nature. This approach offers a fresh, embodied experience of spirituality, especially for those who may feel disconnected from traditional church settings.

Our activities include paddleboarding sessions with silent reflection, walking pilgrimages, and small group gatherings centered on themes like hope, faith, and adventure. We also manage a watersports library, providing affordable equipment access to make outdoor experiences inclusive. Additionally, we're developing resources, such as a "field guide," to empower others to join or replicate the Ocean Church model, fostering a network of adventurers living out their faith in creative ways.

The joy in this journey comes from witnessing individuals connect with God in new and profound ways, whether through the tranquility of waiting for a wave or the shared experience of a river paddle. However, challenges exist, including balancing creativity with practical concerns like safety, funding, and encouraging active participation.
What excites me most is the potential for Ocean Church to evolve into a broader movement, inspiring others to embark on their own spiritual adventures and cultivate a vibrant, adventurous faith community.

How You Can Pray for Me: Ocean Church 2

Clarity and Vision: Seek wisdom as we discern the future steps for Ocean Church and how to best support and expand this movement.
Community Engagement: Pray for open hearts and opportunities to connect with those seeking unconventional expressions of faith.
Resources and Support: Ask for financial sustainability and for partners who resonate with our vision to join us.
Safety and Logistics: Pray for the well-being of participants during activities and effective planning for upcoming events.

For more information, please visit our website at oceanchurch.co.uk

Stow Mission Listener: Joy Dimond

The Baptist Church building continues to develop as a community space.
The regular events, which have started since Missional Listening commenced, include a weekly drop-in cafe, a foodbank, a dementia cafe, a venue for the WI, and more recently a six-week 'Getting Connected' course run by Gloucestershire Adult Education, (see pictures attached).
The aim of the course is to increase the confidence of the participants in using their digital devices to access services that they might otherwise not have access to. Increasingly services are on-line and we have a high proportion, (double the national average), of over 65's that are disadvantaged by this.
Following on from the success of the initial course another 6-week course will be starting in January.

Early 2025 will also see the start of a support group, in the Church Hall, for parents of children with Special Educational Needs.

Stow has been lacking in local support groups, by listening to the community needs and connecting locally we have met some of the needs. I am praying for more opportunities to arise.

The new year will welcome an opening up of the Church building to give more room for community events. We were granted planning permission to reimagine the sanctuary area and now have sufficient funds to begin the work, since moving here I have felt God saying that the church should be a welcoming place for the community of Stow. I look forward to seeing what He will bring as we make more room.

Getting Connected Moreton and

As a (small) congregation we continue to meet once a month for a cafe style afternoon service in the Church Hall. We worship, pray, and reflect together as a group. I am exploring the possibility of starting a ‘Walking Church’ one Sunday afternoon a month in the Spring.

Out in the community, I continue to serve as a School Governor, a mentor in the school, and more recently as a charity trustee to our local nursery school.
The school regularly visits the Church Building; pupils come to sing to visitors at the Dementia Cafe; they visit to see the Baptistry when learning about believers' baptism; they hold their annual Carol Concert at the Church with all the pupils and nursery school children, and also visit the Community Cafe from time to time.

Burmese Mission Church

My passion for sharing the Gospel comes from a life-changing encounter with Jesus. I nearly died from food poisoning and was unconscious for three days in the hospital. During that time, I met Jesus in heaven. He showed me the importance of sharing the Gospel and sent me back to witness His resurrection. The next day, I was miraculously healed. Since then, my mission has been to introduce Jesus to everyone and show how much God loves mankind—His creation. I feel a strong burden to ensure that everyone hears the Gospel, regardless of whether they accept it. My role is to make them aware of God's love.

Whenever I travel, I share the Gospel with those who sit next to me on planes. This has become one of my favourite mission fields because we are confined to the same space for long hours, which allows me to explain the message in detail. Many have come to faith through these conversations.

Burmese Mission Church

Locally, I share the Gospel as I walk through my community, visiting parks and local shops. Recently, during a prayer walk in the New Year, I encountered a woman who was asking for money. She was struggling after her family had been affected by cancer, and she was bitter toward God because of their suffering. She shared that they had no money for food, heating, or electricity. She was cold, hungry, and had been living on bread and snacks for months. She asked for £200.

I explained that money wasn’t her priority; what she needed was God’s healing and provision. I asked if I could pray for her, and although she was reluctant, she agreed. As I prayed, she said she felt lighter and stronger. She asked me to lay my hands on her head, and after I did, she stood up and seemed much better. I invited her to the store, and though I had only £120 left in my account, I felt led to give her £100. She was overjoyed and said she no longer had to sit outside in the cold. She asked for my contact information before leaving.

Later, I was concerned about my bills, with just £20 left. I prayed, and the Lord spoke to me, asking, "Who do you trust—me or your bank?" I chose to trust God and gave my situation to Him. Soon after, my daughter transferred money for some flour she needed, and her sister sent me money for my bills. I saw God’s provision in action.

The woman later contacted me, saying that her family wanted to meet and receive prayer. I arranged to visit them with an evangelist friend, and I cooked Burmese noodles for the family. They were so grateful, and I prayed for them. They also asked for prayer for their relatives in another city. This is now our ministry focus.

I am incredibly thankful for God’s provision and for the support from the Home Mission that enables me to help those in need. While there are many challenges in ministry, including attacks on my church, finances, and personal life, I continue to trust God and find joy in serving the broken and needy in my community.

Prayer requests: 1. Our church needs a Mini bus to gather people who were saved from our outreach team they wanted to come to our church but they don't have car money and no sponsors. This is our priority prayer for our church in 2025. 2. We need prayers for Myanmar our country it is very dangerous for people in Myanmar, especially for the young people. We need to help the war victims and churches including pastors who are hiding in the jungle. 3. We need Prayer for some Pastors to invite to this country for their holiday to heal their trauma (mental )healing

Acoustic84 Communites - Ben & Ez Lucas

In 2017, SBCA partnered with Rural Ministries to call Ben and Ez Lucas to listen to communities in rural Dorset. The hope was to learn about the cries of the community, to hear God’s alternative narrative and to live that counter narrative out with other Christians. Pre-covid, listening led to many invitations to get involved in community life. A toddler group rebirthed, a village hall refit and community café instigated, reconciliation amongst key people are just a few of the things that began to transform local life. The invitation came from the community to bring Christian witness to the village through remembrance, Christmas and Easter. Exciting times! The beginnings of people wanting to explore deeper faith began just before the Covid outbreak and what was a few people meeting around the table began to be online gatherings. Remarkably, the small group grew during lockdown, people coming to faith in incredible ways. A beautiful church was beginning, and nobody had met each other! As covid eased we were able to meet for the first time, celebrating a baptism of a young woman who had come to faith. The cry of our community was division. The biblical imagination led us to Psalm 133 – and that if the village could be ‘one’, Gods presence would come, like the oil running down Aaron’s beard. We knew we needed to offer the counter narrative as Christians, being other to one another, yet being united in His love, speaking well of each other and refusing to split. As we met, we realised that we had and continue to have such a church. More baptisms followed. During this time, people found the way we were doing life together attractional after the enforced separation of lockdown. There were many requests to join us. God had other plans. We have discovered that small is beautiful. Instead, we felt the call to encourage people to listen to their communities and accidentally begin churches Boats & Harbours

like we have done. The picture we were given was of boats and harbours. Boats being the life of the church, small, agile, made for fishing, living in community in their locality. Harbour the coming together of all the boats, to share stories, to receive healing, to be reinvigorated to get back to sea. Boats and harbours were born. A couple of years later, we now have 5 missional listeners, 7 boats, and harbours once a month for celebration, a harbour especially for equipping and learning from leaders and listeners and now a story telling evening with the rest of the network of boat and harbours that has begun and been birthed in Lincolnshire and Norway. Ben, still listening locally, is called as a harbour pilot – helping new boats launch – and helping all boats come in and out of harbour. Ez, having spent considerable time listening in schools and learning about the mental health crisis – is using her pastoral gifts not only in boats and harbours but also in training to be a social worker with the deep desire to see all organisations working together for the health of young people and their family’s long term.

When the listening began, we had vision for a small church in our local village but as we have got out of the way – and simply listened to join in with what God is – God has done beyond our imagining.

Please pray for sustainability. Most of our growth is through conversion, and with often vulnerable people, and we are a long way from being self-sufficient. Please pray that we do not act out of scarcity but only on the leading and our faith in God. Please pray for more and more listeners to be released in Dorset. Please pray that our boats continue to live counter cultural lives to the cry in the neighbourhood. Please pray God continues to add to our number those being saved.