Suffolk Centre Of Mission

Suffolk

Suffolk Centre of Mission is a Diocese-wide hub for Evangelism and Pioneering. It works in partnership with and in support of both parish churches and fresh expressions of church. The Centre of Mission offers training; seeks to invite others to join in mission and evangelism in a variety of ways and provides hands-on pioneering.

“The Suffolk Centre of Mission is not a physical building, instead it aims to be at the centre of people – bringing people together and encouraging people to understand and share their faith story. Through this, we will enable all groups to grow – whether a parish church community, PCC, Lightwave group, youth project, a Fresh Expression or even as an individual person.” – Gail Southgate, Suffolk Centre of Mission Lead Evangelist

The Suffolk Centre of Mission is the overarching holding place for various training and support programmes including:

  • Envoy programme: Church Army’s model of Envoy Communities is an innovative peer-led approach to developing personal evangelism and effectiveness in living missionally. Envoy communities are formed of up to 6 people including a facilitator. Distinct practices are learned and applied such that the group speak and release value for each other, deepen faith and step into mission and evangelism appropriate for each person and their context. Communities may form from one church family / Lightwave group or individuals may gather from different churches or groups. Such diversity can often bring enrichment and insight from outside contexts.
  • Church Army’s Faith Suite: Offering a set of resources which enable churches of all traditions to explore sharing faith both as individual members and corporately as a church family.
  • Missional Youth Church Network (MYCN): The mission of MYCN is to enable local schools, churches and community projects to work together to reimagine church with young people. MYCN facilitate a Learning Community in order that youth leaders and volunteers can come together for training, encouragement, prayer and support as they build for the future. Missional Youth Church Network. The Suffolk Centre of Mission provides direct support and advice to assist the development of youth churches across Suffolk based on the MYCN model.
  • Gail Southgate – Lead Evangelist

The Suffolk Centre of Mission is led by Evangelist, Gail Southgate. Gail is co-leader of the Lightwave group ‘Pilgrims Together’, a small group who gather together from within the Leiston and Alde Sandlings area to worship both in person in outdoor locations where people gather and online. As a community they are reaching out to people who are moving into their local area by welcoming them, offering prayer and gifting spider plants. In partnership with the local pub, they meet for monthly Breakfast Rambles and a Good News Faith Café. These groups are developing with different members leading sessions and discussions about faith. Gail will continue to grow and develop ‘Pilgrims Together’ while also sharing her experience and learning with others who wish to set up similar groups. Gail also supports the parish church in Leiston in planning missional activities in the local community.

Gail is also instrumental in facilitating Envoy Communities across the diocese, Envoy is a core part of Evangelism and Pioneering training and is already supporting people in our parishes and Lightwave groups. Gail is excited about how Envoy can really develop people in their setting. Envoy promotes discussion, actioning ideas, prayer, and celebrating success and it has been key to growing a number of groups in the diocese already.

  • James Hawksworth – Pioneer Evangelist South West Ipswich

Gail is supported by James Hawksworth, Pioneer Evangelist in Southwest Ipswich. James is pioneering a youth community which meets on Friday evenings. He is developing partnerships with local churches, schools and colleges. James’ work and passion is rooted in the development of missional youth church using the MYCN model. James is currently working in collaboration with a local primary school and local 6th form college building relationship and offering pastoral care. James is keen to share his experience and support others. He shares in hosting Centre of Mission Envoy Communities.


Gail and James will continue to develop their communities while encouraging others to step out into the community to share God’s love in creative, contextually relevant ways.

James Hawksworth writes…

Young people already know about social action, probably a lot more than the church does because we focus a lot on what we believe, rather than necessarily what we do, whereas they would say social action is more important than anything else.

So, I think, how do we build a relationship with the Revolutionary God when they’re already Revolutionary?

I want our young people to experience that shift in perspective that only encountering God can give. We’ve started praying with one another and practicing some spiritual exercises, encouraging them to engage with the Other, with the spiritual, rather than just the knowledge of who He is.

None of the kids are from faith backgrounds except maybe one, and my daughter. At first many were quite anti-Christian, even in our youth group.

One girl, put this song on the karaoke machine that we have, and they were all singing along to these lyrics about ending up on your knees in a leash at church. I had to ask them if that’s how they see us, as Christian youth leaders, and they responded, ‘oh no, you’re different,’ but we could see there was a journey to take.

Last week, we discovered the same girl, who has become so much more supportive of what we’re doing, at the front of the church behind the altar, praying with another girl.

INSTEAD OF SNEAKING OFF TO DO SOMETHING THEY SHOULDN’T, OR BECAUSE THEY WERE BORED, THEY HAD FOUND A QUIET SPACE TO PRAY TOGETHER.

It was beautiful.

James Hawksworth, Suffolk Centre of Mission

Donate Now

£8
could mean reaching more young people with the gospel in schools
£17
could provide days of fun filled activities to children in the holidays
£29
could provide emergency supplies to families in crisis
Or
£
Donate
Help us reach more people by making a smaller donation every month
Change to monthly
No
£26
could provide a care pack of food and clothing to women involved in sex work
£47
could provide one night in an emergency bed and essential toiletries for a vulnerable woman facing crisis
£91
could take one of our youth groups to a national youth event
Or
£
Donate
Your kind support will help us tackle social deprivation through partnership and collaboration to help empower individuals and communities
Your kind support will help us tackle social deprivation through partnership and collaboration to help empower individuals and communities
£

Custom Amount

Email Marketing
Text Marketing
Your kind donation will support our work where it is needed most.
What prompted my donation
Select Payment Method
My details

Billing Details

Reclaim Gift Aid

Make your %PRICE% worth %GIFTAID% at no extra cost to you!

Note: if you are donating on behalf of an organisation Gift Aid is not applicable (please do not tick the box), as it is only applied to individual donations.

By ticking the “Yes” box, I agree I would like Church Army to Gift Aid my donation of %PRICE% and any donations I make in the future or have made in the past 4 years. I understand that if I pay less Income Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax than the amount of Gift Aid claimed on all my donations in that tax year I may be asked to pay any difference. I understand that Church Army will reclaim 25p of tax on every £1 that I give.

What is Gift Aid?

Gift Aid does not cost you a penny more, but can add an additional 25p to every £1 you donate. When Church Army receives a donation from a UK taxpayer, we’re entitled to claim an amount of tax (calculated at the basic rate of income tax in that year) paid on that donation. Once you have given your permission for us to do this on your behalf, there is no need for you to do anything else.

All that is required is that you must be a taxpayer and that would have paid or will pay sufficient Income and/or Capital Gains Tax to cover all the Gift Aid claimed on all your donations in that tax year. Please note that it is your responsibility to pay any difference.

The amount of tax we claim will be 25% of the total value of your donations in that tax year. Furthermore, if you are a higher taxpayer, you are also entitled to claim the difference between the basic rate which we will claim and the amount of tax you have actually paid. For further details on how you can do this, please contact your tax office. If your tax situation changes and your gifts will no longer be eligible for the Gift Aid scheme please contact us and we will amend your record accordingly.

Take me to my donation »

Donation Total: £25.00 One Time

Evangelists & Leaders

Gail Southgate

James Hawksworth

Connect with Suffolk Centre of Mission

Partnerships

Diocese of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich

The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich was founded in 1914 and includes the county of Suffolk, with the exceptions of an area of North East Suffolk around Lowestoft, and one parish in the county of Essex. Serving about 631,000 people living in a geographical area of more than 1,400 square miles, the communities of the diocese are served by 443 parishes within 106 benefices and 16 deaneries.

Read James’ Newsletter

Share this Page