Sussex Gospel Partnership

Inspired by the various Gospel Partnerships that have been formed around the country in recent years, a group of Anglican and Free Church leaders from across Sussex began to meet in the Spring of 2006 to discuss the value of doing something similar in Sussex. In June 2006 there was unanimous agreement that such a Partnership should be formed and at the end of 2006, the Lindfield PCC unanimously decided that All Saints should become a member church. The Sussex Gospel Partnership was launched in March 2007.

What is the Sussex Gospel Partnership?
The Sussex Gospel Partnership describes itself in this way:
‘A Partnership of Bible-centred churches in Sussex working together to train leaders, strengthen and plant churches and advance the gospel.’

To explain this in more detail it is:

• A  Partnership: not primarily a fellowship of people who enjoy each other’s company, but a Partnership of churches who believe it is better, and more effective, to work together.
• A Partnership of churches: bringing together churches of different denominations, whose members can get to know each other and, wherever possible, work together.
• A Partnership of Bible-centred churches: joining together churches who are absolutely clear that the Bible is the unique and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct, so that there is no dispute between the churches about any really important Christian issue.
• A Partnership of Bible-centred churches in Sussex: the strength of covering a whole region is that more churches can pool their gifts and expertise over a wider area but an area that is still small enough to make regular meetings possible. This supplements, rather than supersedes, commitment to more local groupings (e.g. Lindfield Churches and the Haywards Heath and District Evangelical Fellowship) and national bodies (e.g. The Church of England as a whole). Our commitment to these other groups and bodies remains undiminished.

What does it do?
The Sussex Gospel Partnership has four main aims:

1.  Training of Leaders
At All Saints we know the value of having Apprentices who spend a year with us, being trained and contributing to the work of the church.  Sam Carter and Simon Pastorello last year and Brendan Martin and Jo Ransley this year have proved invaluable in a whole range of work, especially with children and young people. We were delighted to welcome Jeremy Lowries as our current Appeentice in September.

2.  Strengthening Churches
Everywhere we go, we hear Church members crying out for training.  Sometimes this is training for general, maturing discipleship – like Jon Hobbs’ ‘Taking up the Baton’ or the S.E.R.V.E. course written by Stuart Dean,  being pioneered after Easter – and sometimes it is training for specific service:  Junior Church work or house group leadership or ministry to the elderly.
The Partnership will be running or sponsoring courses both for the county as a whole (e.g. a Saturday Conference ‘in service’ training for Sunday School teachers) and in local areas (e.g. Partnership churches getting together to have a series of training evenings for Christian musicians).
In addition, the Partnership already runs the day-release Ministry Training Course in Eastbourne which our Apprentices (and others) attend.

3.  Planting Churches
This is the most ambitious aim of the Partnership.  Several of the member churches have already planted new churches or congregations and most of these new churches have seen considerable growth.
We want to share in this vision and learn from their experience, so that we too will have the courage to plant new churches in our parish or area, reaching whole segments of the population which would otherwise be largely untouched by Christ.
In addition, the Partnership wants to survey the whole county and see where there are no Bible-centred churches.  With the help and agreement of the Anglican authorities or Free Church structures, the SGP would love to plant new churches in neglected areas.
The North West Partnership have planted about one new church a year and all of them have grown and are doing well.

4.  Advancing the Gospel
The Partnership wants to help member churches to find ways of reaching out with the Christian message to those who have never been grasped by it.
Often this will be better done together than alone. In 2006, for example, three Eastbourne churches (two now members of the Partnership;  one actively considering membership) conducted a joint mission in the town centre.
Of course this will not dilute our involvement with other groups but will be a further circle of friendship, working together with other Bible-centred churches with a vision for outreach.