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Acknowledgement

Posted on August 5, 2013

Exciting news for the Order of Mission out of the work Mark Carey (previous Chair of UK Guardians) has been doing with the Church of England:

The Order of Mission has emerged with a deep conviction that it is a missional renewal movement in the tradition of the monastic movement that has called the church back to God and his mission for many centuries.

The Church of England, represented by the Bishop of Sheffield and the Archbishop of York, was strongly involved in encouraging the emergence of TOM from the ‘mother church’, St Thomas’s in Sheffield. Since then there has been a journey of exploring what the nature of the relationship is between TOM, the Church of England, and indeed, other denominations.

For a long time the Church of England has had a dynamic relationship with monastic orders, though these have tended to be the traditional ones (monks and nuns, poverty, chastity and obedience etc), however in the last few years the ‘Advisory Council on the Relations of Bishops & Religious Communities’ in Europe (more commonly known as ‘The Advisory Council’) has worked out a way in which a religious community such as TOM can have the same dynamic relationship that the traditional Orders have.

Thus, we are excited and grateful to God, that on Monday 15th July 2013, the advisory council on religious Orders officially acknowledged TOM as a religious community in the Church of England.

We look forward to a deepening relationship with the worldwide Anglican communion as an acknowledged Order.

TOM Global Secretariat

Posted on July 27, 2013

We are excited to be launching the new TOM Secretariat here in South Carolina, USA this summer; a central office for The Order of Mission that will seek to serve the movement on a global level.

As the Senior Guardian, Mike Breen, and the regional Chairs of Guardians felt that now was the right time to put more organization in place to support the growth of the Order over the coming years.

The Secretariat is launched with this in mind and will be responsible for all aspects of the Order’s administration including member administration, Exploration, developing clearer communication channels globally for members and in pioneering new TOM initiatives.

To help with this we have asked David & Susan Sisson to step in to this role to develop the Office. David and Susan have been members of the Order for 8 years and in 2011 moved from Sheffield in the UK to the US to serve the wider movement.

As we celebrate this next milestone in the life of the Order, please do pray for David & Susan as they engage with the administration of this global family.

Marco & Cinzia Basile – Sicily

Posted on January 4, 2013

We are Marco and Cinzia and we live in Sicily with our eight year old girl, Sofia.

We joined TOM’s big family in 2003 and, two years later, with some other TOM members, Tchad and Andrea Western from Sheffield, we moved back to Sicily where we lived in community sharing resources, experiences and faith. We saw God providing in miraculous ways and the powerful impact of sharing our lives together had on many people who were part of a little church in Catania.

Our vision was and is, to call back our Generation to God and make disciples of them. We wanted to buy a place where we could live in community and start a Mission training centre where we could equip and send whoever feels the same passion we have to reach the lost. A place to share with other Christians the same DNA, principles and rules of life we have learnt through TOM.

We started Jesus Generation, a group of people who share life together, living the principles of the gospel. A group that models God’s love, that welcomes everyone who wants to spend time with us and taste the amazing love that unifies us.

Some years later we decided to go out on the streets of our city to reach the people who will never come to our meetings – the poor and the least, the ones that are in need. Knowing that this was the fasting in which our Lord delights, we started Agape Mission which now involves many different churches. It has seen large growth and huge cultural and spiritual breakthroughs. Agape mission reaches out to the homeless, to the prostitutes and to the refugee camp where poor people (mainly from Romania) live.

2012 was an amazing year, Jesus Generation finally became a charity and we bought the right land after many years of searching. We believe this land has a huge potential, not only will it be a place to live in community but also where we can realise a training centre, summer camps, and a retreat place enjoying the presence of God which already fills the place.

It will be a massive work, but we firmly believe that He will do infinitely more that we could even imagine. So that as it is written: “That they may see and know, and consider and understand together, that the hand of the Lord has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.” Isaiah 41:20

Please keep us in your prayers…

Naomi — UK

Posted on October 1, 2012

“Being a member of the TOM family means knowing there are people with the same values as me committed to me and to each other.”

As a curate in Northampton I work with young adults and am also looking to serve as part of a chaplaincy team at a refuge for women and children fleeing domestic violence. I feel I have some calling to the marginalised and oppressed and this is the first step of exploring that!

Being a member of the TOM family means knowing there are people with the same values as me committed to me and to each other.  I feel encouraged and supported through the fantastic teaching and I have people to process life with, especially in regards to what God is doing, who are not afraid to challenge me.

Naomi Hill – Northampton, UK

The Jarvis Family — Australia

Posted on October 1, 2012

“We cannot imagine wanting to leave the Order as it has brought us community, family and belonging.”

We are Andy, Emma, Sarah and Matthew Jarvis, we live in Western Australia and we followed the Lord’s calling here in January 2007. We were unsure what God had in store for us and are now seeking to move to be near other TOM members in the suburb of Cottesloe, Perth to support them as they lead a church there.

Being part of TOM has given us a continued sense of community and family as we have moved literally to the other side of the world from the UK, away from friends, family and church. We have a sense of home from home when we meet with other TOM members in that we share language and habitual styles of being and working.  The Lifeshapes are multicultural and help us continue in our walk with the Lord as we try and settle into a new church community. Without them and the daily prayer structures and Order accountability, it would be easy to backslide.

We anticipate that we will take our permanent vows and be lifelong members of TOM. We cannot imagine wanting to leave the Order as it has brought us community, family and belonging.

I think the vow of simplicity has helped as we have moved here as it would be easy to follow the ‘Australian dream’ and live close to the beach, at the expense of being part of a TOM church community – it helps to ask, ‘would that be living simply’, particularly in a western materialistic context. We have also found the learning circle helpful as we have sought to move away from habitual behaviors.

The Jarvis Family – Australia

Frank — Denmark

Posted on October 1, 2012

“…it feels like a movement for mission, and we are excited to see how God is going to advance his Kingdom in ways we can’t imagine.”

My name is Frank Christiansen, I’m married to Mia and we have two young boys, William and Christopher.  We live in a flat in Copenhagen, Mia works as a Primary School teacher, and I work part-time as youth pastor in a Baptist Church and part-time as carpenter.

We became members of TOM in June 2007, during the first Scandinavian gathering.  TOM to us is about relationships, where we intentionally seek to be in partnership with other Christians who have the same passion as us – to be in mission and live a structured life.  It’s the feeling that our eyes are less on ‘our own church, our own denomination and my workplace’ and more on ‘The Church, The Kingdom and The Mission of God’.

We hope to become more engaged as a family, and less as individuals, and look forward to be part of the further development of TOM in Denmark and Scandinavia.  So even though we are now members of a monastic-like order, it feels a lot more like a movement for mission, and we are excited to see how God is going to advance his Kingdom in ways we can’t imagine.

Frank Christiansen – Copenhagen, Denmark

Carrie — Denmark

Posted on October 1, 2012

“It is fantastic that God calls us into seasons and relationships where we do come to walk together and invest in each other.”

My mission field exists within the corporate business world. One year ago, a little group of friends from Århus Valgmenighed Church made two observations; the first was that Aid and Volunteer Organizations (including the local church) often have the most neglected and unprofessional visual identity. The second was that the burn-out rate of designers in the local church and public sector was extremely high.  Potentially the spiritual gift of design could bring enrichment and raise the professional image of missional organizations and local churches – the flag bearer of God’s Kingdom.

This concept later developed into Transplant Design, a design company with leadership based on “kingdom principles” and environment specifically targeted for the building up of passion-driven designers. While we are now better equipped to serve missional organizations through design, our greatest joy is working in the secular market. While the design market can be a cut-throat and raw industry, it is also an opportunity for us to live out grace and authentic relationships with our business partners whilst at the same time working within the passion area God has equipped us for.

I see TOM as an international, organic, “open source” cluster made up of so many people with exciting callings and expertise. As with any community it is not possible to engage with everyone, however it is fantastic that God calls us into seasons and relationships where we do come to walk together and invest in each other at a deeper level.

Carrie Andersen – Aarhus, Denmark

The Burgess Family

Posted on October 1, 2012

“We have found relationships with TOM members to be a life-line in times where we have needed encouragement and direction.”

We are Mark, Anna and Daniel Burgess.  We have felt a call to Peru for many years and when we visited in 2005 we felt God speak to us about the amazing potential for the spread of His kingdom there but also the lack of direction that most churches and Christians have.  We want to be involved in discipling the next generation of Christians and seeing the kingdom of God grow throughout Peru and the planting of many churches.

We have found relationships with TOM members to be a life-line in times where we have needed encouragement and direction. Hearing other people’s testimonies and struggles through relationship and the website has been really inspiring.

Accountability within TOM is really key for our ministry because it allows us to step forward in faith whilst (hopefully!) preventing us from making stupid mistakes.  In the future it will also mean that our ministry can expand without the limitations and restraints that there would be if we tried to control everything we oversaw or set up.

Relationships we have made through TOM have been essential: helping us explore our calling to Peru and encouraging us as we take steps in what we believe God has given us to do in South America.

The Burgess Family – Peru

The Kelly Family

Posted on October 1, 2012

“The rule of life helps us understand the world, the Bible and ourselves in the light of Christ and His calling to be missionaries for Him.”

We are Phil, Mags, Skye and Joseph Kelly and we help to serve and lead a network of missional congregations across the city of Bristol. The congregational leaders are all members of TOM and relate to the Anglican Bishop of Bristol.  We want to see creative Jesus communities engaging and reaching out to every person and area of Bristol and beyond, so God’s presence fills the city and it reclaims its great spiritual heritage, and lives into God’s blessing in the 21st century.

Being a member of the TOM family helps us be clear about how we go about working out our vision for Bristol and gives us an accountable frame of reference to like-minded others around the world.

The rule of life helps us understand the world, the Bible and ourselves in the light of Christ and His calling to be missionaries for Him. The vows challenge us and remind us to live lives of the highest standard – radical, white hot passion for living in the way of Jesus.

The Kelly Family – Bristol, UK

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