England

England, the largest and most populous country in the UK (57 million people), has seen a decline in Christian values and church attendance since the 1960s. Now considered post-Christian, fewer than 5% attend any church. However, Christianity is growing among ethnic minorities who have immigrated over the past 50 years.

We are praying and working toward a church planting movement, making disciples, transforming communities, and training church leaders. Our team has planted 11 churches and is expanding God’s kingdom work through various opportunities.

• Equipping churches and leaders to build thriving missional communities that cultivate deep, mature disciples.
• Empowering church planters and new churches to bring real transformation to their communities.
• Engaging in holistic outreach among immigrant communities, offering English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and essential resources.
• Leading outreach through discovery Bible studies, expanding networks that introduce people to Jesus.
• Creating intentional digital outreach strategies that connect with unreached people groups through social media.
• Investing in the next generation of Christian leaders by providing training through higher education.

• Support church leaders in discipleship and mentoring
• Help launch and support new church plants
• Build relationships and engage with local communities
• Teach or assist in ESL and other community outreach programs
• Develop digital outreach strategies to reach new people

You could bring your skills to amplify what we already do, or God might even be leading you to join the team with your own ideas!

Canvas is the Globalscope campus ministry in England, with teams in Birmingham and Nottingham.

The Canvas campus ministers have created an open community where students can explore faith. They try to model authentic Christian living and engage students in conversations about what it means to follow Christ. For many  students, their time at Canvas is their first encounter with Christian faith and community.

Canvas in Birmingham is located in the residential suburb of Selly Oak, not far from the heart of the city of Birmingham. More than a million people live in the city and roughly 30,000 students attend the University of Birmingham. Less than 10 percent of students enter college as Christians and of those, 70 percent abandon their faith during their years at University.

Here are a few ways the teams minister to college students in England:

• Weekly free dinner with a faith talk. Following the talk, we have a discussion for students to go deeper and share their thoughts.
• An Alpha group for students to talk about life and faith.
• Mentor meetings with staff members.
• Baked goods on Thursday afternoons as an entry into the community. 

Canvas in Nottingham opened in fall 2016. Nottingham is an historic university town and tourist destination of more than 300,000 people.

CMF England team members David and Teresa Fittro serve as the directors of EQUIP Britain, a cross-cultural ministry experience for those interested in missions and church planting. Short-term workers from Europe, Great Britain and the U.S. can train alongside multicultural church planters, receiving mentoring, coaching and hands-on experience. Teams spend 30 percent of their time in formal training and coaching and 70 percent developing and implementing a strategy to connect with community members and ethnic minorities.

Learn more about the EQUIP Immersive Experience here.