The Forge Pioneer Course aims to help equip people to plant new churches or new expressions of the Christian faith. But who are the people that come on the course? This is a question I often get asked and to be honest, there are so many variations it is hard to answer.

When God is Showing a Vision

One groups of people are those who feel God is showing a vision for a new way of reaching people for Jesus. Maybe this has been through reading scripture, a dream, a prophecy or they simply have a heartache for a people group, or a love for a community in a specific geographical area. Some people come with some ideas of how they might connect with their context or have even tried out some events. Whereas, others may have no ideas at all but they know the people God has placed on their heart. For example, they can tell you the difference that knowing Jesus would make in this community as they understand the culture of that community including the assets and needs.

More to They Kingdom Come

Another group of people who apply to the Forge Pioneer Course are those with a belief that there has to be more to Thy Kingdom Come than this. They have a dissatisfaction or frustration with the status quo. They have a hunger to see more of God and longing for an awakening in their lives and the lives of those around them. They might be the people in the church who are always asking challenging questions about how the Church is reaching out into the community and to those who do not know Jesus yet. Some Forge participants have left established church not because they have lost their faith in Jesus, but because of their faith. They have a hunger for more and a desire to connect with others in a similar situation.

Community Worship

Some applicants come to Forge when people in their community have started to come to faith but they now have nowhere suitable for them to worship together. Maybe they have tried to bring new believers to worship in the existing pattern of church and it has not worked as the way they do church is not relevant to their culture or background. This cohort of people are keen to hear of other church plants and how people have started new churches with a strong emphasis on discipleship.
Some applicants come as part of denomination partnership with Forge Scotland to train anyone who is interested in church planting either as an individual or as a small team. Whereas others will be individuals or couples or small groups of people who feel God’s call to start something new.

Forge Participant Commonality

However, given all these variations, there are two commonalities too among the Forge applicants; a deep love of Jesus and a willingness to learn and step out in faith even without all the answers. All Forge participants dedicate this year of learning and connecting to help them step into the call God has placed on their lives for a time such as this. A significant number of Forge applicants will have shared this call on their lives with significant others around them and spent time in prayer together either before or as part of their application process.

If any of this resonates with you and you would like to more about what the Forge Pioneer course is, I would love to connect with you. You can book into our Forge taster calls coming up over the following months with some of the Forge team or email me.

Lynsey Paterson

Forge Scotland Director