Mission is God's story. Mission was not created for the church but we, as the church, are created for mission – God’s mission.
We believe that God's redemptive story is being outworked through ordinary people saying yes to Jesus' missional call and biblical mandate to see all nations, tribes, people and tongues being reached with the good news of the gospel.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Acts 1.8
As we seek to love the people in our streets, workplaces, social circles, universities and wherever we find ourselves, LY S 25 is about empowering and mobilising us to express something of who God is and introduce people to Jesus. Everyone of us gets to play and so we want to invite you to consider what you, your friends or family can do together.
What this looks like is up to you! The ideas are endless and can be as simple or extravagant as God leads..... organising a coffee date or hosting a BBQ for your neighbours, litter picking, street parties or going on a prayer treasure hunt. God has blessed us to be a blessing, and for one month we are going to go all out to bless the places and people where we live.
To add some fun, we are setting a goal that together, across sites, could see over 2,000 hours of mission unfold. We can't wait to celebrate all that God will do in partnership with us, His people!
Some people feel called to move out of their comfort space - to create a new place, so that others can experience God's grace.
As we pioneer new Verso sites, we're looking for people to join them for six months at a time, and do whatever is needed, in order to fill gaps and provide support, while they raise up new teams. It doesn't matter how long the site has been going, we at Verso seek to help, where help is needed.
Verso Care exists to equip people with the tools and support they need to move towards living a more independent life, empowering them to fulfil their God - given potential. Our focus is to fill the gaps in existing service provision and support, rather than duplicate what already exists.
We are a community that places a high value on being authentic. That means loving one another, walking through hard times together, and following the example of the early church in practically supporting one another as needed. The Verso Family Fund is one of the ways we want to support those in our church community who are experiencing difficulties. Any member of Verso can apply for support from the fund for themselves.
Verso is part of the Vineyard movement, and in the UK the Vineyard Missions Network works to ensure local churches have the opportunity to fulfil the biblical call to go and make disciples of all nations, as we extend the Kingdom together everywhere in every way. In aligning ourselves with how God is leading us as a movement, to go, equip and partner in the nations, we are joining a partnership of UK churches (Catalyst, Croydon and Verso), who will be committed to serving what God is outworking in and through Vineyard in Sri Lanka.
For the last twenty years, Vineyard churches have been present in Sri Lanka, weathering persecution, war, and economic crisis. And yet, through all of that, the church is growing. Despite the hardship, the church is experiencing rapid multiplication, as people are coming to Jesus, being discipled and planting churches. There are now seven established churches, and increasingly young leaders are rising up in faith and expectation, and are stepping out to plant new churches, as they steward many new believers. By 2030, the vision is to see 20 churches established.
As a multi-site church ourselves, we are being invited to journey with Sri Lanka in PRAYING, GIVING FINANCIALLY and pouring ENCOURAGEMENT into this next generation of leaders, as well as offering support in helping them to establish governance and Vineyard values in a different culture. We will be meeting with leaders in Sri Lanka monthly, and will be part of sending teams out to Sri Lanka to serve and equip. With the growth they are experiencing, we know that as we invest in this partnership, we will also learn, be challenged and grow immensely through these leaders.
In 2024 there is a reality that approximately 3.2 billion of the world’s population have zero or very little access to the Gospel. Of this group 1.5 billion people have no access to scripture in their heart language.
As we look at this reality, along with God's heart for the lost and how He leads His church to respond, we believe He is commissioning us to take our place, in reaching the lost, even to the ends of the earth. With this in mind, we have established a partnership with OMT Himalayas. OMT stands for Oral Mother Tongue, and it’s a movement that is committed to orally translating the entire Bible into every mother tongue across the world. In Asia, the continent with the most unreached people groups, we felt led to OMT Himalayas – a region that still has 250 languages without the Bible.
The OMT team includes long-term missionaries on the ground, who are reaching and connecting with unreached groups. As they build relationships, they look to invest in the discipleship of a few individuals, who can be raised up as leaders. These individuals are also trained how to translate a trade language Bible orally into the heart language of a people group, in order to ensure that an entire unreached group has access to the Scriptures. This process of translation recognises that people from within an unreached group are the experts of culture and word usage, but working in conjunction with a wider body of theologians, translators and the church at large means that the translation is accurate.
In addition, the heart of OMT isn’t simply about translating an entire Bible in a way that is accessible (orally), but it is about seeing the transformation of a people group, as they encounter Jesus and are discipled through the living Word of God. As Verso, we are adopting a people called the Koch – Rajbanshi tribe, based in the tropical plains of South- East Nepal. There are approximately 133,000 people within this tribe in Nepal, and there is a remnant of believers, who are ready to make Jesus known.
As the believers take steps of obedience to God, it will be our privilege to empower the discipleship of many more people, as they receive the gift of Scripture in a language that they can understand.
We will be GIVING FINANCIALLY to cover the cost of the discipleship process of leaders, as well as the entire Bible translation process.
In addition, we will be contending in PRAYER with and for the Koch – Rajbanshi people to encounter Jesus. We will also SEND teams out to SERVE and ENCOURAGE the long-term missionaries, as well as being part of distributing portions of the Bible, as it's translated.
Completion of an oral translation takes approximately 2 years and costs around £8,500.
The Bible repeatedly shows us that God calls His people to care for His creation, feed the hungry, stand up for those who are vulnerable, and to love refugees.
The crisis fund helps us respond to crisis events worldwide by working with our networks to get resources to where they need it on the ground.
Contact our Compassion, Justice and Missions Pastor Clare Mulrooney, to find out more.
We are given a biblical mandate from God, that we are to go into ALL nations to make disciples. As we say "yes" in obedience, we also discover that, through our engagement with the nations, we are led to see more of who God is. Each nation, people group, and individual carries something of the heart of God. As we are all made in His image, and as we desire to become more like Him, we see that not only is it our responsibility to go into the nations, but it's also a gift, as we seek to become more like Jesus every day.
There is so much need in the world, the opportunity to love and serve is vast. As we have enquired of the Lord, to discern what our part corporately as a church should be, we have done so by seeking to hear His voice, discerning within a body of believers, aligning relationally to key connections, and in doing so, have allowed God to open and shut doors.
In building partnerships, we see short-term mission trips as a key part of developing relationships and effective partnerships. At the heart, our short-term trips will seek to serve those who are living and working long-term in a specific location, and to bring encouragement to what they are doing. We will also form teams based on their field-driven needs.
Email missions@verso.church and we'll get back to you.
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