The first small-HOPs

We met on zoom tonight and heard from the first 3 small-HOPs that are forming.

We lit our tealights as a sign of the word we have had about lights all over the city. We waited on the Holy Spirit, as in the upper room. We are all in 'one place' spiritually, even if we are physically spread across the city on zoom.

"Anyone with ears"

We laid out the foundation for the next chapter. If there is one verse that sums it up, it is the letters in Revelation. 

Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Holy Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches.

This is our grounding and reference in each small-HOP.  We are praying for the church. In it all we are asking the Holy Spirit what He is saying to us, to the Bride of Christ, here in Southampton. We are asking for the whole church to be attentive and aware of what He is saying. It is in the light of this revelation that we go on to pray for the city. It is in the light of this revelation that we discover our specific prayer assignments in our small-HOPs.

Small-HOPs report

Each of the 3 small-HOPs that are forming gave a report on what they are doing so far.

1. On the East of the city, led by Ros. With Chris, Ali and Pete and Ken. One space. Starting with meeting on a Wednesday and sharing a meal together, then praying. Don't know how it will pan out, but have started. Been on a few prayer walks - coming to the sign "Welcome to Southampton" and praying for only that which is good to enter the city. When Ros and Chris moved to Southampton in 19?? God was really working in the centre of the city, but hey had a word to go east and settle in the east. 

2. In Shirley, led by Sally. With Elaine, Siobhan, Christopher, Frances and Ron. Going to meet on 2 Thursday evenings each month and have a creative prayer time daytime on Monday, including prayer walks. Going to meet and plan things next week.

3. Focussing on Townhill Park, led by Tara. With Sandra and Peter. All very busy people at the moment. Going to start with a 10pm zoom on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Will see what happens and how it develops. 

Kathy and Richard are meeting with Catherine and Chris (Lordshill Church) on Monday to share the small-HOP vision and explore the possibility of a small-HOP in Lordshill.

Roger and Nerida have emailed in support of small-HOPs, very encouragingly. They send their blessing and greetings to us all. They are already praying in a number of small groups, for example Healing on the Streets (Bitterne), and will continue to do so, feeding in what we put out via the community emails.

We will continue to be in contact with other members of the community who are exploring what to do for a small-HOP. Think of it as a big mother ship, with everyone finding smaller boats to set sail in. Kathy and Richard will watch over the mother ship until we have all set sail.

Map of Southampton

With reference to the vision that Carolyn had of the map of Southampton that the Lord was putting dabs of paint on, we put up a map of Southampton on the screen and, each armed with a paint brush, we waited on the Holy Spirit to ask what next. What are you doing?

As we prayed and shared over this map, we began to annotate it (as you can do in zoom) and there were a number of red hearts appearing as we identified small-HOPs. The following points were made:

• small-HOPs are like a chain of beacons, connecting together across the map, visible to one another. We may be dispersed around the city, but we will each burn brightly, having a sense of those around us and feeling part of that chain. Ros and Chris live right by Beacon Road in West End.

• Nehemiah 3 - listing all the different people who repaired sections of the walls of Jerusalem. Frequently the writer notes that families built the wall across from their own house. There was no future for the city if they could not defend it. This is very much what the Holy Spirit is calling us all to do now, gathering in our own areas and taking our stand in prayer together. 

Above the Horse Gate, the priests repaired the wall. Each one repaired the section immediately across from his own house.  Nehemiah 3:28

• song - I'm going to see God's victory - the battle belongs to the Lord. A reminder that God is the one at work. And a link with Psalm 24:7 - Lift up your heads O you gates and be lifted up you ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in - the Lord strong and might in battle. 

• this map has a gap over the Itchen (it pre-dates the Woolston toll bridge) - the Holy Spirit is stitching the city together. We could see small-HOPs meeting up on the bridges and blessing the East to the West and the West to the East.

• We were also reminded to reach out to those we have prayed with in the east before - in Woolston, Weston and Sholing.

• the general hospital - hospitals used to be an extension of the church - God wants to reclaim that. Thinking on this more... some small-HOPs may focus on a specific place/organisation - the hospital, City College???

• Kathy - felt a definite direction for praying in Lordshill.

New patterns of meeting

The leaders met the next evening to plan the route ahead. This is the pattern for now.

• "All-in meetings"

  • Our next meeting all together will be on zoom in 4 weeks time - Wednesday November 18th. Worship. Vision. Testimony. Commissioning. This will be a time for keeping clear on our overall calling and vision, the story so far from each small-HOP and a commissioning of each one. We will keep asking - What is the Holy Spirit saying to the churches? We will delegate the worship bit to one of the small-HOPs, asking them to lead us in something creative.

  • After that we will gather every two months. So Wednesday 13 January will be the next one. We will try to get a covid-safe venue so we can all be in the same room together. It will be a similar brief - to get an overview of what/where all the small-HOPs are, to refine our calling and vision, and (most importantly!) to pray for the church and the city together. 

  • After that it will be Wednesday 10 March. 

  • In the spring we will review our pattern going forwards.

• "Lieutenant meetings"

  • When talking about small-HOPs with Simon Orton, he spoke of the leader of each small-HOP having a lieutenant to keep them to the vision. A lieutenant is a rank in the army, but in general means a deputy or substitute acting for a superior. Example: "one of the Prime Minister's most trusted lieutenants". This is the sense of what we need in the small-HOP leaders. Someone who will be trusted to keep the small-HOP true to Jesus' revealed calling.

  • We will gather the 'lieutenants' to support them and learn together what the Lord is saying to us. We will do this in the month between the "all-in" meetings. The first of these will therefore be on Wednesday 16 December. A bit close to Christmas, but we will go with it (maybe we won't all be as busy as usual in December this year??).

• Core leadership

  • The core leaders are still meeting together to pray, especially about how we share the vision across the churches in Southampton and support the formation of new small-HOPs.