3six5

3six5 is a small, missional congregation in Chessington, south west London. We are independent but exist within the Kingston-upon-Thames Methodist Circuit. The congregation is led by Andrew Pakes, a Methodist minister, who was released from traditional Methodist ministry to lead and develop the work of 3six5.

The catalyst for our beginning was a sabbatical report written by Andrew over the summer of 2000, entitled 'Church in the21st Century'. In the report the various activities of the Church were separated into two categories that it called 'gathered' and 'dispersed'. The report argued that much of the New Testament gospels and letters are concerned with the church in 'dispersed' mode, yet the traditional church spends most of its time and energy on church in the 'gathered' mode. Indeed, 'gathered' mode seems to be the focus of the traditional church. In 3six5 we have raised the importance of the 'dispersed' mode and kept our 'gathered' mode to a minimum.

This has freed us to spend more time with family and friends, especially with those who don't yet know Jesus. We encourage and support each other to live out our Christian lives in our various communities and, as far as possible, to play an active part in them. To this end we tend not to put on events, but instead, if events are happening in the community we join in with them. When we first began we discovered that years of being active and busy in our traditional church settings had deskilled us and we had to learn afresh how to 'behave' and what to do in what we used to know as the secular society. Now we are much more comfortable and most of us have seen old friendships deepen and new ones begin. It has been very exciting, but we are aware that we have committed ourselves to a long-term missional existence in our communities.

There are two regular occasions when we meet in 'gathered' mode. Our main teaching sessions take place midweek. These are practical and designed to help us live a missional lifestyle at home, at work and in the community where we reside. Our worship time is presently fortnightly on a Saturday teatime. This is by mutual agreement and, at the moment, is the most convenient time for the members. Currently we meet in the local scout headquarters and our worship flows out of our experiences whilst in 'dispersed' mode rather than the other way round. We tend to begin with coffee, or a meal providing time to catch up with each other. After that we may sing, have an interactive presentation or listen to someone's story. All ages meet together and we try to include 'play' as part of our worship time. As much as possible we try to be multi-sensual and to use modern methods of teaching and communication that enable everyone to be involved. Worship is collaborative, informal, in plain English and fun. We work hard to make all that we do accessible and easy to understand so that anyone who comes to meet with us is not isolated by vocabulary, activities or conventions and can participate and feel part of everything.

At the beginning it took a great deal of courage to leave the traditional church setting with which most of us were familiar and try something new. We were encouraged quite early on in our existence when some who had left their traditional church some years ago after finding that it no longer met their spiritual and missional needs joined us and shared our vision. Nor has the transition been without its cost. Firstly financial, although the Methodist Church supports what we are doing and the local circuit provided an initial grant, 3six5 is financially self-supporting. Andrew had to leave the Methodist manse and no longer receives a stipend. He has become bi-vocational and the members support him to lead and develop 3six5 on a part time basis and provide some of the facilities that used to come with traditional ministry. Then secondly there have been some personal costs. Although most of our traditional church friends accept that we are still part of the Church, even if they do not understand what 3six5 is about, a few have broken off their friendship with us and oppose the existence of 3six5. This has not been easy, but we hope that in time those friendships can be restored and our place as an alternative to 'traditional' church valued.

As we have continued with 3six5 we have discovered Jesus to be alive and active in the non-churchgoing community and this has refreshed our reading and impacted our understanding of his ministry in the gospels. We have a lot more fun and a greater sense of freedom and responsibility through knowing that we are 'church' all the time. We also have a strong sense of rest as the Spirit leads us outside of the familiar patterns of mission that we were used to. It has been an apprehensive but thrilling journey so far and we look forward to all that is to come.

This is only a thumbnail sketch of 3six5 but our website is under construction and we hope to go online soon. In the meantime if you wish to know more, you can contact us by 'phoning 020 8391 5959, or writing to us at 3six5, PO Box 162, Chessington, Surrey, KT9 2YZ.