I’m Denise J Charles, a young woman who’s married with three sons. My husband Gabriel and I recently planted a church in one of our local communities in Barbados. BREAK FREE GLOBAL NETWORK, the name of the ministry we Pastor, is an externally focused ministry. Even though our desire is to first build relationships with those in our local communities by living out the word through day to day experiences and interactions; we believe in being “glocal”. This is a term coined by missional thinkers who value the existence of local and global missions and see  them  as simply different sides of the same coin. This means that there’s an acknowledgement of local responsibility but with an understanding that what we do locally can definitely have global impact; in essence; glocalization.

The style and culture of our fellowship is one that is very interactive, informal and open. If you walk into a Sunday morning gathering at either the Community centre where we meet or at a beach where we worship and fellowhip with lunch at least once a month, you will easily see a circle of individuals sharing real life experiences, posing questions, praying, laughing and pouring over God’s word with a hunger for answers. This time of fellowship and worship, as important as it is,  is however not the driving force of our ministry; it is not our raison detre. The energizing which we speak of in our by-line “liberating, energizing, connecting” is experienced on the basis of the relationships we build with regular people from our communities who are not a formal part of our fellowship. Our desire is to know and serve them and hence practice the presence of Christ or live incarnationally as He did, as the Word who “became flesh” and “dwelt among men” or “moved into the neighbourhood”. INSIDE OUT is therefore the term we use to emphasize this external focus and our commitment to not majoring too much on ourselves and our needs.

I’m also an academic and an educator, a poet, an artistic, creative person, who believes in defying expectations and limitations; an individual who loves to think, write, ask questions and pursue possibilities. A renaissance woman who doesn’t yet know what I want to be when I “grow up” (smile). Someone who, along with my husband, is interested in working with others to pursue God’s  heart and mission, as we build Christian community in the world . Someone who loves to colour outside the lines (of life) and is hungry for knowledge of God and self. Best yet, I’m from BARBADOS in the Caribbean (great people, sun and food).

Both my husband and I love young people and see them as the “NOW GENERATION”; those who will be the catalysts for change and there is that heavy youthful presence in our ministry. We believe stongly that these are the ones to be discipled into the organic mode of “being church” which is not really new. The New Testament clearly shows a church consumed with being; not one focused on a structure or place to which you went. We also believe in the collective learning of the community and are not big on the traditional titles of Christendom which seek to force a separation and create “a clergy” versus “a laity”. This structure which is not quite biblical (yes there are leaders and differing roles but we are also Kings and Priests and equal in the brotherhood); causes an overt dependence on “the  clergy” for a word from God and diminishes the sense of responsibility which we all must have in carrying and living the gospel in the world.  We believe that we are all missionaries sent by God to be His light in our culture. We therefore desire to participate with Him in the transformation of lives and communities.

We are definitely interested in networking with those of similar thinking and of course we would also love to dialogue with those who may see God and church differently. Of course that’s where the fun begins. Thank God for blogs! God Bless!!!