A reflection on limits and possibilities over 2024-25
At the end of a long day at Lodge Road Community Church in Winson Green, a visitor recently asked me:
“There’s so much going on—and so much more needed. How do you prioritise?”
It’s a question I return to often. The needs around us far outweigh our capacity. The pressure to “do it all” can be overwhelming. Yet over the past year I’ve been grounding myself in three clear priorities – anchors that help me navigate between the urgent and the important:
- Invest in the renewal of Winson Green as our base.
- Invest in Seedbeds regionally and nationally to grow local leadership around the world.
- Invest in place-making pioneers so that we reproduce ourselves faithfully.
These aren’t abstract goals. They’re planted in the life we share here in Winson Green – a neighbourhood that has become both home and seedbed. From here, local renewal and leadership development are woven together. And from here, connections stretch outward across the UK and as far as Myanmar, Thailand, Ukraine, and Australia. To see these seeds beginning to flourish is a real joy.
The Role of Our Church
Then the visitor asked, “But where does your local church fit in?” My answer was simple: our church is not an add-on. It is the People of God planted here, right at the heart of neighbourhood renewal; a sign, foretaste and instrument of God’s coming Shalom.
Our chapel too is being renewed. We hope it can become a safer, more accessible and vibrant space for worship and community renewal, while also becoming a more permanent base for Seedbeds: with a classroom, library, and office upstairs for equipping leaders. Here Change Makers will be raised up, pioneers will grow, and the Seedbeds School for Shalom will take root.
Winson Green is both home and witness: a neighbourhood being renewed, and a seedbed of hope for all who walk through our doors.
Learning to Prioritise
These priorities have been forged by necessity. With limited time, people, and resources, we cannot do everything. Instead, we’ve had to ask what is most prophetic, strategic, and sustainable in each season of our life and ministry. We especially ask:
What do we have in our hands, and how can we be faithful with that?
Faithfulness with what we already hold matters more than striving after what we don’t. Saying “no” can be as important as saying “yes.” We’ve learned to trust that what is in our hands is enough, and that fruit comes through focused, faithful use.
One of the practices that has helped me discern priorities is pilgrimage. For me, it is not only a journey of gratitude and wellbeing, connecting with landscapes, fellow pilgrims and God, but often a discipline of listening and seeking the future.
On the final day of my recent Summer Camino in August, I walked steadily into the vibrant city of Logroño, alive with tapas, history, and colour. Along the way I prayed for the academic year ahead; for Winson Green, for Seedbeds, and for the pioneering work before us. I was reminded that more than the work I do, it is also about who I can become – centred, compassionate, and alert to the movement of the Spirit. As the poet David Whyte puts it:
“To set out boldly in our work is to make a pilgrimage of our labors, to understand that the consummation of our work lies not only in what we have done, but who we have become while accomplishing the task.”
An Invitation
Perhaps you too feel the limits, that you can’t do everything you’d like to. What priorities is God calling you to in this season? What is most prophetic, strategic, and sustainable for you and who are you becoming as you pursue them?
As we continue to walk this path in Winson Green, with Seedbeds, and alongside place-making pioneers, we invite you to pray with us and for us. Please hold these three priorities in prayer. And if you feel led, stand with us through participation, connection, or support, as together we seek to plant seedbeds of hope that flourish near and far.
Shalom,
Rev Dr Ash Barker
International Director, Seedbeds
For Prayer and Praise – focusing on 3 priorities:
Priority 1: Invest More in Winson Green’s Renewal as a Base
Priority 2: Invest in Regional & National Seedbeds
Priority 3: Invest in Place-Making Pioneers
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