Taketime – a new way of mission and of growing in faith
How did it begin?
It all began when a prisoner with no faith background asked the chaplain, “How do you pray?”
The chaplain, Rev Clive McKie, replied “Simply speak to God in your mind.”
She said, “I’ve tried that –it doesn’t work!”
Having attended some Ignatian spirituality retreats, Rev McKie explained that if we use our imagination to picture a setting in which Jesus is present, it is easier to stay focused. The prisoner replied, “Let’s do it!”
Clive described the healing of the leper in Matthew chapter 4, and then gave her an opportunity to speak to and then to listen to Jesus. At the end, the prisoner responded, “I met Jesus and asked him into my life!”
Over the coming months it became clear that she was experiencing the Holy Spirit at work in her life, changing her behaviour and bringing her hope and peace.
Another young lady asked, Rev McKie, “Who is Jesus – he’s big in America isn’t he?” Having then been led in a meditation, she said, “The weird thing was that although I didn’t know Him, He has always known me”. Several months later she reported that her faith was now the most important thing in her life.
It was the women in the prison who urged Clive to put the meditations online and so the Taketime website was created.
People then wanted access to scripts and to use Taketime meditations in their own contexts. As a result, Clive and the Taketime Team developed the Taketime Practitioner Training for Adults and Youth, which is now available online.
With interest from teachers in schools, the online Taketime Practitioner Training for Primary and Secondary Schools was created. There are now about 400 trained Practitioners and about 100 Christian organisations using Taketime.
How can Taketime be used?
Finding faith, is about understanding who Jesus is, believing in him and choosing to follow him. Many people who don’t have any formal faith still pray regularly. In a one-to-one setting with someone who trusts you, a simple Taketime meditation can be offered as a way of staying focussed in prayer. The meditation then enables people to encounter Jesus, in a way which can be life-changing, as the testimonies above show.
People can also be recommended to visit the Taketime Website where they can listen to a meditation when it suits them.
Similarly, in many areas of church life, Taketime meditations can be used to enable people with faith to grow in their relationship with Jesus. Many have found a deeper richer experience in their faith journeys, and some have even felt called to serve God in new ways. It is not uncommon for Taketime to receive emails saying, “I’ve been a Christian all my life and in the Taketime meditation I met Jesus for the first time!”
Taketime meditations can also be used in worship, in place of the Gospel reading. This gives worshippers the opportunity to enter the Bible reading in a new and exciting way, and then to speak to and listen to Jesus. Rev McKie describes how one worshipper said after such a service, that her encounter with Jesus through the meditation, had been one of the most wonderful experiences of her life. She is now a trained Practitioner, leading others in this way.
Taketime is used in churches, schools, prisons, hospitals, hospices, Fresh Expressions of church and other forms of outreach. It is used in one-to one settings, pastoral care and evangelism. It is used in Housegroups, Advent and Lent groups and in Taketime groups set up specially to meditate. It is used in worship, from small churches to big events, such as the 3Generate, the Children and Youth Assembly, where there were over a thousand children and young people.
How might you use Taketime? If you haven’t already discovered the meditations, visit www.taketime.org.uk and click on ‘Try it’.
If you have tried them and they work for you, why not consider training as a Practitioner?