Behind every piece of music ...

... there is often a memory and a meaning to be found lurking somewhere near.

This morning, which engaged in the delightful task of administration (yes, I do admin' thank you very much) I clicked on something and found the room filled with the sound of Mendelssohn's Violin concerto (E minor - Op.64).

Immediately I was taken back to the 15 year old me and my embryonic record collection - for this was the one of the first two pieces of 'classical' music I purchased. The  other being Myra Hess playing Jesu joy of man's desiring (BWV 147).

They say that the olfactory sense is our greatest organ of remembering, and this is perhaps true for recently I met a woman who wore Je Revien and was reminded of my mother; the smell of certain tobaccos reminds me of a grandfather who has been departed this life for over half a century.

We lay up for ourselves many memories. We treasure the good and are sometimes misshapen by the the bad but memory is a important thing indeed. We hope that people will forget those things which show us in a poor light, and it seems that all of us have some of these, and that our good bits shine through the dross that might be found. In this I find the words of the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) Communion service  always hits home, for I am never untouched by the words:

'And although we be unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice,
yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service;
not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences,'

So here we are at the close of another year and I wonder what highs and lows spring to mind for each of us?

Too often I find myself surrounded by wish-filled people. You probably know some yourself - folk who wish they had done something (but never have); people who wish they hadn't done something (but usually have). The sadness is that some will never make that step to do, or stop doing, and will live lives limited by their sins of omission and commission: The 'what we have done and what we have failed to do' things.

As the year draws to an end, rather than make hollow promises and rarely kept resolutions, why don't you just decide to start making the right choices more often and leave the wrong choices to others?

Take the time to think of the things that have blessed you, others and (most importantly) God and just decide that you are going to do the,.

Think some more and consider the things that have been wrong (to God, neighbour and self) and just decide that they are going to be set aside during the next year.

Perhaps you are one of those who takes the path of least resistance and gushes forth with nice words rather than the words people need to hear -if you are 'STOP IT'. Now this isn't permission to be cruel or hard of heartless, that is never right, but it is permission to be honest and to speak what needs to be spoken. I'm going to be giving that a try next year, be warned) to enable others to live and serve as they should (and for those who dislike such 'directive' terminology, can I say now that that is just tough, because I'm not playing your Bible denying doublespeak - I will be speaking the truth in love, but the truth will be heard.

Time to sing up and get in to make the kingdom of God know where you are and in those around you. When we see people caught in sin we must act to restore them GENTLY, but we must act, or else those around us will fall and we will be complicit in their downfall. Time to be fully inclusive and yet never permissive. Time to stop the politics of power (which other than the power of God have no place in our sermons anyway) and star preaching a message of reconciliation to God and to right living (and that means living by God's word in case people are wondering). Sin is a right and proper term to be using (even though some who consider themselves to be Church don't like it).

We don't change the word of God to be popular in the world, we change the world by being faithful to it.

Now, do I need to make things any clearer?

Hopefully not - so now there's no excuse.

Have a blessed and enjoyable New Year's Eve and a godly and enabling 2016.

Making Church 'Relevant and attractive'

Sitting in the study this morning, the room temperature a balmy 12.4 degrees celsius, daily office said and prayers done I find myself reflecting upon the past week and some of the conversations Ithat occurred during it.

There were the conversations relating to making Church 'more relevant and engaged'; conversations shared over bread and wine in the homes of those unable to make it to the church building; conversations with people troubled by the apparent chasm that exists between clergy and those things which are biblical and were taught to them as right thinking (orthodox) throughout their Christian lives thus far, but are now being rewritten by those who are called to lead them.

I have wept with people at loss, betrayal and exclusion; exclusion from family, friends and employment.

I have smiled, laughed and celebrated the pinnacles of life made all the sweeter by comparison with the absurd, challenging and  often arduous bits of our existence.

I have met colleagues who have challenged me and taught me, and others who have taught me that avoidance where they are concerned might be the least damaging to my enthusiasm and spirit!

I've dressed up and made the journey as one of the Magi from the Orient (no, I wasn't in Leyton!) to a stable in Bethlehem in the company of a couple of other similarly dressed folk in preparation for the 'Living Nativity' which will be performed (three times) during the lighting of Tamworth's Christmas lights (gets earlier each year) - the Christmas tree festival is now in full swing in the Parish church and Ho, Ho, Holy cow;  the poppies weren't gone before the decorations were up!

One of the main reasons this blog exists is to enable me to have a scratch pad which originally was shared with a few friends as a means of internal dialogue with self being made visible so others could pray, suggest and offer correction where necessary.

I have been 'taught' how to 'do church' by people who, to be quite blunt, don't even know hop to get the building set up for a service! The arrogance that we all display when younger (and some continue with it into their dotage it seems) which speaks in clichéd terms of the obvious and resorts to the same trite statements that once resonated, and emanated, from us once as well. The reality is that those newly ordained might bring fresh eyes to a situation but they don't always accompany those eyes with informed brains and experienced hands and so, having gleaned, the rest is gently put to one side.

BUT (and there's always a 'but' somewhere, isn't there?)

Top of the list of all the things that have challenged, wounded and made me sad this week (and there have been more than a few of them) has to be the amalgam that is 'relevant and attractive' - the reason being that I don't find what they peddle to be either. Let me give you three little points* which will illustrate the places I need counselling and care:

WARNING. I can make no apologies for the word 'sin' appearing, for this is the correct term in this context. The the same for the use of the words 'He' when referring to God (I know He's male and female, but grammar and tradition apply here).

i. Church is about being sinful people who have been reconciled to their Creator by the death of one man who took our place on a cross.

ii. We are called to turn away from our sin (repent) and to believe in Jesus, the Christ, and living accordingly as His followers (apprentices or disciples) we uphold His teachings and live lives of service emulating Him for He is the servant of all.

iii. Christian life is about setting ourselves, and others, free from those things that bind us. It is about choosing the right course of action - after all, even on a one-way street, we can always park the car and walk in the opposite direction! We are not compelled to act in any way we don't want to, there is always a choice before us - a 'Yes' or 'No' moment which leads us in a different direction.This is as true a choosing to follow Christ as it is in choosing to act as we do in our daily lives.

Here's a little note on life: It is always about choice!

But apparently where someone makes a choice that is contrary to that which Christians are called to do, then in order to not make those around us who have chosen not to accept or follow Jesus feel uncomfortable or slighted or acted against we, being 'called to peace', are expected to compromise our position and beliefs so as not to upset those who have chosen something contrary to our own position. If we don't do this then were are making the Church irrelevant and unattractive.

Here's the rub: If we do compromise such that we endorse wrong choices then we deny Jesus and in watering down the Word (here meaning both written and living: Jesus and the Bible) we are not attractive or relevant but are apostate and fallen!

We can engage in gender issues with open hands and hearts - taking the middle path where neither Misogyny or Misandry are indulged in or entertained (personal note: I see more Misandry than I see Misogny these days, the latter being something people are afraid of being labelled!).

We can deal with sexual issues without condemning but also without compromise or the applauding of wrong** attitudes or actions. The 'God just wants you to be happy' brigade are, it seems, more often indulging in their cowardice rather than their courage. Nothing separates any of us from God's love and the Eucharist was never meant to be used as a weapon but those who condone, encourage or 'turn a blind eye' to those engaged in sexual sin are weakening the word and are themselves making the Church relevant and dualistic - this is the cancer that is killing the Church!

Politics are great, they allow us to make our point, have arguments and stand on our soapboxes. But don't confuse the soapbox with the pulpit! If you want to get political then head for Hyde Park's 'Speakers Corner' or find a street corner and make your point - but remember that whilst the Church should be involved in politics (because that's what democracy is about - and we are good citizens of this place even though we are but 'aliens and sojourners' here) the pulpit is not the place for your own views. Interestingly, even though many assume that the CofE is 'the Conservative party at prayer' I have to say that I hear increasing left-wing views coming from the space above many dogcollars these day - sadly too many seem to think that Jesus was the first socialist/Communist, but this is not the case; Jesus was the first Christian. I think that might just be a hint!

The problem is that, for many, attractive means toothless, valueless and impotent and this doesn't build the kingdom and doesn't fill your church building either. So why don't we start being 'counter-cultural' and stand up for what we believe (which is easy because you'll find it in the Bible) and state it without fear of opposition or criticism or being unpopular. If we seek to make Church popular by making it more and more like the world around us then we remove any reason for people to come in and engage with us because where' and what is the difference between us and the world?

The answer, in case you are unsure is: JESUS!

* There could be many more but I think these three tick the basic boxes.
** 'Wrong' here refers to those things that are contrary to that which the Bible teaches and the Church has traditionally upheld as being right behaviour and thinking.

The 'Evening Service': a thing of the past? (setting the scene)

A friend (and colleague) asked me whether the evening service slot was a declining and dying church service.

Another friend (who is also a colleague) told me that the evening service was a dinosaur and in his church had been laid to rest.

Yet another friend (and again, a colleague) - bet you're surprised I have three friends aren't you? - told me how they wished they had the courage to draw stumps and, 'Put the dreadful evening service to death!' The numbers coming were low and it was 'doing church because they'd 'always done it at that time!'

It seems that many of those around me are struggling with the numbers of people coming to an evening service on a Sunday. One colleague (an acquaintance) said recently that, 'If they didn't have to go to evening service they wouldn't!' What chance does any service (or perhaps church congregation have) if this is the attitude shown by the cleric I wonder?

The question many of us engage with is this: 'Are we are letting Church run in a rut that has it's origins in the monastic order of life and its reality in something done by rote and not relationship'... and if so, how do we change it?

When the followers of 'the Way' got going we kept certain times set aside during the day to worship God. These became a formalised part of the monastic life's worship, giving us: Matins, Lauds, prime, tierce, sext, none, vespers and compline (we have a local order which keeps it). This became condensed into the Matins (the daily office - the early stuff),  the Lauds (our main Sunday service) - Vespers (our evensong) and Compline (the ready for bed service) - a service which sometimes appears in the evening service slot.

So what's so special about Sunday? It was a day when most people were not working and so we broke bread together and made it a special day: Our mini Easter Sunday in which the resurrection was celebrated, the word was preached and the bread and wine offered. Just like every other day (many start each day with the daily (morning) office and end it with evening prayer or Compline - adding Communion too when they can) with the added benefit that it was a day set aside from the daily toil.

When I was a student we tended to go to an evening service on a Sunday. When I worked shifts I tended to go to the evening service because I worked on a Sunday. The Sunday evening service was for some  the forerunner of Fresh Expressions (a service put on by Christians for those who otherwise wouldn't be church). During the war years, it enabled those working on a Sunday on the war effort to come into fellowship and 'be church'.

I have always enjoyed the evening service slot because it has provided a time for me to charge my batteries and get ready for the week ahead. My experience of Sunday evening services varied from place to place:

+ In one place it was a light service with 'fellowship' afterwards (we had quizzes, talks and the like).

+ In the Baptist church in our town (Marlow) it was fellowship time. Sometimes all the church and
   sometimes the 'Young People's Fellowship' where we played guitars, had meaningful discussions,
   and chilled out. A place of safety and somewhere for the kids to go!
   (a lesson to be learned here already then?)

+ In St Helen's, Bishopsgate (as a student) it was note taking and then off to 'Mr Natural's Burger Bar
   (Ludgate Circus), where we would stay until chucking out time discussing the text and comparing
   notes from the service.

+ In the Pentecostal church I was part of, Sunday evenings upstairs were almost as popular as the,
   even later, service in the basement! Sunday evening service was a lighter, more relaxed and 
   focussed part of the day where thematic stuff took place and healing services and other stuff 
   happened.

+ In Holy Trinity Hounslow, it would be a celebration. The morning service was formal and a bit up
   the candle, but in the evenings it was sound teaching, good music and the fire falling!

+ In Christ Church, Ware, we would find ourselves in a light conversation and gentle music providing
   the setting for some real dialogue, the gaining of knowledge and becoming challenged.

+ Coming to serve my 'Title Post' I found myself in a very different place to anything I had ever
   experienced before. Here we had a pattern of Sung Eucharists and Evensong (with the occasional
   'Prayer and Praise'). Those who came were the people who had always come - and there were few
   new people added to their number - which perhaps accounts for the decline in numbers at the
   'evening slot'. They are all slowly being taken off the shelves that no one has restocked!

+ Moving to where I am now, having never had an evening service, I decided to offer one!
   During the Sunday slot we have done a variety of things which have included:
   Taizé services, Healing, 60 minute theology, Compline, Café Church, Prayer services (prayer
   stations, Labyrinths and the like), contemporary services, Celtic praise, courses and more besides -
   all to varying degrees of success inn terms of numbers, but always successful in terms of growth
   and praise (and surely that is the defining factor).

I will leave you to select upon what I have written - there is much more to consider here, but this hopefully lays some foundation and gives direction for us to move from. Hopefully I have started you thinking about your own experiences, because this is where you need to start from. 

Consider the merits and pitfalls of your own experience and use this to start drawing out some good and bad practice, remember who came, remember why you went (or perhaps didn't come - for this is equally important). After all, how can you move anywhere without knowing where you are and where you need to be travelling to?

Pax

It's good to see so many here for a Sunday evening!

Church Growth: A growing area?

One of the (many) challenges I have before me is to be found in the area of church growth. 

The problem is that the only substantial growth I'm generally coming across is in people who are looking to examine and produce academic papers on the subject. I have over the past few weeks met a handful for folk, all of whom were 'church growth experts'. This was a claim they substantiated by their post graduate qualifications in the subject and the academic papers they had presented!

Now don't get me wrong, I love academic study, but in conversation this morning I have come to realise a few interesting, and quite challenging (well they were for me but I'm pretty thick!) things too. So let us stop and take stock of things for a moment (before you reach for the sticks, stones and house bricks):

If you were to read a certain book on church growth by some who was doing it you will find people reconciled to God through Jesus (the Christ) enjoying being the people of God and celebrating that reality in the company of those who were both 'near and far off'. It was just like looking at the Church that Acts describes; unity in the Church and enjoying the favour of those who were not followers of 'The Way'.

Interestingly the same person who was running this expression of Church has now moved up the ladder a bit and the same freedoms that saw them establish successful and authentic Church is now replaced by structures, strategies, administrative block(age)s and all the stuff that makes running a number of which bodies manageable. It makes sense that different levels of Church need differing parameters and areas of control - but formalising the informal is sometimes the way to impede or constrict it!

This is perhaps a problem with the planned management training of potential bishops and other senior church staff as found in the Green report. We might have a bunch of people who have all the management tools that the world uses but without that spark that gives life to the dust and makes it live, without the breath of God, the reach, which causes us to soar like an eagle.

Everywhere I look I find Church Growth strategies and yet as one of my heroes, Stanley Hauerwas, says:

Church growth strategies are the death rattle of a church that has lost its way!

But, of course, Church growth is big business and the dual truths that are to be found in the expressions that:

In the the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is king!

AND

Hungry men will follow the least likely of people in the hope that bread is to be found in them!

I hear of missional communities and of groups of people who are doing church in a fresh and engaged manner and yet, when I get to meet the people billed as the leaders of these happenings find something small and sometimes very much less that the PR might suggest.

Again, please don't think I'm knocking these - because I am most definitely not - but understand that as wonderful as this glowing embers are, replicating them in every aspect is (I am beginning to think) sheer folly. I have recently read a great piece of academic writing and within it find something successful grasped at, dissected and placed under the rigours of academic investigation and then the component parts are listed. But sadly, just like a flower or animal we have dissected, examined, understood the physiology and then itemised - the reality is that when we come to replicate or re-assemble the blessed thing all we have is something that is dead. We might understand the component parts and the processes but regardless of whatever it is that we have found, the reconstructed entity is dead.

We can scan a living hand and make a 3-D print of it and even though we might work hard to make it look like it is alive, it will never have the life of the original!

We talk of 'Best Practice' and we grasp at 'effective models of Church' and yet in doing so rationalise and construct some sort of Frankenstein-like monster which has the attributes of life but is not only pretty scary but pretty ugly too - and I see the Bride of Christ as something beautiful.

It is underpinned by prayer and enabled and given life by the Holy Spirit.

It is a body who are of one heart and mind, united in their hunger for the word and the love of those around them (close, near and far off) and this makes the what we now call 'missional'.

It is a bunch of people who support each other spiritually and, when the need arises, financially too; a people who pick up the fallen; heal the broken; correct those in error.

Authentic Church contains all of the above (and I'm sure you can all add to the list which is why we are all doing so well). It draws on the opportunities to put tools in the box so that we can build church (Tools like Mission Shaped Introduction and Mission Shaped Ministry and LYCIG* and more besides).

Desperation calls for desperate measures - but we aren't desperate, were assured and rather than worrying about numbers we are concerned with reconciling people to God through the Cross of the Christ and the fulfilment of the calling we have as the people of God.

we are, aren't we?




*LYCIG     Leading Your Church into Growth

40 Acts Challenge - Easter Celebrations

So here we are and we've done our forty days of Lent and hopefully not just enjoyed the challenges ourselves but brought joy, a listening ear, a seeing eye and actively engaged hands and hearts into the proceedings thanks to the 40 Acts Challenge.

But of course today is just the start of our celebrating the love, life and sacrifice and so the question has to be - do the 'Acts' stop here?

Watch on

and HAPPY EASTER

40 Acts - Do the Dirty Work

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58 (NIV)

Five words guaranteed to change your life this year: ‘Can I help with that?’ I’m the type of person you’ll always find in the kitchen at parties, getting stuck into the washing up, collecting empty glasses or taking out the rubbish. I like helping others but to tell you the truth this is actually my coping mechanism for navigating scary social occasions. As a painfully shy child I found that having something practical to do gave me the courage to start conversations with people I wouldn’t normally speak to. Some of the most interesting people I’ve met have been elbow-deep in a washing-up bowl. In my working life, I travel the world gathering stories about how poverty and injustice affect communities, speaking to individuals and civil society groups who are working for change. I’ve often found that the quickest way to put people at ease is to help out with their chores or be willing to get stuck into some seriously dirty work. This can be a bit of a risky tactic! The learning curve for certain activities can be rather steep (cement mixing),  they certainly won’t be glamorous, and some jobs definitely require a strong stomach (clearing sewage ditches) but when you’re working alongside someone, laughing and joking together as you learn the ropes, you have the time and space to ask questions and share stories from your lives. So I ask you to think about doing things for others, not purely as acts of service but as an opportunity to learn more about our world and the people we share it with.  Be generous with your time and your comfort zone. Look for opportunities to volunteer or help out in communities that are different from your own, and do not be afraid to get some grime and life experience under your nails. Stephanie Atkins

For today's web page - Click HERE

Which are you: Church or church?

One of the challenges for those of us who consider ourselves to be 'Church' is getting people to realise that the pointy buildings are merely receptacles for Church.

What we need is to have signs like this outside the buildings we occupy which proudly proclaim:

If we are going to make a difference to the world around us we need to be engaged and engaging and be out there where the people are rather than sitting amongst the tombstones and the memorials to the dead (or are we merely waiting for our names to be added I wonder?).

Where is Church to be found?

Here's answer in graphic form:

As is often the case cartoonist Dave Walker hits it on the spot. 

Evangelism is about lifestyle and attitude - not missions and programmes.

Simple innit?

Daily Quiet Time or Prayer or . . .

Office or study or . . .

It doesn't matter what you call it the issue is that if you do it you do it right and this is where it gets hard (as if doing it wasn't hard enough)!

When I was a student there were a bunch of really dedicated Christians in the Christian Union(CU). They got together and did their daily study, getting together each morning and having their 'Quiet Time'. They would read their Bible study notes and the passage set for the day.

Another group were the Navigators - a disciplined bunch who would work through various themed programmes - using the Topical Memory system these guys would learn a new passage each day and would test each other on the verses that had passed. These were the storm troopers of the CU, they learned their stuff and could be found stopping students in the corridor and asking them (in various ways) what they thought of Jesus and Christianity.

Then came another group who were a bit hit and miss with their Quiet Times. They tended to start the month well and slowly slide into variable observance. This was the group I was usually part off and it was not because I didn't see the benefit of reading the Bible or didn't want to spend time reading, thinking and praying but because I had a life. I can hear some say that the life I had was probably indisciplined and you may well be right, but things got in the way and the best plans and highest intentions were binned because I'd be out all night praying with people or discussing the Bible and arguing with the atheists (always been there) or doing other stuff.

What I noticed was that then, and now, that some who did their daily wotsit religiously, by which I mean, legalistically and without much enthusiasm or joy. They ticked the box and 'did their duty' and as much as I applaud their commitment (would that there were more who were committed) I was, and am, sad that some do it as drear and dread duty rather than as a place of sanity and a source of joy.

I made a promise when I was ordained that I would do my daily office - that is my morning and evening prayer - and this promise, and the keeping of if, is a commitment and a challenge. A commitment because, like feeding the cats, it is something I have to do because I need to feed the spiritual man (and I promised God and a pointyhat - not one and the same thing I'd do it) and a challenge because it requires a discipline - that's why I do it the minute I wake, getting up earlier to ensure it happens before the demands and distractions of the day conspire to distract me - and it needs to be something I want to do.

So here's a little plea to those who stumble across these words:

If you are a Christian you need to feed the spiritual person every day - lest they become emancipated and eventually starve.

If you are a Christian you need to find some joy in being so, if it is a joyless, lifeless and draining experience then slowly, but most assuredly, you're living in a time stamped existence - one that leads to being an ex-Christian!

If you don't take time out to consider the world around you and the needs nearer to you and to regard them with spiritual eyes and listen regarding them with anointed ears then how can you make sense and pray intelligently and form a world view and a rational understanding that fits your faith view and satisfies those of no faith?

So my plea is this:
Read your Bible
Understand what's happening in the world, work, home, church, elsewhere
Use your brain
Use your tongue to talk to God (and people)
Get excited
Be passionate (or as passionate as you can be)

Do this and you'll find yourself craving time where you can dialogue, reason and rejoice in being a person of faith - and you'll find people want to be doing it with you.

Happy Friday

Measured and balanced responses

It seems to me, albeit hampered by my limited wit, that one of the perennial issues is that of responding to stuff we consider to be wrong with Church stuff and letting ourselves loose on a path that will:

a. take us back to the time when Jesus walked the earth, or

b. take us back to be what the New Testament Church was before the patristic errors, politics and power corrupted it, or

c. take us forward to something orthodox and enabling that speaks into today's realities, and

d. scrub everything and just live out what the New Testament tells us as if we were living in the days when we had only the Eucharist and the fellowship of other believers.

The problem for me is that I have proclaimed some of the above and sought the others from the pulpit, from my knees and in the sacred space that is both prayer and praise.

Many years back I can recall being in the company of a group of Christians who decided that they had no need of theology. All that was necessary to be a 'good Christian' was to read the Bible and live it - the input of those who might write on its contents being nothing other than a call to error and putting their own spin onto what was obvious without it.

Being someone who had just started studying at Bible College I sat back (quietly) and watched at whatever was about to happen in this group. It sounded good and yet, as time progressed, the reality looked awful! As they read, interpreted and applied the words of the Bible taken from one place they denied the words that resided elsewhere. Not only that but the core values that are:

i. The ten commandments (Exodus 20)

ii. The call of the shema* (Deuteronomy 6.4) to,  'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might', and

c. The words of Leviticus 19.18 which explicitly says, 'Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord!'

Sad to say that the last time I heard of any of those in the original group they had all binned Christianity as 'something that didn't work' and were doing their own stuff and living quite joyless, but self-serving lives. This brings me to consider many things in terms of lifestyle, attitudes, fruit and joy because I'd like to think that getting it right with God ticks all the positive boxes - but does it I wonder?

And I'm open to those who find freedom away from Christ - but would add that it might be freed from Christians rather than the Boss Himself (surely not, Christians are all lovely, aren't they?)

So I'm about to embark upon some thinking about the patristic errors, the desire to go back and the ways that some have gone into new territory (they haven't really by the way - they just think they have but indeed there is 'nothing new under the sun!

So come along with me and put your views, correct me, shout me down, lift me up and take us forward and let's have a look at Christianity in the now as something that doesn't deny the 'then' or corrupt it for the approbation of those outside the Church.

Let's get it on!

* shema (Shem aah) - the Hebrew word for 'Hear' - taken from 'hear, o Israel, the LORD . . '

Why (and for whom) are we doing 'church' ?

It seems to me that regardless of who you are the time comes when we need to stop and ask ourselves those vital question: 'Why am I doing it?' and 'Who am I doing it for?'

Recently I have encountered situations where these questions needed to be asked and they needed to be asked of those who 'minister' (with and without dogcollars), regular and irregular attender and even, perhaps especially, those who don't come too!

It seems to me that the answer to the first question, at least in the case of those who profess to be Christian, goes something like this:

1. Because it's Biblical
2. Because it upholds Biblical standards (if it's not to be found explicitly)
3. Because it's the right thing to do (includes 1 and 2)
4. Because it blesses, edifies and builds (and fits with 1to 3)
5. Because it makes us live, look and think like Jesus (fits 1 to 4)
6. Because I want to help others understand and grow and have 1-5
6. Because I want to do it because of points 1 to 6

Where I have struggled is that place where I find myself with people who claim to be Christians who manage to miss some, or even all, of the points above. Of course this simplifies the answer to the 'Who am I doing it for?' question because the answer is obvious - they're doing it for themselves!
Mind you, the reality is that often they don't have the honesty, integrity or courage to give that answer. Stop for a moment and ask yourself who you, if you are Christian*, do things for. The answer might be multipart for often the first answer is different to the reality. The options I've recently encountered (which might mean stated or concealed) have been:

1. I'm doing it for God but Family/work/hobby make me do something else!

(AKA the 'Someone else excuse')

2. I'm doing it for God but don't have the time to give what I would like to
3. I'm doing it for God - is there anything else I can do to help?
4. I'm doing it for God and noticed this needed doing!
5. I'm doing it for God and noticed that there's more you could be doing (combine with 2)
6. I'm doing it for God and know exactly how church should be done

(just don't expect me to be there or do it - I'll merely point stuff out and criticise!)

7. I'm doing it for me - it's all about me, me, myself! (can be accompanied by maniacal laugh)

In case you think I'm wrong (and of course I could be +) here are a few examples from real life (across a variety of church groupings and denominations) so you can make up your own mind:

A. The people who have wanted to preach or lead but were annoyed that God got the applause not them - after all it's all about them being 'leaders' and up front

B. The people who have changed the way services were done because they didn't like the theology or the format or the music or the .... (add your own bit) - because it's about me being happy not about the people who have come for years and the place they're in (innit?).

C. The people who were always ready to complain about the things they didn't like, demanding change, but were never willing to actually offer to do anything themselves - because 'church' has to meet their needs (often they didn't know what they were, but they wanted it to satisfy them).

D. The people who come infrequently and complain that they don't feel at home (no surprise there) and they don't like the changes the new people have brought (because we have to keep it ready to please them whenever they decide to visit) and wish the children would be 'kept under control' and long for the days when 'church was done properly'.

E. The people who come when there's nothing on the box and Dobbie's (a garden centre) aren't doing a cheap tea and scone and discount day on a Sunday - because after all, it's about picking the best entertainment available to them.

F. The person who comes and prays and stays to help and comes back again to help with the Kid's Club and comes again and does it stuff the next day and the next and the next and the next - Yeah that's a '3 & 4' from the second list!!!

G. The people who comes almost every Sunday and ensures that even when holidays arrive the minimum of Sundays are missed because they want to be there - church is an important part of their life and they live in ways that make that obvious.

So there we are - take a look at the person in the mirror and see how the two questions are answered by them and then play the game with others and see where they sit on the scale. I was amazed when I tried this with a bunch of people who thought themselves to be the movers and shakers - the power base of their local church - and yet by the time I finished realised that they were not and this perhaps explained the difficulties the church in question was having.

All of them were out for whatever it was that made church what they wanted - and yet oddly, although some were great at loading guns and pointing them - few had the courage (or application) to get out and do what was needed to make the church fly!

A challenge indeed :-)

(or as one colleague said when discussing this - 'Too provocative - better to just get on and do it yourself - less stress and hassle!')

Pax

* 'Christian' is a variable rather than constant for many I meet who claim this label appear to be anything but for a myriad number of reasons!

+ But I have to add that I'm not (wrong that is!!!) ;-)

All-member Ministry

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a cleric in possession of a calling, must be in want of a church filled with people who are enthused, engaged, equipped and released.

This is, I'm sure, how any manual of church leadership written by Jane Austen would have begun - with a simple undeniable truth. So why do I find myself musing over the situation whereby those who, having offered themselves, been accepted, trained and released to engage in that Church ministry, called 'Lay', find themselves ignored and largely unused?

William Temple, one of my many heroes, once said that we, the Church, 'Were the only organisation that exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not its members.' This summation of the missional role of the Church, its donning of the mantle called 'servanthood', when combined with doing evangelism and living collegially becomes, in my view, complete.

Jesus came to earth to fulfil the expectations of those who were the then Church's members - the Jews, expectations. He also came to earth for those who were not members. servant to all of creation those inside and out. Temple's quote calls us to look outside of ourselves and the body called 'Church' and the problem is that some of us have taken this so much to heart that we have forgotten perhaps to look inside and treasure those we have within.

It is easy for some of us to become so taken up with ourselves, 'Our ministry' and 'Our Church' that we draw everything to us - seeing the church we are part of as ours as a possessive rather than participative. Collaborative ministry is the only way in which Temple's words can be truly fulfilled. If we do not seek out and encourage callings in others then we are destined to be managers of decline rather than ministers of love, life and acceptance.

Can I encourage those who might read this to stop for a moment and consider those who stand with you in your churches and celebrate the fact that they are there - pray for them and talk to them.

Might I further encourage you to work at developing the callings of those alongside and within your church - it's dangerous and painful at times - but I reckon that's no different to the ministry of Jesus.

Finally, can I encourage you to look at the many roles and responsibilities within the church you inhabit and, prayerfully, seek to discern what might be done by others and, that done, work at enabling, encouraging and supporting the members of the church to make them theirs.

As for me - I need to understand how to utilise those who have offered themselves in ways that fulfil and bless and help then to develop their ministries and deepen their joy.

Pax

'Twas the week before Christmas...

And unlike the well-meaning attempt by one of the Police Forces to do something or other with the poem which deals with night before Christmas there's no stressing out or drink or sexual nastiness and blinking awful verse.

Here we are - just a week away from the nativity of the blessed Babe and I have just two Christingle services left. Seems like weeks since I did the first Christingle of the Advent season of the season (the reason being that it was weeks ago!) and yet here we are - glowsticks at the ready and virtual Christingle loaded and good to go. . . And I'm still excited!

There are still carol services to be done (loads of them) and candles to light (that's why we call them candlelit) and mince pies and mulled wine and Communion and ... Well, you know ... Loads of stuff.

There's still loads of time for people to tell me how, 'This must be your busy time!' Ironically, all the time is my busy time (and you thought I just worked one day a week) and the funerals crowd in as grief and Christmas trees clash and fight for the number one slot. There's still people who need communion at home and still more who need a listening ear and a gentle touch amidst the sea of life's problems.

Yes, it must be 'my busy time' - but that's true of every day that God gives me, because that's the nature of the calling (and the man) - so here's a gentle plea:

i. Please pray for those who daily toil is situated within the walls of God's house.

ii. Please don't assume that everything is squared away and sorted - use your eyes and head as see if you can offer assistance.

iii. If it looks like it's going wrong then, having discerned it, get stuck in and resolve it.

iv. Please don't tell your friendly dogcollar that you don't need to come to church on Christmas Day because you've already been if you went on Christmas Eve! Perhaps that should be 'Don't tell me' - but the reality is that Christmas Day is, along with Easter, one of the most important 'red letter' days in the Church's calendar.

v. Did I mention pray?

Have wonderful final week of Advent - our tree goes up this weekend and Christmas will be welcomed in to our home (the twelve days eagerly awaited and the journeying Magi awaited) - May Christmas be a blessing as we celebrate Jesus, God's wonderful Christmas presence.

Pax

What is 'Engagement' in a Christian World?

Engagement is one of those 'in' words at the moment and like 'impact' it's not only overused but wrongly used too! The problem is that they, and so many other buzzwords and trite statements means that many of the Christian in missional settings especially that I encounter end up communicating using what one of the clergy I know calls 'testiculations'*! 

Recently, whilst I had reason to watch three video interviews relating to missional church and Fresh Expressions: They were peppered with the word 'engagement' and many other  buzzwords and yet they communicated nothing and this got me thinking about the words we use and what we think they mean and what they really mean.

The reality is that 'engagement' is more than just talking to people or getting them to agree to come, sign-up or wear a badge and in a church setting there is much that we need to think about. Here's a starter on this issue and what it means for us in the wonderful world of church:

To 'engage' someone is to draw them into something (a conversation, cause, campaign and the like) and win them over such that they become part. For me this is best found in the Psalm One path to taking up wrong company in that first the person stops, then sit and finally, comfortable with the company, behaviour and values, they are at ease and recline.

One of the things that 'engagement' demands is the Benefits element - and this isn't all about them. It's about the thing you have before them having some form of validity and meaning and this often manifests as desirable when it serves others and/or gives meaning to their own life and society. Too often we try to engage people over Church with the 'get out of hell free' card and the problem is that what we are really bringing into the awareness of others is the second element to be considered:

Belonging - the realisation that you not only agree, and have some affinity, with the group but also fit into it. Finding that you have a place and that place is pleasing is a large part of the 'being engaged with' thing. After all, belonging is (so I've read) 90% of the whole relationship thing and even when you're at odds with the group, feeling you belong can overcome and cover a multitude of conflicts and heal them too.

Being like them - is a tough part because some of the things that 'Church' values are different from that which the world likes and worse still, there is an expectation that you will become more like the bloke they follow as you get further into the group. This can be a real problem when you realise that you, and they, all have:

Baggage - that needs to be dealt with and this is usually stuff that makes life interesting (in the negative sense) at times. The problem is that we pack our bags with loads of stuff that we have found difficult to have in the open and so this is a place where rather than be drawn in, people are likely to be finding themselves repelled. A potential for weakening bonds and even being set free into the world and away from the Church setting if this is not picked up and dealt with sensitively.

Being listened to - I remember a person who was always wanting to be listened to and yet, when they were, they not only had nothing to say but were aggrieved that they were 'being put on the the spot' and invited to put their point of view. Eventually I realised that they merely wanted a voice rather than to say something and the problem was solved. But most of us want to feel that we have a valid voice and are taken seriously and respected. One of the best ways to bring people into the group is to make them aware that they have a voice from early on - after all the only stupid questions are those which are left unasked and the only stupid points of view are the ones that we are not willing to dialogue over. Two-way, fully engaged traffic from the very beginning is the route to engagement and relationship.

Engagement is not a buzzword to thrown in to conversations but is a multi-faceted reality that we, as Church, are called to make a reality. It stops, takes time, gets to know, enthuses, encourages, enlivens and enriches. How are you engaging with others?

ps. I hope you notice that I've managed to keep it in proper preaching style with all the points beginning with the letter 'B' - not sure what preaching class lecturer would make of it though ;-)

*What me dear old Dad used to call 'talking cobblers!'

Growing Church - something to consider

I meet so many people who bemoan the fact that they are a 'welcoming church' and yet they have no one to welcome! 'What's the point of being ready for newcomers when they never come?' they cry. 'It's just not fair!' (they add petulantly :-) )!

The problem is that you can have the food laid on and everything nice of those nice people to enjoy but if they don't know you're open for business and ready, willing, able and desirous of visitors, how will they know to come?

And why should they? After all, most of the people outside our doors don't have a scooby what we're doing and less idea of any reason why they should want to get into the company of a bunch of 'Bible-Bashers' (as one of my funeral customers so kindly put it this week!).

Thus chastened they, the church members, decide that they will scuttle off out and take me at my word and invite people to their church so the people who were sitting inside the doors waiting to welcome them could be fulfilled. So they went door to door and stuck leaflets through the letterboxes telling the inhabitants that they, the church, were really keen to be their friends and laid out the many benefits like eternal life, friendship, love, forgiveness, eternal life, acceptance and eternal life (have I mentioned that?).

But still no one came. The residents knew they (the church) were there at the end of their road but they didn't really know who went into the building (and it could be a trap, couldn't it?) and so they decided to give it a miss!

Then the people who were waiting to welcome the people and the people who'd gone out to invite the people to come so that the people who were waiting to welcome them could welcome them all came and had a moan because there they were: Waiting to welcome and having invited and no one had responded. 'What are we supposed to do now then (clever clogs*)?' they asked.

So I told them that they needed to get the members of the church to get to know the people in their streets; the next door neighbours and the grumpy old goat with the Mondeo who played Saga radio far too loud when he set off for work in the mornings (of course, he's blinking deaf so what you you expect?). 'Get out there and make friends and then, when you have, invite them to something at the church and the people who are waiting to welcome people will have people to welcome and they will be happy!'

So, reluctantly (after I persuaded them that they wouldn't have to 'share their faith') they did that and eventually they invited some of their new friends to come to church with them and, amazingly, come to church they did! And the welcomers welcomed and the church grew a little and yet still the church (for church is a cognisant entity like nature isn't it - clever bricks that make up a building we meet in) was not happy - so again they came to me and said:

'Why have we only had a few of the people in our streets come? We made got to know them and we made friends. gave lifts, moved lawns, mended cars and even did their shopping. Why haven't they ALL come?'

So I asked them what they thought their building looked like to people outside of it. I asked them how hard it was to get to the place - was there a car park? Did the buses run past the door? Was it a safe and friendly area? What was it like where they lived and was that a problem?

So they looked at the places the people they were asking to come lived in and realised that they were stuck in areas where Church (that's the whole of the Christian body) were never really seen and then they realised that there were so many needs and so much going on that the people were stuck in their own environment and so ....

They decided to 'do' church in the community rooms on the estate where they lived and set up youth projects and arrange stuff for the young mums (especially the single-parents) who were trapped in their homes and put on tea and chat sessions for the older folk (I always said I'd never use the 'f' word!!!) - and still no one came to their building in town.

They didn't need to!

Church was being lived out where the people were :-)

Just like it was supposed to be all along!


*of course they were far too polite to actually call me that, but I know what they were thinking!

Mission Shaped Ministry Course - Tamworth

Last Call for anyone who wants to be involved with the course which starts this Saturday (16th November) at 09:30;

A course for every church member

Not just those for those who are leaders,
Wanna be leaders
'Evangelists'

It's not too late - we can fit you in (honest)!

We'd love to fit you in

Come and put six Saturdays and five Thursdays where your mouth is (OK and a bit of money too)

And Get Passionate about Building Church and Doing Mission!

And if cost is the issue - talk to us, we have ways of making it available to you.

Why, and how, do we evangelise?

Thanks to yesterday's post about 'converting them' I have had a few emails from people wanting to discuss evangelism (pity they don't do it on the blog, but hey ho - it's the engagement and dialogue that helps me grow, know or let go). Some have asked what I think evangelism is and who, how and why we do it - and here's my response and definitions (not complete or comprehensive, merely what comes off the top of the deck as I deal the cards):

Evangelism - the spreading of the 'Good News' that is the Gospel (for that is what it means - Good News) about humanity and the Creator being reconciled (meaning 'brought together' or 'made one') by the at-one-ing (atoning) act of Jesus (who's job title is 'The Christ' meaning 'the anointed one of God')). It is all about explaining who He is and who we are, and can be by means of what I (and many others - not my word by the way) a kerygma (a word coming from the root that means herald or messenger like a town crier).

The kerygma is cool because it is something we deliver as historic (man, God and sin) current (in that it is our story) and physically present (because of how we think, act and engage with people and situations).

So I would talk about sin coming into the world, Jesus coming in to the world to remove the separation from me and God (which means the cross), my acceptance and growth and development and experiences and the reasons I think it is so amazing that I want to share it (just as I share good eating places and the like).

And that's the 'What' of evangelism and much of the 'Why' - which has alongside my wanting to share something good that I have found the fact that I am also told to do it by Jesus. This being told bit goes like this: 'Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to do what God tells us to do.'

Simple really - we have to get off our bottoms and get out there, not sit behind closed doors with out little closed minds looking to keep our hands clean, and share the Good News of Jesus looking to bring people to a place where what they see is so good they want it too.

We don't frighten them into heaven ('If you don't become a Christian you'll burn in hell') and we don't bribe them ('Become a Christian and you can have job/home/education/hospital' - delete as applicable) like we have seen across the globe as part of the benefit of missions work!

We bring them to a place where they want to join the club and when they do, we engage with them in the membership service - Baptism.

To be baptised they have to:

i. Want to be baptised, and

ii. Understand what they're joining and what benefits AND demands it places upon them.

BUT

Should have been baptised before (and if they have then to do it again is quite wrong as I understand the Bible - hint being: There is but one baptism and this is done in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit) then a warm handshake and prayer suffices! The wet bit has been done (and if it was Anglican then there's oil and candles involved too).

And when this has been done we nurture and teach them to read, pray and understand (challenging, questioning and bringing forth dialogue) to become fully engaged, brain switched on and intelligent Christians.

Of course to do this we need to be out there where the need is and this is one of the reasons why finding Christians out there being engaged and working with people where the needs are is so important. If we do Church expecting people to come to the place we have prepared for them (our place) then we can close our doors now because people cannot 'Come Back' to a place they have never been. We need to go out into their places (because EVERYWHERE is God's) and bless what God is going outside of our church buildings.

We need to bee seen to be normal people who are fun to be around and as people realise that this is indeed the case they also realise that there's something we have that they'd like (or having met some Christians, they merely realise their assumptions about us were totally right and we are indeed a bunch of Blinking loonies!).

So there we are Jane, John, Tom and Dave - some answers for you. I look forward to your assessment (and long for you to post it on the blog instead :-) )

Pax

Have I told you lately that I love ...

My Job?

The last few days have crushed together to make a week that has been like many others in terms of being full of variety and amazingly wonderful people and providing me with fun, challenges, fun, heartbreak, excitement and fun!

I've seen marriages that have lasted around the same time I've been on earth ended through the death of one of them and been privileged to help make sense of it all. I've seen people trapped and perhaps made to disappear because of mental health issues, been involved in people whose circumstances scare me to death and been blessed by the fact that, generally speaking, people are nice.

The odd thing is that more people want to be loved, taken an interest in and engaged  than don't and the role I have allows me to do that and call it work - now I have to ask you, Can you get anything cooler than that?'

This week I have done Harvest services in schools and been challenged to explain what Hallowe'en is in an assembly (an ad hoc Hallowe'en session - wasn't planned) and realised that there's only sixty-something days to Christmas and, as I write, only seven days to half-term. Yes, even the children wish their lives away looking towards special dates and living through the rest to get to them.

I seen vocations become uncovered, abilities accepted and people blessed - and still it comes under the label of work!

The variety and excitement open to us as minister's only comes about if you - the church members, the bereaved, the lost, the hurting, the needy, the suffering, the general public, the passer-by and the blinking nuisances come and engage with us. So if you're not, then you're making true the misconception that I, as a dogcollar, 'only work for an hour on a Sunday'.

So here's an invitation from all the clergy (for I'm sure I speak for them on this):

Come and make yourself known to us - turn up at church, stop us in the street, call us on the telephone, come and see us (and discover how little we hide in the vicarage) and be a blessing (and blessed too).

Go Ahead Make my Day

(and make me pray!)

So priceless you couldn't make it up!

One of the interesting things about the wonderful world of education is that these days with all the talk of 'hostile takeovers' and 'competitive provisioning' it is increasingly becoming an aggressively competitive sector.

Not that it wasn't competitive before  of course. When I was a schoolboy back in the dark ages there were always 'good' schools that some parents clamoured to send their children to and there were the schools to be avoided. Then, as now, some parents chose to take their children to the 'good' and leave the local school to become a receptacle for the low-attainment families - yes, there have always been 'sink' schools too!

The thing was in those days it was always done in a more 'off the radar' manner - we knew it was happening but we somehow never chose to notice, especially if our kids were in the better schools (and if they weren't the parents perhaps didn't care or had them at the school because of dogma and ideology!).

A few weeks ago I happened to visit one of the new academies and had the disconcerting experience whereby the person we'd come to visit managed to:

i. Avoid any eye-contact with everyone  else in the room (so it wasn't just because my ugly mug scared them!),

ii. Take a couple of calls and engage in conversation with them (mind you, from the conversation it appeared the person on the other might not have had the grades they needed to send them to university. The, 'If you get offered a place, call me!' seemed to underline this impression!),

iii. Misunderstand what was being asked (but they weren't really communicating, they were just in the same room as us).

I left feeling that I'd managed to completely waste their time and ours - Perhaps they were just having a bad day (I thought trying to be charitable)!

Anyway, I had the opportunity to revisit this person to inform them that one of their charges was transferring and to say goodbye to them and their institution (politeness personified or what - although there was the question of a signature too!). Entering the room our heroic head of something or other greeted the person I was with, 'Hello Tom, what's this I hear about you leaving?'

What an excellent gambit, engage the person and, having been in their company for a year, use their first name to win a point and create a warm feeling. This, ladies and gentlemen is an example of Transactional Analysis for indeed 'a stroke is a unit of recognition and stimulation' (see I did listen to the lectures!!!) and here we have such a thing most excellently enacted. Well almost because there are both positive and negative strokes, the former being empowering and joyful and the latter being debilitating and painful.

Sadly for our hapless hero the focus of their communication was not a 'Tom' at all and therefore by their very (still eye contact-less) encounter had caused a sense of impotent and uncared for ill-being. What made it worse was perhaps the ignoring of the faux pas and this was the moment when the cherry was firmly affixed to the cake (which had by them been wonderfully baked and iced)! Mind you, the cake was then wrapped and presented to [not Tom] as he was told that transferring to a different school was a mistake for a number of reasons, namely:

i. it was a different school (yes  - that was the idea behind them leaving!)

ii. they'd never worked at a better school than the one being left (is that reflection of the school, the teacher or perhaps both?)

iii. it was further away from the school they were leaving (distance is sometimes a great thing)

Now contrast that with the response the same person got at the target school:

Having arrived for the first time to register the head of school, who was merely passing by, stopped and acknowledged them by name (using the words, 'I assume you're [not Tom]!') and engaged them with eye contact and a smile.

Since this is a parable for Church I have to ask you:

If you were [not Tom] which school would you choose?

If we changed school for church would anyone notice?

Buried a member of a local church recently and they hadn't been visited by their Vicar (even though the family had requested one) - not even once during the time they'd been in hospital or a nursing home (and this was a significant period).

Eye contact - can we look people in they eyes (do we?)

Names - do we know the names of those who come to our churches?

Do we know what's going on in the lives of those around us so we can be engaged, helping and praying?

Pax