Methodist on a Mission

Successful evangelism?

2011-11-24T09:41:00.001Z

Reading today about the wealth and wisdom of Solomon in 2 Chronicles 9 and the visit of the Queen of Sheba. A few things began to bubble away in my head...

1) Solomon is successful. He is wealthy and impressive, the repeated phrase that never had such things been seen in Judah, shows that he was remarkably successful. Because of his success, he is sought out by the Queen of Sheba.

I've been wondering a fair bit lately about whether 'successful' large, slick, modern, churches are what God wants. Is this a representation of the Kingdom that is seen in mustard seed and yeast? But equally am aware that in a culture that is so aware of 'image' that to be impressive and successful and be seen to be full of life and making a real difference and impact can draw people to you to pick your brains or seek your input. This is what is happening here. Solomon's reputation goes before him and is therefore attractive to the seeker - in this case the Queen of Sheba. So maybe being impressive isn't so bad after all.

Except that...

2) Nothing changes in the life of the Queen of Sheba. She is impressed, she receives help it seems. She goes on her merry way, but there is nothing to suggest a challenge to transforming life and becoming a follower of the Lord, in contrast to other 'foreign' monarchs who acknowledge the power and goodness of God in thew OT. Is there not a danger in 'impressive churches' of being caught up in the 'impressive' and missing the real Kingdom moment of transformation? Isn't it so easy to consume and consume the great 'product' of a modern, slick church, and pass away without anyone noticing that nothing in you has been challenged or changed? Is the potential pitfall that people are impressed and even attracted but the presentation softens the hard Gospel call?

These are just questions which i have no answers to and am just posing really, but are worth considering. As a minister in a medium sized but growing church I am well aware of my ambitious streak which is very keen to impress and be noticed, but sense, for me anyway, the nagging voice of the Spirit challenging me to help shape communities that represent God's Kingdom and not human empires.

The crucial 'if'...

2011-11-23T09:21:00.001Z

Continuing our travels through Scripture brings us into 2 Chronicles with a couple of things worth noting today.

1) the frequent refrain ' He is good and His love endures forever' appears a few times in the back end of 1 Chronicles and now in the early chapters of 2 Chronicles as well. Seems to be a regular liturgical refrain used by the people to acknowledge the goodness and faithfulness of God.

2) More famously perhaps is the verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14 "...if my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Struck me afresh as i read this morning the power of the word 'if'. With all the means of grace we have , scripture, prayer, communion, fellowship - the onus is on us to take hold of that which is freely offered. It seems as I read this vesrse again that there is a longing in the voice of God, so desperate for His people to take up the opportunity that He gives.

This verse appears in the midst of Solomon dedicating the Temple and God warning Solomon and the people about the consequences of abandoning Him. Just because there is a temple doesnt mean the people will always be under God's favour - a lesson for us building-worshipping Methodists out there. In the midst of warnings of judgement comes a powerful 'get out clause' allowing God's people to draw on His grace and mercy rather than His judgement. But the key thing is it's up to us. If only we would appreciate all that is on offer for us. If only we would rediscover the power of prayer, if only our eyes would be opened again to the Might of our God, if, if, if,. If only, God's people would seek Him out for renewal and restoration, if only....

1 Chronicles...

2011-11-17T09:56:00.001Z

After eventually catching up on my reading plan and finding myself where i should be on the set day, here are some thoughts of mine from 1 Chronicles mid way through.

1 Chr 13:4 - David is discussing with the people whether to bring the ark of the covenant, the precious symbol of God's presence back to Jerusalem. Instead of ploughing ahead regardless, the community discuss and ponder and because "it seemed right to all the people" they press ahead. Surely this is one of the many forerunners of the Wesleyan tradition that we discern God's will in the community of God's people. If God is leading us such a way, we trust that the spirits of the saints, witness with what we are suggesting, or have a sense of a similar direction. The key of course is people, listening to the Lord when engaging in such a process.

1 Chr 13:10 - the anger of the Lord burning against Uzzah for seeking to steady the ark. On one hand it re-enforces the sacredness and pure holiness of God and the one thing that symbolises His presence that a mere mortal cannot just touch His holy ark, but on the other, Uzzah is only wanting to stop the ark from crashing to the ground - surely far more shameful??

1 Chr 15:13 perhaps sheds some more light on the above - David and the people did not enquire of the Lord for directions for how to move the ark. A sobering warning to churches and Christian people everywhere, what harm is there in enquiring of the Lord in even the most mundane of decisions or processes?

1 Chr 15:29 - Michal doesn't take to David's celebrating and dancing. So often the case that those who are hard hearted are unable to embrace the joy of others so much so that it turns to resentment. This is seen in local churches up and down the land every week! Does a heart really given over to the Lord have the ability to embrace joyous celebration of God's goodness even if it isn't their style? I think so! Any Michal's in my church, watch out!

1 Chr 16 - great prayer of praise and celebration. Inspired me to preach a series - 'great prayers of the Bible'. Should tie in next summer nicely with our District's year of prayer.

Some musings from Judges

2011-10-05T17:21:00.001+01:00

So we are nearly a quarter of the way through the year of Bible reading although my little gold ribbon doesn't seem to reflect this as it marks of the number of pages read, but this week we passed through the whole book of Judges which was a fairly tumultuous time in the history of God's people.

Already posted some thoughts on Gideon, but the next main character to arrive on the scene is Samson. Love reference in Judges 13:25 where 'the Spirit of the Lord began to stir him...' Reminded me of time when as a child we visited someone or other and there was a huge dog lying in front of the fire asleep. I remember being intimidated by the size of this beast, but reassured when he seemed deeply asleep. I remember the sense of fear and apprehension i felt as it began to stir a while later and recall anticipating with frazzled fear the sense of being at the mercy of this powerful dog as it burst into action. Love that sense of Samson's power and strength beginning to be awakened by the Spirit of God. Love seeing that in people - particularly young, passionate men who are sold out for our King, when God seems to grab hold of their life and something powerful, even intimidating begins to stir as they begin to get ready for action.

Challenged and inspired by this one little verse.

What follows is some pretty horrific treatment of women as no more than sex slaves as Samson's wife is given to whoever at the party wants her and then another unrelated story of the abominable treatment of a young woman who is raped and murdered brutally. It is some small mercy that the shocking nature of her death serves as a warning and a challenge to Israel.

Sandwiched between these to women accounts is the curious narrative about Micah and his priest who installs gods for good fortune in his house and then employs a Levite to be his personal priest to the gods. [I cheekily wondered whether this is where the tradition of Bishop's chaplain's came from!!!!] But the point is, and still remains today how strong the pull of superstition and charms for good fortune remain on people, despite the clear biblical mandate to be rid of such things and trust fully in the ways of the Lord.

Memorial plaques

2011-10-03T11:47:00.002+01:00

Gideon is a hero in the eyes of Israel. He has won an incredible and most unlikely victory and been Israel's shepherd and leader for a number of years. Yet his fame goes to his head because not content with the knowledge of pleasing the Lord, Gideon demands goes about making an ephod from gold - a lasting symbol of his achievements, and surprise surprise all Israel falls down before it worshipping the gold object and forgetting the Lord who won the victories in the first place.

Got me thinking though about memorials that occupy church buildings. Things that are put up or are given in memory of something with good intentions but become to quote Judges 8 'a snare to all the people'. A plaque marked on a certain chair, which binds the congregation from ever being creative with seating arrangements because one chair is 'my Ron's chair', or communion kneelers so inappropriate and uncomfortable for the congregation but cant be replaced because Ethel left them to the church... its surprisingly easy how these little mementos, or reminders of individuals end up becoming, well worshipped, to some degree or another and certainly restrict progress.

I wonder whether in a community where our giving should be so humble and quiet that one hand doesn't know what the other is doing, whether memorial stones/plaques are ever appropriate in churches? I feel not really, because however, unintentionally, people end up repeating the mistakes of the Israelites in Gideon's time. These things become a snare, even an idol and distract from the One who should be the focus of the communities worship and decision making.

Joshua, son of nun

2011-09-26T16:31:00.002+01:00

So i am now up to date with reading schedule having spent most of this afternoon reading Joshua. A few scattered thoughts...

Josh 1:8 - mediate day and night on the Book of the Law - good advice to fill our minds and souls with the word of God - not just reading but reflecting, thinking, praying it.

Josh 9 - Gibeonites come with a tempting offer and the Israelites accept making the fatal flaw of not 'inquiring of the Lord'. Wondered how many times i have made decisions in ministry on impulse rather than pausing to inquire what God's will is. Wonder how many churches make decisions based on anything and everything but God's will and wisdom, another sobering challenge.

Josh 10 - the sun stands still at Joshua's command. Powerful are the words of one under God's authority - even elements of creation obey the authority of God's command.

Josh 11:20 - "For it was the Lord Himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that He might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses." Maybe there will be more, but for me this is the most horrible verse of Scripture i have ever come across. Big struggles with it.

Josh 12:9-24 - a little less heavy - when listing the conquered kings why not just say 'one each' rather than list them all and individually mark 'one' next to them? Strange.

Josh 18:3 - Joshua's frustration at the tribes saying to them 'how long before you take up your inherited land'. I've felt a similar frustration in ministry many times with churches and individuals - why not just take what God has offered you! Don't be afraid, don't hang on the sides with fear and suspicion, - embrace what God has done for you!

Josh 21:45 'Not one of the Lord's good promises to the house of Israel failed, every one was fulfilled.' Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father...

Josh 24:14-15 Joshua sets down a clear choice for the people - serve God or idols. It's your choice but think carefully, turn from your wicked ways and trust in the Lord. Good evangelistic text again, ending with his own decision, 'as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.'

late and guilty thoughts on deuteronomy

2011-09-26T12:49:00.001+01:00

I was deeply humbled and convicted yesterday when an older lady in one of my congregations came to tell me how much she was enjoying reading the Bible from cover to cover. I had no idea she had joined in the exercise as she isn't coming to our groups but is reading alone at home and being enriched by the reading. This lady is in her 80's, and currently full-time carer for her husband having little sleep etc as most of her time is taken up caring. Yet she has remained disciplined enough to stay up to date with our reading schedule. Me, O great leader that i am, am currently three weeks behind so have very guiltily read virtually the whole of Deuteronomy this morning with Joshua to go this afternoon.

So just a few spattering of thoughts on Deuteronomy...

There's a lovely feel to Deuteronomy - much of it is told in a story, as though Moses is sat round the fire late at night recalling the exploits of God and His people. It merges into laws and commands have-way through for a period, before returning to narrative about Moses. This is a pleasant alteration from endless regulations found in Numbers.

Deut 1:31 - lovely image of God carrying ~Israel like a dad carries his young son- something i'm able to relate to easily at the moment. Think this is the first point where there is such a sensitively described image between God and Israel. They are not just a group he orders about for their benefit, but a people He deeply feels for and cares about.

Deut 3:21 - any scholars around who have bothered to read this are surely gonna have to explain to me why the size of Og's bed is important??!!

Deut 3:24 - Moses utters a beautiful creed of praise before he pleads his case for the people. 'For what god is there in heaven or earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do?

Deut 8:3-5 - God's loving discipline - taken out of context this passage and my comments could seem harsh, but we are introduced to the sense that God allows hardship and that sometimes that can be for our good. Not always is this the case, but too often we dismiss God's action or non-action in pain and distress because we (quite fairly) want it easier. There is much to learn of God's mercy and grace in the hard times. Although we wish it not for ourselves or others, so often as we experience difficulty we learn lessons we could never learn any other way, and see different facets of God's character we would never discover. Hardship can sometimes be a blessing.

Deut 9:6 - God isn't giving the promised land to Israel because of their great track record and their reward. He gives it out of grace. This is a great protestant, NT message which is great to proclaim - The only thing we contribute to our salvation is the sin from which we're saved to badly quote Archbishop Temple, but this verse seems somewhat at odds from later in Deut where God's blessing and giving of the land is totally dependant on righteous obedience. hmmm?

Deut 9:17 - the replacement tablets of stone is explained - they appear in Ex 20 but with no explanation

Deut 10:20 - lovely verses acclaiming the goodness of God and calling people in light of his mercy and compassion to obey and revere him. Good model, focus on God's goodness and request obedience based on his character, rather than frightened submission through fear and terror.

Deut 14:28 - tithing once again commanded, - good to learn how often it crops up in the law, so it isn't just an obscure verse in Malachi 3 after all. However, i've always been taught that all the tithe goes to the storehouse i.e. the church for the church to do good with it - but here Moses suggests giving directly out of tithe to poor, fatherless etc - challenges current practice for me.

Deut 13-15 - again any scholars who haven't given up in despair of my appalling exegesis - if you can tell me what the sudden fascination with deer and gazelle's are all about i'd be interested to know.

Deut 22:5 - cross dressing forbidden in strong terms. Strange how it seems to crop up in church pantomimes so often?

Deut 30:11ff - trainspotting verse - great evangelistic text - 'choose life'

Deut 33:27 - wonderful promise of God's everlasting arms underneath us as He is our refuge. Actually a promise given to an Israeli tribe but as its nice and reassuring has been adopted by Christians for ages.

Lastly Moses dies. Found it surprisingly sad. I watched Spooks yesterday and Tariq died and was sad as i like Tariq and have seen him over a few series develop as a fictional character. Something similar with Moses. Having spent most days of the last couple of months with him it was sad to see His passing and really poignant his death before entering the promised land. Loads of great lessons from Moses to learn about leadership and pastoring people - much to chew on and take hold of. Hope he's cheering me on as i seek to lead what very occasionally feels like a 'stiff-necked people!'

Needles in a Haystack

2011-09-05T17:43:00.000+01:00

I'm looking forward to Monday Bible Group tonight as i'm short on inspiration from this week's passages and need their help to spot the meaningful bits! We're trawling through Numbers, heading towards the end, but there seems to be very little actually going on. Doesn't help that for various reasons i read the entire weeks readings this afternoon rather than daily, but heh. Brief overview of the haystack and then the couple of needles i noticed...

More instructions for ritual cleansing before the strange account of Moses bringing water from the rock. Just goes to show the importance of following God's specific instructions and not just getting the general gist, as Moses failure to obey exactly to the letter means he misses out on the promised land.

Aaron, the first high priest has died, and his son Eleazar succeeds him and then the slaughter and divinely sanctioned killing begins. Arad, then Sihon & Og are the first to suffer at the hands of the advancing Israelites. Lots of problems with these accounts (and the many that will follow for me). Doing my best to extract some post NT meaning from these passages, i conclude that purity of land and community is really important for God who is displaying His holiness and awesome nature to these Israelites - not sure it cuts it really, but there we go.

Great story of Balaam's donkey and Balaam the wizard's prophecies and predictions before another census of all the people. Instructions on inheritance when there are no male heirs around, more offertory instructions, festival commands and lessons on the importance of keeping vows. The Midianites are then mercilessly slaughtered before Reuben and Gad ask for the land east of the Jordan. The reading for this week concludes with a fairly tedious list of all the places Israel camped in their forty years wandering round the desert. No descriptions though, just there, and there, and there...

Anyway to the needles...

1) Balaam - wizard, commandeered to the Lord's service to speak blessing over God's people even though his King hired him to put spells on them. After Balaam fails to curse the Israelites, his employer complains and Balaam replies, "...I can't say whatever I please, I must speak only what the Lord puts in my mouth."

Great line for preachers! Always good to be reminded that we don't bring before congregations a set of ideas and propositions, but our task is to speak into their midst and into their lives, the Living, current, word of God. Balaams attitude gives Him a great chance of doing so!

2) Joshua's commissioning - Moses' sees the potential for a leaderless people once he's died and remarks that without a successor to him, Israel would be like a 'sheep without a shepherd'. I hadn't realised that this was an OT phrase, i thought it had been made up by Jesus when he talks of labourers needed for the harvest field. For me, it makes the statement of Jesus all that more significant, He draws on a phrase well-known to His hearers, spoken by one of their heroes, Moses, to connect with the people of His time.

Every bit like local church

2011-08-30T10:14:00.000+01:00

Continuing through numbers and realising how moany the Israelites are and how much patience and grace Aaron and Moses excercise. In fact, reading through chapters 11-18 felt like reading an account of local church ministry with its power battles, embattled, discouraged leaders, grumbling followers. Was struck by how similar the two were, God's people in OT and people that I pastor!

Chapter 11- 'I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets' - in other words, if only others would share the burden, if only others would share responsibility with me for hearing and delivering the words of the Lord, if only there were more people willing to help out with leading - any pastors ever felt anything similar?

Chapter 12 - opposition from Moses closest allies - Miriam & Aaron challenge his leadership and Miriam ends up regretting it, after coming sound very suddenly with a skin disease. how many pastors have struggled with even the closest and dearest losing faith in their ability to do what God wants them to do?

Chapter 13 - one that has always troubled me. I am not a natural optimist - i am hopeful and often full of faith but am keen to be real about challenges - after all, if we're up front about the real situation, God's help is often even more miraculous - and so feel a sense of connection with the spies that return and tell it as it is. Caleb though is far more positive - and i guess the issue here is not one of optimism/pessimism, but one of seeing the possibilities for God's action and being open to them.

As someone trying to sensitively and lovingly lead a church through transition for mission/renewal at the moment, we are about to embark on what seems for us quite a risk of establishing two morning congregations. Although i feel relatively convinced of God's hand on it, many are fearful and worried about the outcome. I guess in this particulalr situation, i feel something like Caleb (and Moses with grumbling congregants, but that's another issue) feeling as though able to see all the possibilities of God's action through taking a risk, where as others see the potential pitfalls and are unable to move past those.

Chapter 14 - More rebellion and dissent - yet Moses instead of having a huge sulk and going off to moan about the people that are failing to respect his leadership, knowing God's track record on dissent, immediately intercedes for them. A great lesson again for church leaders - pray for the trouble-makers - genuinely pray for God's hand to move in their life and bless them with good things... Love even when it hurts.

Chapter 15 - random insert it appears about offerings and the death of one who breaks the sabbath

Chapter 16 - more dissenters - this time swallowed up by the ground

Chapter 17 - Aaron's staff grows buds and then almonds as a sign of God's anointing for him as priest

Chapter 18 - concludes this little exploration of church leadership when God affirms to Aaron that his priesthood is a gift. In all the hassle and things that cause weariness of body and spirit, ministry is such a great gift. To be able to work for the Lord, full time, seeking His mercy and grace amongst a broken world, is a great privilege, always good to be reminded of that.

A few thoughts from numbers

2011-08-27T20:32:00.000+01:00

Trawled through the counting of the Israelites clan by clan and heading further into Numbers and a few things of note that i thought was worth commenting on...

1) Chapter 5 - the origins of the compensation culture - so actually a prevalence of mitigation and personal injury compensation didn't originate in the States, it came from the Hebrews, who were commanded to make a generous retribution for theft, injuries etc in order that the person was compensated fully. Next time, i hear a fellow Christian bemoan the compensation tendancy in a bible study or fellowship group - i'll send them back to Numbers 5.

2) Numbers 7 - 89 verses of various leaders bringing offerings for the consecration of the altar. Gets a bit tedious after a while to be honest, but remembering a theme from our away day today of everyone playing their part and how valuable that is. Even the small triangle can be significant in a musical masterpiece. Every gift is valued and recieved and adds to the importance of the whole. A helpful reminder - although its stretching the brain and spirit to extract this from this chapter!!

3) The cloud over the Tabernacle - love this sense that the Israelites have of moving at God's command alone. Reflecting how much i plan and strategise in ministry (not altogether bad) but also, how little i help people just to wait and see and follow God's leading. I'm so keen to get decisions nailed and plans in place - perhaps the culture of the ancients was better at this - just waiting and responding to God's leading. In Mansfield some years ago where i worked for a local church we were involved in the establishing of a town-wide prayer gathering. The first meeting went well, but instead of planning another we decided to wait until the leader felt it was right to have another one. He cited this passage - Numbers 9 - as his inspiration. Yes, there were times when publicity didn't get through and occasions when meetings were called at short notice, but there was a deep sense of the cloud of God's presence whenever we gathered and some significant results came, i'm sure from that prayer meeting movement. Perhaps in my ministry, i'll look for opportunities to wait and see where and when God leads, in some cases less planning, more waiting and swift obedience and see what the results may be.

Set apart for the Lord

2011-08-24T15:08:00.000+01:00

Now into Numbers and the census that fills the first four chapters and beyond. Not much that i've noticed of any significance in the records of clans and families so far apart from the tribe of Levi being set apart for service of the Lord. The Levites are tasked with the maintaining the tabernacle and tent of meeting, and providing the priests in order that worship can take place. The Levites by their selection to this role become in many sense the spiritual descendants of Aaron the high priest of Israel.

Only couple of thoughts are how privileged i am to be set apart for the Lord in terms of my employment. I don't believe that i have a special priestly ministry that makes me different from any other Christian, but i do have the privilege of being given a liveable wage to work and pray in the communities that i'm placed in. In this very functional but important way, i am set apart for the Lord, i am a Levite.

But then, aren't all God's people levites? Are not all God's people spiritual descendants of Aaron called upon to offer worship and intercession on behalf of our communities and our world? Aren't all God's people set apart as citizens of heaven, called to shine like stars in the universe, standing out, living differently from the world at large, because we are set apart to serve the Lord. If this is the case what on earth would the church look like if we took this seriously? How can we live set apart but not isolated and as hermits?

Amazing that out of seemingly dull passages time and time again, God gives plenty to think about.

Aarons breastplate

2011-08-12T09:57:00.000+01:00

Back to work today after ten days or so away hence the lack of recent blogs. I have been reading my Bible however, and out of the many things one could comment on - the wrap up of the Joseph story, the call of Moses, the exodus, ten commandments etc. the thing that struck me the most was the Exodus 28:29-30.

Undoubtedly, this is clouded by my sense of affiliation with Aaron the priest as i too am the religious leader of two communities, but even so it is remarkably special. Aaron's breastplate is made of all sorts of finery - it is a mix of all sorts of jewels and gems and its monetary value alone must be spectacular, let alone its appearance or significance to the community. I'm not all that fussed about the jewels though. What matters most to me, are the two sentences of conclusion to the description of the breastplate. Aaron is a key man in a key role. he was priest of the israelite community, he was the charged with officiating at all the key moments as a representative of God. But in order that Aaron never forgets this role, the other way, representing the people before God, he sees that his breastplate is a symbol of all Israel. In fact, he views it as whenever he wears the breastplate he wears the names of the whole community over his heart before God. What an awesome statement. Whenever Aaron prepares for the finery and ceremony of his duties, he recalls that he performs all of these things with the people symbolically placed over his heart.

Now i'm, not into dresses and vestments etc at all, i'm a low churchman and proudly so, but to think that next time i slip the piece of plastic into my shirt collar i'm not just a representative of God and God's people but that actually i am to carry them in/over my heart before God's presence is a wonderful, precious and awesome responsibility.

Undoubtedly, this is a huge challenge for me as to my prayer life, but also to just being aware that i am charged in the aaronic tradition, to carry the names of 'my' communities before God, in His presence, over and within my heart.

Racing through the generations

2011-07-25T19:06:00.000+01:00

After a few days of not being very well i am catching up on my reading before tonights Bible Reading Group and so here are some very basic and general thoughts on Genesis 29-41!

Their's a lovely romantic story about how far a man will go for the love of a woman as Jacob ends up serving years on Laban's farm to win the hand of his daughter Rachel. But yet again, things never go smoothly. Why anyone ever trusted an oath or promise made to them is beyond me, because they seem to be broken left, right and centre when it suits. Laban is at fault this time - happily taking Jacob's loyal service for 7 years and then negating on his promise of Rachel's hand in marriage in return. In the end he gets Rachel, accompanied by younger Leah for the promise of 7 more years labour. Jacob settles for this as his love for Rachel is so strong.

Lots of sons follow as well as the inevitable envy and rivalry between two competing wives as to who can produce the best dynasty. Jacob negotiates a parting with Laban, they agree and lo and behold! Jacob tricks and deceives Laban completely and makes off with the best flock.

after much messing around Jacob and Laban agree on what seems like a fairly serious and binding agreement before Jacob heads off to meet Esau who he first plies with gifts and blessings to try and win his favour. If it wasn't clear to me before, it is now, that Jacob is incapable of speaking to anyone straightly and honestly. His way is to deal with flattery and manipulation, never wanting to upset anyone but deceiving them afterwards. A totally damaging way to deal with people.

Jacob then wrestles with God, a strange and mysterious story - often used as a symbol for our intellectual and emotional wrestling with God over tragedy and doubt before the grand reunion with Esau - who incidentally seems rather non-plussed by all the over-the-top gifts and just wants to make up. Again Jacob agrees to meet him again in a little while and then does the opposite.

Another disturbing account in Chapter 34 involving the rape of Dinah and the honour killings to avenge the shame. But not before a pacifying agreement has been reached with the town for their conversion through circumcision and then during their recovery the place is ransacked.

Jacob recieves a change of name to Israel, at Bethel, where he consecrates himself to meet with God in a clear and deliberate way - challenge for us today when we gather for worship/prayer perhaps? - then we trot through Esau's descendents before reaching one of my heroes of the OT - Joseph.

Joseph in a nutshell:

- greatly gifted lacked grace to go with it - sometimes we can have too much gift for our level of grace!
- sold for pieces of silver - wasn't someone else treated the same way
- served faithfully in whatever situation he was in - God wants our best wherever we are
- in face of temptation flees doesn't dally with it
- in prison - grows in grace - acknowledges that any interpreting abilities he has come from God
- faithfully delivers messages from the Lord even when they are hard
- but tries to help his own cause rather than let God's time overrule
- eventually wins out after learning that all the glory and honour for his abilities go to God

God's purposes working out despite his servants best efforts!

Soap opera families & their wells

2011-07-20T17:48:00.000+01:00

So we head into the story of Isaac and his family which feels at times like reading the script from a dysfunctional family who are the main characters in a sitcom. Twins are born with very different personalities and characteristics and their relationships within the family are plagued by being favoured by mum, Rebekah or dad, Isaac. This leads to the twins being played off each other - perhaps as weapons used by mum and dad to get at each other.

Firstly, Jacob steels the birthright of the first born son, Esau. He takes advantage of his hunger and finds a weak moment to manoeuvre himself up the 'food chain' and take Esau's place and be in line for the inheritance of the firstborn.

Secondly, Jacob tricks old Isaac - once again, buoyed on by his mother - into passing on the paternal blessing - the equivalent of a modern day will in many ways, which was solemn and binding as an oath - to himself.

What is striking is that once again, through manipulation and scheming the purposes of God seem to be fulfilled. Perhaps its these verses that so many Christians base their conduct on!

I've skipped over the fact that Isaac repeats Abraham's misjudgement of passing off his wife for his sister to protect himself as there isn't time today but just two things to note before i go to cook the family meal...

The unplugging of wells - i love this sense of generations before finding the source of life-giving water and later generations re-discovering them and opening them up again for their benefit and blessing. Its so great to see in my lifetime the church (in particular Methodism) re-discover the old wells of long ago with a fresh desire to plant churches of all different kinds, a thrust for discipleship and mission, a renewed commitment to prayer and a fresh challenge to engage with God's word and grow in holiness. These are the great discoveries of the past. As much as we need pioneers to find the brand new ways God is moving and shaping the world and its people, we need people who will search the scriptures and watch the land closely to see where the old springs have been and to work to unplug those old wells of before in churches, in towns, even in people's lives, that fresh, life-giving water - the living water from which we will never thirst, is experienced and drunk deep again.

And lastly, after Jacob's affirming and God-given dream, as a response to God's goodness to Him he spontaneously offers a tenth of everything the Lord has given Him. Once again, the principle of tithing is present even before its command is given. It's encouraging to me and perhaps challenging to others that this principle of Christian giving isn't just tucked away in one obsucre reference, but this principle appears time and time again within God's word and is one God's people would do well to respond to.

Rites of passage

2011-07-18T16:08:00.000+01:00

So Gen 23 brings with it the death of Sarah and Abraham's eagerness to do the right thing when it comes to arranging her burial place. Endless parallels with similar pastoral situations i face month in month out, (why are we surprised - Abraham had to deal with very real human issues like us) where the final act of devotion and love from a loved one is to make sure they have a fitting tribute and celebration and that they are laid to rest appropriately. Despite the repeated offer of a gift of a burial place from the Hittites, the fact that Abraham pays for this burial plot is a matter of honour and pride so eventually they settle on a site and a price.

Then on to a wedding for Isaac. The servant is despatched by Abraham to find a suitable wife and a match is found and arranged. Although this does not appear to be a forced marriage, i can't help but notice that Rebekah and Isaac are committed to each other by their families representatives before they've even set eyes on each other. This time the contrast to common pastoral practice is striking. I conducted a wedding on saturday, a great and wonderful occasion, where people were full of joy and happiness. But the couple had grown together over time. They had no doubt, got together from an initial attraction, physical or emotional, but had spent time journeying together, even starting a family together before they decided to get married. Perhaps as well they felt the leading of God's Spirit throughout that process and up to and including their wedding. Such a contrast though from the selection process for Rebekah, which relies on either divine sovereignty or chance depending how you look at it.

Anyway, it seems like the end of the Abrahamic era is at large and we head on with the new generation tomorrow.

Abraham and sons...

2011-07-17T13:43:00.000+01:00

So trawling through Gen 17-22 and a mix of strange and significant stories. Firstly, covenant of circumcision is introduced and Abraham and his 13 year old son are circumcised - ouch! I guess for them its something they would never forget and also sets the pattern for all the covenant people onwards.

Secondly, Abraham is visited by three mysterious visitors from afar. Unsure whether these are mystics, angels or even perhaps a symbolic picture of trinity? Whatever they are it is clear that they speak authoritatively on behalf of the Lord.

Thirdly, continuing in Gen 18 is a great piece of bartering between Abraham and God. God decrees the destruction of Sodom for awful things but Abraham steps in to convince God to relent a little to satisfy Abraham's sense of moral justice. Abraham's bartering is received positively and God amends His original plans for destruction. Surely, a real encouragement to pray! God's mind can be changed by the intercession of His people. If it works for Abraham then surely it will work for us. Perhaps i am being challenged to pray more directly and specifically for things and then keep badgering until there's a result.

Chapter 19 is rather unpalatable for a number of reasons to do with incest and the exploitation of women, a sexual desperation on a city wide scale expressed through homosexuality before we arrive at Abraham's treaty with Abimelek. It appears at first that Abraham has not learnt the lesson from years before. Perhaps he should have written lines, Bart Simpson style - 'i will not pass of my wife as my sister...' but i guess its really encouraging that a great hero of the faith sometimes doesn't learn overly quickly. It seems i'm in good company. Of course, it appears that through Abraham's scheming - great blessing comes and he receives a prizely sum as part of this treaty.

This seems to be the case so often - and i imagine this is what gives weight to the argument that 'religious writings' are written post the event to justify behaviour. We can see echoes of this as the Moabites and Ammonites, soon to be arch enemies of Israel are those born of incest between Lot and his daughters. Is this written to justify prejudice in later generations?

Then on to the birth of Isaac, the child of promise and to the famous story of his almost sacrifice. Once again a beautiful picture of aspects of the cross. Abraham willingly sacrifices his own son on an altar of wood - the links between Jesus being sacrificed on the 'altar' of a wooden cross are clear.

That concludes my first week through Genesis - quite a winding tale of people and circumstances - what is clear throughout is the theme, however presented, of God's faithfulness and plan working itself out no matter what the characters face or do. How great it is to know, that God does work despite us and with us.

From Noah to Abraham - more dodgy biblical studies

2011-07-14T23:18:00.000+01:00

Writing this late at night after a crazy day so claim even less inspiration than normal. Reading from the end of the story of Noah to the beginning of Abram. Noticed a couple of things that made me think.

Firstly, when Noah gets drunk from the wine in his vineyard, innocently the story suggests, Ham his son sees him naked and draws attention to him rather than covering him up discretely. For this mistake of Ham's, Canann gets punished - in fact Noah curses the young Canaan for the foolishness of his father. That led me to wonder secondly, whether the 'justification' for the aggressive conquest of Canaan comes from this passage - that in the communities of the day, the descendants of Canaan were despised and pictured in negative terms for this reason. Maybe it was the other way round. The Jewish nation were so prejudiced against their former neighbours that they 'wrote in' to their religious history something that confirmed and 'justified' their hatred and suspicion?

Secondly, am really challenged as i write this, because my theology and view of scripture is being disturbed (as in shuffled around) somewhat. As i read this primitive literature, its seems so much like justification for actions from the future. It reads as though it is written hundreds of years later attempting to rationalise and explain, maybe even deify, events of their past. A decidedly different style and feel though as we enter the story of Abram and prepare to see more of Jesus in God's covenant of grace.

Lastly, hadn't realised Nimrod helicopters may well have their name based on Gen 10:8ff, and the tower of babel seems a random story somewhat that fits into the context of my thinking above.

Am sure someone out there can correct my erroneous biblical scholarship?

Noah - the first picture of salvation

2011-07-13T09:03:00.000+01:00

So today i moved through Genesis 6-9 and took in the fascinating story of Noah. There are lovely little bits where 'God remembered Noah' and others and its a great bit of story telling - almost designed in some ways for a young audience.

Reflecting as i read, that this is the first salvation/rescue story in Scripture. This is the first time that the idea of God saving people and His creation (however limited a part of creation) enters the fore and its hard to read the story at face value and not read it through the lens of Jesus.

I've so often told people that we understand the OT through the lens of the NT and vice versa, and think there is much in that, certainly if we read Scripture as one narrative rather than proof texting - but am also aware of the failures of exegesis in this way. For now, i'll continue with my poor exegesis - this is a devotional exercise, not a scholarly one!

Lots of parallels with the cross in terms of salvation. Firstly, that God makes a way out from His judgement. He never seems to leave humanity without a choice of escape, and in the ark of Noah and in the cross, God offers a way of rescue for all.

There is the wooden ark that is the passage to rescue, as well as the wooden cross of Calvary, as well as God's assurance following the flood of safety and love. The rainbow is a great picture of God's promises and His faithfulness. A sign of God's continued rescue and love for generations. It is a reminder of the faithfulness and mercy of God, in many ways like the empty cross and empty tomb.

There is much to be questioned and challenge in this story, but for me, its exciting that 3 days in to this journey through scripture, already salvation and rescue take centre stage.

Favouritism, liturgy and Enoch

2011-07-12T10:09:00.000+01:00

Day two of Bible readings takes me through Genesis 4&5 looking at Cain & Abel and then descending generations to Noah.

Firstly, reading Gen 4 and not noticed the favouritism God shows to Abel. I guess I'm so used to pedalling the story that God loves everyone equally and receives their varied offerings with equal gratitude - something i still believe is true - that this sense of arbitrary favouritism to Abel's offering seems so harsh. Am happy to read this literature as myth - but if it is some kind of theological myth there is theological truth here - but what is that? That God is sovereign? That God does have favourites? Perhaps the point is more about how trivial an issue can spark rage and revenge leading to murder in humanity and how frail our moral sense/passion can be?

Then into Chapter 5 with its lilting poetic liturgy of the generations - telling in a couple of phrases the story of each generation and in its repetition showing the frailty and temporariness of human lives and existence. But i love how all of a sudden the repetition and rhythm is broken as we come to Enoch. Am aware of how often this happens in Scripture that a pattern is broken to say a little extra about one person or situation. Jabez i guess is the 'famous' example. But here, in just a few words, it is said of Enoch, what so many followers of Jesus would love to have on their gravestone. 'Enoch walked faithfully with God...' What a great epitaph that would be. There is no mention of the exploits of Enoch, of his ministry successes or how influential he was on the world around him, just that he 'walked faithfully with God...'.

Am challenged by that wonderful word this morning. How much could that be said of me? How much to i place ministry 'success' above and beyond simply walking closely with God? How will today be different because i am keen to be an Enoch?

In the beginning

2011-07-11T08:11:00.000+01:00

So today I began a challenge that i've always wanted to undertake but have always put off to another time. I am reading the Bible from cover to cover in canonical order (i.e. beginning in Genesis and ending in Revelation). I've already read my reading for this morning Genesis 1-3 and noticed some interesting questions which i would love some insight into from the two people likely to read this post. More on that in a bit.

Because i'm useless at being disciplined i have invited a group of people from the circuit to join me in this endeavour, something that has received a really good numerical response (to my surprise). And so about 15 of us are reading the Bible together from cover to cover and meeting weekly in two classes (small groups) to share our experiences, discuss what we've read, pray for one another and spur each other on through Leviticus and Proverbs in particular. I'm attempting to be just a participant in this process and not the leader/teacher - we shall see how successful this is!

2 questions arose today from my reading of Genesis 1-3. Firstly, Gen 2:17 - God tells Adam & Eve not to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil for if they do, they will die. They do but don't. I.e. they eat, but are still alive. Is God lying? (btw i am not reading this text as scientific history but more as poetry/liturgy but still?) Or does God mean that by eating the fruit, sin enters the world which leads to death? Were Adam and Eve immortal until eating the fruit?

Secondly, noticed that in Gen 3:16 as part of God's curse after the fall, man assumes dominion over woman. If this is post-fall, then this gives weight to the argument re: male headship is not what God intended. But, taking some NT passages in mind, is this the way to organise ourselves in a fallen world?

Just musings, any input would be gratefully received, but if not, my reading group will surely have some interesting insights.

time out

2011-02-08T12:16:00.000Z

So i'm off for my 1/4 days again to Lancaster, leaving my wife and lovely son in the safe care of mummy & granny respectively. It's always so good to take time out and reflect and just slow down the pace of our lives, but is so hard to actually do it. With having a busy job and an all-consuming (yet delightful) little 4month old around, i'm beginning to understand all the more how difficult it is for people to really take time out. I'm aware also of the great privilege of these 1/4 days - in essence retreat days on top of my annual leave - for reflection, refuelling and planning.

I guess i understand too, how vital it was for Jesus to retreat from ministry and get some alone time, time with God, time to rest, in order to run the next bit of the ministry race. Over Christmas i was off work with stress and after breaking through the feeling of humiliation at being off work, and the sense of general useless and patheticness i realised how vital it was at that particular time for me, just to rest and be honest and real with myself, others and God. How consumed i had become with the business of ministry, that i had completely forgotten what it was about. How obsessed i had become about meeting expectations and keeping the show on the road, that my creativity and sense of inspiration - at any level - had all but vanished. Resting helped so much. Time to think, time to rediscover who i was, regardless of my employment status, time to pray - in a real and honest way, not filled with 'professional' pretence, time to be with God.

I'm reminded of the story of Elijah, busy with ministry but feeling incredibly discouraged, filled with exhaustion and self-pity, fed by the angels and taking 40 days recovery as he journeyed towards re-discovering the place of God's real and vital presence. Of course, it was there that the famous still small voice, speaks quietly, yet refreshingly to Elijah's soul.

So i'm again asking myself in these few days of time out, how can i maintain a pattern of making space (not taking holiday or being slack) but valuably using 'ministry time' to dig deep into God and allow myself to be still enough to hear and recognise God's voice. How do i maintain guilt-free quiet spaces to refuel and enable ministry to be maybe a little more productive (quantity) but more effective (quality).

I'm asking myself again, how well (not at all very in my case) our church facilitates quiet space for those with hectic and busy lives? How does worship not just carry on the manic activity but enable reflection and space to hear from God and be stirred afresh in our lives?

Much to think of, in these few days away. Comments as always welcome!

Ministerial Synod & Dentist

2010-11-04T15:38:00.000Z

So Ministerial Synod was surprisingly engaging yesterday morning. It was at Bamber Bridge (it is District Law for it to be within the boundary of what is known as Preston) and i felt it differed from its normal effect of being about as stimulating and engaging as the stats for chuffing mission.( the statistics that the Methodist church keeps to show us all who we are engaging with more info http://www.methodist.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseaction=opentogod.newsDetail&newsid=465).

However, there was a sense of engaging with reality for probably the first time in my experience. There were a number of stories that linked to the District Straight jacket for Mission http://www.lancashiremethodist.org.uk/library/TLCPolicyfinalcopy16.8.10.pdf that were actually encouraging and inspiring and when totted up it is clear that there is lots of good stuff going on in the District that is engaging people in different ways so that's good.

After coffee we entered into discussions around abuse of clergy when they seek to be agents of change and how the church needs to respond to this, and then a personal hobby-horse of mine - the issue of how our church deals with baptism, especially now we are have realised and admitted that we are responding to a post-christian age rather than just hope that all those who tick the 'Christian' box on the census form really mean what we mean. Without going into details, for the first time there seemed to be a sense of collegiate - a desire to be 'in this together' - whatever 'this' may be and a desire even to put dogma and theology aside in order to respond to the missionary agenda. Long may it continue.

Despite all this above, my afternoon visit to the dentist (dentist and synod in 1 day - penance or what?) was actually briefer, less stressful and tiring, contained less waffle, and actually rated higher in my experiential rating system for the day. Dentist 7, Synod 6.5.

missionary renewal?

2010-10-28T16:28:00.000+01:00

and so today i make my long overdue return to the blogosphere. I have reflected for a few moments this afternoon about why i haven't blogged for so long and wondered whether other bloggers can empathize. Is it because i seem to have so little time in paid ministry to reflect and evaluate? Is it because i want to use a blog as a kind of journal but if i'm honest about stuff people would get offended so it all has to be a little false? is it actually because i kept forgetting? Is it because i am devoid of anything remotely engaging to think/write about? Who knows. What i do know is that somethings have shifted in my understanding of the process of chruch renewal.

We have a new superintendent minister in our circuit, he seems driven, passionate, dedicated, and appears totally consumed with the practice of mission and evangelism. Already just two months into this new connexional year with new staffing our circuit and leaders are altering the way they think about church - its great to see - and of course i am also being challenged and shaped by that wonderful gift a new entrant to a sitiation brings - naievity - false or real - about the current situations we are engaged in.

All of this co-incides with our church exploring what it means to be a church engaged in evangelism. (we have separated 'Mission' into social justice/proclamation gospel not because they are disconnected but because its easy to avoid the responsibility to speak of the Gospel when its bound up with practical caring/sharing). Of course as we have focussed on equipping and resourcing our church to reach and engage new people it can't help but allow us to reflect on what type of church we are. Are we welcoming and friendly? Is our church building attractive? Are our events engaging and inspiring? Are we accessible to people who have no church experience? Are our members equipped and suitably discipled enough to feel confident in the missionary task? What is church about anyway? are all questions that have arised directly from this autumnal focus on evangelism.

Perhaps most of all though is the cutting truth that Jesus is about building His church - we are about disciple-making. I reflect on a programme of church renewal and transition which i have driven and led over the last four years and i painfully ask myself - if we had engaged in mission from the first - caring for people and sharing with them good news about Jesus would we be further on in our process of transition? Would our missiology have driven our ecclesiologoical change much quicker? Am i better to get on with disciple-making and let Jesus build the church? - a hard question for someone who has been consumed with building a 'better' church over the last four years.

I love the headline on Andy Frost's book (pic) 'the church has left the buidling'. Could it be that as we are consumed by leaving the building and engaging in a missionary goal that God shapes and remoulds us on that hourney of mission and that its in the going that we ourselves are made more into Christ-like disciples and consequently Jesus is indeed building His church?

Oh my (actual) life...

2010-02-05T00:09:00.000Z

Today will be my last post from the Philippines and so i decided to include one of our phrases of the week as a title. This phrase has usually been uttered in shear fear as our driver Lito weaves his way between oncoming traffic, occasionally going the wrong way up the carriageway and generally applies the principle that if he doesn't look at other cars they won't hit him! But also, it somes up some of the exasperation at our experiences here together.

I have been asked time and time again in the last few days whether this trip was what i expected. Its hard to answer because i wasn't really sure what to expect. I wasn't looking forward to coming in the least and having been here, i would be a lot keener to return than i was to come intially. I have had more fun than i expected, despite being the but of many jokes, and i have recieved more from the children and staff than i could ever have hoped for. Their joy is infectious and that will stay with me forever, i think.

Having said all this there were just some things that no-one could be prepared for. Our trip to Smokey Mountain on Day 1 (which seeems a lifetime ago now) was horrific as people lived among the rubbish and sewage and formed a community. Disturbingly Sol, told us happily this week that it "...used to be an awful place, its come on so much in the last few years" (!!!!!!!) The other shanty villages we visited and the street communities lived in horredous conditions with the smell making my stomach do somersalts and it has amazed us that there are not more obvious signs of disease, but the village near Laguna we visited on Tuesday where over 1/2 of the poultry income of the families go to buy clean water leaving them the equivalent of 2pounds fifty pence to live on for the rest of the week left the biggest impression on me. I will never forget the children happily playing and washing in the toxic stream flowing from the pharmaceutical factory just yards away, oblivious to the apparent dangers.

Last tuesday was perhaps the most touching day. I was inspired by Michelle, an ambitious 15 year old with her life ahead of her and full of dreams for her future. Her possible blindness within 5 years was shattering to hear, just minutes after being inspired by her drive and determination. Like so many of the other children that we have met, she may well have suffered incredibly in former circumstances. Many of the children we have met are victims of abuse, not to mention poverty and neglect. The inspirational story of Kanlungan is that out of the incredibly damaged 'raw material' of the children they meet there are so many stories of joy and hope and the children discover humanity again as well as growing in the love that God has for them.

If i'm honest there was a degree of scepticism in me when i came here as to what the ethos of the charity was and how money was used. Kanlungan are an incredibly professional organisation. You can hardly say hello to the administrator without it being noted and a reciept issued!! Everything is above board, everything is managed through case files, everything is monitored with Professional staff who are training other agencies. It is my firm conviction, that no matter what horrors the past may have held, it is a great blessing for these children to pass through Kanlungan's care. Whether its meeting Roel & Wilmar on the streets at night, or popping into the drop in centre, whether its at Benitez House recieving intial alternative education and therapy or whether its living in Laguna or at the Boys Home or Farm receiving schooling to be in Kanlungan's 'system' is to recieve an incredible start to life for i am convinced beyond doubt that this is an organisation that God is using incredibly and it is an honour to be associated with them.

Sistine Chapel takes four years, only two days for Kanlungan Mural

2010-02-03T10:34:00.000Z

And so it is that the mural is complete! I added nothing to todays efforst as the detail and intricacy was way above my pay grade. The highlight of today's artistry was Stella's free-hand painting of Nemo in the sea, something that was quite amazing to witness and watch, at least so thought little Christian who was squatted motionless in awe of Mrs B's talents!

The mural has been compiled from designs from school children from Wheatley Lane. There was a competition in school to design a mural based on Lancashire and the winning ideas have been merged to make the final design. Sadly i can't post pics yet as we have no way of connecting camera's/phones to the computer in our hotel, but no dobut they will be available soon. The final design consists of familiar Lancashire symbols - Pendle Hill, Wheatley Lane Methodist Church, sheep, a Lancashire Rose, flowers, butterflies, snow, a big sunshine, a lightning cloud suspiciously close to the top of the church and, of course, that famous lancashire fish - nemo??!!!

The centrepiece is a huge rainbow that has on it, 'Joy in the Lord' and it looks fantastic, although i cannot claim much credit - my colleagues doing the lion's share of the work.

I instead spent my time sticking! First letters for the banner and then people's hand cut-outs and the banner that we have now presented to Kanlungan of hands from Wheatley Lane looks pretty spectacular it has to be said. Kanlungan are sending with us a set of hand cut outs of all their children so as they have a banner from us, we shall hang in our church (not sure where as yet!!) a reciprocal banner with the children's hands - its a nice physical exoression of the link that am sure has grown and will continue to grow over the next few months.

Tomorrow is a shopping day for souvenirs and gifts and then we begin our return on Friday so i expect tomorrow to be the last post until after the weekend. I realise that this week's blogs have been far more light and frothy, and perhaps not as engaging, i will try and paint the whole experience in some sort of balance and context tomorrow when i wrap up my impressions of the whole trip.

a close encounter with ants....

2010-02-02T14:20:00.000Z

So, first of all, i used the title to capture your attention! We have been painting the mural today under Stella's gentle supervision and encouragement (she is back with avengance!!) and i have to say, it is 90% done and looks pretty good. We all helped but due to the height and situe of the wall it meant squaltting or lying on the floor amid dozens of ants in order to get this done - it actually wasn't as bad as it sounds, but it was nice to feel like we were giving something tangible back to these children and staff who have given us so much.

I was permitted the white and so i have proudly contributed to the mural, general white snow, three sheep and a white house. I am proud of what i have acheived but sad that Stella didn't give me a gold star at the end of the afternoon but not a bad acheievement in 35 degrees all afternoon while fending off exciteable but mischeivous children!

Tomorrow will be finishing off the mural and banner, thursday will be souvenir shopping and friday we will begin our journey home. I cannot belive there are only 3 sleeps left, it means that i will have to begin to think up a way, somehow of communicating our experiences when we get back. We'll chat tomorrow!

"...for the joy of the Lord will be your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

2010-02-01T14:06:00.001Z

Today we had a slightly later start which was lovely and headed out after breakfast to Benitez House for the staff team meeting for prayer and devotions. I had been asked to share on the way to the meal last night and been told to speak for anything up to 2 hours! (for some reason Kath seemed to think this would be easy for me!)

Now, as i explained to the staff, i have preached hundreds of sermons in doxens of different settings, to 2/3 people or to 1500. In 12 years of preaching, rarely have i felt so unworthy and nervous as i stood to speak this morning. As i have said before i feel so spiritually bankrupt compared to the giants in the Lord that sat around me this morning but
from nowhere really, the scripture above "...for the joy of the Lord will be your strength" came to mind and i spoke briefly on that theme. It seemed so appropriate as i was preparing because the overwhelming gift of Kanlunagn to me has been the joy we have experienced throughout the projects - children and staff alike. We worshipped and prayed together with delightful passion and fervour once again, and without any apology i have to say that this staff meeting put to shame the many i have attended within my own setting.

We headed out next with all the children from Benitez House to dinner at a kind of chinese version of McDonalds - the food was about as pleasant as you can imagine! - and then on to oceanworld with the children. It was great to see the thrill and exitement on their faces as we saw all the differnt kinds of fish and sea life and i have to say, the children were delightful. Here we were with children, most of which have suffered unspeakable horrors at the hands of other people and they were brilliantly behaved, without meaning this at all critically, i expect a group of UK children would have been rather more chaotic!

And then we were done for the day. Plenty of space to reflect and share together as a group which was also a great blessing and an encouragement. It has been great to be a part of this small group over the last few days but please pray for us as emotions become more stretched, tiredness takes its toll and we begin to prepare to come home.

Just a final note on Stella, she had the day off with Esther as cheif nurse today - we were all very jealous! - but news is she is feeling a whole lot better and has sent us strict instructions not to start the mural without her supervision so some signs that she's getting back to normal!

Church, chat and a chuffing good time!

2010-01-31T13:40:00.000Z

This morning began at some ridiculous hour when we set off for church which started at 8:30am!!!! The church was Union Church, Manila (pictured) which Esther & Frank attend. The service was cool, but for a big church the people were incredibly welcoming. We shared greetings in the service also which was a nice thing to do.

After coffee we headed to a mall and had breakfast and more coffee, a nice time together and then headed back to Esther & Frank's apartment complex for the afternoon. Today was our day off and it was spent in near luxury. Esther & Frank were amazing hosts as we swam in the pool and spent the afternoon relaxing and chatting. It was great when some of the Kanlungan staff joined us and we were able to share with them also. Before too long Joe Wilson rang from Radio Lancs and we chatted briefly on air about our experiences which if nothing else, perhaps has raised the profile of Kanlungan in Lancashire.

Not long after this we spent the evening courtesy of Frank & Esther at a Filipino restaurant and honestly i can say i had the most fun for a long while. It was great to laugh and share with more of the staff and they have asked me to share at devotions tomorrow - something which is a priviledge but also frightening as they all seem to know and love the Lord far more than i do!! However, just to prove their normality - all the women fled at once from the restaurant to see Derek Ramsay (below) who is a famous film star in the Philippines. Apparently he was more of an attraction than Tony, Frank or i.

Its great to be with the Filipino's, they are so much fun and so compassionate - whcih i wish i could say was the case with our group. After stubbing my toe badly on getting out of the pool, what i recieved from my fellow travellers wasn't sympathy but howling laughter. They could all leanr something from our hosts me thinks!

Finally, for thos reading this at Wheatley Lane, Stella hasn't been very well for the last couple of days, nothing serious just a tummy bug. Please pray for her recovery and revitalisation.

Back to the trip proper tomorrow and feeling really refreshed and positive about the week ahead!

Kanlungan Coffee is better than starbucks

2010-01-30T13:32:00.001Z

So today we took the journey to the boys farm about 50mins south east of Manila. After the now daily question of 'how far is it?' and the familiar reply 'its about an hour' we got going. It was another really hot day and the views on the drive over Lake Taal were spectacular despite the journey taking a little over 2 hours (we think!).

After a brief stop to wait for Frank & Esther to join us we headed off to the boys home. This place houses about 18 boys aged 12-20 who go to school but live together here with a teacher and social worker. Now, as i reflect on this i've come to view the accomodation as fairly normal - its a two storey stone building but the sleeping is done on thin mattresses on the concrete floor. The mattresses are stacked upstairs in the daytime to make room for a lounge. The staff have rooms upstairs where they can work and sleep but the rest of the house is pretty basic. There is one tv, one computer which the boys gather round enthusiastically and it is from here that they are to continue their studies! I need to stress as if it hasn't been understood previously - these conditions were near luxurious compared to the way a good deal of people live here in Manila. The most shocking thing about it perhaps was the fact that we were no longer shocked.

A few minutes up the road is the boys farm. This is a working farm where the boys live and work the farm. We were treated first of all to a drink of fresh coconut juice from the coconut, prepared with incredible speed and skill by Lito, our driver. We were then given lunch after the customary introductions from the boys (which today included 2 or 3 with special needs). These were aged 14-20 - they are not at school, they attend some alternative education, vocational courses in woodwork, mechanics and discipleship stuff at the local church but whose skills extend to climbing a coconut tree and picking a bunch of coconuts. We were very impressed.

We continued our tour of the farm looking at the coffee grown, the banana and pepper plants and exploring the land that the farm occupies. From this farm, produce is exported to the other Kanlungan centres and any surplus is sold so the project can benefit. We heard about the diiferent types of coffee and the principle one grown at Kanlungan (the exact name i forget) is widley agreed to be a nicer and richer blend than the one that Starbucks use. So there it is, the Kanlungan coffee is better than Starbucks, and totally fairtrade.

The great thing about Kanlungan is that even though they are a fairly small NGO they are still looking to develop people rather than just help them. So our driver, Lito is employed as a driver after coming through the Kanlungan projects and centres. The vision for the coffee farm is to open a coffee shopm in Manila and give the boys a job selling it and running their coffee shop so that they can earn a wage, become independent and self sufficient and move on to a more stable and full life.

We continue to be overwhelmed by the dedication of the staff, not just to the project, but to the children also. the more we see, the more I am impressed with Kanlungan on a number of levels not least in their dedication and fervour in worship, again displayed today as we prayed and sang together. It was a welcome reminder that once again, those who have so little are full of gratitude and thanks to God for the little they have. It is a challenge to say the least to us who have so much and are so often lacking in such gratitude and thanks.

PS Buy Kanlugan coffee - i will bring back loads!!!!

PPS we've tried some and it actually tastes well nice!

Jose Rizal is my hero

2010-01-29T09:40:00.000Z

And so today was our tourism day - a day of historical indulgence. We visited the Cathedral of Manila, very nice and cool, with beautiful stained glass, even if they do seem to love Mary just a bit too much for my theology. Following this we visited the memorial to Jose Rizal. (Pictured)

I have to confess that my knowledge of Jose Rizal before today was limited to my lonely planet guidebook's explanatory paragraph and the Kanlungan staff telling me that Rizal was a hero very passionately. I have to say i am convinced. Rizal was a peaceful revolutionary in an age when such was unusual to say the least. While others were taking up arms against the Spanish imperialists here, he was writing essays and poetry espressing his distaste for the Catholic church (or at least its Philipino expression in the 1890's) and its corruption and suppressive nature. He calls people to follow the teachings of Jesus over and above the ritual and mythology that the priests espoused (bring it on!) and wrote passionately about his love for the Philippines and his desire to see them freed and independent. His language is incredible and uses great phrasiology, no more so is this obvious in his farewell address to the Philipino people, written on a peace of paper smuggled out of his prison cell the day before he was executed in Lunetta Park. Even his academic writings are filled with poetic sentences that make it a joy to read and enables the imagination to run wild in reflecting upon his speeches when they were first delivered. In essene Rizal was the leader of the Filipino revolution and freed them from a particularly nasty brand of Catholic oppression. He is my hero too, not just the staff's!

We moved on to Jollibee's - the Filipino competitor to McDonalds for today's lunch and then to the Mall of Asia, i believe it is the third largest mall in the world and the biggest in Asia. I found starbucks fairly quickly and was then set for the afternoon.

The mall is great, very much like the Trafford Centre or Meadowhall in appearance and atmosphere but it seems to have escaped everyone's notice that within 1 mile of here there are people living in the most horrific of conditions, children selling themselves to the highest bidder in order to earn food for the family and disease as well as horrific poverty. I'm as guilty as everyone else, btw, with my very nice starbucks breakfast every day, but i guess the only way to cope with the poverty that is apparent everywhere is either to escape into another world - like the Mall of Asia, or to look the other way. I am all too aware that i am susceptible to both these options. Praise God, the staff of Kanlungan seemed to not be. Tomorrow, we're back to the proper work that we're here for, viisiting a boys home which is a working farm. Am sure there will be stories to tell.

oww.....

2010-01-28T08:41:00.003Z

So today for the first time i have slept through the night a full 7 1/2 hours - woo! In fact i slept so much ironically that i held everyone up for breakfast at Starbucks - they were gracious as usual!

The day has turned out to be a fairly light one actually. It's 4:45pm here and we're finished apart from having dinner somewhere and the worse thing that i've experienced is toothache - bad and nasty toothache, but seriously if that was the worst on the other days this week i would have been dancing.

This morning we visited a child protection unit and met the director of it. They are a multi-disciplinary unit seeking to treat and rehabilitate children who have suffered from abuse. They are government funded but their annual budget is 75,000 pounds and not only do they have to work from that but pay the salaries of some 20 staff also. Once again the woman we met seemed pleased that we were here and seemed touched that someone was taking an interest in their work and encouraging her to continue. It is a mark of Kanlungan's respect here that everyone we meet from children and street families to senior politicians and government agencies all work in partnership with Kanlungan and seem to hold them in high esteem.

Return to Starbucks and then next door to flapjacks for lunch and then off this afternoon to see a detention centre for young people. Thankfully we were spared the worst of this (with a threatening prospect of returning next week) but we could see enough to notice children leaning out of small rooms enclosed by prison bars. Its hard to describe the environment but it kept reminding me of the old eastern European institutions that held orphans or mentally ill children. The place was grotty and tatty and wouldn't be fit for animals in the UK, yet here in some of these filthy rooms over a 100 children are crammed in. As we were leaving we met the Cabinet Secretary for Justice & Welfare for the local government - so we have been hob-nobbing with dignitaries!

Then on to meet a local councillor and meet some of his staff, who were very friendly to say the least, and yet again a high-ranking city official spoke warmly of Kanlungan and the work they are doing. Not much else to add really, except that between 8:30 - 9:00am UK time on Sunday i will be live on Radio Lancashire on Joe Wilson's Sunday breakfast show. They are doing a live link up and have been following some of the blogs and have given us an opportunity to share a bit more personally to the county of Lancashire. Hope you'll tune in.

Begin and end the day with...starbucks

2010-01-27T14:37:00.004Z

This post is dedicated to one of the finest exiled yorkshiremen there ever has been - Geoffrey Boycot. (No really, it's frank!)

He will know from Esther that I have discovered a new found love for Starbucks. In Robinson's Mall in Manila, there is a beautiful Starbucks with beautiful coffee. And so it was with some relief that we decided not only to breakfast there today but wrap up the day their also. Once again, the experiences in between the two visits are beyond my level of vocabulary really.

We shared in devotions at the drop-in centre we visited on Monday. I spoke to the children - slightly amused that this would be my normal practice on a Wednesday morning at Wheatley Lane School. My brief message based on Philippians 4:13:"i can do all things through Christ who strengthens me..." went down seemingly well and was greeted by spontaneous applause after almost every sentence - something we should introduce at church i think...

In all honesty, i felt something as a fraud, because i have become aware time and time again in these last four days of my own spiritual poverty and have wondered at the depth of love for God some of these kids have. i can learn more from them i'm sure than they ever could from me.

What followed was once again joyous and passionate praise and worship from the children who and then the real fun began as (on the spot) Stella led us all in a few action songs. Now, normally i hate such things (unless i'm the one enforcing them on others!) but the spontaneity of the moment and the sense of laughter and enthusiasm from the children was too much to resist. I have to be honest, when a similar amount of enthusiasm and excitement was shown by the Korean Methodist Church Sunday School in our corridor at 5:20am onwards (yes 5:20am!!!!!) i wasn't so ready to respond with words of blessing.

We then headed out to lunch - a lovely spot in the week so far, good food, a lovely warm breeze and chatting for a couple of hours before heading off to visit a new born baby in hospital. For some reason, certain members of my church feel i need the practice at holding babies (why?!) so i duly took my turn at holding 7 day old Angelo who now weighs 2lb. I didn't drop him, neither did he cry. Result!

Next we went to visit a street community, this was another makeshift shanty town in the suburbs of manila, and the smell was pungent to say the least. We had been saying that each day we hit a new low in terms of the things we witness and the conditions we are viewing are getting worse not better. We moved on to two other communities in abject poverty and yet again were greeted with a warm welcome and bubbling delight from the multitudes of young children.

Finally we headed to a local park, again a home for many families where we were entertained to a wonderful display of hip-hop dancing. If you've seen Diversity on Britain's got talent, then you have an idea of the type of style we witnessed but i would dare to suggest that the Lunetta Dance Crew would be better.

So a really upbeat end to the day. Words fail me when i think of some of the things i've witnessed and though it seems unbelievable there is, for me, a real danger of not taking all this in. All i can do is wonder at the dedication of the Kanlungan staff, instant celebrities in each community we visit it seems, and trust God, for as we shared this morning, it is Him who gives us strength to endure, and unreal so it seems to say, Him who appears to be strengthening the children we meet and giving them a hope and a future.

Sweet and Sour...

2010-01-26T13:53:00.003Z

And so the day begins with breakfast, Filipino style. Orange juice and toast preceded by corned beef hash and sweet and sour pork! After having felt my stomach turn at these options on Monday morning, today i took the plunge, keen to not be outdone by Tony.

In the style of excruciating tenuous links and metaphors - my cross-stitched church was a great one - the day has turned out to be a mix of sweet and sour. (Joe Knight, i thought you'd like this paragraph!)

Firstly the sweet...

We had a lovely time of praying together as a team and with Esther before setting off to view another project. Its strange that we're all here for seemingly different reasons but ultimately keen to let God shape our heart out of what we see, hear and feel.

It was Stella's birthday today, surely 12months ago she didn't expect to spend the next celebration in Manila. As you can imagine, everywhere we went children and staff members a like qued up to sing happy birthday and in the first community visit of the day she was presented with a small cutting of flowers proudly from the children of the community. This was followed up by a lovely looking chocolate cake, but by the time Esther and i had returned from the dentist, it had disappeared!

Once again i was startled by the incredible devotion of the staff. They work incredible hours and seem so full of joy and hope, unceasing in their positive attitude and servant heart, i feel humbled and privileged to be among them.

We headed next to a school of 650 pupils aged 6-15 where we were almost carried across the playground in the excitement from the pupils and had the privilege of praying with the headmistress - quite formidable woman.

Then on to what was for me, the most moving bit of the day. We went to another residential centre where the children had returned home from school. Once again we were sung to, a deeply touching moment for me and we were danced to, also great and played with and danced with and prayed for and worshipped with. There we so many stories of hope and joy here. One stood out for me. A young girl of 15 proudly dressed in her school uniform was so strong in faith and ambition. She is doing really well in high school, is almost the best in the school in English - seriously she spoke it better than me - and wants to be a computer scientist. She has so much drive and desire to achieve despite the circumstances she finds herself in. Her trust in God is unswerving despite something i will mention below.

...and the sour...

An hours journey took us to another shanty town built on an old rubbish dump. The poverty here and obvious malnourishment is astounding and probably not helped by the fact that the whole community washes in a toxic stream flowing out from a pharmaceutical factory. This stream feeds into a huge lake of stagnant, stinky water and the stream also serves as the village lavatory or 'comfort room' as the Filipino's call it. Again words fail me to paint a picture, one hopes that photos and video footage when we return home will somehow help.

Toothache was another sour point but here's trusting in anti-bio tics and God and the sleep monitor is only At 5 1/2 hours as of last night - lets see is we make any progress tonight but the appearance of a lizard may leave me a little on edge!

That's all really apart from the girl with so much ambition that i mentioned above. She wanted me to pray with her because she is trusting God. She will need to. She has an inoperable glaucoma that will leave her blind in 5years time unless God steps in with a miracle and that will most likely be the end of her dreams and ambition. Great.

Emotional rollercoaster

2010-01-25T12:58:00.003Z

For those of you who read this morning's blog you will be pleased to know that i did get some sleep! Hallelujah. The problem was i slept through my alarm and suffered the humiliation of Kath knocking on my door and asking if i was OK because i was 30mins late for breakfast. After breakfast (i went for toast rather than corned beef hash - for breakfast??!!) we set off to see a drop in centre. This is run by Roel a truly inspirational guy. He is 50 but seems to have the youth of a student or twenty-something and its clear by the way the children relate to him that they are totally comfortable around him and respect and love him. The day centre is a drop in for children of all ages - most of them are not at school because they are out to work - begging or selling something on the main streets - so the drop in centre is a haven where the children can play, learn and be safe. We were treated to a dance which was great and had the privilege of chatting with Roel before praying for him and the project.

We moved swiftly on to Benitez House, the main centre for Kanlungan. This was also a lovely experience with the 20 or so boys and girls fighting over Tony's awful hat and my sunglasses! They introduced themselves one by one in English, and then we watched two dances the second of which performed by three teenage girls was profoundly moving. I'm sure the children loved performing but there was the sense of staged-ness about it which prompted some questions and reflections in our discussions later.

After a lovely lunch we headed out to the notorious smokey mountain. There i met the Pastor of Hesed Baptist church who proudly welcomed us to a building which if i called it a tin shack would have been talking it up. This was his church, one of the more stable and better of all the buildings around because his church and a shanty town of 8,000 people live on compressed rubbish, because we were standing in the middle of a rubbish dump.

Smokey mountain has been a rubbish dump for years, it is on Manila Bay next to the docks and the government have helped the community there to build and grow on the rubbish dump gradually reclaiming the land. I cannot express in words what the physical scene was like there, suffice to say we navigated our way through open sewage and rubbish everywhere, stray dogs, chickens, and children all over the place. This was still very much a rubbish dump with cardboard, tarpaulin and tin shacks built on it. The families scavenge on the garbage selling anything they can to make a living.

I contrasted my emotions with those outwardly expressed by the Pastor, our host. I felt anger and frustration at the sheer hopelessness of it all. It is said that if a child is born on smokey mountain he/she will never ever leave and die there as an adult such is the unending cycle of poverty. our host on the other hand was a man full of passion and devotion, full of godly wisdom and a love for the people. He explained to me his plans for church growth with enthusiasm and optimism and it was a deeply moving experience. Even now, hours later, i'm not sure i've processed fully the day's experiences.

Within minute we were back in Metro Manila among 5* hotels, international embassy's and huge malls that make the Trafford Centre look like the Fence Village Store. The contrast of it all is perhaps most shocking. We ate here, visited starbucks where i bought my first souvenir - a starbucks Philippines mug and headed back to the hotel so we could sleep (hopefully) and so i could blog. There will be much to ponder and reflect on if this evening is another sleepless night.

and so the eagles have landed...

2010-01-24T21:15:00.002Z

And so i find my self at 5:03am in the morning after sleeping for about a total of 3 hrs in the last 36 sat at a computer because i'm jet lagged and can't sleep.

We've arrived safely at our hotel which seems quite nice on initial inspection and the air-con works so frankly what else do you need. I'm sat here in t-shirt, shorts and flip fops at 5 in the morning and am already hot!

Miraculously we managed to navigate 3 airports without getting lost, arrested or on the wrong plane and we were greeted like long lost friends by Sol, some other Kanlungan staff and Frank & Esther when we arrived at Manila Airport (pictured). Just the brief drive through Manila proved to us that this is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city with loads of culture about it. It proves to be an interesting time just being here among a totally different culture let alone having the experiences of Kanlungan's work.

The last thing to say was that it was such a joy to be greeted at the airport by Sol. She is the manager of Kanlungan and i had met her briefly a couple of years ago after a short stay in Lancashire. I had forgotten how much of Jesus radiates from Sol. She was such a bundle of love and joy as we arrived and am certain that we will end up being greatly blessed just by being around her and the team. With any luck, i will post tomorrow after having some sleep!

Fly away....

2010-01-23T14:46:00.003Z

So, after weeks and months of frankly trying to ignore and forget the fact that i'm off to the Philippines, in about an hour's time a taxi will pick me up and away we shall go. For those who don't know, i'm off to Manila, Philippines to view a project that my church, Wheatley Lane Methodist Church supports financially etc. The project is called Kanlungan sa-Erma and is a charity that works with disadvantaged children in Manila, educating, rehabilitating and supporting them and their families from their standpoint as a Christian ministry. I'm going with four other people to see what the project does on a day to day basis, to see where the money we have sent is being spent and to bring greetings and encouragement from our church to the project.

As i type now, apprehension rather than excitement is the driving emotion. I've never flown this far before, the furthest i've been is Poland or Kosova, i'm with people i've never travelled with before (and am never likely to travel again with), lovely though they are all by the way, i'm leaving Laura behind, this is the longest we've been apart since we've been married and i'm expecting the trip to be quite harrowing in places, certainly deeply challenging if nothing else.

My intention is to blog each day, we'll see whether that's actually possible and it will surely be interesting to read this post in hindsight of the next two weeks! Happy fortnight everyone!

A Juicafe in Lancaster

2009-12-04T12:33:00.006Z

I'm ashamed about the length of time since i last blogged.... blah, blah, blah...

The good thing is that i'm in Lancaster for a few days this week on a retreat, staying in a lovely flat, playing on my computer, listening to music, reading & praying - really chilled out and informal. It has been great. I love Lancaster, it is rapidly becoming one of my favourite places - if the Methodist Stationing committee are reading this, please take note for the future! The last time i was here i was bereaved to find that the Juicafe had closed. It was a cool little wifi juice bar with a lovely atmosphere, friendly staff and a lovely quirkiness about it. A few times i even blogged from there such was its specialness!

How upset i was to find it no longer there on my last stay. Yesterday, by accident, i discovered that actually it still existed, just in a different place. I know this sounds ridiculous, but i can't explain how exited and full of joy i was to find it once again. And so here i am today, spilling my thoughts as i sat drinking a lovely latte, which was accompanied by possibly the nicest piece of toast ever in the history of the world!!!

This rediscovery of the juicafe made me ponder on a few things i had re-discovered over the last few days. Firstly, i had rediscovered my passion for Methodism. Now, please don't misunderstand me, i am a realist, (unlike my current superintendent). I don't believe our denomination is healthy, i don't believe it has direction or purpose, i don't believe it is following God's leading on the whole, i find our structures outdated, irrelevant and often hindering to the work of ministry today. I felt all this last week and still feel it today. What i've rediscovered is a love for it nonetheless. Perhaps it is that God is raising up more and more people who love Him and love His church and long to see it reformed and renewed. I count myself among those, and am passionate about it. Maybe God can still work something spectacular even within Methodism.

Secondly, i have re-discovered my passion for renewal. I have just read David Watson's autobiography and found it a bit like reading (through someone else's words and life) all of your own passions and convictions - its just that i'd forgotten them! I still long, more than anything else for God to renew His church. Where i've shifted is that, i often believed and longed for the renewal of our whole denomination. Maybe that will come, maybe it won't, what i do believe is that God can and will renew individual lives, whatever badge of Christianity they happen to wear. So i am exited and delighted in the lives i have seen changed throughout the duration of 'my' ministry and am exited about all the other lives that God will surely renew and touch. I find once again, that i have more passion for one person's faith to be rekindled and revitalised than i do for a thousand 'heathens' to come to Christ. Maybe that's slightly heretical, but that's where i'm at.

Lastly, i have re-discovered a challenge to discipleship. I shared with some colleagues this week that i felt God had shown me gently and mercifully that i had become so obsessed with building a good church, achieving growth and success as a church leader that i had lost any care for the individual lives that go to make that up. Now, almost every church i have been involved in has seen numerical growth, i expect that to continue, but for me, it must be through a focus on individuals finding transformation and hope for themselves and then joining the faith community, rather than just focusing on numbers on a sheet of connexional returns.

I was lamenting that i had somewhat wasted my time in Lancaster yesterday, but perhaps my rediscovery of the juicafe, prompted a closer examination of the things God is re-surfacing in me. At this rate, i should be fully recovered from the drab environment of theological college in only another 10 years or so!

MET

2009-10-10T16:34:00.003+01:00

I'm rather ashamed as i looked at the last date that i posted on here. For anyone that is reading this and cares where i have been, we have had a chaotic summer in our circuit that only convinces me further how ridiculous and how limited our British Methodist Circuit system is.

Anyway, i'll take another time to rehearse my white-hot passion against Circuits, i want to try and be a bit more positive today. I've just come back from the Executive Committee of MET - Methodist Evangelicals Together - a group within British Methodism that prays for and seeks the renewal of God's church and a rediscovery of the wonderful timeless truths of Scriptures.

We gathered at Cliff College for 24 hours and i was amazed that even as we discussed our work in the context of a business meeting - not unlike a church council - what a difference it makes when each are committed to a common aim. Maybe i am being naieve, but i didn't detect much hint of people wanting to force their own agenda, people were curteous and there seemed to be a common commitment to love and serve our denomination. I contrast this with so many meetings at various levels within the life of the church that seem to forget the common cause of 'our movement' and descend into anarchic, aggressive confrontation!

I have church councils this week on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday and i wonder whether the same vision and desire for the Kingdom will be present in them? Will decisions be made in the spirit of prayer and openness? Will someone come and force their agenda on others?

The meeting did much to encourage a very disenchanted and disillusioned minister (me) who has spent more time looking for other jobs recently than anything else it seemed, and reminded me that i am not alone, there are others in our connexion thta fast, pray, preach towards and long to see God's church grow downwards and outwards, in depth and in number and believe that as we seek the empowering of God's Spirit, through Jesus our Saviour, then God will surely bless us in inumerable ways.

Lastly, the term 'evangelical' can often be a banner for some to wave or a barrier for others so i encourage you to check out the MET website and maybe get your hands on a copy of our magazine, MET Connexion and see whether this movement maybe a source of God's blessing to you and your congregation. www.met-uk.org

Baptism

2009-05-20T16:47:00.006+01:00

Having exhausted all the various links and metaphors to do with sewing and the church i thought i would try and use this space to just share my thoughts and reflections on what i end up doing on a day to day basis.

In the last fortnight i have been contacted by four different couples all requesting a christening for their new-born child. Of these four, two couples have remote connections with the church and the other two have no connection at all.

I'm always grateful for the opportunity to have a cup of coffee with people outside the recognised Christian community. I nearly always find the conversation more real, getting to the heart of real issues and real views far quicker than i do with church members and far far more quicker than i do with fellow church leaders. The coffee is nearly always good quality, the baby nearly always is adorable and cute, and their ignorance of what they really want for their baby is nearly always the same. Or should i say, the churches inability to provide for what they really want and need is often the real issue.

As a Methodist we are thoroughly confused over our sacramental theology. We receive two sacraments, the Lord's supper (communion) and baptism. We believe in the priesthood of all believers yet for the sake of 'good order' only ordained presbyters have the automatic right to lead communion services. We see baptism as an equal sacrament to communion but anyone who has been baptised can baptise another - it seems inconsistent.

Then we get on to, what is for me the real crux of the issue. My experience tells me that people want a right of passage after birth to celebrate the new status of the family and the arrival of the new-born child. This is natural. Human beings throughout our existence have sought rites and rituals to mark significant events. So the church instead of offering promoting as the norm a rite of thanksgiving - where the child is acknowledged as a gift from God and God's blessing is prayed over the child, we offer this ridiculous, thoroughly unbiblical rite of Christian baptism. Why?

Why do we 1) expect and 2) pretend that this heavily Christian rite is suitable for non-church families? Where is the biblical precedent for baptising as a baby? Where is the biblical precedent for baptising those of no faith? The answer to all of the above is of course, nowhere. Yet we still use as the norm this rite of infant baptism that makes a total sham of the act of worship that includes it and causes the leader of worship, parents and godparents and often the congregation too to proceed in a service where everyone's integrity is questioned and compromised. Why, when Jesus was so concerned with honest and openness, exposing the Pharisees hypocrisy for what it was, bringing what was corrupt and hidden into the revealing light, do we continue to act as though integrity before God in worship doesn't matter? Why? Why? Why?

As a minister i pedal a very thin line sometimes on this. I offer as the norm a service of thanksgiving and blessing (based on the act in the Methodist Worship Book) and emphasise its benefits, and explain the potential compromises of integrity that a baptismal service would entail. I then make it clear that i leave the decision with the parents and if they feel they can say the credal statements, answer questions of faith and make the promises then fine - they take responsibility. I end up christening/baptising the majority - with a very heavy heart, utterly unconvinced of the appropriateness of what we are doing.

It is of course, the common understanding that all Methodist Ministers may not refuse to baptise. This, to my astonishment is found nowhere in CPD - the rule book of UK Methodism - and gives licence to refuse baptism and only offer thanksgiving where it is appropriate.

The only justification i can find at the moment to continue to baptise infants is that it opens a door to evangelism - it guarantees a number of visitors to church and gives an opportunity to speak of God's love and Christ to a fresh set of people. If evangelism is the sole justification i can find, i guess i have to always way up whether a refusal to baptise and an insistence on thanksgiving would do more to close the door of God's grace or open it.

3) A blend of the two

2009-04-22T16:03:00.003+01:00

To all you dedicated followers of my ramblings can i offer my profound apologies for the lack of input. My job - as a Methodist Minister - has been causing me (and others) a lot of stress recently and so any thought of discussing or thinking about the future of the church has made me want to run away yet alone blog about it.

In my previous two posts i have continued this idea of the church as a work of cross-stitch. I have suggested that one option for the future of the church is to unpick the old design and completely replace it, another is to just keep things as they are, close our eyes and hope for the best - this incredibly innovative option the Methodist church appears to have adopted - but there is perhaps a third way.

As i consider my own working context and the churches that i minister with i am struck that neither of the previous options is workable. To leave things as they are fails to address the varying and transient needs of our community and the culture in which we live. Also though, to ditch everything without reserve will only seek to alienate another section of our community not to mention the people in the congregations without whose contribution anything new won't be possible.

I favour an option which i viewed in Utley, just outside Bradford in Yorkshire. This is a multi-congregational church without being massive. There are four separate congregations meeting (i think) on Sunday morning, Sunday eve, Fri eve and Tues morning. These congregations are individual, separate entities within the life of one church. They all are part of the one parish church yet exist as independent congregations. People are asked to buy into and commit seriously to one form of church - and one form only yet to view it all as part of the building of the Kingdom through this one umbrella local church community.

Sunday morning is fairly typical of British churches, the evening more contemporary and relaxed. Friday eve is totally different aimed at young adults and centred around food, film, discussion and Tuesday morning at parents and toddler bracket.

Within my own structures of the Methodist Church - it would be possible to release people for service and ministry within the context of their own congregation only. It perhaps frees people from the obstructions of wanting to progress and be creative and other people stopping that.

Surely this is one way in which the old pattern can continue as long as it does and the new is able to thrive and grow without the restrictions of traditional church but with the safeguards and experiences that comes from being rooted in an established church.

As the old pattern remains, new patterns are able to be stitched over. This will probably mean that in years to come the old pattern will be unable to be viewed - although glimpses of it may poke through from time to time, but is that such a tragedy. If God moves us to another phase of church and ministry which happens to look different surely that is OK?

I guess though some will be impatient. To unpick everything and re-stitch a new pattern is cleaner, more slick, and probably quicker than trying to stitch a new pattern over the top of an older one. There will be times in when new stitch is being sown over the old where it will be difficult, where the blend of old and new colours clash, times when the needle will find it easy and hard to get through the gauze. But isn't it far more in the nature of God for him to stitch a pattern that is eclectic and even at times looks completely random only for it to contain the genius of His innovation, creativity and planning.

If any of my church leaders at Wheatley Lane are reading this, then what do you think? If anyone else is reading what do you think? If God is reading - what does He think?

Come Holy Spirit, stitch something new in our midst and help us to work out something of what you are doing.

2) away with the old and in with the new

2009-02-14T20:43:00.002Z

One of my friends said to me yesterday the church as we know it is dead. There was a sense of passion, conviction and certainty in his voice. It was in many ways a bit like a death-nell in the coffin in the church as people like me have inherited it.

A week before this i was talking to another wise woman in the faith and said to her 'if we were doing church from scratch - the way we do it in the Methodist Church would be the last way we do it.' She agreed and i then asked why on earth we continue to peddle this out-dated, out of shape way of being church.

One of the options then for the church is surely to ditch all the baggage and cumbersomeness we have inherited and start all over again. One option has to be to scrap the old patterns faithfully woven and displayed and replace them with more modern more vibrant designs and patterns of church that look contemporary, attract younger more driven people and generally reflect the energy and vitality of God more closely and clearly. One option is to move our resources in a heavily imbalanced way towards the emerging church for surely there is no hope or future in the current mould. To continue the imagery of cross-stitch church the time may well have come to unpick the current design and start all over again. Practically that means the closure of chapels and congregations with no purpose and vision and whose values and ethos reflects little of the DNA of the church as expressed in the New Testament. If people are going to be left astray or not come to church anymore then it simply confirms their lack of commitment or vibrant faith anyway. Something which seems all to obvious to me as a pastor all too often but which is never said for fear of upsetting people.

If the church is to be relevant, fresh, closer to Jesus and a better reflection of God the Great Artist's nature then the quickest and most efficient way is to agree NOW that the old has indeed gone and the new is come.

This IS an option for the church. Maybe someone will be brave enough to run with it someday soon. Maybe someone will be brave enough to unpick a cherished design and ask God what He wants to stitch now in 2009.

The Cross-stitch church - what will happen to the pattern? 1) Leave it as it is?

2009-01-29T13:08:00.002Z

I'm reading currently Martyn Atkins' book Resourcing Renewal and have found it surprisingly optimistic in its view of traditional church or 'inherited church' as Martyn calls it. He tells tales of inherited churches that have found renewal and have therefore made strides towards actually living and breathing something of what 'real' church is about. For me, reflecting on the image of church as a peice of cross-stitch there are three main options for what could possibly happen next. Remembering the concept of the church being the pattern and design woven by God the Great Artist the first option is to leave the pattern as it is.

In a number of the homes of people in my congregation there are cross-stitch designs hung up on the wall, or propped up on the mantle peice, my own grandparents have many in their living room. They are of country scenes, maybe churches, maybe trains or other vehicles, but one thing is for certain the design has always been what the design is. It is no doubt an expression of creativity, a work of art, but once it has been created that is it - it will always be what it will be - a dormant, inactive work of cross-stitch. I guess this is the first major point as to why this image of the church as cross-stitch breaks down. God is consistently longing to remake and remould what He has created, it His plan for individuals and surely is His plan for communities of faith also. A peice of cross-stitch cannot be remade or remould, its exists as it is. Or does it? (i will reflect on this next time).

So we're left with the question - does God want to leave the church like those cross-stitch designs in old people's homes - left to gather dust, never changing or evolving? It is my firm conviction that to answer 'yes' to this question is to misunderstand the character and personhood of God fundamentally as revealed in the Scriptues and revealed in human experience. Surely churches that are content to let things be as they always have been will end up gathering dust, will decay and continue to function detached from an experience or understanding of who God is and what He is like. One option for the church is to leave things as they are, ignoring signs of decay, but surely this isn't really an option.

Also PS to Joe Hildred, i shamefully forgot again! But have put a reminder on my phone for sunday eve. PPS i stuffed Lincoln on Football Manager.

The Cross-Stitch Church - The Great Artist

2009-01-07T16:46:00.003Z

Of all the great images of God in the Scriptures, in poetry or in fiction the one that appeals to me most at the moment is of God as the Great Artist. I love CS Lewis' portrayal of God as Aslan with all that that comes to mean for the Narnia parables, i love the Old Testament pictures of God as the 'Ancient of Days' or 'Fountain of Life' but at the moment the idea of God as the Great Artist is really appealing to me - maybe because much of my thinking is around the idea of the church as a peice of creative expression.

Following on with that theme, if the gauze is the world, the church the beautifully expressive design within that world or the thread, the needle the church leaders who pull the thread into position then there can be no other place to go than to view God as the designer par excellence - the Great Artist.

I have hope for the church, not based on it's beauty, not based even on its people (you should see some of the one's i have to deal with!!). My hope for the church is based in my hope and belief in a God who is creative, a God who loves to design, a God who loves to weave exiting and interesting patterns all over the place therefore reflecting His own image of beauty and dynamism. My hope for the church rests soley in my hope in the Great Designer. In the metaphor of the church as a peice of cross-stitch i believe the arist who holds the needle, who weaves the pattern onto the gauze is the the Ancient of Days, the Fountain of Life, the Living God mysteriously and wonderfully Three wrapped up in One.

Perhaps though, even though i am blantantly stating the obvious in what's written above, it serves as a challenge to each of us who are followers of Jesus and therefore a part of the church. If God is weaving a design, do i trust the future of the church to Him or continue to fret? If God is the Great Designer, do i as a church leader need to continue to run around in a mad panic subconsciously believing that the whole future and ministry of the church rests on me or do i relax and try to let the design unfold before my very eyes? If God is stitching the pattern what is it to be?

I guess its the last question - 'what is God doing?' that consumes so much of our thinking. Surely all of us in ministry - which means all followers of Jesus - have the task not of trying to drum up some action for God to bless, but to see where He is already at work, weaving His expressive and wonderful design and attempting to find ways to be a part of that. The question still remains though 'what is God doing?'. Again, i remind myself (even if no-one cares!) that i started this blog to attempt to try and unravel for myself some of my thinking about the church. Is the church of Jesus Christ in its traditional western form coming to an end? Is God doing a new thing? I hope to explore that more and more in the days and weeks to come. If you have an answer, me and i guess thousands of other church leaders would love to hear it.

The Cross Stitch Church - the needle

2008-12-30T22:16:00.003Z

as i sit at the keyboard and write this my wonderful wife is sewing my coat pocket back on, using needle, thread but no gauze. The sewing is more out of necessity than creative design and very much appreciated i have to add. It is a mark of my complete incompetence that i am unable to repair my own coat! Sadly, i expect that this bit will get more comments than anything else i write below!

I have thought about the gauze, the pattern and thread, all in a very pretentious way and so now i continue the theme by thinking about the needle. In my metaphor of a cross stitched church, the needle stands for church leaders, those wonderful, dedicated, inspired, anointed breed of which i am one (please note the irony).

In my own denomination we have been somewhat wary of leadership i think. In an effort to avoid personality-focused ministries and authoritarian and domineering leadership styles we find ourselves lacking in leadership. This is both at the national level and the local. This is not to denigrate the work of my own District Chair who currently occupied the throne of 'President of the Conference. He has (and I'm sure will) do as good a job as any in his Presidential year. The problem is that it is a merely representative and even 'PR' role rather than any that exercises leadership and direction.

In the local church the same is true. The local minister has no more say than anyone else about church mission and policy because legally he or she has one vote along with others at church meetings. This often (not always) leads to a lack of leadership 'on the ground' within the local church. Something we miss to our cost as a denomination.

And then there are the ministers themselves. So many of my colleagues, it seems, are reticent to see themselves as leaders. Yes presbyters, are to be pastors and teachers, but they must be leaders also. It is part of the authentic role of presbyteros, elder - to watch over those in their care in love, but also to lead them as a shepherd leads their flock.

In the metaphor of the church as a piece of cross-stitch - where the gauze is the world, the pattern and thread the church, the needles that display the pattern are leaders. Leaders are necessary, leaders are important, and we need to rediscover the position and place of leaders within the church. It is through authentic leadership, modelled on Jesus' leadership that the pattern of the church gets threaded. Without leadership the thread is not completed, it is haphazard, random, at sometimes beautiful, but mostly chaotic. The pattern of the church is woven by the artist, using leaders to shape the edges and colours etc. Lets not forget that in the sewing analogy it is actually the needle that pulls the thread. The needle leads the thread through the holes, through the material, back over itself etc to complete the destined path for the thread. Why is it we are so afraid to let leaders lead? Why are we so afraid in Methodism to be led?

I believe in the church and i believe in church leaders who are humbly submitted to God but confident in their God-given mandate to be apostolic and lead with due diligence. I believe in needles that pull the thread, but always surrendered to the hand of the great artist.

The Cross Stitch Church - a pattern

2008-12-28T17:51:00.000Z

Seasons greetings one and all. I had some hassle from a few people recently about the lack of update to my blog - hassle that has been justified i have to agree. Christmas is a crazy time for clergy - a strange breed of which i am a part- and i've just not made the time to write. Not though due to lack of desire! There is much in my little brain that i have wanted to express not least on the theme of the church as a piece of cross-stitch.

I mused last time that in my little metaphor the world in which we live is like the plain gauze waiting for the artist to weave His great and creative pattern upon and within it. Perhaps then the next stage is to think about what that pattern is and consists of. My suggestion is that the Church of Jesus Christ is the thread weaved by the hand of the artist upon the gauze. We are the thread. We are the church, people who are connected and committed to Jesus whom God is weaving into a beautiful and distinctive pattern that others might stand in amazement and wonder at. We are God's workmanship, God's design, the church Jesus died to bring about, the people He loves, a community being prepared like a bride for His return. And i believe it is the church that God longs to renew and restore to be an obvious sign of God's life and love in the world. I believe in the church. I don't think i believe in our western expression of it much (although i am still exploring it) but i do believe in a church that has values mirrored in the book of Acts. I believe in a church that is a gathering of people connected and committed to Jesus. I believe in a church with prayer and worship as its lifeblood. I believe in a church that loves the poor and includes the outcast. I believe in a church that believes in itself and believes that it can change the world from the inside out as Jesus did. That sort of church i believe in, not one defined by structures, committees, buildings, power, mindless ascent to tradition. But conversely maybe i can believe in an institutional model of church that reflects the values i mentioned above? Who knows. I don't as yet.

Whatever the pattern may eventually look like, whatever the artists design is going to be, the pattern in thread on the gauze is the church of Jesus Christ, the people of God. All of us who are a part of that community can find ourselves part of the pattern that God is weaving in the world, a pattern that people stop and stare at with amazement, a pattern that is attractive, a pattern that reflects the brightness of God, a pattern and design, God-conceived, God-made, and God-sewed. in my metaphor of the church as a cross stitch, the world is the blank piece of gauze waiting expectantly for a grand design, the thread that makes the pattern, and indeed the pattern itself is the church, the people of Jesus.

Cross stitch church - gauze

2008-11-19T16:47:00.000Z

Before i launch into another tirade about the future and purpose of the Church a few people have pointed out my lack of delivery over the whole giraffe issue. I had promised to post a picture of my painted pottery giraffe, of which i am very proud. Sadly i managed to leave it at my parents house, but fear not, it has been returned to me! Any comments welcome, but keep them clean and constructive....

But i also want to return to the over-arching meta narrative of this blog, the purpose and practice of the church. I am still thinking around the metaphor of the Church as a piece of cross stitch but feel that the metaphor's symbolism may require some symbolism.

From what i can ascertain after conversations with cross stitch enthusiasts, there are four main elements to the cross stitch. Firstly, some gauze is needed. Nothing can be done, nothing can be created if there isn't a place to create it. An artist cannot paint unless there is a surface of some kind - wall, paper, easel, car... and so a cross stitch-er needs material to stitch their design upon.

For me, in the context of the cross stitched church, the gauze, the surface on which the grand design of the church is stitched is the world in which we live. By the term 'world' i could mean the globe, the wider universe, or the local community in which we live. But whether we like it or not, the Church expresses itself among the community in which we live. Even if we meet in secret, and there is just a few of us, still it makes some small mark on the world at large whether we know it or not. It is to the world that the church is sent, it is within the world that the church exists, it is by the material of the world - people and their ingenuity and creativity (combined with the Spirit of God) that the church is formed. Wherever we sew the pattern of God's church it is in and around the world that we inhabit with us seeking to display to our community the potential friendship and excitement of being in relationship to God and playing a part in the grand design of His church.

Being away

2008-10-28T14:43:00.000Z

Holiday's are so lush and i'm on one at the moment, spending a little time with my lovely wife in West Wales. I don't have my laptop with me - deliberately - so internet access is only available through this quirky (and slightly random) internet cafe in Narberth, Pembrokshire. It's run by Grace Church, Narberth - a church i know nothing about - and we've just had brocolli soup for lunch with cheese and bread.

Previous to this i've had my creative juices flowing nice and good because we've been painting pottery! It was so uch fun. When i get my wonderful giraffe back from the kiln i promise to post a picture here - it may well be the first picture of the blog! Surely you can hardly contain yourselves!

Anyway this is enough for today because i'm on holiday and can't be bothered to think deeply about anything at all so will return to the corner with my latte and talk to Laura - that's more appealing i'm afraid.

The Cross Stitch Church - a preface

2008-10-17T12:59:00.000+01:00

I shared some of my musings with the good folk of Brierfield the other day and it provoked quite a reaction - nearly all of them lept to the defense of the institutional church Feeling that it has a vital place within the Body of Christ alongside freeer and more organic expressions of church. I'm still not convinced but am willing it to be so as it would revalidate for myself a fresh sense of call to the mother ship of Methodism. Anyway, Laura keeps nagging me to get down to business on the blog rather than just muse about randomness so here is the first bit of semi-serious stuff.

I was in Gloucester today and had a great time at lunch with my good friend Joe Knight. He's written a little book - i've often teased him about it - and it began as a way to get on to paper or screen some of his reflections and thoughts as he pootles along through life with Jesus. I'm feeling inspired and motivated and hope for something of the same. Here goes.....

About six weeks ago i took an assembly in which i showed a gift given to me by a lovely lady in Gloucester as a wedding present. It was an assembly at our church primary school, a slot i fill virtually every week at 10:10am on Wednesday's. The assembly's theme was God's creation and the children and i were thinking about how great it is that we are the pinacle of God's creation.

I showed the children the aforementioned gift. It is a cross stitch of an old fashioned footballer dressed in similar (not totally correct) colours to my beloved Bath City FC. It was a mixture of a wedding present and a leaving present, given to me by Mrs Audrey Fugler - a member of St John's Northgate Methodist Church, Gloucester (a catchy little church name if ever there was one), where i had been the minister for a couple of years.

The cross-stich was impeccable - not a single stitch out of place and looked great as i showed it o the children in assembly. From the front the picture is clear, the intent is obvious and it is a work of art - something in which someone has invested a great deal of time and energy, fashioning it to its completed form. If you turn the image around however, it is a mixture of untied threads - the image is mostly clear - but its a mess; its just all the loose ends. I had been wondering for a while whether this simple peice of needlework may be a bit of a picture of the church. From one side it is a pristine, precise picture - clear in its intentions, looking beautiful, with much evidence of a creator's time, care and attention. From the back, the image can be seen but its unclear, tatty and messy. Maybe the front of the picture represents God's view of the church. He sees it as it is meant to be. He loves the church, He died for the church, He's coming back for the church. From God's perspective maybe its clear where it's headed, there is a clear and defined image and it looks good. Maybe the back of the picture details what we see. A reasonable amount of clarity in what the creator intended but there is lots of mess in the way. Perhaps what ministers, or rather what every lover of Jesus is trying to do whether part of an institutional church or in an unlabelled gathering of like-minded folk, or alone even, is to turn that picture around gradually. We are longing for our society to see through us the creators intended image reflected perfectly and clearly for all to see. What we see is the mess, but our efforts are invested in turning around the picture so that the creators intended image is obvious to us and to all who live this side of heaven.

What is church anyway?

2008-10-16T11:21:00.000+01:00

Had another varied couple of days. On tuesday i met up with some people for coffee who i've known about for a few years but never met! Eventually i got to meet them - Joe & Hayley - a married couple in their twenties who originate from the Pendle area and after some years away sense God calling them back to this area with a fairly blank canvass and a lovely openess to obey whatever God lays on their heart. I felt as we were chatting in the fabulously unrivalled Coffee Culture in Barrowford - surely the world's best coffee shop? - some sort of kindredness with them. The three of us have a background in Methodism, have discovered God's grace for ourselves. They, like Laura and i have been married for around two years and we are both based in Pendle ultimately to serve God's purposes. We shared stories, drank good coffee and prayed together about what God might be doing in Pendle/East Lancashire. I left feeling i had been church with them.

So often i guess our mindset is about going to 'a church' rather than church being something we are and do every minute of the day by nature of us being followers of Jesus. Maybe when we ask someone we've just met about which church they go to the question should really be 'Who are you being church with?'

Contrast my experience in Coffee Culture with the Finance & Property Committee of one of my churches last night. A small gathering of faithful, dedicated, God-loving people who for many years have served the Lord in this particular location. As meetings go it was fairly positive - that wasn't the point - its just that we get consumed with the necessary business of running an institutioin that happens to have a building in our possession. Surely this wasn't what Jesus meant when He said 'I will build my church?' Which of these experiences were closer to the heart of church that we see in the New Testament? Are both mutually exclusive? I know institutions can be a vehicle for cohesion and organising what God is doing - there are many times when i have thanked God for the institution of the Methodist Church but all the time and effort that people put in now and have put in - is it all worth it? Would God have us do this? What are we building?

Anyway, after my rant am off to take a mid week service at Brierfield Church. The format consists of people enjoying fellowship and chat over coffee and wonderful tea cakes and then ironically it all stops for the minister to take 'a service' because that's what proper church is like!!!!

Musings

2008-10-09T08:51:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was an interesting day. I went to my monthly meeting of Under 5's - people in North Lancashire who have been in formal public ministry in the Methodist or URC Churches for under five years. It's always a good place to be, nice coffee, good biscuits and pleasant people. It seems strange to find all these people of different ages and backgrounds passionate about God and connecting Him with people and people with Him as well as being committed to working out their ministry within the confines of the church. Why does God keep calling people into institutions? Aren't they on the way out to be replaced by different ways of doing and being church? If God has finished with Methodism why are more and more creative and innovative people being called into it? I guess these questions are at the heart of where i'm at with myself at the minute.

One of the reasons for starting this blog was to get down on paper or screen the many things that have been buzzing around my head for the last few months. The key question which i am exploring (and living to some degree) is does God want to turn around, renew, restore, revive, revitalise (any of those type of words) churches that are in a traditional mode. Is it God's will? Or is He happy for them to continue in present form reaching a limited number of people for the minute, slowly decreasing until they die completely, to be replaced with different ways of being and doing church? This question cuts to the heart of my work identity as a Methodist Minister of three traditional churches - centred around buildings, hymns, worship largely focussed through one person at the front - my identity as a Christian - what does God want me to be and do? How can i build community as a disciple of Jesus?- and my identity as a human being - the need to relate and be in community with others. It seems that all the conversations i have with people about theology and the practical application of Christian faith centres around this crucial question. Maybe blogging over the next few weeks and months will help me work out some answers!

Hello world

2008-10-08T14:05:00.000+01:00

Hi all,

i've been thinking for ages about writing a blog - simply to unload the many thoughts that circulate around my head for anyone to see! A good friend has encouraged me to do this and i feel that i'll maybe get some more clarity about my thinking for myself as well as enabling others to comment and contribute.

Having said that, be aware that much randomness may well appear on here as well! There are many tales to tell of being a human being, a husband, a follower of Jesus and a Methodist Minister and i hope that they may occasionally bring encouragement and amusement!

Anyway, this is my opening... we'll see how things develop as time goes by!