Sunday's church meeting

I thought we had a very useful discussion at our lunch time church meeting today and that this format is very suitable for discussing these kinds of issues. However, we clearly ran out of time and were unable to cover other important matters.

Maybe we need to have a rethink about the frequency of these meetings as it is not practical to make them longer. Perhaps we could have some occasional Wednesday evening meetings as well to cover more routine matters and use the lunch time meetings for issues that need more in-depth discussion. This would allow people who can't be there Sunday lunch time the opportunity also to be involved.

What do others think?

Welcome

If you read this week's bulletin you'll notice the church blog was mentioned on the back page. So if you're responding to that and reading this for the very first time - a very warm welcome to you.

Now you're here you can check out what people have been saying and feel free to comment on anything. If you'd like to post your own views, thoughts or ideas then email me and I'll send you an invite.

So why not give it a go?

Ministry roles in the church

Thanks to Mike for his post about Glenis. It's always good to be able to clarify things.

Last summer we talked about changing Glenis' job title to 'minister for discipleship and Christian education' in recognition of the fact that she was already playing a significant role in the ministry team - not only doing schools and drugs education in the community, but also increasingly being responsible for all-age services and taking a role in other services too. Since I arrived in the church - over 3 years ago - I always saw her as a key part of my team.

The church decided not to give her the title but did vote to recognise her both as an elder and as a member of the team responsible for ministry in the church.

There was never any financial issue in this - Glenis is still paid in the same way as she was before last summer. Talk to Bob if you want clarification of that.

We wanted as a leadership - and hopefully as a church - to recognise how her role has developed in recent years and to acknowledge the fruits of her training - she has been studying for an Mth which, when she gets it in a year or two's time, will make her the most qualified member of the ministry team! This the church was glad to do, although it felt that giving her the title 'minister' was a step too far.

I hope this clarifies the situation.

Great to use the church blog for things like this. Let's have more of it....

Ministry Team

I have been wondering about something for a couple of months now. A few months ago a church meeting was asked if Glenis could become a fully paid up member of the ministry team. If I understand the result correctly, the meeting declined. At the last meeting concern was expressed about our ability to afford the three man team that we then had.

I see from the last couple of issues of "In Touch" that Glenis is now listed as a member of the ministry team. This appears to go against both my previous points, or am I missing something? Has her status changed? Can anyone explain the apparent discrepancy?

a little light reading

Ahead of the Church Family meeting this coming Sunday, there are some notes now available for you to look at.

They include all the feedback from the various groups and plenary sessions from April's conference on belonging, membership and discipleship.

They are on display in the Welcome Area and also accessible from the homepage of the website.

Whether you get a chance to read them or not, it'd be great to share lunch with you on Sunday as well as discuss the proposals at the meeting that follows.

making connections

One interesting fact I stumbled across in my research was the following:

A recent study by Cartwright (2004) on the mission potential of Parent and Toddler Groups found that the most significant factor which encouraged transition into other church activities was the involvement of Christian parents helping or attending the group. Also that Alpha-style courses and parenting groups had little or no effect.

You can read the whole report here but it raises interesting questions about how we go about reaching people.

Gibbs and Bolger in Emerging Churches say that we should journey with people, engage them in open discussion, having hospitality as central, creating a safe place for them to dwell and allowing God to do the rest.

And as Simon commented earlier, both Jesus and Paul had evangelistic strategies that involved 'going' and 'waiting' (Drane). Their conversations, such as Jesus with the woman at the well, are two-way, open-ended and people are left to make up their own minds.

Anyway that's enough from me but if you have any thoughts...

finished at last

Just thought I'd let you know I've finished the theological reflection assignment and want to say a huge thank you for all those comments that shaped my thinking.

It's been a really tough assignment - the issue I wrote about is one that I had battled with for ages and just allowing the voices of the Bible, Tradition, contemporary thinking, which includes you guys, enabled me to draw really valuable conclusions and hear from God in some really surprising and unexpected ways.

The particular reflection I used was straightforward enough (there are loads of different kinds):

• Describe your experience
• Identify the issues
• Make connections with those issues and the faith of the Christian church
• Develop new insights
• Consider the practical implications (that's the action bit) for the way we live as Christian disciples in the world today
  

Bouncing ideas off people really helps - why not give it a go...

discipleship part one

Following on from the conference in April, there will be a Power Point meeting focusing on peer-to-peer mentoring with the very lovely Jonathan - please be there if you can...

up and running

I much appreciate Jonathan responding to my request for help. It's amazing how a comment, an idea can trigger other thoughts.

I've decided to focus on the issue of how we can make more links between our active midweek programme and the wider church meeting on Sunday. Are there ways we can be church for them on a Tuesday or Wednesday rather than waiting in the vain hope (quote from Stuart Murray Church after Christendom) that they might come on a Sunday? Should we just keep on loving and serving, actions rather than words or should we be more 'evangelistic' in our approach offering Alpha-style courses or parenting forums? Can the two approaches sit side by side?

Volunteering is an essential element on the part of the church otherwise none of this can happen anyway.

I'm off to look at Scripture today to see what it has to say - if you have any thoughts or comments or any examples in Scripture that you think might be of use I'd be really grateful.

looking after the little ones

I've just spoken to someone asking if I knew of anyone who could babysit for her so she could go out to her home group tomorrow night. Unfortunately I can't, having three wee ones of my own and a hubby who works late. I did come up with one or two suggestions but it got me thinking - the reason I no longer go to a home group is for the very same reason and I particularly miss the fellowship, Bible study and prayer support. For a while they kindly hosted it at our house but even that's not always that practical and the children are rarely in bed by 8.00pm these days!

The family home group I attend monthly certainly helps with fellowship and sharing but meeting again on a Sunday doesn't suit everyone. Also if you happen to miss one there can be quite a gap.

I did suggest the women's bible study but childcare would need to be thought out.

Are there any other ways we could maybe support one another in situations like these?

cafe church

Cafe church, last night, had a river running through it. It was centred on Romans 6 and Paul's reminder that our baptism into Christ means we have moved to a new location where he is Lord. Check out The Message translation which has wonderful vocabulary to express this. There was lots about locations and where we live and an opportunity at the end to respond by packing up your burdens in a suitcase, crossing the river and joining with everyone else to sign a covenant for the journey, as a reminder that we do not make this journey alone.

From the comments we had afterwards I think it went down well with lots of thought-provoking conversation during musical chairs and refreshments. It was great to hear about Bob's new job with Missioncare and pray for him.

It's a year since I did the last cafe church and I had forgotten how much work is involved but one of the strengths, it seems to me, is that they are great for getting to know one another and sharing. So thanks to Jonathan, Simon and the hard-working refreshment, chair removal teams and everyone else involved in making these happen every month.

can you help?

Anthony commented a while back about asking for help.

I know this is not quite the same thing but I'm going to stick my neck out and share something which I have been struggling with and maybe you guys could help me.

I need help with my theology study because I study at home alone (aahhh!) and sometimes I'd love to have other people's input. For example, my next assignment involves a theological reflection based on an issue in our local church.

Simon has a fantastic example of one going on over at his blog at the moment on discipleship, membership and baptism. Check it out if you haven't done so already because it has its roots in what is happening at Bromley Baptist and involves what was addressed at the conference.

The hardest part for me is deciding what issue to write it on. I had thought of basing it on the membership issue but I've only got 1500 words, which isn't a lot and if you read Simon's posts/comments you'll see what a massive topic it is.

It occurred to me that some of you might have some ideas about an issue facing our church that it might be useful for me (and hopefully you) to work through using our collective experiences and Scripture with a view to looking at it through God's eyes.

I'd love to hear any suggestions...