slow down, you're moving too fast

I must be getting into the holiday mood - slowing down. Yesterday I was up at Baptist House and popped in on a few folk just to say 'hello' for half an hour or so. It was really good fun just to breeze through, stop a few folk from working and just basically have those nothing important, but good to connect conversations. 'Be still and know that I am God' always seemed to be such a religious thing, but I find it's as much about finding God in the ordinary - more about spotting Him among ordinary conversations and circumstances in a way I miss when traveling at frantic speed. I also managed to fit in a quick tour of the Didcot charity shops and pick up some more holiday reading. The question now is what to ditch? Will some of the late purchases find their way straight into the first team, or not? Oh - at last the Robbie Keane transfer to Liverpool has gone through - maybe by the time I return from holiday we'll have bagged someone else decent too. Robbie Keane is a fan - I too dreamed of playing for the reds as a boy, but he's done it. I'm remembering my proudest school report comment: 'he eats, drinks and sleeps football - if Nigel spent as much effort on his school work he could do well.' Mum and Dad weren't quite as impressed, but just think - if I hadn't listened.... 

the starfish and the jellyfish....

we're off on holiday this week to Sardinia which I'm really looking forward to - at least in those moments I've had to think about it. Monday morning being what it is, I have a list of things I need to do before next week. Alot of it's work/ministry related and unrealistic - wouldn't it be great to go away with an empty in-box! However, one of the jobs I always enjoy is compiling my book-list to take away. I'm not there yet, but I thought, now in the world of blogging, I'd write it up here as easy as on the fridge door - at least this way I might get some good recommendations! Sometimes I fast from Christian stuff to read on holiday, but it feels less like work now working regionally so it'll be a mix. Here's my shortlist - before I wander round the house looking for others!

Who moved my cheese? - Spencer Johnson

What's the point of being a Christian - Timothy Radcliffe

Transforming Discipleship - Greg Oden

A whole new mind - Daniel Pink

The Starfish and the Spider - Brafman & Beckstrom

Mission Shaped Questions - Stephen Croft (ed)

Everything must Change - Brian McClaren

How Your Church Family Works - Peter Steinke

Atonement - Ian McEwan

Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan

A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

Angels and Demons - Dan Brown

A couple of Ian Rankins

Watching the English - Kate Fox

Obviously (not sure where that word came from) I can't take them all, but half the fun is deciding! (yes, weird). 

I'll definitely take the Starfish and the Spider, which sounds really interesting - about the power of leaderless organisations. However, my mind has been grabbed by the prospect of jellyfish swarming around the Med - Tom brought us an Independent with all the scary headlines across the front page, so I'm looking forward to starfish more than jellyfish. No laptop - I tried the argument it'll make it easier to off load photos as we go along, but seem to have lost that one. 

a new way of thinking?

I’ve been thinking alot about Alan Hirsch’s thing about it being easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking much more easily than it is to think yourself into a new way of acting. I’d be interested to know, for example, how many of the small groups spurned by 40 days of purpose and projects started by 40 days of community are still going one year later? My hunch, from the examples I’m aware of, is not a very high percentage. Now, this is not a negative comment about the 40 days programmes because I genuinely think they have so much to commend them. What I think it's possibly more about is our natural inclination to return to our default position – why act on faith when we can get away with talking about it. Most of our small groups revolve around prayer and bible study. Most of the prayer revolves around people’s needs - which are usually more frequently expressed in terms of pray for this job interview, house purchase, etc. – that is, pray for me and mine. Most of the bible study revolves around what did the bible say to them then, rather than what is the bible saying to me, us, now? My guess is I’m pushing the caricature a little, but not too much.

What’s happened to small groups which are focused on ‘encouraging missionary disciples’ (the BUGB strap-line for our strategy). The big message, we’re in danger of sending, is: our discipleship ends when Alpha ends. My experience is discipleship has barely begun when Alpha ends, but I've watched many people abandon their home-made discipleship courses (we had to write our own during our Pastoral studies year at Spurgeon’s) and merely replace them with Alpha, or its equivalent, which are not even designed to do the same job. If you can get a small group to practice ways of embracing others beyond themselves I find you have a life generating cell, which is why NCD’s observation of small groups being more important to people than Sunday is a crucial factor in growing the size of a Christian community. The Western mind-set in our Churches seems to preside over the Hebrew mind-set. So we say if it works it must be shallow and not thought through. The Hebrew mind-set, on the other hand, says you haven’t heard the word of God until it’s part of what you do. So, which one’s more likely to produce the character of Jesus?

Lambeth Conference

my friend and colleague, Geoff Colmer, is at the Lambeth Conference this week. He's giving a Baptist insider's view of what goes on via his blog 'wonder and wondering' - geoffcolmer.blogspot.com - should be very interesting. Not saying I envy them though, not a case of the grass is greener for me. If Alan Hirsch is right, in terms of his analysis of the essential DNA of movements, then in theory at least, it should be easier for Baptists to re-kindle the flame than the Anglicans - how come then we are not appearing to be much more flexible?

Warminster for breakfast

I had a great morning with the folk at Warminster Baptist Church this morning. It began with breakfast which, if anyone else reads this, is always a good way to get a regional minister on your side! More about breakfast though – apart from the fact I really enjoyed my sausage, bacon, eggs, beans, toast. I counted up to 35 there for breakfast and about 60/70 there for the morning service. Apparently that’s a typical number. They started having breakfast for a few of the kids who were beginning to get fed up being dragged along with their parents on a Sunday morning. Apparently, most people were sceptical. However, the fruit of what’s happened was very apparent to me.  Not only do the kids they aimed at still come along, but so do parents and a variety of other adults. It provides a great environment to chat over food and coffee. It’s very natural and neutral – I doubt anyone unused to Christian groups would have felt uncomfortable by the subjects discussed on the table I was on. The spin off for corporate worship was clear too – from the beginning there was a relaxed feel to the whole thing – the variety of comments shouted out during the notices from the Church Secretary (horror of horrors for some of a gentle disposition and/or awe = silence when were in the religious building) would, I think, communicate this a pretty normal bunch of people to most people. These it seems are all by-products from what was originally intended, but really important things for them to hang  onto. Clare, who we prayed with before she goes off to India this week with a BMS Action Team took the picture for me on her phone, as I didn't have my camera with me - thanks Clare!

exiles

It seems only fair as Alan Hirsch is in town I mention his mate, Michael Frost, is also coming over to the UK - in October. He'll be in Bristol for just one evening - 9th. October which Bristol EA are going to host, but we're going to Oxford for the day Stuart Murray-Williams has arranged on the 10th. If you want details of his dates and a good synopsis of 'Exiles', I suggest looking at David Couchman's www.facingthechallenge.org - it turns out Dave and I have daughters who are friends - small world.

more work?

One of the un-nerving aspects to the whole missional conversation is that of individual engagement. I say un-nerving because that’s how it often seems to the key leader of a Church.  What’s often heard is something like – ‘they’re now asking me to do something else extra, on top of what the too much I’m already doing’, Not surprisingly, many back off at this point. Personally, I don’t think people back off because they’re against the whole ethos of what it means to become a ‘missional Church’. What, I suspect, goes on is: because most are too busy with sorting through the queue formed from other people’s expectations, the great ideas simply get lost.

However, somehow we need to return to some of the essential issues: If I’m a pastoral leader my congregation will benefit more from who I am than what I do.  If the ministry of the church is to grow and develop, it will happen more through the multiplication of ministry than my own. If the Church is to genuinely touch new people with the love of Christ, it will happen more through others than me (one person). These are my conclusions, but I would suggest whatever our conclusions might be

- about the role of the individual key leader (whatever they’re called, even if you don’t like the ‘L’ word);

- about the overall ministry of any Church;

- about the engagement of the Church in the mission of God;

I don’t think we can escape the challenges they present.

One of the key things were trying to nurture with leadership via ‘Imagine’ is the work smarter not harder message and, whilst it appears a hard one to apply in church life, the alternatives lead us to much harder places. As a Regional Minister, I’m saying we need to find means of missional engagement

because, otherwise, we’re not living the life of discipleship and this has to be a bigger issue.  If we end up saying there’s no time because I’m the Pastor of a local Church, or a Regional Minister, then it’s an indication of a serious faultline somewhere in our practice. It’s blog not an essay so I’d best stop – I need to go and visit someone!