a loaf of bread

I was listening to the unfolding story of Gordon Brown's PR disaster as I was travelling home from our Team Leaders meeting yesterday afternoon. It reminded me of the story Jesus tells in Luke 11 when he talks about having a friend whom you go to at midnight and say 'lend me three loaves of bread' because I heard the now-famous Gillian Duffy saying 'I only went out for a loaf of bread'. Imagine that - popping out for a loaf of bread and influencing the General Election!
My sympathy for Gordon and my 'serves you right' swung like my newton's cradle - with regular, almost hypnotic swings, but what it serve to remind me of was the critical importance of seeking, intentionally, to be what we preach, seeking an integrity, which holds the bits together and other such thoughts. How is as important as what. To that end I was also, simultaneously, reflecting on what my good friend Geoff has shared from John 21 only an hour or so previously. He shared some things from one of my favourite books - In the name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen and shared this quote from John Pritchard:
John Pritchard, the Bishop of Oxford, writes, ‘If [ministers] are to be any use to anyone else they have to be passionate about God. God is our magnificent obsession. Like the bud of a sunflower following the sun throughout the day the [minister] has to be directed constantly towards God.  That doesn’t mean that the [minister] has to be good at it.  Success and failure isn’t the right language.  It’s the direction of gaze that matters.’
Thanks Geoff.

success?

Interesting week, last week, for various reasons. Heard two stories I didn’t want to hear, but are a sad fact of life. One concerned an ex-Minister of ours and at least confirmed my hunches were well founded, but it didn’t make me feel any better. I don’t like my role on such occasions.

Michael Owen off to Man Utd! It’s not like the good old days is it – perhaps he was never really a true believer in any case!

Had a lovely weekend in London where, amongst visiting some good friends, we went to North Cheam BC where I used to be the Assistant Minister (not called that these days often). It was fascinating registering my thoughts and feelings after not having been for a good few years. I was boosted by the ‘I can’t believe how young you both look’ comments …… until I realised they were most probably including me with Maggie out of politeness and those speaking were 93, 89, etc – I’d hope I do by comparison!

By far the most satisfying thing was seeing and hearing Simon and Lisa who both led sections of the worship. They were both teenagers when we were there and it was just wonderful to see them playing such significant roles in the life of that church today – and doing what they did so well. It made me think again about how we evaluate ‘success’ in ministry and how important it is we look more at what we leave behind us. No, it’s not all about numbers, but it may well be all about people.

Listened to Roger Federer’s last set on the way home – what an achievement! Also, we called in at Polesdon Lacey for a lovely walk around – to celebrate our new National Trust membership and an official public acceptance of middle age!

what can't we afford to lose?

So, what’s going on? The headline which has hit the national press is ‘the Church of England is turning away trainee clergy for the first time in history after £1.3 billion of its investments were wiped out’. Of course, because the Anglicans pay for people’s training this will inevitably be more of a problem for them than others, as an institution, during this recession. As far as I’m aware, no charitable organisation (Christian or not) is immune from the challenges of seeing investment and savings income effectively wiped off our balance sheets. One of my own colleagues in another Association has already been made redundant and, additionally, we have more of this years leavers not yet settled than usual, from our own Baptist Colleges. The gap between posts available and supply seems to be widening.

So what’s going on?

We have a problem.

We are not immune.

Stipend costs have increased more than inflation due to the demands of the pension scheme.

There are going to be some casualties and that is not going to be easy for anyone involved to understand, or possibly accept.

However, can we learn anything and/or is God actually speaking into this situation in the wider sense? I’m being prompted in my questions on this theme by ‘The Call & the Commission’, which I’ve been asked to review for the BMJ. It’s sub-title is “equipping a new generation of leaders for a new world.” It raises some big questions and I just wonder whether it could be the financial crisis we’re wading through might be able to help us answer them more effectively than the days of plenty. Scary thoughts though with massive implications.

i'm too busy...

well, it's the first of the Euro semis tonight and, guess what, I'm out - the story of a Minister's life! However, it's the third of a Church Review night with Stratton Green so it's something I shall enjoy. Apparently, both a newspaper in Germany and in Turkey carried the same headline on Monday: 'Let football be the winner'. I hope so. There's loads of Turks living in Germany (and not a little tension) as I found out when I spent some time with the German Baptist Mission Network earlier this year - a German Church Planter in Turkey there is one of the most wanted men by one radical muslim group. It got me thinking, though, especially as several people have repeated the mantra to me recently 'you must be really busy'...

I’m too busy….

If I don’t have time to sit down (yes, especially an activist) and pray daily

If I don’t have time to study my bible at least 5/7 days a week

If I don’t have time to read something regularly - @ least three books on the go.

If I don’t have time to spend time ‘doing nothing’ with my family.

If I don’t have time to spend time ‘doing nothing’!

If I don’t have time to exercise regularly.

If I don’t have time to take regular breaks from ‘work/ministry’.

If I don’t have time to find some creative outlet.

If I don’t have time to share family responsibility.

If I don’t have time to just 'be' part of the family of God.

If I don’t have time to be with people in whom I can invest friendship.

If I don’t have time keep up to date with KopTalk. 

I thought I'd stop at twelve - otherwise I wont have too much time left, but I'd be fascinated to hear other perspectives on this as one of my theories about Ministers is we're generally far too busy to have much of the kind of life others really want to connect with. 'Balance' has become a big word for me since I delved into why we have so many Ministry Casualties.