happy new year!

Well we're on the brink of 2011 & I need to begin to surface after Christmas. I love this particular Banksy and have been thinking a little about it over the last couple of weeks. The last I heard, 1 in every 8 pounds spent in the UK was spent at Tesco's - nothing particular against Tesco's as it's actually our own 'corner shop', but the power of the few seems to be a growing phenomena. So, on the brink of another year, I'm wondering where we're going next?
I'm wondering about this in church terms too. I've recently begun to look at the statistics, so far, gathered as a result of the October collection of figures. My first reaction has been a temptation to sink into a sea of despondency as I genuinely anticipated them looking better in the West at least. However, the figures are down again in such a way as suggests our Baptist  churches are still shrinking in numerical terms, however anyone wishes to massage the figures. The outlook is not great either - looking at the percentage of those 75+ among our congregations.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader was great, which we saw in 3D Christmas week. Still didn't manage to see Of Gods and Men, so Glen Marshall will be disappointed, but I'm grateful for his enthusiastic commendation and will get there as soon as.
Absolutely loved The Nativity on BBC. Not read any reviews - must do that, but not really had time. For me, it brought a number of things to life - yep, I know it's not necessarily accurate, but if it brought me to tears having lived through 30+ years as a Christian, it must have something to commend it. More importantly, I'm sure it must have spoken powerfully to many other people to whom the story of Jesus' birth has previously been unaccessible.
Shopped till we dropped today - would hate to give anyone the impression I'm not caught up in the material pre VAT increase frenzy - it's incarnational is my excuse!

small, simple church

I'm really suspecting more momentum for church planting is bubbling up from a smaller base than we've been used to in the past. I've met and keep meeting more people who are looking to have a go at something new. One of the barriers is clearly the leadership of those in their current churches it seems and we need, generally, to gain a bigger capacity of heart for what God is doing among us is my take. Of course, it's easy for me to say this as I'm no longer feeling that tension as a local church leader between wanting to build the whole group and releasing people into something potentially at a tangent. What I am finding, however, is I'm a useful broker between those with a creative missional energy and their leadership.
Two conversations I've enjoyed in the last week:
One with a vicar where I went into the meeting thinking the message was 'this is our village, keep out' and came out with a very real sense of partnership and co-operation.
The other was talking to someone involved in planting in persecuted countries who received a message whilst we spoke saying someone had been killed in one the churches on Iraq. It's such a message, which makes you realise we're in such a different place here. Great on the one hand, but complacent with it.

Most of my inspiration this advent has come from two particular friends:

–      Simeon who I know no more than anyone else and what I read in Luke chapter two.

–      Geoff Colmer who told me something about the nature of all good musical composition.

Simeon, it strikes me, lived in hopeful imagination. We simply know how others viewed him – ‘a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel.’

He waited … patiently, hopefully, righteously…. but he lived out his life in that place of creative tension. The word was now, but not yet. The tension it created in him was only resolved when he held the tiny Jesus in his arms – ‘you now release your servant; release me in peace as you promised.’

Geoff explained recently how any decent musical composition, (whether it be Humpty, Dumpty, or a Wagner Opera, which were the two examples he used) works with a dynamic built around three elements:

Equilibrium – ‘Humpty, Dumpty sat on a wall’

Tension – ‘Humpty, Dumpty had a great fall’, then (sing it out loud or in your head because it gets worse ….) ‘All the kings horses and all the kings men’.

Resolution – ‘Couldn’t put Humpty together again.’

The thing, which struck me especially, is without the tension, conflict, anxiety music lacks dynamism and movement.

I remember when more involved with counselling individuals and couples, so often hearing how ‘last week’ (ie their counselling session with me) had ‘made things far worse’. My response was always ‘that’s very good’. The thing I discovered was things usually had to get worse before they could get better – the tension had to increase. Only when we dare to confront the reality of submerged emotion and repressed feeling do we invariably get close to the real issues, or the resolution people despair for seeking after in grief.

There is no Christmas story of any eternal significance without an Easter story.

There is no resolution without tension.

There is no resurrection without a cross.

There is no Christmas worth having without an advent of the tension of waiting, the frustration of preparation, the infuriating nature of listening, the pain of unrealised hope.

The tree was my favourite image of those I took driving home yesterday. It was absolutely freezing, just getting out of the car to take the photo. A solitary tree waiting for spring.

You may want to look at hopefulimagination.blogspot.com where today's post is duplicated. This is a regular advent blog, which a whole variety of bloggers contribute to each year.

I was passing through the kitchen on Sunday and the Andrew Marr show was on – if my life was more organised, I’d record it and sit down Monday morning with a good cup of coffee and watch it more intentionally.

Anyway, I caught a comment around the observation ‘technology has made our lives more comfortable, but actually, underneath, nothing has changed.’ It was made after Andrew Marr had read the headlines from an old copy of a Sunday Newspaper no longer in print – I caught neither the name, nor the year, but it did stay with me.

There’s plenty of truth in this:

Human nature hasn’t changed.

Generally, in the UK, life is more comfortable – it was more than 50 years ago being reflected upon.

The problems referred to do remain – unemployment, economic crisis, severe weather, etc.

So too within the UK churches:

Human nature hasn’t changed.

Life is more comfortable – we have chairs instead of pews, heating instead of coats, screens instead of books, etc.

Whilst the problems remain and are still avoided at all costs the costs have increased in value as too churches are looking downhill.

I don’t Tweet, but maybe I should. I read a fascinating interview with Twitter’s new chief executive, Dick Costolo, at the weekend. A number of things struck me in a new way:

He said ‘I’m currently trying to define what its purpose is long term.’ This a found fascinating – their business is valued at $1bn, but they don’t know what it’s for! Put this in the church landscape and we’re familiar with this argument – don’t do anything unless you’re sure of its purpose versus we’ll just do what we do and God will lead us step by step according to where He leads.

Costolo has taken over as CEO recently from Evan Williams. Williams, was co-founder of Twitter and is moving position to focus on product development. So a key founder is leaving the lead role to focus on something more functional? Now, there’s a lesson we could learn if we’re to explore, a little more, the uncharted territory of Ephesians four.

‘When Twitter reaches its potential, that’s success. And its not done that yet. It will have done so only when billions of people around the world are using Twitter on a daily basis to consume the majority of their information in real time.’ – wow! That’s why I’m thinking I need to get into Twitter, even if I don’t Tweet for a while yet!

hallelujah!

Just been to one of those meetings where a group of church leaders wanted to do something next easter. The suggestion was to turn something designed a few years ago aimed at inviting new people to become part of the 'easter experience' into a church service for church goers. Novel idea, but can;t help thinking we've done that one!
So, mightily refreshing to view this clip sent from my friend Paul. Popped it here in the hope it might give someone an idea...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE

small again is beautiful

I seem to be having another round of conversations where the issue of church membership keeps arising – again! However, so does the question of small groups, which appear to have been put on the back burner in many places.

Being part of things Baptist, we have a pretty high view of membership and this has worked well in Christendom. It’s a very useful when you can identify the point of believing in Jesus Christ, belonging to a local expression of the body of Christ and beginning to live according to the expectations of being a new creation in Christ all in one event. When joining that church is also the step we take, arriving at the end of a long journey, which has enabled the accumulation of a more than a superficial understanding of Jesus and the Church along the way life is neat and tidy. Let’s face it most people knew in the UK how they should live as Christian disciples before they set foot in a Christian Church even 30 years ago.

Counting who comes in the front door (whether that be the ‘attenders’ or the ‘members’) does strike me more and more as being not the most helpful means of discerning what God is doing among us. These, however, remain the best measures we have. Of course, when the number of members equalled the number of missionary disciples, to use the jargon, that was OK. How do we count the number of those who go out the front door – sent into the world as disciples as it were?

This is where the small group conversations come to the fore. In one conversation, with one of our newish Ministers, recently he told me they had about forty members and about forty people meeting in small missional cell groups during the week. Each group is not entirely made up of the same people, but he’s onto something I’ve no doubt. My hunch is this church will grow beyond its current numbers, whichever figures they count, in the next year – because forty people focused upon living missionally will make a difference. It’s even more than a tiny mustard seed.

front room

Went around Front Room 2010 yesterday. Front Room is an art trial, which has now been going for ten years in Totterdown. It's grown significantly over the years and understandably so because some of the work is superb. Obviously, it varies, but that's according to taste, although with 200 artists now taking part, there's bound to be something for everyone. There's over 60 venues now and I'm delighted Totterdown Baptist Church pay host to a number of them. They're now over 4000 visitors, which has risen from 2000 only a few years ago.
Having admired so much of the work during yesterday afternoon, I came away with the words of a postcard in someone's hallway ringing in my ears - 'I wanted to go out and change the world, but I couldn't find a babysitter'.


Preaching at Blagdon - small village church, but asking some great, big questions. So, why not plant something new in a much bigger place? If our focus is church, it's un-doable, but if it's missional/kingdom, why not? 
Managed to get some more digging done on the allotment - such a relief that in the middle of November, there was no one else down there - a sign (we hope) once the digging's done, we wont need to sign our whole lives over to becoming sustainable!


Three points for Liverpool, so still on the up. Is it the effect of a change of culture?