Today I have been putting in time writing a 3000 word essay for the University. Writing is normally something I enjoy and I remember that I excelled in this when at school. In fact a great deal of my time is spent at my laptop writing all manner of documents including legal documents, articles for magazines, book chapters and web pages (to mention a few). However writing anything on which I know I am going to be assessed is a different matter as I have suffered from a sense of anxiety in exam situations. So what should have been relatively easy today became that much harder.
The task was writing about something that has influenced my research topic - an expansion of a face to face presentation with PowerPoint given last semester. For many of my fellow research students there were books that had informed their research but there has not been much written on rural evangelism in the UK other than my own contributions. But what had significantly influenced my research was undertaking an Open University Business Management Course back in the mid-1980s. At the time I was working as General Secretary of a mission organisation and I invested a small legacy I had received on this OU pilot course for an MBA course they were developing. The aim was to improve my abilities in management of the organisation.
Having to fund the course myself meant that I was only able to take three major modules before the money ran out but I enjoyed it immensely for various reasons. What I had not expected was how much the course would speak almost prophetically into my ministry, shaping a new paradigm in mission. Many years later I was to discover that some of those who wrote the course were committed Christians. At the first tutorial, held in the University of Kent's Religious Studies Department we met for the first time an interesting gathering of middle managers from all kinds of businesses. One of my fellow students, looking at the arrangements of images of Passover night and the crucifixion enquired light-heartedly what all that had to do with management. What an opportunity!
I explained that Passover and the Exodus were major projects that called for management skills. I then went on to explain how it foreshadowed a greater deliverance. I had just finished when the tutor arrived. Up till then they thought I was the tutor apparently. As I soaked up the next two years of study I made good friends but was constantly blown away by the way in which insight into management practise cast new light on Bible passages and created a new mission paradigm. Out of that came the development of Rural Sunrise, the publishing of The Key to Effective Rural Evangelism, and our strategic focus on helping rural churches engage in mission in ways that are appropriate for them in their context.
Sometimes God speaks at unexpected times through unexpected means. Back in my teens I had experienced God speaking to me through a song played on a juke box. There were no labels on the buttons but a stack of records. One of the owners of this just-reopened coffee bar who could not have heard the discussion I was having with Christian friends inserted a coin and pressed three buttons randomly. The first song played was so relevant to our discussion it was like hearing the voice of God.
Of course that experience could have just been a fluke but sometimes you can read or hear something and the Holy Spirit witnesses to what you have just heard or read. Such experiences do not undermine the discovery of God and his will through the faithful reading of scripture. Nor can I claim to have heard God speak to me in unusual ways more than probably half a dozen times over the past 48 years. What I do know is that each of the occasions has marked a significant change for me.
It was good to spend several hours today reflecting on the impact that OU Course had, and the fact that journey is still incomplete. The recent survey on impediments to rural evangelism endorsed the strategies developed as a result of that experience, but there is still a hill to climb and I need your prayers.
This week:
Sunday 11th 9.00am at Gartree Prison followed at 10.45 at Yelvertoft Congregational Church
Tuesday 13th Gartree Prison Choir. We had a little difficulty last week and I ask you to pray for 'C'. He has a disruptive influence and I need wisdom to know how to handle him. I think it would help if he talked about himself with me.
Wednesday 14th Church Leaders' Prayer Breakfast in Rugby followed by some pastoral ministry.
Thursday 15th Rural Church Leaders Network Meeting in Market Harborough.
Saturday 17th - a special panel to consider a ministry application followed by a Christian Ministries Committee, both in Nottingham. I am not a regular member of the CMC and only attending as a deputy for our Area Representative and deputy for the Chair of our Pastoral Care Board.
Sunday 18th - Yelvertoft Congregational Church.
Thanks for your prayers for Alison who had brain surgery to remove a tumour, for Margaret who had a mastectomy and Deb who started chemotherapy. All value your prayers. Alison is on the mend but is stuck in hospital until they can get her temperature under control.
I learned this week that a booklet I wrote about what to do if the Minister or his family are affected by serious illness is about to go into circulation. Orders continue to come in for the second CD of treasured gospel songs. One person described listening to these old gospel songs as uplifting and energising. I'm glad they are bringing blessing and, of course, they are full of Christian doctrine as well as enjoyable. In between engagements I still have a lot of reading and writing to do. It looks like a busy week so please meet me round the throne of grace.
Barry
The task was writing about something that has influenced my research topic - an expansion of a face to face presentation with PowerPoint given last semester. For many of my fellow research students there were books that had informed their research but there has not been much written on rural evangelism in the UK other than my own contributions. But what had significantly influenced my research was undertaking an Open University Business Management Course back in the mid-1980s. At the time I was working as General Secretary of a mission organisation and I invested a small legacy I had received on this OU pilot course for an MBA course they were developing. The aim was to improve my abilities in management of the organisation.
Having to fund the course myself meant that I was only able to take three major modules before the money ran out but I enjoyed it immensely for various reasons. What I had not expected was how much the course would speak almost prophetically into my ministry, shaping a new paradigm in mission. Many years later I was to discover that some of those who wrote the course were committed Christians. At the first tutorial, held in the University of Kent's Religious Studies Department we met for the first time an interesting gathering of middle managers from all kinds of businesses. One of my fellow students, looking at the arrangements of images of Passover night and the crucifixion enquired light-heartedly what all that had to do with management. What an opportunity!
I explained that Passover and the Exodus were major projects that called for management skills. I then went on to explain how it foreshadowed a greater deliverance. I had just finished when the tutor arrived. Up till then they thought I was the tutor apparently. As I soaked up the next two years of study I made good friends but was constantly blown away by the way in which insight into management practise cast new light on Bible passages and created a new mission paradigm. Out of that came the development of Rural Sunrise, the publishing of The Key to Effective Rural Evangelism, and our strategic focus on helping rural churches engage in mission in ways that are appropriate for them in their context.
Sometimes God speaks at unexpected times through unexpected means. Back in my teens I had experienced God speaking to me through a song played on a juke box. There were no labels on the buttons but a stack of records. One of the owners of this just-reopened coffee bar who could not have heard the discussion I was having with Christian friends inserted a coin and pressed three buttons randomly. The first song played was so relevant to our discussion it was like hearing the voice of God.
Of course that experience could have just been a fluke but sometimes you can read or hear something and the Holy Spirit witnesses to what you have just heard or read. Such experiences do not undermine the discovery of God and his will through the faithful reading of scripture. Nor can I claim to have heard God speak to me in unusual ways more than probably half a dozen times over the past 48 years. What I do know is that each of the occasions has marked a significant change for me.
It was good to spend several hours today reflecting on the impact that OU Course had, and the fact that journey is still incomplete. The recent survey on impediments to rural evangelism endorsed the strategies developed as a result of that experience, but there is still a hill to climb and I need your prayers.
This week:
Sunday 11th 9.00am at Gartree Prison followed at 10.45 at Yelvertoft Congregational Church
Tuesday 13th Gartree Prison Choir. We had a little difficulty last week and I ask you to pray for 'C'. He has a disruptive influence and I need wisdom to know how to handle him. I think it would help if he talked about himself with me.
Wednesday 14th Church Leaders' Prayer Breakfast in Rugby followed by some pastoral ministry.
Thursday 15th Rural Church Leaders Network Meeting in Market Harborough.
Saturday 17th - a special panel to consider a ministry application followed by a Christian Ministries Committee, both in Nottingham. I am not a regular member of the CMC and only attending as a deputy for our Area Representative and deputy for the Chair of our Pastoral Care Board.
Sunday 18th - Yelvertoft Congregational Church.
Thanks for your prayers for Alison who had brain surgery to remove a tumour, for Margaret who had a mastectomy and Deb who started chemotherapy. All value your prayers. Alison is on the mend but is stuck in hospital until they can get her temperature under control.
I learned this week that a booklet I wrote about what to do if the Minister or his family are affected by serious illness is about to go into circulation. Orders continue to come in for the second CD of treasured gospel songs. One person described listening to these old gospel songs as uplifting and energising. I'm glad they are bringing blessing and, of course, they are full of Christian doctrine as well as enjoyable. In between engagements I still have a lot of reading and writing to do. It looks like a busy week so please meet me round the throne of grace.
Barry
No comments:
Post a Comment