Sunday 30 January 2011

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY

So this is what it feels like to be 65 - very loved and surrounded by many good friends.

The day started with a quick look at some birthday cards then off to Gartree Prison.  Not so many people as usual at this morning's service but the fellowship is precious.  Then off to Yelvertoft where the members of the church had conspired together to provide a super and generous buffet lunch.  The excellence and abundance of the food was excelled only by the warmth of the love and friendship.  This is what church is meant to be.

This evening we had an opportunity to meet up with a few folk at Market Harborough Congregational Church, which was also good.  I'm just so amazed at the many messages that have reached me today.

Yes, it's great to be 65!

Saturday 29 January 2011

Are weeks getting shorter?

As I hit a significant milestone in my life this weekend it is less surprising to me that the past week has flown by so quickly.  Most, if not all, who pass the 40 years mark notice that each year seems shorter than the year before.  So as Sunday marks the end of my 65th year the challenge of fitting into any week what my mind seems to think is manageable continues to disappoint me.  I don't plan to stop work just yet but there will certainly need to be some adjustment.  Doubtless my activity this coming Friday will require that.

Last Wednesday I travelled to London to meet with others concerned for rural church and mission life. It was the meeting of the Churches Rural Group and brings together key people from across the denominations and organisations such as the Rural Theology Association and Farm Crisis Network and, of course, the Rural Evangelism Network that I was representing.  Our guest speaker in the afternoon was Dr Stuart Burgess, Chairman of the Commission for Rural Communities.  The Commission is one of the bodies being wound up by the government and will be greatly missed.

The following day I met again with several of those who had been at London, and some others for the Country Way Editorial Group Meeting.  It was a useful day at the Arthur Rank Centre in Warwickshire. CW is an excellent and helpful publication and so deserving of a greater number of readers.  Proposals for coming issues sound very exciting.  I consider this aspect of my work to be very important but I am grateful that I have an offer to help me get articles written.

This Coming Week
Sunday 30th - 9.00 Gartree Prison Service.  Sadly, two of our team from Theddingworth village will not be able to be with me as they usually are because of delays over security vetting procedures.  Following this meeting we have a time of fellowship with some of the prisoners before I dash off to Yelvertoft for a birthday lunch with the members of the church.

Monday 31st - 1.00pm School Assembly at Lubenham, Leics.

Tuesday 1st - Gartree Prison

Wednesday 2nd - Congregational Federation's Pastoral Care Board Meeting, Nottingham.

Thursday 3rd - Depart for Winchester.  Book into B&B.

Friday 4th - Induction Day for my MPhil Research programme at Winchester University.

Also on Friday I hope to be back in time for the East Midlands Area Executive meeting of the Congregational Federation.  We have a request for a loan from the Area to enable the church at Yelvertoft to start a process to carry out much needed alterations and improvements.

Sunday 6th February our friend, Rev John Harris, is taking our morning meeting so I have some respite over the weekend.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Barry

Monday 24 January 2011

Last week:this week

As promised here is a summary of recent and forthcoming activities.

Last week I met with rural church leaders linked through Revive Rugby.  On this occasion all those present were from the Coventry Diocese.  We had an interesting time sharing various insight, experiences etc and passing on bits of useful information.  We are considering running a mini-conference again in 2012.  I mentioned the resources and ideas listed on our www.ruralevangelism.net website - specifically ideas for running events linked to the 400th anniversary of the King James Version of the Bible.

During the week I had a phone call from an old friend who now edits "The Reader" which is a magazine for Anglican readers.  The phone call was an invitation to write a piece about our approach to rural mission.  This is an encouraging opportunity.  I received two issues in the post and I am very impressed.

On Saturday morning I wrote a guidance leaflet for the Congregational Federation for situations where there is a crisis in the manse (e.g. a family member develops a debilitating or terminal illness).  This will be discussed at a Pastoral Care Board meeting on 2nd February.

Coming up this week
Sunday 23rd - 10.45  taking the meeting at Yelvertoft Congregational (see previous blog)
Sunday 23rd - 18.00  sharing in the meeting at Theddingworth Congregational Church where I discovered the leader brought essentially the same message I took yo Yelvertoft.  There is no natural explanation for this happening.

Monday 24th - Admin

Tuesday 25th - 12.30 - 16.00  Gartree Prison activities.  In the evening Doreen and I are hosting our home group meeting.

Wednesday 26th - Churches Rural Group Meeting held in London

Thursday 27th - Country Way Editorial Meeting (My expectations of contributing to the current issue were frustrated by bad weather and other factors last year)

Sunday 30th - 9.00 Gartree Prison Service (taking team from Theddingworth).

Thank you for standing with us in prayer.

Barry

Sunday 23 January 2011

And there's more!

The words of Paul in Acts 19:2 to the disciples he found in Ephesus are translated in slightly different ways in various English translations of the Bible.  Whatever translation we might consider it is clear that Paul sensed that there was something missing in the experience of those disciples. Had they received the Holy Spirit was his question.

Paul had paid only a fleeting visit to this major city previously but they had benefited from the preaching of Apollos and may well have been converted under his ministry.  Apollos was a sincere man and powerfully preached that Jesus was the Christ.  They were believers and had received "John's baptism" but had not even heard of the Holy Spirit.  They were then baptised in the name of Jesus and Paul laid his hands on them, whereupon they received the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues and prophesied.

They were clearly believers in the Lord Jesus before they received the Holy Spirit or Paul would not have baptised them.  It is also clear that Paul's expectation was that those who had embraced the gospel of Christ should consequently receive the Holy Spirit.

I grew up in a church that effectively "knew nothing of the Holy Spirit" and it came as a shock to me to learn that there was "something more".  There then followed several months of frustrating seeking this experience but receiving nothing.  Several of my peers did receive the Holy Spirit and I saw how this enriched their Christian lives and empowered their witness for Christ.  It was six months before the Holy Spirit fell on me while I sat in a little church in north Kent one Sunday evening.  That night I also understood why I had to wait so long for the promise to be fulfilled.

This was back in 1963 and I well remember those days when God's presence in meetings was almost tangible, when people were overwhelmed with a sense of awe in God's presence, when men and women fell under the conviction of sin and sought to be saved, and when it seemed natural that people experienced God's healing power.  At first we were still in an era when mainstream denominations tended to reject those who had pentecostal experience.  But soon what became known as the charismatic movement swept the land and pentecostal experience became normative and respectable.

But somewhere along the way it feels as if the power has been lost.  That immediate sense of God's powerful presence is no longer there.  Perhaps we have substituted for it a fascination with worship and new songs.  Meanwhile Christianity has become marginalised within a secular society, and Christians are generally the butt of comedians' jokes.  God forgive us!

It was tough to be a Christian in Ephesus in Paul's day.  Not all welcomed the Gospel message, but in the power of the Holy Spirit conversions followed the preaching as did outstanding miracles.  Many turned from sorcery and made a bonfire of the occult material.  It was at Ephesus that a riot broke out and despite the opposition Paul was ready to stand in the theatre (still there today) and preach the gospel to them.  A few years ago I sat in that theatre and imagined the scene.

Unlike those twelve men to whom Paul put that question I am not ignorant of the Holy Spirit.  But I lament that experience of God's power does not match my knowledge of it.  Is it that this is not a season of refreshing or could it be that there is a lack of deep passion for the salvation of men and women, and the honour of God's name?  Is there a superficiality in worship in our churches.  Does our subjective enjoyment of worship mean more to us than knowing that we have truly engaged with God and that our hearts echo the rhythm of his?  Is our spiritual life drowning under the volume of media and entertainment?

What I learned back in 1963 was that I had to recognise my own spiritual poverty.  I thought that I was a good Christian, on fire for God, evangelising at every opportunity and seeking to be holy.  But there was too much of what I was doing for God for me to experience what God wanted to do for, in and through me. I though myself to be a loving Christian but that night I learned how poor my love really was and cried to be baptised with his love.  He answered by shedding his love in my heart by the Holy Spirit and I discovered what it was to be like one drunk.

In a few hours time I will take my place at the front of a church.  The people are good and God has been blessing.  But there's so much more.  More for me and more for them.  This time I don't want to wait months.  How about you?

Diary information will be in a post to follow shortly.

Saturday 15 January 2011

"In Journeyings often"

Many years ago the title of this post appealed for a while as a possible title for a biographical account for the itinerant aspects of the ministries in which I have been engaged.  It is a quote from 2Corinthians 11:26 (KJV) where the apostle Paul is recounting his experiences in ministry.  It will certainly never be borrowed for a biographical work since comparing my experiences to Paul's would be like comparing a marble to the size of the world.  I only refer to it as I ended the past week feeling unusually exhausted.  But there was also, perhaps, a prompt from the sense of companionship on journeys over preceding days of the week.

Wednesday evening brought a telephone call from Marshall Munro in Scotland to say that his grandfather, Willie, had passed into the presence of the Lord earlier that day.  Just a few weeks before this Willie, Doreen and I had spent several happy days in his home while the snow fell heavily outside.  Inside there was sunshine in our souls as Willie and I recorded at least 21 gospel songs with me singing as he accompanied me on his Clavinova (hi-tech electronic piano).  Some of you will have heard his musical gift on the CD I recently released.  Orders for this are coming in so his ministry for the Lord will; carry on for many years.

Willie and I also had some parallel experiences both in business and in church life.  Both of us know what it is to pass through times of deep disappointment and heartache where one would have naturally expected joy and blessing.  We had found the words of David true, "Your rod and your staff comfort me".  But now my good companion along life's road has gone ahead and I must journey on without him.  I already feel the loss of one so precious.

On Thursday I journeyed to Uxbridge in west London.  I was there to help with the planning for the International Congregational Fellowship's Conference in 2011.  As the ICF Communications and Publicity Officer there was much to note.  We met at Brunel University which will be the venue for this event that will bring Christians together from around the world whose expression of church life seeks to mirror the principles of the kingdom of God as Jesus taught and lived them.  The team was drawn from England, Wales, Greece and USA.  It was good companionship on the journey - something I needed after the sad news the day before.

On Friday morning we were back at the University completing our work before I set off mid-morning for Methodist Church House in central London.  Here I met with eleven others to put the finishing touches to a piece of work entitled "Responding Well".  This is a report for the Church of England on the pastoral care of those who have experienced sexual abuse, whether in the context of church or in other contexts.  We have been working on this for around two years and there was a sense of sadness as we drew the meeting to a close.  The report has already been seen by the bishops of the Church of England and drew a comment from the Archbishop that it had struck just the right note.

Concluding any piece of work as a team - bringing to an end a shared journey - is always likely to bring a sense of sadness.  But several of the team are survivors of sexual abuse within a church or other Christian context, and others are those who have provided empathetic support for such folk.  This deep sense of fellowship made the end of this part of the journey even more sad.

Today (Saturday) I will rest as much as possible.  Doreen and I will be at Yelvertoft tomorrow but someone else (Dr Gordon Temple) will lead the meeting, so I have nothing to prepare.  In the evening I will be speaking at Theddingworth.  By then I should have "caught my breath" and be ready to journey on.  The week ahead is fairly "normal" with a mix of administrative work, pastoral ministry, my weekly visit to the prison choir, and preparation for ministry at the weekend.

The title of this post, "In journeyings often" is translated in the NIV  2Corinthians 11:26 as "Always on the move".  That, of course, should describe our spiritual lives, but not in the up and down sense.  Our  relationship with God should be an ever onward journey with fresh discoveries and a growing sense of his presence and development of understanding of his purposes for our lives.  Good travelling!

Sunday 9 January 2011

Who do you think you are?

It is Sunday morning and my intention of writing this blog  at the start of the weekend has slipped this week.    In a few hours I will be leading worship and bringing God's word at Yelvertoft Congregational Church.  The title of this post is the theme for that meeting.  It has been one of those developing thoughts over the last few days and still not perfectly formed in my mind.  But before I say any more about that, a word about the past week.

Christmas and New Year seemed to stretch this time and getting back in to a working routine has not been so easy.  One of the annual tasks for this part of the year is ensuring my personal financial records are in order and the tax return is done in time.  I am glad to say that is now completed and the return will go off to HMRC this week.  Looking through the records does two things for me.  Firstly it reminds me of various stepping stones through the past year - things achieved.  Expenses for the various aspects of ministry pass through my own bank account to be claimed retrospectively so printing out the records provides a trail of activities and answered prayers.

Secondly, it makes me thankful for God's faithful provision and personal care.  For many 2010 was a year of financial challenge and it looks as if 2011 might prove even worse for many.  Doreen and I continue to look to the Lord - not for abundance but enough for daily needs.  I rather like the thoughts behind Proverbs 30: 8(b) and 9.   It is about just having enough - and that should be enough for any of us.

Yesterday, as I drove to pick up June from one of the villages to take her to the local Torch Fellowship Group (a Christian gathering for people who are blind or with impaired vision) the Lord set some thoughts in my mind and I pondered on how I might present them to such a group.  June is quite elderly and without some assistance would not be able to make it to the meeting in Market Harborough.  Perhaps it wasn't strange that a speaker failed to turn up and I was invited to say something in her place!

Another task at this time of year is ensuring that various activities are firmly recorded ion my diary.  This year's challenge is to avoid overcrowding so that I can undertake the important piece of research on rural evangelism.  As I have been working on the diary and the accounts the week has also been punctuated with telephone, email and written communications expressing appreciation for the complimentary copies of the "Treasured Gospel Songs" CD.  It has been encouraging to know that it has been blessing people.  I now have a few orders for more copies, so more about that next week.

This Week's Activities
Sunday - morning at Yelvertoft and evening at Theddingworth
Tuesday - Gartree Prison
Thursday and Friday - part of a team planning a major international conference for 2013.  We are meeting at the venue which is Brunel University on the outskirts of west London.
Friday - I rush from Brunel to central London where there is a meeting with the rest of the team that has been working on a report for the Church of England on appropriate pastoral responses to those who have suffered sexual abuse.  This is part of follow up or ongoing work since I helped to write "Time for Action" for the members of "Churches Together in Britain and Ireland".

Back to "Who do you think you are?"
A sense of personal identity seems to be a prevailing issue at this time.  There is an intrinsic link to a sense of purpose or reason for being.  For some people this can almost be obsessive.  For others it is an important issue as they strive for an understanding of individual value and purpose within a life experience that has absorbed them as part of the world of other people (family or work etc).  Who we are cannot be seen in isolation from others, of course, so context is important.  For the Christian the most significant context is as part of the People of God.  In the OT we read how Moses and Esther both had a crisis of identity.  Moses because he had become subsumed by life in Pharoh's house and Esther absorbed into life in the palace of Ahasuerus.  Another OT character that comes to mind is Ruth who deliberately sets her personal identity with the people of God taking her place within the most important lineage in the world.

For Peter, in the NT, the crisis of identity takes a different position in the courtyard as the light of the fire and the sound of his voice give him away.  But it is an identity he refuses to own at that time; only to weep about it moments later.

It was at Antioch that those who were of "the Way" were first called "Christians".  Their identity was in the what they believed about the person of Jesus.  It is a nickname that is an enormous privilege to bear.

My thoughts on this topic turn to words of Paul, who had his own crisis of identity at the gates of Damascus.  He tells us that if anyone is in Christ he or she is a new creation.  That is we have a new identity.  We are no longer our own but are bought with a price.  Further we should be able to say that it is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me. (2Cor 5; 1Cor 6; Gal 2).  That is who we are!  Our identity is bound up completely with who Jesus is for we are part of God's life and work in our world today.  Once we have understood that and engaged with it we will know full well exactly who we are.

Saturday 1 January 2011

Happy New Year

I have clearly developed into a grumpy old man as this year - more than ever - I wonder what all the fuss is about over just another tick of the clock!  We went to bed early from where we could hear all the fireworks and hear the drunken swearing from the street below.  It all seems strangely ridiculous and stupidly trivial in a world where thousands have been rendered homeless through flooding in Australia, others have been blown up as they left their church service, the people of Cote d'Ivoire wonder when their ex-president will accept that fact and let them get on, and people struggle to come to terms after the murder of a young woman in Bristol.

Of course, if it has been a special year then celebrating its end makes some sense.  Enthusiastically welcoming in a year that promises to be bad news for a large number of people in my own country seems a strange thing to do.  And these days I need to make "new day" resolutions so the New Year is just one more day in the line!

For me 2011 will bring special challenges.  Here are a few that I already know about.  From February I will start the MPhil research degree programme and that will mean a serious review of how I use my time.  Some things that I currently enjoy doing will have to be laid aside.  The programme will also mean a structured and disciplined work schedule.

Finding people who will take up and carry on some of my responsibilities is another challenge.  Since 1982 I have looked after the Rural Evangelism Network, having helped to bring it into being.  I hit 65 at the end of January and so I must start passing the baton on to others.  The trouble is that most of those in the Network are already busy and there seem to be fewer people coming forward into mission who have the broader view of ministry this position requires.

My pastoral commitment at Yelvertoft will continue for the immediate future but we urgently need to engage with children and families if the work of this church is to have a future.  That currently looks impossible if it depends on our own resources.  Here it is a matter of tying up some loose ends to get something started that could then be passed on to another in a year or two.

Another challenge for the year is being able to pour a lifetime's experience and knowledge as I have sought to be obedient to God's call to rural evangelism into material accessible from the Internet and in a series of smaller written publications.

All in all I expect this to be a very busy and challenging year - and therefore one in which I will continue to value those friends who pray for me and Doreen on a regular basis.  While on that point I am still praying for someone who will do an editing job on these postings so that those who cannot access the blog can also read an abbreviated form through a hard copy posted to them.

Finally, this would be a good time to review what "rural evangelism" in the UK is all about.  So much has changed since I started out in the 1960s.  At that time villages were more insular and parochial.  There were as many non-conformist churches as Anglican churches.  Christianity had a stronger influence within rural communities.  People in rural areas were in many ways the Cinderella of society.  Today, most of the wealthy people in the UK live in our villages and the fewest of the poor live there.  Many villages have developed into satellites of towns and cities.  The future of rural non-conformity seems set to decline further even after the closure of thousands of country chapels.  Rural churches face a major mission challenge with limited resources, and operate in a culture in which Scripture has a far less significant place.

But since I started this posting but acknowledging that I have turned into a grumpy old man (at least as some things are concerned) I want to state that it is not through such eyes that I review the changing and challenging scene in rural Britain.  I merely suggest that we need to review who we are seeking to evangelise if the calling is to go to the villages.  I seriously think 2011 would be a good year to stop and think prayerfully about this task.  To carry on as if nothing had changed within rural areas would be foolish.  So for this task too I need your prayers.

I close by wishing you a happy New Year.  I pray that the simple tick of a clock might be accompanied by a renewed commitment of heart and mind in your desire to follow Jesus and share in his mission for his world in 2011.  God bless you.

Barry