Friday 24th June

It's Friday afternoon and I am preparing for a choir concert at Yelvertoft this evening where I am a guest soloist.  I have prepared three songs, the last of which is "Were you there?" and will be sung a capello (without accompaniment).  I hope I manage to pitch it right!

At present I am unsure how last Saturday's presentation at university went.  You might have thought that after the hundreds of talks I have given using PowerPoint it should have been a doddle but I get over-anxious in exams.  Fellow students made helpful comments but its the comments and marks of the assessor that matters.

Sunday morning at Goodwood Evangelical Church, Leicester went very well.  It was a Fathers Day Family Service.  We had some great songs.  I used story telling and had three spots:  Isaac reminiscing that it's sometimes hard to be a dad (looking back over the past 80 years with his own boys, and reflecting on his relationship with Abraham), the prodigal's older brother who found it hard to understand his dad, and a spot about good relations with fathers using my personal story linked to the Lord's Prayer.

On Monday I decided to walk to the next village, Lubenham, for the 1.00pm school assembly.  I mistimed it and had to run the last half of the distance.  Not a good idea if you are 65 and overweight!   Once I had recovered my breath it was a good assembly.  A kind teacher gave me a lift home!  On Tuesday I had another school assembly this time in Yelvertoft on Tuesday (used the car!).  I had ten minutes to give a talk on the books of the prophets in the Bible.  This was allotted to me at a team meeting I was unable to attend, and I think I got the short straw.

Afterwards I went to the prison for a final practice for the concert on Wednesday evening.  All went well apart from one unaccompanied song where the pianist gave us a note too low.  The audience was very appreciative and I was proud of the lads.  Changes to prison routine might mark the end of the choir.  Please pray that we will find a way around this.

The rest of the week has been taken up with administration, pastoral visits, and study.  I heard from the USA in the week that some material I wrote for the Annual Meetings of Congregational Churches there was well received.

The week ahead:
Sunday 26th - Yelvertoft in the morning with some friends from Rugby sharing.  In the evening I am taking the meeting at Theddingworth when we will be looking at James 5.

Monday 27th - meeting with local Methodist Minister, Brian Kennard, to discuss his new role as the District Church in Rural Life representative.

Tuesday 28th - In the morning an assembly planning meeting for the autumn term.  In the afternoon back to prison and the choir.  Immediately afterwards I drive to Leicester for the diocesan rural group meeting.

Wednesday 29th - helping to run a training programme for the Salvation Army at their Training College in London.

Thursday 30th - combination of pastoral visits and rest.

Friday and Saturday I will be part of the Pastoral Care Board running a vocations weekend in Nottingham for students on the Congregational Federation's Integrated Training Course.

Sunday is a free day and Dr Gordon Temple will be leading the meeting at Yelvertoft.

Special Prayer Request: Doreen now has problems with her back on top of digestive difficulties and the peripheral neuropathy.  She still stays active and wants to but often finds it a challenge to get through the day.


Barry

Praise and Prayer

Hi,

Thanks for checking this post.  We have items for praise and some for prayer.  Join in our thanksgiving please and uphold me in your prayers.

Last Sunday we had a treat when four people from South Africa walked into the meeting at Yelvertoft.  They were on holiday on the Grand Union Canal and arrived about five minutes after we had made a start.  It was, of course, Pentecost and the whole meeting was designed to encourage people to seek the foulness of God's blessing.  Our meetings are interactive and I encouraged our visitors to make themselves at home.  Once they had got used to the way I lead Bible study and allow interruptions one of them gave an excellent illustration of the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Even with four people missing we were still 19 - not bad for a chapel in a small village.  What especially encouraged me was the way our visitors (Methodists) vocalised their appreciation for the warmth they found and the biblical ministry.

On Tuesday I had to miss the Churches Group for Evangelization meeting in London as the visit to prison this week was very important.  We had a really good practice time and fellowship afterwards.

On Wednesday the interview in London with Church Times lasted about an hour.  It was encouraging to find how the journalist had been impressed by the content of the document I helped to write.  It will be officially launched at General Synod on 11th July but already has the support of the House of Bishops.  This is very important.

Much of the week has been spent preparing for the assessed presentation I have to give on Saturday (tomorrow).  I am travelling to Hampshire later today and will stay at the farmhouse B&B run by Christians not far from Winchester.  That way I can be confident of getting into University before 9.00am.  The morning is a symposium and there will be several presentations (including mine) in the afternoon.

I travel back home Saturday evening ready for Sunday morning when I am taking a Fathers Day Family Service at Goodwood Evangelical Church, Leicester.  Because of the Uni work I was finding it hard to prepare for this meeting but creative ideas came together this morning.  This has given me peace to go away for the next few days, confident in the Holy Spirit's guidance.  God is good!  Please pray for Gordon Temple who will be at Yelvertoft.

On both Monday and Tuesday I have school assemblies to take.

On Tuesday afternoon I will be back in prison with the choir getting a final rehearsal for the concert on Wednesday late afternoon.  We get a number of folk from outside (e.g. prison visitors) and a number of men from inside.  Please pray for a good attendance and that all goes well.  The programme of seven songs, a musical composition and a drama includes "God of all glory" and "Before the throne of God above" and a couple of semi-religious songs.  Pray for a real anointing as we sing.

On Friday I am the guest singer in a concert by the Yelvertoft Ladies Choir.  I plan to sing three songs the last of which will be "Were you there" which I will sing a capello.  Again, please pray that the Holy Spirit will use this song to move hearts towards the Lord.  I don't just want to entertain!

On Saturday I have "meeting with Sue" in my diary but have no idea which Sue or what it is about!  It could be an error but if not please pray that I will either remember or Sue will contact me!

Which brings us round to Sunday once again when I shall be at Yelvertoft where we shall be thinking about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

If have recommenced using Twitter but only to give brief prayer nudges.  If you want to follow me the address if you tweet is @ruralbarry.

What has God been saying to you recently?  Please email me and let me know.

Barry

An overstuffed suitcase?

Thank you for your prayers in recent days.  I continue to be encouraged by God's blessing - so much more than I deserve.

As you will know if you follow this blog, the previous week was very intense with a strong focus on issues regarding the proper pastoral and spiritual care of those who have been the victims of sexual abuse.  I have recently offered to provide some information/training on this subject to a new church group.  Please pray that they will take this up.

During the past week it was good to finally get a date on which I could share a breakfast with other church leaders in Rugby and the surrounding area.  At this event I met for the first time Simon who works locally with YFC with special responsibility for work with Primary Schools.  To my amazement he used to live in Heathfield, East Sussex (close to where Doreen and I used to live).  We have a number of friends in common.  After the breakfast I met with the architects that the church at Yelvertoft have engaged to see through some much needed alterations to our building.  The next stage is listed building consent so we need your prayers as the present situation hinders what could be done with the building which is inaccessible to those with walking difficulties.

The following day I was back in Warwickshire for the Revive Rural Group church leaders meeting.  Attendance was disappointing but the content of the meeting was excellent.  The various networking of rural church leaders are an important aspect of ministry.  We need a meeting soon for the one based in Market Harborough.  I also need to book dates for local consultations around the country.

A significant amount of time was spent this week preparing for the assessment on the part of the Research work.  All needs to be finished by the end of this month.  I have to give a presentation at Winchester University on Saturday and value your prayers both for the preparation and the actual presentation.

The week ended with my leading interviews for three people studying with the Congregational Federation.  All three offer potential and we had a good interview team.

This week
Sunday 12th June - Pentecost.  I will be taking the morning meeting at Yelvertoft.  In the afternoon we expect to meet up with others for a special Pentecost event in Market Harborough.  I continue to cringe when I hear people speak of Pentecost as the "birthday of the church", which is very wrong as the Church existed before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  That came upon "the believers" (i.e. the Church already in existence.  I equally cringe when people seem to think the Holy Spirit indwells all people in the world.  Where does that come from?

Tuesday 14th - I will be in Gartree Prison as I cannot miss this particular week although I would normally be at the Churches Group for Evangelisation meeting in London.  I'm sorry to miss that but cannot be in two places at once!

Wednesday 15th - back to London for an interview with the Church Times on the document we have just completed that will be launched at the General Synod in a few week's time.

Thursday 16th - pastoral work at Yelvertoft.

Friday 17th - I travel to Hampshire, staying overnight on a farm with Christian friends ready for Saturday and an all day programme at Winchester University where I will give my presentation.

Sunday 19th - a welcome free day.  Dr Gordon Temple leads the meeting at Yelvertoft. Gordon heads up the work of Torch Trust for the Blind.

I will indeed welcome a quiet day - and the opportunity to reflect on what it means to have a heavenly Father.  Managing my work load needs constant prayer - mine and yours.  While travelling to one important meeting the other day and while preparing my mind for another event it occurred to me that my life could easily become like an overfull suitcase, impossible to close or to safely contain its contents, and therefore in danger of being less than useful.  I am reminded of a prayer that a Methodist friend prayed in the vestry of a little Congregational Chapel during a mission in Devon.  He prayed, "Lord, teach us tonight that success comes not from overworking, but from overflowing". That night, immediately as he finished his prayer, the wind of God's Spirit swept through the room as on the Day of Pentecost.

Tonight, as I still ponder what God would have me say and do tomorrow to mark that first outpouring to empower the Church for witness my prayer is "Do it again, Lord - please".

"Nothing is wasted"

"We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28 NIV).  


Over recent weeks in my village church at Yelvertoft we have been exploring aspects of scripture and doing our Bible study in various and creative ways.  It has been encouraging to see how people have engaged with God's word - and the word engaged with them.  Today (Sunday 5th June) I plan to explore how parts of the Old Testament foreshadow aspects of the gospel, and I plan to use the story of the exodus as the main illustration.  Thinking about this I returned once more to the thorny issue of why God allows suffering (in this case the bondage and oppression of the people of Israel in Egypt).  It is this that took me to the text at the top of this blog post, and a reflection on the past week's activities.


You may be aware that many years ago in my teens I was sexually abused within a Christian mission organisation.  I forgave the director of the mission who did this to me and carried on working with him (though not without difficulties) for 25 years before I finally left the organisation.  It was shortly after this that I heard that another young man was experiencing much the same abuse which led me to reveal what I had suffered more than twenty years before.  Encouraged by the then chairman of trustees of that mission I met with other young men who had worked in the mission and found several others with sad stories to tell.  Tragically, neither the trustees of the mission nor the leaders of the church in which he was involved were prepared to investigate the matter further.


More than ten years later, and much wiser, I reported the situation to the police and was surprised that what I considered "inappropriate behaviour" they defined as "criminal".  A further few years passed before he came to trial, where he pleased "not guilty", forcing both me and the young man to have to recount in detail what had happened to us.  As a result he was convicted and sentenced to prison.


Sexual abuse of any kind casts a long and dark shadow.  I still have bad dreams that stem from my days of torment.  Of course, today we are more informed about these things and have appropriate systems in place in an endeavour to stop such activities.  But there are many like me whose experiences are rooted in more ignorant times.


But what has that to do with Romans 8:28, or does the verse only offer some vague hope that even in the worst of circumstances God can work for our good?


Last Wednesday I travelled to London to take part in an interview with a Christian newspaper relating to a piece of work soon to be published that deals with the provision of appropriate responses to those within our churches who have been the victims of sexual abuse (whether or not it took place with the church systems).  This is a document that I and others have been working on for many months and which has already obtained strong support within the Church of England.  It follows on from a book that I and others wrote on the same subject that was published in 2002. 


While progress that has been made to make churches safer is to be applauded there is still much work to be done regarding supporting those who have been the victims of abuse, whether that is recent or in the past.


After my meeting last Wednesday I also met with trustees of a charity that has developed out of the organisation in which I and others were abused so long ago.  It was encouraging to discover how they are learning from what happened back then and continue to seek to act in righteousness in addressing other issues.


Thursday was partly spent preparing material based on my experiences for teaching sessions on the Salvation Army's Safe & Sound Course.  


On Friday morning I drove to Sunbury on Thames and in the afternoon a Salvation Army officer and I met with a young woman who had been systematically abused over several years, with one of the alleged abusers an ordained minister.  Like so many who have travelled this same dark road she needed people who would listen to her story without judging her and who were able to receive all she said.  Listening to stories like hers is far from easy but for those of us who have also experienced similar things it is easier, and listening becomes a means of bringing some release and hope into another person's dark prison.  Please join your prayers with ours as we long to see her able to keep moving forward in her faith.


The rest of the day was spent sitting in on the SA sessions.  I then spent the morning and afternoon teaching Salvation Army leaders out of my experience to help them understand and respond better within their denomination.  As I arrived home late last evening somewhat exhausted physically and mentally by this intense programme focused on unpleasant matters I still had the words of one senior staff member in my head, "In God's economy nothing is wasted - not even the worst things in our lives."


That's not a bad paraphrase of Romans 8:28.  While it makes no sense to be thankful for wrong things that happened to me, I repeatedly thank God for his enablement to use that journey to cast light on the path of others.  I long ago stopped asking "Why?" and accepted that for us all rotten things happen in life.  What excites me is the discovery of how God can work to turn such things to good and to be part of his transforming grace in our lives.


Prayers for this week
Sunday 5th  Yelvertoft Congregational Church


Tuesday 7th  Planning Meeting for Summer outreach programme in Market Harborough, followed by my weekly activity in Gartree Prison.


Thursday 9th Rural Church Leaders network meeting in Warwickshire.


General work:  much of the week will be spent related to my research as I head towards an key assessment period later this month.  There will also be pastoral visits and administration work.


Next Sunday 12th I will be back at Yelvertoft for Pentecost.


If anything I have written above touches on issues in your life please feel free to contact me in confidence.


Barry