Officers' Councils

Last week we attended our first officers' councils at Swanick. A really good and positive experience when God came very close. Being so new to officership I really valued the time to reflect on our experience so far, the appointment itself, and being able to share with Lynley in praying for God's vision and wisdom here.

Bible studies focused on 2 Peter 1. A key challenge for me was to consider how up front I am about Jesus in our everyday missional activities. I have a very broad understanding of mission, and tend to focus on encouraging people to be signposts for the Kingdom in all the various activities we do. I still think that is the right thing, but I have been challenged to be more vocal about Jesus and the Hope we have in Him.

I would hope that Jesus is already up front and centre in all that I, and the church here at Failsworth, do - but maybe sometimes we assume that people already know why we are active in serving our community, or perhaps we are waiting for them to ask the questions that Kingdom activity will provoke. Maybe, we need to be more upfront with the gospel and speak without waiting for the questions.

Back in the office this week, and a busy week to come, but my prayer is that we're going to have meaningful conversations with Jesus this week.

God is good.

Harvest

We had a really great weekend at Failsworth celebrating Harvest with a potato pie supper (northern delicacy, apparently) and quiz on Saturday and a good Sunday of celebration and thanksgiving.

The best bit was seeing some new people come to Sunday worship.

I really enjoy harvest - it's just a great time to be intentionally thankful, and even though some of our people may be facing difficulties of all kinds, despite those circumstances we can still choose to worship God and give Him thanks. I spent a little time yesterday with one of our "spiritual giants", and then had a telephone conversation with someone else later in the day - both people who embody the "I can't choose my circumstances but I can choose my attitude" approach to life. Thank God for positive encouragers.

I have been very challenged in my own life to think about what the harvest of my life will be. Something to reflect on some more as we head off to our first Officers' Councils tomorrow.

A Life of Privilege

Today has been a difficult day. Not the first we have faced, and it certainly won't be the last. Failsworth SA is a great church to be part of, but a complex place to lead: 17 employees working across 2 sites with all the management challenges they bring; holding together a community of faith whose diversity in expression and SA heritage touches the extremes at both ends; a demanding programme that will need to flex if we are to develop some of the new ministries that God has laid on our hearts.

Today was a day when the diary had to be changed at short notice due to factors outside my control - pastoral and managerial. It is often like that. However, amidst all the challenges I am overwhelmed by a sense of privilege. I am privileged in having been called by God and appointed to serve Him here; privileged in being involved in people's lives; privileged to be able to play my part in God's mission in Failsworth.

A couple of weeks ago we conducted the funeral of lady whose family are not yet Christians. Today, we have sat by the bedside of one of our soldiers suddenly taken very ill and had the privilege of ministering not just to her, but also to her family who, again, are not yet Christians. Earlier this week I collected some harvest tins from one of our neighbouring churches and later the same day we handed them straight out to a lady with three children and a drug habit to feed, who, because of the postal strike hadn't been able to receive her "crisis loan" from the DSS.

Sometimes, when personnel issues and the day-to-day stuff that goes with our building and other assets seem to have me bogged down, I have found myself wondering whether I am spending enough time with people who do not yet name the name of Jesus Christ. Today, I have realised that God has graciously been placing me alongside such people all along. I pray that I will be the signpost to the Kingdom that someone needs to see.

Difficulty and privilege seem to go hand-in-hand...

...And I wouldn't be doing anything else.

Blog Relaunch?

I feel very challenged to relaunch my blog. In the first few weeks (which have turned into months) of our appointment at Failsworth I decided I needed to stay away from writing my own thoughts in such a public place, but maybe the time has come to step back into this. Facebook is fun (although the novelty of attacking other people's zombies soon wears off) but doesn't provide the right environment for reflection and dialogue so here I am again, sat in front of Blogger's rather clunky user interface (which doesn't work properly with my new MacBook - a vastly superior machine imho).

Also, an attempt to use a new profile resulted in the blogger tools completely trashing my blog roll and book list! I still want a new three-column template but I must be losing my confidence with technology!

What I need from the blog hasn't really changed: A place to reflect on what God is teaching me through the things that we do and the people we do them with; a place to wrestle with some of the bigger questions; and a place to dialogue if anyone is interested.