Vicar's Blog - October

Happy October Church! Every day for the past few weeks I’ve been stepping outside the door of my study into our garden to collect the incredible walnuts that have fallen to the ground from our walnut tree which has had a bumper crop this year due to the summer Sun.  I’ve had to be quick because our garden is full of thieving burglars of the grey and squirrelly kind.  As far as I’ve observed, they tend to take half of their loot back to their drey in a particular tree in our neighbour’s garden, but they also keep insisting on attempting to bury the other half on my our precious lawn, just one centimetre deep, in the vain hope that the nuts will still be there when their tree-larder runs empty! I’m sure there’s a parable there somewhere (storing up treasures on earth…not worrying about tomorrow…) with a hidden nut of truth but I just can’t crack it right now. Sorry that was bad.

It’s been a whirlwind of a September, getting back into the swing of church ministry after three whole months of Sabbatical and slowed-down living.  In the fullness of church ministry, it’s been a real challenge to hold on to the beautiful rhythms (aka ‘rule of life’) of what Pete Scazzero calls a slowed-down spirituality, that I’ve appreciated so much during the Summer.  My ‘rule of life’ currently centres around the areas of daily prayer, rest, healthy relationships and work practices.  I’ve been enjoying practicing the Ignatian daily ‘examen’ (Remember, reflect, repent, rejoice), paying attention to four feelings (mad, sad, worried, glad), and taking time in silent contemplation as well as my usual practices of Bible reading, journalling and prayer.  I’ve been contemplating how to give my best energy to the Lord, and to the ‘few’ (a much smaller group of people the Lord has given me proximity to and influence over)  rather than the ‘crowds’, just as Jesus modelled.  That doesn’t mean that Sunday ministry, and ministering to the ‘crowds’ are not important, it’s just that they are only a tiny part of what leadership, influence and discipleship are all about.  Pete Scazzero jokes that thinking that a Sunday service will somehow ‘feed’ your congregation for the week is like walking into a creche and spraying milk at the babies and expecting them to be fed! Even the very best sermon should not so much feed you a meal but teach you how to cook and be hungry to feed yourself during the week.

I long for our churches not to be judged on the numbers of bums on seats, but the quality of disciples we make during the week (every disciple a disciple maker), the health and number of relationships and teams we empower, and how we train up and release people to be ‘blessing machines’ in your context, workplace, sphere of influence or even (dare I say it), your local church!  I’ve also loved being back in my local gym, and cycle club, building friendships and seeking to be a blessing to those outside of the walls of our wonderful church.  As I’ve shared with those in church this past month, there does seem to be an increased cultural openness to things of the Spirit, and I’m finding a depth of connection, and gospel opportunities that I’ve not seen in a while.

Just a few snippets of things I’ve been thankful to God for this month: that God has called us here, for the new faces that keep turning up Sunday by Sunday; conversations with people outside our church ‘enquiring’ what it’s all about; our beautiful and varied worship (including ‘revival prayer’ and ‘Encounter’ on Sunday nights; our thriving children and youth ministries; after schools club; youth club; Christian Unions starting back; our three new Interns; the growing choir; our amazing staff and PCC and other ministry teams; and the range of incredible courses Dan Button is running as part of GTS.

This October brings our Church weekend called ‘Impact’ from 10th-12th October. We’ve worked hard to make it as accessible to all as possible by lowering the cost to just about cover the Sunday hog-roast.  It’s only £10 for the whole weekend so please do come and be present, expectant for God to meet with us, and come to be a mutual blessing and encouragement to each other.  After Impact, we’ll have a whole week of helping Margaret Riddick and team prep and pack shoeboxes for our Operation Christmas Child launch.  Please do purchase some boxes, and contact Margaret, or sign up in the foyer to help make this possible.  At the end of the month Kate and team are running our alternative to Halloween ‘Light party’ - if you have children or grandchildren, or know of primary school aged children nearby, feel free to invite them along so that they can have fun learning about ‘the ghost who wasn’t a ghost’ (hint - he’s called Jesus, Mark 6:49).  This month we’re also continuing our Sunday morning preaching series on the book of James.  As always, www.bibleproject.com is a great resource to play their introductory video to the book.  Feel free to study it together as individuals or Connect groups during the week.

Finally, and for your prayers, it feels a good time to start praying into the priorities that God might have for us as a church over the next 5 or so years.  What sort of vision of the future is God corporately putting on our hearts?  As part of answering those questions, I’ll be taking time with the PCC, Staff, and senior leadership (vision) team.  I don’t have a time frame in mind and I don’t know what the process of discernment looks like yet - for the leadership or the wider church, but can I invite us all to pray that we would know the mind of Christ at this time (1 Cor 2:16)? Let’s listen well to the Lord and each other, that we would define ‘success’ not by outward initiatives, programmes, or congregant numbers, but as doing God’s will, in his way, and in his time.  Now, I’m off to find some buried treasure in our lawn!