Category Archives: mission

in the right place …?

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Mondays are usually quieter days but yesterday was full of different experiences and, as I look back, I think I can see the guiding and protecting hand of God.

I started the day by leading matins in the morning and then presiding at the 830 Eucharist. No one showed for the Eucharist so I read the liturgy until the intercessions and then ‘closed’ the service. Many people leave written prayer requests in the cathedral and so I felt it important to pray for these people as well as take the extra unexpected time to pray for protection and guidance throughout the day.

I then payed a visit to the hospital to take communion to Alan, a brilliant guy from our congregation. Timing was excellent and God seemed to have steered me here because on the final word of prayer after I anointed Alan the ambulance crew arrived to take him to a hospital in London at 10am – despite everyone thinking they were coming at 1.00pm.

On the journey back my car developed a strange knocking noise. To cut a long story short somehow all 4 wheel nuts of one of the front wheels was loose. Whether they had worked loose over time or whether someone had undone them during the evening, I don’t know. I am, however, conscious of God’s protection – I’m guessing my car would not go too well on just 3 wheels! Normally I am up for a challenge, but not a 3 wheeled one in a citroen xsara!

My time in Rochester opened up new conversations and it seemed that today was quite a lot about being in the right time at the right place. Quiet often we can start to believe the delusion that we are in control, or that we can influence stuff when actually we are a small part of a big picture which I hope God is in control of.

Missional leadership reflections

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I have returned from the KCME residential at Aylesford Priory.I never look forward to these things but as ever it was good to spend time with friends over a few beers and of course the malt in the evenings.

I have been reflecting since my return and asking myself what I have come away with and what I have either learned or been challenged by.

On the first day Bishop Graham Cray delivered a talk and led a plenary afterwards for an hour, both of which were good. His title was ‘leadership and missional imagination’. I resonated with a lot of what he said, and in lots of ways I don’t think I heard anything new (that’s not a negative, just a symptom of the circles I keep and the conversations we have I guess) but I was still challenged.

Bishop Graham said something like ‘leadership is about cultivating an environment that innovates and releases the missional imagination present in a community of God’s people’. So leadership which is about enabling, promoting and creating the right environment for people to surface vision rather than leadership which is about running the whole show, calling all the shots and making all the decisions!

That’s my aim in my style of leadership and one that I wish to encourage. It was good to be reminded of this and, I guess, challenged as it is really very easy to take up the reigns when others are reluctant. I think I have been reminded that I need to continue to hold back and allow others.

On the second day we heard from Dr Anders Bergquist on ‘Success in Mission’. I was concerned at the title of the talk, the language of which grated with me, but really it was more about ‘authenticity in mission.’ he drew on three characters, Pope Gregory, Francis of Assisi and Charles Simeon but it was Francis I was particularly struck by. A person that had no real plan, who didn’t know where he was going with no organisational skills to speak of, but a man who had a contagious joy for Christ. People found Christ because of his joy, rather than his plan or organisation.

In particular a gift that Francis of Assisi and the other exapmples had was that they had a great gift of discernment knowing what or who to bless and when to bless it or them. A gift of missional leadership, argued Anders, was to be able to decide what to bless and what not to bless, or to put it another way, to be able to distinguish between good ideas and God’s ideas.

That challenged me and gave me an answer I have been looking for for a while I guess. When people ask what can they be praying for me I have so many things that could roll of the tongue that it would not be helpful. Being present in Anders’ talk has caused me to think that the thing at the top of my list should be to ask for the discernment to know what to bless and what not to.

That all sounds great on paper … now the hard bit comes as I try to put this into practice.

preparation

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A number of people have asked me ho I prepare myself to go to the same place over and over again, and some have asked if I pray before going out.

Over the last year, I have found that prayer, sitting with God, mulling over in God’s presence, crying to God …. whatever you wish to call it, or however you wish to do it, is quite vital for me to do before I go out.

A pattern over the 15/20 minutes before I go out has developed and I share it here in case it may be of use to get others started.

I spend the first 10 minutes or so just chilling with God. Sometimes I sit in silence, always i listen to attempt to discern what God may wish to say or thoughts he may wish to bring up in my mind for the day. I think listening first has proven to be quite key, and certainly fits with the Benedictine model, and can determining the rest of the prayer time.

Next I usually pray through putting on the armour of God (Ephesians 6) using words which sound something like this:
God … I put on …
the belt of truth – help me to be truthful in my actions and speech today, stop me from exaggerating and lead me
the breastplate of righteousness – may I be in right relationship with you, others and myself today – if I need to sort anything show me
the shoes of the gospel – Lord lead me today, may I walk in your steps and may your light shine as we walk together
the shield of faith – if and when Satan say I’m not good enough, help me hide behind this shield in the knowledge that he is right but that you have called me
the helmet of salvation – protect my mind today Lord, no matter what I hear or what I see or what I experience, remind me that my salvation with you is secure
sword of the spirit – Lord as I ponder your word, today show me how to use your word, when to speak and when not to

When I am all armoured up as it were I pray by name for all those people I expect to meet and have got to know and ask God simply to bless them.

After that I feel more comfortable to go out into God’s High Street to see what is happening today and how I might get involved.

If that’s helpful for anyone that’s cool …. if not then its just another reflective blog post!

Are you regular?!

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The week has been another interesting one as I try to understand what is going on around me. I find myself constantly challenged, surprised and honoured by what ‘normal’ people share with me and ask me to do on their behalf.

I guess I am a noticeable figure around the High Street now and I hear from the staff of places and from other that people have been asking for me and it seems some seek me out to share a need or request me to pray for them or someone that I know. This week alone I have lit 7 or 8 candles on behalf of people who have spoken to me during the week while I have been hanging around. Most of these people have wanted prayer for themselves or a for a loved one. I have offered to pray with them, or go to the cathedral with them, but this has been declined in favour of me praying for them in the cathedral. I am not sure I am comfortable with the theology that lies behind this, my words of prayer are no more special than their words of prayer, but it would not be very loving to ask to talk about the theology of this and so I get on and pray on behalf of these people.

Today one such occurrence came that took me by surprise. I was in conversation with some of the regulars and a woman came up and asked me to pray for her. She gave me her name and just said she was having a tough time, and not wanting to share more she then left. I was taken aback by her boldness in front of these men. For this lady is seemed a normal thing to request, even in a packed pub. Apart from anything else I am amazed at how much or a great privilege this is. I would love to know peoples thinking behind what is going on. What is it about someone sitting with a dog collar on that draws people with prayer requests?

All the questions aside, I am seeing more and more that there is a great need for people to be able to access prayer in some way. I would not say these incidents are common, but they are certainly not uncommon.

When I start to share these stories with people they tell me this part of my role is quite pioneering. Actually I disagree very strongly with that viewpoint. My sitting in the pub, sitting in the coffee shops, wandering around the High Street is not pioneering as I understand it. What I am doing is, I think, what the traditional parish priest used to do – which was to be in the community and be available. After a year I have a number of contacts, a small number of which I think wish to explore faith further – my pioneering side comes in to play as I seek to discover what we do to help those people who are interested.

I am excited that the Church of England is training more pioneers – we certainly need them. But I am starting to wonder if the establishment as such also needs to give permission to parish clergy to be out in their communities and so making themselves available to the people. I do believe, and I realise I lay myself open to heavy criticism here along the lines of not understanding the pressures of parish ministry (which I acknowledge I don’t!) that all clergy should be able to carve out one morning, afternoon or evening each week where they hang out in the same place in their parish – coffee shop, pub, park, whatever …. being in the same place regularly opens us up to a whole new world!

Sweeps Festival

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The bank holiday weekend has seen The Sweeps Festival in Rochester. My role throughout this has been to be a ‘presence’ in and around the cathedral. It’s been an interesting role – not particularly pioneering, but there have been some interesting questions and discussions with people visiting. I have prayed with a few people, answered faith type questions, and advised a young man getting married that feeling nervous is quite normal. A lot of the time, though, has been spent smiling and greeting people as they come into the cathedral.

On a couple of occasions I have managed to get outside the cathedral and taste the real flavour of the festival. While the cathedral is a place of calm the streets are overflowing with people enjoying the folk music and the morris dancing while enjoying a pint or two of real ale. The festival has a great atmosphere with people looking to have a good time while enjoying and remembering some traditional English arts. On a few occasions I have been able to enjoy the music and the beer.

As I wondered around on the Saturday I had one negative, but interesting, comment from a woman who walked past me as I was standing outside the cathedral. ‘Ugghhh morris dancers and priests! They don’t go together!’ In a sense she is right, but I wonder (1) why she thought that and (2) is it actually the case.

The tradition of morris dancing is popularly thought to have its root in paganism, and I guess the comment came from the woman because of this. As a Christian, however, who believes this world is God’s creation and that there is nowhere where God is not present, then I have to say I disagree with the comment. Morris dancing and priests do go together (and yes I know I am a deacon, but it was not appropriate to point out the difference to this lady). Actually I have looked into this pre-christian pagan thing and apparently there is no evidence to suggest that is the root of morris dancing. I have also met over the last few days quite a few people involved in church who are also heavily involved in morris dancing.

As I wandered and chatted with some people there seemed to be quite a large open-ness. Large numbers of people seemed to be interested in ‘things spiritual’. I wonder if the interest in Folk and the interest in Morris Dancing feeds a spiritual appetite in people. While the interest many had with things spiritual, it would not be seen as mainstream Christianity. People spoke more of ‘mother earth’ and a ‘deep energy’. I had a sense of people worshiping creation rather than the creator.

I think this may be the case and I am wondering whether a better way to engage with people at this festival is more along the lines of what we offer at the MBS fair I spoke of a little while ago. Certainly many people were interested in spirituality and an opportunity to explore some of these in a relaxed way as we do at MBS may well work here. I wonder whether through things like the Jesus Deck, prayer beads and dream interpretation may the kind of thing that these folk and morris lovers that people here might be able to experience some of the wonder of the creator God.

These are all just early thoughts off the back of the festival but I’m just wondering – does anyone else out there have experience of MBS type stuff being done at musical / folk festivals? If so, I’d be really interested in talking to you.

answers vs presence

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‘God himself does not give answers.
He gives himself.’
Frederick Buechner

I try to use a short reading from Listening to Your life as my final reading after Compline before going to bed. I like to mull the reading over as I brush my teeth and settle down to sleep, sleep on what I have read and reflect on it throughout the next day.

Today I remembered that I always thought being a witness, ‘doing’ mission, was about answering questions and giving answers that made sense. That is essentially what apologetics is all about. I am not knocking that.

I have noticed too, though, that in my waiting in spaces and being available for people I am seeing that just being present is sometimes what is needed.

I remembered this quote of John Taylors:

‘The Christian who stands in that world in the name of Christ, has nothing to offer unless he offers to be present, really and totally present, really and totally in the present. The failure of so many professional Christians has been that they are ‘not all there!’
Primal Vision SCM 1963 p.136

It seems to be that people are used to people not having time for each other. To share Christ’s love, to give a sense of the Kingdom here on earth we need to be really and totally present, which I think means giving time, giving space and giving self.

the dialogue adventure

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Recently I blogged about someone else’s take on community and the churches role within it. I stated I have difficulty with a view that sees the community as a place where we are called to build relationships simply to see converts to Christianity. That’s what I want to see happen, that’s what I pray will happen, but I build relationships because I am interested in people and genuinely want to get to know others. It’s up to God to do anything else and if he leads things that way I am more than happy to respond. My motivation, though, is centred in being and bringing good news, and by that I think I mean bringing a taste of the Kingdom of God.

Although I disagree with the other way of doing things, I do see a place for it and would have welcomed the chance for dialogue; and by dialogue I do not mean debate. Too often the former has been stated when the latter has been meant … as the only point of the ‘dialogue’ has been to try and convert the other to your own way of thinking. In debate you try to change the opinion, in dialogue you come searching for truth and are open to the possibility that you have more to learn on this issue … or (shock horror!) that I may even be wrong!!!

For some reason dialogue has not been possible in this situation. My comments have been ignored and left unpublished – and I realise I am treading on dangerous ground here as I could be accused of griping over being ignored … I hope I am not. It does concern me, however, that this is an issue with part of the church – the refusal to enter into dialogue with some others who are seen as having a different brand of truth to themselves.

I am saddened that we see this over and over again. Christians refusing to dialogue with people they disagree with only harms us all in that we stay incomplete in our understanding of each other and of God. Through this experience I feel personally saddened at the lost opportunity to learn from my Christian brother of differing views. I think the experience could have informed and enriched both our relationships with God.

The Asbo Jesus cartoon has reminded me of one of the things that I have learned from my three years at SEITE which I hope will stay with me – most often I learned a lot more from those of a differing tradition and viewpoint than my own. It was in those discussions with people seeing things from the opposite end of the spectrum to me that I felt drawn closer to a better understanding of God.

Some people may think they are protecting the faith my staying ‘pure’ and not sharing or talking with others that have a different view on ‘truth’ but essentially I think we all lose out personally, but more importantly the whole body of Christ loses out on a great opportunity to learn, grow and develop. I do wonder if it results in us all worshipping a much poorer image of God as our understanding can only be enlarged if we embrace those of other Christian traditions around us – if we could achieve more of that then THAT would be good news and a bit of an adventure!

need … what need?

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Richard makes some interesting observations here about true and perceived need by using a great illustration of how Nike excelled in the sports shoe market.

Richard suggests, and I agree, that although we know our communities need Jesus they do not realise that fact. He suggests we ask what the perceived need of the community is and look to meet that. Nike perceived the need that people need to belong and used this to take the market and I think Richard is suggesting that we find the perceived need of our community and use this to take the market for Jesus.

I am not sure that I sit comfortably with this position. If Richard is suggesting that we befriend our community and meet these needs out of a sole motivation to see conversions to Christ then I struggle with the integrity of that. In the gospels I do not see a Jesus that serves out of a motivation for people to follow him. I see a man performing miracles that help people and give them a taste of the Kingdom of God. We see many in the gospels receiving the blessings of the Kingdom but choosing not to follow Jesus … and Jesus just continues to bless, and I guess hope!

I guess I am interested in this post because of the places I currently sit, as a pioneer minister, and ‘wait with intent’, being a presence and just waiting to see what God is doing. I hope that I am awake enough to notice and be able to join in. As I sit and observe I do ask myself and God ‘what is the need here’ and wonder how we might meet such a need. My motivation, however, is to show the love of God and allow God to do the rest, rather than look for ways to jump in with Christianity.

As this post is called The Nike Effect part 1, I realise I am jumping the gun a bit in my response as I may totally have the wrong end of the stick of the motivation behind this … and so I look forward to reading the next installment.

intelligent waiting

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Following my Primal Vision post I was encouraged again to see this on TSK’s blog. The newspaper reports are from 1955 and outline how the Rev Tony Reid was given freedom to do missional works in the pubs of Soho and is reported under a title of ‘The Church must come to the people.’

It’s amazingly encouraging to read of something like this. I am finding the isolation of pioneering is really starting to bite. Quite often I think I am alone in truly understanding what I am doing. Actually, that is not true – actually most of the time I do not think even I am understanding at all what I am trying to achieve. Most days I act out of obedience to what I think God is asking me to – and I’m only human so could be so so wrong! To see and read of someone else ‘going there’ in a very different time before me is strangely encouraging!

I smile as the reporter tries to work out this mission in his report … the second page of the report (which you can see on TSK) asks:

‘but the problem I was trying to work out in the Soho club, whilst the father was talking quiet practical Christian love and faith over the whisky glasses was: Can you relate the Christian faith to a mambo in a basement dance hall? Can you take a Christian mission into a night club, a public house, a tenement with bedraggled washing on the area landing and haunted by hungry cats?’

Can we indeed? The answer is ‘yes we can’ and actually it’s not a choice of ‘can we’, ‘must we’ or even ‘we need to in order to survive’. We are called to imitate Jesus and the example he set us – the gospels show that it was in these places with the people that he was found. These are the places where love is needed and where love needs to be shown.

Interestingly this reporter seems to come from an age before the press were cynical and looking to knock or belittle. He goes out of his way to support the Rev Tony Reid by stating: ‘what is nonsense is to suggest, as has been suggested, that this is a con-man mission …they are a group of sincere people who have a questioning and intelligent approach to Christianity.’

It’s a shame that those intelligent Christians today, such as Mark, are not treated with the same level of openness, honesty and integrity.

As I said to read and hear of Rev Tony Reid is encouraging – it does not take away the feelings of isolation or misunderstanding, but its great to read of such mission that I can relate to – I’ve love to know if Tony Reid is still alive because it would be amazing to chat with him.

Ministry of Presence

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I have just finished reading Primal Vision which was originally written in 1963 by John Taylor. The blurb on the back states ‘one of the most important books ever published on the subject of African Christianity.’ Taylor reflects theologically on his experiences and conversations and radically, for his time, suggests that as guests in an other culture Christians need to listen and learn and allow that to determine our mission.

I wanted to read because I thought there would be principles to consider for today and trying to be missional in the various cultures we find in the UK today.

I was particularly excited this morning by the last chapter entitled ‘The Practice of Presence’ which I have resonated with and drawn some strength from today. Some quotes of note:

‘The core of Africa’s wisdom is that she knows the difference between existence and presence.’
To exist is to survive wheras to be present is so much more in both a sense of reality and integrity. Taylor writes of how Europeans are viewed as people who do not greet each other in the street because we are always rushing and do not have the time. He quickly follows this with an experience no doubt we have all experienced – of walking down a busy street, making eye contact briefly and exchanging a smile. The experience uplifts because we realise we are being acknowledged not for who we are or what we do or can offer, but simply because we are a fellow human being.

‘The Christian, who stands in that world in the name of Christ, has nothing to offer unless they offer to be present, really and totally present, really and totally in the present. The failure of so many ‘professional’ Christians has been that they are ‘not all there!’
This is the current core of my ministry. I am not seeking to exist as something I am not, I am, however, trying to be present in the locations I am called to be in. I find it interesting that Taylor suggests we have ‘nothing to offer unless we offer to be present’. My current experience suggests to me that all that I can possibly offer is my presence because I have nothing else to offer of any use to those that I am called to be present among.
There is, however, something quite exciting about reading words of a Christian brother written some 45 years ago do not only resonate with me but also ‘get’ what I am called to do and trying to achieve.

Those who have lost the capacity for listening, who cannot be there for others, are unable even to be truly present to themselves.’
That is an amazing gauntlet of challenge thrown down by Taylor onto the threshing floor of mission. It speaks intensely and provocatively to a Christian culture that wants to see results and tends to pedestalise (if that word does not exist, I just made it up – it means ‘to put on a pedestal) attractional mission packages such as Alpha which give ‘results’ based on a set format while it can be, or at least give the impression that it is, often unable or unwilling to have the patience through the minsitry of presence.
Taylor seems to be touching here on an idea that suggests if we do not have time to be present with others then we not only deprive those people but short change ourselves as we can not have a greater understanding of who we are unless we engage in this ministry of presence.

These are some incredibly interesting thoughts and ideas that I need to chat and think through – anyone fancy a beer to help me out?!