Category Archives: pioneer ministry

taking a risk to bring hope

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msm-logoOne of my roles on the MACE team for Rochester Diocese is to teach on the MSM course. We have recently completed the last course and publicity is now available for the next course that starts in late September. I’ve linked below to the official video from the MSM site …. take 7 minutes to listen before reading on ….

 

 

I know you will think I am slightly biased, but this course really is what is says it is …. ‘a one year part time learning journey in a supportive community’ that will ‘equip you for a lifetime of good practice and learning in planting and sustaining fresh expressions of church’ …. there may be other courses out there …. but this is a great course and is well worth considering.

Whether you are exploring how to start off, or are an experienced pioneer; whether you are wanting to learn qualities of ministry, or a person who really wants your church to be more effective in mission ….. then why not consider enrolling on MSM. There are 6 or more different teachers on the course, all coming with loads of different experience of mission in varying local contexts.

Individuals are welcome … but i think it is definitely of more benefit if 2 or 3 people from a church or fresh expression come together and discuss the issues together both on the course and in their local context.

Intrigued ….. then look at the course flyer here ….. and if you would like an informal/non committal chat please get in touch … oh and did I say this is a great course?

I hope to hear from some of you ….

to the fair ….

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jesusdeckTomorrow we take Dekhomai to the boot fair.

We are guessing that we will be a unique stall in that we will be the only people there not selling anything. Our aim is to welcome and explore spiritually.

We will be offering things for free … prayer for healing, prayer beads, Jesus Deck readings and hand massages.

This is the first time we have gone into such a public setting and a number of the team are naturally nervous. A number of us, as well, are pretty excited and intrigued to see what sort of response we notice. so …. if you are the praying type please pray for us tomorrow morning …. we will be there from 6am until about 12 noon.

I’ll let you know what happens sometime soon.

Tales of a Pioneer Volume 2 part 1

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UntitledIt’s been quiet because I’ve been trying to walk, not run following my last post.
For me this has meant trying to do a little more reading and reflecting during Lent without broadcasting my thoughts here as much as normal. Time away has given rise to some interesting thoughts.

One upshot of this time away is that I have finally managed to write the next edition of Tales of a Pioneer. There’s not a lot in it as it’s early days and things always start slowly.

Volume 2 … because I’ve left Rochester and started again in some ways in Gillingham
Part 1 … because … well it’s part 1.

have a read … pray … talk to me as well!

from ancient to (post) modern

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IMG_0654I had the privilege of doing some more training on Saturday, this time for the Rochester Cluster of churches which held a quiet day with a fresh expressions flavour in Bishopscourt. This was an amazing place to hold a quiet day and I remember thinking what a privilege it is to be in a  diocese where the bishop opens up his home for parishes to use.

The day started in the ancient crypt of Bishopscourt where I had set up the journey (shown in the pic) to help people consider where they were, at that point of time, with God. As with every other time of doing ‘the journey’ with people we saw that as Christians, and even as Anglican Christians in one small cluster, we were literally all over the map and experiencing different things in our faith. I used this to illustrate that those we meet, and hope to reach, are also in very different places although it is easy to assume we are all in the same place in our Christian place and understanding.

The day was full of discussion and challenge as we looked at the difference between church planting and church birthing. If there was one particular emphasis in each session it was about knowing our community and the value of waiting and watching and learning how the community works.

I really believe that quite a lot of churches and mission initiatives skip this important stage of waiting, or do it for too little a time because the Protestant work ethic demands we work and that we should be busy. It is a lot easier to do things and set things up than it is to seriously ground to a halt and watch and wait. But on Saturday I challenged people to wait, to observe, to learn, to notice gaps, to look for connections and then …. and only then … to think about developing something that is relevant to what’s been observed.

This promoted a good discussion and I want to thank everyone for the way they engaged with what I’d planned and for the challenge they gave to me when we disagreed …. and I would have been disappointed if we didn’t disagree! It’s through discussion and challenging each other that we are able to move forward.

like riding a bike! (phew)

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Fresh ExpressionsIt’s been a long two days, and is some ways very tiring and draining, although I sit at my desk quite energised because of tonight. In my two previous roles before ordination I led, planned and delivered a lot of training events. Tonight I co-led the MSM course in my new day a week role of Assistant Missioner in the diocese’s Mission and Community Engagement Team (MACE).

This week I have been fairly nervous as the time has approached simply because it has been over 7 years since I delivered any real training. I wasn’t sure if I could still deliver training. I wondered if it would be like riding a bike, which comes back easily, or whether it would be more like my golf playing, which always get worse, and will be ridiculous now as it’s been years! I enjoyed tonight and the quick glance through the evaluations seem to indicate that Penny and myself delivered the session quite well. I like to think my return to training has been like riding a bike … a little wobble or two to start with before getting into peddling again.

Tonight was fun and the MSM course seems to be a really good engaging course to be part of … so if you are into mission and growing and leading a new church … then maybe you should download the course pdf flyer here and think about enrolling in the future. Now I’m part of MACE you can expect blatant and unashamed advertising!

Tonight I have remembered something more about my values and rediscovered something of  what I am gifted at doing, which has helped to reaffirm, after a tough couple of weeks, what I am called to do.

To the group tonight … thank you … you are pretty amazing to work with!

i wish i could believe

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meditateToday has been one of those ‘interesting’ days that I encounter now and again as a lonesome pioneer being around and available. It seemed that every place I went today I met someone with whom I had some connection and who wanted to talk or share something. It has certainly reminded me today how privileged I am to be doing what I do and the specialness of days like today.

Today people have shared stuff that has been deep and personal. People have shared concerns, dreams, hurts and struggles. People have shown interest in the idea of churches in accessible places where they would not feel out of place.

The most challenging and biting comment today was something like ‘I really wish I could believe in a God. It would give me some security in my life. I really wish I could believe but I can’t.’ With such an opportunity there are a variety of responses … to try and answer all the questions there and then in case you never ever meet again …. or to smile, talk a little, ask if you can come back again, and commit to keeping the conversation and contact going.

I sensed God saying the latter was appropriate here and that living as a Christian and modelling faith was going to be more helpful to the person than simple ‘proofs’ and apologetics. I think in this way I am trusting God with this person rathe than fooling myself into thinking I have all the answers.

I have come to see that it is very tempting, and quite easy, to answer questions that people are not asking and to ignore the ones that they are. We teach things like ‘God gave us two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we talk’ …. but I’m not sure that very valid teaching point has really embedded itself in our lives yet!

I think i’m being reminded again that I don’t control or decide what happens here … God does. My task, though, as I blogged here is to wonder about the next step …

individuals or persons

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On Wednesday i joined others at the Moot base for another conversation about monasticism. I was glad to be invited to this, partly because it gave opportunity to meet up with people, other practitioners, I have not seen in a while and to hear from various traditional monastics which was the main aim for this particular gathering.

I like the format of these conversations, which are held within a eucharist service that rolls out slowly across the day. Three speakers delivered for 10 mins each before we chatted about what was said around tables. We would then break for coffee before encountering the next part of the Eucharistic liturgy.

For me this is quite key and gives a certain grounding and rootedness to the day, reminding me that whoever we are this is all about Christ.

I was challenged a number of times during the conversation. As I think I am involved with a group of people that seem to be going down a new monastic route, I heard a lot of gems from traditional monastics on this day which have caused me to pause and think. Two conversations grabbed me in particular:

Brother Colin spoke about enclosure and living in enclosure. He went on to say that ‘enclosure is a place where we are trained to be attentive to God so that our hearts become attentive to God when we go out.’ he then blew my mind with ‘I then become an enclosure for God’. That is a comment worth thinking through. As someone interested in new monasticism with a growing dispersed community, I started to wonder how we can give time to the minet of enclosure where we are. If Brother Colin is correct in his definition, then as a community we need to eb able to develop this practice.

Later in the day Sister margaret Theresa spoke about Solitude and Communion. Again I was struck by the amazing wisdom which only comes from those that are dedicatedly following this lifestyle. She quoted the following after saying that humans can be individuals or persons:

individuals are those who live and survive by asserting themselves against others, creatures who must either devour or be devoured. THose who can only become themselves by separating themselves from others; they can only become themselves at the cost of others.

persons: those who live and survive not by asserting themselves against others, but by finding themselves in and through others. In freely giving themselves to others, they are not lost but renewed. They can only become themselves in relationship to others; and far from the process of ‘becoming themselves’ being at the expense of others, it is most profoundly with and for others’.

This holds, of course, with our doctrine of the Trinity where we see the three persons of the one God living as community, freely giving themselves to each other as well as to us.

In a world that seems to worship the free choice of the individual, I guess we need to be asking how do we live as persons? What would this really look like in my community … and what would ‘being renewed’ really be like?

I left Wednesday inspired, challenged and deeply thoughtful.

And finally …. if you live near me in the wonderful county fo Kent and you like the sound of this new monasticism thing … get in touch … lets keep the conversation going … lets see God working through as we freely give ourselves.

 

 

pub theo to community

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this months pub theo contained its normal rich mix of great people and wandering discussions. We started by looking, essentially, at the celebration of Hallowe’en and how many of us, including myself, had been brought up in evangelical churches and how that influenced us, even now, as adults.

Certainly, I still have a difficulty of celebrating evil, but is what will happen tonight in parties in many homes a celebrations of evil, or is it simply an opportunity for friends and family to get together and have a party? That is a genuine question not a hidden statement, as I don’t know … my house ‘does not do Hallowe’en’. I think, though, it’s vlid to ask ‘Is any opportunity to connect with others in this disconnected world (borrowing language from my Brenee Brown post last week) always something that should be welcomed?’

The discussion then moved on to other stuff which was pretty far ranging. The thing I noticed must about this pub theo event, though, is that community is growing. People who used to know each other have reconnected, people who never knew each other have become friends and people were talking about stuff outside of the pub theo event. I think pub theo has shown over the last three years that if you bring a group of people together regularly for something that is meaningful to them then community starts to grow.

I find that pretty exciting and it causes me to wonder what is it that I need to be thinking about in the Gillingham high Street area that will bring people together and that will enable community to grow … that’s not such an easy question … watch this space …

lost at home …. avoiding puke church!

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I am now 4 weeks in to a new way of working. It’s hard to reflect and to know what to write because what is happening is slow and due to that it is pretty tough; but that’s not a bad thing (and neither do I feel negative). The toughness at the start of a new mission role (and probably all mission) is just a fact of life. Mission, in the main, is not exciting as many like to write and believe, it is simply heartbreakingly slow work. I remember 4 years ago saying that I was bored, lonely and not sure what to do …. well I am simply at that stage again.

It’s not comfortable but I think it is necessary and right to enable stuff to happen.

I am finding that it is a real effort to get up and go out each day to be available to people. I guess in Rochester the requirement to be at Morning Prayer helped to provide structure in that it gave a clear start to the day. Without that structure the role is quite a lot harder. It’s not enjoyable, it’s not exciting and it is simply just ‘bloody hard work.’ I do not know where to go each day, I have no idea what will happen, who I will speak with (if anyone) and on days like today when it has been raining virtually non stop and people just want to get out and back home quickly it is nearly impossible to engage with people. This ‘trudge’ that I am experiencing at this point in time is what many people I have spoken to over the years experience as an everyday reality in their particular jobs. For me, this is a necessary phase or stage to go through.  In many ways, although it is a tough and uncomfortable place, I really value this time. I value this time, because of its harshness, because this is a time when I can learn and get a greater understanding of what is going on around me, within me and how God is working in this community.

The big temptation now, for someone like me that loves to achieve ‘stuff’, is to start something. Gillingham is an area where lots of things are needed and could work. It would be fairly easy to start a new project or a new mission initiative. A month of observing and watching seems like an age for someone like me …. yet it is far too short a time to try and understand what is happening.

I believe the wrong thing to do now would be to fool  myself into thinking that I have observed enough and that I am now in a position to know what will work here and try that something out. At this point in time I long to get my teeth into something and immerse myself in activity but, if I am brutally honest with myself and others,  I have not yet got a sense of what God is doing here and neither do I have that understanding of how this community works. That’s actually bigging up my current level of knowledge; I have no idea what God is doing here or what I should be doing! If I started something now I would be regurgitating or bringing up old ideas that I had seen work elsewhere. That sounds to me like puke church! I must avoid that at all costs  … we simply don’t wish to go there!

I am lost, disorientated and confused. I have followed many paths and lines of enquiry and conversations only to find myself back tracking and being even more confused. I look out across the area that I am called to work and I do not recognise it and nor am I able to describe what I see in any meaningful way. I am simply lost in the town I have lived in for the best part of 25 years. (It had changed massively in the last 4 years which is another reason to continue to watch and understand!)

So, I continue to search. As I search I am mildly encouraged by these words of Richard Rohr: ‘The Way of Jesus is not about rushing to the ‘right’ destination. The way of Jesus is a way of bringing the kingdom of Love to the reality of this present moment, through the Way we travel, through the Way we are, and through the Way we are with God’

It’s pretty clear that if that is correct, and it makes sense to me, that that will take a fair bit of time. If you are the praying kind …. I need to gift of patience!

a licence to ….

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Last week I was licenced as Priest Missioner in the Gillingham Deanery. For me this was a special night as I was commissioned by Bishop James. The role I have been licenced for has taken a lot of work and discussion to get off the ground. Bishop James himself mentioned how complicated a licence it was to encompass all the different areas I am working in.  I’m really thankful for the people that have been working behind the scenes to get this off the ground.

It was very important to me personally to receive the bishop’s permission and backing for this work and incredibly encouraging to see so many friends and family members there to support me. I was genuinely so surprised to see so many people turn up.

Bishop James spoke from Isaiah 52 and spoke particularly about the role of the ‘watchman’ or ‘sentinel’ in verse 8. He spoke about how my role, and the role of the pioneer, was similar to the that of the watchman in Isaiah.

The watchman had a variety of roles. There was the role of guardian, watching over the walls and alerting those inside to what was happening outside. There was the role of looking out, to notice what was ‘out there’ and thinking through what an appropriate response would be to what had been observed. Bishop James implied the role could also be one of bridging, of being a person that linked quite well between the two … between those ‘inside the walls’ and those ‘outside’.

I have been playing round with these words and images in my mind over the last few days and have noticed some other words that further illustrate the watchman role. We could use, bouncer, chaperone, lookout, custodian, defender, shepherd. Although I can see how they are all valid; of them all the combination of guardian and look out probably resonate with me the most as I seek to notice, respond and then develop something that fits within the ‘walls’ of our orthodox faith.

Often it is not a comfortable place, but it is a place I am happy to be in for the time being…