Monday 30 November 2009
Advent conspiracy
Our Christmas brunch for the community is coming soon! It is a wonderful opportunity to ask people to a non churchy thing in a church building, to make what is called "the easy invitation" I hope lots of people will do just that!
Inspired by the video above we are sharing gifts between the local hospice and Water Aid!
Sunday 13th Decemeber at 1030am is the time for the brunch- Book now to avoid missing out!
Advent!
Advent ,a time of preparation and waiting
Here is a link to my favourite Advent hymn!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPHh3nMMu-I&feature=player_embedded
Here is a link to my favourite Advent hymn!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPHh3nMMu-I&feature=player_embedded
Friday 27 November 2009
Strong words but true!
Strong but in my view justified comment on the shame of the recent child abuse case in Ireland
Almost unbeleivable and certainly painful to read
http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/
Almost unbeleivable and certainly painful to read
http://archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com/
Monday 23 November 2009
Community Tea
Had a very enjoyable community tea yesterday, 60-70 came . It was really good to have a number of people from the community present and have a chance to get to know them better
The tea was the second in a series of 3 social events ;The Curry evening,the tea, and a Christmas brunch on 13th December instead(or as part of?) the morning service .
At the brunch we will sing carols round the tree,have a short message talking about the real meaning of Christmas as well as serve bacon baps,good coffee and tasty croissants !!!
We are also giving any donations to water aid,and the local hospice which does a fantastic work
This is all part of a huge desire to be part of the local community and serve people in the Name of Jesus Christ!
The tea was the second in a series of 3 social events ;The Curry evening,the tea, and a Christmas brunch on 13th December instead(or as part of?) the morning service .
At the brunch we will sing carols round the tree,have a short message talking about the real meaning of Christmas as well as serve bacon baps,good coffee and tasty croissants !!!
We are also giving any donations to water aid,and the local hospice which does a fantastic work
This is all part of a huge desire to be part of the local community and serve people in the Name of Jesus Christ!
Saturday 21 November 2009
Happy atheist bus children are Christians
Amusing stuff from Ruth Gledhill in The Times
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/11/happy-atheist-bus-children-are-christians.html
http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/11/happy-atheist-bus-children-are-christians.html
Friday 20 November 2009
Nostalgia isnt what it used to be!
exceelnt stuff from Simon Jones blog
"Nostalgia isn't the source of missional thinking
I'm preparing a sermon for Sunday on living in the now which is the final shout in our What's God got to do with it series. I want to reflect on a couple of things - our anniversary-besotted culture (so prevalent that Radio 4 aired a documentary on the subject a couple of weeks ago) and the church's tendency to indulge in nostalgia, the desire that things return to how they once were, which tends to stifle mission.Even this morning , the Today programme is lauding the fact that Yes Minister will be thirty years old during next year's election and is about to be remade for Ukranian TV, an excuse to play vintage moments and interview Tony Jay, the writer. It is still seen as seminal political TV in a way that The Thick of It isn't (but give Iannucci's show thirty years and we'll come over all nostalgic about it).Nostalgia prevents us from living in the present and facing its challenges. This is not to say that we can't learn from the past. The past has a huge amount to teach us and we need to study it to learn those lessons. But nostalgia is about wishing we were still in the past, thinking that the present is not as good as the past and refusing to take it as seriously as our history.Nostalgia prevents genuinely new thinking being heard and adopted. I got a whiff of this in the debate about the future of Christian book selling over on the UK Christian booksellers blog (here). It's not that there aren't good ideas being expressed, but that one or two posters are saying there's nothing to be done because we're not in the situation we used to be in when people read books and had money to spend on them in Christian bookshops.One comment talks about the church being strapped for cash, unable to meet its pensions and buildings maintenance bills because of falling numbers. Well, let's shut up shop now, then. Surely falling numbers is a spur to our thinking about what we're doing and why it's not attracting people in the way it used to.The trouble is that we wistfully look back to the days when people came to our churches; nostalgia tells us the attractional model of mission works. But it doesn't. We are not attractive, very few people come out of the blue or because a friend invites them. So we have to find other ways of engaging people with the gospel.Given that large numbers of our neighbours spend a lot of their leisure in the High Street, is there not a case for thinking how we might be present on the High Street, engaging them in conversation and creative ways of sharing the good news about Jesus?If we don't get creative, we'll find it harder and harder to meet the pensions and maintenance bills. But much more important (cause, after all, the church can live without high-cost buildings) if we don't get creative lots of people will not have the opportunity to hear and engage with the good news about Jesus - and none of us want that, do we?"
"Nostalgia isn't the source of missional thinking
I'm preparing a sermon for Sunday on living in the now which is the final shout in our What's God got to do with it series. I want to reflect on a couple of things - our anniversary-besotted culture (so prevalent that Radio 4 aired a documentary on the subject a couple of weeks ago) and the church's tendency to indulge in nostalgia, the desire that things return to how they once were, which tends to stifle mission.Even this morning , the Today programme is lauding the fact that Yes Minister will be thirty years old during next year's election and is about to be remade for Ukranian TV, an excuse to play vintage moments and interview Tony Jay, the writer. It is still seen as seminal political TV in a way that The Thick of It isn't (but give Iannucci's show thirty years and we'll come over all nostalgic about it).Nostalgia prevents us from living in the present and facing its challenges. This is not to say that we can't learn from the past. The past has a huge amount to teach us and we need to study it to learn those lessons. But nostalgia is about wishing we were still in the past, thinking that the present is not as good as the past and refusing to take it as seriously as our history.Nostalgia prevents genuinely new thinking being heard and adopted. I got a whiff of this in the debate about the future of Christian book selling over on the UK Christian booksellers blog (here). It's not that there aren't good ideas being expressed, but that one or two posters are saying there's nothing to be done because we're not in the situation we used to be in when people read books and had money to spend on them in Christian bookshops.One comment talks about the church being strapped for cash, unable to meet its pensions and buildings maintenance bills because of falling numbers. Well, let's shut up shop now, then. Surely falling numbers is a spur to our thinking about what we're doing and why it's not attracting people in the way it used to.The trouble is that we wistfully look back to the days when people came to our churches; nostalgia tells us the attractional model of mission works. But it doesn't. We are not attractive, very few people come out of the blue or because a friend invites them. So we have to find other ways of engaging people with the gospel.Given that large numbers of our neighbours spend a lot of their leisure in the High Street, is there not a case for thinking how we might be present on the High Street, engaging them in conversation and creative ways of sharing the good news about Jesus?If we don't get creative, we'll find it harder and harder to meet the pensions and maintenance bills. But much more important (cause, after all, the church can live without high-cost buildings) if we don't get creative lots of people will not have the opportunity to hear and engage with the good news about Jesus - and none of us want that, do we?"
Wednesday 18 November 2009
Encouraging news!
http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/news/bmothanet
Its wonderful to live in a time when people are not scared to try new things or if they are they try them anyway!
Its wonderful to live in a time when people are not scared to try new things or if they are they try them anyway!
Monday 16 November 2009
INFG football
Was invited in a loose kind of way to play for a church team tonight Sadly I cant make it but thought you guys would like to see what you are missing!;)
Thursday 12 November 2009
Wednesday 11 November 2009
Monday 9 November 2009
"More tea vicar?"
We had a wonderful curry evening recently which attracted loads of people from the local community. On 22nd Nov we are having an afternoon tea !
Its been said "its all about relationships" and we are very keen to build strong relationships with our community so we can serve them better
If you can; Come and bring your friends!
Friday 6 November 2009
Jesus for president
As an election approaches next year I thought this was worth watching from an American perspective
Tuesday 3 November 2009
Monday 2 November 2009
How great is our God
The Louie Giglio dvd went really well at church last night so heres a bit more for all you
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