The Big Society Shrewsbury

We were  surprised  and delighted to receive a Mayors award for  Shrewsbury Baptist Churches outstanding contribution to the community.The citation  read out when the award was made was clear that the award was for the work with the community that we do in both Crowmoor and Central.
In truth I guess  a great many other churches in the area, are doing similar or better stuff  and could have recieved an award ,but all the same,it was nice to be recognised, because we are passionate about our community.

It was a great joy that the top prize in the community category went to Shrewsbury Street Pastors,they have made a great start and so many congratulations to them,it was richly deserved.


The other award winners ranged from the people at the Parks department who look after the wonderful flower displays ,to the Horticultural Soceity who put on the Flower Show.
In between were people who run dance classes for the community (including our own Pauline ,pictured below) and

a pub landlord who distributes free food to senior citizens , a lady who runs a stroke club and a guy who has created an amazing wildlife garden near a sewage works (if I understood correctly!).Young people and their organisations were also well represented- An amazing bunch of people who were the Big Soceity long  before the term was even invented

We often hear the bad stuff but in truth there will be people like this in nearly every community and in austere times they offer huge hope for the future ,they also demonstrate the importance of building community and I feel the church has a critical role to play here

The awards were a certificate in a frame The whole thing was of minimal monetary value but would be a great boost and encouragement to everyone who recieved them. Saying thank you is powerful- so well done to The Mayor!

 On the way home we did wonder aloud about doing a church awards ceremony ,we concluded it would be great but not without its hazards!Anyone have any experience of doing this? Did it work?

 

New preaching series- A meal with Jesus

Peter Morden from Spurgeons College is preaching on Sunday morning, and then we are finishing our series on Romans with a look at Romans Chapter 16 .I must say I am looking forward to that as though it is not the best known chapter in the book, it speaks a lot about Christian community. Then it is onto a new series, and we are basing this one around Tim Chester's" A meal with Jesus-discovering grace,community and mission around the table " I have consequently been reading the book and very challenging it is too! You can read Mark Heath's review here and some reviews on Amazon here
As the title suggests the book does talk about community and mission a lot and the importance of meals, I must say I found Chesters case very persuasive; though there are those that didnt  see here !
Anyway you can buy the book  and decide for yourself

Community Opening Day 2

Last Saturday we had over a thousand people through the doors for the second open day

It was a wonderful day !

I thought I would put a few photos on this site just for the record

People were so positive about the building and really seemed to get the vision and were delighted that we want to engage strongly with the community in which God has placed us

The space we own outside the building that borders the public pavement is going to be a brilliant place to do stuff for and with the community over the coming years

all in all a great day!

The Community comes in !

Last week we had the civic opening and church opening of our Central building

Today we opened the doors to the wider community and hundreds of people came!

They represented a wide cross section of society, old and young ,people on holiday ,folk from other churches, people who had been married in the church many years ago, people who once worshipped with us and now worship elsewhere and a host of others.

We took the time to chat ,to show them around the building ,to share our vision with them

They were almost all enthusiastic about what they saw and one or  two even seemed overcome with emotion at the bright, welcoming and accessible building they were looking at for the first time.

A number of local musicians came and played either inside, or just outside. the building throughout the day and as usually happens the sound of music drew more people into the building

Today was mainly for adults tomorrow is mainly for children and we expect the day to be even busier. I am looking forward to it!

Tour of Study 3

I enjoy most sport but am really passionate about only 2 sports and really care about only 2 teams.

I have enjoyed cricket since I was very young indeed and still play from time to time( to an ever declining standard)for Strollers cricket club in Herefordshire which has given me a lot of pleasure  and through which I have made a  lot of friends  over the years.

The cricket team I support though is England.

My dad took me to see England against the all conquering West Indies in 1963 as a very young lad I can remember watching Charlie Griffiths and Wes Hall, the lightening quick fast bowlers, bowling in deteriorating light an awe inspiring sight!
In 1968 dad took me to The Oval to see England play Australia in The final test of the summer.England won to square the Ashes with very little time to spare. i will always remember those five quality days with my dad watching something we both enjoyed. I guess great memories are something we can do for our children!
On my wall I have the autographs of The England team that day- a precious  memory

The other team I support is Shrewsbury Town .I much prefer watching lower league football to the premiership and have both endured and enjoyed watching town over the years since I went with our neighbours in Wem as a young lad
On my wall are some programmes from famous games they have played

The final thing  is a small picture of the Lords supper on wood,  it is modern, though the writing on the back suggests it is a modern copy of a more ancient picture

I love the bright colours ,the reminder in the picture that The Lords Supper is not a ritual but a meal ,friends  eating together with The Master present, and sharing the meal with them  before the body was broken and the blood shed....for us

Fish and Chip supper -Crowmoor building

Last night we had one of our regular community meals this time
.Following curry evenings and Italian evenings and South American evenings we wnet for traditional British fish and chips with the amazing Delyth cooking the fish (with a little help from her friends!) and the great chippy down the roads doing the chips

It was another great evening and it always amazes me how many of the local community of all ages turn out to these evenings and once again we had people present who had never been in our Crowmoor building before There is something powerful about eating together!
We ran past the everyone present the idea of doing something for the Olympics or the Queen.s Jubilee together and there was a positive response -so watch this space!

South American evening

In the past we have done curry nights and Italian evenings and even a, very English, afternoon tea but this was the first  time we had done a South American evening!

The food was great ,we had a South American quiz (which served to show me how little I know about that part of the world) ,and following a demonstration by the expert Richard and Adriana ,I even danced a little salsa -something they didn't teach me in theological college.- I was no good but it was fun!

There is something about these events that works in our area, and loads of people from the local community came -we reckoned we served about 140 meals and about 50 -60 % of those who came did not belong to the congregation.

Many of those people had been at previous evenings of this type,so there is an opportunity for good conversations, & real relationshiops to be built, and they will all be invited to our Christmas brunch where there will be an opportunity to hear the Christmas message

If I was to summarise the plus points of these evenings ,they would be;

• They demonstrate to the local community the church is open,cares about them  and is  not a private club
• They give people in the church an opportunity to make an easy invitation to their friends ,families and neighbours and those who come to  toddler groups etc  (which can often lead to further discussion and deeper relationship)-one person told me last night they were going to start coming to church
• They give people in the church an opportunity to use their gifts- it has been fascinating to discover the various talents people have from cooking to salsa dancing, to poster making
• They are great fun !

The light was poor and  I only had my camera phon-e but a photo to give you the idea

The Flower Show

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After a week when the media has been packed with news of the dark deeds that human being are capable of ,it was great to go to the Flower Show in Shrewsbury to see that we, who are made in God’s image, are also capable of amazing creativity!



I have always loved these shows and this one in particular for its variety, for its colour, and though people come from far and wide, for its very  local feel.

Over the years it has become less a flower and vegetable show though there is still plenty to admire!

We especially enjoyed these 2 sensory gardens created by local people, and which at the end of the show are going to be given to Hope House  children's hospice and Severndale School respectively .Two places dear to our hearts

There was some amazing metal work

We enjoyed the show jumping

A very enjoyable day ended with an incredible firworks display

A really great day and this time next year  with our new town centre building, we will have thousands of people passing our front doors on the way up to the show .Now there is another opportunity to be creative !

Riots in England

It has been a  depressing business watching the news media in the last few days. There is no doubt that once the violence in our cities  is under control,politicians and others need to work hard to understand why these disturbances happened and how we can prevent them happening again.
I suspect the causes are many;ranging from poverty to  greed, to boredom to poor parenting skills, and many other things.
Simon Jones makes some interesting points on his blog here particularly the fact that we are all to blame and we all have a part to play in making things better.

This is especially  true of the church whose calling is not simply to be a community at a time when so communities are falling apart, but a community whose task is to build God's Kingdom and share Jesus love with our neighbours, who are made in God's image and loved by him whether they  are criminals or the victims of crime.

I would make one more point.  It is this: The western world has already jettisoned God or appears to be in the process of doing so.We have declared we can live without Him ,but the problem is we have not replaced Him .There is no meta narrative by which we live our lives, and for many no sense of right and wrong, of good and bad.
That is to be expected
It would be naive to think Christian ethics will survive for long in a soceity which has stopped believing in the Christian gospel.
The truth is God is real and we were created for Him.We need Him.There can be no authentic substitute ,nothing else and noone else can satisfy.
The youing people of the UK are like  young people everywhere .They want to know their lives matter ,that they count ,that they are significant .

Our young people need a reason to live a reason that brings  meaning and purpose.

Only Jesus can satisfy that need.

Loving our neighbour

Over 30 years ago the church ,the minister of the church I belonged to, wanted to undertake a large building project. The proposed  project was unusual for a church at the time, as it was for a large sports hall, and the ministers desire was to build a building that  would be used to bless  the community

As is always the case when something controversial is being discussed ,there was a very large turnout at the meeting, and a large part of the debate was about finance.The issue of whether to go ahead and build the sports hall for the community, was in the balance, until  a deacon stood up and said" If we let the community into the building that will be an entrance for the devil into the church!"

The mention of The Devil scared the church and the sports hall has never been built!

Even then that struck me as an extraordinary thing to say because it assumes

• the devil is greater than God 
• engaging with the community will open the door to satan

I some times wonder if Christians who think like this, have got so stuck in a Christian subculture that that they fail to recognise that 

• The Earth is the Lord's
• God is at work in the world and not just in the church

Our task is to find what God is doing and join in

That is our calling not simply to attract people into our building which is great!But in whatever we are doing  to serve our God and King out in the community& among our  neighbours

Isnt that what Jesus did?

Thanks to Penny for pointing me in the direction of this short film which captures a lot of what I feel Penny's blog

Carols by Candlelight

It may seem strange for someone who has been accused of being "addicted to change"but since I became a pastor more than quarter a century ago - I have always loved carols by candlelight ! Judging by the attendances over the years I am not alone.

Last night,despite temperatures well below freezing, a good number of people,many of whom I had not previously met ,came through snow and ice, to church to sing the traditional carols and listen to the familiar bible readings in a beautifully decorated and lit building. The whole occasion lifted my spirits considerably!


It is quite true that our current building does not lend itself to candlelight in the way that the church I used to pastor in Ross on Wye did;(It has a superb Victorian interior that was enhanced by being lit by candles in a way few buildings I have been in are), but our 1980's building still looked pretty good!
The music and audio visuals were great too and a huge effort had been put in to make it a very special occasion

I think there are various reasons the service attracts large numbers of people

• There is no doubt people like singing the old carols and hearing the readings by candlelight,last night someone told me it reminded him of his childhood.  In a changing world the familiar can seem very comforting
• We (and I suspect most churches) put an enormous amount of effort to publicise this and our other Christmas services,we handed out around 5000 invitations in the neighbourhood and no doubt some people came  in response to those invitations. We have discovered that if you do invite people a certain proportion will come!

• Thirdly as I said above a lot of effort is always put into every part of this service from the music to the post service mince pies, This effort means that the service looks good and sounds good  and so year by year people come back and have increasing confidence to bring friends and family with them.
• I think people are more spiritually open at Christmas and that they do want to hear something of the Christmas message before the feasting begins!

All this adds up to a wonderful evangelistic opportunity,  and so last night I was able to share something of the purpose of the incarnation, and to connect Christmas with the message of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

I instinctively dislike the adage "if it ain't broke don't fix it " because it can lead to a lazy conservatism and "nothing changes here" attitude but I have always resisted attempts to  make radical change to Carols by Candlelight because by modernising it we may destroy what people love about it.

On a personal note last week is  nearly always one of  the busiest of the year and  (because my colleague Steve is leading the Christmas day service) I can now stop and reflect a little bit at least before I rush to the shops and then start preparation for the service on 26th December!

Town centre building!

Not all the details are 100% right but this gives a rough idea of what we are going to do in the town centre http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/shropshire/hi/people_and_places/religion_and_ethics/newsid_9265000/9265906.stm

Community Christmas Brunch

  Our new church has made a very deliberate decision to put down deep roots into our local community.Over the past couple of years we have begun building strong relationships with local primary schools, we have done this  through taking assemblies and by people going into help with reading . My colleague Steve has become a governor at our nearest primary school and we have also reached out by  running  various events for senior citizens.We really want to bless the community in which God has placed us!

Over the past year or two we have also  run Italian evenings,curry evenings ,afternoon teas ,and a Christmas brunch.These have attracted decent numbers of people

The idea has been to get to know the people around our buildings and to bless them

 So today we  had over 150 people  at our Community Christmas Brunch . They came from all around the local area and from as far afield as Romania and South Korea! Ages ranged from a few months to those  well into their nineties.We  represented a very wide cross section of society and it was great fun! There was a sense to togetherness as we enjoyed good food and sang  traditional Christmas carols. We also   thought together about the real meaning of Christmas.The morning was rounded of with a rousing rendition of the 12 days of Christmas-with actions!

The comments as people left made it clear everyone had had an amazing time.

Reflecting on the morning I was delighted 

• We had attracted so many people who don't normally come into our building and got to know some of them much better
• People felt they had really enjoyed themselves
• We had shared a bit about the real meaning of Christmas
• As a church we had been willing to try something a bit different
• Our church people had been enthusiastic about getting to know our neighbours and inviting them along

I have no doubt we have a long, long way to go to become the church God wants us to be, but I also have no doubt that we have already travelled a considerable distance along that road .

These are exciting times and I believe even more exciting time lie ahead

X Factor,secret millionaire

I am not keen on X Factor though I will admit to having watched Strictly Come Dancing, strictly in the interests of research, and mainly to enjoy Anne Widecombes effort -Though I am unsure that effort is the right word to use.

One piece of weekend TV, I do look forward to seeing is The Secret Millionaire on C4 on Sunday nights
It is certainly true its pretty formulaic.

A rich person turns up, secretly observes community initiatives, hands over thousand of pounds of his or her own money to worthy causes, loads of tears, and goodbye.

As a programme it has its faults, for example, it stretches credulity that sometimes the recipients of the cash have not clocked what is going on long before the cheque is handed out at the end.

The Secret Millionaire has also been criticised for being patronising and even demeaning to the recipients, who are filmed receiving charity . In truth though none of them ever seem to mind.In fact judging by the hugs and tears they are usually overwhelmed with joy.

To my mind it makes for gripping television, but there are 2 things in particular I love about this programme.

One is the chance to see the work of some completely unsung community heroes who seem to devote their whole lives to loving and serving others; whether it be a woman pouring her time,money, energy into helping parents of disabled children, or a guy in Nottingham who has single handedly -until the millionaire turned up- set up a large project to discourage children from carrying knives on the street,or the people who have set up a home near the sea so that terminally ill children can have a holiday.

Some of these people are Christians, some are not, but they are doing some amazing work.They also provide loads of great examples that churches who want to bless their local communities could follow, if they wanted.

The other wonderful thing the programme does is to prove the truth of Jesus words

It is more blessed to give than to receive

The people that are really changed by the experience are not the recipients but the donor millionaires- they appear to learn something of the value of community and the importance of deep relationships.In some cases they appear to have been completely changed

I am yet to be persuaded that X factor ever did that for anybody

Blessing people

Our regular admin meeting was coming to an end and the conversation drifted from dates and publicity to people.We began to chat about some of the people we knew and the seemingly impossible situations they face. The single mum with a child with special needs who gets no respite care ,the parent getting beaten up by their own child, the man deeply grieving the loss of a wife and left to bring up children on his own.In one short conversation we identified so much pain in people we had met just in the previous 24 hours
Later that day I came across this video put together by Christian Associates

Every Life Has a Story from Christian Associates on Vimeo.

The conversation and the video are a powerful reminder that many people have very tough lives indeed. God loves these people every bit as much as He loves us and I long for our church to be a blessing to the communities which we are called to serve
Reggie McNeal in his book Missional Renaissance says

The missional church is an expression of God’s heart. God is a sending God. His mission began with Israel, which was to be a blessing to the nations. It reached its climax in Jesus, who came to die for the world. The Spirit is sent to empower the Church to be God’s witness to the world....The Bible is narrative, a guide for living and a call to action. People of God are charged with the responsibility to bless everyone

The church is of huge importance to God but looking back over many years of ministry I sometimes think I have spent too much time doing church and not enough encouraging the church to bless the world and show Jesus love to hurting people like the ones we chatted about this morning. In the words of an old song I sung in youth groups long ago ,which itself quotes Mathews gospel. Freely freely you have recieved freely freely give

Family

Quote from Francis Chan’s The Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, David C. Cook, 2009.




St. Augustine: “What the soul is in our body, the Holy Spirit is in the body of Christ, which is the church.” (141)

“A while back a former gang member came to our church. He was heavily tattooed and rough around the edges, but he was curious to see what church was like. He had a relationship with Jesus and seemed to get fairly involved with the church. After a few months, I found out the guy was no longer coming to the church. When asked why he didn’t come anymore, he gave the following explanation: ‘I had the wrong idea of what church was going to be like. When I joined the church, I thought it was going to be like joining a gang. You see, in the gangs we weren’t just nice to each other once a week – we were family.’ That killed me because I knew that what he expected is what the church is intended to be. It saddened me to think that a gang could paint a better picture of commitment, loyalty, and family than the local church body

Riding and thinking

I haven't posted for a while because I have been focusing on other things but recently, I fulfilled a promise to take my daughter for a days pony trekking in achingly beautiful countryside on the Black Mountains near Hay on Wye. I have posted some photos above
I hadn't ridden for a whole day for many many years; but Mungo ( the 16.1 hands horse!) and I thoroughly enjoyed it and we even cantered a few times
I was at the back ,we were in single file and so there was a lot of time to think
Among many other things (like" what incredible views!" & "I feel quite sore!") I thought about the Christian church .This had been inspired by seeing a small chapel way up in the hills whose graveyard seemed well kept ,which may have once been the focus of a thriving farming community but which was now separated from the culture in which it is now placed.There are people who think that is a good thing. For example a small " Christian place of worship" is being built near us that has not a single window. If you want to go on a Sunday you have to phone up to get permission to go.The whole building shouts stay away your presence may contaminate us.
That is not the kind of message Jesus sent. He got his hands dirty and came along side people in their suffering and got involved and that is what the church should do! We are called to be salt and light! It is the Pharisees who shut out the world and in shutting out the world they shut the door of The Kingdom against themselves
God is calling out into the world with a heart full of love and the life changing message of the gospel! Its great if our church architecture reflects that but its essential our lives do!
PS I got a public dressing down from the trek leader for taking photos when I should have been concentrating on riding . I hope I received it with due humility!

The Spirit's Edge

The Spirits Edge is Debra and Alan Hirchs title for their excellent piece (chapter 3) of "untamed" on The Holy Spirit.
At the beginning of the chapter the couple share something of their early Christian church experiences which were divided between a Pentecostal church and a fundamentalist church (in their words not a lot of fun but a whole lot of mental!)

They point out some lessons they learned of things to avoid in church life and come up as usual with some thought provoking quotes, like "As important as theology is in guiding our understanding of God ,it must never be a substitute for our relationship to God Himself" and "Believers who have made God into a system of ideas,need to risk being overwhelmed by God again if they wish to be authentic disciples"

After this section the authours move onto describe some of the characteristics that should mark the presence of The Spirirt in our lives and our community.

Firstly creativity
Alan and Debra point out that The Spirit is the agent of creation He is creative!Therefore we should not be surprised that people motivated By The Holy Spirit get creative and entrepreneurial.
Where The Spirit is there will be lots of new things happening!
I must say I hadn't thought of creativity as a mark of The Spirits presence but I am convinced .It is certainly true that life in a church without The Holy Spirit moving can be fairly boring. I don't suppose it is The Spirit that inspires people to say " We have never done it this way before" I rejoice that our church is beginning to be more adventurous and creative- A sign that God is at work!

secondly,"Risky Mission"
The Father is a sending God and the Son is the sent one and together they send The Spirit into the world. The Spirit is a missionary. We only needs to look at the book of Acts to know that The advance of The Kingdom is a sure sign of The Spirits presence but as Hirsch and Hirsch note where the Kingdom advances there is bound to be spiritual conflict for as Paul reminded us "we wrestle not against flesh and blood"
When you see a church with a passion to love Jesus and share Him with others and that work is opposed, then you know The Holy Spirit is at work!

The third mark of The Spirit's presence is communitas
Communitas is something Alan Hirsch talks about in his book The Forgotten Ways Handbook" He defines it as the kind of strong committed community that forms in the context of a dangerous ordeal or challenging task.Christians need to move beyond a nodding acquaintance to being comrades and adventurers together. Christianity is not meant to be safe but is meant to be a great community adventure .The most exciting and rewarding times in church are when we are serving Jesus together and there is a sense of The Spirit leading us into building The Kingdom

I long to see more of these things in my life and in the life of the church I serve.Creativity,risky mission and communitas ,3 marks of The Spirits presence. My favourite hymns are ones that describe some of the hardship ,the excitement and the eventual triumph of Jesus and (through Him )His followers. How we need to allow The Spirit to reignite our Passion for Jesus!


We will look at some other marks of The Spirit's presence in my next post

It really is all about relationships

Everything I am reading at the moment tells me that it really is all about relationships !

Hague's biography of William Wilberforce makes it clear that Wilberforce was inspired,encouraged and helped in his desire to abolish slavery by the Clapham sect (though it was not a sect!)Out of this group of like minded Christians came charity schools in Ireland,relief of the poor in London,education initiatives in Africa,the Church Missionary Society ,the Sunday School union,the British and Foreign bible society .They founded a cancer hospital,2 eye hospitals ,sent Christan missionaries to India,and, of course ,the abolition of slavery, among many other things.
Here were a group of people who shared their lives together with the express intention of making a difference and they certainly made a difference!
It is powerful when Christians act like that and my desire for the church that I help lead is that we would have strong,intentional,accountable relationships among leaders (and indeed everyone) which seek to build the Kingdom of God among the places God has given us to serve in.

Our calling from God is to be disciples and make disciples and as Alan Hirsch reminds us in Forgotten Ways " For the follower of Jesus ,discipleship is not the first step in a promising career,but the fulfillment of their destiny to be conformed to the image of Christ" (Romans 8 v29)

It is often true in church life that we can get caught up with the petty and the insignificant but if we are called to be a disciple and make disciples what do we practically give our time to?

That's a key question that I am pondering at the moment. I am about to read a book on Christian mentoring) but the short( and all embracing answer!) is "to God and to people" How ? well the post below this one gives the answer in relationship to God. I quote
"Maintaining a healthy spiritual life that includes a deep, authentic relationship with God—one marked by prayer, humility, godliness, and the fruits of the Spirit"

Often we can try and meet other peoples expectations "go to this meeting ,represent the church there, support that church ministry,"but if we are called to be disciples some of this will have to go. In chapter 5 of his book Missional Renaissance Reggie McNeal spells out some of the adjustments leaders need to make, not least in terms of time, and I commend the chapter and the book to you
He concludes by emphasising the importance of intentional relationships- A church that ceases to be about people has become an institution. We must give our time to developing people ,to making disciples of Jesus.

Buildings,constitutions,committees have a place but they are not the key thing .It really is all about relationships! "Love God & Love your neighbour" Be a disciple ,make disciples
Sounds simple but there is a lifetimes service and ministry in there !

God give us strenghth to make the changes we need to make,in order to be the people we need to be!

Missional church

Over the last couple of months we have hosted 3 events which were designed to enable people to ask friends ,neighbours and families to church. To make the easy invite if you like.
Firstly we had a curry evening to which over 100 came ,then an afternoon tea which attracted about 70 ,and finally last Sundays brunch which brought in over 130 people.

We will do more of this in the future but I thought it worthwhile to use this blog to give my impression of how things went and see what we did right and any lessons we could learn.
The Positives
1. People came .I was impressed with the numbers who came to all 3 events .It is true most were from church but there was also a sizeable number who rarely or never come on Sundays and even better many of those people were from our local community.We took a step of faith and it paid off!

2. The food and ambience we created for all 3 occasions was good and this was appreciated and remarked on by those who came

3.People commented on us raising money for others. In this instance water aid and our local hospice

4.There was a great team spirit among those who worked together to make it happen,it was a great bonding exercise!

5.Some great conversations took place which we hope will in time lead to great relationships with others

6.It was fun !Certainly it changed some peoples preconceptions of church. One woman who has been coming to church for years said "that was fantastic Thats what church should be like"!.Everybody seemed to join in Liz Cowburns rendition of the 12 days of Christmas

7 It got us looking outwards to others needs which is vital for our future instead of being obsessed with our own needs

So there certainly is alot to be happy about but as I looked around at all 3 events I also realised we had a lot to learn too

Challenges
1.While many of our people do ask people some obviously find it very tough to do that.
Somehow we need to train people to make the invites! Is it because so many of us don't know people we could ask? If so how do we change that?

2. People obviously find it difficult to meet new people .Looking round the room it was obvious that some very committed Christians found it a struggle to speak to people they dont know, even people in the church they dont know well! How can we encourage them not to huddle together but to share with others? A big task

3.Prayer I wonder how many of us are intentionally praying for people to come to faith and then inviting them along

All in all though ,really enjoyable ocasions that if anything exceeded my expectations