care quality commission

Following on from the Care Quality Commission's damning report on NHS elderly care   Joan Bakewellasks the key question where do we learn to care? and then says that she learned it in church
you can hear the whole interview here
press here

latest pictures - town centre building

We had a meeting with the developers of the town centre site this afternoon.
Afterwards we took the chance to go round the building. There are a lot of people on site now and the work is moving rapidly forward
Rob took loads of pictures to show to the church but I took a few to put on this blog Here they are!

Who remembers flannelgraphs?

Ah flannelgraphs I remember them well!
I was worse than hopeless at using them despite once going on a child evangelism course!
What interested me about this post was that it seems both the medium and part of the message have changed ,in the UK at least!
Press here

Alpha week 1

Alpha

On Sunday night we held the first session proper of our new Alpha Course.
This year we are running it with our friends and neighbours at The Abbey and St Peter's which has been fun as it is always good to meet other Christians.

The unusual start time of 6pm on a Sunday meant we are starting with pudding or cake rather than a full blown meal and this obviously suited enough people for us to break into 2 very viable small groups following Nicky Gumbel's talk.

I have run Alpha courses where I (or someone else) have delivered Nicky's talks live, but showing them on dvd is equally effective as long as the technology works fine which, thanks to Paul ,ours did last night.

I have heard these talks probably 20 times or so over the years and have therefore heard the jokes and illustrations that Nicky uses to hold peoples attention many times. After a while they do stop being funny BUT what cannot be denied is that he is a great communicator who gets across the essential facts in a memorable and easy to understand way , that last night provoked plenty of discussion.

However having used Alpha and other courses, in different churches over many years,I am convinced it really is all about relationships and providing a safe space for people to explore the Christian faith for themselves

We finished in good time and I was delighted it was a very promising first session

lessons for church leadership from Steve Jobs

The BBC news today led with the death of Steve Jobs, who was a remarkable man by any standards.

Saw this on The Gospel Coalition site which I thought was worth sharing press here

There is also some good stuff here that much of which could usefully be applied to church life  press here

Mission Shrewsbury

Over the years I have come to appreciate the advice and fellowship Mission Shrewsbury provides
At difficult times in past years the friendship,advice and above all the prayers of other church leaders has enabled perseverance and provided great encouragement.
It has also been really good that as church leaders who have a passion for the Kingdom to be built in our local community we can meet to plan evangelism and pray together
This morning was our monthly meeting and Nick from Hope Church led us as we prayed for each other and shared together.It is good to be with people who have a vision, not just for their own church but every church and indeed the whole community.
I am very thankful for this bunch of people !

A morning with our church leaders

We had a great session with our church leaders yesterday !
We gathered on a beautiful October morning to think and to pray about about our priorities in the next 1-3 years.

These are a great bunch of people, who have stuck with the church through good times and the bad, and we have travelled an exiting but not always easy journey together

In the process we have grown and built strong relationships with a high level of mutual trust.
Given all that it was no surprise that we were agreed as to what those priorities should be.

I won't post them on here yet because we need to share them with the church first(though reading this blog would allow anyone to make an educated guess as to what they are !)

The task now is to make sure that we focus our prayers and energy on those priorities and make sure we have the people and the structures in place to fulfil God's purposes for us

We enjoyed lunch in the garden together before heading for home!

As a postsript in the morning we asked ourselves these questions to both give us context and guide our prayers.I found them online (but have forgotten where Sorry!)
and adapted them slightly for our situation


1. When was the last time I heard from God? Am I doing what he called me to do?

2. What should our church be known for in this community?

3. Are we really focusing our time, money, leadership, prayer behind the things that will produce life change and community impact?

4. Is our church growing both spiritually and in numbers?


5. Is there a clear path to help people take steps in their faith with the ultimate goal of them becoming fully-devoted followers of Christ? (ie disciples)

6. What does a disciple of Christ looks like?

7. Are we empowering the people of God to do God’s work?


8. Are we developing leaders?

9. Do believers see their ministry happening only at the church or have they become missionaries to their families, their neighborhoods, their workplaces, their schools, etc

10 Do I have the right leaders around me to accomplish the vision?