Summer 2013
Andy Writes
A soundbite never buttered a parsnip” said former Prime Minister John Major in the run up to his 1997 election defeat, an ironic soundbite attacking, er, soundbites! I think what he meant was it is all very well talking a good game, giving rousing speeches, saying the right things, but actually what matters is action. I think sadly the same is true for the Church, there are some within our Churches who ‘talk a good game’ yet when it actually counts they don’t show up, don’t roll up their sleeves, don’t commit and aren’t there when you need them. Jesus told a story of two brothers who the Father asked to go and work in the fields, one said: “Of course I’ll go dad” but stayed on the sofa drinking beer (okay bit of poetic licence there!); the other at first refused, before changing his mind (and heart) and went and helped his father. I was reminded of the story of Samson (it is a challenging an uncomfortable story for a 21st century audience); Samson is something of a picture of the nation of Israel, or later the Church of Christ, full of potential, filled by the Spirit of God from birth, gifted and equipped, and yet Samson’s life is marked as someone who squandered his potential, distracted by his lusts and love of violence to lead be a faithful servant of God, although, like the thief crucified next to Jesus, he makes good at the very end of his life (and is found in the heroes list of fame in Hebrews 11). On Trinity Sunday we were reminded by Glyn Blaize of the authority we have as Christians, sent by the Father, with the message of Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, good news for the whole of creation. Like Samson, we as the Church are filled with the Spirit from birth –in fact the Church was born by the Spirit descending at Pentecost-and are gifted by God and equipped. We also look at our own heritage, some great bible believing Godly leaders have prayerfully led the people here,
1
with some wonderful resources at our disposal (although I know we are short of cash and blar, blar, blar). We have great potential, we just don’t often realise it. We may have some excuses why God couldn’t use us here, but that is all they are, excuses. God is not limited by our limitations. People sometimes try and have a quiet word with me telling me why God can’t move in Kingswood, and I’m sure they are being well meaning, yet I simply don’t believe it to be true. I re-iterate that the only difference between us and the first Christians in the book of Acts is time, the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the grave can be as active within us now as them then. It is the same Holy Spirit that transformed the lives of the miners of Kingswood, causing them to cry ‘white tears of repentance’ and change the nation. The same Holy Spirit who birthed the greatest missionary movement (outside the book of Acts) when Francis of Assisi stood literally naked in the town Centre, with nothing except his love for his Saviour and the fire of the Spirit. So a challenge for us all, are we people who talk a good game but do nothing to advance the Kingdoms cause? We have great potential, but are we like Samson, squandering our time, resources and blessings on the wrong things? Do we need, like Samson, to seize the moment, grab the God-moment-opportunities, turning our words into action? Andy Team Vicar - Kingswood Team Ministry
"Every day holds the possibility of a miracle."
Elizabeth David
2
“We pray that here strangers will become friends, And friends meet with Jesus Christ”. Archdeacon Christine Froude at the Launch of All Souls’ Southey Park. On May 18th we launched All Souls’ Southey Park, a project that has been in the offing for a long time (initially planned by Charles Hutchins and Kelvin Bolton 25 years ago). It was great that so many local Christians came to support us, although we would have loved to see more people from the community come along. It follows a busy weekend of mission, with a cheese and wine evening, with the local councillors, and guests from the forest edge magazine, the mykingswood web page, TenSING youth choir and guests from the parish too. On the Saturday we had a busy day with a coffee morning, followed by a mini sports day on the field with some friends from Station Hill Baptist Church in Chippenham, we also had two mobile teams out headed up by Jimmy Rocks from St. Michael’s and Mark Rich from the Community Church. In the afternoon we had a great time with pampering and arts and crafts with a good number of guest in a buzzing hall which was exciting. In the evening we went and gave out hot chocolate to the kids in the skate park, which was good, we were fortunate to have a team of volunteers come to help us out from the Sanctuary Church in Staple Hill. A couple of weeks before this we had a great evening BBQ at the Kingsmeadow flat, where Jimmy Rocks was able to give his testimony and speak about his life, sharing his feelings of being written off, and then discovering that Jesus gives us a point and a purpose for life. It has been an exciting journey to get to this point, and my guess is that
3
it will take a while for us to become established here locally, but I believe that if we keep persevering we will see breakthrough in this community. A verse which has been close to my heart as we have sought God over all of this has been: “Let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up” Gal 6:9
Exile
Recently I have heard a number of preachers refer to those periods of Jewish history outlined in the Old Testament and referred to as exile. The exile they have been talking about is the exile in Babylon and not the exile in Egypt, though this would have served their purpose equally well should they have chosen it. Their theme will be familiar. If my memory serves me well I preached on an exilic psalm myself on the occasion of my inauguration service in the Cathedral almost ten years ago (time flies when you’re enjoying yourself!). Preachers look around them and take in what they see. What they saw in the community of God’s people in exile in Babylon has some parallels with the Church in our nation today. The sense that the Church is a marginal and minority voice in a world of boundless unbelief and secularization. The 2011 Census results show that those who self-define themselves as Christian has dropped by 11% in just ten years. Like those Jews of old in exile, we wonder where it will all end? Living in a culture whose values and beliefs are not our own is not easy. Feeling we are a minority is not a bed of roses either, although it does at least help us better empathise with other minority groups. Of course it’s easy to overdo this and not everything that the world regards as progres-
4
sive is bad simply because we didn’t think of it. We need the wisdom to be clear in our minds so we can see the difference between good progress and bad. That said, I can see some parallels between the mindset of those Jews of old and where we Christians find ourselves here in the West in the 21st century. • They showed signs of flagging morale. The culture in which they found themselves was alien and not necessarily open to them practicing their religion. They constantly wondered where God was in all this. • They showed a sense of lost perspective. They stopped believing that ‘things could only get better.’ They had an inclination to behave and identify themselves as victims. In Ezekiel we also see a people who blamed their present lot on the sin of their predecessors (Ezekiel 18). They almost became their own self-fulfilling prophecy. • They didn’t know how best to live in that alien culture. Should they withdraw and keep themselves to themselves? Well such tactics really never work and tend to create a very inward looking community absorbed with issues that frankly no-one else remotely thinks of as even worthy discussion. Should they simply accommodate the new culture. Just ‘go with the flow’. To some extent we all find ourselves doing that and the fact that today, many of the people who attend our churches look like everybody else, is proof enough that none of us will escape the need and the tendency to accommodation, but only up to a point. The problem is that we can’t agree on when we have passed the point of no return!
5
Or the other temptation is just to endlessly complain. I am of the age now where that is such a temptation to my friends and me. Supper parties where we all bang on about ‘health and safety gone mad’, politicians, the way the world is compared to the (sentimental) world in which we were brought up, ‘those wonderful red telephone boxes and the sound of a steam train, yada, yada’ It may be good sport, but it doesn’t really move
anyone on! Alienated people have a deep need to complain. You can quickly begin to see that there are some parallels. It would be easy to let our morale sink in our present context. It would be easy to wonder where God is in all these depressing statistics. It’s easy to blame others – General Synod, our forbears, the way we’re trained, politicians, whatever, but we must never allow ourselves to sink in the mire of blame culture. Apart from anything else it’s extremely disempowering. It means we shall never take responsibility for improvement and just get stuck. The prophets told it how it was and how it might be. They pointed out some hard truths, but they were also bearers of hope. We are a people of hope. St Theresa thought of Lent as ‘preparing for the joy of Easter.’ Before that joy there was a cross, but that was not the end of the story, for the cross is today an empty cross. We are people of hope because we are people of resurrection. As Tony Campolo put it, ‘it’s Friday, but Sunday’s a’comin’.
A Simple Step Of Faith
Recently we had an exciting meeting with Greg Sharples is the Kings Arms pub, there were other Christians from the Congregational Church, Bourne Christian Centre and Suburbs Church (which meets in Longwell Green); talking about what we can do to see the people of Kingswood, won for Christ. A moment I had dreamt of for so long, when Christians locally don’t argue about trivialities but instead unite around the cause of seeing God’s Kingdom advanced here locally in our community. Inspiring. Greg spoke simply of planting ‘simple Churches’ around discipleship, chatting to people and asking them: “where can I meet you to talk about this further?” and “is there anyone else you’d like to bring along with
6
you to talk further about this stuff?” and small, organic ‘simple churches’ have sprung up, they are very fragile communities, Greg says he planted 8 of these communities but a year later only 2 of these are still meeting. Yet the thing that challenged me the most, was the simple step of faith reminding me that “Jesus is enough”, so often we try and dress up evangelism behind a flashy event, or a big activity, with a large pre-planned budget… yet the disciples (the 72) were sent out by Christ, with nothing, not even an over-coat, and yet these guys saw God move in ways we as local Church today dream of seeing again. Greg is helping us do a mission down at All Souls’ Southey Park, “Awaken” –as Wesley’s revival in this area was called the ‘Great Awakening” and I don’t know about you, but I long to see what happened here with John Wesley happen here again, in our day, Andy
“All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.”
St. Francis of Assisi
7
Awaken Mission in Kingswood
“Lord, I have heard of your fame, I stand in awe of your deeds renew them in our day”. The revival which started here in Kingswood with George Whitfield and John Wesley was dubbed the Great Awakening, but now the only signs that a great work of God happened here locally are the number of Churches dotted up the High Street (which are sadly mainly half empty) and a few of our local road names. We are holding another Mission in the parish, although I would like to think we are perpetually living missionally together as Church. We are being joined by friends from Pip ‘n’ Jay in town with their evangelist Greg Sharples, who is an ordinand from St. Mellitus theological college in London, and be great if people from Kingswood would come and join us.
8
Here is the programme: Thursday 07:30 PM 09:00 AM 10:00 AM 12:30 PM
Friday
02:30 PM 07:00 PM 08:00 PM
12:00 PM Saturday 05:00 PM 07:30 PM
Arrive and fellowship meal, with some training about healing on the streets. team prayer offering prayer in Kingswood Town centre. Lunch Together Training in prophetic evangelism. Some practical out working. Dinner together some more street stuff. Craft fayre in the New Cheltenham Community Centre. meal in aid of LOVE146 charity. Raise the roof 2, also in aid of LOVE146 charity.
"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy, nor suffer much, because they live in a grey twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."
T. Roosevelt
9
Cookie Cutter Church
Most of my family and close friends know I am one of those people who will not be found baking tasty treats in the kitchen for hours on end. When I was a kid, the compulsion to bake only arose once a year around Christmas time. We kept our set of metal cookie cutters, maybe 20 of them in all different shapes and sizes, in a plastic bag. But year after year, as the dough was chilling, I would reach into the bag and select the same five shapes to use over and over again. The reasoning was simple: they fitted the season, I knew the dough wouldn’t get stuck in them and their shapes baked well in the oven. I could expect my cookies to be ready to eat. Duh. Why would you even risk trying anything else? Years later and I’ve begun to wrestle with that same question as it applies to ministry. Apart from beginning my ministry with the launch of a church plant, much of my experience as a pastor has been in the shape of what most people would draw if they selected ‘Church’ in a game of Pictionary: a building with or without steeple; preacher/pastor; pulpit; choir or worship group; Christians studying the Bible; money given to the poor; a busy car park. If we took a drive around your town, most likely we could pick out at least a dozen churches with similar shapes, actions, ministries, and advertisement campaigns telling people their church is the best thing since the invention of the chocolate chip. Kind of like a Cookie-cutter Church. And the fact is, many of us really have wondered what Church could be like beyond those same four or five shapes we’ve been using year af-
10
ter year in stone buildings, brick sanctuaries, church plants, and historic communities. Many of us have experienced some kind of call from God tugging at our heart, calling us to reach into the bag and pull out a new shape of ministry to try—one that fits better around the countless people in our community who have no desire to enter the form of Cookie-cutter Church, yet who still need the Gospel. But when you risk picking up a new cookie-cutter, you have to put an old one down and that’s what scares us so much. We don’t know HOW it’s going to work or IF it’s going to work. There’s something comforting about having that sermon and minutes on your desk, those events and expectations on your calendar. It’s not that the traditional cookie-cutters of what we are used to as Church aren’t mission-shaped; it’s just that the Holy Spirit does not restrict us to using only them. Just as the early Church took on various forms in various places, led by disciples who understood the boundaries as well as the flexibility of the Spirit, God has gifted and called some of us to do the same. It’s interesting how the attractiveness of following that call often varies with our present circumstance. As a relatively ‘green’ pastor, I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if I didn’t have to choose between mission and maintenance but instead be mission empowered and endowed by maintenance – as well as being given a share of the same materials and resources to get the new cookie-cutter started. I can’t help but wonder what would happen if I followed the call to fresh expressions of church, regardless of what success or failure I may find myself in. I can’t help but wonder if God might be waiting for us to use some of the other cookie-cutters he’s given, those that arise in the dreams of you and me. But first, we’ve got to step into the kitchen. Kris Beckert
11
“It is the Highlight of My Year” is how one
lady described the HTK Fayre and Flower Festival. It certainly was a good occasion, with plenty of people who do not normally come to church, coming into the Church and Church Hall and enjoying being with us. The flowers looked magnificient and as you walked into Church you were hit with their beautiful fragrance. Well done to everyone who worked so hard to make this such a wonderful event.
Congratulations To
Rev. Chris Evans on her ordination as priest/ presbyter at Bristol Cathedral. There will be a celebration at Holy Trinity on 7th July after Chris’s first Communnion (11am), also we will be saying goodbye to Leighton as his Curacy comes to an end.
Why Worry
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money... Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?... But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (matthew 6:24-34)
12
Prayers
Sunday
We pray for all our services within the parish - including All Souls Southey Park- ‘our shop window to the world’ that in all we do we can make Christ known to the people of this parish. Pray we see prodigals return home, Christians going deeper, and lives and communities transformed. Monday We pray for all the home groups and discipleship that happens within the parish that we may reflect Christ in all we do, in every area of our lives, being transformed into his likeness, and seeking to reach out to a hurting and broken world with the love and good news of Jesus Christ.
Tuesday
We pray today for the next generation, we pray for Café Tots, for Elevenses, youth group. Pray that we may see this next generation reached for Christ, and encouraged and equipped to follow him and become like him.
Wednesday
We pray for work in local schools, especially pray that we might be able to strengthen our relationship with local secondary schools. Thursday We pray for lunchbox, Down Under, the E-prayer-network and the prayer chain, everything that helps gel people together. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, that you love one another”, pray that in all our dealings with one another we maybe loving and gracious. Friday We pray for the Street Pastors, that God will keep them safe, pray too for real opportunities to serve and bless our community, and opportunities to talk to people about Jesus.
Saturday
We pray for the other Churches in this area, especially for our friends at Hanham and Soundwell, that we maybe united in Christ, standing on scripture, kneeling before the cross of Christ, and led by his Spirit, that we can see God’s Kingdom come more fully in this local area.
13
The Parable Of The Lifesaving Station On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude little lifesaving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, they went out day or night tirelessly searching for the lost. Â Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding areas, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little lifesaving station grew. Â Some of the new members of the lifesaving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and so poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea. They replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in an enlarged building. Now the lifesaving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they redecorated it beautifully and furnished it as a sort of club. Less of the members were now interested in going to sea on lifesaving missions, so they hired life boat crews to do this work. The mission of lifesaving was still given lip-service but most were too busy or lacked the necessary commitment to take part in the lifesaving activities personally. About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired
14
crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet and half-drowned people. They were dirty and sick, some had skin of a different colour, some spoke a strange language, and the beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside. At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club's lifesaving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal pattern of the club. But some members insisted that lifesaving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a lifesaving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the life of all various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own lifesaving station down the coast. They did. As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. They evolved into a club and yet another lifesaving station was founded. If you visit the seacoast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, but now most of the people drown. Author Unknown Adapted by Stephen Rudd
15
Jesus For President Shane Claiborne “Mixing up Church and State is like mixing ice cream with cow manure. It may not do much to the manure, but it sure messes up the ice cream” Tony Campolo, cited in Jesus for President. A book that challenges us to think in a Christian way about those Big Issues (interesting thinking on what shapes our thinking, is it our obedience to Christ or what an editor of a newspaper wants us to think?) –I don’t always agree with him, I am not for example a pacifist, but it is helpful to think in a Christian ways about those issues. Claiborne makes the point that as Christians we don’t just vote in elections but actually we vote for what kind of world we want by the way we live everyday. He talks of a belief that another world is possible (it is written from a very American perspective, but the advantage of this is that any contextualisation is done in your head), but here in the UK I am reminded that this has strong echoes of Lord Shaftsbury, William Wilberforce and the other members of what was dubbed ‘the Clapham Sect’ who believed another world was possible, and whose work transformed the lives of the poorest people in their society (or closer to home of course we have George Muller). The challenge is to quote Shane Claiborne is “to become come the change we seek to see”. Andy
"Some people find themselves stuck between inactive believers and unbelieving activists. We need to find a balance."
Shane Claiborne
16
“This then is how you should Pray”
Prayer draws us more closely into relationship with God, has an impact on the world and energises our Christian lives. Yet many of us find it a challenge. Bishop Lee encourages us to join together in this life-giving discipline. How would you describe your prayer life at the moment? Is it deep, intense and vital or perhaps superficial, cool and perfunctory? Put this way it sounds a rather intimate and private question! We know that prayer is fundamental to Christian discipleship yet many of us recognise that our personal prayer lives are frequently not what they might be. This is especially true of our corporate prayer life. Generally speaking prayer gatherings in our churches are thinly attended unless a particular event or tragedy has galvanised people. At the heart of prayer is a living engagement with God and his purposes for the whole of life, sharing with the Father what matters to us and looking for what matters to him. Articulating our own hopes, desires and frustrations as well as being made conscious of God’s. Prayer draws us into a dynamic relationship with the Son and the Father through the work of the Holy Spirit. We may not know what we ought to pray for, as the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, but God’s Spirit comes alongside and prays with us (Romans 8: 26-7). In this relationship of prayer, what we want and value counts and indeed influences how God acts and what is accomplished. Yet through prayer our wills and values are also realigned with God, as Jesus illustrated in his openness to the Father’s purposes in Gethsemane (Matthew 26: 39).
17
Prayer is not given to us as a burdensome task of discerning what God wants to happen and then praying accordingly. Prayer is a gift before it is a task or discipline. As we give ourselves in prayer for the sake of others, God’s own response is to give himself afresh to us. In the summer of this year, Bishop Mike and I will be visiting deaneries to lead afternoons and evenings of prayer as an aspect of our Diocesan aims of growing in partnership, influence, commitment and numbers. These days will be opportunities to gather before God with one another, to give thanks for the signs of God’s presence and actions in the world and, most significantly, to encounter afresh the One who is able to accomplish immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine (Ephesians 3: 20-21). Bishop Lee
A message from the Pope, to young followers on twitter
Dear young people, the Church expects great things of you and your generosity. Don’t be afraid to aim high. Miracles happen. But prayer is needed! Prayer that is courageous, struggling and persevering, not prayer that is a mere formality. Do not be content to live a mediocre Christian life: walk with determination along the path of holiness. The Holy Spirit transforms and renews us, creates harmony and unity, and gives us courage and joy for mission. Pope Francis the 1st
"Making ourselves available to Jesus 24/7 will wreak havoc on a neat & tidy Christian life"
Mark Bailey
18
The Bible For Dummies
I know what you’re thinking, but hear me out. You may have come across the “For Dummies” series before (some of you know I play bass guitar, and I have Bass Guitar For Dummies) It’s a pretty good series, there’s one on pretty much every topic you could think of, giving an overview without assuming any prior knowledge of the subject. I actually bought it as a joke birthday present for Rachel but when I started reading it I found it to be a very informative and impressively non-bias look at the book that has undeniably shaped the world. If you’re looking for an overview of the bible that’s not so complicated only a scholar could understand it, this isn’t a bad way to go. Sam
19
Foodbank to come to Kingswood
Starting one day a week in Kingswood at the Bourne Christian Centre (formerly Bristol Community Church) is a foodbank, which provides emergency food for those in trouble who are struggling to feed themselves or their family. In my last parish we shared an office with the head office of the Trussell Trust which runs a chain of Christian Foodbanks, I saw first hand how it made a massive difference to people in trouble (it also stopped our windows getting broken and fly-tipping in the Church overnight, but that's a different story). Do keep your eyes open for their launch, and when we go shopping, maybe worth adding an extra tin to our shopping? For more information do contact Claire at Claire@bournechristiancentre.org Andy
Happy 100th Birthday Ascension!
Ascension has recently just celebrated its 100th Birthday, and had a great service of celebration with Bishop Mike Hill the Bishop of Bristol; who spoke of us being a fragile community reliant on God’s Spirit, with a message for all of creation. A reminder that we were only able to stand here at Ascension in 2013 because of the faithfulness of the saints of the past, and left us with the challenge of what is our legacy to the next generation of disciples and Christ-followers. It was fantastic to be joined in our worship by David Vaughton (former evangelist here), Tim Jenkins (former curate here) and Alistair and Jen-
20
nifer Heggarty who was the Team Vicar before me. On the Friday there was a fantastic cheese and wine evening, and was great to see some guests from the local community come in and hear some of the stories of God touching peoples lives. It was great too to look at the vast array of brilliant photos of ‘the living church –the people’. I was also struck by how well we at Ascension do hospitality, and also fantastic cakes! The Saturday had a quiz afternoon, with Peter relishing the role of Quiz master, I think everyone had a great time (and I’m not just saying that because I was on the winning team! –actually credit needs to go to Graham Dury for his awesome knowledge on such a vast range of subjects!). It was great to see people gelling together, especially great to see tables with Ascension and Trinity folk mixed together… and the less that is said about the dogs doodars the better! Although I didn’t get to the Sunday worship as I was taking Elevenses, from what I hear Alistair preached an absolute blinding sermon and a great time was had over a shared lunch in the afternoon. A massive thank you to all who worked so hard to pull together an amazing weekend of events. I look forward to receiving an invitation in 2063 (when I’m 85) for the 150th Anniversary of Ascension, and hopefully Hope will take the day off from Lambeth palace to wheel her elderly parents back for the celebrations. Joking aside, I believe God has not finished with us yet, and is inviting us to step out into the future with him, knowing that the best is still yet to come. Andy
21
Why are we here?
That was the only item of the agenda, my friend Andy Schuman has just taken over as priest-in-charge of St. Christopher’s near Stockwood, and this was his first PCC meeting. It is a good question. We often say, if we don’t get raise enough money then the Church we will have to close (which is true) but I think it comes back to this main question why are we here? What is the point of being Church in this place. What is the role of the Church? From my reading of scripture the Church is the people of God, not the building (although I’m not saying that buildings are not useful, and there is certainly a theology of place, presence and location that we can derive from scripture). From my reading of scripture it has three functions, to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God, to equip the saints (followers of Jesus Christ) for works of service (seeing God’s Kingdom impact our community) and to preserve and pass on sound doctrine. This is who we are, and what we are meant to be doing, everything else, building, finance, admin etc, are all tools (useful and valuable tools) to achieve this objectives. Sometimes though I feel we have lost the baby and begun to revere the bath-water (!) I’m not saying that if God has entrusted us with some great resources (which he has) then we obviously have a responsibility to steward these wisely, but we need to be aware that we are only stewards of consecrated resources but these actually belong not to us but to Christ, it is his Church, his Kingdom and led by his Spirit, and we are his people, if he is Lord of all, then our lives belong to him, are we being good stewards of the lives God has given us, and the resources he has given us personally; Our time? Our money? Our gifts and skills and abilities? An old evangelist described the Christian as ‘loose change in the pocket of God, with him to do with us as he chooses”. Why do you think you are here? Andy
22
We’re still here! And in some ways this is something to celebrate, that three and a half years on we are still here and going out regularly, and I wonder how many little one off conversations we have had with people over that time? Seen countless tiny miracles, like fights evaporate when we pray, or conversations open up supernaturally, the right person happen to bump into the right person: on one occasion we had someone who couldn’t speak or hear but could sign meet our only Street Pastor fluent in sign language, another who spoke only Czech, ending up speaking to our only street pastor who is from the Czech republic, a helpful reminder that God is the evangelist, not us! We’ve been out on many nights out, and called ambulances on a semi regular basis, mopped up cuts and bruises, given out bottles of water, flip flops and space blankets (on some cold evenings Kingswood at 3:00am looks like the end of the London Marathon). It was great to share our training with the Bristol Street Pastors and great to hear the success of their launch and the support they have had from the police, local council, licensees and also the Bristol Mayor George Ferguson, hoping to go out with them one Saturday night so as to see the difference between the two teams. Sadly we are losing Captain Michael and also Tim Bianchi both who were founding members of Kingswood Street Pastors, and so are praying new people in to the team; we also need more prayer pastors to pray with us through the night (I’ve stayed back myself on a couple of occasions, it actually is a really inspiring and encouraging way to spend a night time), If you’d like to help with this project do chat to me. Andy
"A different world cannot be built by indifferent people"
Peter Marshall
23
Sanctuary
We had a great evening with Nigel Farmer from the Sanctuary, and heard a really inspirational story of how the Sanctuary was planted. Three people aged 23 and 21 left Birmingham and moved to Bristol. They prayed and prayed into their area (Fishponds and Staple Hill), leaflet dropped the area, and did door knocking and also surveys in the local community. Gradually people started to come along, some of the teenagers who first polled up are now, 18 years on, the leaders of this vibrant local Church. They did great youth work and community events, but they kept on proclaiming the good news of Christ, and people began to accept him as their Lord and Saviour. As the Church grew they eventually made their new home in the old cinema in Staple Hill. An inspiration about being a risk taking Church, after-all John Wimber described faith as being spelled R-I-S-K, a call to get out of the boat and walk on the water, knowing that God is faithful.
Just a Thought
I was chatting to John Godfrey about a book called “Church in the Market Place” written by George Carey (before he became Archbishop) reflecting on his time as Vicar of St. Nic’s in Durham. His philosophy was that every group in the Church was at its heart a prayer group, so for example, the PCC/DCC was a prayer group that also managed to business of the Church or the preachers meetings were prayer groups which also sorted out the service themes and the rota… Do we think of the various groups we belong to as ‘prayer groups’, because when we do, we realize all these groups aren’t ours at all, but actually God’s groups in service of God’s Church and mission to God’s area. Andy
24
A Child See’s God Howard Worsley
Howard was one of my lecturers at college, and has been a major influence on my faith and theology; he’s also a top bloke. Despite arriving an hour late, we had a great time when he came to visit us for a Sunday afternoon, he talked about sharing our faith as simply having friendships with people and having conversations about our own journey with God, and why we think what we think and how the Bible shapes our world-view. We laughed a lot, and yet asked some beautiful and profound questions, and I think all of us felt inspired and encouraged to continue to press on further into what God has for us here. Howard spoke too of how as a young child he came to faith (through reading the book of Habakkuk!) and how his doctorial research was based around understand child development alongside spiritual development, and his research is published in a book called “A child sees God”. In A Child Sees God, Howard explores how we can all learn from a child's perspective of the world and shows how a child's eye view of the Bible reveals many interesting ideas about ethics and morality, and provides new ways of understanding these ancient stories. By asking families to read Bible stories to their children and discuss these stories with them, recording the ensuing conversations, he offers not only fresh insights into the meaning and significance of these stories but also reflections on how adults can use the Biblical text in the company of children at different stages of development. Following the theory that all
25
stories ever written fall into one of seven categories, this book shows that the themes of the Bible are no different, dividing stories into sections containing texts of wonder, adventure, leadership, terror, justice, judgement, comfort, hope, comedy, mercy and forgiveness. This fresh look at the Bible through the eyes of children will be a fascinating read for parents, teachers, ministers, and anyone with an interest in child spirituality or ethics. Andy
Celebrate Team
Audrey Higby – 2nd Editor Rev. Andy “The Mace” Mason – Contributor, Creative Control Sam Sheppard – Contributor, Editor Articles also provided by……. Kris Bekert Right Reverend Bishop Mike of Bristol Brent Hunter Right Reverend Bishop Lee of Swindon Questions and Comments to be emailed to s-sheppard@hotmail.co.uk Or Telephone Kingswood Team Ministry Office
26
Kingswood Team Ministry High Street Kingswood South Gloucestershire BS15 4AD