Andy Writes
Tiggers and Eeyores. I don’t know if you are familiar with Whinnie the Pooh (A.A Milne’s famous literary character!) and his friends? One of his friends is an energetic and bouncy tiger called Tigger, and the other is a gloomy donkey with sad eyes called Eeyhor. As we think about Easter, I want us to think about Tiggers and Eeyores, which are we? This isn’t having a go at character types, as we are all wired differently, but I think that there is a spirituality behind both mindsets: Eeyore expects to fail and so not only doesn’t try, but pours cold water on anyone else trying to have a go. Whereas Tigger is relentlessly fighting to build a different future, bringing hope and vision where the people were perishing. Luke’s Gospel and its sequel, the book of Acts, shows the transformation the resurrection brings changing the ‘Eeyore like disciples’ into ‘”Tigger” like Disciples’, this story in miniature just look at the Road to Emmaus. In fact, the whole incarnation story is about God sending a Tigger to earth filled with Eeyore; earth was lost in its sin, far from God, powerless to save themselves and were wallowing in self pity. When Jesus came to show them a different way, the way of Sal-
vation, it was just too costly, painful and difficult to change. The Eeyore mentality meant that they couldn’t see Jesus or accept his life for what it was, the greatest gift humanity has ever been given. Yet I believe we resort back to becoming an Eeyore very easily, we forget who Christ is, we forget not only what he has done, but what he is capable of, and ignore his nature, a missionary God not wanting anyone to perish but wanting all to come into his loving arms of embrace and live the missional life of transformation that he calls us too. Too often we look at the size of our problems rather than the size of our God (who is bigger than any problem we face). In many ways God the Holy Spirit is another ‘Tigger’ described brilliantly by one theologian as ‘the Holy Spirit shoots adrenaline into the veins of a weary army’ –a very different way of look at being people of the resurrection. Putting to death our old selves and being clothed with the resurrected life of Christ. Another theologian said “the antidote to apathy is a dangerous prayer: it’s simple “Come Holy Spirit”. What of us? Do we need to leave our brokenness, our cynicism, our jadedness and all that pulls our eyes and our hearts from Christ’s throne at the foot of his cross, and maybe pray the prayer banishing apathy as we seek to live out resurrection life, “Come Holy Spirit, Come”. “If anyone is in Christ they are a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come 2 Corinthians 5:17 Andy
A Tea Time Service
I was seeking some "Me Time" Worship when a friend invited me to her Church for their 'Tea Time Service'. Not knowing what to expect (or whether this was 'for me') I decided to go along. It started out by meeting old friends that I hadn't seen in years, it was a feeling of 'belonging', in a place I didn't know, yet I did know it was over-flowing with the Holy Spirit. I had a wonderful hour of worship, praise and singing, as well as free cakes and tea and full of God's free love. I wanted so much to bring this into Church of the Ascension. Putting this idea forward everyone gave it their blessing for me to try this service. Jim and Debbie Williams had a spare date for the 1st Sunday in March, Pat Robson played the guitar and sang, Wendy Keepin played the flute. The wonderful talents of all these performers made up such a big part of the service. Peter came and gave a talk. My prayer the night before was "Okay Lord, I will invite people to join us for our Tea Time Service but will you bless it, is that a deal?" (Of Course) I didn't doubt him, well, not until the Sunday afternoon when it poured down with rain, yet never mind the rain, people poured into our Church. It was overflowing with God's blessing and faithfulness. To all who made this service so special my grateful thanks, thanks too to Heather and co for setting up the teas. Gods every blessing to you all.
Jill Ewans.
Our version of Messy Church, now in it’s 4th year, meeting once a month, with a regular congregation of 60-90 people, from 0-98 years, across 4 generations of families. Here, mostly, unchurched families come month after month, to be part of Our Church FAMILY, we are blessed, Praise God. This time is precious, one hour a month to have fun, meet together to talk, share how your month has been, and show Gods love. We get to eat together, drink, make crafts, do activities, sing, pray, laugh, listen to God’s word, in a informal , fun way, and just be together to grow in God’s love. Myself and Shannon Lloyd , one of our teenagers, attended a training day last month, by Lucy Moore, founder of Messy Church, where we discussed Does Messy Church make disciples? This question we discussed should be asked of all our services, do we make disciples?? The majority of families who come to Elevenses are unchurched people, and choose to come to this style of service because it is comfortable, informal, relaxed, and it considers both children and both adults needs, during the same service. This is a growing congregation, and I was shocked to hear most churches who
put on a Messy Church, the morning, running the service, and clearing away! Now I realize why it feels so exhausting, and am relieved it is only once a month! But it truly is a fantastically rewarding service, where everyone who comes thoroughly enjoys themselves, and leave with more than they arrive with, in Gods Love. This is to demonstrate to you, how passionate I feel about working with our children/young people, please come and talk to me anytime if you are keen to offer yourself in our Lords service working with our children, I would love to heard from you. Mandy
Congratulations go to Allana, Fiona and Mandy for an amazing ladies night; Fifty Shades of Grace (with Rev. Karen Jones) was a real success, thank you so much for your hard work making the evening such a success.
Whole Life Discipleship
Andy reviews the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity day on ‘Whole Life Discipleship’ at Christ Church Downend. A simple test to find out if you are in full-time Christian Ministry: Question One: Do you love Jesus? (if yes, go on to question two) Question Two: Do you have a pulse? If yes to both questions then you are in full-time-Christian Ministry. That doesn't mean you have to be in Church 24-7, in fact the opposite might be true! Christ Church Downend put on a day with the London Institute of contemporary Christianity (L.I.C.C). They talked about 'whole life discipleship?' and asked us all 'where was our front line?' or "where will be this time tomorrow?" which is not only our mission field but the environment where we need to live out our faith.
Being broken and poured out
The woman broke her jar and poured out all of her perfume. She lavishly wasted everything that was of value to her. Breaking her jar effectively eliminated any chance of keeping any for her own use, then or later. She gave everything she had-past, present, and future-to Him. Jesus said that people would remember her remarkable love forever. Then at the last supper, those same words appeared again. He broke His body and poured out His blood for us. This time when you read Jesus saying, "Do this in remembrance of me," don't just picture crackers and grape juice. See communion as a picture of what it calls us to. He was beckoning us to do what He did: be broken and poured out. Go all in. Hold nothing in reserve. Completely relinquish control. That's what would truly commemorate what Jesus did. Not cherishing a ritual, but being a memorial. What should "broken and poured out" look like in your life? Paul Mundy One of the E-Prayer Networks “Sunday Sermons�, Paul is one of the administrators on the EPN and a member of All Souls Southey Park
You have talked in church about finding “people of peace” - what does that mean? This is really important—it’s someone who is open and responsive to Jesus, and it comes straight from Jesus’ teaching about how to reach out to others (Matthew 10, Mark 6, Luke 9 and 10). “Peace” here means a spiritual greeting, and Jesus instructs disciples to look for a person on whom their peace rests. This is someone who is responsive to God’s kingdom. I might ask something spiritual like “Can I pray with you?” More people want to be prayed for, but a person of peace will take a bigger spiritual leap. It takes a bit of effort to discern people of peace over time, and it is often unexpected and surprising. One of our neighbours said they would like prayer for their knee when we went carol singing—they might be a person of peace.
The important thing is recognising that this is about people’s responsiveness to God and not us. We should pursue relationships in a way which doesn’t put people off, but we are looking for where God is working with people. In a person of peace, a word is sown and they feed back about the difference that it makes over a period of time. I find myself asking “Am I the kind of disciple I would want to see reproduced?” And it can be hard working out of a church culture where some think we need a critical mass of other Christians before we can start to disciple others and join mission. We need to understand that being on God’s mission is not a
special thing for evangelists, but everyone. We can also misunderstand what mission is. God’s kingdom is always unfolding—it’s not a project we initiate. It’s actually a lot easier to join in God’s mission and find his people of peace than to try and build a church by attracting people ourselves. Greg Sharples
Sharing Our Faith
“The only purpose of the Church is to go out to tell the world the good news about Jesus Christ. … But the Church has got too wrapped up in itself. It is too navel gazing. It has become self referential which has made it look sick.” Pope Francis. “The Gospel of Jesus Christ is indeed THE good news for our times. God is always good news; we are the ones who make ourselves irrelevant when we are not good news. And when we are good news, God’s people see growing churches”. Archbishop Justin. Two church leaders. One agenda; growing churches. We are committed to growing churches in the Diocese of Bristol. Our Growth Programme, focusing on growth in commitment, partnership, influence and numbers, has caught the vision of many across the Diocese. But it appears we’re not alone in concerning ourselves with growth. The Times recently ran a feature on a congregation in London, one which gathers in a church building on a Sunday morning, sits on uncomfortable chairs, sings songs, listens to a talk, greets their neighbour, hears about some community action projects and files out at the end to coffee and cake in the hall after shaking hands at the door. It started as a few friends on Facebook in January and has mushroomed to a gathering of hundreds, with an aspiration towards 30 more ‘congregation plants’ around the country by the end of the year. Sounds like a church. Looks like a church. Even feels a
bit like a church. But this is the ‘Sunday Assembly’, a secular event for non-believers, founded by a comedian and a musician. God is entirely absent. It’s quite encouraging, though, that so many young people want to gather together in this way. In many senses they are doing everything the Christian church has always done. They even take a collection! And people want to come. People do want to meet with others. People do want to discuss the big topics of the day. People do even quite like singing songs together, so it seems. What we, the Christian Church, have got that the Sunday Assembly hasn’t is the living, transforming presence of Almighty God, the power of the Holy Spirit at work, and the Word of God which bears witness to the Living Word, Jesus Christ, who lived and died and rose again from the dead to bring us life in all its fullness. The Sunday Assembly’s motto “live better, help often and wonder more” seems somewhat lame in comparison. The Sunday Assembly shows us that numerical growth is all too possible. In the Diocese of Bristol any growth in numbers must be founded on something much deeper and more lasting than singing a few songs with some nice people. We will settle for nothing less than growth that is profoundly rooted and grounded in the good news of Jesus Christ and the response of people to his invitation to come and drink from the water of life. Bishop Mike
Simple Church
So, what is 'Simple Church' and what does that involve? Right now I spend one morning a week in the Wild Goose crisis centre, reading scripture with someone who has committed to coming, and with others interested. We read a chapter of Mark’s gospel and ask: • What most caught your attention? • What does the passage show you about God? • What difference is that going to make to your life now? • Who are you going to share what you have learned with? We talk about how things are going with our faith, our friends and family, and our work and productivity. We share accountability about how God is working in our lives - what are we wanting, what are we committing to, how is it going, and praying about the things which are going on. It's really quite a chaotic environment, not the bible study environment church people are used to. Phones go off, people get into other conversations, and they ask very random questions like “What if aliens created us?" It’s very different from our church culture. (but) I’m meeting people who are interested in God. It turns out that most people have some interest in God or a spirituality or something more than they can see. They are often put off by religion or a sense of what they have to do - going to church, stop doing whatever... I am asking the questions of what does it look like to be all you can be, and would God be part of that? If God is full of love for us and has freedom for us to live in, how does that start to work out in our lives? What does it mean to be a group of people following Jesus? Discipleship doesn't happen through one conversation.
Victory Church
A small group of us from All Souls' went up to Victory Church in Cwmbran a few weeks ago. Victory Church recently was in the news as something of a mini revival was happening there, with an evening meeting happening every night of the week, and many people coming to faith. Their vision is not build 'nice, safe, middle class Churches' but rather being Christ-like and seeing Churches built up amongst the marginalised and disenfranchised, the poor, the hurting, the broken (after-all Jesus said: "those who are well don't need a doctor but only those who are sick). Their vision over the next 5 years is to see 100 Churches planted. Great to see a Church where many (the majority possibly?) of the members had piercings and tattoos, -not just Churches nicking people from each others congregationsgreat to see the dream of seeing indigenous Church before our very eyes. The Pastor himself comes from this life, and gave us all a book called "to catch a thief " which is his story of coming to Christ. I think that sometimes look out beyond our contexts reminds us afresh that God is great and mighty and at work in our nation. Andy
A Calling To Be Witnesses
Bishop Mike has been a good this month and has contributed two fantastic articles, so good we thought we’d submit them both! “Sitting in a cafe a few days ago with my daughter, Naomi we found ourselves sitting next to a man who was clearly on his own and very likely my sort of age. After a bit of banter about the fact that he supported the Arsenal, I asked him how his life was. His response was to ask me how long I had got! He then went on to tell me that basically his life had always been unhappy. His father died when he was young and his elder brother joined the Merchant Navy as soon as he was able. When he came home on leave, his brother drank heavily and would regularly physically attack him and their mother. At the age of 16 he ran away from home and as far as I could tell had never seen either his mother or his brother ever again. Our conversation took a turn when he asked me, “Are you religious or something?” I told him that I wasn’t religious, but I was a Christian believer. “What’s the difference?” He asked. I told him that religion was about ticking boxes and trying hard, but that Christianity was about a God of grace who loves us even when we don’t deserve it and who sent His Son into the world to live amongst us, to die upon a Cross in order that we might be reconciled to God and reconciled to one another. “Never really thought about that before” he responded.
The very same day I was chatting to my cab driver. We talked about this and that and he then told me that he lived abroad. I asked him where he lived. I expected him to say France or Spain. “Estonia” he told me, “the women out there are amazing.” Fearing what he might go on to tell me, I was vaguely relieved when he told me about his girlfriend. After one or two comments that I confess made me feel slightly uncomfortable, he told me that his girlfriend was much younger than he was. I asked him if he saw a future in the relationship. “No mate,” he told me, “I’ll enjoy it while I can.” I asked him if he thought that was what relationships were meant to be like? “Dunno mate” he replied, “but I know I can’t keep mine going.” I write this in the light of the fact that we, as a Diocese, want you, at the right time and when the opportunity arises, to say something about your faith. Before you tell me that it’s easier if you wear a clerical collar, you need to know that on both occasions I wasn’t wearing one. Our audacious goal is that by this time next year 10,000 of you might, in someway and in some context have told something of your story. Everybody has a story. Some are tragic, some are less so. What I have written above I have written because I think it makes clear that people want to tell their stories, oftentimes to a stranger. In listening intently to the stories of others we create a platform to say something of our own story and in doing that, we fulfill our calling to be witnesses. So let’s give it a go! Mike