Captain's Log December 2013

New Year ~ New Hope ~ New Challenge

This well known extract of poem ‘The Gate of the Year’ quoted by King George VI in his Christmas Day broadcast in 1939 feels so apposite at the moment.

 “I feel that we may all find a message of encouragement in the lines which, in my closing words, I would like to say to you:”

I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,

"Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."

And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way."

May that Almighty Hand guide and uphold us all.

On January 6^th I returned to Church House Hove after being on leave since the 19^th December. It was good to put to one side all the unhappiness and uncertainty and disquiet at Church House for awhile.  However on Christmass eve I was struck down by sickness and diarrhoea. Jane and I went off to Tenerife on the 26^th and the ‘problem’ continued on and off for about another four days during which time I seemed to have spent more time asleep than awake!  I eventually pulled around to something like ‘normal’ to enable us to celebrate the New Year in style.  We returned home on the 2^nd January and I had to have a quick turn around as I had accepted an invitation to lead and preach at the Church of the Ascension Westdene (Brighton) on the 5th January.

Having been told on the 29^th November about the restructuring at Church House and that once a consultation period is over the post of Diocesan Evangelist will cease to exist life has become ‘interesting.’  The proposals are extremely radical and include the deletion of the whole of the current Youth & Children’s Team and replacing three full time Officers with just one linked in with Education/Schools amongst other changes to the current Admin team.

Therefore alongside the busyness of ministry I am trying to assimilate this unexpected news and all of the allied documentation. 

Two runs in early December. The first one was a very short 5k Santa Dash alongside Hove seafront that was just so much fun and we got a free Santa outfit to run in as well!  This set me up for the next day and the Mince Pie Ten. This is a tough multi-terrain ten mile that includes one very steep climb for just over a mile at the 6 mile marker. The conditions were near perfect and I was delighted to shave off a couple of minutes from previous years.

 

 

Rural Ministry - a trip to Church House Westminster to meet with Jill Hopkinson (National Rural Officer) and a small group of Rural Officers. This ecumenical group have been meeting for a few years now putting together a set of ‘papers’ which seek to offer some initial theological reflections on certain aspects of rural ministry. I was delighted to hear that following the General Synod motion calling for ‘Intentional Evangelism’ to be placed on the agenda of every parish a Task Force has been set up and there has been a request for someone to speak for the rural church. So often there is a strong centrifugal pull towards the sub-urban, urban and city and rural churches can easily get overlooked. Rural evangelism and rural ministry needs a different approach and rural proofed resources.  I am meeting with Simon Martin of the Arthur Rank Centre on the 28^th January to review the Rural Evangelism Course ‘Journey to Faith.’ We would welcome any comments to add into our review – you will find the Course as download on the ARC website. www.arthurankcentre.org.uk

 

 

City Ministry – ‘Soul by the Sea’ (www.soulbythesea.org) continues to grow and develop as it seeks to serve all the Churches across Brighton & Hove.  New into the mix is the Soul by the Sea Friends, a regular monthly meeting of the Soul by the Sea Community in a local pub and we are just about to launch our very first Emagazine. Plus rehearsals for Brighton Passion Play 2014 are just about to get underway alongside numerous Roadshows to various churches across the city. It is very exciting to be part of this emerging Community and so much of what we are seeking to do chimes in with the latest Grove Booklet…

Ev 103 Mission-shaped Unity: Missio Dei and a New Way of Being Churches Together

While the drive for ecumenism that characterized the Council of Churches for much of the twentieth century saw mixed results, the recent impact on evangelism of Missio Dei theology has had unexpected consequences for Christian unity.  This booklet explores Missio Dei and how it is currently shaping changes in Churches Together at national, regional and local levels. It aims to raise questions that will inspire readers to bring about new ways of being churches together.