Captain's Log July 2014

Wivelsfield Weekend 11th - 13th July

And the sun shone…

It has always been such a delight to join St Peter and St John the Baptist, Wivelsfield for their Village Day. 

Jane and I went up and stayed over for the weekend in the Caravan that despite its great age continues to hold together – just! 

Alongside the interactive Church Display we offered the usual badge & key-ring making, Psalm Reading and Garden Games.  The Saturday naturally spills over into the Sunday and Café Church in the Village Hall. The theme for the weekend was ‘Hero’s’ and as part of the Service Jane and I offered the fantastic story of David & Goliath told as two opposing football teams. (It was World Cup Final day!)  I picked this up some years ago and it really is a lot of fun and gets across a great message at the end. 

Happy to send you a copy if you like and you might be able to view it on their FB page. 

https://www.facebook.com/#!/WivelsfieldParishChurch

Spiritual Directors Course – this month we concluded the year long Introduction to Spiritual Direction. I have been part of the small team who have worked alongside the tutors doing all things practical. I went through this Course last year and so this was an opportunity to go through the material again plus some different aspects of spirituality. I especially liked the one that focused on male and female spirituality.  I am currently reading through Stephen Cottrell’s

book From the Abundance of the Heart: Catholic Evangelism for All Christians.  He strongly emphasises the place of prayer and the need for a deep spirituality alongside the task of evangelism. We need to travel deep into the Father heart of God and in so doing we will find our motivation to share that love with others both in word and in actions.

This month also saw our 32^nd Wedding Anniversary. We celebrated with a lovely meal at one of our favourite Vegetarians Restaurants in Brighton, ‘Food for Friends.’  Sadly many restaurants are a bit like churches when it comes to the ‘vegetarian option.’ Occasionally there is nothing at all on offer, or maybe one or two dishes, and as Jane says, that’s not a choice it’s an ultimatum.

Some Churches also offer a very limited menu for ways of engaging with God in worship!

Part of the need is to embrace some of the seismic shifting and changing taking place in the Church of England, and I am not simply talking about woman being accepted to the Episcopate. We really have to discern and discover what kind of Church God would have us be in the 21st century. I have been revisiting Sodal & Modal and especially the paper by George Lings on this and found it very helpful and insightful.

Captains Log June 2014

The Big Thing for June is the South of England Show. Once more we had an intrepid team of 150+ volunteers over the three days. Despite the very gloomy forecast the weather was okay as we entertained hundreds of guest over the three days. We also run the Lost People Station, which is the reason the Show Committee gift us a massive amount of infrastructure. We did have a few incidents to deal with and on the Saturday 17 lost souls who needed to be found! Joking apart this is a great ministry as you can easily imagine the distress of a parent who has lost their child, or a child who has lost their carers. We are a safe pair of hands’ until everything is properly sorted and duly recorded.  I was aware this year of just how much sheer physical hard work the Show is, perhaps my being at County Shows for the past twenty years is beginning to catch up with me! For example the Saturday started at 7.30am and didn't finish until Jane and I had unloaded the van at 11.30pm. But for all that I get such a great buzz from being there.

Not much time for recovery as Monday I was of the Missioners Summer Gathering in Blackpool. Because I knew I would be tired I took the train up the day before. Our Gathering under the excellent care of Rachel Jordan was as brilliant as ever. One aspect that came out for all of us was the importance of keeping the name and the person of Jesus in focus. We can hear all sorts of exciting things, make many kinds of plans, devise dozens of schemes, and in the doing of many things forget that it is all about making Jesus known!  

  

In making plans the Chichester Diocese is currently undergoing a ‘Discerning the Vision’ exercise. A series of meetings are being held across the diocese to try and get a flavour of people’s ideas, dreams and visions.  Picking up from the Missioners Gathering we need to be a very different kind of church if we are to have any meaningful engagement with our society. Reflecting on the report ‘Anecdote to Evidence’ we can see very clearly the need for Pioneer Ministers, Fresh Expressions of Church and engagement with children and teenagers.

My own driver at the moment is to ask some fundamental questions apropos the Church. Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Six Serving Men’ are of great help here. For example:

What is God calling you to be as the church?

Why do we do what we do as a church?

When does the church meet?
How could we be the church in a better way?  

Where is the church?

Who is the church for?

Soul by the Sea www.soulbythesea.org.uk

Can hardly believe how much time has slipped by since we mounted the Passion Play on a very wet Easter Day. Because of it being wet and late we simply dumped all the stage props and party tents and loads of other stuff into storage. On 21st June we managed to get a small team to go to the storage, move it all out to free storage, with a plan to dry it out in the Park between the moves. Unfortunately we had an attack of the Gideon’s, and the tent walls, etc, became wetter by lying on the ground despite the sunshine! It was a very hot, dirty, dusty and tiring day, yet very rewarding and fantastic to work alongside such a great group of guys putting in their all to get the job done.

Also this month 28 years as an Officer in the Church Army. Admitted to the Office of Evangelist by Archbishop Robert Runcie on the 24th June 1986. (It is also the birthday of our youngest son, Joe Banks. And apparently John the Baptist!)

Another delightful occasion was to attend the Ordination as Deacon of several people I know. Especially Kate Lawson whom I have been walking alongside as a Mentor and Spiritual Director for the last three years. Such a privilege to have played at least small part in getting Kate to this point.








And to round off the month a trip to Farnborough for the 40th Birthday Bash of Emma (Jane's niece) - we had a great time catching up with family and friends that spilled over into the next day when a bunch of us gathered at a Carvery to enjoy Sunday lunch together,

Captain's Log May 2014

On Fire Mission - in early May I attended an annual conference for Anglo-Catholic Charismatics.  

www.onfiremission.org.uk

This was the most amazing gathering I have been to for a long time.  Given the rather ‘difficult’ journey we have been under lately this was an opportunity to begin a healing process and a rebuilding of my confidence. The worship pushed all my buttons alongside the very helpful workshops and incredible inspiring key note talks. All added to the opportunity to talk and meet with like minded souls – brilliant!

‘Kairos’ St Peter ad Vincula – another visit to our friends at Wisborough Green. This time we explored what it means to be Church.

Chichester Church Army Cluster – although our numbers were low we had a really good Quiet Day in Bexhill. We spent some time reflecting on our Rule of Life and how we are developing as members of the Church Army Mission Community. Don’t forget there is an opportunity to engage with Church Army along one of the Four Pathways. Check out the web site:

www.churcharmy.org.uk

A very special occasion this month when over 500 of us from the diocese journeyed to Westminster Abbey for the Consecration of Revd Richard Jackson as Bishop of Lewes. Richard has headed up the Mission & Renewal Team for the last four years and has been my line-manager and colleague.

The next day the newly consecrated Bishop was part of a small ecumenical group who have been working together over the last few years delivering the Mission Shaped Ministry Course. This gave us an opportunity to reflect and consider a way forward.  We are planning to take a break and think about running the course beginning in September 2015.

Another run this month, the 10k Heroes Run, this year was the tenth anniversary and they lined up Heroes v Villains. I managed to get in at 58 minutes, so very pleased with that.  I also raised over £90 for Soul by the Sea.  www.soulbythesea.org.uk

Towards the end of the month my friend and C.A. colleague Graham Bibby invited me over for a Quiz Night at St Richard’s Crowborough. He asked if I could give an ‘Evangelistic Talk’ for 10 – 15 minutes as part of the evening. What a gift for an evangelist!

Increasingly I am picking up the needful task of inviting people to give their lives to Christ when I am invited to preach. At the ‘Kairos Service’ and again when I preached at St Mary Magadelene, Cowden towards the end of the month I made such an invitation. I often ask people when was the last time you heard a call for conversion on a Sunday morning.  For me this then begins to roll backwards. It can speak of a lack of expectancy that there will be any ‘not yet Christians’ there.  Once you have taken that path then you very soon end up doing things that suit the ‘regulars’ and not paying attention to the words of Archbishop William Temple who said ‘the Church is for the benefit of its non-members.’    

                    

‘If you love me, you will obey what I command.’ (John 14.15)

St Mary Magdalene  Cowden 25^th May 2014

Acts 17.22-31

Psalm 66.7-18

John 14.15-21

‘If you love me, you will obey what I command.’  (John 14.15)

This almost sounds like the sort of thing parents say to their children.

However, that isn't a bad place to start.

For we are the adoptive children of God, our Heavenly Father.

We are not orphans.

So, this leaves us with two questions, two very important questions. Probably two of the most important questions you will ever consider in your life.

‘If you love me’ is the first question.

The implication here is that whether we love God or not is a matter of choice.

There are those who would say that God accepts everyone and in the fullness of time everyone will be brought into His Kingdom.

I would want to argue that if heaven is a reality then hell has to be a possibility. In saying that I do not want you to have an image of heaven and hell portrayed in some of the more lurid medieval pictures.

I do not want to say much more than the presence of God being what we call heaven, and the absence of God being hell.

Love of God then becomes our very own free will choice.

We can choose to love God or we can choose not to love God.

I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this but of course it is worth considering just what we mean when we say ‘we love God.’

I love a good quality glass of brandy, I love running, and I love a whole host of things that bring pleasure and enjoyment into my life.

However I would say the same thing but mean something different when I say I love my wife, albeit she does bring pleasure and enjoyment into my life.

There is something far deeper and richer in this love and in English only having the one word can leave us puzzling over just what we mean when we say we love God.

Certainly love of God brings pleasure and enjoyment in life, but I hope it goes well beyond that.

Love of God is expressed in Scripture under terms of a covenant.

The analogy of marriage is helpful here, bringing to mind of course the language of ‘Song of Solomon’ and the Book of Revelation with the Church as the bride and Jesus the bridegroom.

For in a marriage covenant a binding agreement is freely entered into. One person gives themselves totally to the other despite the circumstances that may befall along the way.

I entered into such a covenant marriage with Jesus on the 1^st January 1975. On that day I invited Jesus to be the Lord of my life and resolved that year to become a Christian – a Christ One.

St Augustine wrote, ‘if Jesus is not Lord of all he is not Lord at all.’

So, let me ask some more questions…

Do you love God, and is Jesus Lord of your life?

Does your whole life revolve around Jesus?

Is God your first thought in the morning and the last prayer at night?

What part will God play in your life this coming week?

Do you know the reality of the Holy Spirit in your life?

Do you know the life giving energy that flows from being filled with the very Spirit of God so that you can say, ‘it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me?

If you love me – well do you?

And if you love me, you will keep my commandants.

I want to briefly mention two commandments that Jesus gives us.

Both are deeply, deeply challenging and we can really only hope to begin to fulfill them if we do love God with all of our heart, with all of our soul and with all of our mind – i.e. every fibre of our being. Furthermore we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

‘Love one another as I have loved you’ is the first command I want us to think about.

Winchester Diocese has just elected to bring the Rule of St Benedict into the heart of their life, to have this Rule inform everything they do.

One of those Rules is to greet and treat everybody as if they were Christ.

A few weeks ago I was on a Conference for Anglo Catholic Charismatic’s, ‘On Fire Mission.’

 

When discussing the veneration of the Host during the Eucharist I put the point that if we so venerate the sacred mysteries of Christ’s body and blood in the elements of the bread and wine, if those elements are then consumed by someone, then surely we ought to continue in the same veneration for those elements that have now become en-fleshed.

‘Greater love has no one than this that they lay down their life for their friends.’

So, loving others as Christ loves us is a tough and very demanding commandment.  I know that I fail at this on a regular basis and need to come back to God and say sorry and ask for forgiveness.  But I continue to seek, continue to strive, continue to try and be more loving and caring and seeing the Christ in the other. 

I really don’t think God asks anything more of us than a full hearts intention and a willingness to grow more and more like Christ day by day.

As we read in Ephesians 4.13

Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ

What a goal to aim for, what a Saviour to lead us on, what a powerful indwelling Holy Spirit we have available to us just for the asking and the receiving and opening ourselves up.

The second commandment I want us to consider is ‘go and make disciples of all the nations.’

What has sometimes been called the Great Commission, which in many ways has become the Great Omission!

In the passage from Acts we heard of the story of Paul at the Areopagus seeking to do just that.

This story warrants a whole study on its own and provides brilliant training material for evangelism.

This is Paul in the market place. This is Paul looking and seeing and observing the prevailing culture. This is Paul drawing attention to the things he has seen, the altar to an Unknown God, and later in addressing the crowd quoting from one of their own poets.

Now I can’t imagine many of you will find yourself in anything like the position that Paul finds himself in here.

However each and every one of us should be prepared to speak out about our faith.

1 Peter 3.15

But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…

How are you doing on that one?

I was leading a training session with some young people the other week. As part of the exercise I invited them to tell the group how they became a Christian?

I would be delighted if each and every one of you came to me after this Service and told me your story, of how you became a Christian and what difference that has made in your life. How you are seeking to love others as Christ has loved you, how you know of a certainty the indwelling Holy Sprit in your life.

However it might just be that you have never given yourself fully to the Lordship of Christ in this way. Never run into the arms of the Heavenly Father, felt his kiss upon your cheek and heard the words, you are my beloved son, you are my beloved daughter in whom I am well pleased. You may never have experienced the infilling of the Holy Spirit. 

Well rejoice, because today you have that choice laid before you.

In a moment I am going to invite you to close your eyes whilst I say a prayer. As I say this prayer, if you want to give your life to the Lord for the first time, then please echo the words in your heart.

You may also wish to echo the words if you want to rededicate your life to live under Christ just and gentle rule, under His supreme Lordship.

Living Lord Jesus I am sorry that I have been living to please myself rather than you. I acknowledge your supreme Lordship and invite you to become the first in my life, above all others and all other things. I acknowledge your sacrificial love in dying that I might be called a friend of God, a death that takes away all my wrongdoing. I ask for the Holy Spirit to come into my life, to fill my whole being, so that from today I can say, it is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me.

This is my hearts desire, this is my solemn oath, and this is my sacred vow, from this moment onward I will seek to serve only you, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Discover more on www.christianity.org.uk

Soldiers of the Lord!

On holiday recently I was reading ‘Red Cloud’ – his story. ‘Red Cloud’ was a Native American (Indian) who in the mid 1880’s led a large band of warriors from many different tribes in battles against the ever encroaching ‘white man and his ways.’  It was in many ways the last throw of the dice and ‘Red Cloud’ himself ended his days living as a ‘white man’ accepting the inevitable.

In the story ‘Red Cloud’ battles in particular against Colonel Carrington who had been dispatched to guard the top end of the Bozeman Trail just south of Montana. His first task was to build a fort. To establish the Garrison Carrington needed three principal things. He needed a ready supply of new recruits, a good strong cohort of active soldiers and an infirmary for the wounded and the

dying.  Naturally being in such a far flung place none of the first two were in regular supply whilst the third, the infirmary continued to expand as more soldiers were wounded and fell victim to battles and skirmishes to say nothing of the privations of frontier life in the mid 19^th century. 

So, what happens if we translate this idea to a regular parish church?

Could we not ask and ascertain what our strengths are, how many recruits are coming on through, how many active soldiers do we have that we can call upon and how many are in the infirmary?

If our churches have rather full infirmaries, does this not tell us that what we are able to achieve as a Garrison is going to be limited? 

Therefore, no matter the quality of the Garrison Commander, unless he/she has the active soldiers to engage in battle, their effectiveness will be limited.

What is the answer? Well, certainly one way is to draft in a new cohort of active soldiers. In Brighton we have seen this work to good effect at an HTB Church plant developed first out of St Peter’s in the centre of Brighton and who have recently sent another cohort of troops to Whitehawk. (Although sources tell me that Whitehawk are struggling a tad without a strong Garrison Commander.) 

One of the reasons why the Native Americans were eventually beaten back was because they were fighting with bows and arrows against ever developing Spencer rifles, ‘the guns that shoot twice.’

Some of the Old Guard, some of those in our infirmaries, who do need loving and caring for, can find change to new ways of doing things difficult to accept.

In some ways we need to grow up alongside the infirmary new ways of being church that are more adaptable and better suited to 21^st century culture.

However there are stories told of a completely different and unexpected outcome. Such is the story of the Tube Station in Cornwall. Here a very small group (of mainly ladies) embarked upon a journey that would lead to the total transformation of their little Methodist Chapel to become a Surfer Café and Church, a real Fresh Expression of Church.

All models and analogies begin to break down at some point and this Garrison analogy is no exception.

However as it stands, it might help to give an insight in the very practical reasons why church growth may be difficult.  There may well be too many people in the infirmary who need loving care and not enough active soldiers and too few recruits coming through. 

To move from soldiers to farmers and to recall Jesus’ words…

“The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.”

    

Captain's Log March 2014

Soul by the Sea continues to play a big part in my ministry at the moment. One of our developments is offering Road Shows to churches and groups. This is a short cameo piece based on John 9, the man born blind. My part is to give a short presentation on Soul by the Sea and on a couple of occasions I have also been invited to preach. We have presented Road Shows to Holland Road Baptist Church Youth Club and Portslade Baptist Church during their Morning Worship, a Roman Catholic Church Saturday Night Mass and a couple of Anglican Churches. We are of course nearly there with our Flagship presentation, The Brighton Passion. This year we have just two presentations on Easter Sunday afternoon outside St Peter’s in Brighton.  By way of a prequel we also have a Palm Sunday procession along the seafront. I spent one Sunday afternoon with the cast rehearsing. The dedication of cast members is amazing, they have been gathering on Sunday afternoons for fours hours for several months. Even if you don’t live nearby you can become a Friend of Soul by the Sea Community and get behind this endeavour to relive the Jesus story in the public domain. www.soulbythesea.org.uk                                     

   

The first Sunday of Lent saw Jane and me visiting our friends at St Peter’s ad Vincula, Wisborough Green. As we reflected on the story of Jesus being sent into the desert I offered this acrostic…

Led into the desert

Equipped with the Word of God

No to the evil one

Trust in God the Father.

I also invited everyone to write their names on small wooden crosses. When the offering was taken up the crosses were also collected. We then distributed them in what I referred to as Simon of Cyrene exercise, i.e. everyone was invited to carry someone elses cross during Lent and pray for them. At the end of the Service a man approached me and said his nine year old daughter had the cross with my name on it and might I suggest something she could pray during Lent. Very humbling.

Telling our story is a key part of sharing our faith. I had the real joy of leading a Workshop on this subject as part of the preparations for a Horsham Town Mission in May. Most of the material I used is available on the Arthur Rank Centre web site on the rural evangelism course ‘Journey to Faith.’

http://www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk/publications-and-resources/rural-evangelism

‘Evangelism should be a heartbeat not a hiccough’

Hope 14 offers some fantastic resources encouraging churches to engage in meaningful mission throughout the year. I joined Revd David Guest at Broad Oak and then All Saints Heathfield for their ‘Third Dimension Service’ and preached and presented the opportunity Hope 14 offers. I have also recently refreshed our own Chichester diocesan Hope blog…

http://chichesterhope14.blogspot.co.uk/

Church Army Mission Community - it was great to meet up with colleagues in London for a Regional Day. We heard of how Church Army is developing along the Four Pathways and also plans for a new style of training. If you are an Evangelist or would like to support the ministry of Church Army then do check out the web site for how you could become a Community Member along one of the Pathways. www.churcharmy.org.uk

Mothering Sunday – Jane and I made our way over to Eastbourne on the morning the clocks sprang forward to join The Haven and to lead their Morning Service. I found some fabulous resources and a Service outline on the Mothers’ Union web site. In particular the material called ‘Hand to Hand’ is brilliant and offers families a way of exploring matters of faith at home. This is an area that is of concern for those who run things like Messy Church with people only pitching up once a month. It puts the exploration of faith and the passing of the story to our children back into the home. I also suggested they have a Family Prayer Pot. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if families coming to church brought their Family Prayer Pots so that they could be offered up during the Service/Liturgy or whatever style or way seems appropriate. I really like the idea of a row of Prayer Pots in front of the altar.

http://www.mothersunion.org/

Captain's Log February 2014

“You see but you do not observe” says one of the modern manifestations of Mr Holmes to the doughty Watson. That is a key point I tried to get across for the Readers Course ~ Contextual Mission. So the session began with a short walk around the area with a sheet of things to note and observe that gives hints, tips and clues as to who might live there, shop there or have businesses in the area, etc.  A simple lesson but one often overlooked because we can become so familiar with our patch that we see but no longer observe. This is of course (not observing) a natural feature of conserving energy because we are ‘at home’ and so dangers are less of a threat.

(For a phenomenological study of this concept try and get hold of a copy of A GEOGRAPHY OF THE LIFEWORLD 1979 by David Seamon – dated but the principles remain the same)

Have you signed up for Hope 2014? We had a very encouraging gathering in London when around twenty Hope Practitioners gathered together to tell stories of what is happening in their areas. There are a lot of great resources to help engage with the Commemoration of World War One.  www.hopetogether.co.uk

I promoted Hope 14 at the February ‘Kairos’  at St Peter’s ad Vincula – this is becoming a regular feature in my diary which is great because it is always good to encourage these good folk who are currently without a vicar.  



Soul by the Sea continues to keep me busy with Planning Group meetings and Road Shows including one this month at Holland Road Baptist Youth Club. Another one was at The Church of the Good Shepherd Dyke Road Brighton and it was a delight to be invited to preach as part of the ‘presentation’    www.soulbythesea.org

In the UK the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association UK is going to launch ‘Search for Jesus.’ This is an email based initiative currently running in the US where enquirers can ask questions. I am undergoing training to be one of those first responders to enquirers.  It was good to visit the BGEA UK centre of operations to meet with Mark from the USA outlining how the programme operates there and what it is hoped it can achieve here in the UK.


Brighton Half Marathon

Yes, I managed to get in under two hours – just! 1.58.59.  I couldn't believe the gorgeous weather considering how awful it had been. Best of all however is the £55.00 raised for Off the Fence. As Paul Young OtF CEO said, this money saves lives. www.offthefence.org.uk



‘If you don’t know where you are going, you might end up somewhere else’  Great to spend sometime with St John the Baptist Hove as we reflected on the past three years and then considered the next three year Mission Action Plan.
 

Then to round of the month a visit to Northampton to deliver a Rural Evangelism Workshop as part of the Arthur Rank Centre ‘Rural Ministry Course.’  I always get such a buzz from delivering this workshop. www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk
Direct link for Rural Evangelism Course...
www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk/publications-and-resources/rural-evangelism

I am very much hoping and praying as I look for a new post that outlining this Course will be a key element. Therefore I would be delighted to hear from anyone who would like to invite me to run the Course and allied material in their area.