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Last, last services

Today included not just the thrilling end of the the Tour de France, but also my last two services in the Nene Valley Circuit. The last few weeks have felt at times like the last few km of a tour stage, lining up for the finish line, getting the team organised and giving your all for that chance of a good finish.

So this morning I was at Raunds. It was lovely to lead my last Holy Communion there using the communion set they gave me as a leaving present.

This afternoon was the Circuit leaving service. Lovely to not lead the service but as expected embarrassing in places.

Now all services in this Circuit are done. Just a few bits of paperwork handover and I am done.

The joy and pain of goodbyes

One of the facts of life for a Methodist Minister in Britain is goodbyes. As an itinerant minister you expect to move on, as a Circuit Minister (Methodist Ministers in Britain are not appointed to a specific Church but to a Circuit of Churches) that means a lot of goodbyes.

So I am now well into the seemingly endless parade of "Last Services", for a while now I have had last services at Churches in the Circuit that I visit less regularly (ones I don't have "pastoral charge" of). However, yesterday was the first real set of last services for the Churches I have been most closely connected to.

Irthlingborough

In the morning was Irthlingborough Methodist Church. I have only had pastoral charge of Irthlingborough for a year since when my friend and colleague David Kemble moved out of the circuit. We have had an exciting year which began with the opening of the refurbished Church. 

During the year we have had lots of things happening such as the restarted and very popular weekly "Little Fishes" for parents/carers and pre-school children on Thursday mornings. Plus new things such as Wednesday Lunches and special events galore. 

We have seen the whole Church complex being used much more by the community. We have seen the prayer life and Bible Studies continue to be central to the Church and a widening collection of members being involved in different aspects from worship, preaching, catering, welcoming, ... We have launched a project to refurbish the rest of the Church buildings (given that the main refurbishment was done to an lovely standard and with superb management of quality, time and cost [yet all with a clear and prayerful focus on mission] I am very confident that this will go well too).

We have also continued to strengthen our links with the Infant School (I was there for my last assembly in the week and was presented with a wonderful book of memories).

One of the most exciting things about Irthlingborough is that all this great stuff is led by the lay people of the Church. As minister I have been welcomed and included but never made to feel that people are waiting for me or dependent on me in an unhealthy way. It is not surprising that with all this we are seeing growth in Sunday worship.

Raunds

While not my last service at Raunds (that is on the 25th) it was my last Sunday Lunch (and I timed it perfectly, arriving at 12:29 just as the food was ready to serve.. The lunch happens every month and is typically for over 50 people. The regulars include a group of widows who support each other in many ways, I have got to know them well over the years and have conducted many more funerals than I would like for their husbands and friends. Anyway many good friends so it was good to be able to spend time with them and say our individual goodbyes.

Thrapston

So from the lunch at Raunds it was straight to Thrapston for their huge 125th anniversary. The small congregation had worked very hard to put on a Flower Festival and invite many people to join them for the weekend. So the Church was pretty full for the anniversary service, seemed to go well with some great hymn singing (all chosen by the congregation with Andrew our guest organist from Hope Methodist Church doing a great job).

We had a lot to celebrate and a lot to remember nit also time spent looking forward (I used Ephesians 1: 15-23 and Revelation 21:22- 22:5).

It was great to see friends from other Churches in Thrapston, from the Circuit as well as people with connections from the past (such as the choir from Sapcote who used to be regular visitors in the late 70's and then the 80's).

Of course we followed that with a tea (including a very fancy birthday cake). Plenty oif yummy grub to keep me going for my next service.

Old Weston

Despite being one of the very smallest congregations anywhere, the folks at Old Weston are always welcoming so it was good to have a couple of visitors this week.

When your congregation is small, elderly and deeply connected with the local community you get to experience highs and lows quite intensely. So we have had good celebrations over the last 5 years but also many losses and challenges. It got a bit tearful at some points. Leaving them is going to be hard.

Onward

I think I have about 5 more "last services" left over the next couple of weeks (Wollaston, Irchester, WOT, Raunds, Circuit farewell). Plus of course other groups such as Churches Together. Circuit Leadership Team and Circuit Staff. Hoping not to be a quivering wreck by the end. It is certainly very much a bereavement process which does include celebrations of what God has done but also much sadness over the people we will leave behind. It is quite different from when we moved here before, as the separation seems more definite (Methodist Ministers are strongly encouraged to fully disengage and separate from the Churches and places they are leaving - for at least 12 months).

In all that I have of course only mentioned my own Church based goodbyes. As a family there are many others for us to work through, all the while while we pack and busy lives go on. 

Anyway, time to go back to some boxes.

Circuit Leadership Vision Day

The Methodist Conference for 2010 is over, I have not received any urgent phone calls telling me that the stations have been changed. therefore I can publish where I will be moving to.

On September 1st 2010 I will be joining the Leicester North Circuit with pastoral charge of three Churches at Queniborough, Rothley and Syston. We will be living in Syston. The Leicester North Circuit is relatively small with two full-time Presbyters (the Superintendent Rachel Parkinson. Plus me). Those who look at the comments here will noticed Rachel a number of times.

When you are approaching a move (with only 4 Sundays left in the Nene Valley Circuit) it is inevitable that there is some looking back and much looking forward (the latter being my preferred option at all times). You will have read posts about my looking back and celebrating the joy it has been to serve the Churches in this Circuit for 5 years (and there will be more to come).

However, I spent yesterday with the Leicester North Circuit Circuit Leadership team on a Vision Day. 

It was really good to meet people I did not yet know as well as those who have been helping with preparations (such as Pete, the Senior Circuit Steward who has been wonderfully helpful with the manse). They were all very friendly and I soon felt at home.

Summary: What a helpful, exciting and encouraging day this was. 

Naturally we began with devotions, led by Rachel which included some reflections on Mark 10 and recent experiences with a Circuit Prayer labyrinth (those who went to the last Northampton District Synod had an opportunity to experience the labyrinth themselves).

After a review of finances (after 9 months of the year the actual was within £19 of the budget - pretty good I think).

We spent several hours working through the "Healthy Circuit" evaluation the Northampton District has prepared. While not something I could contribute much to, it was an excellent way to learn about the Circuit. There were no nasty surprises discovered but instead there were many signs that this is a circuit that is going somewhere, they have a great vision (and are getting on with it in imaginative, creative ways). I love the Circuit Mission statement "Deepening Discipleship - Making More Disciples" (as well as the google position they have for Deepening Discipleship Making More Disciples even on the first Google page for "Deepening Discipleship". They were realistic about the challenges and the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the Circuit.

After a good carvery in a local pub we finished off the Healthy Circuit evaluation and then looked at the results of a recent Circuit Vision Day to reflect on how the Circuit Vision might be updated. There is clearly a growing sense of optimism about the future in this Circuit.

We also spent some time thinking about the change of ministers, some changes in the organisation of the Circuit and how to communicate them. Very encouraging to find that one Church Council had already been doing some work on this.

Finally I gave a short presentation suggesting some additions to the good work the Circuit is already to monitor their vision, it seemed to be accepted and will go to the next Circuit Meeting.

Very much looking forward to joining this new Circuit for 1st September.

Young Methodist hopeful and encouraged contrasts with ...

This Listening to God from Jarel is very encouraging.

I can't help but feel that the next year will be a good one for Methodism

I particularly loved this bit:

Sitting down and listening to Rev Alison Tomlin's Presidential address to Methodist Conference was more inspiring than I had expected. I was waiting for the usual. You know, those speeches about caring for creation, or revitalising mission or something to that effect but this year the President's speech went to a whole new level! Clearly, she is a woman of extreme experience and her anointing is definately the kind of anointing that reaches through your PC screen and slaps you in the face! lol

:-) I do hope Alison reads that, she will love it.

I have read many really encouraging reports from people at the Methodist Conference about the worship, our President and Vice President. Plus of course there is already a lot of good business that has been done. All very encouraging indeed, especially to find that the conference feeds are being watched by young Methodists like Jarel who are getting so excited about what God is doing in the Methodist Church even as they work out their own calling.

I have said it many times before, but this is a wonderful time to be in the Methodist Church as we see God shaping a new future for us.

Contrast Jarel's view (remember from a committed young man in a Church with women as President and Vice President) with the sad position of the men wanting to do anything to avoid God's blessing through all the people called to be ministers, deacons, elders, leaders, bishops, archbishops, equals, preachers, prophets, teaches, apostles, ...

As an example look at Adrian Warnock's recent post New John Piper sermon: The Gospel and Racial Harmony. Fantastic, I do celebrate that the gospel is about equal opportunities for all people, from all ethnicities, cultures, nations, ... But oh how sad that in the celebration both Adrian Warnock and John Piper go and carefully and deliberately ignore approximately 50% of the world's population. The gospel is for all, includes all - only not if you are a woman. Aaaaggghhhhh!!!!! 

It puzzles me how you can work out all that stuff about God breaking down prejudice and barriers to get the Church to welcome those it previously excluded while at exactly the same time you are building ever stronger barriers to exclude other people. 

I still can't make up my mind whether this is deliberate and conscious (in which case it is clearly evil), or if they are just stupid, unaware and incapable of reflection about what they are doing.

To add to the dilemma I received another book to review today. "Woman this is war: Gender, Slavery & the Evangelical Caste System" by Jocelyn Andersen. Even as I start the first introductory pages (engaging, funny, powerful) I am thinking: Gulp, this is not Christianity as I have ever known it, this is not Evangelicalism as I know it. 

Then I go back and think about Adrian Warnock, New Frontiers and it scares me. These are British Christians trying to introduce these hateful American views of women into Britain.

I have at times been accused of being aggressive and of picking on certain Churches and Individuals over gender issues, but it looks like this book might well take me a lot further. Heads down if you want a quiet life while we ignore those marketing hatred, exclusion & slavery under fancy names (Complementarianism, Male Headship)and pretending it is scriptural/Christian.

Oh and friends in the Church of England, don't think we won't notice if you give in to a noisy minority and don't implement full and equal women Bishops. We are watching and waiting, I for one will not be willing to compromise on this. 

I for one am tempted to say Methodists should not consider any more steps implementing the Covenant with the Church of England (such as Bishops ourselves) until a women is installed as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Methodist Church adopts carbon reduction policy

From Church adopts carbon reduction policy: The Methodist Church of Great Britain | 29 June 2010 we see the multiple benefits of reducing our Carbon Footprint. Theologically, environmentally plus as an added bonus:

Cutting the carbon footprint has the potential to free up money that can be used for mission.

Cutting your carbon footprint = win, win, win

Alison Tomlin: President of the Methodist Conference

In my earlier post Eunice, Methodist Vice President on God's transforming love I got all excited about British Methodisms new Vice President. Now it is time for the President.

Alison Tomlin, now our President, is another special person.  For my first four years as a Methodist Minister she was Chair of the Northampton District - my Chair (or as I liked to tease her: the boss).

Last year I reported on the celebrations of the Northampton Conference delegation when Alison was elected to be President Designate in her last conference as our District Chair.

Alison is going to be a very different Methodist President, I think that is going to be a great thing - something that will at times shock the world and challenge us. She will not be an easy or comfortable president and most certainly not a conventional one. As one illustration the Methodist Media team must have done a careful search of all photos in existence to find one of Alison in a dog collar (I don't remember ever seeing her in one myself).  Anyway here it is, Alison with Dawn French at the Make Poverty History launch in January 2005.

Another way in which Alison will not be conventional (and one which will be frustrating to traditional journalists) is that her sermons, addresses and speeches are not going to be scripted. She will normally speak without written notes as she did today in her address to the Methodist Conference, oh and she will often use music, images, actions, ... instead of words - powerful but not so easy for journalists.

Anyway you can find bits from her address to conference from the news release: If we pay attention to God we won't stay inside the Church - says new Methodist President: The Methodist Church of Great Britain | 26 June 2010.

Also from the Conference official blogger Gareth Hill: Blogging Conference: God on Twitter ... and getting out of the box.

Some bits that caught my eye:

To pay attention, said Alison, was not just understanding about God at the centre but recognising that “God is usually at the edge, on the periphery - out there with those who have been discarded and neglected, who are distressed and distraught”. It’s about “paying attention to those with whom we profoundly disagree - even our enemy” she said. Alison, who spoke without notes, reminded us how easy it is to be so busy in the Church doing good things for God. “But it’s more than inside the Church,” she said. “If we pay attention to God we won’t stay inside the church. If we pay attention to God we will have to do the things God challenges us to do: to go out among the people that need to hear the message that God loves them; who have no voice; who have had doors shut in their faces; that others reject and despise. Isn’t that an echo of what they did to Jesus?”

“I pray that we will indeed become a Church paying attention to God in such a way that the passion of God for people, for God’s creation, for our world enlivens us, enthrals us and energises us to be all that God created us to be before the world was made,” she said. “I pray that in paying attention to God and each other we may be all that God desires.” 

This is a good message, it is an uncomfortable one for many Christians and Churches. Alison has a wonderful gift of forcing us to pay attention, to look, to listen. She does not leave us there but then challenges us after reflection to also act.

All I can say is Fandabbydozy.

Eunice, Methodist Vice President on God's transforming love

Oh wow!!!!!

Methodism is in for a great year. This news story from the Methodist Church is a must read. I mean it, go and read: Methodist Vice-President speaks of God's transforming love: The Methodist Church of Great Britain | 26 June 2010.

 I have met Eunice through Methodist Council (the designate President and Vice-President are both on Council), in the address you have just read is the authentic voice of our Vice-President. That is cause for great celebration cos she is going to love us and push us and encourage us and inspire us to be the Church that God has called us to be and tell the world all about it:

Tonight I want to remind you all here of a very simple message, aware that there is nothing new about this wisdom; the message is old and it is ancient; it has been there from the very beginning. God loves you, he thinks you’re absolutely amazing. The awesome God who created and sustains this universe thinks you’re fantastic. God loves you.

...

If the Church is to be a sign of God’s kingdom, it must participate in the world that God loves. For the Church does not have the monopoly on God. God is already at work in people’s lives, in the world he created and sustains. In being sent into the world we get to join in with what God is doing. In the doing and engaging we meet God.

...

I want to be part of a church that throws parties for prostitutes - a church that welcomes those who seek asylum, a church that longs and yearns for justice, a church that listens to those no-one else wants to listen to.

Great isn't it. Inspiring, exciting. Makes me want to sing "Oh I do like to be a Methodist", but out of consideration for the environment I won't :-)

Not only is Eunice a great Vice-President for the person she is but what a great reminder of two wonderful things of Methodism:

• No office or role restricted by gender.
• The Methodist Diaconal Order

Thank you Jesus for our Vice President for 2010/2011!

Methodist Ministers and Powerlessness

There are two areas of life and work where I guess most British Methodist Ministers will say they feel at least somewhat powerless.

Firstly, the stationing process. 

The sense of powerlessness is most keenly felt when you are first stationed as a probationer. You have no choice in where you go. The Church simply sends you somewhere, you go to view it but at that point neither you nor the local Churches have any say. 

However, the "normal" stationing process (see 42: Methodist Stationing 1 and 42: Methodist Stationing 2) while less dramatic still leads to this feeling of powerlessness for many ministers (I am of course writing as a presbyter, but for Deacons I believe it to be even more so). While both ministers and circuits get to express preferences a minister can end up being matched with a Circuit that they had not short-listed (obviously the same is true for the circuits). They can turn down the match but then the choice of alternatives will be more limited.

For most people choosing where you live and work is a key element of control they choose to have over their lives. It may not seem that there is a lot of choice for a lot of people who feel limited by the possibilities in their area. However, there are choices open to them that are not open to a Methodist Minister (yes I do recognise that a Minister can choose to not be a minister any more).

Secondly, the housing situation.

Methodist Ministers get a house provided with the "job", a manse. It is paid for and maintained by the Church. For those who have never lived in a house provided with a job these can seem an attractive thing. Especially as compared to many homes they can appear quite large (4 bedrooms plus a study is the expected specification).

We need to remember that the Church chooses to provide ministers with manses for two reasons. a) It is cheaper than paying ministers enough to buy their own home, b) It gives the Church more freedom to move ministers around (eg at short notice to a more expensive area in the middle of a recession).

I have seen a fair bit of mis-understanding about how it feels to live in a house provided with your job. When work is done you always get someone saying something like "Why are you replacing that boiler just because it is so inefficient? I have had my boiler for 30 years and can't afford to replace it" (let us nearly kip right over the logical rubbish of that statement - if a boiler is very old it is costing you a fortune in wasted heating bills and a new boiler would pay for itself very quickly). The key point is choice. If this is your home you can choose to replace the boiler or not, you can choose to make any manner of changes or not, you can sell and move or not.

Ah, what about people who rent their home I hear you say. They too have more choice than a Methodist Minister, after all if the Landlord does not keep the home to a satisfactory standard they can choose to leave and go elsewhere.

This sense of powerlessness is at it's most acute when things go wrong in a manse. You can't simply act but have to wait for others to decide what is going to be done, by whom and when.

So powerless?

Please do not make the mistake of believing that I think Methodist Ministers are completely powerless. There are many ways in which the role is a powerful one and it would be a mistake to interpret what I have written to mean that there is complete powerlessness for ministers in either stationing or housing. This is relative powerlessness.

There are few if any situations in the world where people choose to be powerless. There are many many situations though where people are made to feel powerless by situations and the behaviour of others. We see it all around us if we keep our eyes and sensibilities open.

That brings me to my conclusion about powerlessness and Methodist Ministers. I believe we need these areas in which we are powerless. I believe that they are a critically important element of oor discipleship and witness. I believe that it is essential that Methodist Ministers do feel powerless in some aspects of their lives and these two (where we live/work and the home in which we live) are vitally important. Let me give some reasons why:

• We need to be constantly reminded to put our security in God, to trust the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Having significant areas of lives where we feel powerless helps us to do this. It counteracts our tendency to want to be in control which takes us away from God.
• it helps us relate to ordinary people who struggle with powerlessness everyday. It especially helps us connect with those at the bottom of the economic system who are particularly vulnerable to powerlessness.
• In a small way it guides us into better ways of modelling the teaching and example of Jesus (thinking here of Philippians 2:8 where Jesus humbled himself ie gave up power).

So whilst the areas of powerlessness that a Methodist minister lives with may seem minor compared to many, I do think that despite the frustrations (and sometimes fear) that this is appropriate, right and helpful.

In fact I think it is a helpful challenge to all who are called to ordained ministry in the Church, in what ways do you live with powerlessness? For that matter I challenge all Christians to examine how they experience powerlessness as part of your discipleship.

The archbishops, evangelism and the status of women.

The archbishops, evangelism and the status of women. – Maggi Dawn concludes with:

It seems outrageous to me that we continue to believe that it’s OK to delay indefinitely the active acceptance of women at all levels in the Church. Its patently obvious that the world at large thinks so too, and this unacceptable injustice towards women is far more of a blight on evangelism than shyness.

Amen!

I confess there is much of the Church of England I do not understand and much I don't like - as well as lots of good things of course! :-) . However, there are many Anglicans that I love and it pains me to see the Church of England, a covenant partner with the Methodist Church, continue to self destruct over the injustices it continues to enforce on gender and sexuality issues.

Of course of more immediate pain to me as a Methodist Minister is that the Methodist Church is by no means perfect on these issues and itself has a long way to go with a great need of grace, mercy and forgiveness by all people within the Church.

Lord forgive us. Lord transform us. Lord fill us with grace. Lord heal us.

Lucy is an accredited Local Preacher!

Just back from a great afternoon service, where we admitted Lucy as a Local Preacher at Raunds Methodist Chapel. We had 70 people for the service and for the tea afterwards. It was great to gave such a big turnout for this service with Rev Inderjit Bhogal preaching and presiding at Holy Communion (he even got a round of applause for his sermon).

Lucy is the first member of one of my congregations to start and complete Local Preacher training during my time as minister. So it was fandabbydozy to lead the worship and assist serving Holy Communion.

In her testimony Lucy said that Inderjit had first challenged her about a call to preach many years ago. She also remembered me sneaking into a service at Raunds in August before I "officially" arrived. She was the Worship Leader in that service and I remember the Divine Chocolate she gave everyone as part of her children's address also that it was not long after that I challenged her as to whether she was being called to be a Local Preacher.

In fact I have just found that email. It was dated 12th September 2005, so it was obvious right at the start of my ministry here that Lucy was being called to preach (wow, looking back that was fast. I had my welcome and then on the Monday after the 2nd Sundays I sent that email). Today was a big step in that journey and the experience we have in the Nene Valley Circuit and beyond is that God knows what he is doing in calling Lucy to this ministry.

It was good and right and proper that this service of celebration was with friends from all around the Circuit as so many have benefited from Lucy's preaching as well as her work with young people and music groups over many years.

A great reminder today that God is good!