the cat's out of the bag

We published this note in our church news-sheet today:

Members of the Leadership Team have met on three occasions with leaders of Headington Baptist Church (HBC), to discuss possible forms of partnership between their church and ours.

We have been warmly received at these meetings, and we shared a common vision for strengthening our mission as a church in this part of Oxford. This could evolve over the next year or so to take several forms, from HBC people coming to help in or lead activities here, to some HBC members choosing to come and join us on a permanent basis.

As a next step, Headington Baptist will discuss this partnership initially at a members' meeting on 5th May, and we hope to explain some possibilities for developing a covenant relationship, at our church meeting on 7th June. In the meantime, please feel free to discuss these matters with members of the Leadership Team if you would like to.

Aside from being highly nuanced, and the subject of too much committee drafting, the central importance is to report a "Macedonian call" issued to a nearby church to come and help us. We've been 'in decline' on various measures for quite some time, and, as leaders discussed back before Christmas the prospect of the church passing a "point of no return". We decided that we needed to do something about it.

Admitting that you're in a hole and need some help takes some doing. It would be so much easier just to carry on. You can say that you will trust in God's providence. But we all know of fellowships which have declined to the point of non-existence. That's personally traumatic for those involved, but perhaps more importantly, we're most aware that there is a mission to be undertaken. People in our church's vicinity need the gospel of the kingdom. We might not be very good at being missional. But we do believe in it.

The future is certainly uncharted. We found that Headington Baptist has almost an opposite problem: too many people, too many gifts, not enough opportunities for service. The prospects for what we can do together are quite breathtaking: divine timing, in one way of telling it, is awesome.

And where does that leave me? I'm unsure. I have a responsibility to make this evolution happen. But I don't know where it leads. And I don't know to what extent I still share an evangelical perspective: perhaps the fellowship's perspective will move on, too. Time will tell.

They dropped the O

Happily, the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans seems to be abbreviating itself FCA. There's a relief.

Review: Alternative Worship

Alternative Worship
Jonny Baker and Doug Gay with Jenny Brown

I suppose I've never really moved in truly alt.worship circles - my spirituality has never been expressed through the Conga; I've never participated in worship by drawing a picture; the whole church-as-nightclub/nightclub-as-church thing never quite suited my style. On the other hand I did introduce open participation communion services in the Brethren style to the Anglican church I used to belong to... and liturgical worship to Brethren and Baptists. I have appreciated a 'praise up' at Spring Harvest before now, as well as choral evensong at some of England's finest cathedrals. So worship in a variety of styles is far from alien to me.

Alternative Worship is mainly a book of resources, but also carries some theological reflections, in passing. The introduction links this movement of alternative worship with the notion of "emerging church", and explores what it means - in terms of corporate worship - to be post-Charismatic or post-Evangelical. Most of the book is organised into four themes, reflecting four major seasons of the church calendar - Advent/Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Each carries resources - liturgical material, readings, prayers, and the like - and also rituals - ideas about how to act and what to do; old and new ways to embed and develop spiritual practice. A CD contains some music, pictures, and other additional material.

The whole collection comes across as being well-grounded in reality: the authors are describing stuff they have done. They encourage the reader to take the ideas and make them their own; to adapt them to local circumstances. That's a good job, because many of them really, really, wouldn't work in my church context right now. It is a great set of resources, though, which has both given me ideas, and also helped me to think more creatively about worship, even in quite a conventional context.

Some people, trying to make sense of the emerging church stuff, have seen it as mainly about different ways to express church together. That would be a mistake. Also a mistake, though, is to concentrate on theology and its outworking in practical action, without paying enough attention to the idea of worship: a need to worship seems deeply embedded in human-kind.

This book is a great mix of reflection and practice. I think I will be dipping into it, and adopting/adapting its ideas for quite a while to come.

oh my word

Sometimes, just for a laugh, I put on Fox News to get a different perspective on what is going on. I thought it might be funny to see what they were making of the G20 summit.

Well, my flabber has well and truly been ghasted. I thought I'd seen it all. But the Glenn Beck program really, really takes the biscuit. "The fusion of entertainment and enlightenment". Ha! Who's he kidding.

Wait! Is it April 1st? Could this be a spoof? Surely no one who commands an audience in the millions is this stupid? Oh, it's April 2nd. Perhaps it's a repeat. I can dream.

Sorry for an incoherent posting. I really am shocked. And scared.