keeping the rumour of God alive

This week Steve hosted a great xbox 360 night, one of our friends bought his mate along and as the night went on he asked what i do, i told him.

He then told me about his gran who used to read him bible stories every night and that he want ed to know more even though he'd forgotten most of them.

I'm thankful for that lady of faith and i'm thankful for the chance to keep the rumour of God alive on this man's heart and mind.

r.

Are gatherings really helpful?

Picture the scene, a roomful of people, mainly families with young children, a good number of mom and dad's and splattering teenagers, there is noise and laughter, families interacting together and the place is just about as full as it can get.

Surely this is a good thing for a church, the majority of people attending are not followers of Jesus, but would consider this their church. For 2 hours on November 4 this was the scene at the church chapel on Harold Hill. The night ending in a firework display worthy of Buckingham Palace! With the 2 guys that the children have made going up in flames beneath the Catherine Wheels.

On top of all this Steve had a teenager's group and led an excellent discussion about their stresses and enjoys and what they thought about Jesus and I had the privilege of talking to the parents about the same things. (Results of the discussion to follow shortly)

On the whole an excellent evening one which I'm sure would tick many boxes however, I'm not sure that hosting this type of gathering is in the long-term effective for church planting or regular church.

Firstly, I don't think we as a team had an opportunity to say more than a brief hello to all those who attended. Secondly I don't think that we as a team spent any time with our children, which meant that in the middle of this fantastic gathering were 3 little shorters wandering around on their own! Thirdly the event is costly in both time prep and finance. Fourthly by doing these events so well we are setting a high standard which is not always easy to follow.

So as a team we decided to reduce the number of events/gatherings that we do. We can see their value in bringing people together and giving people an excuse to attend one of our events. These gatherings give us the opportunity to see people who have not seen for a while. So we will keep some events in the diary. Our plan for the next couple of terms is to try and use the time that we would have spent in planning and preparing events in people's homes or down the Cafe or in the park with those people whom we have come here to serve.

I'm becoming concerned that our gatherings and in fact all Christian gatherings are not reflective of the Trinity God whom we follow. The gatherings like ours did not increase community and interaction with one another. They do not allow the space for the young and the old, the hurting and the well to be heard, to be involved and to have the opportunity to influence what is happening. Our hope by scaling back on big events is that we build community and so more faithfully represent the the Trinity in what we're doing.

After Christmas we are going to start sharing communion at the end of each of our community meals. The community meal will finish at 6 o'clock and communion will be served between 6 and 630. We will say to people they can stay, they can join in for as much or as little or their free to leave. Our hope is that by doing this will be sharing the Christian story and the Gospel in a way which enables people to interact receive and give while being part of our little community.

Gatherings can be helpful but what really builds community is allowing people to have a voice, to be heard to be challenged to be encouraged and I'm not sure that how easy that is in a crowd.

Love and prayers

Rich

fireworks night (Well the 4th nov) on Harold Hill

Hi all, last night was a our firework night.

Thank you those who prayed it was an excellent night and so much made it great night.

The help from romford baptist church was amazing, it was great to see so many families. Many of whom came with their dads. It was great to see the 'guys' which the kids made burnt really well.

We had a teenager group for the first time which steve lead, and the parent's group went really really well. ( i think the kids group was crazy, but Alison was doing that.)

It's amazing how with a bit of banter you can turn the conversation into thinking about Jesus.

these events are amazing, later in the week i'm going to blog are they helpful!!!

rich

pops it's been a while sorry

Hi all, hope you're ok,

The last month has been a bit a insane, some good, some not.

The coming month is going to include some big decisions about some aspects of our church plant.

please pray for the following things:

• a team day on friday 11th to look at where we are at and what we're going to do in the coming months and most importantly what God is saying in all this.
• By the end of Nov we will have a better idea of Steve and Lauren's future, please pray for Gods clear call.
• We have some key meetings about other elements of our future which i can't say much about now, but they are very key, please pray, we need wisdom and a little hope.

This week among all the admin and meetings i'll be leading 2 parenting courses and as a church we have our fireworks night on Friday, can't wait, it's going to be great to see our friends altogether in one place.

thank you for praying, God is our only hope, news letter out this week i hope!!

love and Prayers r.

where am i?

Where am I?

Once a week I feel compelled to join a community for an hour or so, so where am I?

I am greeted by the Shepherd of this flock, whether they are on duty or not they're always there to check who is attending and who is not.

I'm inspired by this Shepherd, where they show concern for all, even those who are clearly hard work and who often make a nuisance of themselves. This Shepherd is there almost every week without fail serving this community in many ways which are not noticed or thanked, and when this community is threatened the shepherd stands tall to protect their flock, so where am I?

My hour or so in this little community always has the same rhythm, the same sacred topics of conversation, those whose voices are heard louder than others and those whose voices ignored when they bravely speak up.

Everyone has their own seats! Their own positions of residence within this little community and every week there in the same place, they gather to reflect on the their day on their week on their life, so where am I?

The seasons have their rhythm, Christmas, st Georges day, Easter, Guy Fawkes and others are observed, with the buildings decorted accordingly.

There are those who control the music, mainly tunes from one era, the era of their hayday, these are played and played and sung along to, unless of course someone younger makes a radical choice which is often bemoaned as being too trendy or inappropriate for the occasion.

A community which welcomes it own with open arms, but on the whole is sexist, racist and homophonic , so were am I?

I am humbled by the way they care for each other, yes there is plenty of gossip, and moaning about the way things are and the way they are not as they once were, but this little community know how to gather around one another to offer support, in this community those without work are found work and those without a home and Christmas day, gather for lunch and eat together as family.

So where am I, my local or my local church?

"Just cause chaos and give them back!"

Good news!,

Alison I have finally become an aunt and uncle. (Hooray) And in the next couple of days we are due to become aunts and uncles again. My younger brother has been an uncle for 6 years now and so for the 1st time in my life :-), I had to ask him for advice.

"Simon, what's your advice on being an uncle?"

“just cause chaos and give them back." Was his advice, which if we are being fair to him is definitely how here's been an uncle with our children and they love him for it.

My brother's advice was wise, and I have every intention of following it and it got me thinking about church.

Often the tactic of the church, is to take someone, challenge their worldview, suggest a different moral system and value system to live by, and then to try and keep them in the church as part of the church for as long as possible. Which invariably means that within a short space of time they have left the community there once belonged to and have become part of the church family.

Perhaps, we should do church in the way my brother does being an uncle.

Maybe, we should cause chaos with someone's value system, understanding of the world, and most importantly their understanding of Jesus and what he offers them and the universe. Once we have caused chaos their understanding of the world rather than hold on to them, perhaps we should send them back to allow them to cause chaos in their communities.

When my brother taught our son to Mooney, not only did it challenge my sons worldview about what body parts he should show in public, it also caused chaos in our family when he returned with this behaviour.

Wouldn't it be great if the people the church I contact with went back into their communities and caused chaos because what they have learnt to challenge the norms of those communities.

Maybe we should see ourselves more as spiritual aunts and uncles to those Christ is in the process of saving rather than as spiritual parents wanting to hold onto them.

May you have a great week causing chaos and giving people back to where they came from.

R.

PS now that my brother is about to have children the chaos is going in the other direction.

sorry it's been so long

Sorry it's been a while!! so so much has happened in the last couple of months.

• We helped run a churches together stall at the Harold Hill festival, which meant local churches working together in an amazing way.
• We have run an evening for families asking " Is God a good parent?"
• We had a 10th wedding anniversary party at the pub which was an amazing opportunity to have a party with our friends from Harold Hill, Steve and Lauren did the catering and it was an amazing time together.
• We continue to work very closely supporting some families and this is a big privilege and we as at times a bit of a burden as we serve these wonderful people.
• We have had significant chats with those we are serving and what is encouraging us the most is the way that God is on the agenda so often in our conversations, whether it's at the pub, at a ladies coffee morning or at any of the other times we have interaction with the community.
• Alison and Lauren have put on some amazing pamper session for some of the moms.
• The community meal has exploded numbers wise, BBQ's and sun are proving great pulls.
• People have started to ask for prayer and support which again is a great step forward.

Please pray for us, to be honest we're tried and still have some exiting things coming up but we're also really busy with all the normal stuff and i'm doing a lot of preaching in the next couple of months.

It would be also really good if you could pray for Steve and Lauren, they are considering their future at the end of their training ( 9months time) steve is off to thailand for 3 weeks in Sept with BMS, but then hopefully steve will be free to focus on his studies and on Harold hill from Oct onwards. please pray for him as he does this.

Once again, sorry it's been so long and thank you so much for your prayer support and encouragement.

R.