Wednesday, 29 April 2009
The Chef in Waiting
Isla took us to the college restaurant and we had five courses of fine dining.... Yum!
Deanery Strategy Group
Deanery Strategy Group: Living Faith?
On the 23rd April the Deanery Strategy Group met to discuss the Diocesan Vision statement, Living Faith for the future. The group wanted to see how our work compared with the priorities set out in the diocesan document and whether it might provide some structure for our thinking.
According to Living Faith:
The vision of the diocese is “the transformation of all life under God.”
The values of the diocese are that we should be:
- Contemplative: attentive to God
- Creative: imaginatively releasing and harnessing all the gifts of all God’s people
- Continuous: rooted in scripture, faithful to the traditions we have received and seeking to give them fresh expression
- Accountable: to God and to each other as we build for tomorrow as well as today
The purpose of the diocese is “to join with God in creating a caring, sustainable and growing Christian presence in every part of the diocese of Oxford, enabling every Christian and every Christian community to live and share the love of God, seen in the life of Jesus Christ.”
The priorities of the diocese are:
- Sustaining the sacred centre
- Making disciples
- Making a difference in the world
- Shaping confident, collaborative leadership
- Creating vibrant Christian communities
The Strategy Group discussed the priorities and came to the following conclusions:
Sustaining the Sacred Centre:
Spirituality and prayer must be at the front and centre of the new Deanery Plan. In Milton Keynes we have tended to give a great deal of energy to meetings, structures and general busyness. It is really important that we give more priority to things that lead to rejuvenation, refreshment and self-protection. We can only serve others if we are rooted and sustained in Christ. We need to find deep resources that empower us to be God’s people in this city.
We tend to prioritise activity or meetings, but we need to give some time to God so that the rest of our time is filled with his life.
In practice the deanery needs to lead by example and create opportunities for refreshment. We need to think about how we do this. Could we have more time for prayer when we meet? Should we hold more quiet days or retreats? Should we help churches to keep their buildings open or hold a continuous prayer vigil in one building during Lent? Does Cornerstone have a key role in our prayer life as a deanery?
Making Disciples:
Christ’s command to the Church was that we should be disciples who call other people to join us as fellow disciples. Making disciples is what we do. It is right, however, that we prioritise spirituality and prayer since it is only as we are refreshed by God that we are able to bring refreshment to others. It is only through the work of the Spirit that people are drawn closer to God.
Many of our more vibrant, healthy or growing churches already prioritise discipleship and evangelism, but is there more we can do as a deanery to fulfil Christ’s call? Is there anything we can do to help local churches in this area?
Should we give more energy and support to Alpha? Should we encourage the development of fresh expressions? How do we support pioneers, entrepreneurs, missionaries and evangelists?
Making a Difference in the World:
Many church members are already making a difference in a wide variety of ways. We are involved in the local community through schools, care homes, and a wide variety of work places. As individuals and congregations we’ve supported some significant campaigns on a wide variety of issues ranging from debt relief to the environment. As a deanery, we invest in our mission to the wider community through the Christian Foundation and the Development Chaplain. There are also a number of chaplains in this deanery who do valuable work on our behalf.
On the other hand, there is limited interaction between this work and our congregations and members. There is also a tendency to separate our church life on a Sunday from our weekday life and work. Do we need to spend some time mapping what is already going on and make some connections? What can we do to support our members as Christian disciples in their everyday life?
We also have a number of community-centre style churches that were built to serve local people. Many of these churches have financial difficulties or are struggling in some way. Most of them seem to be declining in membership. This is a pattern that is repeated elsewhere in the country. Is it time to do some serious work looking at the history of community-centre style churches, the challenges they face and the possible solutions that could be considered? Is it worth pulling in some expert support to help us turn these challenges into opportunities?
Creating Vibrant Christian Communities:
The evidence of research gathered by Natural Church Development and Healthy Churches is that when Christian communities function in a healthy way as part of the Body of Christ, they tend to grow in depth and numbers. That is not to say that a “healthy” church is always comfortable and cosy. They aren’t always wealthy or well resourced. Neither do they necessarily embrace any particular style of worship or programme. On the other hand, a healthy Church will be able to embrace challenge and change - and be willing to follow Christ wherever he leads…
We have a number of churches in Milton Keynes which are thriving because they are “healthy” or are striving to become more “fit for purpose”. We need to support these churches and find ways to encourage more Christian communities to adopt a “healthy lifestyle”.
As a deanery, do we need to make more use of the “Building Healthy Churches” process or something similar? What else could we do to make some of our communities more vibrant?
Shaping Confident, Collaborative Leadership:
As disciples we need to be confident in our faith and in our relationship with God in order to fulfil Christ’s call to make disciples and to make a difference in the world. Although many of our churches have made huge progress in developing shared ministry and leadership there is still a great need for development.
What can we do to encourage the development of confident, collaborative leadership in all areas of the churches’ life? Will the Local Shared Ministry project play a role in this? Do we need more local training? Should we offer a “Growing Leaders” course across the deanery? What else could we do to encourage lay people? How will stipendiary ministry need to change?
Supporting the Priorities:
In the first paper produced by the Strategy Group we observed that the 2005 Deanery Plan, A Framework for the Future, was driven by a range of practical issues, including finance, deployment, ecumenism and decision-making. We noted that this felt the wrong way round and that the 2009 Deanery Plan should start with vision and finish with practicalities. We think that the priorities of Living Faith could provide the core of the plan but that they should be supported by a range of policies and statements covering a range of issues including: finance, deployment, ecumenical relationships, decision-making and administration.
What next?
The Deanery Strategy Group will be making a presentation at the Deanery Synod on Wednesday 13th May. This presentation will focus on the work done so far in reviewing the existing plan and the Diocesan Vision.
Members of Deanery Synod, and the wider church, will then be asked for feedback about the issues that the Plan will need to address. What questions should it attempt to answer? What priorities should it deal with?
The wider church community and our ecumenical partners will also be asked for feedback.
The Deanery Strategy Group will attempt to produce a very rough draft of a new deanery plan for the next Deanery Pastoral Committee meeting on 1st July. This document will then be circulated widely for discussion.
The Strategy Group will receive feedback and will present an amended document at the Deanery Synod on 23rd September.
This document will be a work in progress and will provide the starting point for further discussions as we work through together our ongoing and ever evolving strategy.
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Sunday
My Sunday started with a trip to All Saints' Loughton for the 8 O'clock Communion. I passed the church warden, David Thom, in his home made car. He and Mark Featherstone were off on a car rally finishing with a picnic at Silverstone. It was a great day for it, so I hope they had a good time...After the BCP Communion Service (which the Prayer Book Society think we don't do) I headed over to St Mary's Shenley for Holy Communion with Baptism.
As you can see from the pictures, the choir are sitting in the congregation at the moment because the organ is broken. The repair bill is around £4K but people are working hard to raise the cash. In the meantime it's quite good to hear them leading the singing from the nave...The baptism went well although I found their current order of service a bit wordy with lots of additional text. I had to depart from the script a couple of times to concentrate on the family. I'm wondering if it would be a good idea for the worship leaders to look at producing their own order of service for a baptism service...
It was a great celebration although there are clearly issues about baptisms on a Sunday morning: a large proportion of regulars stay away but we still do a full service to meet the needs of those who do come; we have many guests but give them a very churchy service that makes some of them uncomfortable.... There are some serious missiological issues to raise here... I really wonder if Sunday morning is the best time for baptisms... The problem is exacerbated at 11:00 but there are real resource issues if we do anything different - on the other hand the cost of not changing our ways may also be high...
After Shenley I headed over to St George's Wolverton for their St George's Day service. As I arrived the beavers, cubs and scouts were busy researching St George. This was Jeremy's lasts service before his sabbatical so I wish him well for the next three months - particularly for his plan to do some serious guided reading. He tells me that if he follows the reading list he will need to read a book a day. All I can say is good luck with that... and remember to enjoy some rest!I was there to give Mark Hurley his licence as an NSM assistant curate. It was good to be able tto do this on a Sunday morning and for the congregation to show their support. Many blessings and good wishes to Mark - particularly during Jeremy's sabbatical...
After St George's I headed off for the scouting jamboree for the Great Ouse district over at Willen Lake. On the way I popped in to Woolstones and said hello to the people there. It was good to see them again and to see Cathi settled in.
When I got to Willen Lake I turned my phone on and discovered that Isla had dropped the kids off and gone home... oops! Back in the car and home for a late lunch before a quick trip to Dobbies for a cup of tea. Buy some plants. Pick kids up. Back home. Early tea. Back out for the Watling Valley AGM at which my only duty was to play a video...
This was the last Watling Valley AGM for Alison as Lay Chair. She was given a plant and a round of applause. Alison has been a very organised Lay Chair, which is what we needed after several years of rapid change...Unfortunately, after an away day that called out "Steady as she goes!" we may well be into a period of rapid and chaotic change again (not that the last three years have beed dull!)
Watling Valley is facing serious challenges on the money front - particularly in relation to the deficit at Servant King and the need to support three full-time ministers. There are also long term challenges about pastoral care, worship, communication and more... Nick Adlem described these as the icebergs which may sink the SS Watling Valley if we keep ploughing on as we are...
Watling Valley is now on at least three parallel plans. We have a pattern of vision days which are supposed to clarify what we want to do, we have an application in process for a URC minister, and we have a new process in place to make a decision about Anglican deployment. They're all interelated but not in a particularly linear way... Going to be fun!
(I have often suggested that we need to look at our ministry needs, look at our available resoures and then decide what staff we need to fulfil our mission/vision. Hopefully this is what we will now do.)
And finally home... couldn't sleep so ended up playing Guitar Hero - I rock!
Friday, 24 April 2009
Kent and back...
Drove to Kent for a one hour meeting. Got back on the dot of six and able to feed kids before Beavers...
Thursday, 23 April 2009
Sustaining the Sacred Centre
We had the second meeting of the Deanery Strategy Group this evening and we spent some time looking at the diocesan vision document "Living Faith". This was a very valuable and creative conversation which I will write up when I have had time to think about it... I begin to sense where this process is going. I think we're going to have a much better deanery plan this time around... or rather, we will have built on the progress made possible by the last plan and will be able to be much more creative, visionary and spiritual. Who would have thought that a diocesan strategy document would actually be useful?...
Living Faith in Milton Keynes
Deanery Strategy Group: Living Faith?
On the 23rd April the Deanery Strategy Group met to discuss the Diocesan Vision statement, Living Faith for the future. The group wanted to see how our work compared with the priorities set out in the diocesan document and whether it might provide some structure for our thinking.
According to Living Faith:
The vision of the diocese is “the transformation of all life under God.”
The values of the diocese are that we should be:
The purpose of the diocese is “to join with God in creating a caring, sustainable and growing Christian presence in every part of the diocese of Oxford, enabling every Christian and every Christian community to live and share the love of God, seen in the life of Jesus Christ.”
The priorities of the diocese are:
The Strategy Group discussed the priorities and came to the following conclusions:
Sustaining the Sacred Centre:
Spirituality and prayer must be at the front and centre of the new Deanery Plan. In Milton Keynes we have tended to give a great deal of energy to meetings, structures and general busyness. It is really important that we give more priority to things that lead to rejuvenation, refreshment and self-protection. We can only serve others if we are rooted and sustained in Christ. We need to find deep resources that empower us to be God’s people in this city.
We tend to prioritise activity or meetings, but we need to give some time to God so that the rest of our time is filled with his life.
In practice the deanery needs to lead by example and create opportunities for refreshment. We need to think about how we do this. Could we have more time for prayer when we meet? Should we hold more quiet days or retreats? Should we help churches to keep their buildings open or hold a continuous prayer vigil in one building during Lent? Does Cornerstone have a key role in our prayer life as a deanery?
Making Disciples:
Christ’s command to the Church was that we should be disciples who call other people to join us as fellow disciples. Making disciples is what we do. It is right, however, that we prioritise spirituality and prayer since it is only as we are refreshed by God that we are able to bring refreshment to others. It is only through the work of the Spirit that people are drawn closer to God.
Many of our more vibrant, healthy or growing churches already prioritise discipleship and evangelism, but is there more we can do as a deanery to fulfil Christ’s call? Is there anything we can do to help local churches in this area?
Should we give more energy and support to Alpha? Should we encourage the development of fresh expressions? How do we support pioneers, entrepreneurs, missionaries and evangelists?
Making a Difference in the World:
Many church members are already making a difference in a wide variety of ways. We are involved in the local community through schools, care homes, and a wide variety of work places. As individuals and congregations we’ve supported some significant campaigns on a wide variety of issues ranging from debt relief to the environment. As a deanery, we invest in our mission to the wider community through the Christian Foundation and the Development Chaplain. There are also a number of chaplains in this deanery who do valuable work on our behalf.
On the other hand, there is limited interaction between this work and our congregations and members. There is also a tendency to separate our church life on a Sunday from our weekday life and work. Do we need to spend some time mapping what is already going on and make some connections? What can we do to support our members as Christian disciples in their everyday life?
We also have a number of community-centre style churches that were built to serve local people. Many of these churches have financial difficulties or are struggling in some way. Most of them seem to be declining in membership. This is a pattern that is repeated elsewhere in the country. Is it time to do some serious work looking at the history of community-centre style churches, the challenges they face and the possible solutions that could be considered? Is it worth pulling in some expert support to help us turn these challenges into opportunities?
Creating Vibrant Christian Communities:
The evidence of research gathered by Natural Church Development and Healthy Churches is that when Christian communities function in a healthy way as part of the Body of Christ, they tend to grow in depth and numbers. That is not to say that a “healthy” church is always comfortable and cosy. They aren’t always wealthy or well resourced. Neither do they necessarily embrace any particular style of worship or programme. On the other hand, a healthy Church will be able to embrace challenge and change - and be willing to follow Christ wherever he leads…
We have a number of churches in Milton Keynes which are thriving because they are “healthy” or are striving to become more “fit for purpose”. We need to support these churches and find ways to encourage more Christian communities to adopt a “healthy lifestyle”.
As a deanery, do we need to make more use of the “Building Healthy Churches” process or something similar? What else could we do to make some of our communities more vibrant?
Shaping Confident, Collaborative Leadership:
As disciples we need to be confident in our faith and in our relationship with God in order to fulfil Christ’s call to make disciples and to make a difference in the world. Although many of our churches have made huge progress in developing shared ministry and leadership there is still a great need for development.
What can we do to encourage the development of confident, collaborative leadership in all areas of the churches’ life? Will the Local Shared Ministry project play a role in this? Do we need more local training? Should we offer a “Growing Leaders” course across the deanery? What else could we do to encourage lay people? How will stipendiary ministry need to change?
Supporting the Priorities:
In the first paper produced by the Strategy Group we observed that the 2005 Deanery Plan, A Framework for the Future, was driven by a range of practical issues, including finance, deployment, ecumenism and decision-making. We noted that this felt the wrong way round and that the 2009 Deanery Plan should start with vision and finish with practicalities. We think that the priorities of Living Faith could provide the core of the plan but that they should be supported by a range of policies and statements covering a range of issues including: finance, deployment, ecumenical relationships, decision-making and administration.
What next?
The Deanery Strategy Group will be making a presentation at the Deanery Synod on Wednesday 13th May. This presentation will focus on the work done so far in reviewing the existing plan and the Diocesan Vision.
Members of Deanery Synod, and the wider church, will then be asked for feedback about the issues that the Plan will need to address. What questions should it attempt to answer? What priorities should it deal with?
The wider church community and our ecumenical partners will also be asked for feedback.
The Deanery Strategy Group will attempt to produce a very rough draft of a new deanery plan for the next Deanery Pastoral Committee meeting on 1st July. This document will then be circulated widely for discussion.
The Strategy Group will receive feedback and will present an amended document at the Deanery Synod on 23rd September.
This document will be a work in progress and will provide the starting point for further discussions as we work through together our ongoing and ever evolving strategy.
On the 23rd April the Deanery Strategy Group met to discuss the Diocesan Vision statement, Living Faith for the future. The group wanted to see how our work compared with the priorities set out in the diocesan document and whether it might provide some structure for our thinking.
According to Living Faith:
The vision of the diocese is “the transformation of all life under God.”
The values of the diocese are that we should be:
- Contemplative: attentive to God
- Creative: imaginatively releasing and harnessing all the gifts of all God’s people
- Continuous: rooted in scripture, faithful to the traditions we have received and seeking to give them fresh expression
- Accountable: to God and to each other as we build for tomorrow as well as today
The purpose of the diocese is “to join with God in creating a caring, sustainable and growing Christian presence in every part of the diocese of Oxford, enabling every Christian and every Christian community to live and share the love of God, seen in the life of Jesus Christ.”
The priorities of the diocese are:
- Sustaining the sacred centre
- Making disciples
- Making a difference in the world
- Shaping confident, collaborative leadership
- Creating vibrant Christian communities
The Strategy Group discussed the priorities and came to the following conclusions:
Sustaining the Sacred Centre:
Spirituality and prayer must be at the front and centre of the new Deanery Plan. In Milton Keynes we have tended to give a great deal of energy to meetings, structures and general busyness. It is really important that we give more priority to things that lead to rejuvenation, refreshment and self-protection. We can only serve others if we are rooted and sustained in Christ. We need to find deep resources that empower us to be God’s people in this city.
We tend to prioritise activity or meetings, but we need to give some time to God so that the rest of our time is filled with his life.
In practice the deanery needs to lead by example and create opportunities for refreshment. We need to think about how we do this. Could we have more time for prayer when we meet? Should we hold more quiet days or retreats? Should we help churches to keep their buildings open or hold a continuous prayer vigil in one building during Lent? Does Cornerstone have a key role in our prayer life as a deanery?
Making Disciples:
Christ’s command to the Church was that we should be disciples who call other people to join us as fellow disciples. Making disciples is what we do. It is right, however, that we prioritise spirituality and prayer since it is only as we are refreshed by God that we are able to bring refreshment to others. It is only through the work of the Spirit that people are drawn closer to God.
Many of our more vibrant, healthy or growing churches already prioritise discipleship and evangelism, but is there more we can do as a deanery to fulfil Christ’s call? Is there anything we can do to help local churches in this area?
Should we give more energy and support to Alpha? Should we encourage the development of fresh expressions? How do we support pioneers, entrepreneurs, missionaries and evangelists?
Making a Difference in the World:
Many church members are already making a difference in a wide variety of ways. We are involved in the local community through schools, care homes, and a wide variety of work places. As individuals and congregations we’ve supported some significant campaigns on a wide variety of issues ranging from debt relief to the environment. As a deanery, we invest in our mission to the wider community through the Christian Foundation and the Development Chaplain. There are also a number of chaplains in this deanery who do valuable work on our behalf.
On the other hand, there is limited interaction between this work and our congregations and members. There is also a tendency to separate our church life on a Sunday from our weekday life and work. Do we need to spend some time mapping what is already going on and make some connections? What can we do to support our members as Christian disciples in their everyday life?
We also have a number of community-centre style churches that were built to serve local people. Many of these churches have financial difficulties or are struggling in some way. Most of them seem to be declining in membership. This is a pattern that is repeated elsewhere in the country. Is it time to do some serious work looking at the history of community-centre style churches, the challenges they face and the possible solutions that could be considered? Is it worth pulling in some expert support to help us turn these challenges into opportunities?
Creating Vibrant Christian Communities:
The evidence of research gathered by Natural Church Development and Healthy Churches is that when Christian communities function in a healthy way as part of the Body of Christ, they tend to grow in depth and numbers. That is not to say that a “healthy” church is always comfortable and cosy. They aren’t always wealthy or well resourced. Neither do they necessarily embrace any particular style of worship or programme. On the other hand, a healthy Church will be able to embrace challenge and change - and be willing to follow Christ wherever he leads…
We have a number of churches in Milton Keynes which are thriving because they are “healthy” or are striving to become more “fit for purpose”. We need to support these churches and find ways to encourage more Christian communities to adopt a “healthy lifestyle”.
As a deanery, do we need to make more use of the “Building Healthy Churches” process or something similar? What else could we do to make some of our communities more vibrant?
Shaping Confident, Collaborative Leadership:
As disciples we need to be confident in our faith and in our relationship with God in order to fulfil Christ’s call to make disciples and to make a difference in the world. Although many of our churches have made huge progress in developing shared ministry and leadership there is still a great need for development.
What can we do to encourage the development of confident, collaborative leadership in all areas of the churches’ life? Will the Local Shared Ministry project play a role in this? Do we need more local training? Should we offer a “Growing Leaders” course across the deanery? What else could we do to encourage lay people? How will stipendiary ministry need to change?
Supporting the Priorities:
In the first paper produced by the Strategy Group we observed that the 2005 Deanery Plan, A Framework for the Future, was driven by a range of practical issues, including finance, deployment, ecumenism and decision-making. We noted that this felt the wrong way round and that the 2009 Deanery Plan should start with vision and finish with practicalities. We think that the priorities of Living Faith could provide the core of the plan but that they should be supported by a range of policies and statements covering a range of issues including: finance, deployment, ecumenical relationships, decision-making and administration.
What next?
The Deanery Strategy Group will be making a presentation at the Deanery Synod on Wednesday 13th May. This presentation will focus on the work done so far in reviewing the existing plan and the Diocesan Vision.
Members of Deanery Synod, and the wider church, will then be asked for feedback about the issues that the Plan will need to address. What questions should it attempt to answer? What priorities should it deal with?
The wider church community and our ecumenical partners will also be asked for feedback.
The Deanery Strategy Group will attempt to produce a very rough draft of a new deanery plan for the next Deanery Pastoral Committee meeting on 1st July. This document will then be circulated widely for discussion.
The Strategy Group will receive feedback and will present an amended document at the Deanery Synod on 23rd September.
This document will be a work in progress and will provide the starting point for further discussions as we work through together our ongoing and ever evolving strategy.
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Happy Easter
Dear Friends,
I hope you had a very positive Holy Week and Easter and enjoyed some time off in the midst of your life and work. I'm just writing to you with some news and updates from the Anglican Deanery as the summer term begins.
Names, addresses and the year book
As you probably know, we did some work last term with the diocese to tidy up the arrangement and details of our entries in the diocesan year book. There will be more work to do on this as the new book is produced and the diocese will want to double check our entry. We also need to discuss with them how we include the details of chaplains and religious orders. I'll probably be sending out a draft at some point for you to check.
At the same time, of course, there will also be changes of officers after the annual meetings. Could you please make sure that any changes are sent to the diocese and to Jenni our administrator (admin@mkdeanery.org or 01908 568586).
The Archdeacon's Visitation
Speaking of officers, the annual swearing in of church wardens will be taking place at St Mary and St Giles in Stony Stratford on Wednesday May 6th at 7:30pm. Everyone is welcome, so please feel free to come and support your church wardens. If you can't come, please remember to pray for them, since they do so much for the ongoing life and work of our churches.
Deanery Strategy Group
The Strategy Group will be meeting on Thursday 23rd April to talk about the diocesan vision, "Living Faith". This meeting will now be at 8:00pm at St George's Wolverton so that it can follow the St George's Day Patronal festival service. If you would like to join us for this meeting, please drop me a line.
Fresh Expressions
Unfortunately, the Mission Shaped Intro course planned for the summer term has had to be cancelled due to lack of bookings. I suspect this was partly because the main advertising came out rather late in the day... The Fresh Expressions Project Group is still keen to expand this work and is happy to talk to local churches or groups if that would be helpful.
Preparations are still under way for the year long Mission Shaped Ministry course that we will be hosting in Milton Keynes next year. This will involve people from a much wider area and should be really positive. I attach the posters for this again, and there should be hard copies available soon.
At the same time there is a group coming together to think about working with Costa Coffee to explore the possibility of cafe church in Milton Keynes. This involves some training through the CafeChurch Network. If you want to know more, please get in touch.
We're hoping to put on some more networking events to bring together our entrepreneurs and creative thinkers to share ideas and support each other. I'll circulate more details when I have them...
Music and Message
Speaking of Fresh Expressions, I will be talking about this area of mission at the next Music and Message event at Shenley Brook End Community Centre on the 9th May at 7pm. I've attached the details of this event.
Local Shared Ministry
The Local Shared Ministry Project Group was set up following our last Deanery Plan and has been looking at ways to encourage and develop local and shared forms of ministry. This work started with an exploration of how people have developed "collaborative" or "mutual" ministry elsewhere, but has increasingly focussed on local ideas which have been developing in our own city. This group is now getting to the stage where it really wants to start a conversation with other parishes and churches about where this is all going... If you'd like us to come out and share our discoveries and ideas with you or you'ld just like to tell us what you think, please get in touch.
Jeremy's Sabbatical
Jeremy Trigg from Wolverton will be on sabbatical from the 29th April and will be doing some focussed reading. During the next three months if you need to contact anyone about business involving either of the two Wolverton parishes, please get in touch with the church wardens.
Funeral Collections
As you may know, the Chancellor John Rees came to Deanery Chapter recently to talk about a range of legal issues. One question that was raised concerned collections at funerals. After the meeting, Jeremy pursued this further on our behalf and has been given the following advice by Karen and John:
The Starting Point is that all collections taken within Church Funerals are for Church Funds and a collection plate should have beside it a notice clearly pointing this out.
Where donations have been asked for a Charity people should be asked to send their donations direct to the Charity (via the Funeral Director if this is what the Family have requested), this should be clearly stated on Service Sheets and in a note at the side of the retiring collection for Church Funds.
Collections should be counted by two people at the end of the service, entered in the Service Register and banked in the normal way.
However a PCC may pass a resolution to allow collections for nominated charities to be made in Church, but are advised not to. This is important. It cannot be done by the Ministers Discretion.
Where a PCC has passed such a resolution, the collection should be counted in the same way after the service and entered in the service Register with a note that this collection is to be given to the charity of Choice. If there is a representative of the Charity present at the time that representative may be given the collection provided that they count it in the presence of a Church Officer and sign a receipt for it, this receipt to be held in the PCC's records. Otherwise the money should be banked in the normal manner and the amount sent by cheque to the nominated charity. Under no circumstances should the funeral director be allowed to take the money away nor place their own collecting box in church nor collect on church land.
If we follow this procedure the Chancellor will defend us if any accusations are made. If we don't we are on our own.
As I say, this is the official advice.
Strangers into Citizens
Hopefully you've had the following notice from Tim Clapton:
Bank Holiday: It's a time for gardening and chilling out. But there are two Bank Holidays in May. I would like to invite you to join me and a coach load of others from MK to speak up for 700,000 people who are too afraid to speak up for themselves.
The campaign is "Strangers Into Citizens" – calling for a pathway to citizenship for those who have been waiting too long to hear about their asylum application, an earned amnesty or regularization for those who have settled into the UK community, made a contribution to our society but who do not have papers to be here. A couple of weeks ago a child was dragged out of school by armed police in Camberwell so our government could throw the whole family out of UK. They had been here for years paying taxes ! This sort of thing is happening every day. See http://www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk/
We are going to London on the 4th May – £10 for your place on the coach. It will be a family fun day and an opportunity to do other things in London. Do please pass on this message to others you know on Facebook and who live in MK. More details ring 07958182077. cheers Tim C.
Deanery Communications
Comminications in a deanery are always tricky and there are added complications here because we do so much on an ecumenical basis. On the other hand there are many items of anglican news and information which do need to be shared - and certain notices which need to be shared through the anglican network.
We have no plans to set up a news letter at the moment, but I will continue to circulate news and notices to a wide group of anglicans and to our partners in other denominations. If you know of anyone who I should include on my circulation list, please let me know. If you are no longer an office holder and don't want to get messages about the deanery, please let me know as well and I will stop sending you information.
We do have a web site which was set up when the last deanery plan was produced. This largely consists of links to parish web sites, meeting dates and local rss feeds. It has also been used as a place to access files and information. It can be found at www.mkdeanery.org
Please let me know of any thoughts or ideas you may have about communications in the deanery.
Happy Easter
Anyway, I hope you have a very happy Easter and that you enjoy all 50 days!
All the best - -
Tim N
I hope you had a very positive Holy Week and Easter and enjoyed some time off in the midst of your life and work. I'm just writing to you with some news and updates from the Anglican Deanery as the summer term begins.
Names, addresses and the year book
As you probably know, we did some work last term with the diocese to tidy up the arrangement and details of our entries in the diocesan year book. There will be more work to do on this as the new book is produced and the diocese will want to double check our entry. We also need to discuss with them how we include the details of chaplains and religious orders. I'll probably be sending out a draft at some point for you to check.
At the same time, of course, there will also be changes of officers after the annual meetings. Could you please make sure that any changes are sent to the diocese and to Jenni our administrator (admin@mkdeanery.org or 01908 568586).
The Archdeacon's Visitation
Speaking of officers, the annual swearing in of church wardens will be taking place at St Mary and St Giles in Stony Stratford on Wednesday May 6th at 7:30pm. Everyone is welcome, so please feel free to come and support your church wardens. If you can't come, please remember to pray for them, since they do so much for the ongoing life and work of our churches.
Deanery Strategy Group
The Strategy Group will be meeting on Thursday 23rd April to talk about the diocesan vision, "Living Faith". This meeting will now be at 8:00pm at St George's Wolverton so that it can follow the St George's Day Patronal festival service. If you would like to join us for this meeting, please drop me a line.
Fresh Expressions
Unfortunately, the Mission Shaped Intro course planned for the summer term has had to be cancelled due to lack of bookings. I suspect this was partly because the main advertising came out rather late in the day... The Fresh Expressions Project Group is still keen to expand this work and is happy to talk to local churches or groups if that would be helpful.
Preparations are still under way for the year long Mission Shaped Ministry course that we will be hosting in Milton Keynes next year. This will involve people from a much wider area and should be really positive. I attach the posters for this again, and there should be hard copies available soon.
At the same time there is a group coming together to think about working with Costa Coffee to explore the possibility of cafe church in Milton Keynes. This involves some training through the CafeChurch Network. If you want to know more, please get in touch.
We're hoping to put on some more networking events to bring together our entrepreneurs and creative thinkers to share ideas and support each other. I'll circulate more details when I have them...
Music and Message
Speaking of Fresh Expressions, I will be talking about this area of mission at the next Music and Message event at Shenley Brook End Community Centre on the 9th May at 7pm. I've attached the details of this event.
Local Shared Ministry
The Local Shared Ministry Project Group was set up following our last Deanery Plan and has been looking at ways to encourage and develop local and shared forms of ministry. This work started with an exploration of how people have developed "collaborative" or "mutual" ministry elsewhere, but has increasingly focussed on local ideas which have been developing in our own city. This group is now getting to the stage where it really wants to start a conversation with other parishes and churches about where this is all going... If you'd like us to come out and share our discoveries and ideas with you or you'ld just like to tell us what you think, please get in touch.
Jeremy's Sabbatical
Jeremy Trigg from Wolverton will be on sabbatical from the 29th April and will be doing some focussed reading. During the next three months if you need to contact anyone about business involving either of the two Wolverton parishes, please get in touch with the church wardens.
Funeral Collections
As you may know, the Chancellor John Rees came to Deanery Chapter recently to talk about a range of legal issues. One question that was raised concerned collections at funerals. After the meeting, Jeremy pursued this further on our behalf and has been given the following advice by Karen and John:
The Starting Point is that all collections taken within Church Funerals are for Church Funds and a collection plate should have beside it a notice clearly pointing this out.
Where donations have been asked for a Charity people should be asked to send their donations direct to the Charity (via the Funeral Director if this is what the Family have requested), this should be clearly stated on Service Sheets and in a note at the side of the retiring collection for Church Funds.
Collections should be counted by two people at the end of the service, entered in the Service Register and banked in the normal way.
However a PCC may pass a resolution to allow collections for nominated charities to be made in Church, but are advised not to. This is important. It cannot be done by the Ministers Discretion.
Where a PCC has passed such a resolution, the collection should be counted in the same way after the service and entered in the service Register with a note that this collection is to be given to the charity of Choice. If there is a representative of the Charity present at the time that representative may be given the collection provided that they count it in the presence of a Church Officer and sign a receipt for it, this receipt to be held in the PCC's records. Otherwise the money should be banked in the normal manner and the amount sent by cheque to the nominated charity. Under no circumstances should the funeral director be allowed to take the money away nor place their own collecting box in church nor collect on church land.
If we follow this procedure the Chancellor will defend us if any accusations are made. If we don't we are on our own.
As I say, this is the official advice.
Strangers into Citizens
Hopefully you've had the following notice from Tim Clapton:
Bank Holiday: It's a time for gardening and chilling out. But there are two Bank Holidays in May. I would like to invite you to join me and a coach load of others from MK to speak up for 700,000 people who are too afraid to speak up for themselves.
The campaign is "Strangers Into Citizens" – calling for a pathway to citizenship for those who have been waiting too long to hear about their asylum application, an earned amnesty or regularization for those who have settled into the UK community, made a contribution to our society but who do not have papers to be here. A couple of weeks ago a child was dragged out of school by armed police in Camberwell so our government could throw the whole family out of UK. They had been here for years paying taxes ! This sort of thing is happening every day. See http://www.strangersintocitize
We are going to London on the 4th May – £10 for your place on the coach. It will be a family fun day and an opportunity to do other things in London. Do please pass on this message to others you know on Facebook and who live in MK. More details ring 07958182077. cheers Tim C.
Deanery Communications
Comminications in a deanery are always tricky and there are added complications here because we do so much on an ecumenical basis. On the other hand there are many items of anglican news and information which do need to be shared - and certain notices which need to be shared through the anglican network.
We have no plans to set up a news letter at the moment, but I will continue to circulate news and notices to a wide group of anglicans and to our partners in other denominations. If you know of anyone who I should include on my circulation list, please let me know. If you are no longer an office holder and don't want to get messages about the deanery, please let me know as well and I will stop sending you information.
We do have a web site which was set up when the last deanery plan was produced. This largely consists of links to parish web sites, meeting dates and local rss feeds. It has also been used as a place to access files and information. It can be found at www.mkdeanery.org
Please let me know of any thoughts or ideas you may have about communications in the deanery.
Happy Easter
Anyway, I hope you have a very happy Easter and that you enjoy all 50 days!
All the best - -
Tim N
Wednesday
This morning I led the funeral for Audrey Dwan from William Sutton House - who I've been visiting for the past nine years. A sad occasion, but I was glad to be able to do it for her.
In the afternoon I led Worship on Wednesday at Kilkenny with a small group. I brought communion but the lady who most wanted it was ill in hospital...
I then visited my own nan in her nursing home and joined her for "Tea at the Ritz"... She wore a feather in her hat and we tried to talk while the staff paraded around in 20's outfits...
Christ the Sower Governors in the evening - more jobs added to the list...
In the afternoon I led Worship on Wednesday at Kilkenny with a small group. I brought communion but the lady who most wanted it was ill in hospital...
I then visited my own nan in her nursing home and joined her for "Tea at the Ritz"... She wore a feather in her hat and we tried to talk while the staff paraded around in 20's outfits...
Christ the Sower Governors in the evening - more jobs added to the list...
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Tuesday
Team Space, Jeremy at Sainsburys, LSM Project Group...
At the LSM Project Group we agreed that it is time to widen the conversation...
At the LSM Project Group we agreed that it is time to widen the conversation...
Monday, 20 April 2009
Strangers into Citizens
Bank Holiday
It's a time for gardening and chilling out. But there are two Bank Holidays in May. I would like to invite you to join me and a coach load of others from MK to speak up for 700,000 people who are too afraid to speak up for themselves.
The campaign is "Strangers Into Citizens" – calling for a pathway to citizenship for those who have been waiting too long to hear about their asylum application, an earned amnesty or regularization for those who have settled into the UK community, made a contribution to our society but who do not have papers to be here. A couple of weeks ago a child was dragged out of school by armed police in Camberwell so our government could throw the whole family out of UK. They had been here for years paying taxes ! This sort of thing is happening every day. See http://www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk/
We are going to London on the 4th May – £10 for your place on the coach. It will be a family fun day and an opportunity to do other things in London. Do please pass on this message to others who live in MK. cheers Tim Clapton.
It's a time for gardening and chilling out. But there are two Bank Holidays in May. I would like to invite you to join me and a coach load of others from MK to speak up for 700,000 people who are too afraid to speak up for themselves.
The campaign is "Strangers Into Citizens" – calling for a pathway to citizenship for those who have been waiting too long to hear about their asylum application, an earned amnesty or regularization for those who have settled into the UK community, made a contribution to our society but who do not have papers to be here. A couple of weeks ago a child was dragged out of school by armed police in Camberwell so our government could throw the whole family out of UK. They had been here for years paying taxes ! This sort of thing is happening every day. See http://www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk/
We are going to London on the 4th May – £10 for your place on the coach. It will be a family fun day and an opportunity to do other things in London. Do please pass on this message to others who live in MK. cheers Tim Clapton.
Superbadger
Here's a wonderful little video on YouTube - an interview with TearFund's SuperBadger. If you haven't got involved in this wonderful piece of campaigning yet - join up now!
Only a small dog
Went for a three mile run this morning - on the way back from school. As sometimes happens a small yapping dog came running at me from the front. I had to stop. The woman who was walking her dog said, "Don't worry he's only a small dog. He won't bite. He only wants to play."
Setting aside the fact that I have only ever been bitten by dogs belonging to owners who said that their dog didn't bite, I had to explain to the owner that it wasn't biting I was worried about, but breaking my neck as I tripped over said enthusiastic animal. My problems are intensified by the fact I run without my glasses - small dogs on nearly invisible leads are therefore a death trap!
Anyway, I had a pause (paws) and said hello to her dog, who was very keen to have a bit of affection, which was nice - some kind of bull dog I think, but I'm no good with breeds... I finished my run in 28.27 which was OK, but it would have been nice to get into the 27s again... Never mind, hopefully there won't be any small yapping dogs next time. Big ones on leads are easier to avoid.
Setting aside the fact that I have only ever been bitten by dogs belonging to owners who said that their dog didn't bite, I had to explain to the owner that it wasn't biting I was worried about, but breaking my neck as I tripped over said enthusiastic animal. My problems are intensified by the fact I run without my glasses - small dogs on nearly invisible leads are therefore a death trap!
Anyway, I had a pause (paws) and said hello to her dog, who was very keen to have a bit of affection, which was nice - some kind of bull dog I think, but I'm no good with breeds... I finished my run in 28.27 which was OK, but it would have been nice to get into the 27s again... Never mind, hopefully there won't be any small yapping dogs next time. Big ones on leads are easier to avoid.
Sunday, 19 April 2009
Sunday
Went to MK village this morning to lead worship at All Saints'. Had a great time with them. They were really friendly and seem to be developing some good ideas. I look forward to working with them again!
While I was there I popped round to look at Broughton Church - it's surprisingly big! Can't quite get my head around the fact we're not using it. The notice in the porch says it's not needed for public worship, which I think is unfortunate. All the evidence I see seems to point to the fact that we need a large number of small worshipping communities which are as local as possible... but I'm sure there was logic in the decision to close it...
In the evening I had the second of four sessions with the second batch of worship leaders from St Mary's. There are four of them and we had a good session reflecting on worship that they had observed. My last run of worship training didn't go so well - largely because I tried to fit it in around my sabbatical. This group is thriving - possibly because they all come from the same church and are working on the same service...
From a personal point of view I feel I'm learning a lot about the dynamics of local training. I begin to feel that it is really important to offer something that is a) locally delivered, b) appropriate to immediate needs, c) limited in scope, and d) based on relationships. It therefore works better to offer training for a group of people from the same church for a very specific service that they need to be able to lead than to attempt a more open worship leading course. The more open ended comprehensive course is better offered on a wider area basis for those who are willing to give time to be more exploratory.
On the other hand, it may also be helpful to offer some nuggets of ideas that could be built on... Since MSI has been cancelled I may use some of those dates to offer something on this basis...
While I was there I popped round to look at Broughton Church - it's surprisingly big! Can't quite get my head around the fact we're not using it. The notice in the porch says it's not needed for public worship, which I think is unfortunate. All the evidence I see seems to point to the fact that we need a large number of small worshipping communities which are as local as possible... but I'm sure there was logic in the decision to close it...
In the evening I had the second of four sessions with the second batch of worship leaders from St Mary's. There are four of them and we had a good session reflecting on worship that they had observed. My last run of worship training didn't go so well - largely because I tried to fit it in around my sabbatical. This group is thriving - possibly because they all come from the same church and are working on the same service...
From a personal point of view I feel I'm learning a lot about the dynamics of local training. I begin to feel that it is really important to offer something that is a) locally delivered, b) appropriate to immediate needs, c) limited in scope, and d) based on relationships. It therefore works better to offer training for a group of people from the same church for a very specific service that they need to be able to lead than to attempt a more open worship leading course. The more open ended comprehensive course is better offered on a wider area basis for those who are willing to give time to be more exploratory.
On the other hand, it may also be helpful to offer some nuggets of ideas that could be built on... Since MSI has been cancelled I may use some of those dates to offer something on this basis...
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Conkers
Visited Conkers on the way home. Conkers is a huge environmental park built on the remains of two coal mines. Worth a visit - but avoid the adventure trail if you have small children!
Got home in time for Primeval. It's going to be different without Nick Cutter but it's probably good for the long term development of the show that it doesn't revolve around him. Shame Nigel Marvin got eaten though.
Got home in time for Primeval. It's going to be different without Nick Cutter but it's probably good for the long term development of the show that it doesn't revolve around him. Shame Nigel Marvin got eaten though.
Friday, 17 April 2009
Castleton
Visited Castleton and climbed Mam Tor - the girls first serious hill!
The BBC advertised bright sunshine and 15 degree weather - which arrived at some point in the afternoon - after our climb. Good day though...
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Sudberry
Went to Sudberry Hall on the way to Nanny and Grandad's. Visited the museum of childhood and enjoyed learning more about the work children used to do. I find it astonishing that we were still treating children as economic work units in this country just over a century ago!We were also pleased to note that our old friend John Vickerstaff is the vicar and his wife Fiona is the local prison chaplain - a small world! We didn't visit them, but may drop them a line...
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Up a tree
Isla and Iona did Arial Extreme today - the lower version. They can't wait to try the higher one!Izzy didn't feel like it, so we went for a ride on the train.
We then had a picnic lunch and a walk before going home to watch Narnia Part One - The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe...
Monday, 13 April 2009
Bank Holiday
Afternoon with the Solloways - including a mammoth game of Catan with Seafarers, Knights and a big scenario...
Sunday, 12 April 2009
Dawn in the Watling Valley
Up early for the dawn service at St Mary's in Shenley Church End. Nick led us in a communion service with bread, fish and grape juice - followed by an amazing breakfast in the church with porridge, croissants, cereal and more...We lit the six candles for the five churches of the Watling Valley plus Christ the Sower School. It was a wonderful parable of unity since people had to help each other keep their candles alight. And as someone from St Mary's pointed out - they were slow but burned brightly when they got going...
Happy Easter everyone!
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Egg Rolling
It wouldn't be the Saturday before Easter without the annual egg-rolling and decorating event - including the annual opportunity to target Rozi with boiled eggs - and the usual controversy over what constitutes "doctoring" an egg. In the past there have been attempts to gain a small advantage by freezing, painting or rapping - but this year it did seem to be a fair fight!Isla was absolutely delighted to win the over 16's competition - and longest overall roll I think - not that there's a prize for this...
The entertainments were supplemented this year by a raffle and a treasure hunt in aid of the renovations. Roger sent us on a tour of the graveyard for £1 each - raising nearly £100 overall which isn't bad.
This year's egg decorating competition was as serious as always. My entry was a Eggstra Terrestrial.There were a number of really clever entries, including the wonderful "fried egg":
Iona made an eggsclamation mark:But which cam first, the egg or the chicken leg?
Izzy won her age group with an eggstremely big giant:
...and Isla won again with a wonderful Chancellor of the Eggschequer - identified as Alistair Darling through the clever use of black and white paint...
All in all a wonderful way to spend Holy Saturday and a good example of why All Saints' is doing well...
Friday, 10 April 2009
Worship to make you weep
This evening I took part in a wonderfully dark tennebrae service at St Giles. We used a very similar order of service to the one we wrote in 2003 the last time we were able to hold one in Tattenhoe.As the fifteen candles were slowly extinguished the building became steadily more dark - aided by the electric dimmer lights that weren't available five years ago. As the building plunged into darkness we heard a solid (single) bang representing the closing of the tomb...
The atmosphere at the end was suitably sombre and everyone left quietly...
You don't need to be jolly to be meaningful - sometimes you have to go right down into darkness - and stay there for a while...
I have to say I'm not keen on worship that is simply sombre for the sake of it - all these people walking round with serious faces - but sometimes you have to do misery properly - and that's what tennebrae is all about....
The flip side, of course, is that having dwelt on death, depression and failure you must also take resurrection seriously as well - you need both Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Act of Witness in CMK
Every year there's a procession from Christ the Cornerstone to CMK where we sing some Easter songs and have a bit of an act of witness. It's organised by Cornerstone, but not particularly well advertised so it tends to be a fairly small and select group.This year David Tattem pointed out the oak tree at the middle of the shopping centre which is slowly dying. He linked it with the economic crisis and offered a challenge to our consumerist life style...
All in all, a good event, but it would have been good to have had a few more people there. Perhaps those of us who know about it could help spread the word next year...
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Maundy Thursday in Oxford
Once a year, the Bishop of Oxford gathers lay ministers, deacons, priests and bishops in Oxford for a renewal of vows and to bless the oils. It's usually a great opportunity to catch up on old friends and have a bit of a jolly - in the midst of a busy Holy Week.
Bishop John was on fine form today and was careful to make this a positive an encouraging occasion - and not too long...
He started his sermon with the observation that many people, lay and ordained, find their ministry draining at times, and then asked four questions:
Bishop John was on fine form today and was careful to make this a positive an encouraging occasion - and not too long...
He started his sermon with the observation that many people, lay and ordained, find their ministry draining at times, and then asked four questions:
- What do you get up for in the morning? What are you passionate about?
- What is the biggest question that you're asking at the moment? What is you vision?
- What support do you need? Resources?
- Will you wash my feet? - a bit of a different kind of question - motivation?
Wednesday, 8 April 2009
Local Worship Rules!
A few years ago (as the Watling Valley was coming together in a more integrated way) we had couple of years during which we held some really incredible Holy Week journeys. Each year we followed a different Gospel account and we had a series of events during the week which followed the story. They were great events - although some groups didn't get the idea and gave us Good Friday on the Monday and the Resurrection on the Thursday - but there you go! By and large, these were big weeks and we put a lot of energy into promoting and coordinating them... We tried various tricks to make it work, including setting up cross-partnership teams to work in other people's churches, and insisting that there be only one event on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday... These weeks were hard work but they did help build our partnership unity and created some meaningful worship journeys.
A few years ago, the trend began to move the other way as churches began to push for "their" local events. The week began to break up into a series of connected or unconnected services. Attendance began to drop and a new pattern began to emerge. As I go around the churches I know that leaders tend to promote the events that are due to take place in their building or that they are personally involved in - and this does make sense - but it also means that a Partnership wide approach to Holy Week is problematic...
I was asked to organise an Easter Labyrinth this year. I should say that I wasn't present when I was volunteered and I probably wouldn't have agreed to it had I been there. Labyrinths are incredibly hard work and take a lot of preparation. They're probably not worth doing for a one off event and should probably be set up for a few days, but I was happy to organise one since it had been requested.
I think I spent around fifteen hours pulling things together and setting it up. It'll take another two or three hours to tidy up the mess in my study, car and garage. These are not low maintenance events!
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It was a good event and those who turned up did get something out of it - but here's my point - it was a clear demonstration of the tendency for Easter services to become "local"...
Of the group who helped organise it, all four were Christ the Sower governors.
Of the ten people who actually turned up to walk the Labyrinth, seven were my own family and friends, one was a CtS governor, one was from St Mary's and one from All Saints'. As Isla and I observed afterwards, we'd have got a better turn out if we had just targeted our own friends and family with personal invites.
As I said, I'm not complaining, but I am observing that these events are not working as Partnership services. People want to celebrate Easter with those they know in places where they feel at home. In the early post-SHIFT era, we tended to organise Partnership wide events because that was the fairest way of spreading the clergy out more thinly that we could with one full-timer per church. We don't have to do that now. Each church community could organise its own event, when and where it felt most appropriate - for its own mission and spirituality needs.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do think there is value in some joint events. It is great to meet together at dawn on Easter Day and light our paschal candles together. I think that is deeply symbolic of all that unites us. I also agree that it is better (from the point of view of resources) to organise big children's activities together - but - let's get real - local churches know best how to meet the needs of their members and their target audience. Mission is not served by unity for unity's sake! Next year, I really hope that we will try a different approach to Holy Week that will let churches pull their shackles off and show us what they can do!
A few years ago, the trend began to move the other way as churches began to push for "their" local events. The week began to break up into a series of connected or unconnected services. Attendance began to drop and a new pattern began to emerge. As I go around the churches I know that leaders tend to promote the events that are due to take place in their building or that they are personally involved in - and this does make sense - but it also means that a Partnership wide approach to Holy Week is problematic...
I was asked to organise an Easter Labyrinth this year. I should say that I wasn't present when I was volunteered and I probably wouldn't have agreed to it had I been there. Labyrinths are incredibly hard work and take a lot of preparation. They're probably not worth doing for a one off event and should probably be set up for a few days, but I was happy to organise one since it had been requested.
I think I spent around fifteen hours pulling things together and setting it up. It'll take another two or three hours to tidy up the mess in my study, car and garage. These are not low maintenance events!
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It was a good event and those who turned up did get something out of it - but here's my point - it was a clear demonstration of the tendency for Easter services to become "local"...Of the group who helped organise it, all four were Christ the Sower governors.
Of the ten people who actually turned up to walk the Labyrinth, seven were my own family and friends, one was a CtS governor, one was from St Mary's and one from All Saints'. As Isla and I observed afterwards, we'd have got a better turn out if we had just targeted our own friends and family with personal invites.
As I said, I'm not complaining, but I am observing that these events are not working as Partnership services. People want to celebrate Easter with those they know in places where they feel at home. In the early post-SHIFT era, we tended to organise Partnership wide events because that was the fairest way of spreading the clergy out more thinly that we could with one full-timer per church. We don't have to do that now. Each church community could organise its own event, when and where it felt most appropriate - for its own mission and spirituality needs.
Now, don't get me wrong, I do think there is value in some joint events. It is great to meet together at dawn on Easter Day and light our paschal candles together. I think that is deeply symbolic of all that unites us. I also agree that it is better (from the point of view of resources) to organise big children's activities together - but - let's get real - local churches know best how to meet the needs of their members and their target audience. Mission is not served by unity for unity's sake! Next year, I really hope that we will try a different approach to Holy Week that will let churches pull their shackles off and show us what they can do!
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Palm Sunday
It was one of those Sundays - most of the regulars were away - including most of the people on the duty list - and the rest were ill or unavailable - add to that half the congregation being visitors probably expecting a fairly trad palm Sunday - and you've got the perfect recipe for a seasonal all-age service at All Saints - happens rather a lot...
Having said this, we've got very good at making it happen. Rozi helped me on music and some palm crosses turned up. I put together a simple service based on the whole of Luke 19 from "Good as New". In the end it was a very meaningful event.
I was particularly struck myself with the power of the story as it moves from Jericho to Jerusalem. John Henson's retelling gave both humour and punch to the narrative and I particularly appreciated the way that the parable of the talents (in context) became a key part of the interpretive framework. It really stood out as Jesus' explanation to the crowds of all that was taking place - with a clear warning about the future. In fact, the whole reading was powerfully relevant set against the G20 and the riots in London. Luke 19 has a lot to say to us in our contemporary mess. As I said on Sunday, this is not an old story, but our story - the stakes are high!
Well done all - and thanks for a great palm Sunday!
Having said this, we've got very good at making it happen. Rozi helped me on music and some palm crosses turned up. I put together a simple service based on the whole of Luke 19 from "Good as New". In the end it was a very meaningful event.
I was particularly struck myself with the power of the story as it moves from Jericho to Jerusalem. John Henson's retelling gave both humour and punch to the narrative and I particularly appreciated the way that the parable of the talents (in context) became a key part of the interpretive framework. It really stood out as Jesus' explanation to the crowds of all that was taking place - with a clear warning about the future. In fact, the whole reading was powerfully relevant set against the G20 and the riots in London. Luke 19 has a lot to say to us in our contemporary mess. As I said on Sunday, this is not an old story, but our story - the stakes are high!
Well done all - and thanks for a great palm Sunday!
Saturday, 4 April 2009
Deanery Finance Committee
The Deanery Finance Committee (DFC) is responsible for the allocation of the Deanery Share to parishes and for the management of deanery finances.
The main task of the DFC during the past couple of years has been to produce a ten year transition plan which has two main objectives:
1. for as many parishes as possible to be paying 80% of their ministry costs by 2013
2. for the deanery as a whole to be paying 100% of its ministry cost by 2018
The DFC has also been working on the issue of the quinquennial inspection scheme which is being relaunched without a financial element.
In 2009 the Deanery Finance Committee meeting dates agreed so far are:
22nd June
There is also a Finance Sponsoring Board meeting on 5th May which includes all the denominations who are part of the LEP funding scheme in Milton Keynes.
The main task of the DFC during the past couple of years has been to produce a ten year transition plan which has two main objectives:
1. for as many parishes as possible to be paying 80% of their ministry costs by 2013
2. for the deanery as a whole to be paying 100% of its ministry cost by 2018
The DFC has also been working on the issue of the quinquennial inspection scheme which is being relaunched without a financial element.
In 2009 the Deanery Finance Committee meeting dates agreed so far are:
22nd June
There is also a Finance Sponsoring Board meeting on 5th May which includes all the denominations who are part of the LEP funding scheme in Milton Keynes.
How dare you exclude me!
In my last post (How dare you involve me!) I spoke about the perils of inclusion. I'm very aware of how difficult this can be and how many issues come up when you make an effort. Many organisations become frightened of doing this and attempt to keep the lid on complaint or manage the agenda so that there is no time for discussion. Unfortunately, history has shown us that the more you attempt to restrict complaint like a ginger beer plant in a glass bottle, the more it is likely to explode once the smallest crack has appeared. The fall of the Berlin wall is a perfect example of how quickly things can be swept away once a tsunami of pressure is released...
In annual PCC meetings there is an opportunity to raise issues of importance to the parish. I have sat through such meetings where the agenda suddenly exploded at this point and various people took their opportunity to complain about everything from trees to hymnbooks, children and graveyards... Why were these meetings so full? - because for some they were the only opportunity they ever had to speak up. I contrast this with the expereince I've also had many times in more functional churches where involvement happens on a regular basis. In these churches I have asked the question, "Is there any business?" and had bemused looks in reply. They have nothing to say at the AGM because they've already said it - and know they will have another chance soon enough - they feel included and listened to...
The challenge in not to include, but to change the culture so that inclusion is normal. I've been doing some work on this recently with parent forums/councils. I'll try to post some of this on the blog at some point.
In annual PCC meetings there is an opportunity to raise issues of importance to the parish. I have sat through such meetings where the agenda suddenly exploded at this point and various people took their opportunity to complain about everything from trees to hymnbooks, children and graveyards... Why were these meetings so full? - because for some they were the only opportunity they ever had to speak up. I contrast this with the expereince I've also had many times in more functional churches where involvement happens on a regular basis. In these churches I have asked the question, "Is there any business?" and had bemused looks in reply. They have nothing to say at the AGM because they've already said it - and know they will have another chance soon enough - they feel included and listened to...
The challenge in not to include, but to change the culture so that inclusion is normal. I've been doing some work on this recently with parent forums/councils. I'll try to post some of this on the blog at some point.
How dare you involve me!
Over the past decade or so, I have experienced the greatest amount of aggression and vitriol when I've been involved in collaborative ventures - getting people more involved...
I suspect the principle reason that people are so aggressive when someone tries to include them is because they have had so much experience of being excluded. They want to hit out for the times they have felt hurt or dehumanised. They may also want to test people out to see if they're genuine...
I've only had this experience in a few tiny ways, but the same dynamic is played out over and over again in the relationships which take place between different ethnic or religious groups, communities or nations... Think how difficult the dynamics must be in Israel and Palestine, South Africa or America...
All around the world we need to include people more, but we need to recognise that this isn't easy. Those we seek to involve may still need to break a few windows before they've worked it out of their systems. G20 protesters, Palestinians, Iraqis and the global poor need to become part of the global community - but they have been shut out for so long that it won't be easy to bring them in. Exclusion and abuse damages both the powerful and the powerless...
And, of course, I can't forget that God's attempt to involve people in his kingdom didn't go so well either - he ended up on a cross - but it's through the vulnerability of incarnational suffering that the doors are opened wide. In our own little way we need to accept the attacks and complaints of those we seek to serve and keep moving forward. Inclussion is only a slap in the face away.
- When I attempted to get all the groups in a church talking to each other rather than using me to settle their differences, a church warden resigned...
- When we attempted to involve all the churches in a partnership there were complaints that the smaller churches weren't being herd...
- When we consulted other denominations about our Anglican deanery plan, one colleague called it "a flawed product of a flawed process!"
- Whenever I've asked poor Jenni to gather some information she's always had a few stroppy replies from people who complained that that they didn't know about it and hadn't been asked for this before...
- Whenever I've attempted to send out information across a wide area I've always had complaints that I wasn't doing it right...
- Whenever I've attempted to involve non-stipendiary clergy - I've always had complaints about the technical language I've used or the fact that they hadn't been involved before...
- When I attempted to tidy up the diocesan yearbook so that everyone's details were correct, I was told it was a waste of time...
- Whenever I've tried to involve other denominations in a project I've always been accused of being too anglican...
- and so on...
I suspect the principle reason that people are so aggressive when someone tries to include them is because they have had so much experience of being excluded. They want to hit out for the times they have felt hurt or dehumanised. They may also want to test people out to see if they're genuine...
I've only had this experience in a few tiny ways, but the same dynamic is played out over and over again in the relationships which take place between different ethnic or religious groups, communities or nations... Think how difficult the dynamics must be in Israel and Palestine, South Africa or America...
All around the world we need to include people more, but we need to recognise that this isn't easy. Those we seek to involve may still need to break a few windows before they've worked it out of their systems. G20 protesters, Palestinians, Iraqis and the global poor need to become part of the global community - but they have been shut out for so long that it won't be easy to bring them in. Exclusion and abuse damages both the powerful and the powerless...
And, of course, I can't forget that God's attempt to involve people in his kingdom didn't go so well either - he ended up on a cross - but it's through the vulnerability of incarnational suffering that the doors are opened wide. In our own little way we need to accept the attacks and complaints of those we seek to serve and keep moving forward. Inclussion is only a slap in the face away.
Friday, 3 April 2009
MK Deanery on Facebook
The social networking site, Facebook, has become increasingly popular with a wide variety of people. In many churches Facebook has become an important element of social and pastoral networking. This is also one example of the way churches are becoming more "liquid" as the boundaries between commited "members" and those who are involved through relationships continue to blur...Many churches in Milton Keynes have Facebook Groups and there is a great deal of church life that takes place on line.
Milton Keynes Deanery has its own Facebook Group. Please feel free to join and become part of our online network.
Wednesday, 1 April 2009
What are ministers?
At tonight's team meeting we may be discussing the role of ordained ministers. Here are some possible images that we could use to describe the people we sometimes call "ministers in pastoral appointment", "incumbents", "parish clergy", "vicars" or (more normally in ecumenical contexts) "ministers".
A Spider at the Centre of a Web: The minister can be the 
person who is in control of all the activities that take place in a church. She knows everything that's going on and has a finger in every pie. She belongs to every group and committee and attends every event.
While this image may suggest a very positive "hands on" approach it is enormously controlling, and sets a limit on the ability of the church to grow and develop - according to the limits of the minister in terms of capacity, skill and vision.
Nevertheless, this is what many of our ministers do - and it is an approach that can generate a certain amount of growth... but is it right for the WVEP?
The Octopus: The Octopus is the more pastoral equivalent of the spider. He may not be "in control" as such, but does have an arm for each member of the congregation - ready to reach out and embrace them in a loving and caring hold.
This is a popular and very "care" orientated approach to ministry and many clergy operate on this level. Their church is a community of people who they hold together through personal pastoral contact - but the church is only as strong as the hold of the octopus - and only as large as the number of arms will allow...
Captain Kirk: I liked the image of minister as starship captain when I was a curate - actually I though I was Will Riker, but there you go...
The starship captain has a mission to fulfil and is part of a wider star fleet to whom she is answerable. She has crew rather than passengers, and is repsonsible to care for her crew - but ultimately has a mission to perform.
This is a more "managerial" model and probably reflects the way many clergy see themselves as "leaders" of missionary communities. It's got potential, but it is a bit hierarchical and non-collaborative (even if you take a Next Gen approach).
In contemporary life it would be hard to gather the kind of disciplined community that a starship crew might suggest. Our churches are more liquid and random. Shame though, I do quite fancy the uniform...
Critical Friend: In many ways, we need clergy to be involved but less in control. The term "critical friend" suggests someone who is involved in a positive way but has something positive to add - particularly in terms of comment and direction. As clergy become fewer in numbers, we need a slightly more hands off image - and this may be a good one.
Or we could go for something slightly more challenging...
Auditor: The concept of an auditor may sound like a scary one at
first, but actually it could be helpful. The minister as auditor is required to examine the life and work of a church community, record the achievements, point out problems and suggest areas of development.
The advantage of this image is that it reminds us that churches have responsibilities to God, the law and the wider church. The disadvantage is that it makes the minister a slightly more distant figure...
Jedi Knight: The Jedi Knight is not a leader. He does not belong to the local community and he isn't the only person with a role to play in any situation, but...
...he does have important skills and abilities and also acts as an ambasador or representative of the wider community - the Jedi Council or Republic.
This is quite a helpful image for a minister since it reminds us that the minister belongs to the wider church and also that he offers specific skills, abilities and gifts. He may not be "the" leader, but he does have a leadership role based on these abilities.
Lolly Pop Lady: The minister may not be the one who generates th
e vision, or be the one who makes it happen, but there is an important role of empowerment to take on.
The Lolly Pop Lady shows us where it's safe to cross and makes sure that the trafic lets us through. The minister (as "crossing patrol person") has the task of helping us to get to where we want to be - by showing us the way and making sure that those who might stop us have been negotiated with...
Dancing Bee: Collaborative ministry communities are usually self-organising - in that they don't need a spider, octopus or captain to make their life happen. The minister may, therefore, not be the centre of that community but a member of it.
In bee colonies, the community self-organises to gather pollen, produce honey and nurture the young. Each member is an independent being but works collaboratively with the others according to a set of predifined rules - and the whole thing works!
When explorer bees are out looking for good sources of pollen, those who discover it carry out a complex dance which other bees then pick up. Before long, the message has spread around the hive-mind and the efforts of the bees are rediriected.
Ministers are often ordinary bees who catch the catch the dance and pass it on? Is one call for a minister to be to an explorer who listens for the voice of God and dances?
What do you think ministers are? Clean answers only please!
A Spider at the Centre of a Web: The minister can be the 
person who is in control of all the activities that take place in a church. She knows everything that's going on and has a finger in every pie. She belongs to every group and committee and attends every event.While this image may suggest a very positive "hands on" approach it is enormously controlling, and sets a limit on the ability of the church to grow and develop - according to the limits of the minister in terms of capacity, skill and vision.
Nevertheless, this is what many of our ministers do - and it is an approach that can generate a certain amount of growth... but is it right for the WVEP?
The Octopus: The Octopus is the more pastoral equivalent of the spider. He may not be "in control" as such, but does have an arm for each member of the congregation - ready to reach out and embrace them in a loving and caring hold.This is a popular and very "care" orientated approach to ministry and many clergy operate on this level. Their church is a community of people who they hold together through personal pastoral contact - but the church is only as strong as the hold of the octopus - and only as large as the number of arms will allow...
Captain Kirk: I liked the image of minister as starship captain when I was a curate - actually I though I was Will Riker, but there you go...
The starship captain has a mission to fulfil and is part of a wider star fleet to whom she is answerable. She has crew rather than passengers, and is repsonsible to care for her crew - but ultimately has a mission to perform.This is a more "managerial" model and probably reflects the way many clergy see themselves as "leaders" of missionary communities. It's got potential, but it is a bit hierarchical and non-collaborative (even if you take a Next Gen approach).
In contemporary life it would be hard to gather the kind of disciplined community that a starship crew might suggest. Our churches are more liquid and random. Shame though, I do quite fancy the uniform...
Critical Friend: In many ways, we need clergy to be involved but less in control. The term "critical friend" suggests someone who is involved in a positive way but has something positive to add - particularly in terms of comment and direction. As clergy become fewer in numbers, we need a slightly more hands off image - and this may be a good one.
Or we could go for something slightly more challenging...
Auditor: The concept of an auditor may sound like a scary one at
first, but actually it could be helpful. The minister as auditor is required to examine the life and work of a church community, record the achievements, point out problems and suggest areas of development.The advantage of this image is that it reminds us that churches have responsibilities to God, the law and the wider church. The disadvantage is that it makes the minister a slightly more distant figure...
Jedi Knight: The Jedi Knight is not a leader. He does not belong to the local community and he isn't the only person with a role to play in any situation, but......he does have important skills and abilities and also acts as an ambasador or representative of the wider community - the Jedi Council or Republic.
This is quite a helpful image for a minister since it reminds us that the minister belongs to the wider church and also that he offers specific skills, abilities and gifts. He may not be "the" leader, but he does have a leadership role based on these abilities.
Lolly Pop Lady: The minister may not be the one who generates th
e vision, or be the one who makes it happen, but there is an important role of empowerment to take on.The Lolly Pop Lady shows us where it's safe to cross and makes sure that the trafic lets us through. The minister (as "crossing patrol person") has the task of helping us to get to where we want to be - by showing us the way and making sure that those who might stop us have been negotiated with...
Dancing Bee: Collaborative ministry communities are usually self-organising - in that they don't need a spider, octopus or captain to make their life happen. The minister may, therefore, not be the centre of that community but a member of it.
In bee colonies, the community self-organises to gather pollen, produce honey and nurture the young. Each member is an independent being but works collaboratively with the others according to a set of predifined rules - and the whole thing works!When explorer bees are out looking for good sources of pollen, those who discover it carry out a complex dance which other bees then pick up. Before long, the message has spread around the hive-mind and the efforts of the bees are rediriected.
Ministers are often ordinary bees who catch the catch the dance and pass it on? Is one call for a minister to be to an explorer who listens for the voice of God and dances?
What do you think ministers are? Clean answers only please!
Too many egos
A little while ago I was in a room with a group discussing their logo. It turned out that they had talked about it a while ago but couldn't agree on one. "Why?" I asked. The answer turned out to be, "Too many egos!"
Organisation are often set up with a collaborative intent, but they are often set up by powerful individuals who all want to be the one that the others collaborate with...
We do this in church life and many church leaders talk about collaborative leadership but live out a form of central authority. We need to learn to be facilitators and enablers - even if it means we are less obviously efficient in our work... at least in the short term...
Today in London, twenty of the worlds most powerful men and women are gathering to talk about the worlds problems. The test that they all face is the challenge of recognising that none of them have all the solutions by themselves. President Obama may be bright, new, powerful and shiny - but he won't achieve anything if he tries to negotiate from a position of strength. Gordon Brown may be the host, but he can't assume that his agenda will have any more priority than that of India, China and Russia. Nicolas Sarkozy would be foolish to walk away and Germany can not go it alone...
True collaboration is a sophisticated and ever developing thing - and those in the room need to remember that it only works if you are conscious of those beyond it. Those who protest also have a voice that needs to be heard and the world's poor must not be ignored. Will the G8 rise to the occasion? I hope so, but it really depends on where they've put their egos.
As for the rest of us, we need to keep listening and recognising that we need every voice. It's slow, I know, but the only way to go.
Organisation are often set up with a collaborative intent, but they are often set up by powerful individuals who all want to be the one that the others collaborate with...
We do this in church life and many church leaders talk about collaborative leadership but live out a form of central authority. We need to learn to be facilitators and enablers - even if it means we are less obviously efficient in our work... at least in the short term...
Today in London, twenty of the worlds most powerful men and women are gathering to talk about the worlds problems. The test that they all face is the challenge of recognising that none of them have all the solutions by themselves. President Obama may be bright, new, powerful and shiny - but he won't achieve anything if he tries to negotiate from a position of strength. Gordon Brown may be the host, but he can't assume that his agenda will have any more priority than that of India, China and Russia. Nicolas Sarkozy would be foolish to walk away and Germany can not go it alone...
True collaboration is a sophisticated and ever developing thing - and those in the room need to remember that it only works if you are conscious of those beyond it. Those who protest also have a voice that needs to be heard and the world's poor must not be ignored. Will the G8 rise to the occasion? I hope so, but it really depends on where they've put their egos.
As for the rest of us, we need to keep listening and recognising that we need every voice. It's slow, I know, but the only way to go.
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