Harvest at CtS

What do ministers do on their day off? They watch other ministers at work...

Today we attended the Harvest festival assembly at Christ the Sower Schools (why are all their events on Friday?) Nick was heavily involved in the organisation and we were treated to a brief talked based on his dog (puppet) Scrap who helped him demonstrate that we all need someone's hand in us in order to live...

One of the parents sang a gospel song about God's peace and the children read prayers and the parable of the sower. They also sang all the school harvest faves: Cabbages fluffy, the Lord of the Harvest and there's a song to sing. (Slightly older readers will not recognise these hymns, but in return, the children wouldn't recognise Come, ye thankfull people come - so this works both ways...)

The centrepiece of the assembly was the shoe-boxes for Link Romania. Nick played a video which showed how the boxes were delivered and received. I think this was more effective than words could have been.



All in all, this was a great harvest assembly. Nick did well, the kids did well. It was slick and professional and moving. Well done all!

Wednesday

Saw Alastair Wood this morning.
Spent the rest of the morning preparing for Kilkenny Harvest.
Went to Partnership Office to photocopy sheets.
Walked out of house without my music...
I therefore had to lead singing of Harvest Hymns for a large group of older people without music! (One of them was 100!) The music didn't go particularly well since my voice wasn't up to it and I forgot the tune to Come, ye thankful people come... Good session though (as always) and it was great to spend the afternoon with some old(er) friends...

Back to Church for Harvest

Motorcycling bishops on breakfast TV? Helium balloons outside church? It can only be Back to Church Sunday!

As last year in the Watling Valley, BTCS is combined with harvest - which means that there is something definite to invite people back to. This is a good occasion to make contact those who have been involved through Christmas, baptisms or weddings - or who have just expressed an interest.

At All Saints, Derek and Ruth produced an extremely competent and professional service which demonstrated how a service can be both welcoming and meaningful. The children produced a fairtrade logo banner and dry/canned goods were donated for the food bank.

All in all it was a good event, and a few people did come back to church and hopefully had a worthwhile time. (All Saints' is frequently 80% full anyway, so further congregational growth is challenging...)

I note, however, that the real challenge of Back to Church Sunday is to listen to those who would like to come but for a wide range of reasons find it difficult. Some of these people simply need to be asked (and I wonder how many of the personal invitations were actually given out?) but others find the Sunday slot difficult, unhelpful or inconvenient - no matter how welcoming it becomes...

As Bishop Alan has been reminding us lately, a huge proportion of the population would like to come to church - but not necessarily when we are in it!

I've been thinking a lot about fresh expressions lately. These are forms of church which are created primarily for those who don't yet come. To a certain extent, our "seeker" focussed services already do this for some - but what about the rest? What forms of church do they need?