GadgetVicar

Willow Creek

It's been two exciting few days at the Global Leadership Summit. I've attended the Scottish versions of this event twice at which the talks are viewed on dvd and those have been great events.But, from the stunning Willow Creek Community Church campus to the committed service of the five thousand church members who have volunteered to look after us during the conference, the real thing has been exceptional. The church has escalators, two balconies and the seats are better than those we sat in when we went to the cinema the other evening. This local church has more people attending it at the weekend than the whole of the Scottish Episcopal Church. It is BIG (but servant-hearted!).

The quality of the teaching has been very high and I have been both uplifted and challenged by what I have learned or been reminded of. I believe the expression used over here is "God has rocked my world".

Catherine Rohr of Prison Entrepreneurship Programme was amazing today and the powerful testimonies of the former prisoners who shared the platform with her moved everyone in the auditorium. She articulated a huge problem - how is it we can handle David and Paul as murderers, because they are oldschool, but can't offer real forgiveness for people today who have paid their debt to society but will forever be ex-cons in the eyes of the world? Where is the new beginning for them? We have a problem in the UK getting faith-based programmes like this into the prisons. Yet the statistics indicate that real transformation is taking place in prisoners' lives through this ministry.

Bill Hybels shared in the closing session from his study of Mother Teresa's life on how to pursue relentlessly the calling the Lord has given us.

So many of the faculty have shared nuggets on personal management, casting vision and keeping focussed on the task at hand. I am brimming with ideas and excitement at what the Lord wants to do. The Summit comes to Glasgow on 3-4th October - I recommend church leaders and business people to check it out. You can get a flavour of what's been happening here.

I've also spent some time with some new friends from the Church of the Resurrection (Rez), Wheaton, Illinois. I even got to sit in on one of their staff meetings this afternoon over lunch. It's nice to know the issues dealt with are universal.

Tomorrow we begin the road trip part of our time in America with a long drive to Memphis probably via St Louis.

I'm going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee..............

Playing, Touring, Praying and Preaching

Another busy weekend ahead.

There is a 'Set All Free' prayer walk (relating to the present day slave trade) in the morning.  Contact me if you want some details.

St Silas' F.C. play in a semi-final of the Cup. Details here.

Tomorrow night, St Silas' hosts a rally for the ambitious Connecting Scotland prayer project. On Monday morning, I discovered that not only were we hosting it, we were supposed to be organising it! Nice....

Anyway, the blessed Hugh Wallace of Mount Florida Church of Scotland and I have pulled together and come up with a cunning plan. We are going to meet the team in George Square at 3pm, then take them for a Prayer Ride on one of the open-top tourist buses. We'll get to visit all the key sites of Glasgow, and pray for the city while we do it. That should be total fun, which we'll follow up with the rally at 7.30pm, where we'll pray specifically for planting fresh expressions of church in the city and for the elections to the Scottish Parliament/Local Councils that take place on the 3rd May (Don't ask me who to vote for - I still don't know who to support, but I do know I will vote, and hope that all who have a vote will use it!).

Sunday brings a preach at Glasgow International Christian Church in the morning and Romans 3 in the evening at St Silas'.

I think I'd better make today a day off.

Spiritual Butterflies

Oh, dear! There is controversy in the St Silas' mini-blogosphere as Jenni, Gill and Graham all wade in on the subject of loyalty to the local church.

I'm donning my hardhat as I type............................

At St Silas', we're trying to offer diversity in worship styles. We are able to experiment with forms of worship old and new. Some people like one thing, some like another. Some need one style one day, another on a different day. We are blessed in that we are able to offer different styles of worship. Is this consumerism? I hope not - we are merely reflecting the diversity of music and liturgy available today.

Whichever service we attend, the key question is, 'Is this about what I need, or me bringing worship to God?'. Worship is something one chooses to offer. So if find yourself in the most miserable, musically bereft, mind-numbingly boring service in the world, you can still choose to worship God by your attitude. If you absent yourself on a Sunday because you don't like what or who is on that day, you are showing a lack of commitment to the rest of the Body of Christ and a limited understanding of the nature of worship.

As for staying away when certain preachers are on......that's why one-person ministry can be attractive. The congregation knows what is going to get. All the preachers at St Silas' will now be worried that they are the one who is keeping someone away!

When it comes to going to other churches, some might fear that people will 'defect' to other congregations. Frankly, this happens a lot anyway, as people disagree with leadership, direction, music, vision, etc. I discourage people from joining us if they are members elsewhere, partly because I figure if they are unhappy elsewhere, they may well bring that unhappiness with them. That doesn't stop people visiting us, which people from other churches do regularly, especially in the evenings. But what does it say when our own church is having a service and we go elsewhere on a regular basis? The people in the local church may well feel let down, or that there is a lack of commitment.

What does concern me are churches who actively recruit from other churches in order to generate 'mo' (momentum) or 'critical mass'. For example, a few years ago the leadership of a southside church called me to ask what I knew about a new church being planted in Glasgow, which had mailed some of their young people inviting them to come and join the new church. This caused massive ill-feeling and division.

The reality is that some churches get to be 'flavour of the month', because of their music, or teaching or welcome or whatever. If people are fickle enough to wander from church to church, that is a reflection on where they are at. I worry for their spiritual health, as their maturity could be questioned. Without commitment to, and ministry in, the local church, there can be little growth.

The tricky part is maintaining the life of the local church over the long haul. That requires a hunger for God, a desire to serve Him and a commitment to His people, the Church.

Final thought - by all means visit elsewhere. It might give you fresh vision and encouragement. Or more love for the local church. Or even a realisation that your own church isn't as bad as you thought it was!

Willow Creek Association Global Leadership Summit

Here's what the staff of St Silas' will be discovering at Stirling University over the next two days. I should point out that none of these people will actually be present. It's all on DVD. Much as I love him (my first U2 concert - 4th October 1981 @ Tiffany's Ballroom, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow), I'm not at all sure that I want to hear Bono tell me about leading a church. Perhaps he'd like me to advise him on how to sing? More seriously, I imagine he'll be sharing a little on how to use influence effectively on a global stage?

Friday

12:30 P.M. Life Cycle of a Leader - Bill Hybels

2:50 P.M. Enemies of a Growing Church - James Meeks
       
4:15 P.M. The Risky Business of Hiring Stars - Interview with Harvard Business School Professor Ashish Nanda

7:30 P.M. Bono - An Exclusive Personal Interview

Saturday

9:00 A.M. Focussed Leadership - Andy Stanley

11:00 A.M. When Business Thinking Fails the Church - One-on-One Interview with Jim Collins

1:30 P.M. Dead Leader Running - Wayne Cordeiro

3:45 P.M. The Power of Clarity - Bill Hybels

Extra team DVD Sessions

Silos, Politics, and Turf Wars - Patrick Lencioni

Tribal Warfare - Peg Neuhauser

Intelligent Church

I've started to read Steve Chalke's and Anthony Watkis' 'Intelligent Church'. It is a good read, and one that I'm finding simultaneously encouraging, affirming and challenging. They are trying to help the Church engage with the world in a post-Christendom environment. Grace, love, and diversity feature heavily but there is also a rootedness in Jesus and scripture. It will mean a certain messiness but also an attractiveness; many churches today can't handle the former and are sadly lacking the latter.

I think this is what the Lord has called us to experiment with at St Silas'; how to be an ancient/future community of God's people that looks to the past, is open to the present, and anticipates the future. It's a heady mix.

I do wonder if the writers will find themselves preaching to the converted. The practical ideas included in the book are helpful, but I'm not sure how many conventional churches could or would take them on board.

It seems likely that what we are seeing happening, certainly in the UK, is small communities of people, in different streams, discovering new ways of doing church that work in their environment. Fresh Expressions is an attempt to encourage this too.

A word to the wise: if you have any influence in a church, let those who want to experiment a bit, do so. They might just be riding the wave of discovering how to be an 'Intelligent Church'.

Prison ministry axed: Andrew Carey in the Church of England Newspaper

See the article here.

A groundbreaking discipleship course for prisoners in Dartmoor prison has been axed by the Prison Service after only one year because it did not comply with ‘diversity policies’.

The closure of the Inner Change programme raises wider concerns for similar programmes and courses, such as Alpha, in British prisons because of fears that they may fall foul of the multi-faith approach of the government. Lady Georgie Wates, of the Prison Fellowship, who helped to set up the course in Dartmoor Prison, said the future of Christian teaching and chaplaincy in prisons was now hanging in the balance. “There are two reasons for the closure. First we don’t comply with the diversity policy of the Prison Service because we teach the sanctity of heterosexual marriage as the Bible says, which is seen as homophobic. “And secondly, because we don’t fit in with the multi-faith agenda. They think we should be teaching a bit of every religion and that what we’re teaching offends other faiths.”

The Inner Change programme, based on similar discipleship courses in the United States, was adopted for a pilot programme by the Rev Bill Birdwood, Chaplain of Dartmoor, last year. The course is based around Alpha, but aims to create a Christian community in the prison and includes follow-up and Christian mentoring after release. In some American states recidivism has been reduced to eight per cent by the programme. But Inner Change fell foul of both the Prison Service and the Chaplain General, the Ven William Noblett, who cast doubt on the programme’s principles and practicability after a visit last year. The Chaplain General is currently asking chaplains to sign up to a ‘multi-faith’ covenant, which requires them not to “knowingly say or do anything which insults or in any way denigrates the faith of any other person. Should we unwittingly offend we ask that the one we offend helps us in a gentle and gracious way to understand how that insult occurred. We will not knowingly distribute or display any literature which offends another Faith tradition.” Lady Wates argued that some aspects of Christian teaching could be offensive to those of other faiths. “If we teach Jesus is the Son of God, of course it is going to offend people. “I’m amazed and bitterly disappointed to see a programme which is having such an impact and seeing change being stopped.” The Inner Change course was staffed by volunteers and funded outside the Prison Service. At its recent accreditation review prison officers testified about the positive effect it was having among previously difficult prisoners.

The Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, who recently expressed concerns about the marginalisation of Christianity in chaplaincies, said he regretted the closure of Inner Change. He said that the closure seemed to be because the course was ‘too Christian’. He said the claim that it was ‘proselytising’, even though it was entirely voluntarily and welcomed people of other faiths, could affect the nature of chaplaincy work across the board. The Home Office said this week that all ‘offending behaviour programmes’ are subject to approval by an accreditation panel and that Inner Change was closed in June this year.

The Chaplain General was not available for comment.

Nigeria - Day 3 - Badagry and the Church of Pentecost

We travelled on a visit to Bishop Babatunde Joseph Adeyemi  (B.J.) of Badagry. He had been vicar of Christian's home church in Lagos, the Church of Pentecost, before being called to be the missionary bishop of this new diocese. Badagry was where Christianity first put down roots in Nigeria and had been a centre of slave-trading.

Bishop B.J. is a theologian and church planter. 'My job is to go out to the villages and plant churches', he said.  He also told me more about Christian's evangelistic gifts (note to self- we need to use him more in that capacity, when he comes back to Scotland). We talked about many things, including the state of the Anglican Communion, and the respective roles of clergy and their wives in the differing contexts of the UK and Nigeria. In Nigeria, wives are expected to take on the role of leading and caring for the women of the church. He and Cecilia, his wife, emphasised this as they did some impromptu marriage preparation with Christian and Patience. They were refreshingly frank, even going into the 'joy of sex'.

He is an amazing man. Armed robbers have tied him up twice as they sought money from him. His response was to say, 'If you kill me, I will go to be with Jesus, and that is what I want'. I left with an overwhelming sense of gratitude to the Lord for this bishop and his wife.

That evening I preached on 'Transformation' at the Church of Pentecost. Before I got up, a lay preacher taught on Family Life and sid a Q & A on the same. Again, I found an openness to talk about sexuality, as women talked about their husband's libido, how to satisfy it, and how to say, 'No!'. One woman even inferred that husbands can 'please themselves', and how that was a good thing, which brought forth a great deal of laughter. I was heartened by all this. Far from being repressed, I found a church dealing with issues in a mature way which few congregations in the UK or USA could handle so openly, without a great deal of embarrassment.

At the end of my preach, I led the people in intercessory prayer, which everyone joined in with. After my leading on a topic, everyone would pray,out loud at the same time. We've tried this at St Silas', but it's never been greeted with the enthusiasm of the Church of Pentecost.

It was a most encouraging day, during which I saw something of the spiritual vitality of the Church of Nigeria.

Prayer for the City

The core leadership team of Prayer for the City met today to pray, listen and plan. We met at the fabulous Grange Manor Hotel, the cost of which had been very kindly donated to us.

The vision is to encourage churches to pray and work together for the transformation of the city of Glasgow.

From left to right:

Alan McWilliam (Whiteinch Church of Scotland), Hugh Wallace (Mount Florida Church Of Scotland), GadgetVicar (St Silas' Scottish Episcopal Church), Helen and Steven Anderson (Healing Rooms Scotland), Anita McCaullay (The Door Christian Fellowship, Bearsden), Keith Short (Bishopbriggs Community Church), Edwin Gunn (Queens Park Baptist Church).

They are a great bunch of people. I am privileged to work with them in this.

Edwin and I go back a quarter of a century. I first met Ms GadgetVicar in QPBC, was married there (by an Episcopalian bishop) and Edwin preached at one of my ordinations.

A new toy for GadgetVicar and more travel in Alabama

Waiting for transport to Twin Pines Resort for the Christchurch vestry retreat, I had lunch with Oliver and Ginny, a delightful Montgomery couple, who insisted that I had to have a shot on their new gadget. So, here it is:

This device is called a Segway. It has gyroscopes which keep it balanced and it can turn 'on a dime'. It can also get up to 20mph. I saw Peter Gabriel use one in a concert a few years ago, and thought, 'I'd love to try that!'. Now, much to my surprise, I have.

I envisage them being used in church: the clergy can process using them, perhaps even in robes draped over the machine. The gliding effect would be great, the pastor would be higher up than everyone and the theme from 'Thunderbirds' could be used as the introit. Maybe St Silas' vestry will consider it?

Here's another shot of the thing at speed (notice that I am not enjoying it at all):

After this little enjoyment, it was off on a two hour drive into backwoods Alabama. Was that 'Duelling Banjos' I heard in the distance? We arrived in the dark, had supper, followed by Compline, and I introduced the Letter of James, looking at chapter 1, verse 1.

After a night of heavy rain, I woke to this view:

I took a quick thirty minute stroll around this lake before morning prayer at 7.30am. It reminded me even more of 'Deliverance' after that. The scenery, that is.

I hope the time with the Christchurch vestry was useful. James makes one think of practical aspects of leadership, 'walking the talk', building strong relationships and how to minister well. They are a good group of people with a strong vision for doing something new in this city. Like many churches across the USA, they have let go of property and friends in walking apart from ECUSA.  This has been costly materially,  emotionally and spiritually, but there is a great sense of being 'free at last'. Their new oversight, Archbishop Orombi of Uganda visited here last week, and it was a powerful time of ministry. It will be interesting to see the whole church at worship tomorrow morning. I'll preach and share at the adult education class, then in the afternoon meet with the youth group.

Churchplanting or recycling?

It's been on my heart for a number of years to plant a new congregation somewhere in the city. I've always felt it would be good to do this somewhere that the Church isn't present, or needs strengthened. A few years ago we looked at the possibility of transplanting into a small church in the city, but the timing wasn't right. Over the last few years we've had people leave us to join smaller churches that need encouragement. It's been a wrench for them and us, but their gifts get used better, and they, as young couples, are such a blessing to the fellowships they join.

However, I notice another trend in our city. Lots of church-planting in the West End, where there are loads of good churches already. Why so? There are lots of students, and it is easier than setting up in the suburbs or estates. It just doesn't seem very strategic to me- all we'll end up with is lots of smaller fellowships, with recycled membership (church-hoppers), and we'll leave the unchurched areas untouched. Maybe some new churches will do a great job and bring new people into the Kingdom, but I fear that this might not be so.

I know that we as a church, get a fair share of people coming to us from other churches, because they perceive that something is happening. But I tend to discourage people from leaving other fellowships, particularly if they are unhappy where they are. Occasionally, the unhappiness comes with them!

Mind you, everyone is welcome, and I understand that sometimes church is so awful you just have to move out, at least for a while. Somehow, we are going to have to face up to our desire to build our own empires, rather than the Kingdom of God.