New Wine Article for the Christ Church Spotlight magazine

New Wine is a Christian Holiday that takes place in the Bath and West Show Ground at Shepton Mallet. Most people stay in a tent, Jo and I stayed at the Inn at the top of the hill. It is about 15 minutes walk to the centre of the show ground from there, which is about the same as some of the camp sites. There are hot drinks and other refreshments available in lots of places and a food court in the centre of the 'village'. This was our second visit to New Wine.

If you have never been the pattern of the day is breakfast, worship, seminars, lunch, seminars, evening meal, and worship. There are early morning and late evening activities too. The morning and evening worship sessions follow the same basic layout. There is up to an hour of singing followed by a talk of about 40 minutes, followed by ministry (people going forward for prayer).

Everything on offer is optional, we chose to attend morning and evening worship in the main venue each day and just a few seminars. There is an 'exhibition' in one of the large halls where you can get involved in all sorts of things, with many organisations offering all sorts of opportunities. There is also a bookshop. I had decided that I would do less seminars this time, two years ago I was overloaded with them and was not able to make use of all I had heard. This time I bought two books and decided to read as much of them as possible in the gaps between seminars. More on those another time – probably.

Here are just a few of the highs and lows from the week. These are my views and experiences, others will disagree. First the lows. I normally expect the sung worship at such events to be amazing, sadly this time it was not. On some occasions there were just too many songs that I didn't know. I learn songs more slowly than most so I found this frustrating. One exception to this was Rend Collective (look them up on the internet) who put on an amazing show one evening and still managed to lead us all in worship. Another low was the availability of Wi-Fi. Not an issue for some, but increasingly a problem in the modern world when it is unavailable. Wi-Fi access is limited to one hour, so taking and storing notes on my Samsung pad was difficult. I had to go back to paper and pen, and I still have lots of notes to process.

So that's the bad news out of the way, on to some of the good things. The Archbishop of Canterbury paid us a visit. He answered questions in a seminar and spoke and involved himself in the ministry one evening. The 'tent' was packed, its usual 6,000 capacity exceeded and it was very hot and humid, but well worth staying for. He comes across as a normal Christian, not a slightly out of touch academic, but even so it is easy to see that he is a very thoughtful and prayerful man. Among other things he spoke about his priorities for the church, which I have condensed into three short points:

1. Prayer and revival
2. Reconciliation
3. New disciples

I attended a very interesting seminar (called “Faking Life”) on the issues that bio-technology is raising for Christian ethics. Sounds boring? Well try this: “If there was a drug that could increase your intelligence would you take it?” That was the opening question we were given to 'wake us up'. Of course, such a drug already exists, but more effective ones will be here soon.

Robbie Dawkins on Wednesday evening did 'healing by example'. He prays for the first person, they pray for the next person, using the words he gives them and so on, and it seemed to work, if to a rather limited extent. He said he has less success healing Christians than he does non-believers. That prompts some interesting questions to mull over in the next few weeks. There were lots of healing testimonies at every worship session in the main venue. I would like to hear from those people again in six months time to see how they're doing.

Then there was Steve Morris. “If your speaker can't get here ask the youth worker to have a go.” seems to be the attitude among a number of leaders, sometimes it fails, this was not one of those times. His young people had told him not to water it down – and he didn't. He talked about living with integrity and at one point by way of an example said that if everyone in the tent gave the price of a burger (£6 from the posh burger stall) then their project to build an education centre in South Africa would be paid for. There was no appeal, and it wasn't even a main point of his talk. Shortly after he said this I noticed more people moving around than was usual, then there were lots of people moving up to the stage. They were putting money on the stage. The leaders sent for buckets, but they were not enough, the people making donations were having to be directed. In total £34,000 was raised in about 10 minutes. We found out the next day that a prophecy given in the USA had predicted that the money would be given and it would look like it came from a watering can – a very apt description. This was an undoubted move of the Holy Spirit, especially because it took the leaders by surprise and they were slightly embarrassed by what happened. A real miracle and my high light of the week by a long way.

The main thing I like about New Wine is that the day starts and ends with worshipping and there are times when the Holy Spirit is moving – things happen! There is a lot more to think and pray about, and much of it will change us in ways we can't foresee.

Spotlight Introductory Article - being a Reader

Spotlight, the once monthly magazine of Christ Church has recently been resurrected, although it is only published 3 times a year.  I was asked to write about being a Reader as the introductory article.

I’m so pleased to be writing for Spotlight once again. I have been ask to do a piece on ‘being a Reader’, of course the brief was a lot more detailed than that, so I’ll start with the calling. Many of you will have heard some or all of this story before.

It starts way back in ’92 in earnest, although it goes back further than that really. That was the year I started the Reader training course, after having finished the Course in Christian Studies (CCS). I had attended a vocation day, seen the vocations advisor and even had a talk with the Bishop, who rather reluctantly agreed that I could go forward for training. The following year my Dad died, and I withdrew from training. There followed a few years not really knowing what to do. Then I was asked to run help in Explorers. Well, teaching had always been my aim, but not children that young.

It turned out to be great, and I also enjoyed leading Pathfinders for a few years, until Paul Hinckley suggested I got on with Reader training. I took a while to decide that it was still the right thing to do. Then I started training – through CCS once again, through vocations and selection interviews again, and finally starting, and this time completing two tears training.

I was licensed in October 2007. Then the real work began. Reader ministry is a preaching and teaching ministry. I had been preaching occasionally for a long while under Paul’s leadership, but now I had been trained, and in training a full text is required, so I had become used to having the full text in front of me, I still do, although I don’t always follow it and occasionally get lost! Now it is quite formal, I am on the rota and have a working agreement which indicates how much I should do.

Being a Reader is not about being on the rota though. It means that I have the privilege and responsibility of sharing God’s word with all the congregation. It means I have to have a sense of what God is saying to the church, sometimes that is obvious through the reading, more rarely it is part of a planned series, almost always it is a combination of prayer and study.

It’s a privilege because you sit patiently and listen to me. There are not many, if any, other places where a person can speak, and not be subject to questions, either immediately, or later. When I listen to a sermon I am trying hard to pay attention, and sometimes making notes, but generally I take very little of it away with me. Occasionally something important is said, as sticks with me while I work it through with God. I know from conversations that I’ve had that this is also true for my hearers. That’s OK, I understand that a sermon is not primarily about teaching the facts and beliefs that are in the Bible, but helping people to live them. That is a kind of teaching too.

It’s a responsibility for two reasons. Most importantly because it’s God’s word, and James warns us that teachers will be judged more strictly (James 3:1). God doesn’t want his word corrupted, so we who present it have the responsibility to present it as accurately and as truthfully as we can.

It’s a responsibility also because it is my calling, so I want to be as true to it as I can be. That means not just presenting accurately and truthfully, but in a way that communicates what is being said and engages the listeners. I’m still learning, and occasionally experimenting!

Jesus said “make disciples” (Matthew 28:19), he didn’t say “make converts” – which is great for me, because I’m not good at making converts. I can help those converts to grow, and as I learnt leading the young people, watching people grow into true disciples is a marvellous thing.

I seem to say quite a lot “There’s always more with God”, so when I asked Him during New Wine a couple of years ago, “What now?” I not should have been expecting the answer “just get on with being a Reader”. Instead I thought he said “Something big is coming”. I didn’t understand, perhaps it related to retirement – I’m almost old enough. Earlier this year there was a general request for Readers to help with CCS. When I saw that I was pretty sure that I now knew what God was meaning. It’s big (for me) – a lot of work, but so far I’m enjoying it. If you don’t see me on Wednesday evenings – that’s where I am.

That’s a part of me trying to be true to following Jesus wherever he takes me. A question I got asked a lot was about ordination, but that’s not something that I have been called to. At least not yet.

Unemployed? (an article for Spotlight - the Christ Church Monthly magazine)

Many of you will already know that my job at CSC Computer Sciences was moved to a cheaper location on 17 March 2008. As a result, I am no longer in paid employment, but am living on the proceeds of redundancy pay. It is also common knowledge that I was licensed as a Reader in October 2007. Reader training takes, altogether, four years. It starts with attending the Course in Christian Studies for two years, and then moves on to Reader training for a further two years.

Working at CSC – a very large global company – is to experience constant change. There is always the possibility that a reorganisation, or a change of client will mean that your job becomes more difficult, or easier, or even disappears. It is something that you learn to live with. In 2003 the major projects I was working on had completed, and my team was cut down to 3 as the work was reorganised and re-aligned. I was assigned to a different part of the organisation, and began to get involved in different work. My workload had reduced significantly. My responsibilities were no longer quite so close to the front line. During late 2004 and early 2005 I completed the transition into the role I have been working in since.

When my employment was put “at risk”, I was speaking to someone in the office, and closing down some of the issues I had asked him to look at for me. I happened to have my Bible open on my desk. I was using it to change my password – I use the initial letters of a verse of scripture, and needed a new verse as my passwords had expired. He asked me about the Bible, and told me he was a Christian. We had quite a long chat, and he reminded me of Romans 8:28.

Paul Hinckley use to say that you can often only see what God has done, not what he is doing. As I look back over the years of training I now see that some of the more difficult and demanding parts of my job disappeared, and provided me with a little extra time to get on with the study that I needed to do to complete my course and get to licensing.

Then less than six months after licensing the job comes to a complete end, and I have to start looking for another one. Had that happened during the training, I may not have finished the course. With Warner being unwell, I have had very little time to put my feet up and enjoy my time off. That would probably not be something I would enjoy anyway – I like to be busy, and have plenty of things to do.

What has God got planned for my future? - Well, or course, I don't know. I believe that I have been called to be a Reader, and that so far as I am aware at the moment that is my only calling. What I can testify to is “that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” I believe I can see that evidence in the things that have happened in the last few years. So I know that God has His plans, and all I can do is to follow them as faithfully as I can, as I continue to search for some new paid employment – whatever form that may take.