The Provocative Church

The Provocative Church
Graham Tomlin
SPCK
ISBN 0-281 05476-2
The book at Amazon.co.uk

This is another book I have to read for my training course. Its is such a good title, I've always believe that the church should be noticeable, challenging, and something that people would look at and like or dislike. Jesus was not the sort of person people ignored – so His church should be like Him. With expectations nicely set I open the book. The first chapter is about evangelism. Hmmm, not quite what I was expecting, but interesting nevertheless. The book continues, with chapters like “King the Kingdom, the Book” and “Evangelism makes me feel guilty” and “Transforming communities”. Its all good common sense stuff, it reminds me of lots of the things I thought Christianity should be when I was first a Christian. There's lots more, and one or two practical examples as well. Most importantly this book comes across as open and honest. For example "Digging beneath the surface of many even apparently successful churches, it doesn't take long to discover a common feeling that our Christianity occupies a parallel universe from the rest of our lives. And the effect on evangelism is huge, as it eventually leaves Christians bored, frustrated and going through the motions. And if that's all Christian life is, then out of kindness to their non-Christian friends, they quietly ignore all the well-intentioned pleas to bring them to church." That of course is not what Christian life should be. Christian life should be different, and the hows and whys are both discussed. So if you really don't want to live a 'provocative' life – or at least be made to think about why and how – then leave this book on the shelf.

Otherwise I recommend you pick it up and read it, go on give it a try.....

Reader Training - Weekend away.

We travelled to St. Marks college to spend the weekend studying and practicing the Pastoral Cycle. Its a tool for understanding issues or problems, and coming towards a resolution, or maybe agreeing that there is no resolution. We were put in groups of four and asked to present an issue. the facilitator helped us to use the cycle on the issue. To do it four times may seem like overkill, indeed thats what I thought at lunchtime. In the second two sessions the process became almost automatic, and the facilitator had to spend less time and effort guiding us. Each session was followed by a break, or a meal. This gave us time to rest our brains. Concentrating that intensely for seventy five minutes is quite tiring. We now have a basic understanding of the tool, and hopefully will be able to use it at some stage before we forget what we have learned.

The training was very good, the facilitator for my group was very capable, and insightful. The overall management of the weekend was pretty good too. The food was nice, if a little old fashioned. The time set aside for 'free' time was useful, and the weather was brilliant. The film shown on the Saturday evening "Sideways" was OK, a nice little story of a couple of teenagers (in their thirties probably) finally beginning to grow up. A number of people said the wine snobbery thing was a bit annoying, some people just drank wine. Personally I think being annoyed by that was part of the film - teenage obsessions are annoying!

What didn't I like? The accomodation. St Marks is designed for children. Sharing a room as an adult is a different ball game altogether, and is something that everyone seemed unhappy with. I had a really poor nights sleep on Friday. The curtains don't close properly, the stairs (which were almost a ladder) have an automatic light, that detected all movement updtairs and switched on the light. So I turned over, and on came the light! I covered the PIR on Saturday, so no light. The bed was also too short, and very uncomfortable. The choice of date was also less than ideal. Some of the participants have young children, and Sunday was Fathers Day in England.

Article for "Spotlight" Christ Church's monthly magazine - June 2006, during the interregnum

Last summer Jo and I spent a week in Norfolk. I got it into my head that I would like to visit some of the round tower churches, they are scattered throughout Norfolk, with some in Suffolk also. It was a very interesting time wandering around the different buildings during the week, looking for evidence of the congregation and the worship at the church. Some were quite sad, 'moth-balled' churches with the buildings and grounds protected, but no active worshippers. We looked at the gravestones for 'Fisher' as well, as we suspect my family may be from the area originally. I wonder what those people thought the future of their church would be? Some of the churches had, very obviously, a large and active congregation. At one there was a notice on the door, which was locked unfortunately, that said the bishop had just agreed to them continuing without a vicar for the next five years. It started me thinking, back in the summer before I had started training, how a church could operate without a vicar for that long. One suggestion I have heard is that there is a very strong Reader, who leads the congregation vicar-like, so that the model is unchanged. A more exciting idea is that the congregation are involved and take responsibility for all the various aspects of the life of the church as their gifts allow. God, we believe, will provide all their needs (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:27-29), so there will be a unique mix of gifted people, all working together, and all the requirements will be met.

This church is in my thoughts for two reasons. The first is common to us all. – Christ Church does not have a vicar, Paul has moved on, and the new person is only just confirmed. It means that a lot of things that we used to rely on are now having to be done by others. I have been very pleased, and give thanks and praise to God, for the number of people who have been willing to take on new (or old) things, and 'help out' in the gap. We've even managed a church weekend away. Of course, all of the things that people are doing is not really just 'helping out',– it's really exercising your God given gifts, for the good of the church (1 Peter 4:10). The other reason is unique to me, in my first year of Reader training. I am in the process of preparing the Ministry assignment. We have to consider what it means to be a Reader, what effect it has on our Ministry, and how that might change in the future. One of the assigned books is "“Bridging the Gap" - it means between the clergy and the people (laity), and it is a very interesting book, but that's not where I see Christ Church. "The Ministry Team Handbook"” takes things much further, and talks about Ministry Leadership Teams, a model for church much more like the one we have - with Cogs having responsibility for each of their specific areas. Reading Don's article in April reminded me of some of the things we used to do. As a new Christian I didn't know that what was happening was in any way unusual but, looking back and getting a wider exposure to some other churches, I think it was quite remarkable. It didn't always work of course -– I remember Peter Sandberg asking my girl friend (Josephine Leaver) and I to lead prayers and us both making a complete mess of it because we weren't properly prepared. I remember a CYFA service that Graeme Knibbs and the team put together, that was barely halfway through by 8pm! The evening congregation was very tolerant, and we didn't keep anyone until 9:30. We were forgiven and invited back to have another go! These things happened over 20 years ago, and I'm still learning about my gifts and my Ministry, and I expect you are too. (1 Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6)