At last, September 1st has been and gone. I've moved into the manse; started to understand more about what it means to be a Methodist minister in a rural location; learning the ropes and discovering the people in my three churches plus those in the other six in the circuit. So where do my people for a 'church' for the too busy come from? The reality is that I don't know anyone here well enough to know who is too busy. In fact I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that no body here is too busy to go to church. So what do I do? I'm re-thinking this whole idea...is it a good idea? Well, I still think it is and I am sure there are loads of people who are otherwise engaged on a Sunday morning doing things like having contact time with children and visiting elderly relatives. Sundays are nolonger free; they are already accounted for in daily living and if you want to see someone on a Sunday you need to book it up well in advance.
I recently had a Churches Together in Shepley meeting where I said that we were going to do a Cafe Christmas service - on a Saturday night. It was met with much encouragement. Sundays will not do! However, where will the people for this new community come from? Do I follow the example of Jesus and go looking for them? Not really. I don't know them (yet) and Jesus appears to have known his disciples for a long time. I am tempted to advertise in the local paper/village magazine. The problem is that it might end up as a group for new Christians and the reflection might just suffer for it. I'll think about it, but if you have any ideas, let me know.
