And another thing...

Oh, and we talked a lot about what church was supposed to be for. The thinking was that it didn't connect with us or to put it more kindly, it no longer connects with us. we may talk about this tomorrow (we're meeting in the pub again and as it's a Thursday I hope it will be quieter) and if we do, I might mention Martyn Atkins' chapter in Mission Shaped Questions which focusses on church as mission...but as you know, we are all equal here and so far there hasn't been an agenda.

Our second meeting was a smaller affair and after the noise of the pub, we opted to meet in a home. Interesting because although it was a more intimate setting and we were able to be very open and honest with each other, we all agreed that there was something special about talking about God very openly in a crowded pub environment.

Once again, there was no problem with people talking about things they felt strongly about and we discussed things that were very personal. I think this must be a tribute to the instant bonding of people - kindred spirits if you like, united by a very real desire to connect with God.

One of the things that struck me was that we recognised that we had all gone through phases of life and we had changed considerably over the years. The question arose, 'how does church change to accommodate us as we change?' We talked about it for a while and didn't come to any conclusion.

The other topic of note was that it was easy to identify three of us in Fowler's faith development model (stage 4 and 5). Whilst I appreciate that this model has its critics, it again begs the question of how does church accommodate people as they move from one season of life to another.

Can anyone suggest some books that might give an insight here? I am also wondering now how our group might deal with this should we want to continue to meet after the 12 weeks are up. Does the charisma of the meeting become institutionalised in order to give it longevity or does the group only have a set life-span?

We have had to miss a week so I posted a contemplative exercise on the other blog (5 Feb) so that people didn't feel disconnected.

The Black Bull. Our first meeting

The idea is to discover God in our lives and in the stories we tell to each other. This type of theological reflection is discussed in Graham, Walton and Ward's book Theological Reflection: Methods, chapter 2. Whilst it is true to say that Graham et al focus on the lives of those who acknowledge they have a faith, I believe that God is alive and active in our lives even before we recognise that we have what we can call 'a faith'. Consequently, who ever turned up would still be included and have a valuable part to play in the experiment.

So what happened? Nine people were contacted and expressed an interest. Eight people came along on Friday night to the pub, The Black Bull. At the outset, we set a confidentiality clause so what I can say in the blog is limited. Starbucks coffee was served in Starbucks cups with quotes from famous people on the side, 'the way i see it' setting the scene - there are no wrong answers, just the way we see issues. Most of us didn't know each other, so the fact that anyone turned up at all is very encouraging. I had been studying hard: an ice-breaker; looking at the self; what does it mean to be human; looked at Christian humanism (Oppenheimer/Craske) and secular training literature on being human and knowing oneself; also Thomas Merton's view of the self. I started to ask what we had come here for and the next 90 minutes were taken up with a discussion on church - what we liked about it and what we didn't. How it had failed children by not telling the Bible stories and that church had (largely) lost touch with ordinary people. There was an extraordinary short discussion about losing faith and that church did not tackle these issues. I thought there would be a problem with the group not being able to overcome the fact that I was a Methodist minister...I needn't have bothered, apparently it was the last thing on their minds. We also have a group which is happy with leaderless leadership. We do not have a leader. Despite the fact that most of the group could see serious shortcomings with church they all seem to have a real and deeply personal understanding of God.
I need not have bothered with the ice-breaker or with all the study on Becoming Human as they launched into talking about what was on their minds. When I asked what people wanted to talk about next time we met, they said they didn't want to talk about anything specific...difficult to prepare for that! The group is not what I thought it was going to be as we examined our attitude to church in the main. My thoughts and aims of what the group was going to be will need to be re-evaluated. Keeping in touch via Facebook was rejected in favour of meeting weekly (so much for church for those who are too busy). Unfortunately, the pub was too noisy so this week we are meeting...in a home. At this early stage it's possible that we fall into the category of Francis and Richter's work (see also Alan Jamieson et al). Not what I expected at all.

Our first meeting

We met last night for the first time in the pub...will let you know what happened when I have worked it out myself, but it was a great night and not what I had expected at all.

In my day to day blog about what it's like to be a new Methodist minister, I've moaned about preaching and how I am seriously questioning its value. I even wrote an assignment on it for my MA. I came across this today from Jonny Baker which resonates with my own thinking.
What I want to do is to take this theme but take it further; to make theological reflections on a daily basis and to throw ideas around for each of us to consider then and ask where is God in my life today? I'm hoping that one of the things we do is to look at who we are - you know, answer those important questions...'who am I?' 'why am I here?' 'what's the meaning of life?'.
Somehow, I want to give us the opportunity of breaking out from a closed mindset of who God is because of what church is. I want to stop equating God with the worst aspects of church and rediscover him again in a new light.
I am also very anxious. 'Two degrees either side of the cross is a heretic' and I don't want anybody to fall away from God because of what I do but I do want to look afresh at the God of creation, the Holy spirit of new birth and the Son of life. So we will try to do what I pleaded for in my preaching assignment and that is church which is based on theological reflection. It's a tall order, but we all know it's an experiment, so let's give it a go!

In deciding what my aims are here, I am already defeating part of the object of the experiment. It's been my experience that some Christian leaders seem to mess up people's lives rather than help them on their way, so my aim is to steer people to what God is already doing in their lives, which means a differnt type of leadership. My hope is that in all of this, God meets us in the everyday events of life and in each other's lives. A personal text for me here is John 4 - meeting Jesus at the well.

So far we have a wide range of people interested and what was originally intended for busy people has attracted those for whom conventional church does not always currently provide the answers to questions, so before we begin, we have changed a little from the original plan - I will have to expect that if I am holding this loosely.

Objectives:

1. Try to establish a living community 7 days per week that doesn't have to meet weekly


2. Consider an embryonic dispersed monastic community with a rhythm of life


3. Become missional, incarnational, and discover Christian spirituality


4. Be as leaderless as possible


5. Encourage everyone to participate with the Starbucks mantra, 'The Way I See It'


6. To discover that God is active by seeing Him at work in others

There are alot of objectives here and I do not anticipate that they will be met in everyone, but rather that everyone can access them if that is their need. Some of us have been Christians for a long time and others of us would not consider ourselves Christian at all but are critical of Church. We are a broad group but if God is real, then He is active in us all - right here, right now at this time.

Not long now

Just a few weeks away now. I don't think I've had any response to the advertising in the village magazines (with the exception below) nor to the ad in the library. What I did was to leaflet houses in a particular village and now I have had two firm responses. Someone from the other side of the world (literally) phoned me as they had received the village magazine and wanted my e mail address, but I haven't heard from them as yet.

My hope was not to get people who are already active in churches as they bring with them lots of preconceived ideas of who God is/isn't. My hope is to get people who are interested in (re)discovering God in a fresh new way. In fact, I want to do that too. This means that we will be relying on God to lead and direct us in a new way. In the next post I'll outline what I want to achieve, but it really is up to God.

Can I do this with two people? Is this Church? Can it survive with so few people? I hope we will have two more people to start with, but I'm not in charge here.