long time no chat...

hi folks,

It's been a while but we're making progress in the right direction I think. Life has been hectic and all that with a job application (a good second place apparently?!) and work and working out our potential future church associations...

I didn't want to post to much about the furure while we were still working out discussions with some of the guys at our old church. However, we've now officially left (been prayed for and given a gift) and will be starting up with effect from September in a mix of very simple accessible Sunday mornings (with the kids) every other week and an evening meeting each week where we plan to work out how we're going to try and make church work.

We're also chatting to a chap from Oasis church at the moment and working out what it'll mean to be a part of their organisation - I'll post more on that after we've seen them. A lot of what they have had to say about church has really made sense to us and when Lorna and I went to their conference earlier this year we really felt at home with them in terms of theology and in terms of what they are doing. You can find out a bit more of what they believe about church in the theology section of their website... http://www.oasischurch.info/papers/centredchurch

Like I said once we've had those conversations I'll post a whole load more...

Dave

Faithworks Conf. and charter...

... so last weekend we went down to London to the Faithworks conference and had an amazing time. It was great to find that loads of other people had ideas very similar to ours and were on the same journey as us. There's lots more to post about this ... taking time to process it all really but I thought I'd give you a starter for ten... This is the charter that sets out how Faithworks Affiliates work ... whatever we end up doing I think we'll probably be signing up to this... I'd appreciate your thoughts...

The Faithworks Charter

Principles for Churches and local Christian agencies committed to excellence in community work and service provision in the UK

Motivated by our Christian faith we _________________________________ commit ourselves to the following standards as we serve others in our community work and seek to model trust.

Signed________________________________ Date __________________

Position______________________________________________________________________

We will provide an inclusive service to our community by:

1. Serving and respecting all people regardless of their gender, marital status, race, ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation or physical and mental capability.

2. Acknowledging the freedom of people of all faiths or none both to hold and to express their beliefs and convictions respectfully and freely, within the limits of the UK law.

3. Never imposing our Christian faith or belief on others.

4. Developing partnerships with other churches, voluntary groups, statutory agencies and local government wherever appropriate in order to create an effective, integrated service for our clients avoiding unnecessary duplication of resources.

5. Providing and publicising regular consultation and reporting forums to client groups and the wider community regarding the effective development and delivery of our work and our responsiveness to their actual needs.

We will value all individuals in a way that is consistent with our distinctive Christian ethos by:

1. Creating an environment where clients, volunteers and employees are encouraged and enabled to realise their potential.

2. Assisting our clients, volunteers and employees to take responsibility for their own learning and development, both through formal and informal training opportunities and ongoing assessment.

3. Developing an organisational culture in which individuals learn from any mistakes made and where excellence and innovation are encouraged and rewarded.

4. Promoting the value of a balanced, holistic lifestyle as part of each individual’s overall personal development.

5. Abiding by the requirements of employment law in the UK and implementing best employment practices and procedures designed to maintain our distinctive ethos and values.

We will develop a professional approach to management, practice and funding by:

1. Implementing a management structure, which fosters and encourages participation by staff at all levels in order to facilitate the fulfilment of the project’s goals and visions.

2. Setting and reviewing measurable and timed outcomes annually, and regularly to evaluate and monitor our management structure and output, recognising the need for ongoing organisational flexibility, development and good stewardship of resources.

3. Doing all we can to ensure that we are not over-dependent on any one source of funding.

4. Implementing best practice procedures in terms of Health and Safety and Child Protection in order to protect our staff, volunteers and clients.

5. Handling our funding in a transparent and accountable way and to give relevant people from outside our organisation/project reasonable access to our accounts.

© Faithworks (administered by the Oasis Charitable Trust) 2002

Money, Money, Money...

OK folks just a quick question ... based a little bit on the size issue... how about a church that gives all the money to poor people and situations of need?

Not very practical - maybe but I think it might just be possible...let me know if you think it's crazy?

Is size important?

So onto the issue of size...

Does a church have to reach a certain size before it can be considered a sucess?

I guess the obvious fact is that I'm not really bothered by the idea of never "growing" a big church. I'm more bothered about other things that seem like more tangible signs of sucess to me

# helping people who really are poor in genuine sustainable ways...

# welcoming people who don't feel comfortable with traditional church environments...

# building and deepening relationships...

# getting to become a bit more like Jesus...

There are loads of other benefits besides, like not having to hire venues or spend money on lots of admin type stuff, also there are loads of relational benefits of staying small - it means people can be known much more easily ...

A place of safety...

This picture was taken on a recent trip that a friend and I took to visit Mars Hill Bible church in Michigan, one evening we drove over to the lake and found this harbour. It reminded me of something so I obsessivly took pictures of this and other harbours that we saw... however it turns out that Steve's shot was best...

A long time ago my wife (Lorna) and I were at meeting in a Vineyard church (we've been members of various Vineyard churches for about 15 years now)and when someone was praying for us they gave us a word or picture. (kind of an impression that popped into their head while they were praying for us that they thought may have been from God...) What they said was that we would be like a harbour, a place where people would be safe and could feel secure and protected.

In beginning to think about a church I don't think that this is a bad place to start ... I'd love it if I could ensure that everyone who came into anything we did could feel the way that I think God thinks of them. Unique, valuable, worthwile and loved regardless of their ideas, beliefs, culture or lifestyle.

Given how difficult it is to help people to feel this even when they are just coming into your family has anybody got any ideas about how you could do it with a church?

I was thinking...

# Stay small enough to welcome everyone.
# Be big enough that everyone can meet someone they can become friends with.
# Focus on Jesus and not on doctrine or traditions (as helpful as those things can be)
# Serve good coffee (and cake)

let me know your thoughts...

Dave