Future Focus

We had a really good Roundchurch kirk session meeting last night. One of the clear things to emerge was our recognition that we cannot do everything, but what we choose to do we would like to do well. After 7 months here I think we are getting a fairly clear sense of our immediate priorities - these are (i) WORSHIP ie all that happens in church on a Sunday. We discussed having others preaching, choosing songs, leading prayers or doing readings. We discussed cleaning, teas and coffees, welcoming, sound desk and audio-visual. (ii) CHILDREN/YOUTH ie all that we do with our young people. We have moved our Sunday Club to the Baptist Church and it will now run after the morning service, rather than at the same time, and we will make much use of modern technology and communication methods. We hope this will engage our youngsters in a way that will encourage them to make it their own space.

 (iii) ALPHA COURSE. We will start this in January 2011 and we are hopeful that it will provide a space for growth amongst our existing congregation and also allow folk from around Bowmore to participate. These courses are a great way of stimulating discussion and creating safe spaces for people to express their faith. (iv) PASTORAL. We want to become more organised in how we deal with the pastoral issues in the church. Angela Stather is gifted in this area and already very well known after some years of pastoral ministry. She has agreed to head this up and we want two elders (or more) to work with her to develop a team that will allow us to care for folk in the community around us. I can move on to change our web site to reflect these emerging emphases, and the new face of the Roundchurch in Bowmore.

There is a lot to do of course and we don't pretend it will be easy! We have some suggestions for new elders and helpers and I will be following these up in due course. The immediate good news is that we have a new treasurer - Bob McNabb - and we are delighted to welcome him onto the team.

I have a meeting of the Kirk Session at St.Johns tomorrow and we are also getting ready to decide on our future focus there too..... I will let you know what happens :) 

Not Ashamed - 1st December 2010

I have just had a phone call from a friend who directed me to the Christian Concern For Our Nation web site (http://www.ccfon.org/). They are promoting a 'Not Ashamed' day for December 1st 2010 and the question put to me was 'Is this something that we might get involved in?'. A dedicated web site can also be seen at http://www.notashamed.org.uk/ for those that would like more information.

 I will certainly be showing this to the elders and the congregations of the Roundchurch and St.Johns because it says something that I hear more and more people saying to me - 'Why are we so quiet when so much that is going on is heading in a wrong direction?'. This is a view that I am sympathetic to and one of my hopes in ministry is that existing congregations will simply become more confident in their faith and start speaking up more. I don't subscribe to any suggestion of militancy or constantly writing to MP's as some do, largely because the exercise seems so negative and futile. Jesus did not say send letters to the Emperor, he said 'Go and make disciples'. So, we don't need to be militant but as Joshua said 'as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord' (Joshua 24:15). If we all took up that simple viewpoint, we could do quite a lot!

I recommend you take a look at the web sites mentioned above.

Service of Introduction to Jura and Islay for Jess Reynolds

Just a reminder that we have Jess' induction service tomorrow evening in the Roundchurch. I know that many are involved in other longstanding events but those that can please do come along to this important induction. Oh and just to help, here is a picture of her :)

Hillsong

Since arriving on Islay I have been suprised to find that neither of my congregations have heard of Hillsong, or indeed many other new Christian bands/composers. So, here is a link to a Hillsong that I am really enjoying just now. Not quite a John Wesley I know but listen to the words, let it engage you, let it's energy run through you... Now that's my God, 'the one whose Glory goes beyond all fame, and the cry of my heart is to bring you praise'. Enjoy..

Emerging Church Conference

We were away for three days last week at the Church of Scotland Emerging Church Conference. This group of about 50 folk are all involved in new initiatives of one kind or another and fundamentally they are about looking at fresh ways of getting church engaged with our culture once again. Society has changed so fundamentally in the last 20-30 years that the church has become largely disconnected and hence also increasingly misunderstood.
So it was great to meet people who are concerned to see a reconnection and the key note speaker was simply excellent. His name is Alan Roxburgh and although he has a lot of academic things to say about being a Missional Church, he nonetheless weaves much of his life story into all that he says. That makes him much more enagaging and also plausible, at least for me! The net result is that we returned exhausted but refreshed at the discussions that we were also able to enjoy at the Conference.
It was also particularly good to catch up with our good friend and mentor Duncan MacPherson from Hilton Church, Inverness! Though I think our laughter at Alan's 'eccelesiastical' jokes was at times a little too vigorous... :)
For those who don't know much about emerging church or missional church I would recommend that you take a look at this web site - http://www.roxburghmissionalnet.com/

Highland Theological College

My theology degree was formally awarded to me this week and I have received a number of ‘congratulations’ from our many friends in and around Inverness. The degree was awarded in absentia because I was attending the CoS emerging church conference in Glasgow. The conference was great and I blog about that elsewhere but significantly, whilst explaining to one individual that my theological training involved HTC the comment came back ‘oh yes, they are very reformed…’. This comment is not unusual and was, at least in my view, a gentle knock at the HTC take on scripture.

I have to say that I was mildly irritated by the comment on two grounds;
First because I have to thank HTC, in no small measure, for my place in ministry. Since having almost completed my training as an auxiliary minister in the CoS I woke one morning to the firm conviction that I should really be a full time minister. This created quite a few problems for the CoS because I was fast approaching the ‘age barrier’ of 55. Even so within a few days CoS had said they could accommodate the change but I had to find a way to extend my theological studies to complete a degree before the last day of my 55th year. None of the major universities could do it and although I had approached HTC it looked as though they could not do it either. So it looked as though I was simply too late. Imagine then my delight when two weeks later I should get a call which said ‘there is a way’…
The fact is that the vice principal had spent what time he managed to find ‘spare’ to see if a way could be found that fitted my circumstances and the ‘rules’. The CoS agreed to the proposal and thus I find myself here on Islay. Brillant!
The second cause of my irritation was that my ‘learning experience’ at HTC was really invigorating and contrasted with the almost ‘anything goes’ interpretation of the Bible that I had experienced elsewhere. In attending this reformed college I did not find that I had to respond ‘as taught’, I did not have to ‘suspend my intellect’ as some seem to think reformed theology is all about, but I could learn what the scriptures were about.
So, if any of you are thinking about learning more I commend HTC to you. Whatever stage of learning you are at I think you will find a place to start. Just as importantly the staff there will be supportive and encouraging. Go for it!
The ignorance that exists about the gospel in our culture is profound, and growing… but I will blog about that later too.

Biblically Conservative and Culturally Sensitive

As a minister in this age of the so called ‘secular democracy’ and ‘aggressive atheism’ I am dismayed at the ways in which so many of my colleagues emasculate the gospel. I struggle to understand how they can justify their revision, nay reduction, of what the gospels communicate.

In the CoS debate that is ongoing with regard the ordination of practising homosexuals it would seem that there are two sides, one ‘traditionalist’ and the other ‘revisonist’, at least according to the guidance document issued by the CoS itself. It is a clever choice of words in this age because the very word ‘traditionalist’ is a bad word, whilst the word revisionist strongly suggests enlightened, inclusive, and open minded.
As I have pondered these positions over the last year or so I have found it helpful to recognise that I probably hold a position which is ‘biblically conservative and culturally sensitive’ whereas the revisonists hold a position which seems to be ‘culturally conservative and biblically sensitive’.
I am well aware of cultural practices and ideology and I am not too impressed. Indeed my journey to faith was born out of despondency for our culture! I find hope in the gospels for a transformation in human hearts which will automatically overflow to this culture. In that sense of course I need to be aware of, and sensitive to, the issues and influences controlling people’s lives. The revisionists on the other hand seem desperate to be accepted by the cultural norms and, whilst sensitive to the bibles teachings, proceed to reduce its content until what is left matches the whims of our age.
Simple though it sounds it seems to me we are meant to be Christians ie we look primarily to the gospels to understand the meta narrative therein and respond, rather than look to our culture? I welcome a broad church, in that it can reflect different Christian boundaries, but not one that exists without boundaries. Christian boundaries tend to lead to denominations and these tendencies are frowned upon even though they all reflect a pursuit after truth within biblical boundaries. To remove such boundaries altogether will surely cause the church ultimately to disperse and be lost amongst the myriad so called alternative realities? The sad truth is that I think the revisionists believe they will grow the church, even though the evidence is to the contrary. We need to remain biblically conservative and yet more culturally sensitive than we have been in recent decades.

Children's/Youth Worker starts work on Islay

It is apparently several years since Argyll Presbytery decided that it would be good to have a children's/youth worker based on Islay, but we had our first meeting with the appointee this week! Her name is Jess Reynolds and she is staying at Portnahaven with her husband Scott.
The meeting was attended by childrens workers from around Islay and it was encouraging to see the energy and enthusiasm that folk had for young people and their needs. It was also great to see that this new initiative of the church is not about a new person coming along and waving a magic wand for us all. It was much more about starting to form a new team, with a new approach, one that we hope will be relevant and engaging for young people of the 21st Century.
The first step is for Jess to get to know the various congregations, the childrens workers, the children, plus the schools, the teachers and how Islay works. This is no small task and clearly it will take a while for her to get some sense of what is needed in each setting. Nonetheless it was just great to make a start and please pray for Jess, for Paul Beautyman her online manager in Argyll Presbytery, and for all those involved in the team, including me...  :)