Ministers of Kildalton and Oa

I came across a framed Celtic drawing of the Kildalton Cross which had engraved on it the names of all the ministers since the Reformation. It was looking fairly weather beaten but I have managed to scan it, clean it up, and add my name. We are all part of a long and defining Christian heritage and this is just one way of reminding ourselves about where we come from. Of even more importance of course is where we are going and I would have to say that I have grave concerns about our political leadership at this time in history. There seems so little vision, so little courage, so little integrity, amongst the majority of world leaders that one wonders how many more names will be added to the list of ministers at Kildalton and Oa.
For those interested in the names on the drawing; I will put a full size copy of this on the St.Johns Church web site soon.

Snow

It seems the snow has given me a little space. Presbytery has been cancelled and so I have some time to catch up with my diary. I notice that it has been weeks since I last posted anything and a lot has been happening.
On the technical front we now have projectors being used every Sunday at the Roundchurch as part of our service. We have not had to buy or install screens because we have found that projecting onto the wall, left and right of the pulpit works well. St Johns also now has a screen installed that we can raise or drop as necessary in the services.
Sunday Club changes are working well at the Roundchurch and we have formed a new team at St. Johns which will start afresh with our young people in the New Year.
The Roundchurch has been painted inside and out, thanks to the Distillery! We have also started the long journey towards sorting out our buildings issues at St Johns.
With our Alpha Courses starting in January it is clear that it is going to be a busy but hopefully fruitful New Year.
So, the snow has given me space... but we have to rememeber that for many it has brought considerable headaches! One friend living near Edinburgh said they have had 40 inches so far - that is a LOT of snow. However, perhaps we need reminders to go a little slower especially at a time of year which usually brings lots of extra pressures to our lives. The Christmas child who became the man Jesus, is also the Prince of Peace. I am glad about that because his peace is one of his most wonderful and gracious blessings. Peace to all of my many friends and family this Christmas! :)

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/