Distinct Reflections

Christmas matters

"Because of His measureless love, He became what we are in order to enable us to become what He is"

Irenaeus (Ad. Haer)

Merry Christmas to you all

Church Christmas message

This is a copy of my post on the church website here

This Christmas I’ve been particularly struck by the sheer scale of what happened at Jesus’ birth. Behind the angels, shepherds, wise men and stables the real importance of the event itself is staggering. In Jesus, God comes to us in human form.

The God who is wise and holy, the God who brings us freedom and hope, the God who reveals and restores, the God who is with us. All of this, born into our world, as a baby!

Christmas is a time for real celebration. Yet it is not a wonderful time for everyone. For some 2011 has been a year which includes bereavement, redundancy or other loss. Christmas is not a wonderful time of year when you are faced with sickness or death, when your finances are stretched beyond breaking point, when your relationships are under strain or when 2012 looks as if it will be hard as well.

It is helpful to remember that the Christmas story is not just a happy one. A teenage bride with a child which is not her husband’s, born in far from ideal surroundings, forced to live as refugees. The Christmas story is of how God came to bring light and peace to the world but whose self-giving mercy was rejected.

Yet Christmas reminds us that behind the tinsel and the wrapping something vitally important is happening. God is coming to us and inviting us to share life with him; enabling us to become to the people we were made to be. God coming to us as a baby, moving into our world to change it through the power of love, faith and hope.

Have a restful, joyful, Christ focussed Christmas; celebrating the coming of Jesus.

Thank you BUGB

I smiled at an email today saying this blog had the top clicked story by staff at Baptist House this year. Thank you to those who visit here and interact with what I write. But I also want to use this as an opportunity to say thank you to the staff who work for the BUGB and the Associations. In all my dealings with folk who work in Baptist House I’ve not yet met someone who doesn’t work hard and care about what they do. I have the privilege of seeing what some of them do behind the scenes and they deserve our gratitude. Let’s not forget that the large majority who work in the Associations or at Baptist House are putting into practice strategy and policy which they have been given by Council, committees, Trustees, etc. On occasions the questions and discussions in blogs, at Council and elsewhere can make them feel undervalued or unsettled; yet while I blog about the future of the denomination, Union and finance these folk get on with doing the job they have been given.  

For those of you who get the BUGB email news sweep or are interested in stats the most visited pages of this blog this year are:

1.Influential English Baptists

2. 2012 The making of a modern denomination

3. Distrust of larger churches

Advent: the collision of worlds

As we have moved though advent this year I’ve been struck by two texts, which don’t normally come to prominence at this time of year.

The first is the start of Hebrews (well actually from 1:1 to 2:4). The writer with great rhetorical skill moves from considering how the coming of Jesus changed the way in which God spoke to humanity; from references to reality, from fragments to finality. And with a cascade of ideas impresses on his (or her) hearers the importance of the Son who is now sat at the Majesty of God. In response to a church feeling the strains of life; disappointed, disillusioned and disheartened he
does not sympathise or devise a therapeutic strategy he challenges them with a fresh vision of Jesus.

The second is the vision in Revelation at the point where the seventh angel sounded the trumpet and voices proclaimed “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever”.  Again a message to churches under pressure, a message which invites them to look at the larger picture and to see that through all the events of history God is in control and God’s kingdom will come in fullness.

What’s this all got to do with Advent?

Simply this: As we are hoping, waiting and longing for the coming of Jesus the Scriptures remind us that our vision of Jesus and of God is too small, too limited and too domesticated. And in addition the fullness of faith lies beyond our present horizon. We can look forward to the day when the kingdom of the world is fully the kingdom of our Lord but for now our calling is to not to drift past. Rather by paying careful attention to the truth of our faith we are enabled to navigate the storms of life, the choppy waves of economic uncertainty and the winds of personal crisis. Confident that the truth is ‘tomorrow he comes’.

PS: For those interested one of our Advent Sundays in Poynton included my preaching from Hebrews 1 (sermon download here)

Sermons, I've preached a few

Most of the time I don't blog about things to do with the church here, or about the routine of my life as a minister. But a couple of people have recently noted that it gives an entirely different impression of me than the one you get by reading this blog. So, for those who are interested in me and my ministry rather than my blog reflections here are some bits and pieces from the sermon series we have done this autumn, entitled "lessons for life".

It is a sermon series which has looked at the life of David, primarily as detailed in 1 and 2 Samuel. When I first started in ministry I used to think that a sermon series which lasted six weeks was quite long enough. However, I've now changed to thinking in term lengths; primarily because I've discovered that most people only get to hear two thirds (at most) of the sermons. In addition by using a picture ident and, on occasions, a key verse or phrase, I hope that over the course of a term everyone in the congregation gets to pick up the main theme. 

For those who would like a flavour you can listen to Lessons for life: seize the day or Lessons for life: leave a legacy by clicking the links. Our church website carries details of sermons (here) and you can set up an RSS feed for more general updates.

If any of my preaching stuff is of use to anyone and you would like the scripts, outlines or other resources let me know. Some things, like the picture, are made using Istockphoto so are copyright but most things I would be happy to share.

Keeping up with BUGB debate (updated)

For those of you trying to keep up with the Baptist blogs and the various contributions Andy Goodliff has produced a summary here

As far as I know there have only been three new contributions in the last couple of days. The first from Steve Holmes (here), the second from Simon Jones (here) and the third from Jon Stannard for who has just started blogging (here).

Updated: 17th Dec. Nigel Coles has recently blogged on this topic. He is part of the 'futures group' set up by BUGB to help navigate the next few months. His latest blog contains details of this work and how people can keep up to date with it (here)

Questions for the Baptist Union

Recently this blog and others have carried items about leadership, listening, influence and involvement within the Baptist world. (see Andy Goodliff Juliet Kilpin Steve Holmes Nigel Coles) So what is going on in the BUGB that is making people think afresh?

The current crisis is a lack of finance. Currently the BUGB (and many of the Associations) are running financial deficits and if we do nothing the money will run out! However, the critical elements are not about money but about denominational life; what is important to us?

What follows is my longest ever blog but in essence there are three questions:

1. Do we want to be a Union that revolves around money, charity status and structures or one which revolves around networking, mission and mutual support?

2. Do we want the organisational parts to be centred at a national level or based at a regional level?

3. Do we want to grapple with questions theologically or pragmatically? Do we want to do the harder work of thinking through who God calls us to be, how we can engage in God's mission and live faithfully as the people of God in a changing world or would we prefer to find a practical fix to some institutional challenges?

If you would rather spend the weekend focused on Advent: hoping, waiting and longing for the coming of Christ do come back next week. For the rest of you here is my overview of the questions.

A. Finance driven questions.

1. Do we look to increase Home Mission giving or decrease expenditure? If we look to increase giving are we realistically going to see a 20% plus inflation rise over the next few years? Anyway is it right to fundraise or should we gratefully accept whatever the churches give?

2. If we decrease expenditure do we decrease the amount we give in Home Mission grants to churches and mission opportunities or spend less on the resources we provide through either the central resource (mostly Didcot) or the Associations?

3. If we decrease resources do we reduce Association funding or the central resource?

4. Whatever answer we give to these questions others flow from them. What do we currently do that we are prepared to live without? How do we process all this given that the Associations are separate legal entities? How do we change the structures so they don’t cost more than available income in the future?

B. Structure driven questions.

1. Why is ‘Baptist Union’ understood in terms of organisation, structure, finance, national officers, and the like? Is this the best (only) way of expressing mutuality or being a denomination? If 'Union' is an expression of something, what is it expressing and to whom? Do we need to be seen to be a denomination like the URC or Methodist Church and if so, why? What does it mean to be a national Union?

2. In making the BUGB charity, in essence the raising and spending of Home Mission money, the controlling element of Union life with a Trustee board at the centre have we sold our birthright as a dissenting tradition?

3. Should the future shape of the Union see more done in Associations and much less done in Didcot, or more done centrally and less done in Associations? Should we (legal issues notwithstanding) close the Associations and be a central denomination with a regional presence? Should we give up having a central resource and using the benefits of modern technology simply function from regional Associations? Are the Associations, with their own governance and management structures, fit for this purpose?

4. What is it that local churches need from the wider Union (irrespective of where the support comes from) in order to be most effective? Is part of the problem that the Union is too remote from local churches and their members?

5. Where is the balance of priority between supporting existing churches and seeking to plant new ones? What levels of risk are we prepared to carry in order to try new things? How important is mission?

6. How should we make these decisions? Should we expect the Union's trustees to consult and then put a plan into action (which is their legal responsibility). Perhaps we should expect the national officers of the Union, aided by the Senior Management Team, to put proposals together. Should we shut the great and the good of the Union into a room and leave them to work it out (eg: Trustees, Association Team Leaders, College Principals)? Should BU Council be making these decisions? Should we rework this year's Baptist Assembly so that adequate time can be given to considering proposals?

C. History driven questions.

1. Much of the modern Baptist Union is the result of changes that occurred at the start of the 20^th Century when J H Shakespeare was General Secretary. Shakespeare saw the construction of an institutional framework, which encompassed large areas of Baptist life and created a ‘Baptist Union’ with national profile. This was the result of his vision for a Free Church denomination rather than the outworking of conventional Baptist ecclesiology with its focus on voluntary associating. Did Shakespeare’s reforms institutionalise a tension between Union and Association? Did they create an organisation whose ethos was at odds with that of local churches? Is the creation of a denomination with structures, money, power and influence the root of many of our problems?

2. The last major re-organisation came about as the result of a denominational consultation and a number of reports including ‘Relating and Resourcing’. This report proposed a ‘substantive’ reform of Association life and the creation of a national leadership team among other things. The desire was to create lighter, flexible structures; devolving expertise from the national level. Some of this was enacted but are the difficulties we now face the result of failing to be radical enough last time around? Was the last Denominational Consultation the point when we turned our back on what Shakespeare created and the task now before us is to follow through the dismantling of the institution?

3. Is it true that Baptist life has been at its strongest when local churches and ministers have related (networked) together voluntarily and at its weakest when we have tried to force people to Associate together?

4. Is the lesson of Baptist history that the best changes come as the result of wide agreement and the worst come as the result of a limited number of people coming up with a plan? What does this tell us about how we should proceed now?

I realise there are loads of questions and few answers here. I’ve not written anything for ages and am hoping to get back into writing by working up some of my own suggestions into a coherent journal length article over Christmas, so would welcome other questions you think should be tackled. Overall I remain optimistic for the future of the Baptist Union and can see how it has a great future enabling ministry, supporting churches and inspiring mission.

Let's not forget to pray for those who will have key roles in helping us work through these questions. Not least because whether it is in grant aided churches, Associations or the Central resource most of the money is spent on people; and for some whose income is wholly dependant on Home Mission the next few months will be unsettling.

What's influence?

Whilst the dictionary suggests it is about the power of producing effect, particularly in people and the ability to bring something about; it seems to me that influence is a bit more subtle than this. Even if it is, ultimately, about power it is about unacknowledged power rather than authority per se. As I’ve pondered this over the last couple of days four key things stand out in describing people who are influential.

Agents of change: By one means or another influential people change how others think, or behave, either as individuals or by changing the culture of an organisation / institution. Normally this seeks to bring out the best in others, releasing them and encouraging them.

Communicating ideas: often which reach large numbers of people. Having ideas which inspire others or create confidence are the primary attributes, but having clarity of thought allied with a vision of the future that sparks other people’s creativity and imagination is the key to linking ideas with change.

Character to emulate: being someone others seek to be like (or even follow). This includes wisdom and understanding but also knowledge tied to emotional intelligence. Integrity, spirituality and Christ likeness are particularly important here.

Relational connectivity: the ability to engage people so they feel they have some connection with you is a vital part of communication but also the way you impact people. You are more influential when people like you, or feel you value them or have heard/understood them. Sometimes the people close to us influence us most; so it is not all about technique or transformational leadership!

Influential English Baptists?

If I had a fiver each time someone in English Baptist life said ‘we need leadership’ I would have an impressive stock of single Islay Malts and a few cases of red wine by now.  

So who are voices we should be listening to? Noting we seek the mind of Christ, recognising the Spirit often speaks to us through those we don’t expect and remembering that we are a Union of ministers, churches etc, are there people whose opinion we should give particular weight to?

I’ve complied a top ten whose opinions we need to listen to. I’ve weighted the list towards people who think theologically or who have roles in Baptist life which suggest they could positively influence events. But if I’m honest, it is basically the list of people I would invite if I wanted to start a denominational conversation. 

Clive Burnard

Nigel Coles

John Colwell

Paul Fiddes

Andy Goodliff

Phil Jump

David Kerrigan

Joe Kapolyo

Juliet Kilpin

Pat Took

I have loads of other contenders: Ruth Bottoms, Stephen Copson, Craig Gardiner, Lynn Green, Nick Lear, Clare Mcbeath, Sian Murray-Williams, Ian Randall, Kumar Rajagopalan, Ian Stackhouse, Simon Woodman, Nigel Wright, Tony Peck (EBF) and Steve Holmes (BUS). However, part of the challenge is choosing a ‘top ten’ as well as identifying those whose input would help us imagine a new future as a mutually supportive Union: one which is rooted in Baptist convictions, theologically coherent, enthusiastic about sharing in the mission of God and able to inspire the church to live as faithful followers of Christ.

The real test for us as a denomination is not identifying names but ensuring we give them opportunity to speak followed by deliberative space for their words to be considered and acted upon.