Overly competitive?

Without doubt, one of the most recurring questions we've faced over the last two and a half years we've been in Stratford is why we're here - and specifically 'why have [you] moved to Stratford?' Inevitably the enquiry is laced with disbelief!

Given the result of a recent 'survey' and the fact that most people who can, move out, their incredulity would seem justified. According to the poll, Newham (the borough in which Stratford is located) is the 'third worst place to live in Britain'! Apparently we [Newham] 'have to face lots of challenges. Health, unemployment, crime and teenage pregnancy levels are alarming. It has many of the downsides of living in London and few of the benefits – except the kind you get off the social.' Nice!

I guess I haven't completely died to my competitive streak becasue I wanted to know who'd 'beaten us'?!

What's more, Chelmsford (our former home) was judged to be the 8th best place to live(!) - that's some 'downward' spiral! However well versed our answer is to the question 'why Stratford?' the real answer will come down to what God does through us in a place we call 'home'.

[Things could be worse - we could live in Middlesborough - apparently the worst place to live in Britain?!] Maybe Newham will 'win' next year.

How very dare we!

It would seem we owe the people of Startford and in particular the churches of Stratford, an apology! Quite unknowingly we are guilty of ‘rude planting’! For which we say ‘sorry’.

At the recent Crucible weekend Stuart Murray explained that wherever possible ‘rude church planting’ should be avoided. How or what is rude church planting? Simply put, it is planting that takes place without properly consulting the churches and other agencies that already exist and work in a given community. It’s planting that in effect barges in and plonks itself down. It’s planting that inadvertently fails to respect the work of those who are already investing locally. It’s planting that at best is a little naive and at worst smacks of arrogance – and it’s downright rude!!

So while we would be reluctant to shoulder the full responsibility for the rudeness of our inherited planting ‘strategy’ we apologise nonetheless!

It’s church Jim, but not as we know it?!

Sunday saw the beginning of an experiment, a journey into the unknown.

Since arriving in Stratford we’ve been very aware that in many ways the last thing the borough needs is another church(!). Actually that’s not quite true. The last thing the borough needs is another congregational, building-based, programme-driven church! You only have to walk 200 yards to pass the ‘Redeemed Calvary Congregation’ the ‘Very Redeemed Calvary Temple for the Nations’ or the ‘Truly Redeemed Calvary Tabernacle to Infinite and Beyond’! You get the point, there’s no shortage of ‘churches’.

But we’re convinced that there’s plenty of room for different types, different expressions of church, of Christian community. Since we’ve always felt that we have been sent to Stratford to meet and engage with those who haven’t already connected with church it would seem rather foolish to come in and just ‘do’ what everyone else is already doing! Foolish, but not unheard of!

Thankfully, in a confirming kind of way, we’ve met one or two new friends locally with similar convictions and so together we’re beginning an experiment to discover what church, Christian community, family might look like within the hectic and messy reality of modern urban life.

We don’t know what will happen, or where it will all end up, but we recognise that for many, particularly those with young children (word of testimony here!), the orthodox way of doing (or being?) church is not always helpful and so we’re looking to use gathered family meals as a base for sharing – sharing that’s meaningful and engaging however young or old we are. As we meet, eat and share we hope that Jesus-talk will permeate our time together be that for Sunday lunch, Saturday breakfast or a picnic in the park.

Having had plenty of experience of Sundays being the most stressful day of the week(?!) I guess we’re looking to see how ‘life-shaped’ our ‘church’ can be. And so our ‘search’ has begun, we’ve embarked on our journey and Sunday was great! Really good. I mean I’ve not met many people who come out of a five hour service saying they loved every minute!

The Language of success?

As people experimenting with new ways of being church and engaging in community ministry we are constantly asking what ‘success’ will or should look like – in effect how do you measure the effectiveness of what we are doing – in Kingdom terms?

As I caught up with a very good friend the other day I was encouraged to be reminded we’re not the only ones.

Jon is a quality guy, a good friend and a great youth worker. But his youth work, like most of our ministry, isn’t building based, it’s out on the streets and in the community. As such some of the ‘old’ measurements of ‘success’ don’t work. But Jon is learning a new ‘language of success’. He’s looking beyond ‘bums on streets’ or ‘bodies through the doors’.



He may not see an influx of Junior or Senior soldiers, he may not have a group to take to the Youth Rally, but as relationships have developed over the last year (thanks to his sports outreach) he celebrates the fact that conversations about sexual promiscuity and drug use flow naturally as they walk home together. And he questions the ‘coincidence’ that last year was the first year he can remember when the hall wasn’t egged at Halloween or attacked with fireworks on Bonfire night.

Actually he doesn’t question it – he knows that however loosely, the guys he’s connecting with consider themselves part of the Salvation Army – they haven’t signed any bits of paper, they probably never will, and they will rarely (if ever) use the building, but why would they attack or vandalise ‘their own’? This new-found sense of ownership flows from a sense of belonging that has been developed through relationships forged over time (these things rarely happen quickly) on their own terms, on their own patch (largely on a football pitch).

It may be hard to measure or account for (how do you measure a sense of ownership? Or belonging? How do determine if a relationship is getting stronger?). It may be hard to tick a box to say that what Jon is up to every Monday and Tuesday evening is working, but the problem of language or methodology should not deter us from recognising ‘success’ when and wherever God is at work.

‘There’s nowt as queer as folk!’

For better or worse, the single best thing about what we’re doing in Stratford, are the people we meet. There’s rarely a day goes past without an intriguing conversation or a chance encounter with people we barely know or those we are getting to know as we journey together. Today was no different.

When Trevor called he introduced himself as an ‘evangelist watchman’ with something to ‘share’. While intrigued I was hosting a local residents meeting at the time so the best I could do was to take down his number and agree to call him once done.

Unfortunately time was short and so I invited Trevor to join Joshua and I as we headed to the park. It turned out that what Trevor wanted to ‘share’ was that we are in the end-times – ‘I mean look how many people are defiling the temple with tattoos and piercing!’ Very keen to reassure me that he was merely telling me what Scripture says (‘its not my opinion, it’s what the Word says!) he went on to argue that women should be covering their heads, most ministers are liars and churches disobediently observe the Sabbath if they do so on a Sunday!

A recurring aspect, and particularly virulent theme, of his ‘message’ was the need for ‘us’ to ‘protect our children from the homosexuals’, I wasn’t entirely sure what he thought they’re going to do, but the NSPCC apparently abuse children as they allow gay people to adopt children (I’m not entirely sure that the NSPCC have anything to do with adoption, but I’m not sure he was too bothered!)

Having walked together for an hour I felt I’d got the ‘message’ (or at least had enough!). Our time ended suitably bizarrely when he cryptically, and not a little ominously, asked ‘do you believe I have the rule over you?’ I wasn’t sure that I did (or that I wanted to!), but what I did know is that I was really glad I had to put a steak pie in the oven!

As we walked together there were two things I kept thinking. The first centred upon something Rob Bell has written in his book Velvet Elvis:

‘…let’s be honest. When you hear people say they are just going to tell you what the Bible means, it is not true. They are telling you what they think it means. They are giving their opinions about the Bible. It sounds nice to say, ‘‘I’m not giving you my opinion; I’m just telling you what it means.’’

The problem is, it not true.’

The second was that ‘there’s nowt as queer as folk!’ (No ‘abominable’ pun intended!)

Yes, it's with me!

It's fair to say that since going public with our second pregnancy we've had a variety of responses. It would seem that already Joshua's brother or sister are already experiencing 'sloppy seconds'.

While Joshua's conception was greeted with much trumpeting and appropriate excitement, his sibling's imminent arrival seems to be slightly less miraculous - and perhpas not so newsworthy?!

In fact when sharing the news with some folk you'd be forgiven for thinking we were telling them about the latest 2 for 1 bargains at the supermarket or that we'd found a fiver in the street!! I mean people are pleased for us, but 'what's the fuss'?!

Still not everyone's response is so muted. And in stark contrast my friends at youth club had just one question... 'your wife is pregnant? Is it with you?!'

Friendly banter, or a sign of the times?

some encouragement for fellow questioners

A friend recently shared that he was often perceived as a negative person with a 'downer on the Army'. And the reason for this perception? The fact that he deigns to question! He has the audacity to wonder whether or not our current reality is all that it should be, could be? Or whether God may have more in store. And so this 'dangerous daydreamer' is cast a pessimist with a chip on his shoulder.

Yet I'm increasingly convinced that dissatisfaction arises from an unrealised sense of hope, from a passionate belief that things don't have to remain the same and that an alternative, more glorious reality is possible. So while many may feel uncomfortable and perceive those who question as overly negative I'm excited by those who are dairing enough to question and brave enough to share their thoughts - I want more of it, I'd go as far as to suggest we need it. We may not find the answers we're looking for, but the least we can do is to ask the right questions.

To paraphrase the 'depressed-yet-hopeful' Brian McLaren in his depiction of 'A Generous Orthodoxy' 'if enough of us can bear the truth of our failures as Salvationists, if we can let that truth humble us and bring us from denial to sincere and profound repentance, if our hearts are made soft and responsive to the Holy Spirit through this painful but needed process, then there truly is hope in the midst of depression.'

Thought food

I recently came across a quote I'd scribbled down when reading up on Liberation Theology - it comes from the pen of Gustavo Gutierrez...

'...our quest (as followers of Jesus) should be driven by the human being who is not considered human by the present social order - the exploited classes, marginalized ethnic groups and despised cultures. The challenge is how to tell the the non-person that God is love'.

Characteristically challenging, Gutierrez rightly highlights the need for Christians and the alternative communities that we form to model the spiritually and socially inclusive message of Jesus. The question we surely have to ask ourselves is whether or not we are liberators of excluded people or simply another dimension of their oppression? We may not exclude tax-collectors or haemorrhaging women, but what about schizophrenics, divorcees, homosexuals, single people, one-parent families, drug users, transsexuals, or those struggling with their faith?'

We often make claims about possessing the 'truth' while ignoring Jesus' own words that the 'truth will set you free' (John 8:32).

Food for thought?

'Local vicar stabbed on doorstep'...

...read the Newham Recorder headline in my head as a very agitated and tormented man introduced himself. Availability and vulnerability - the double-edged 'advantage' of living above the hall!

Steve was very clearly not a peace, with talk of conspiracy, satanic cults, sexual abuse and institutional intimidation it was hard to grasp where to start, so I thought I'd listen.

Having shared his jumbled and incoherent thoughts it was clear that Steve's daily life was painful and isolated - 'no-one understood, believed or cared about him.' I'm not sure how much 'help' I was or could be, but he seemed pleased to find someone who let him talk and didn't write him off as a babbling nutter - I'm glad he hadn't 'read' the headline in my head.

Typical!

You wait 20 minutes and then 2 come along at once! Then you have to wait another 20 minutes for the next one!

No, I’m not talking about the proverbial London buses, I’m talking about people willing to give money to support the work of the Salvation Army; I’m talking about Red Shield collecting at a very lethargic Canary Wharf; we’re talking slim pickings.

Still, tomorrow’s another day at the crease!

And so is the day after that!

And…

Worth a read?

I recently received this promotional blurb from 614network.com:

'Every city has a group of troll-like rejected misfits. They are the
homeless, the prostitutes, the greedy, and the addicts. These are the
people on the fringe to whom churches close their doors, the ones you
move away from on the pew. They are the marginalized, rejected, and
forgotten cultural lepers who lurk outside your church. They are the
most unlikely prophets of all.

Trolls & Truth is the story of a local church of homeless people;
college students; middle-class Christians; some poor and some rich;
black, white, and brown; drunks; materialists; mentally ill; and
former inmates who meet beneath the noise of 18-wheelers and rushing
traffic under an interstate bridge in Waco, Texas. As they live out
biblical mandates across cultural barriers and institutional baggage,
they remind us that the gospel cannot be shaped by socially accepted
values and remain "good news." Through their testimonies they reveal
the mystery that such a diverse group without buildings and
traditional expectations are finding the power of the gospel in ways
that brings cultural validity to the skeptics and unbelieving world.
They have a wake-up call for the American church.

Transformation in the church must come. In new wineskins and perhaps
through the life of an old wino, our ecclesiology must be upended by
the "least of these," the hungry, imprisoned, sick, and stranger.
Intentional efforts in local congregations must be made to reconnect
the rich and the poor; the black, white, and brown; those educated in
the university; and those educated on the streets. Only then can we
wrestle with the values of the kingdom and learn the lessons that this
God of the little people wants us to know.'

I know only too well that you should rarely judge a book by its cover (or e-blurb?!) but 'Trolls and Truth: 14 Realities About the Church We
Don't Want to See' by Jimmy Dorrell might be worth a read.

Oh my word!!

Mouth wide open, jaws firmly on the floor we watched, transfixed and waited for the punchline. The confirmation that what we were watching was in fact a joke, a parody, a stereotypical caricature, but the punchline never came, it remained undelivered and our dislbelief was total.

The cause of our angst? ‘Christian' TV. Canada had a number of channels devoted to ‘raising the spiritual temperature’ and 'changing the spiritual climate of the nation’ – the only temperature being raised was ours as we witnessed the relentless and unapologetic prosperity-driven drivel masquerading as ‘the gospel’!

We were constantly invited, urged even, by the Reverend Peter Popoff and his friends to accept two stunning offers. If we would only call TOLL-FREE we would receive ‘an anointed green prosperity handkerchief’ or a bottle of ‘miracle water’. It couldn't be easier, a 'divine transfer' awaited us, and there was no shortage of amazing testimony’s to the life-changing power of both…

‘My boss wanted to fire me, but when I received my Miracle Water I was promoted and given an $8,000 raise!’

‘I won $6 million dollars shortly after receiving my prosperity hanky!’

‘I prayed that my husband would be saved… and for $20,000 – I got both!. Hallelujah!’

Ding, dong it must be true – let me just get that number down and I'll claim my 'divine transfer'!

As Bishop Nigel MacCulloch once wrote ‘the issue that the churches must face up to is not so much that people do not believe in God, but that they do not find the churches credible.’ Credible or not I find it hard to accept that the Rev. Popoff and I believe in the same God. He should join his sister and stick with Mr Claypole, McWitch, Dobbin and the rest of the Rentaghost gang?!

While I haven’t as yet checked our bank balance I don’t mind admitting to a lack of faith that any such ‘miracle’ is about to happen soon, but then why would it I haven’t phoned TOLL-FREE to order my ‘Anointed Green Prosperity Hanky’ or my ‘Miracle Water’!

Can't imagine why some people struggle to connect with 'the gospel'.

Job done... I think?!

Like first time pilots and first time dentists you could be forgiven for not wanting to be around when a vicar/officer type-person is conducting their first wedding/funeral. The funeral will have to wait, but I've got my first wedding under my belt and I'm led to believe it went OK - job done! At least if it's legal?! Because these things are rarely straight forward and this was no different - the wedding involved two people living in Texas and the wedding itself was in St. Johns, Newfoundland - Canada. So as long as I've done all I needed to do to be properly licensed(!) it's job done, otherwise its an expensive cock-up! If nothing else they look married!
















Remember, if you want to get married in Canada - I'm your man, at least for the next 30 days?!

InTouch and knackered!

We've spent much of this week recovering from what we got up to last week!

We had the privilege of being part of Childrens Ministries' SportsWeek (InTouch 2006)and while it was a little tiring it was a phenomenally rewarding and exciting week to be part of. Ostensibly responsible for leading the worship and teaching throughout the week we did get stuck into everything else that was jammed-packed into the week - including a little bit of tennis coaching! The future of British tennis is bright!

As someone who loves his sport it was great to be part of a week that sought to draw connections between faith and sport.

As someone who loves working with kids it was great to be part of a week that acknowledge the central importance of children to Jesus and his Kingdom.

As someone who loves working with other people it was greta to be part of a team of enthusiastic, like-minded people committed to giving the children the best week possible.

As someone who didn't get to work with Roger and Noreen Batt for long enough it was great to spend the week with them.

For anyone with children likely to be aged between 8-12 next year - look out for applications next year. Your kids will come back knackered, but they'll have had a great week!

'A garden that's bursting into life?'

I was recently interviewed by a guy who is conducting some research into the development surrounding London’s 2012 Olympic adventure. Focussing on the much talked about regeneration promised to accompany the mammoth Olympic project Rob’s question was whether or not the games represent ‘an expensive short-term necessity or a long-term sustainable legacy?’

As a 'representative community leader', alledgely with my ear to the ground and my eyes wide open, he thought I might have a view?!

Acknowledging that for us regeneration was about renewal, new life and energy I shared our concerns that it couldn't just be about moving the 'less desirable' members of our communities out (compulsory re-location of Clays Lane Housing Co-operative) to make room for flash new housing and opportunities for the influx of affluent new residents - that's not renewal, it's displacement and it's anything but long-term or sustainable.

Ultimately time will tell how the Olympic dream shapes Stratford and the surrounding area, but Rob hasn't been the only person to get us thinking about regeneration and renewal. I mean even Snow Patrol when they're out 'Chasing Cars' sing about wanting to see 'a garden that's bursting into life'.

We believe we were given a similar biblical picture of the kind of renewal we were to be part of during our time in E15. It centres upon words written by the prophet Isaiah a few years ago...

'Wilderness and desert will sing joyously,
the badlands will celebrate and flower —
Like the crocus in spring, bursting into blossom,
a symphony of song and color.
Mountain glories of Lebanon—a gift.
Awesome Carmel, stunning Sharon—gifts.
God's resplendent glory, fully on display.
God awesome, God majestic.
Energize the limp hands,
strengthen the rubbery knees.
Tell fearful souls,
"Courage! Take heart!
God is here, right here,
on his way to put things right
And redress all wrongs.
He's on his way! He'll save you!"

Blind eyes will be opened,
deaf ears unstopped,
Lame men and women will leap like deer,
the voiceless break into song.
Springs of water will burst out in the wilderness,
streams flow in the desert.
Hot sands will become a cool oasis,
thirsty ground a splashing fountain.
Even lowly jackals will have water to drink,
and barren grasslands flourish richly.

There will be a highway
called the Holy Road.
No one rude or rebellious
is permitted on this road.
It's for God's people exclusively—
impossible to get lost on this road.
Not even fools can get lost on it.
No lions on this road,
no dangerous wild animals—
Nothing and no one dangerous or threatening.
Only the redeemed will walk on it.
The people God has ransomed
will come back on this road.
They'll sing as they make their way home to Zion,
unfading halos of joy encircling their heads,
Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness
as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.'

Entitled 'The Voiceless Break into Song' this passage (Chapter 35) seems packed full of wonderful imagery of the kind of transformation that communities of loving defiance should be part of. What does this look like locally? For us, it means..

..ensuring that commitments are kept and Ethel gets the much promised wheelchair that will liberate her from her house-bound captivity.

...supporting a young family facing the spectre of AIDS.

...listening to those hurt by an uncaring and impersonal form of institutional church while hopefully offering and modelling an alternative.

...writing letters, providing references, and going to court to stand 'shoulder-to-shoulder' with Paul as he desperately struggles to keep his life back on track post-prison.

...sharing a grace-filled rather than a hate-fuelled, message of hope with homosexual friends.

...offering an alternative community for Greg who for most of his life only found acceptance and affirmation amidst the drug-fuelled and violent world of biker gangs.

Is this this kind of regeneration that Isaiah was writing about? Will this prove to be part of a 'short-term necessity or a long-term legacy'?

I guess ultimately, only time will tell, but we're happy trying to do our bit.

A wake-up call?

We're generally fans of internet shopping - the promised convenience married with the cash you can potentially save is a sure fire winner in a household with a Scotsman who hates plodding around shops!

But things don't always so smoothly and when they don't I invariably find myself wishing that I'd just gone into a shop a paid a little extra. When something goes wrong it doesn't seem all that convenient to put it right!

Recently we've had a 'mare. Over the last month or so we've experienced a less than satisfactory 'service' (we've arranged and re-arranged numerous times to be around to take delivery while nothing turned up, we've had stuff turn up that we haven't ordered, and when stuff has arrived it hasn't fitted as the catalogue promised!) from a certain company purporting to be 'experts in parenting and babycare'. A company that rather sexistly (that can't be a word but you get what I saying) purports to 'care' for 'mothers' - and it isn't Babies R Us or KiddiCare!

Anyway, I guess these things happen,, but what doesn't help (really doesn't help!) is when the 'customer services' assistant is a stroppy person seemingly without the slightest interest in your predicament!! (it's perhaps worth pointing out that one of my bugbears is 'customer service' that is anything but!!) So you can imagine how we often felt coming off the phone having struggled to explain our frustration and to find a satisfactory solution.

However shockingly bad and infuriating these conversations were, as I put the phone down from one such call, the phone immediately rang - this time with a 'wake-up' call.

It was Social Services who wanted to know if we could do anything to help an elderly wheelchair-bound man who for whatever reason had no money and no access to food. Unable to do anything themselves, Social Services were turning to the Salvation Army.

Details taken we got on the case. Suitably distracted from our Mothercare woes (doh! I wasn't going to mention the shoddy company!!) we were sobered by (and grateful for) the reminder that however appaling and annoying there are defintely more important things to worry about that slack customer services. And there are many, many people living around us who have far more taxing concerns!

The paradox of perspective: so important to keep a healthy perspective, but so easy to lose.

Mission:Incredible completed

Where have the last three weeks gone?!

For a start, our first kids club in Stratford has come and gone and despite some intital worries of saying 'yes' to a few too many things (Under-promise, over-deliver; under-promise, over-deliver!) we managed to keep the balls in the air!
It was great to spend time with a very diverse bunch of kids and to see them drop the fromt and open up over the course of the week.

It was great to play, sing, dance, create and pray with these new young friends.

It was great to strengthen existing relationships with children from our ongoing schools and community work.

It was great to meet the parents and to understand the children some more.

It was great to spend time working with other local Christians.

It's great to think that there may be the possibility of an ongoing kids club come Spetember.

It's great to think we've got a a couple of weeks (now that Sportsweek is out of the way!) to get set and to recharge!

Who agreed to this?!

One of the hottest weeks of the year and we're doing a kids club! Hot, sweaty and tiring events at the best of times, but all the more so when it's in the 30Cs! Still the heat didn't seem to deter or dampen the spirits of the 40-50 kids who turned up.

Like much of what we do here it's a partnership, this time with a local church we've developed links with, and it's just good to share the load and to work together. I'm sure there's something biblical in that?!