Clergy Conference

I have just returned from a clergy conference held in Swanwick. Every two years the diocese of Leicester hosts a conference for all its clergy. This years theme was 'Good News in a changing world'.
There was an interesting selection of speakers including Anthony Seldon, who is Master of Wellington College. This school has 8 aptitudes by which it encourages its children to learn and grow. They are moral, spiritual, logical, linguistical, physical, cultural, social and personal. You can see them here. He spoke on some of the similarities between clergy and head teachers and encouraged us to look after ourselves as we care for and nurture others.
Another speaker, Dave Bookless from Arocha encouraged us to care for all of God's creation and spoke of the biblical mandate for caring for the world.
A series of bible studies on the book of 1 Peter were led by Loveday Alexander, Canon Theologian of Chester Cathedral.
The conference began with this flash mob clip of the Hallelujah chorus, which is a must see if you have not come across it. We were reminded that we are the bearers of good news that society is open to hear.

Lost!





The sheep reunited and the collected prayers



Today was an "All Together" All Age Service. Instead of a lesson, the young people gave a dramatised reading of Luke 15. By the end of the reading, there were 99, furry toy sheep and nine coins on the table at the front and one abandoned coin and one lonely sheep at the distant end of the aisle.

 The reading had reminded us how Jesus had been criticised by the Pharisees for associating with those whose actions have made them social outcasts. But he explained to the Pharisees that the very reason that he had come was to retrieve the lost – exactly those who were shunned by the Pharisees.

In his talk, Steve explored the emotions that came with being lost and how Jesus wanted to bring people back into relationship with him.

When Angie Bailey then led the prayers, (having already istributed paper stubs with the outline of a sheep) she invited us to write on that sheep the names(s) of people who are “lost” for whatever reason – emotionally, physically or spiritually, for whom we wanted to pray. People then brought their “sheep” and left them within the sheepfold at the front of the church. We united all our prayers in the Lord’s Prayer.

 Thank you to all who helped make this such a meaningful service. If the descriptions don’t make much sense, you should’ve been there!

Justin Welby at the HTB Leadership Summit

Here is a link to Shaped by God the Diocese of Leicester vision for mission resource and blog.

Barry Hill, the diocesan Mission Enabler has posted an interview with Justin Welby at the HTB Leadership Summit which was held at the Albert Hall in March this year. The interview is well worth a watch.

I was particularly struck by two things that Justin said.
The first was that we are called to be a risk taking church. It is in Christ that we find our absolute security but not safety as we are called to take risks in His name.

The second thing that struck me was as Justin was talking about his background in reconciliation and relating this to his experience in the church. He said we cannot live for our own cause to win but rather we must live for Christ's cause to win.

A fascinating interview.

All the fun of the fair!



Today St Paul's held a fair on Hamble Green and in the church as an event for the wider community and to raise money for Rainbows Children's Hospice.

Want a Garden Plant?

Many prayers were answered for the forecast rain to hold off!











Fun for All - Bouncy Castle



A good day was had by the many who came along. The homemade cake stall sold out. Lots of cream teas were eaten, as were all the hot dogs off the BBQ.








Prizes galore - Tombola

There were fun and games a plenty for the young children and a huge bouncy castle. Lots of hand made crafts and henna, face painting, raffle, tombola, a plant stall and plenty of books and bric-a-brac were also available.








Look as mad as you like -  Face Painting

Many thanks to Sue & Wendy who masterminded it all.

These photos are just a taster of a very happy day.

Carrying the Cross

On Wednesday this week as I cycled back home from Morning Prayer and a staff meeting at St Peter's I was struck by the sight of a man carrying a huge wooden cross along the A6.

I stopped and chatted to Alan who explained about his walk from Manchester to London carrying the Cross as an act of witness. I was able to pray with him and encourage him on his way.

If you want to read more about his walk here is a link to his blog. There is this picture and a story of our encounter on the 4th September.

Solidarity with Christians Worldwide

At our Sunday morning service, we were privileged to hear from Revd  Stuart Windsor the National Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) and we also saw one of their short videos.

Stuart challenged us to follow the calls of the Christians in the early church be prayerful and concerned for other Christians across the world who are suffering for their faith. He highlighted particular problems in Eritrea, Northern Nigeria and North Korea. In North Korea, people are put in prison without trial, simply for having friends or family who are Christians and they may bear children who reach adult life without leaving prison.

Christians may be in very difficult positions, needing relief and assistance, but that is not the role of CSW. Theirs is one of advocacy – of claiming the Human Rights of religious conviction and conversion. They interact with government leaders, UN organisations and NGOs. Whilst a Christian organisation, CSW upholds the rights of all religions to choose and practice their faith.

CSW is currently running “Operation 18”. This relates to article 18 in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights,” which guarantees the rights to choose and to change one’s religion. CSW is organising a petition upholding the right of everyone to choose and practice their faith. The Operation 18 petition will be delivered to: Baroness Warsi, UK Minister for Faith & Communities, Eileen Donahoe, US Mission to the UN in Geneva, Baroness Ashton, High Representative for the EU, and to the Heads of Mission to the UN for Australia, Brazil & Canada.

All church members were encouraged to sign postcards which were part of this petition. If you wish to know more, there are links as follows:

  Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Homepage
  The “Operation 18” petition.

We pray this petition may influence world leaders such that the plight of many, including Christians, may be alleviated.

Farewell Sue!

Since her arrival in Leicester 12 years ago, Sue Boyden has worshipped with us at St Paul’s. She has helped in very many roles in our church, but in particular, she has taken responsibility for the organisation of the Thursday morning Communion Service. She has also been one of the organising team for the “Coffee Pot” time of refreshments and friendship which follows the service. Last Thursday, we took the opportunity at the “Coffee Pot” service to formally say goodbye. But in the Sunday Morning service today, Steve gave her a book of daily readings on behalf of the congregation and wished her well.

Now she is moving to Bristol in the very near future. Sue will be very much missed, here, but we wish her well in all the details of her move and as she moves into a new circle of friendships and Church Community.

It has been lovely to have you with us. Thank you for your friendship. May God be with you ‘til we meet again.

Joint Service – God of Mercy – God of Surprises

The August Bank Holiday is always a quiet time of year. We therefore took the opportunity to combine the 10 o’clock congregations of both St Peter’s and St Paul’s, resulting in a packed service at St Paul’s. This was led by our vicar, Steve Bailey, and our rector, Michael Rusk, preached.
 
Michael turned our thoughts to Luke’s account of Jesus’ healing a woman who had stooped badly for many years. To the Pharisees, this had to be wrong because it was done on the Sabbath day. Michael pointed out Jesus‘ concern for this woman’s need – despised as a woman and suffering from her disability. This was more important than the traditions. We were challenged to lay aside preconceptions when seeing what God was doing.

It was good to worship together before beginning all the activities of the autumn season.

 

Archbishop of Canterbury at New Wine

I have just listened to an interview of Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, given at New Wine this summer. Here is a link. It is well worth a listen.

Of the many things that struck me was the phrase, "the church is not a refuge for saints but a home for sinners." This comment was made about churches that try and get everything internal sorted before reaching out to those around them. He spoke about how we sometimes put off doing those things we know we should do yet are less than enthusiastic about. He even admits to ironing socks to delay getting down to writing an important talk!

His encouragement was to keep pressing on with Kingdom work recognising that when you put a load of sinners together you don't get saints, it's not multiplication but addition.

May God give us the grace and courage to press on with his Kingdom work. May we not be so inward focused that we forget the Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations.

Imagine Church

This summer I have encouraged the church to read the book 'Imagine Church: Releasing Whole Life Disciples' by Neil Hudson. I am delighted that over 40 copies of the book have been taken and read.

On the 8th September we begin a new Sermon Series called 'Life on the Frontline'. This will tie in with a 6 week course of the same name designed for equipping whole life disciples. Again written by Neil Hudson it takes the principles of his book and helps us to put them into practise.

Our Home Groups will be doing a follow up study looking at the material in greater depth.

Re-reading the book myself in preparation I was struck again by this quote from Bonhoeffer contained within the book, 'Christianity without discipleship is always Christianity without Christ.'