Keeping going as a Christian

I liked the way Tony Baker's headings fell out of the text of James 1 on Sunday morning and were memorable:

(1) Look forward (to the crown of life God has promised) v12

(2) Look within (to temptation from your own evil desires) vv13-15

(3) Look up (to God the giver of good gifts) vv16-18

Better Wise Up!

God-willing I will be preaching on Ecclesiastes 7 on Sunday morning.

I may or may not to some extent plagiarise Vaughan Roberts' sermon from the St Ebbe's church website that goes:

(1) Embrace suffering (vv1-6)

(2) Avoid temptation (vv7-10)

(a) Extortion / bribery

(b) Impatience

(c) Anger

(d) Nostalgia

Above all, (3) Fear God (vv11-18)

(4) Accept limitations (vv19-)

Reccomended Reading

As I think about moving on to become a "senior" pastor / incumbent / proper "Vicar" in a rural setting a friend reccomended the following reading:

George Herbert, The Country Parson, naturally, though some people want to kill him!

And the Letters of Samuel Ruthford for the sake of pastoral conselling / conversations / preaching that is full of Christ and moves affections and will etc.

Do not let your hearts be troubled

Some jottings for a sermon on John 14vv1-14. The audio should appear on our church website in due course.

John 14:1-14 - Antidotes to Troubled Hearts

How to face the future / live without the physical presence of Jesus

V1 – “Trust in God; trust also in me”

3 Reasons for confidence in Jesus:

(1) Jesus promises us a prepared place in his Father’s house in heaven

(vv2-4)

Plenty of rooms

Jesus prepares a place for us by going to the cross

Even for rebels and failures (13:38)

Heaven being in the Father’s house with Jesus (Phil 1:23)

(2) Jesus is the true and living way to the Father (vv5-11)

A unique exclusive claim: Jesus personally is the only way

An inclusive invitation: a way open to all (v2)

The Way for the lost; direction

Truth for the deceived, ignorant, confused; meaning; real, authentic; reliable

Life (1:3-4) for those dead in sin; abundant (10:10) / eternal life (17:3)

We can know God the Father (v7) because Jesus perfectly reveals the Father (vv9-10) – mutual indwelling (vv10-11); to know God, look at Jesus

Jesus words and works are from the Father and prove he is the Son (vv10-11)

(3) Jesus will do even greater things through his disciples when they ask in his name in prayer(vv12-14)

“anyone who has faith” (v12)

“because Jesus is going to the Father” (v12) – cross, resurrection, Spirit

“asking in Jesus name” (v13, 14) = according to his will (1 Jn 5:14)

for the Father’s glory (v13)

Sussex wont be druv

Today I was urged to remember that "Sussex wont be druv" or driven, or forced into anything against its will.

Vision Statement

Vital or a big waste of time or possibly helpful in some ways? Discuss.

Goals

Under God, what are your specific measurable attainable relevant goals for your church and ministry for the next year and the next 5 years in the following areas?

Evangelism

Discipleship & fellowship

Training

Sturucture / admin /support of ministry / finance

Church Key Performance Indicators

What are the key performance indicators for a church?

These must be clearly objective and measurable. They should be as easy as possible to measure and record. And they should be related as closely as possible to the church's core mission of evangelism and discipleship. A couple of measures are needed. Too many would be too tricky and time consuming and complicated.

How do we tell if we are being effective and what is working?

(1) Attendance

(a) average or usual attendance?

(b) Sunday or all events or specific events?

(c) unique visitors or total?

(d) new comers or non-members

(2) Contacts

(a) compiled by church or opt in

(3) Membership

(a) electoral roll

(4) Friends of St So and Sos list

(5) Baptisms

(a) infant or adult?

(6) Confirmations

(7) Ordinations

(8) Financial

(a) income

(b) profit

(c) planned giving

(d) fund raising

(e) outward giving

(9) Ammount of publicity or evangelistic material given away

Jesus Serves

John 13. Jesus serves - and so saves. (1) The master serves self-sacrificially (2) so similarly the servants should serve selflessly

It might be good to be able to reduce all sermons to 140 chrs Tweets?! cf. Proc Trust / Cornhill theme and aim sentences

Some further jottings so far:

In fact, Jesus saves by serving

(1) The Master Serves Self-Sacrificially

Real love is expressed in practical, down to earth, nitty gritty, undignified, menial, humble, self-sacrificial undignified service

The kind of thing a servant does, a slave – e.g. 19^th Century costume drama, carrying luggage about, setting the fire, bringing breakfast in bed, cleaning the muddy boots - an aristocratic guest to the house would never do such a thing. The servants would be shocked at the idea, let alone the family or the other guests.

Service comes from strength.

Power empowers us to be / seem weak.

Dignity leads to humility. True dignity does not stand on its dignity.

We have the right to give up our rights, and we are right to do so.

Greatness leads to putting yourself last.

And putting yourself last leads to greatness.

Jesus serves us in his incarnation, life, death and resurrection

Servants need the master to serve them.

If servants will not accept the masters service they are not and cannot be true servants

(1) So The Servants Should Serve Similarly

No servant is greater than his master so if the master served the servants, how much more should the servants serve the servants

(We serve the (absent) master by serving the servants)

Not just the hidden humble jobs in the limelight!

Not just lip-service to self-sacrificail humble service! Urriah Heap - ever so humble. Not seeking a reputation for humility.

Not just words, or the grand gesture, or the promise of future service or in the big things of life but in the daily nitty gritty grind of the moment by moment little things of life we must love and act as Jesus has done

If we don't do it here in this now, we'll never do it there in that then. Martyrdom starts here, now, in this.

What Did Jesus Do?

What will we do?

We need Jesus forgiveness and help and the power of the Spirit.

New Christians Welcome

How do you make your church attractive to new Christians (and others) who move into the area? How does a small church encourage people to give it a try rather than driving to a larger church elsewhere?

Good noticeboards and clear, straightforward, useful information

An attractive website

Services at a regular convenient time

Obvious provision for children

Encourage people to contact the Vicar or members of the church for a chat if they are thinking of moving in to the area

Deliver a welcome pack to anyone who moves into the parish and invite them along. Offer them practical assistance in the early days.

Have coffee before or after church so that it is something of a social event too and there is more of a chance to get to know people

Make sure the church is at the hub of the community so that it is the best place to find out about life in the area and what's going on

Be friendly and welcoming to people when they come, but not too needy! Be ready to involve people, but perhaps don't leap on them to be on the flower and coffee rota on their first visit. Take an interest in people without being too nosey or pushy. Perhaps introduce people to others with whom they might get on / those in a similar life situation (e.g. have you met Tom - who is another elderly man who has just moved into the village from the North having retired from the fishing industry, just like you?).

Have good publicity / information leaflets available in church taylored to different types of people (e.g. What's on for young people at St Ethelburger's?)

Perhaps offer to follow up new comers with a visit etc.

Make sure the Sunday services are an excellent shop front / advert for the church. Make sure it is warm enough in church in the winter. Aim for people to want to come back for more.

Some possible service times

Sundays:

8am

9:30am

11am

4pm

6:30pm

8pm

Midweek - any day or time you like

Select in order of preference (1=prefered, 2=less prefered etc.)

First Sermons

If you were soon to become the Vicar of some churches, what would some of the early topical sermons you'd want to preach be?

Perhaps:

A Vision For Ministry

What is the Christian Gospel?

What is a real Christian?

How can I do to heaven?

What on earth is the Church for?

Communion confusion

Why does the Vicar keep going on about the Bible?

A Vision for The Good Life

Then maybe your sermon series on The 10 Commandments, The Apostles' Creed, The Lord's Prayer and the systematic exposition of Bible books - then retirement.

The Missionary Society of Saint Wilfrid and Saint Hilda

has been launched by some catholic Anglican bishops including (from my part of the world) the Bishop of Chichester, the Bishop of Horham and Bishop Lindsey Urwin. It will be very interesting to see how it develops.

Is the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans / FCA UK which came out of the GAFCON movement an evangelical equivalent?

There seems to be a lack of English Evangelical Bishops seeking to make a similar kind of provision?

In fact, who are the English Evangelical Bishops who are opposed to the consecration of women to the Episcopate? And even if some are in favour of it, what provision will be made for their evangelical brothers and sisters and friends who up with this can not put?

Or maybe the good old C of E itself might yet do something adequate?

Carson on Scripture

The Don tells us:

Discussion about the nature of Scripture continues apace. Readers interested in a recent survey of developments might find helpful an essay by Robert W. Yarbrough (in the 34, no. 1 issue of Themelios, published online at thegospelcoalition.org). Of the numerous books on Scripture written within the last five years, the best is that of Timothy Ward, Words of Life: Scripture as the Living and Active Word of God (2009). I am currently working, with about thirty-five others, on a two-volume set to be published by Eerdmans in 2012. Tentatively titled The Scripture Project, the set aims to work through fundamental biblical, theological, historical, and philosophical issues related to the doctrine of Scripture. I would like to think of this current collection as constituting steps along the way in this broader enterprise toward a robust confessionalism on this topic. …

How long does it take you to prepare a sermon?

That all depends on lots of things, not least how much time and engery I have. Preparation can be lots of fun and it can sometimes expand to fill the time available. On the other hand, it can also be hard work and one can tend to hide from it.

One has to decide how much time and engery one can spare and what one's other duties are. There's no set time that one must spend on any one sermon. In a way, all of life is sermon preparation anyway! In some situations it would be possible to work too long and hard on a sermon, when one should be resting, or spending time with the wife and kids, or evangelising the many unconverted people of the parish who ought to be there to hear the sermon but wont be unless you persuade them to come.

It also depends on how well I know the passage or subject in question. There are some sermons I could probably preach to you now without a single note that I hope you would find at least moderately helpful. That's cos I've preached them once or twice before, so I don't feel I desperately need to do much extra preparation.

It also depends on to whom I'm speaking and in what context and for how long. For example, if I know the hearers are likely to be well taught keen Christians with a similar background to me who will come desperate to hear the Word of God, there is less need to worry about being very engaging and accessible. If I'm going to speak in a pub to people who don't even know that Jesus died on the cross, I'm going to think a bit more about a way in and a way of getting it accross.

It also depends what helps I have available. If there's a Vaughan Roberts sermon online on that passage then maybe I might as well just preach that: one hour, sermon ready. I'm kidding. Kind of!

So there are no hard and fast rules. We mustn't be too hung up about it. Adequate preparation is adequate. You will never preach the perfect sermon and its probably sinful to attempt to!

I would say that generally I would want two "sessions" (i.e. mornings, afternoons or evenings - or nights!) to work on a sermon: so something like 8 hours all together. If I couldn't say something true and useful and reasonably engaging after that, I'd think something had gone badly wrong.

What do you reckon? Is 8 hours about right? That amount of preparation would make the typical traditional free church pattern of ministry of 2 sermons on a Sunday and a mid-week meeting do-able alongside a rule like "never be out of your study in the morning, never be in it in the afternoon", allowing for some other stuff too.

How To Lead a Service

Tommorrow, d. v., I will be leading a "seminar" on how to lead a church service. What might one say?

I might say things like:

SOME THOUGHTS ON PREPARING & LEADING CHURCH SERVICES

The aims of this session.

Sharing best practice.

A great privilege and responsibility

The significance of public worship - a knd of authoritative public act

Things to discuss:

What are church services for? How can they best achieve these aims?

What makes a good or bad service / good or bad service leading?

Some suggestions and tips:

Pray

Be yourself

Relax (somewhat)

Don't worry! It's not really too hard to do a tolerable job - what's the worst that could happen?!

Some of these things may be counsels of perfection. Do what you can, baring in mind your other commitments etc. It doesn't have to be a perfect permormace.

Think about what you are aiming to do and why

Get some helpful input beforehand if you want e.g. consult with preacher, musicians etc. (Is there a song we should sing twice etc.?)

Will you use notes or a full text? Or other books (have bookmarks ready)?

Dress appropriately - avoid distracting get up! (e.g. a t-shirt that says "I love PB". Many people will be wondering who or what PB is for much of the service)

There's more than one way to skin a cat. It's fine to try new things or do it a bit differently. Some things may be debatable / have pros and cons / be a matter of taste. You can't please all the people all of the time - and that's not really the aim!

Err on the side of keeping it simple

Prepare, plan / be flexible!

Be biblical

Consider the Bible reading / possible themes of the service (e.g. harvest) - how might you compliment that stuff? A concordance, cross reference / study Bible or Bible Gateway etc. might help you

Read through all the songs and liturgy in full carefully before the service

Is there a logic and flow to the service or is it just a prayer hymn sandwich / one thing after another? Does the order of the elements matter? Why are we doing this bit? Why are we doing it here?

Remember that guests / visitors / non-Christians may be present

Explain where the service sheet / hymns words etc. can be found

If you do it every week, don't make it too samey in an unhelpful way - though the predicatable and familiar can have their place!

Arrive in plenty of time to pray before the service

Start on time

Make sure you turn the microphone on (and off!) / have it in the right place etc.! Try not to move your head around too much away from it

When will you face the congregation, when will you face straight ahead, when will you sit or kneel or stand? Will you do it all from the leaders' stall, the middle, the platform, the lecturn, a music stand, pulpit, Table etc.?

Check that the reader, prayer, musicians, sound desk & PowerPoint person etc. have turned up and know what's going on

Be aware of the C of E's rules and the resources available in The Book of Common Prayer and Common Worship. The Church of England website may help. (You haven't made the Declaration of Assent but C of E ministers will have).

Know what liturgical day (e.g. Advent Sunday, 2nd Sunday after Trinity) / special Sunday it is (e.g. Bible Sunday, Sea Sunday)!

Be friendly, warm and welcoming - smile - but not excessively so!

Try to strike the right balance of informal / formal, humour and seriousness: it is neither a stand up routine nor a funeral

Be clear

People like to know that the thing is under control and you know what's going on etc.

Make sure people know what they're supposed to be doing e.g. exactly when do we stand, sit or kneel. Give people time to do as their told: "We sit or kneel to pray. [Pause]"

Don't say "we stand to sing..." and then keep talking. Either tell people to stand and stop till they do, or make, "please stand" your last thing. I try to programme people to stand to sing for all our songs as soon as the music starts to play. Otherwise, no one knows what to do, some people are standing there like lemons while you blather on and people are still getting up when the song starts so we miss the first note etc.

Speak up

Is there anything in the service that requires particular explanation? (e.g. hymn words like, "I will raise my Ebineezer"). You can't always explain everything and that's okay - it would be tiresome to teach your grandmother to suck eggs.

It's okay but not essential to thank the people who take part publicly

Don't show off or apologise excessively. Ultimately the main focus should be on Jesus and others not you.

Don't be in too much of a rush / afraid of silence / pauses

Don't say too much. Don't make the whole thing too long. 1 hour to an hour and a quater is probably just about right for a normal service.

Don't drop things unless its essential. (The mussos can complain if you drop songs they've practiced etc.)

Don't preach a sermon

Don't steal the preacher's thunder

Don't fidget / mumble / repeat yourself / laugh too much at your own jokes

Be prepared for the collection plate to be a bit heavy and awkward

Know your mannerisms / annoying habits (e.g. taking your hand in and out of your pocket, scratching your ear)

Ask others how it went

A walk through elements of a typical service:

Entrance of the minsiters

Welcome

Introduction

Call to Worship

Adoration / songs

Invitation to confession

Confession

Declaration / reassurance of forgiveness (absolution)

Praise / thanksgiving songs

Affirmation / declaration of faith (creed)

Prayers

Special Prayer or Collect of the Day

The Lord's Prayer (modern or traditional form)

Intercessions: asking prayers for ourselves and others

Notices

Song

Bible Reading

Sermon

Song with offertory

Offertory prayer

Final prayer

Blessing

Dismissal

Departure

Practical plans for giving it a go with mentoring, help, feedback etc.

Further reading / resources

Job News

God-willing, some time in the new year, I am going to start as the C of E minister (technically "priest in charge", for any Anglicans who like to get it right!) at Warbelton and Bodle Street Green, two lovely Sussex "villages" between Hailsham and Heathfield in an area of outstanding natural beauty in the High Weald of (East) Sussex. The Rectory is in Rushlake Green. We are hoping that the boy will go to nursery and to the C of E primary school in Dallington when the time comes.

Any tips on being an incumbent / country pasrson very gratefully recieved!

Who wants to be a millionaire?

As I've said before (perhaps), sermons are not the place for footnotes or acknowledgements, but I feel I ought to confess to largely plagarising Vaughan Roberts' sermon (preached at St Ebbe's, Oxford) on Ecclesiasties 5:10-6 today at Holy Trinity, Eastbourne.

My working title was: Money & Meaning: Are the better off, better off?

The headings went something like this:

Wisdom about Wealth

(1) The frustrations of wealth: it doesn’t satisfy

(2) The fragility of wealth: it doesn’t last

(3) The fount of wealth: it’s God’s gift

(4) The futility of wealth: it isn’t ultimate

Sorry for more alliteration!

Bodies in Romans 12

Revd Tony Baker suggestes at our church prayer meeting that in Romans 12 we can lean about how to relate to:

Our bodies (vv1-2)
Christ's body, the church (vv3-13)
and Anybody (vv14-21)

Neat.

The Lord's Other Prayer

I am thinking of giving a brief talk on Matthew 9:37-38 at the Harvest Supper on Friday: "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."