It's different ...

....numbers are the same but it's different!

We've met three times since I last blogged. I was concerned that meeting weekly would just be another programme until Andrea commented on the last blog. Meeting weekly is actually what is wanted. Two weeks ago there was no Childrens' club in the Saturday morning because some of the leaders were away and the parents were disappointed they couldn't meet. The same scenario will happen this coming Saturday! So i'm now more content to meet weekly.

So what has changed? The relationships have changed. I think they've deepened. There's an honesty and real depth in our conversations. One parent has taken the initiative and planned the cards we're going to make and sourced all the stuff we need to do that. So my role has changed too. I don't see myself as a leader more of an enabler or facilitator or is that just too postmodern?

A community has been created, we're having fun, we're enjoying breakfast, we're doing something creative. The discussions have focussed around the pressures of family life and already talk is of Christmas (no surprise since we're making Christmas cards). So there'll will be plenty to explore over the coming weeks.

Being incarnational is what this is about. God is a sending God. God sent Jesus and in the same way we are sent into our communities to be relevant, to listen, to join people on their faith journey .....

Breakfast Church?

An array of cereal, smoothies, fruit juice, yogurt, fruit, croissants, pancakes, muffins and not a rasher of bacon or fried egg in sight.

Numerically (do numbers really matter) we were more than last week even though two from last week couldn't make it, so we're up to eight in total.

We enjoyed the food and conversation. Interestingly the Bible study I'm leading this session is focusing on Luke's gospel and the accounts of Jesus sharing a meal with a variety of people in their homes, often at their request. So, there we were sharing breakfast, enjoying conversation, making plans for the card making "fun" next week, I wondered what Jesus would have said to those gathered?

In the back of mind I have the question is this church, can this be church and at the moment my answer is - all depends on how you define church. Church should be rooted in mission, and this is very definitely mission. Fresh expressions are defined as listening first, then loving and serving, creating a place for the unchurched. So there's a lot of listening going on. Maybe I'm just impatient, maybe the listening will take longer and need to be ongoing? Yet we can't make church happen. Roxborough and Romanuk comment

"we do not plan its emerging future; we do not define it in a vision statement that can be realised through a controlled and managed strategic plan .... God eludes our systemising; God's ecclesia cannot be mastered or managed or made"

I'm also wondering does the fact that we meet weekly help or hinder? Will it just become another weekly programme? will the enthusiasm diminish?

Breakfast and card making in the morning .....

"What have I become?"

Johnny Cash mournfully sings "what have I become?" I wonder if "church" could sing would it join in that lament?

What has church become for people? Not a question I propose to answer here but as my first Saturday morning of this new venture has been and gone it is a question I struggle with. People jumping ship, wanting nothing to do with denominations, those who used to "come" but for a variety of reasons can't or won't.

What I'm trying to do on Saturday mornings is provide a "safe space" (their words not mine) for those who I've discovered feel condemned by church (how did that happen) those who feel not good enough to be there on Sunday morning.

So our first get together became a time when five parents and a couple of toddlers shared coffee/tea and eats (using fairtrade products). I provided the morning newspapers hoping they would spark a deep theological conversation on the state of the world (maybe another day)but the conversation that emerged was one of pain, hurt, needs that actually can be met in that safe space.

These get togethers will be driven by the people who come, I have no set plans, so to meet the needs raised we will look at health issues, family issues, the strain of being a parent, not all had had time for breakfast (agreed that next time I would provide breakfast). Leaving those issues aside, they also wanted to have fun (what? fun in church?) so over the coming weeks we're going to learn how to make cards, cross-stitch, crochet, read books, watch dvd's. This will be fun because I'm not too good with the "crafty" things in this world. They shared how it would be good to meet with the children, see what they are doing, join in (sounds like messy church to me) and so the possibilities go on.

I'm excited, those who came liked the informality (unlike everything else they have experienced of church), they appreciated the "time-out". I struggle with the fact that we meet on church premises, yes I know they are dropping their children off at the Saturday morning club, and I know there is no where else in the estate like a coffee shop to meet, so for now the church hall will have to do.

What have we become? I live with the God given hope and imagination of what church can become for those who meet on Saturday mornings ....