Mini manifesto part two!

I have edited this post as it was posted in haste and grammatically a bit rough in places! I hope it now scans in the brain better and the ideas expressed are not clouded, but more clear. Thank you for reading it.

HBT 30/10/14
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Just a brief word on the previous posting where I suggested rekindling the title of Provost, simply because after scratching my head for several years now I can not think of another title for the overseer's  that has both historic pedigree and gives a clean break with other current "job titles".  Ministers need saving from themselves and the expectations which local oversight of multiple faith communities engenders. A break gives permission for a faith community, in this case in my church tradition, to stop kidding itself that the overseers role is simply a form of "business as usual", but with extra responsibilities. It is not. As I have posted earlier, no one man or woman can fulfill the traditional role, a role which in many communities is as redundant as the now disappeared society that created it...... There mini soap-box session concluded. On with the next bit, which begins with wasps!

Cuboid wasps nest! Care to guess why?

My parents live in the countryside in central England. Earlier this Summer they had a wasp problem. The source was identified and dealt with, but amazingly the wasps HQ is as square as a shoe-box! Why have the wasps, who usually build such beautiful rounded nests chosen this new cuboid form? Have they discovered a branch of 20th C art?! The truth is that the wasps started building their nest in a bird's nesting box and after filling the box just kept on building outside following the same pattern and scaffolding structure they had started with, corners and all!

Faith communities can be a bit like this, building with the same pattern over and over again, despite the context in which construction takes place changing.

2. Developing "healthy" faith communities: a new tool kit!

So on one hand I have made my pitch for the emerging role of "Provost" (or Benefice  Dean, whatever else you might call it) to be recognised. On the other hand local faith communities themselves, at least in my tradition, need reforming in ways that reflect the "intimacy" circles and will therefore aid community growth, both in the quality and quantity of relationships.

My own tradition, English Anglicanism and to my observation many of my Free church brothers and sisters are struggling in a rural and in many cases urban context. Fewer people practice an active faith and those that do have many pressures in life if young (under 50!) and many options for their time if older (over 50). This means resources of money, time and people hours are often stretched very thin. There is still life in the churches and commitment and a dogged determination to keep the show on the road. There is also a tiredness and a yearning for that other country, just a generation ago when there was more connection between in my case Christian faith communities and the wider community as a whole.

As it is things are as they are. Many programmes for renewal and new "fresh expressions" are available and some are helpful in maintaining the life of faith communities and act as good yeast in the dough of community life, especially where life is tough and marginal.

But I ask myself if in the midst of such plans faith communities are equipped to look at themselves in order to discern if they are functioning as a healthy community, be their faith community a small cell, a gathering of the 12 to 20 committed souls or a larger, wider congregation that reaches out into the local community at many levels.

I also ask if church institutions equip communities and leaders to function with a healthy understanding of what is needful and expected in a situation where multi-centre units are grouped under one overseer. Experience suggests not.

Some interesting work has been done in Australia by the R.C. church (see Rural Theology, Vol 11.1, 2013 p 3-14). Faced with distant outposts a three point strategy has been evolved from the lessons learned through trying to minister with fewer priests. The points are:

1. Lay people take responsibility for administration, planning social events, repairing the church etc.
2. There is a local discernment process to decide who will coordinate the liturgy, pastoral care etc. with candidates being appointed for a set period of time to the roles.
3. Mentoring these individuals and the congregations as a whole is a priority for the priests, covering as they do huge areas.

Some of these ideas are common in many churches; however my suggestion is that in my own tradition the articles of inquiry for the health of a local church are focused on the factors which build up the people side of the church's life. My own tradition places great emphasis on a church having "Wardens" who often carry all these responsibilities and especially if there is not a resident minister/priest, when the priests roles can be added to the "Wardenly" ones. Strangely enough it gets difficult to recruit people to these maxed out roles. 

Could it be that if local faith communities are re-framed in effect as small religious communities the roles of liturgy, admin and pastoral care, maybe a role "bridging" with the wider community be recognised as requirements for a sustainable faith community as a primary matter of course? This might lead to an audit on community life that allows clusters of faith communities to be helped to build structures that encourage the life of the faith community and build conduits for growth into the life of the community.

This could be a tall order for some faith communities, who through serving a small rural community or being within an urban environment that does not recognise the connection between faith and location findpeople  resources are scarce. For example, one of  the parishes in my charge only has a population of 235, quite high compared to some I know, but unable as a community to support any public amenities except a church building and a small village hall. New twin strategies are needed to either help faith communities in a palliative way if they have reached the end of their current mission or encourage them to have a positive ministry as networkers of community life and the keepers of the "local shrine" in a stable yet simple existence.

Upon a time of  vacancy or if there is "pastoral reorganisation" the current processes to explore the way ahead, in my CofE case, need expanding greatly to support, inform and mentor faith communities through the period of transition. Any new overseeing leader also needs training, mentoring and support in their new role from the point of being appointed, as they take up their new post and get established so that expectations of the role of the leader is clear and well understood.

Such a training package needs formulating so that it helps overseeing leaders them reorient their gifts to the new situation they will find themselves in. It might be prudent to consider such training a pre-requisite to applying for such posts; something analogous to the course teachers have to undergo in order to be ready to be appointed headteachers.. To see their ministry through the lens of what is possible due to the dynamics of community life and life as a part of many different and distinct communities. Mentoring and coaching will be an important part of this.

This is a bit wild I suppose and such a people based plan would require institutional churches to set aside resources to invest in such a growth strategy. At a time of reducing human resources there is a nervousness to do this. However I would make it a plea that experimental areas be set up in different contexts, rural, suburban, inner city, in both provinces of my own church (Canterbury and York). This could give evidence to gauge if there are longer term positive effects on the life of faith communities by such a person shaped approach and their impact for the common good in the wider communities they serve. The budget for such a centrally funded strategy I am sure could be found if it can be seen that the signs of some success in terms of a healthy local church are possible.

Intimate, faithful, outward looking, people shaped community life: life in all its fullness.

So come on Bishops & Co. how about it? 

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Well there you are. My Sabbatical finishes now, back to the whirling madness of normal life tomorrow!

I might not post again for some time, until the ever filing "in tray" of life is empty of "urgent and important" stuff. But please, if you want to catch the next posting sign up as a follower (it just means you get an email/tweet/facebook notification etc. when a new post is added). If you have found these Sabbatical ramblings interesting or provocative please tell your friends and colleagues and get them to have a look for themselves. God's blessing be with us all, wherever we might find ourselves to be.... TTFN, Hayboxtheologian aka Simon.

A mini manifesto, part 1... "with only four days of Sabbatical time remaining!

Yes, Time is almost up on the Sabbatical of 21014. It has been a great time, rounded up by a weekend at Greenbelt Festival (a Christian arts and justice festival). John Bell and Owen Jones spoke well, Scargill House provided the anchor for our worship and theater, dance, music, foraging expeditions and a tea ceremony were among the delights experienced.

Holy Communion with a few other people at Greenbelt Festival!

Now on to following up on my thoughts.

I think it is clear that in my faith community, the Church of England, we have for a long time - possibly 400 years or so sought out "Vicars", a fairly uniform brand of leader as the mainstay of the "professional workforce". Since the 1970's volunteer and local ministries have developed to such a great degree that in my own area (Deanery) for example over half the "collars" and way over half those licensed to minister belong to this amazing movement of locally grown faith and ministry. 

It has been customary to consider the "paid" and "volunteer" ministries as distinct in some way. However with the emergence of multi-centre ministries a new dynamic has been added to how people might be selected and trained for the expression of their God given gifts in ministry. A new dynamic is also being experienced by local parish based faith communities as well. To my mind the "instruments of inquiry" that my church uses to access the health of the life of local faith communities has not caught up with these changes.

With a broad brush my instinct suggests that the following directions could be explored as possible avenues for development.

1. How we think of faith community leaders. Recognising the role.

By now, if you have been following this blog for a bit you will have gathered that I believe that those in charge of many centres of faith have a distinct ministry and relate to the communities in a different way to those who work and minister to only one centre.

It follows that in selection, training and at stages of new deployment (i.e. when being placed in a context of multi-centre ministry) the distinct needs, demands and training for this be explicitly stated and budgeted for "up front". Those called to a traditional single centre ministry and those called to pioneer new ventures are beginning to be recognised. To this I would add those who emerge from these two strands or hands of leadership as being called to oversight of many communities in an ongoing collegiate context with other locally based leaders.

Such leaders, especially those with oversight for several centres, three and above seeming to be the point at which the very different dynamics of relationship/intimacy really take effect{ see Francis and Brewster R.T. Vol 10.2 , 2010, p74-5}, have a different role to the traditional "vicar". To help distinguish this different role in the minds of both leaders and those engaged in such ministry it is time for a new job title.

The nature of oversight in multi-centre ministry is both Episcopal and Archidiaconal in nature and as such needs a title that can be grasped by ministers and communities as a whole as being different. This difference helps to decouple traditional "vicar" like expectations from the role and those filling it. Expectations and the understanding of a Bishop, Archdeacon or Rural Dean are broadly understood by those with experience of what in my tradition we call "parish life". All the top contenders for names are taken already, however I would suggest one that has a good historic pedigree and fits the bill as being a role that is both under authority (of Bishop and Archdeacon) and also has a gravity of oversight within a collegiate gathering of those engaged in ministry attached to it. My stellar suggestion, if "Area or Benefice Dean" is a bit of a mouthful is that we drag out of the ecclesiastical loft of discarded and half forgotten stuff the title of Provost.

This might seem startling, but if there is to be a bold, honest adopting of the emerging new patterns of organisation and oversight the role of overseer needs to be recognised as distinct. With a historic pedigree from the earliest days of the church that describes one who has local oversight under the authority of Abbot or Bishop such a title has the weighting that goes with the role. The term is very little used now and historically has been used in my own tradition for new positions of oversight that don't have an immediately obvious choice attached to them.

Such recognition as Provost, one under, but expressing oversight would liberate those in oversight from the often expressed and felt pressure of still bring considered, or trying themselves, to be "vicar" or "minister" to the whole people of the communities they serve and allow them to concentrate on the collegiate faith community support and creative encouragement that growing flourishing faith communities demands. 

Right enough for today! Part two, concentrating on changes in the way local faith communities are structured will follow.

Horses for courses?

Just a quick follow up on the mustard front, the nice French lady who was in charge of the "degustation" of twenty different mustards - and has a stonemason son working on Gloucester Cathedral - told us on the quiet that the four main mustards that "Fallot" produce can be bought at Waitrose cheaper than at the tasting bar!

So, personality types and ministry. I will be a bit "churchy" here, so apologies for those who do not share such an outlook, I hope you still find these thoughts stimulating.

Readers of the Journal "Rural Theology" will have been following the published studies of Leslie Francis and collaborators on this topic right back into the 1990's. Working primarily with surveys of Anglican clergy from the UK and "pioneering" countries, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand results have been distilled using modified Myers-Briggs matrices to see if there is any matching between personality type and facets of rural ministry. In Vol 12:1 (2014) Keith Littler et al. published a paper "Are Rural Clergy Different?", based on a study of Church of Wales clergy that summarised much of this research. The results are as always surprising on one hand and reinforce ones preconceptions on the other. So here is my distilled distillation.... concentrated stuff, but not 100% proof you might say.

Firstly, clergy working in a rural setting are not any different in personality type from clergy in general (including suburban and urban). This is an important fact to grasp as it means that the present cohort of clergy are broadly similar in their profile.

Following this, you are aching to know what that profile is! Well here it is; Anglican clergy twice as likely to be introverts, twice as likely to be sensing types and four times more likely to be judging types than the population as a whole. Conversely this means that they are far less likely to be extrovert, inuitive, perceiving types. Regarding thinking/feeling traits, the balance is more even, just tipped towards the feeling approach to life.

So to sum up a caricature "collar" who sums up the dominant character traits would be an ISFJ. Such characters exist no doubt, but it would be easy to be simplistic about all this. What it does indicate however is the general character of the "workforce" and their strengths; in essence the the leadership the Holy Spirit has equipped the churches with at this moment in time. The skills and abilities of this gift, distinctive from the population as a whole is to my mind possibly a clue to the way the institutional churches in the "West" are to develop at this time. Work with what you have, start where you are, be thankful for God's resourcing.

So what are the indicators? Well it seems that as a body the clergy of our day are very good at small group work and one to one ministry. They are very reliable, a body who value continuity and tradition, appreciate and work for good relationships and are particularly good at organisation and scheduling tasks. In musical terms we might call this the "major" chord of leadership profile.

The flip side to this, the "minor" chord, strongly present but not dominant, is with those who have a pioneering spirit, who grasp the bigger picture, formulating, implementing and promoting change, who are prepared to challenge and resolve structural issues that stand in the way of development and are flexible and nimble in day to day response.

Reflecting on this I can see that it has bearing in a time of great sociological and demographic change when the churches are struggling to adapt to a new social order in which their traditional role a main hubs of community life and identity are sliding away in a societal movement which is effecting all local facilities including corner shops and pubs ("bars" to my transatlantic viewers and the Polish one!).

Across my national church, the Church of England, initiatives such as "Fresh Expressions" and "Pioneer Ministries" have been greatly celebrated and supported as the way to go. Without a doubt they are making a great impact for good; however if the research is right and my hunch is that it is not far off, most of the "workforce" are not of that pioneering world, equipped as they are for a different style of ministry. This can lead to feeling of being outmoded and somehow lacking something in the face of enthusiasm and encouragement to initiate projects that would be draining to their energies, rather than boosting them.

The question I am pondering, is how can we nurture the different gifts of those in leadership, allowing the pioneers to break into new territory, the "overseers" to encourage and enable mission across a district of faith communities and those inclined to use their gifts in pastoral growth and mission to all flourish. After all, people of faith would hold that God gives what is needed, perhaps we don't always look hard enough at what has been given to see how we can foster people appropriate growth and encouragement?

A strategy and structure that is based on fostering personal growth through a one to one and small group dynamic seems to suggest itself as an alternative route to pioneer initiatives. Such work is well documented as providing fertile ground for enquiry and growth in faith community life. Many of those in leadership at the moment are more than well equipped for this, although their gifting is, as we have suggested, under pressure in multi-centre/community settings facing resource shortages, energy being expended in administration and "fire-fighting, or "time related over extension" (a L J Francis & C E Brewster phrase, {R.T. Vol 10:2 2010}) rather than active development.

I'll leave you in this posting with a picture from the ancient Cistercian powerhouse of Fontanay, St Bernard's favourite. Sensitively restored, including the first industrial scale industrial forge in Europe! Work being important to the order they were not afraid of new technology, developing agriculture, mining, water management and metalurgy and putting them into the service of God, establishing centres all over Europe and beyond..

Delightful 14thC Bergundian madonna and child from Fontanay Abbey: just look at the faces.

Cutting the mustard!

Hello Sabbatical page viewers and follower!

After a holiday I am back for the last two weeks of Sabbatical, after which, who knows...

Holioday destinatins ranged far and wide, from the Hadron Collider in Geneva, midday prayers at Taize, sites of pilgrimage old and new.

Two things come to mind, one a visit to the last family run mustard factory in Southern Burgundy and a visit closer to home to George Herbert's parish church, St Andrew's Bemerton, Salisbury.

Fallot Mustard delivery van from the 1930's.

 First the mustard. Mustard is well, mustard, possibly French or English, German (dark that one for some reason) or American (useful for "hot dogs") you might think. Well no. The Fallot family works in Beaune produce over twenty different types (we tried them all in the most unusual and enjoyable tasting I have ever undertaken). What is surprising is how upon a common foundation of mustard seed, a little salt and vinegar so many varied flavours can be produced, to accompany fish, meats, cheese and even ice cream! The latter being a rather grown up "Nutella" flavour.. delicious.

This culinary preamble, as well as being in the spirit of Slow-cook theology is a good reminder of the infinite varieties that can develop from a common base. Faith communities in the same way are all unique; even those of the new "franchise" connexions, although similar will differ due to the mix of people involved, their history and local factors. This variety is a precious gift on one hand and a complication on the other. Unlike branches of a store chain where we expect the same thing to be on the shelves when we walk in, faith communities respond, or not, in unique ways to initiatives and strategies that come from "above" in their "mother church" structure. In all such strategies and initiatives it might lead to a deeper and stronger commitment at grass roots levels if the local flavour is appreciated and can be matched to the common base that is being rolled out.

The scale and size of the community will be a factor in this. George Herbert the 17th C poet/priest lived and ministered during his last years (he died relatively young) At Bemerton, near Salisbury. (Bemerton is now a suburb of Salisbury. The church however is in a quiet backwater these days, despite the church/rectory straddling the old Roman road from Salisbury Westwards to Wilton and beyond.)

What is surprising, given Herbert's influence on the Anglican spirit over the succeeding centuries is the small size of the church. Seating only thirty, it was the spiritual home for the Herbert household, who went across to the church twice a day for Morning and Evening Prayer. This pattern, along with Herbert's leaning towards the spiritual feeding he received from Nicholas Ferrar's community at Little Gidding strongly suggests a pattern of Anglican spiritual life based on small communities or cells of members meeting together for regular prayer, scripture reading, reflection and fellowship. In this sense we can see a small but intimate community at work and prayer.

This pattern might have much to commend it in our current century, where knowledge and experience of faith practice is increasingly sub-cultural. While inherited models of relationship between a faith communities and the wider geographical community are dissolving restructuring, in my case, church practice to support such community life has both historic pedigree and might well serve as a missiological base from which engagement with contemporary culture can be undertaken and developed in new directions.

George Herbert's parish church (left) and Rectory (right)

There is more to say, on the selection and training of faith community leaders, social and spiritual capital and stating the obvious conundrum!  (That's whetted your appetite!).

Scribblings on "circles of intimacy" and church structure

USE OF "THE CIRCLES APPROACH" IN HELPING DEEPEN COMMUNITY UNDERSTANDING AS THE PRELUDE TO APPROPRIATE DEVELOPMENT IN LOCAL FAITH COMMUNITIES COMMON LIFE AND DEVELOPMENT

A bit long winded as a title I know, but it hopefully says what it is in the tin (can)! This post will suggest a workshop for faith communities which will allow them to gain an understanding of the nature of their community. I will break iont "church-speak" for a bit here, as my experience in this sphere is long and I hope fairly thoughtful.

There are various dimensions or facets to faith community life which dictate the strength of the community and the directions in which the community might develop.

Here are a few principles:

• Above all a faith community is a living thing, it must keep moving and developing or else it will die! (OK a few communities like anemones stick to the rock and feed off passing food, but even they have to wave their tentacles about a bit! You might want to think a bit more about this.)
• People participate in the community's life because it is local to them, or they travel some distance because they like the community's style.
• Members will love the meeting place of the community along an axis of understanding it as "the house of God" (a shrine) at one extreme through to "the meeting place of my fellows" (the people are the primary thing, seldom notice the building).
• The strength of the faith community depends on a continuity of intimacy of relationship that incorporates all members, linked by relationship to the leadership and fellow community members.

The circles diagram needs a bit of introduction to help people grasp how it relates to their own life. An introduction of the pattern as it can be discerned in Christian Holy Scripture would also be appropriate, as outlined in the earlier post. (click by the "S" of Scribblings [below] and you will hopefully get a hypertext link straight to it)

Scribblings on "circles of intimacy" and church structure

Having helped group members to begin to look at their own circles of intimacy and relate them to the circles of the early church it is time to look at their own context. I describe this in the context of a multi centre setting with local leadership and an overseeing leadership (the Team Rector/District Overseer).

This can be tricky to work out as the results will depend on how long the group has been together.

Case study 1

If you are working with a new set up, bringing together previously disparate faith communities these exercises can help clarify realistic expectations for both the new leadership and the newly "married" communities.

Case study 2

If by contrast you are working with a well established cluster of communities who are at a point of transition or are struggling with their current structures the exercises can help in the formation of new structures appropriately scaled to be enabling and helpful to faithful living.

In all cases

In all cases it will help dispel any long held myths about who is strong and who is struggling in terms of individual communities. The relative merits of each community in terms of its size and scope can be better understood. The role of the leadership teams can be clarified and areas for development to strengthen the communities be identified.

I am going to concentrate on case study 2 as it is my direct experience for the last 10 years.

Here is the diagram to refresh your memory.

After an introduction to how the diagram helps us to map our personal social map it is time to get started on each individual faith communities map. The leadership with oversight over all the communities would do well to complete their own map.

Group each individual faith communities members together and ask them to list the people from their faith community (church or chapel) that they have contact with daily, weekly or monthly. (If they leave space between the lists for the inbetweeners that's OK at this point, although it aids clarity if people can judge the closest band.

So the list might look like:

      Daily      |            Weekly        |        Monthly       |      Less often         
Mary D               Fred                      Anthony P               Ginger R
Lois                   Rev Jane                    Rev Paul                Mary H
Mark N             Andrea G                  Neil S
                          Robin                       Frances (community worker)
                          Peter P                    Rex
                                                           Jemima P
                                                           Jeremy F
etc..


The group now mark the leadership members in some way, e.g. circle them in a different colour pen.
(in this case it would be Lois and Robin are the "wardens/deacons", the Revds Jane and Paul and Frances)

Nest stage is to plot the lists onto a blank circle diagram, something like the one below, including the leadership, with their coloured identifier.

The resulting plot will show the group where the personal heart of their faith community is. It will show which people are the "glue" of the community, those who have the most connection with the community as a whole. It will also reveal the place of the leadership within the faith community. Finally, and most importantly it will help to reveal how connected and intimate the community is. It will show where the points of communion and fellowship are to be found and the scale of that connectedness.

Each faith community is encouraged to share their results and to think about what they are saying about the nature of their faith community as it stands.

For the leadership in oversight it could come as a bit of a shock to see where they fit into the overall picture. 

How will their circles diagram compare? It might look something like the one following, in which I have superimposed individual communities circles diagram onto their own, biasing the connections to show where the overall  benefice/district leadership are most connected. Four local faith communities are superimposed on the leader's personal faith circle. I have not included peer or "management" elements at this point, although these, including Chapter, Fraternal and Superintendents and Bishops etc. will be very much part of the mix for the overall leadership, if only occasional but symbolically important features for local communities and their local leadership.

                           

What might this all point to?

Well in this case the "red" comunity is the one the overall leader lives in and is well known at all levels. The "reds" and "yellows" - a very small but faithful band - have some overlap, perhaps due to geography or style preferences. Similar the overlap between the "greens" and the "oranges". The green community is large and looks healthy, but is a bit more distant from the leader due to geography. The smaller, but tightly knit orange community is similarly distant, but due to its size and intensity of associations better known to the overall leader.

The leader is shown to be stretched in many directions and reliant on local leadership to give them the "heads up" when they need to be involved locally at more depth than is usually possible.

You could read a lot more, but you get the general idea. dysfunction might also show up, where by a community has a hole in the middle or is missing a band of connection, making connection between the heart of faith and the "fringes of enquiry" difficult. If we put the circles on their side, pile them up and look from the rim, cutting the pile in half as a section we might see something like the following for a medium sized church community with a range of activities throughout the week and for a very small community, where a handful of people keep the church "going", the yellow section, showing the small and faithful band in action!:

Medium sized  faith community profile, lots of social connecting activity going on.

Small community, where the faithful few keep the doors open for all! 

Well, my brain is tired after all those drawings, so I'l leave you to ponder how useful such analysis might be to you and head off to cook supper: chick pea and spinach dish tonight - perhaps with a dash of locally raised gammon on the side!

Interlude: Observation on the changes in my historical context and a reference to "Cider with Rosie"!

OBSERVATION ON CHANGES IN MY HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND A REFERENCE TO "CIDER WITH ROSIE"!

In my experience local church congregations in England, which are the faith communities I have most experience of, are not always very good at understanding their own internal dynamic and how they fit within the multiple overlaying of human networks or webs that make up their local community as a whole. Many times people of good faith express frustration or misunderstanding in terms of "why isn't the church doing 'this' or 'that'?" and wondering what can be done to recover or establish the place in the local community they think they used to have.

In past ages when the world moved at the speed of the human foot, or the plodding horse/donkey/ox the layers of a local community would be very tightly bound, as they still are in traditional communities today. In the UK we can not expect any modern network of people who work, take their leisure and have family spread over wide areas to relate to each other as they did before the mass movements of the 20th Century, which have shaken up the fabric of society in a manner not seen, possibly since the black death of the 14th Century.

Gateway to Chantry Friary near Yeovil. 

There is a lot of guilt around this, a feeling of loosing the plot in terms of being, in people's imagination, "a proper church", like it was in the old days. Ministers can also feel a sense of failure in the face of this or become seen as the butt of blame for a perceived failure of the church to "succeed" when other faith communities seem to be thriving. A lot of emphasis is put upon the personality and energy of the ministers to drive forward such success. A cursory look at the job advertisments for clergy posts these days reveals in some cases a heightened underlying yet unspoken desperation to find the man or woman who can perform at a superhuman level 24/7/365! This is a reality of a shifting cultural paradigm.

Currently in my own church tradition (The Church of England) posts for semi-retired priests, often taken by those recently retired in their late 60's, are advertised with oversight of maybe three villages or a town district that would, only thirty years ago have been filled with one or two full time postings. This is a reality of "supply", both in terms of people and funding.

This is a far cry from how postings were filled in previous generations. Much was expected, but on a more human local level, a pastoral mission rather than one of cultural and personal evangelisation. Reflecting on Laurie Lee, the Gloucestershire author of "Cider with Rosie", who's centenary has just passed, his childhood in the Slad valley was shaped by the Squire and the Vicar. Their passing in the 1920's heralded the end of a long held social stability and the beginning of what we would recognise as the modern age. Such truth has to be faced, rural and urban settings do not function as communities in the way they did. Patterns of how faith communities function has also changed. The pressures that many long established traditions have experienced in Great Britain since the high watermark of the 1910's in terms of decline and marginalisation bear witness to this. The world moved on and the way "religion" is organised has dragged its feet.

I would not wish to put any positive or negative value on such change, we are where we are and that is the reality of the situation for many local communities. However as I have contended, our essential humanity, our ability to relate to other people, be it face to face or via social media through the internet has not. Under the bonnet (hood) we are socially and psychologically still wired up to function as members of small hunter gatherer tribal units. Our relationship to the earth under our feet and the context around us is shaped by this essence of our humanity. The real jungle might have become the urban jungle, or even the cyber jungle for many, but the capacity we have in our relationships to develop circles of intimacy is still the same. This explains how we can be a solo traveller and alone on a crowded train when we are detached from our usual spheres of relational connection.

My own tradition, stemming from an ancient "national church" has a pastoral assumption of care to the whole community, a tradition that goes back to before the concept of "the congregation" as a gathered group from within the community developed. If we could ask a 14th Century priest about his congregation, he would wonder what you were asking about. He had his parish and his parishioners, all who were under his cure. Election or choice of association was not an option and the pastoral role of the clergy assumed a place at the side of or in front of all. In this sense we inherit a system of deployment based on an assumption of rights and obligations which grew out of a feudal culture that would be recognisable to people of New Testament times.

St Augustine's well, Cerne Abbas - always overflowing...

We do not live in such a world today. In my setting "the church" is still valued by most as a hub of community life and a shared community-centre of focus for major events of personal, national and seasonal significance to the community. The church is a place of local pilgrimage and the community shrine. For some, a sub-set of the community it is something more, a source of living faith, a wellspring of spiritual nourishment and communion that gives life its purpose and direction. For this group, their association is voluntary, a personal commitment, a matter of the heart after the manner of that expressed by St Paul; "the love of Christ compels/urges us" (2Cor 5 v 14).

For an ancient church tradition this movement is recognisable as bearing the mark of the same spiritual impulse that created the monastic orders of the past; more of a personal call and a response than an assumed right/obligation. At one time Europe was populated by this parallel network of religious houses, often providing education, hospital care, shelter, work and provision to their local area. All this alongside the parish system.

I would suggest that this alternative strand, which we mused upon in earlier postings, a structure that generates an "ecology of vocation" has much to offer in sustaining established faith traditions at this time. This parallel strand of a faith community, within the community as a whole, serving the community, open to the community, called to provide a place where true communion can be experienced. A people faithful to this calling to an approach to life who's vocation is to provide the intimacy of relationship that witnesses to the fellowship of Christ's first gathering- a reflection shared in the early church as the believers met both in the temple courtyards for instruction and witness and in each others homes for shared meals, pray and the support those in need.

To my mind this is where many local Christian communities find themselves. In their heads they still carry an inherited understanding of the church that echoes the past, yet in their hearts they are reaching for something genuine, local and refreshing; a Christian way that liberates and does not put great burdens on their backs. Burdens of money, leadership, continuity and expectation. Helping the 21stC's followers of Christ to find their ease in this new mode of being is what I hope these postings are all about.

Batcombe church, always open, 24/7 so wayfarers have a place to find shelter and sleep 

In the next posting I will outline how the circles of intimacy approach can be of help in reforming faith communities in outlook and governance in ways that foster an ecology of vocation and service free from guilt and cognitive dissonance. Which is a way of saying a way of being "church" that is joyful!

As promised...

Greetings page viewers! Sorry about the week of "radio silence", time to think, help my son replace a broken gearbox in his car and go and watch the Tour de France in Yorkshire...... well some things have to be done!

Skipton, day 1 TdF

A RECAP (as much for me as for you.)

In previous posts I have outlined a proposal to reform our thinking and practice in relation to multi centre ministry, both for those in leadership and for those who find themselves living and worshipping under such a structure.

If you recall I suggest a human relationships approach to how we view local faith communities and the role of leadership in oversight. We are who we are and as human beings we can only relate with deep intimacy with a limited number of people. This very human pattern we mapped onto the way many organisations are naturally run and we saw this pattern in the ministry of Jesus and the early church.

History has given us inherited patterns of church leadership and ministry that work well when the church is catholic in the sense of universal at the grass roots level. In the past for many centuries in the Near East and Europe this meant everyone being within walking distance of their local gathering point/shrine, meaning the place the local community, who both worked together and prayed together gathered with their minister/priest to worship God. One church, one "man", one people, replicated like cells in a honeycomb from "the land of the midnight sun" right down to the near equator.

This pattern is now breaking up fast. Many reasons can be given, but whatever they are the experience of the "cells in the honeycomb" is as it is! From within our historic resources, looking to times of branching out in new mission movements in the past we have considered the way religious communities are established and governed as a model that could stabalise  the current situation and allow a locally based grass roots revival of hospitable, outward looking faith to flourish.

But how can local faith communities, who fear change, - as in their experience change always seems to mean "pay more, get less" - to begin to see themselves as the community God has planted in a specific locality and to enjoy both the gift of such fellowship and to take hold of it for the good of their local area? How can leaders in oversight positions be helped to see themselves in their new role as overseers of multiple communities, each with its own integrity and yet foster a generosity of spirit for the common good of the wider area? (Which is a way of saying, sharing good stuff with neighbouring communities without anyone getting jealous, penny pinching or "humphy" about loosing out to that lot down the road!)

Lets make a start.

COMMUNION - more than a bit of bread and a sip of wine.

Communion is at the heart of faith experience. Faith is about belief and belonging, being a person of faith is about being "in communion"; in communion with God and with that which God loves. This is experienced in communion with fellow people of faith, in communion with the natural world and our fellow human beings in their need.

How can we begin to understand this experience, focussed in and through the sacrament of holy communion - the eucharist?

Here is an exercise that works well with older children and adults to begin to broaden out their understanding of the experience of communion, which reaches right down into the heart of our humanity, our deepest expressions of our emotional, rational and instinctual  life. If you have gathered the members from a number of faith communities who are to be grouped together you will need to decide if you wish to mix everyone up or get them to work in their local parish/community groups. This will depend if you wish them to work on a generic understanding and get to know their neighbours a bit better or you wish them to understand their local contexts well and share these with their neighbours at a later stage. If you have a large singular church/faith community which needs splitting into small groups then again decide on how to go about it depending on where you sense there is a need to deepen understanding.

Exercise in understanding "Communion" for a small to medium sized group

(if you have a large group, split them up into small group s and bring everyone together for a plenary, ensuring each table contributes a "word".... you'll understand this shortly. Each group will need a scribe and an encourager/leader to keep the flow going)

Each group will need pens and big pieces of paper to work with. Ideally your group/s will be sat around tables so they can work together.

On the central medium of your choice; paper, marker board or screen have the word;

 COMMUNION.

 Spend 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the group's expectations on introducing what we hope to get out of the time being spent together.

Having introduced the exercise along the lines of helping us think more in the round about what communion means write/reveal the beginnings of the words;

COM                                UNI

Ask the group/s to list all the words that come to them that start with these prefixes in two lists, some words might contain both... these are OK in the "no mans land" between the two lists. The group/s must do their very best to ensure everyone, especially the quieter members contributes. Groups could go around the circle or "spin the bottle", as long as everyone gets the chance to make suggestions. We are building and experiencing communion here as well as trying to describe it. Emphasise that there are no right or wrong answers and words that seem odd are OK to be included (15 minutes or until groups have exhausted the list).

Next gather all the words together on the central board/screen, one at a time from the group/s. Draw from each one something that relates to communion as the relationship between God, ourselves and that which God also loves (other people, creation etc.). This might take some time, ask questions of the room about some of the words to get their ideas about the links between the words and "communion".

Once the list has been assembled ask the group/s to discuss and draw up a shortlist of words that describe communion in its deepest sense, its very essence, that is the essential elements without which communion is lost. A list of five words is ideal .. whittling them down to such bare essentials will hopefully get the grey cells working. Tell the group that they will need a spokesperson to tell the other groups what their shortlist is and why they have chosen their particular descriptive elements.(20 mins or so).

In plenary gather the lists from the spokespeople so all can hear each groups reasoning.

(If you have grouped your groups according to their church/community then you could head each shortlist with each communities name. Do not reveal this until this stage or else the groups might steer their list in a competitive way, especially if there is historic mistrust between some of the communities.)

Have a general discussion about what the groups think about the differences and overlaps between their short lists. Does this matter? If we were perfect people would all the lists be the same or are their local influences that will always shape the differences? Examples from the floor would be helpful here?

Note down any factors that seem to have influenced any differences.

To finish recap on what has been undertaken and the things the groups have found out about the essence of communion.

End with an act that brings everything together, shared worship, tea break with buns.. or an agape or eucharist, as seems best for your context. What ever it is, keep it simple and give space for the human element and God's presence.

-----------------------------------------------

Here they come!

More to follow, but just discovered a swarm of wasps making their home in our home. This needs dealing with!

It's a revelation!

My evolving plea and vision has moved on from an observation of the reality in changes in social relationship with their leadership that faith communities face when bunched together in larger groups. From the observation of the changes that occur in the dynamics of relationship I have moved on to reconsidering how local community based church communities can find within their historic faith tradition new ways of understanding themselves as a body of believers in their local context.

Gathered churches, where members come from a wide area because they share a love of the style or practice of a particular faith community will still share some of these facets, but will struggle in the area of relating to the wider community in proportion to the degree of their gathered nature. That is if everyone travels many miles to a central meeting point and nobody lives near that meeting point then connection with the local area will be difficult as everyone in the faith community is a stranger to the local community. It follows that a gathered faith community that has some deep roots locally will fare much better in making such local connection. The outworking of gathered church communities, their contribution to the spiritual ecosystem, while supporting a tradition and encouraging members will function differently to a locally embedded faith community, that tends to look to its local area as the place to expend its energy.

There have been many excellent projects and initiatives for assisting churches to grow. Some focus on technique, of doing a new thing, others work on the basis of analysis of the health of the local church. The great puzzle for many of us in leadership is why, when we and those who are along with us press "all the right buttons" will a scheme or project that works so well in one place not work in a seemingly similar place down the road. Most leaders experience this. Or similarly an approach or strategy that has worked well, being a source of blessing and encouragement one season stutters and stalls in the next.

One size does not fit all: context sensitive mission can hatch great rewards.

The human relations approach that I have been advocating goes some way to explaining this. Any plan or strategy, any new initiative will only take off and gain momentum if it has a reliable chain of transmission. This chain is made up of the links of human contact by which encouragement, hospitality and incorporation are transmitted from the heart of the community through people in who have the trust of those on the fringe to draw them into an experience of community life that will hopefully lead to a deeper relationship with the church. The "Alpha" course for example works at the introductory stage in this way. If your friend liked it and was enthused, then you yourself are more likely to want to give it a try.

This human element in the flourishing of a local faith community is a subtle chemistry. No matter how good the course or process or community project, if will stand on the strength of the degree of connection between community members. If one person changes role it can the a whole process into disfunction, if the rest of the team involved are not well enough connected to reknit the intimacy of connection within the chain of transmission.

This fragility, often overlooked is very evident in small faith communities. Quite simply there are fewer strands to knit together. This could be viewed as a weakness, but it is also a strength. Small communities, rather like small businesses have a need to work together for their survival and security of continuance. Small in this case is beautiful! Although small church communities can struggle to rise to the challenge of national or regional/diocesan initiatives in a uniform manner, they are able to come up with innovative local solutions unique to their context. This ability is to be highly prized.

So how can thinking about how the leadership relates to their varied and diverse church communities and about the internal relationships of those in those individual communities help us?

TWO ESSENTIAL THINGS

Two things come to mind:

1. Self understanding is always good; "the truth shall set you free" he said. By understanding that the local faith community is in effect a religious community, bound together by a the simple support of a common pattern of life and shared ethic, the local community gains in its sense of being representative of Christ's body in their unique setting. Great or small, it gives the local church a renewed dignity within the sweep of the Christian story at a time when an inherited understanding is dissolving before their very eyes.

Unexpressed questioning about being "a proper church" because the vicar/minister lives ten miles away (or fifty or more in Canada for example!) and is shared between half a dozen other communities can by this means be settled in people's minds and hearts. It is OK to live in this new age, the local can still be "owned" through identity with the communal rather than a figure-head element. There is no going back to how it was forty or fifty years ago. The world has changed and although human beings are still the same underneath, the way faith, its heart and its outworking, is transmitted has changed dramatically.

For me, as an example, baptised at seven months old, the faith journey took a great leap forward when the man in black (the village Rector/sole minister) arrived at our garden gate one day during the school holidays. I remember him going into the house with my Mum, presumably for the ritual cup of tea. I was about seven years old at the time. The next thing I knew, after he had peddled up the road to my friend's house for the same ritual is that the church Sunday School and Choir had a handful of new members, self included! That was the way things worked in the 1960's. Not so now and local churches will only flourish if they can play tom their strengths in a 21st Century context, very different from that of the mid-20thC.

2. Leadership, understanding the social dynamics of the situation can also be freed from the anxiety of fulfilling traditional roles in a social situation that is beyond their physical and psychological limits. Time, energy and mental "head space" thus released can be put into service of helping the local communities gain in self understanding and helping often fledgling self supporting community life to begin to gain in confidence and to thrive.

This change in role, for which preparation is patchy both for those in leadership and for those they will be working and praying alongside in the local communities has been recognised from the time of the Church of England's "Tiller Report" of the early 1980's. In the report, looking at how ministry could be resourced in the years ahead the role of the leader of many church/faith communities was seen as a key issue to be addressed. At a meeting of a local clergy "fraternal" to celebrate 25 years of the reports publication a few years ago John Tiller, now retired reiterated that this role is still not properly understood, defined and supported.

A NEW REVELATION

Getting these two things right we need a new understanding of what a healthy faith community looks like, without a full time resident minister and an understanding of the role of overseer. Both these factors in he church of the 21st Century need to be shaped and informed by the way in which human beings connect with each other in communities with intimacy and sufficient depth to foster belonging and incorporation. If an understanding and pattern of living can be formulated to allow leadership and communities to thrive in a new dynamic balanced and reciprocal relationship I believe their is scope for a renaissance in the spiritual health of the church, both local and national. Communities now in despair or resignation could find new hope and their voice again; a voice in praise of God for the wonderful works he has done.

Small is beautiful. This church serves a pop. of 230 and often has over 100% attendance on Christmas Eve!

More to follow... some exercises to help aid local groups think anew about what it means to be the faithful people of God in their locality and to feel good about it! A bit overdue for a recipe as well...

Plea for person shaped living

Can you see where we are going yet?

Looking back on this most recent series of posts I think I can see amidst the waffle and overlapping that have come from my stream-of-reflection brain something of a thread. (I certainly feel I know more about my reactions to aspects of my ministry that bring a sense of joy or frustration, a glow of pride in seeing others growing in confidence and an understanding of the vague guilt at not being all things to all people all the time!)

The thread, having observed and sometimes experienced over two decades of new initiatives, plans and expressions that would deliver church "growth" is that so often such initiatives do not fully engage with the essential nature of human beings as we are. We are back to those circles of intimacy again.

 In some aspects they might, for example, remember the Alpha Course; it worked on a human level, being led by a core of 3 or 4 people a  group of up to 12 would learn together through developing relationships and an openness to discuss the issues to hand in an intimate space. Hmm, heard that pattern of relationship before...

"Messy Church", as well as its informality. tends to bring together a dozen to a score of helpers under the inspiration of two or three leaders. The  attendees, usually numbered some four to eight times the team strength become known within the limits of the time together, which allows space for chat and eating and drinking together; again all aspects of a healthy community. All aspects that fit our knowledge of how we relate to each other.

My plea and suggestion is that through accident or design elements of these initiatives have been sustainable and replicated because their format fits the way humans are "built" to relate to each other. It follows that any strategy that does not take into account the specifics of our sociability and our psychological capacity to build forms of intimate community will fail.

In multi church settings this must cause us to re-evaluate the way individual settings and the leadership, both local and overarching understand themselves and their shared vocation. If we are trying to patch old wine-skins with new the result will be a haemorrhage of the "good wine" of fellowship due to stress in confusion of leadership roles and lack of intimate community connection.

To achieve such re-evaluation that can lead to a cycle of healthy fellowship growth a people of God in a particular place will need to have the curiosity, inspiration and willingness to look at themselves anew. To  rediscover themselves an embryonic religious community. Not embryonic in terms of existence, but in how they see themselves. This is not new some of the local faith communities in the UK have faced incredible change and have been going well over 1000 years without realising it! Over those centuries their common life has been found in diverse situations from interdependent communal feudalism, desolation of plague, war, the rule of patronage and absolute monarchy, through industrial revolution, to the freedoms of an age of universal suffrage, individualism and limitless communication in a global village.

We should not be surprised then if the patterns of 1000 or even 100 years ago no longer fit. While we as human beings are still essentially the same creatures that came to my home landscape in search of game and berries 20 000 years ago our social context has changed rapidly. Taking the best of our tradition from ages of transition in the past, be it post Roman Imperialism, the rise of the nation state, the fragmentation of Christian Europe in the 16thC or the ages of revolution, the practice of Christian community has been a source of stability and inspiration in times of transition.

We are in such times now in Western Europe. To reform our understanding of ourselves through a human centred approach to community and oversight, establishing space for growth, setting limits and patterns of replication based upon our human capacity is to my mind the key to survival, integrity and a seedbed for growth. "The truth", Jesus said, "shall set you free". By facing the truth about our own God given capacity, both in his generosity and in our limitations - we are not after all gods ourselves - gives rise to approaches that are honest in their demands and grounded in natural human relatedness.

Such a pattern of community, of communion, brings the gift of God, of the self and the "other" into a dynamic relationship. It is the outworking of Jesus summary of the Law of Moses, "to love the Lord your God with all your heart.. and your neighbour as yourself". Such dynamic relational commitment is expressed, at its root, in baptism and confirmation declarations. There is a voluntary discipline in committing to such a pattern of life, but one that breeds the rich rewards of joy and peace.

These most desirable of human experiences, joy in life and inner peace are in short supply in today's individualised Western world. They are the stuff on which a healthy sustainable society is built. With few other sources of such societal glue on the horizon faith communities focussed on worship and service have an open door to fill the vacuum. This vision of person shaped mission, local, outward looking and sustainable, drawing on deep faith traditions and based on natural human intimacy to me offers hope.

But how do you begin to explore these ideas, how can you create the space in people's  heads and connect with the hunger in their souls that will incline the heart towards a new mode of being for local  faith communities?

Good question! I will share a few thoughts with you in a few days, but Haybox theologian is on the move again tomorrow. Farewell to Dorset and the hospitality of the Society of St Francis at Hilfield Friary, you have provided a fertile seedbed for the imagination. With new thoughts rattling in the brain, off home again for a bit, before more Sabbatical adventures call!

Time to head out through the gate: 

The Lord will bless our going out and our coming in now and for evermore (Psalm 121) 

Under the bonnet for a bit of a "tune up" - of hood if across the Atlantic!

SUSTAINABLE FAITH COMMUNITIES

Having described a simple base or foundation for faith community life the next step is to consider what is sustainable for the faith community and how can the leadership best serve a neighbourhood of faith communities spread over many miles of countryside or an area of urban landscape where centres of community are hard to discern. I am, going to use the diagram of the circles of intimacy to help in this process.

To be sustainable we have discerned that the levels of intimate contact community members have with each other have to overlap with a sufficiency that generates a shared identity and interrelationship necessary for a sense of belonging and fellowship. At the most basic level a core of three or four members are needed who can be the keepers of the community's life. this could be a mix of church warden/deacons, lay readers/ preachers/ local priests alongside the added oversight of the overall shared leader. This is the simplest form of church community, a temporary "community of mission" we might call it. Such a nucleus, be it a new "plant" or the remnant of a previously stronger community must be considered a temporary stage, the beginning or the base from which to grow a new community based church

PARTNERSHIP IN LEADERSHIP

Around that core leadership, with its gospel call to energise the care, creativity and organisation of the faith community is what we might call the heart of prayer and service, the committed, who while not in hands on leadership of all things have a share in the active ministry and mission of the church. Some church communities are just this, a reflection of Jesus gathering in the upper room of the twelve and the women, the twelve to a score of individuals who are the base for a sustainable faith community. As well as Sunday congregation this might well include staff at a local school that is close in relationship to the local church, who minister to local children even though they mostly do not live locally. Other partners in mission may also be included.

For the leader of multi-church settings to know this group of people well and at personal depth across all the centres in their care is a good base for oversight. Such a grouping, as we have said in earlier posts will be for the leader the equivalent to Jesus sending out the 72 in pairs or the Pentecost 120 who gathered in the upper room. To be priest/minister to this group will be a full time job in itself.

At this point we come to faith communities which are sufficient in size to have regular (for which read at least monthly) participation within the local church. As well as Sunday morning worship this might include mid -week events. For the individual community this is the 72 to 120. Although it will be impossible for the overall leader to know this incorporated diaspora in its fullness, to the same degree as they know the leadership, it is vital that the congregations are themselves known with a depth of intimacy that allows service, prayer and pastoral care to be a natural and normal experience. While the overall leader will struggle to know such a spread of people in depth it is not impossible for them to all be known. This is where the vital role of those present in the locality is to the fore. We could go as far to say that it is the essential vocation of  the local team, the core "3 or 4" to hold this knowledge and connection.

Hospitality, care and a bit of organisation will help here if the local team is to allow this wider group to feel fully part of the local church community and drawn to the fullness of its mission and communal life, to be drawn to a closer walk with God "seven whole days, not one in seven" to quote 17thC George Herbert's hymn.

The local team is essential then for the sustainability of local church communities. It also holds that the strength of a local church community's life will stand on a core of people who are the pastoral glue holding the relationships of the community in connection. This pastoral connection, not one that has not been emphasised in my own tradition as strongly in the past as it might have been - that sort of thing was the "vicar's job" needs to come to the fore in our age. The role of Wardens, Self Supporting Ministers, Readers and other ministers called out by the local congregation, all in partnership with the overall leader is vital to the health of the local church in its unique location.

Such a dynamic is more familiar to those with a Methodist background, where the local team has always been the continuing bedrock of the life of the congregation, with circuit ministers, who traditionally move on every 5 years to a new pastorate. (As my Grandfather, tongue in cheek, used to say of the clergy in his deep Herefordshire accent - he lived to be 88 and saw out any number of clergy over that time - "they cums and they guz, we tacks no notice O they").

Cathedral congregations are also used to such a dynamic, with a core of three or four Canons at the heart of the chapter that has oversight of the often dispersed and gathered faith community. A number of three or four lead faces in the worshipping community, that core, the Peter, James and John or Petra, Jane and Jean works for local communities. It gives a balance between stability and variety that is comfortable for a community, that engenders confidence through knowing and being known well by those "at the helm".

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

For me I see that the future of the church scattered across the landscape of cityscape or landscape, while much discussed in terms of organising things, managing resources or reordering for mission and growth will only thrive if\and only if the human element is taken into account.

Jesus parable about the laughable actions of the man who sets to build a tower without the resources or to go into battle without counting the human resources he has come to mind. The half built tower, exhausting the available resources becomes an abandoned folly. The one who goes into battle without resource to succeed will see defeat and loss through facing pressures too great to overcome.

Far better to build a guest hall maybe, or sue for peace while there is still time.

Personally I think it is time for a social reformation of my church's approach to its ministry and mission. The old parish system based on the governance of Medieval economic units, supported by tithes, patronage and feudalism is crumbling. Collaborative thinking in terms of ministry is positive and many places have seen a great growth in vocations to serve in many varied capacities of volunteer ministry. The danger at present is that such patterns of ministry need strong support through mentoring and local communities good preparation in understanding and working out such new patterns. Such resourcing can be difficult to maintain in times of shortage, both in people and money.

Better it seems to me to reorganise our structure not as a stretching of old models with an equal of rebalancing with the long tradition of Christian Community life. My reasoning for this is that while originally dispersing oversight on a parish or community basis i.e. "priest, parish, people", made great sense, both socially and economically for many centuries this is no longer the case in our age.

Examples of remodelling are not new; for example the church of the Solomon Islands is sustained through the work of the Melanesian Brotherhood, started under the inspiration of Victorian giants as Bishop's Selwyn and Patterson. Other world mission partners, be it base communities in South America or pioneering churches in Asia demonstrate that there are other ways of understanding ourselves. Closer to home in the UK religious communities, new and old, exist in parallel with the parish system, as they did in Medieval time.

New growth from old wood: a sign!

ECOLOGY OF VOCATION

this is a great phrase, a throw away almost from James Fowler's book "Becoming Adult: Becoming Christian. (page 94 by the way!)

While many local faith communities will continue to exist as they have done in the past, many already are not. I hope by now you can see where my reflections are leading me. In our time I can see that we might be on the verge of a re-flowering of a diverse ecology in church community life. Where the local faith community, prepared and understanding its situation can see itself as volunteer community of the faithful in its location. For my Anglican tradition this will mean a community that is grounded in worship, open in spirit, hospitable, supportive and outward looking in the community.

As a guide to self understanding the church might consider something similar to the Methodist Covenant Service. An annual event, based on a meal together, where the community reminds itself of its mission and commits itself to the next steps ahead (a Mission Action Plan perhaps stating the goals to be achieved and the resources that are to be committed to them in simple achievable steps agreed by the local community).

Locally the leadership of Wardens, Self Supporting ministers and others will be central in holding this pattern of community life together. A degree of rotation of office might be helpful so not everyone bears the responsibility of leading everything all the time. (In an Anglican context I have wondered if Church Council members, rather like their civic counterparts, Parish Councillors ought to take it in turns at being warden/chairman..... but that is another story!)

The role of the overseer in this case is to help the communities shape their common life in worship and service and provide the living link with the greater church. They are to have a role, alongside daily pastoral work of being the primary mentor and critical friend to the communities in their charge. To be the nurturing "midwife"  of good leadership, a Barnabas figure in spirit, able to encourage and guide.The overseer embodies the place of the local church within the communion of the overall faith tradition - Church of England in my case.

This role is different from that of a parish priest/minister in a traditional singular setting. It needs preparing for both in terms of technique, but also sensitivity towards a persons gifts for the role and their preparation in terms of the social and psychological understanding of themselves and their communities they will \need to flourish in this task.

Enough for today!

We shall know fully, even as we have been fully known (pp 1 Cor 13:12)

No recipe today, but further down, if you have the endurance to read on, a nice picture of some of our tomatoes from last year that will hopefully be repeated again later this Summer. Incidentally, the tomato as we know it is  a modern invention, the result of breeding central American plant stock over centuries to produce the varieties we love today. Genetic scanning techniques (not "engineering") recently introduced have helped speed up the development of new varieties which go so well with some chopped Feta cheese and a bit of simple olive oil and vinegar dressing.... Yumm.

Many people have spent as lot of time and energy in the last 30 years or more trying to define what "the local church" is. There are some good summaries and Robin Greenwood's "Practising \Community" 1996 is a good start, although he is writing pre-internet age and so the context we live in has changed incredibly fast since published. Email, Facebook, Twitter, Skipe and Facetime have all transformed the way we connect to each other and the world.

Particularly for rural areas, where the internet has reduced cultural isolation and eased local economic dependency. We have to remember that the "parish" system, which has carpeted all of Europe for over 1000 years is based on local economic, relational inter-dependence. Such dependence no longer exists for much of the continent or in other parts of the world. For example, if a piece of farm machinery breaks down the replacement part probably comes from the other side of the world rather than the local blacksmith's forge, What remains for many is a sense of attachment to a location and if that location has been chosen from amongst many an association of values and identification with the location that, for the time being makes it home and they a citizen of it. It might be that the church, a place marking specific events in life or the architecture of the building or the community of the faithful is part of this association and identity.

It is certainly part  of the labour of the local church community to make it so. Personally I challenge congregations to ask themselves something along the lines of the following: "If you asked a neighbour for three or four things that make our community a great place to live would the church be on the list?" My hope and challenge in this age of dispersed circles of intimacy is that the local church makes it it's mission to so serve the local community at large that is experienced  as one of the main, if not the hub of community life.

In the new economy of church oversight that we are moving into there are as many different sorts of church as their are building in which they meet in. Every one is unique, shaped by those who have gone before and the members of the faith community in our own day. Some will be small and very simple in dynamic and their pattern of activity, others much more complex, perhaps many generals and not many foot soldiers. Yet all have some things in common as part of the church of God, in all its different expressions.

Firstly that it is God's church not ours locally or our denomination's. It follows that God calls people to faith, a faith marked by the initiation of baptism. By virtue of our baptism all called into the service of Christ. my own tradition, the Church of England still expresses this mainly, though not exclusively, through  the open provision of worship and pastoral service to every parish community.

Not a bad start. Such a pattern can be seen as a burden, too many churches, too few people all scattered around "spinning plates" ever faster to keep things going as they used to be. In this way of looking at things the church becomes a hindrance to its members. If we turn the such difficulties on their head and look at what God has provided the picture can look different.I have been led to reflect on this through looking at the Anglican guidelines on the formation and governance of religious communities "The Handbook of the Religious Life"(2004, Canterbury Press).

In the formation of a new community members are guides to start out with a simple pattern or rule of life and practice it. After a period of some time if it proves stable and the purpose of the community has become clear they can then clarify and formalise it with the help of a bishop's Visitor or facilitator, binding themselves by vows to their new community. The entire process can take three to five years. The "magic number" again crops up that four core members are needed if the community is to be established and seven upwards if it to appoint its own leader. This is a common pattern throughout Western monasticism and I believe contains a wisdom based on centuries of natural faith community development that can help us again today.

If we are able to marry these threads together we can see that the body/fellowship of Christ in a village/district/town is the God given resource for providing Christian hospitality in worship and service. By their baptism all are part of this, bringing their gift to this common good of all God's children in that place, who ever they may be.

The resource might be keen or "solid", it might be large or small, like a small religious community of a few souls, but it is called to "be" as the Holy Spirit has enabled it in particular locations. I think here we need an honesty check. As the saying goes "clementines are not small oranges". In our new century we need to encourage faith communities to let go of past patterns of church activity and not measure themselves by what was done in former ages and to be cautious of the temptation to take their temperature and judge their health against the latest programmes of activity that the franchised para-church bodies market as the panacea for success.

Wouldn't life be boring if all tomatoes looked and tasted the same. "You who have ears to hear, hear"!

While the mission of local churches will always be fostered within the hospitality of worship and service, local expression will vary depending on local circumstance. As local communities are bunched into ever greater administrative units (the local minister where I am writing in Dorset, while on retreat, has 16 church communities in his care) some will be blessed with a gift of providing specific ministry, e.g. a "Messy Church", a pastoral visiting team, Mother's Union Branch or "house group", not all will have all these giftings and the sharing of good gifts across sub clusters or communities, a form of"local charism sharing" is to be encouraged. Cultivating a generosity of spirit between neighbouring church communities and disarming jealousies between God's children to allow this to happen in a spirit of joy when any is blessed in a particular gift is a tough part of the mission given to those in oversight.

To recap on this posting, trust, hospitality and a generosity of spirit are needed if the churches are to thrive in their unique context. Provision of worship and service to the community at that heart of the call of Christ, into which he has called all baptised/dedicated in his name.

Next time more of a look at ministry "teams" and the role of overseer and how the circles of intimacy idea and the balance of capabilities diagrams can help us map a way through the current times.....