Marcus' Message

Trinity Church, Rawdon

AGM

25th February 2007

Minister's Report

Extension of ministry

We began this year together as a church by moving into the process by which you decided whether or not to extend the period of my ministry here among you. Some of you were asked to contribute to a review of the last four years, and I was able to speak to you at length about what I see as the way ahead for us.

The whole process, actually – I have to say to you – was extremely stressful. This time last year I really didn’t know whether we would still be with you today.

But our conversations proved fruitful, the end result was, in fact, very affirmative of me and my ministry, and we are thrilled to be with you for the next (nearly) four years. So thank you.

Sabbatical

The next big thing that happened was that, after seven years as a Baptist Minister, I took a three month sabbatical. And, again, I have talked to you in some detail about what I did on my sabbatical and about the things I learned. A number of our services over the last few months have picked up some of my sabbatical themes, and I still have a lot I want to share with you.

I did say, in the Minister’s Report at last year’s AGM, that I was setting a personal goal to think about what it means to be a ‘missional’ church, and to raise the profile of doing mission as a church. My sabbatical was a part of the fulfilment of that goal. My time at the Bossey Institute in Geneva was focussed on the urgency of mission around the world, and my reading and studies following on from that concerned the ways we can be effective in mission in our changing, post-modern culture. I’m still working all that through. I’m still reading around the subject. Because I think it’s crucial.

But some of my thinking has changed. No longer do I think ‘doing’ mission is what is important. What is far more important is that we rediscover what it means to ‘be’ the church, and that we refocus our attention, our resources, our activities, on what it is (who it is) that the church is supposed to ‘be’ for.

We need to re-learn – as I have said – what it means to be a faithful, creative, missional community. We have to be faithful not to the traditions and preoccupations of our denominations but to the radical way of Jesus Christ. We have to be creative, offering a variety of worship styles and events and services that enable us all to connect with stillness, and silence (and ultimately with God). We have to be missional – putting more energy and money and resources out there than we do in here. And we have to begin to create true community – the sort of community that goes far beyond a casual conversation over coffee once a week, the sort of community that is not just attractive to those not yet in the church but that proves irresistible!

Commissioned ministry

On my return from sabbatical, with the approval of church council and the church meeting, I applied for a new post being offered by the Yorkshire Baptist Association. They are restructuring the way they resource the churches in the association, and this was the first Commissioned Ministry post to come online.

I am now working – three days a month – on a research project titled, ‘Connecting the Christian Faith with Children’. And, in many ways, it is an extension of some of the thinking and studying I was doing on my sabbatical. It is less a study of how we can do Sunday School better (although I think there are ways churches can do Sunday School better); it’s rather a project about re-imagining church. And I suspect it will challenge the adults in our churches just as much – if not more – than the youngsters and their Sunday School teachers! And I’ll let you know more when I’ve done a bit more work (I’m only 4 or 5 days in)!

New services

One of the things we have done, though, since my sabbatical, is to begin to be more creative with some of our services.

I am trying to introduce into some of our standard morning and evening services some elements of creative spirituality. We have used Lectio Divina. We have tried the Examen. We have had led meditations. I have invited you to listen to a piece of music rather than stand and sing it. And we have done other things designed to help you connect with God in a way we don’t normally offer in church.

And I have been experimenting with different ways of presenting the ‘sermon’ slot – this morning was the second time that Frank and I have invited you to eavesdrop on a conversation rather than listen to a monologue.

But we have been doing more than that. When there are five Sundays in a month, in the evening we are offering a café-style drop-in event from 5.00 – 8.00 p.m. – with guided meditations, prayer stations and other activities, coffee and tea being served, and a short spoken service of compline at the end to wrap everything up. The last one – back in October – was a real success. And the next one is scheduled for Sunday 29^th April.

And, on the fourth Sunday evening, we are offering a convers4tion. The first one, last month, was on the subject of immigration. And it was very well attended – much better attended, in fact, than our evening services generally are. The next 4^th Sunday convers4tion is tonight, and our subject is “A Surveillance Society”. We’ll be talking about identity cards, CCTV cameras, that sort of thing, and trying to present a Gospel perspective on the whole subject.

Team

So there’s a lot going on at church at the moment. We’re trying some new things. We’re experimenting with different formats for some more traditional things. And I’m excited by that. I’m looking forward to the rest of this year, and to the three or four, as we continue to work together to create a faithful, creative, missional community.

But I want to come back to the last term in that sentence. Community. All of this falls apart without community. And we are blessed here at Trinity to have such a strong sense of community. Eating together regularly – like we have done for lunch today – is great for developing that sense of community.

But it’s not just when we eat together, or have church meetings, that community is important. In everything we do there is a team of people hard at work behind the scenes. What I do up at the front is seen by everyone. But I couldn’t do it without the support of my community: the music group, the people who drive the projector and the sound desk, those who open up the church, who serve on council or on one of the various church committees, who care for our buildings, who participate in church activities and services, who look after our youngsters, who visit those who need pastoral care …

There are so many people involved in the smooth running of Trinity Church, and I have probably not even mentioned half of it. But we are a team. We are a community. And I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to each and every one of you.

May God bless us as we continue to walk together and with Him. Amen.