10.27.09
Teenagers can teach us oldies a thing or two!
Most of our members are 50+ with only 1 teenager who is now a member of the Church Council. At a recent meeting there was discussion on merging circuits and the advantages and disadvantages were made by various people. One of the most obvious was missed by everyone until our teenager pointed out to us how both the spiritual and social life of the church would be improved due to the proximity of a very large , successful church. She was looking forward to contact with fellow committed christians of her own age which she misses in our small circuit.
The same principle applies to us oldies because we can share ideas on worship, bible study, activities, serving the community etc with a much wider age range. We will meet up with other enthusiastic and energetic individuals who may well re-ignite the passion of our faith. So instead of fearing the merger we should be looking forward to it and seeing opportunities rather than obstacles.
It started me thinking again about the future of our traditional church and the conservatism of so many of my age. We need to take note of the reduced membership, the age of the members and how many faithful servants will still be with us in 10 years time! Why do we so easily dismiss new ideas of worship, use of modern technolgy or more flexible use of the buildings or changes to them? We need to encourage the younger generation to have a vision for the future of our church. Many are very intelligent young people, often nervous of speaking out when in the presence of elderly people. Their voice must be heard- debated yes – but in a positive manner, encouraging and supporting them in their actions. Shouldn’t we be the wise counsellors and give advice from experience rather than condemnation or dismissal because they are young.
I get so annoyed when some of us oldies say things like “but we have always done that or Mrs so and so gave us that and we don’t want to hurt her feelings etc.” How much more hurt will she feel when her beloved church closes.
We all long to see families, teenagers and children in our churches. They will be there if they feel that they are treated as equals and their opinions will be truly welcomed. The young have important contributions to make to the christian life of any church. It’s so important to dicuss our future with parents and young families. They should be loved,nurtured and given respect for their views. Above all LISTEN to YOUR TEENAGERS in your church. If you don’t – you won’t see them for long nor will your church exist much longer. That is my worry for my church.
02.07.10
Growth – Without Jesus? No chance
Our minister, Bill Robertson, gave a great sermon this morning centered around “Mission for Britain”, the new name for Home Missions in the Methodist Church.
We are God’s disciples and it is in our daily contact with people and in clearly displaying our Christian faith in the way we live, that will persuade them that such a life is worth having as well.
I have a burning desire to see our church growing with young families, sharing their energy, enthusiasm and love with the rest of us. Previously I have talked about new initiatives and refurbishing the building. However, these are just MY ideas! Have I asked our Lord Jesus in prayer? Yes – I have done that but whether I have truly LISTENED to an answer- I am not sure.
During the course of this year we will be looking again at our Methodist calling of Worship, Caring, Serving and Mission. Without Jesus beside us we won’t get far on our journey ahead.
Church is not a building. It is a body of people working together praising, worshipping God and seeking to tell and explain to others the message of God’s love. The building is a place where we come together to understand the words in the Bible, to pray together, share our joys together and share our worries together. It is a togetherness place or should be.
Jesus chose very ordinary people to be his close friends and to become his missionaries after his Death, Resurrection and Ascension. Two thousand years later we can see how successful their Mission was and how HIS church has grown.
Well – we are ordinary people in our church too, so why can’t we succeed as Peter , Paul and the others did? True-they were close to Jesus in his short life and after his death but we can be close to HIM in our lives too if we are fully committed. However, we can’t be Missionaries on our own.
A successful, growing church is one where the people who attend that building are working together with the same aims. It is a loving, caring family who want to share this love with others. Yes- the building in which we gather may seem to be old fashioned, we may make it more comfortable or modern in terms of use of music and technology. But these are not important- a good many churches are very succesful without too many changes.
No – it’s us the so-called Christians who gather in our church who will make it successful but only if we all invite Jesus to join us and through his Holy Spirit guide us into the methods we ALL adopt to help us in our Mission of encouraging young families to join our wonderful Christian church.
In recent times I have visited and researched some “successful” churches. At once when you walk in the door you feel the wave of love surrounding you and the JOY in the worship (even if it seems old fashioned at times to some).
In our church this type of welcome and joy can be seen but not with everyone and not all the time, unfortunately. Sometimes I feel that we are not all together “singing from the same hymn sheet”. We have an excellent leader in our Minister but he is not always with us ( a problem with the Methodist system?). But there is always one person available to us ALL THE TIME- Jesus. If we all ask for his help and love, then LISTEN and ACT TOGETHER – what growth we will surely see.
Without Jesus – no chance, no church, no building.
01.31.10
Problem with loving others
The theme of our worship this morning was “LOVE”. Our preacher started off by saying he had a problem about the commandment to love others as you would love yourself. There were people in the world who he would find very difficult to love.
How can I love someone who commits some gross crime against an innocent and helpless child or elderly person? Evey day you read in the paper about people who have mutilated others or caused horrendous injuries physical or mental to others. How can you possibly love these people?
Well, Jesus says that we must love everyone, no matter their race, creed, colour, behaviour etc. Being a Christian is certainly no easy way to live your life. Within my own life I can identify people whose actions and words I dislike intensely (not hate) but as a Christian I must try to love and pray for them, that they may come to see that only through Jesus will they ever have the opportunity to change their lives for the better.
However evil a life someone leads on this earth and even if their punishment doesn’t seem to fit their horrendous crimes, at the end God delivers His judgment and that will be awesome for them. This is a great comfort, when reading about another pitiful judgment from our so-called criminal justice system.
On a positive note, there is a friend of mine in Dawlish who comes out with some dreadful racial comments at times. He can be quite rude to people, bigotted and arrogant. I dislike all this yet I love him very much because he does so much wilingly for different charities, particularly the elderly or handicapped or disabled. He is also extremely talented.
He professes to be an atheist but he is often spends time in churches helping with coffees or entertaining the customers. In recent times he has been going to a particular church with his wife and is forever telling me how wonderful it is. Well,he has made a step forward which is encouraging. Will he take the next step and alter the way he behaves and speaks at times. I pray that he will.
01.25.10
Jesus’ apprentices
The old apprentice schemes used in factories and many businesses involved an experienced skilled worker demonstrating their skills to an apprentice and then watching them repeating those same skills. It took usually 5 years for the young apprentice to learn the skills of his master.
Jesus grew up with his father teaching him the skills of carpentry and I like to think that he sometimes made use of his carpentry while with his disciples. It is yet another illustration of Jesus living the same kind of life as we may have done if we had lived in those times.
As I grew up, my mother was my teacher as far as my faith was concerned. I watched, listened and learned from her about the way I should live my life.I copied how she prayed and how she behaved to others around her. She was my master and I her apprentice. This was also true when I learned how to sd ing bass in our church choir. A Christian and lovely giant of a man called Roly carefully coached me htrough my teenage years and I became a competent singer with his guidance. He was my master and I the apprentice.
In later life when I became involved with our Junior Church our Junior Church Superintendent was a saintly woman called Phyllis. All the children and particularly the teenagers absolutely adored her. She had a great knowledge of the bible and lived her Christian faith every day of herr life. She made a profound impression on me and many of the teenagers who filled our church then. There are so many of them who have retained their faith and practice it day by day and now are well into their 40’s. She was the master and they and myself her apprentices.
No doubt many people can recall similar important masters who gave them a strong and sure foundation in their Christian journey.
Just as those apprentices watched and listened to their masters and became skilled workers, so the Disciples were blessed with watching, listening and learning from the greatest Master of all time. How wonderful to have been Jesus’ apprentices and how skilled they became in spreading his message of LOVE to all.
Today we have the Bible and the accounts in the Gospels to demonstrate how our lives should be lived and how we should love others no matter the colour of their skin or race or creed etc.
So let’s be good and skilled apprentices for our Master. I can picture him so well in the 4 Gospels and imagine I am one of the 12 travelling around with him. However apprentices had to demonstrate their learned skills after the 5 years and if they didn’t become productive, then they didn’t keep their jobs.
Are we productive as graduates of Jesus’ apprentice scheme? Will we be a part of God’s “firm” through our lives? Will we be good Masters for any eager apprentices we encounter?
Thank you to my Mum, Roly and Phyllis and I pray that I have become a productive worker too like you for our Lord.
01.10.10
God’s Frozen People
Our Preacher this morning, Rev. Ken Welford, used this term during his Sermon. It was obviously an opportune moment for him to use it,with the current weather conditions.
He was referring to the vast army of Christians who do not make a full commitment to our Lord Jesus. “In Christ alone my hope is found” is a wonderful song/hymn which illustrates how someone’s life is really given to Jesus. “You are my Hearts desire” was another old song and reference on the same theme used by Ken.
So am I a Frozen Christian? Well I go to Church very regularly, do quite a bit in raising funds for the church building, donate to worthy causes,am helpful to others, I like most people of all ages, am kind and gentle mannered, read the bible and pray daily.
But is it enough! This was the emphasis of Ken’s talk on Salvation. It has made me think about that question – is it enough? Do I really have Jesus as my heart’s desire? Is it the fact that in Christ alone my hope is found?
At the moment I have great concerns about our Methodist Church and the aged members (I am 69 and one of the younger ones!). Have I been worrying too much about the building? After all isn’t the church about people and the community in which we live. Should we not be showing people how much we love God and love others and so want to share all this love with them as a loving family?
How often before doing something for our church or suggesting some future project, do I place my schemes before our God in prayer? For example, I would like the church to remove the pews to allow more flexible methods of worship. Have I truly placed this in God’s hands and will the Church Council do the same if it is presented to them? All of the above questions need to be answered long before the March meeting.
A former Minister’s wife always said to me when I had a problem-”I always put my trust in the Lord, even if He leads me in a direction which I don’t want to go. That’s why Stan and I have had such a wonderful life. That’s the best advice I can give you”.
So on a frozen and snowy morning, Ken warmed my heart by getting me to really think about my desire to serve Jesus. Perhaps I am on the verge of thawing out as a Christian. In Christ alone my hope is now founded.
01.08.10
Worship in the 21st century
I was in conversation with 3 friends during our Wesley’s Cafe this morning. We were talking about a Pentecostal church in a neighbouring town which is bursting at the seams with people of all ages attending on Sundays.
Discussion then ranged over the problems at our respective churches in Dawlish of having an aged congregation. An analysis of different churches shows that the form of worship in each church(including the Pentecostal and other evangelical churches) is almost identical i.e. praise with songs or hymns, prayers, bible readings and talk/discussion on the bible readings, enabling it to help us in our daily Christian life.
It seemed to us that those churches with strong family and youth groups had the following in common:
-A charismatic, enthusiastic leader or leaders
- modern music,instuments and technology
- informal approach, encouraging individuals to enjoy their worship time in their own style e.g. hands outstretched, dancing or quiet contemplation.
-there is a strong family/community spirit within the church
- visitors/strangers are given a warm welocome
It doesn’t matter whether or not you remove the pews from your church. Their removal can allow more flexibility and look less formal to some people who haven’t experienced church before or to some young persons. However there are a number of very successful churches who maintain their pews.
Questions we discussed if we were to go down the same road in our churches:
Would our current elderly congregation embrace a completely new approach to the worship? If they did, would young adults embrace the elderly and their views on worship? I suspect that the 2 groups would not be so polarised and you would get a mixture of responses.
If a unified approach could not be found, then why not develop different types of worship at different times or days?
Our general consensus was that we need to look ahead and accept that doing nothing means the end of our church worship. Before making any plans the future of our worship has to be discussed with the younger members of our current church families. They must also look ahead and understand that they are the future custodians of the church as we elderly are now. We won’t succeed in attracting other young people into our churches, if there are no young Christian families and young people in the church. Their joy and enthusiasm for their faith and the worship must be evident to their peers. Evangelism is unlikely to succeed if peer groups of committed Christians are not present in your church and displaying absolute pleasure at being there.
We elderly members must encourage the younger ones to develop these “Fresh Expressions of church”. Within my own church there are sufficient such members who will be delighted to encourage movements to new songs, styles of music and worship. Indeed they have supported our Messy Church and Praise and Worship with the band. Now they have willingly agreed to cancel 2 of the traditional evening services in order to join with the Praise and Worship fellowship. So the will and foundation is there. It needs a catalyst, prayer and courage to make the move to embrace a more dynamic form of worship which encourages the modern generation to explore more deeply the Christian way of life. I believe that many young people today are searching for spiritual fulfillment and putting Jesus first, Others next and Yourself last really does spell out JOY in your life.
Finally, for me, the most important factor in a successful church is that it is a real family. Families talk to each other, share each others thoughts, problems and aspirations. Parents are loving,caring and encouraging and we elders should be acting as parents within the church. With God as our head, Jesus’ life and teaching as our guide and the Holy Spirit to guide and prompt us we can be certain that worship will continue after we are gone – it will be different but have the same form as it always has and the same aim i.e. to worship our dear Lord and Master.
01.03.10
My New Year Resolution
I was watching that lovely programme “Outnumbered” over the Christmas period. The cheeky little daughter was telling her mum that her New Year resolutions about losing weight or giving up smoking etc were boring and that she never kept them for long. She is right-they are boring and generally don’t work because the commitment is not strong enough.
The Methodist Church has a very special service in January called the Covenant Service,which I love. It is our annual commitment to serving God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit during 2010. This is my resolution and comes with my sincere desire to commit my life to serving God in whatever way he wishes. Because the Covenant service includes Communion it makes that commitment so important and special.
Within the service is a commitment to serving God by use of our talents and experiences but also in doing tasks which we may not like or want to do. Once again this emphasises that it is God leading our lives and not doing just what we want to do. It is also a reminder that serving God is never easy.
So, I do not know where God will guide me during 2010 but I do know that he will never let me down provided I put my trust in Him.
Why not make your only resolution for New Year a commitment to giving our lives to God this year, whether it is for the first time or a renewal of our commitment.
12.29.09
PRAISE AND WORSHIP
PRAISE and WORSHIP
In recent weeks our Sunday 5.30 Fellowship has become “Praise and Worship with the Band”. The name says it all because that is what this time is all about. The other day I read an article by Tony Cross called “What is Church?” and after reading it I thank our good Lord for once again guiding me to possible ways forward to suggest to our members and friends in our Methodist Church here in Dawlish. Here are some thoughts on the subject.
Basically he suggested that churches were places where Christian people meet together for sharing thoughts, prayer, communion, bible study and particularly to praise and worship our Lord. Different churches use different ways of communicating the Message of God’s love for us and our commitment to loving other people in our lives, whether we like them or not.
Our worries about falling numbers, the large proportion of elderly people in our congregations and lack of families leads us to examine different styles of worship, music and presentation. These may well be welcomed by many but certainly not all. Will it bring in those who previously have never entered a church? Probably not if that is all we are going to do. I believe that as an oldie I am trying to maintain the worship in our church for younger people coming along. They need the opportunity to promote the Message in ways which are appropriate and relevant to their age group. We older ones must encourage and support them in doing this whether its in our traditional service or in other worship sessions at other times. We must be flexible to new ideas!
These past 2 years there has been a successful Craft Messy Church for Primary school age children in the community. It is organised jointly with our good friends and neighbours across the brook and Lawn at the URC. It has really another Junior Church and members of the congregation fully understand that it is not a recruiting ground for our Sunday morning Junior Church. Here is an excellent way of seeing how changes in modern life for families can be accommodated by 2 churches working together.
The Methodist calling to its members is in Worship,caring, serving the community and Evangelism. It is the latter which will bring fresh blood to our church. I believe our church does well in the the first 3 parts of our calling but we as Christians need to focus on Evangelism in our contacts in our daily life.
In our church we have a variety of services which meet the needs of traditionalists,more informal and ecumenical worship. There is a small prayer group and bible study groups. In addition there is a Tuesday Fellowship, Wesley Guild and a women’s monthly meeting of talks, demonstrations and activities.Most of these attract the more elderly but do involve people who are non-methodists. All of the above should be applauded because they are providing opportunities for Christian people to meet, share thoughts and care for one another. In addition we have social activities which include short-mat bowls, table tennis, monthly walks and supper/theatre evenings. Reaching out to the community there are fantastic Wednesday lunches for anyone (no booking), Friday’s Wesley Cafe and The Open DAW which is the Community Information Centre open every weekday morning.
What about the evangelism? Well Tony Cross emphasised that we churchgoers must display in our meetings with others that great love which is demanded of us as followers of Jesus. We are also called to discuss and explain our faith fearlessly to people who wish to know why we are Christians and have need to go to church.
In other words it is up to us churchgoers to show Christ is not just a Sunday thing – HE is our LIFE. Maybe some of our contacts will come along to a service, church activity or social activities. With all the vast amount of people in the community who visit our church weekly we have wonderful opportunities for evangelism.
12.27.09
Christmas reflections
I love Christmas! During advent you see all the preparations at church, home, in the streets and shops. My 2 grandchildren become more and more excited as the great day approaches. We always go to Exeter Cathedral for the Exeter Philharmonic Choir carol concert. It just sets the scene and mood for Christmas.
When the cards arrive,it is interesting to note those that show some relevance to the Nativity. It is more and more difficult these days to find many such cards. Christmas Eve is a highlight for me because there is the Midnight Communion at the church where we are seeing-in the day we remember the birth of our Lord Jesus. Sadly the number of those attending is now low.I remember the church being almost full in the 70’s and 80’s. The perceived dangers of being out in the dark and having a pub next door to the church puts many off. It’s a shame really, because rarely do we have any problems.
It was so lovely to see the church almost full on Christmas morning with some families and young children enjoying a lovely happy and informal worship. It was truly a Praise and worship time for everyone. I remember our children and friends showing some of their presents in church on Christmas DayA good number of people attending were non-church or very occasional worshipers. It just proves that there is a deep need for church in many of our community.
Our friends at the URC once again hosted a Free Christmas Lunch for those alone. It is much appreciated by them and it is also a splendid example of Christian and Community help. There are volunteers serving lunches, helping the disabled and handicapped and acting as taxi drivers to bring people to the lunch and return them afterwards. These volunteers represented most of the churches in town but there are some who are non-church too.
Walking around Dawlish and the sea front on a sunny Christmas Day and Boxing Day you see many families loving and joyful together and eveyone seems to be smiling and talkative and excited – just as on the day when baby Jesus was born.
Have a loving,peaceful and caring Christmas time and may the New Year be the time to re-affirm our lives to God and serving him. When we hold our anual Covernant Service on January 3rd, that will be once again my one and only New Year Resolution.
God bless anyone who reads this.
11.01.09
Shining out Loud
Our Craft Messy Church (www.messychurch.org.uk) is coming up to its 3rd year. It is run jointly with our URC friends from across the Lawn. About 30 youngsters from the Primary school age -range attend as an after-school group once a month. It has been very sucessful.
This week one of our Messy Church mums has volunteered to form a bible based drama club on the Fridays when Messy Church doesn’t take place. Appropriately she has named it “Shining out Loud” – God’s Word in Action. Her aim is to bring God’s word to the community in a fun and exciting way. What a wonderful offer!
The idea is to perform a bible based piece of drama at Messy Church and in a variety of church services. Over these past months I have prayed for someone to come forward with such a scheme and once again our Lord has answered those prayers.
During an urgent clear out of our loft, prior to having additional insulation installed, we came across 2 guitars which our children used about 25 years ago!! Now my prayers are for these to be the catalyst for a music group in the near future. Thank you Lord for providing opportunities for us daily to bring the message of joy and love to children and parents.
10.29.09
An Open Church
What a wonderful week it has been! Lovely weather, warm and sunny and loads of families on holiday during half-term. Thank you God for giving us such lovely days and for seeing the smiles on face.
Our church is open every day except Saturdays, which are occasionally used. This is due to “The Open DAW” www.opendaw.co.uk which is the Dawlish Community Information centre, being situated in the Vestibule area. Yesterday flu jabs (see www.theopendaw.wordpress.com ) were available and a steady procession came throgh the door. Being Wednesday the church lunches were even busier than usual.
The Open DAW and the Methodist Church work closely together and gives the church a greater profile in the town. We are now a truly Open Church, which is available to anyone who requires a bit of quiet, prayer and support in difficult times (www.dawlishmethodistchurch.wordpress.com).
The openness also provides opportunities to advertise the worship,activities and events going on each week within the church www.dawlishmethodistchurch.org.uk
