Colourful Dreamer

A few weeks ago I went to a clergy training day, a gathering of the clergy in the Bay of Plenty, stipendiary, non- stipendiary, and retired. We talked about the statistics presented at our Diocesan Synod a couple of weeks before that by the vicar general, statistics that make grim reading. Numbers of stipendiary priests a fraction of what they were 40 years ago, numbers attending church falling dramatically, age structure aging by the second, finances looking very wobbly. The ensuing conversation seemed to be all about how to get people to come to church. I find this so frustrating. The point of church is not to get people to join us. The point of church is to be a people who engage with God in mission. Others felt this was irresponsible and that as clergy our role is to ensure that the church carries on. Why would we want that I wonder? One idea was to close a pretty significant 8am service because they will eventually die (true they mostly are older, but so what) and use th...

We had our AGM for the church on Sunday, after we gathered for Eucharist. We combined our 9.30am with our 8.00am, and it was nice to have us all together for once. I wanted to offer a few thoughts to frame our AGM so that we were not so concerned with keeping our Parish going. I want us to think less  about ourselves, and to be much more missionally focused. So I used St. Columba, St. Francis (I can always sneak him in somewhere) and the exodus story to posit three questions that we need to work on: whose are we who are we what is ours to do. I offer the notes for my talk below. Hope in a strange land What I want to say: That we are in a strange land, and we have been for some time Easy to fear the future and to get locked into how good it was in the past As we approach AGM it is important to acknowledge that, and not let that shape how we face our future Need to be more like Columba or Francis Use the retreat experience to explore what it is like bein...

This has been an interesting week. Most of it has been on retreat with Justin Duckworth, the new Bishop of Wellington (well he will be in July) who helped us think about where the church is today by using the story of the Exodus. We were asked to think about the world as it was (Egypt) and how much of that we still carry with us, what it is like being in the wilderness, what the signs of the promised land might look like, and what resources we have in this journey, as a church and as individuals. I might even blog about this sometime. I did the same thing with another group a year ago. I was feeling very despondent then and realised how much that retreat turned me around and allowed me to become anchored in God's hope. Nothing has changed, but I approach it all with hope. I don't have any more answers, but I have hope. Today we had an awesome pre -school music session, and then a good visit with a parishioner. This afternoon I have been working on the Service and Sermon f...

Yesterday I visited the parishioners at Hodgson House, and Anglican Care facility for the elderly. I also visited a great story telling couple in the village, which was a lot of fun.  Today has been spent dealing with pre-school music, and then trying to get organised for this Sunday, and to get pretty organised for Pentecost Sunday, which I am not feeling at all good about. The issue is that I am on retreat next week from Tuesday to Thursday, so the pressure is on the get it all sussed this week. Epic fail on my behalf. One of the things I have noticed about this job, apart from it being full time, is that sometimes I am not sure what I am supposed to be doing. Some friends of mine suggested the three headings for a vicar are preside (at the services, i.e. make sure they are well organised and run) manage (all that people management stuff) and pastor . I suspect that mission needs to fit in here somewhere. But they are good starters. What I need now is to fill that out a bi...

At the farewell dinner So, today we said goodbye to my big girl who has gone to Connecticut for a year (although she will be back for a week in November for a wedding). She really drives me nuts, and yet I really enjoy having her around. So we are down to one person at home, which is a little scarey. I feel like I am getting old. Blah!! I have decided that I need to use this to do two things. One is to record what i am up to so that I have a record somewhere for reports and such. The other is to have a place I can reflect on life as a vicar. What it is like for me, and how I am making sense of it all. I hope to also put up poetry when I write any. So, here is a posting. One of the things that i have come face to face with over the last two months is my mortality. Visiting people who have just turned 70, and thinking that that is only 16 years away. Well, that seemed close until I wrote it. Actually, that is still quite a way away. But not the far distant future it once...

Our future leaders need to be equipped to lead through change. And more than that: they need to lead our church into the ‘unknown’. Into places for which, at present, there are no road maps or text books, no papers or classes, no star-charts, no GPS, no ipod apps. And it’s not ‘unknown’ because we’re too lazy to sit down and figure out where we are headed. The world is changing and changing fast and we’re quickly being left far behind. There is an understanding in schools that 90% of the jobs for which students are being educated don’t yet exist and that in some degree programmes half of what you learn in your first year will be irrelevant by your third. At present we are equipping people for a mission field that no longer exists; for a ministry paradigm that is no longer working. We need resourceful leaders who can develop new ideas and inspire in new and creative ways; leaders who can take risks and think outside the box; leaders who are intuitive, who see opportunitie...

Some thoughts from the Leaders in Congregations course with Kevin Ward: • How can you be alone with your own/God’s thoughts wired with someone else’s? • The role of leader in the future is to identify, mentor, resource and trust young people to create church for themselves and their peers. Through this we might learn what church might be, rather than what church is now. To do this we must not fear the future. That reminds me of something Steve Taylor said at a thing he did earlier in the year, that we are a resurrection people, not a crucifixion people, so rather than focussing on the immanent death we should focus on the new life that God is bringing through this death. ( at least I think that is what he said) • I was struck by how often church leaders (and maybe others) identify the problem that needs fixing, and then the solution, and then they set about persuading others to act ion it. I have to say from my experience, that the problem is not quite accurately identified, and the so...