This is your chance to be really creative about The Friday Service. Ignoring any constraints we may have at present let us know what your dreams are for our group.
Let the ideas flow and grow !
As we've been learning , remember to balance both mission and community. We are Gods people so let Him be at the heart of us.
13 comments:
God is everywhere. Why restrict meetings to our church building. Lets 'do church' in other places. eg the pub. Jesus did his work in public places, we should follow his example.
The latest books on mission call for church to be "incarnational". Jesus "moved into the neighbourhood" (John 1 in some translations) and it is suggested we should do the same.
Does this mean actually moving house and living in particular areas? Would be willing to do that?
Interesting that all the Friday regulars (except me!) live outside the parish - and some ditance from each other!
Part of my dream is that differences between groups will disappear and there will be beacons of light dotted all around the Keighley area.
How things are done will reflect life style and learning styles thus there will be variety (somebody said to me the other day that the Friday Service very much suits my learning style) in the how but I look for the time when we can become more neighbourhood based.
I think that will help benefit the community and the missional aspects.
I have a friend who tried the Friday Service for a few weeks. She felt not especially welcome. When she stopped going nobody picked up the phone to see how she was.
No good going into the community until you can look after each other better. She is a Christian but feels that many churches do not care unless you fit in.
I have been to St Marks – when I stopped going nobody asked how I was. Nobody called, nobody picked up the phone. They asked a friend but didn’t try and get into touch with me.
If I had been there I would have given it a week or two, in case on holiday, then tried to get touch by e-mail, phone or send a card to let them know they were missed.
I think the comments by anonymous are very sad and I'm very sorry thius happened.
I think St Mark's faces the problem of many large churches - some people come for what they can get. This is not meant to be critical of anyone but it is a factor for the new person and for the long-term member.
This means:
(a) People like "anons" friend can sit waiting for someone to miss them instead of asking for help.
(b) Those who are there have enough friends already so they don't miss the new person.
(c) Everyobody thinks someone else is chasing them up.
Although Christians should be better at these things than other organisiations (I've experienced the same problem in other groups like Rotary Club) it's a simple sociological fact that beyond a certain size, groups don't make visitors feel welcome even if they know they should.
I understand the Friday Service is quite small - which should prevent this - but if the people there perceive themselves to be part of soemthing bigger (ie the whole church) then maybe they don't consider it their role to chase people up.
Or maybe they think it's the "vicar's job", although of course he or she couldn't possiblly manage to keep tabs on everyone. This is partly due to our inherited model of church in which the "priest" does all the caring and everyone else receives. There needs to be major re-education in this area.
I have to say that anonymous does have a point! I attended st marks regularly last year when i came with a friend,circumstances changed and i had to come on my own which i did find slightly uncomfortable,but then again maybe that was just my issue that i had to deal with!I stopped coming for several months and not once did anyone call or get in touch to make sure everything was ok.i did go back a couple of weeks ago but found it quite hard to feel part of the church community when you're made to feel that nobody missed you in the first place!?
Thanks for contributing again, Tinipixi
(We're all wondering who you are now and you keep giving us clues. We'll find out one day..!)
I'm also glad anon has contributed and also very sad that he/she and the friend had such a bad experience. I would love to meet all of three of you to talk about what happened and maybe bring some healing?
If you prefer to stay anon then that's fine but you can talk to me in confidence - just ring or e-mail for a chat.
In Christ;
Wasn't God's intention that we would be a church in mission. Why aren't we then. Oh ok, some are, but not all. By the looks of things this congregation isn't. Why not?
Maybe you just need something to focus on. Why not plant to somewhere new? Why not look in your community and see what needs are apparent? Take the Gospel to the poor and needy, that's what Jesus did.
The last comment is made to the congregation as a whole and it seems as if we are now being gently pushed into doing something.
Back to the original question: part of my dream is that we do not necessarily meet in the same place all the time and although there may be one specific time to meet as a congregation each week we may need to be in contact more.
I have realised that apart from one or two regular attenders I have no way of contacting others apart from Frtiday evening (or through this medium!) as I only have first names.
If we were in more regular contact the comments and concerns voiced by the earlier anon and tinipixi may have been avoided. How this works out in practice I have not really thought but I am only dreaming.
I just feel that we could be in for challenging times but out of this something will cause us to grow spiritually.
I see Friday service helping me to go out and live with my neighbours through the following week/s. We love to see all people on Friday, we have a mandate to welcome and be brotherly just as we would meeting people each side of Friday evening ie at home/work/Sainsbury's etc. It is up to individuals to express that they would see Friday evenings as 'their service' and we would take details ie prayer chain inclusion etc. In general we do not run a 'school register system'
So, we are sad that some visitors feel that they are not 'followed up on' Do we know their names or even 'phone numbers ? I think not.
Dreaming dreams should be bringing dreams into reality.Come the 4th Sunday after Trinity {1st July } it will be safe for Christians to'work' in licenced premises. I believe there was a ban on smoking around Nazareth inforce around 2000 years ago - lets go for it!
You cannot please all the people all of the time. Some people would not like to be chased if they didnt attend and others would. It is really difficult, we are all human and have our faults. As Jesus says knock and the door will be open seek and you will find. Maybe it is up to the individual to say they need more from the congregation.
Now them the qquestion of meeting in the pub. Give me some idea how you think this would work?
I agree with the last comment - in that we are all human and have our faults - so we cannot always get it right. However, we (as the Church) should not see that as an excuse to ignore people's needs and suggest they should have asked for support. We should always be looking to support those in our congregation, get to know each other and then feel that we do have the relationship built up to contact them if they have not been around for a while... Not in a where have you been kind of way but to show concern, love and interest in one another.
The Friday congregation is a smaller number of people so it should be easier to form relationships - over coffee etc.
Interesting that the comments here about lack of care come shortly after Julie posted my sabbatical thoughts including this book quote:
Sara Savage reflects: “Clergy may feel they need to be “God” to their flock. Yet,surprisingly, attempting to meet all pastoral needs (an impossible task) is not even what most people are looking for, according to Francis and Richter’s research into why people leave churches. ‘A factor of least importance forchurch leavers was the lack of professional clergy pastoral care. What peoplewere often looking for and not finding, is church as a caring community.’”
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