Minister's Monthly Message
The Minister’s Message for the Month.
I shall always remember, when I was in Swansea, taking the church where I began my ministry away for a week-end at Trefecca. On the Saturday we went for a walk, and ended up visiting the Parish Church. The minister who we had invited as the speaker picked up and began to read the church magazine. He burst out laughing. We all thought they must have a page of jokes. Maybe we could “borrow” some of them for our magazine. But it wasn’t jokes that was making him laugh. It was the vicar’s pastoral letter. It began; “The most depressing thing about Easter for me this year was . . .” The very thought of Easter in church being depressing!
I also remember one of my elders in Warrington telling me that the only thing that was different about Easter in the church where he was brought up, was that they sang different hymns.
Easter in the church should always feel special. It should stand out as the great day in the church’s worship. I think I will always remember Easter 2008 as a very special Easter. It was great to see the church so full, and filled with so many families and children. The music was uplifting and young William Gregson definitely added something special to the contribution of the music group! The pictures surrounding the words on the screen had obviously been prepared with great care. And after the service it was a joy to see so many people sharing lunch together and watching the delight on the children’s faces as they played on the bouncy castle. I was very conscious that a lot of people had put in a great deal of effort to make the day so memorable. I want to take this opportunity of thanking them for all their hard work and the contribution they made to making our Easter feel special, a true celebration of our Lord’s rising from the grave. The day also provided further evidence of how the life and worship of our church will be enriched as we give special attention to our work among children and families.
May is also going to be a full month in the life of our church. It includes the great festivals of Ascension Day, Pentecost and Trinity Sunday. In addition, 11- 18 May is Christian Aid Week. Last year, as a church, we collected £ 8,382, which was the best result ever. This year the goal is to raise £9,000. One way in which we can do this is if more people volunteer to act as collectors. People are often afraid of offering to do this. They imagine all sorts of ugly confrontations on doorsteps. I have to say that in all the years I have been collecting I have never any unpleasant experiences. I actually enjoy meeting people at their doors, and have always found the majority to be friendly and obliging. On one occasion a gentleman did complain that it seemed there was always someone collecting for something. With my usual warm smile I just asked him which he would prefer, to be the person asked for a donation, or the people who needed these gifts. “Good point,” he said and went inside to get some money to put in the envelope! Maybe if you are hesitating about volunteering as a collector, you could be asking yourself the same question. Which would you prefer be – a collector or those dependent on these collections just to survive?
As part of our service on 18th May there will be a presentation by our treasurer about the financial position of our church. We are indeed privileged to worship in a lovely building, which is well maintained and well equipped. We are all conscious of the comfort of the seats, the beauty of the sanctuary, the quality of the sound system and the words projected on the screen – all of which add to the quality of worship. Our church has been blessed for many years by the ministry of Martin among the young people and more recently the appointment of Susan Brown as our administrator has taken a great deal of the pressure off me, so that more of my time is being devoted to ministry. The peace garden has not only enhanced the appearance of the grounds, but has also made a contribution to the witness of the church. I regularly meet people having their lunch in the garden or just enjoying the peace and beauty of the space. I believe it is seen as a real gift by our church to Heswall. But this kind of witness costs money, and during the last year our spending was £2,000 over our income. And this was not because we had spent more than in previous years, but because our income had dropped. During the service Brian will show how our money is used and what will be required of each one of us to maintain the witness of our church.
There will be some who feel that it is unworthy to talk about giving in an act of worship. But giving is part of Christian living. It came to the attention of one minister, that many of his congregation were involved in stealing chickens, so he preached a sermon on the eighth Commandment “Thou shalt not steal,” with particular reference to chickens. After the service one of his elders said to him “We want to hear the gospel, not about chicken stealing!” The way we use our money is part of the way taught by Jesus. Bishop Michael Baughen used to say, in the age before credit cards, “If you want to know where your priorities in life lie, just look at your cheque stubs!”
There are so many things for which we should be grateful in the life of our church. One way we show our gratitude is through our committed giving so that the work can be maintained and go forward.
We pray that God will continue to bless us and use us.
Gwynfor.
The Minister’s Message for the Month.
I look back on Lent 2008, with a great deal of satisfaction, because I believe we put in place a really good programme for our members. I take no credit for this, as I made a very limited contribution to what was offered. I am very encouraged that the Lent programme this year was run in cooperation with other churches, firstly with the Methodists and then with Churches Together in Heswall. It was a truly ecumenical Lent. The four evenings we shared with the Methodist Church were both stimulating and challenging, and strengthened the growing ties between our congregations. The talks held in our own building were of the highest quality, given by men with both real depth of understanding and the gift to communicate that knowledge. So often in the church, and I know that I am guilty of this, we preach a simple message, which will be accessible to all. We equip our members with a Junior School faith as they go out into a Secondary School world. (Of course in a twelve to fifteen-minute sermon, you cannot explore a subject in the same depth as in a forty-minute talk.) In recent months I have become increasingly aware that many of our members want teaching which is more academically challenging, which will stretch their understanding of complex issues. An example of this is one of our house groups electing to study a book written by Marcus Borg, a fairly radical American theologian. This will not suit all our members, but it should be offered for those who would like to progress to a more intellectually satisfying faith. We certainly offered that depth of teaching in both the series offered during Lent this year.
As is often the case, one of the most interesting and challenging moments in the whole Lent programme came for me in a private conversation with one of our speakers. Mrs. Hanan Hammad joined us in the Methodist Church to respond, as a Muslim, to the talk that I gave on claiming absolute truth in an age when all truth is seen as relative and subjective. Whilst the groups were exploring further the theme for the evening, she was telling me how her children had not been able to attend a mosque, because that would have meant taking them out of school on Fridays. Instead she had taught them about the faith of Islam and how to pray at home. Her daughter is now seventeen and has decided to start wearing a headscarf, as part of her commitment to the Muslim way. This is obviously a very significant step, one which will immediately mark her out on the street and make her different in appearance to her peer group, something which is never easy for a teenager. What struck me is that she had decided to make this commitment, without formal teaching from the local mosque. It made me reflect on our role as Christian parents. I know that Jean and I have often expressed regret that our children had passed through the teenage years, before Martin began his ministry in Heswall. So often we hear parents say that they feel their church has let them down because it didn’t provide a sufficiently active and stimulating programme for their children. The people who carry the primary responsibility for teaching children from Christian homes the way of Christ are their parents. The church is there to support them, but the primary responsibility lies with the parents themselves. When the Sunday School movement was enjoying its greatest numbers, it was not seen as a facility for children of parents who were believers. It was for the children of the unchurched, who would not learn about Jesus in their homes. It was assumed that parents who were Christians would teach their children the way of Christ. This seems to have been neglected in so many homes today, and the responsibility has been passed on to the church. My conversation with Hanan made me feel very humble, and reminded me of my role as a Christian parent.
One of the things I said in my talk about our interaction with Muslims is that there are many ways we can learn from them. One example I gave of that was reverencing the name of God. To that I now realise I must add the role of Christian parents to teach their children the way of Christ.
I finish by quoting some words of Rob Parsons: “It is never too late to start becoming the parent you always meant to be.”
God bless you all, those of you who are parents and those who are not.
The Minister’s Monthly Message
Greetings to you all!
Christmas already seems a long way in the past, but I want to share with you some reflections on two of the services in December. I must admit that when I heard the suggestion that for our Nativity Service we invite children to come along dressed as wise men, shepherds, angels or stable animals, I thought it was a recipe for chaos. No doubt it would have charm, but it would be chaos. How wrong was I? Not only did the service have charm, but it all flowed beautifully. What I enjoyed most about that service was seeing the number of children who were involved, who are not attend regularly on a Sunday morning. Clearly the widely circulated invitations saying this would be a child friendly service in which all were welcome to take part had resonated with many people.
The same was true of the Christingle Service. Again this had been widely advertised as a child friendly form of worship. Rather than having to listen to someone talk, about the significance of the different elements which make up the Christingle, the children were able to make their own – with a little bit of help from their mums and dads. Again the atmosphere was relaxed and worship was made accessible to those who are not regular worshippers with us.
I found both of these services really encouraging and demonstrate to us a way in which our church can grow as more people are made to feel that our worship is accessible and relevant.
Many people have asked me “What has happened to all the children who used to sit down the front of the church?” Over the last year or so, the number of children of Junior School age attending Junior Church has declined. This is partly because some families have moved out of the area and partly because some of those children have now moved into the young people’s sphere of the life of the church. But what is quite clear is that we are not attracting children in that age group or their families. That is why we are at present putting together an application for a grant from the Mersey Synod to appoint a Children/Family worker in the church. At the meeting of the Mersey Synod in November, it was announced that grants of up to £10,000 a year over a five year period were being made available for mission projects. A group is at present working on the application bid. (Later in this edition of the Link you will find the first draft of the job description we have prepared.) We have all seen the difference that Martin as our Youth Minister has made to our work among young people. On that basis we have every reason to hope that a Children/Family worker would have a similar impact among young children and their families.
However, we do not intend to put all our hopes on securing the services of a part time, paid worker. At the Church Meeting in March, we shall discuss the proposal that we re-introduce monthly, all-age services, in which the children will not only stay in but also be more involved. I say “re-introduce” because we did hold such services for many years, but it was felt that the children at that time would prefer go out to their own classes, and the older members preferred “a proper sermon.” The difference between then and now, is that it is now the parents of young children are pushing for the change, and the services over the Christmas period clearly demonstrated the potential of this style of worship. It is a lovely experience for a minister to being pushed by enthusiastic people rather than having to drag reluctant followers.
For some time now, I have been saying that the two biggest challenges facing our church are to bring our work with children up to the same standard as our work with young people, and to involve more people in faith sharing groups. I pray that God will bless us in both of these areas. There are already clear signs of hope, that our work with children and families is moving forward.
Praise be to God!
