Resurrection church

Oh dear. Can we never judge things right? We were really buoyed up on Friday when we made arrangements to host an ecumenical congregation of 70 from the surrounding churches and had 160 turn up instead.

Today we thought our Easter Sunday service may be an anti-climax so we returned to our cafe style worship in the foyer area. We were delighted to be packed in like sardines as our growing, but small congregation, doubled for the day. This feels like an Easter of resurrection. Even the collection broke all records! 

A packed Good Friday service

We made our plans very carefully and catered for about 70 - tea, coffee, hot cross buns, hymn books. All the surrounding churches were invited. We knew something special was happening when two young men walked in off the street and wanted to know if we were having a special service. They lived on City Road but worshiped in Handsworth.

Then the others began to arrive. First in ones and twos, then whole families. There was a frantic effort to find more chairs, we had to start finding the odd seat here and there. Then we had to make the mircophone work harder so that the service could be heard in the overflow foyer. Fortunately we had a reserve supply of UHT milk. Shortly after the service started there was not one vacant chair and we had run out of hymn books.

We always pray for a full church and we learnt today that being full could create problems. A couple of years ago we had a special church meeting to discuss closure. This was a day we thought we would never see.

We sang some lovely hymns and heard again the awesome story of Good Friday. It was wonderful to share with our friends at City Road Baptists, St Germains,  Christ Church, and people from several other churches. A great morning and a fantastic start to the Easter break.

The Monalito - Bearwood's newest restaurant

This evening my daughter and I went to Bearwood's newest eating place, The Monalito at 107 Three Shires Oak Road, B67 5BT. We had a warm welcome from Chris and his wife and a great meal that was priced just right. The cuisine is Mexican with a British slant - even with fish and chips! They will soon have a website up but if you want to make a booking dial 0121 448 2592. Well worth a visit and ideal for families.

The B16 Good Friday Service

Our area ecumenical Good Friday service will be held at City Road Methodist Church at 11.00 am. All are invited especially our neighbours at Christ Church, Saint Germain's, and City Road Baptist Church. Tea, coffee and hot cross buns will be served at the conclusion of worship. Location. The numbers 11 and 80 pass the door and we are within walking distance of the Dudley Road bus stops at Summerfield Park

In the space of three hours

In the space of three hours today I met two people (both rational middle aged men) who told me that over the last few years they had found faith in Our Lord Jesus Christ. One of them I have known for nearly 20 years and the news astonished me. Is something going on that I've missed?

I don't know

Today's Independent sees  a long article headed Losing our religion: the Church of England in decline.

It trots out the usual set of statistics which now seem common to almost every mainstream British denomination, including we methodists:

....attendance figures amongst Anglicans have dropped by some 10 per cent over the last decade. Only 1.1m people, some 2 per cent of the population, attend church on a weekly basis, and only 1.7m, or 3 per cent, once a month. This in spite of the fact that around half the population still profess themselves Anglicans. 

The decline in paid clergy has been even more rapid. On the Church's own statistics, the beginning of the new millennium has already seen a fall in over 20 per cent to barely 8,000. On present trends clergy would disappear altogether within half a century. Yet the number of parishes remains set at 13,000 and the total of Anglican churches is little altered at around 16,000. The result is there for all to see: a vicious circle of declining congregations, higher pension and maintenance costs and fewer helpers all sustained on a diminishing revenue base.

Until a few years ago there was no shortage of people, including myself, who had the solution to declining attendances. If only the church Did This or Did That. The problem would be Solved. People would flood into our pews.

Now I admit, and I think others too can see, that there is no "magic bullet" for church growth in 21st century Britain. Those churches that are apparently "growing" often absorb the remnants from other denominations or are sustained by first generation immigration.

Mainstream congregations  look enviously down the road at the upstart car boot church with lots of young people in the school hall but the truth may be different. We don't hear much about the "church plants" that fail, the sectarian and personal bickering that leads to extinction, or the fast turnover as the "youngsters" move on into parenthood and  juggle the pressures of running a mortgage.  And when the car boot church has disillusioned yet another generation they are free to disappear into the night without the legacy of community expectations or a crumbling church building. An unused school hall is not so obvious as a closed church.

However the church is not alone in facing decline. That other great British community institution, the public house, is facing a similar situation, closing at the rate of 100 a month.

Driving along the main roads in Birmingham and the Black Country there seems to be little change, with building s that look like traditional pubs thriving. However these "pubs" are now run by corporate managers, are more like restaurants and have none of the community feel of the past. Go off the main road and here in Smethwick at least you find shut and closed pubs by the dozen - the New Talbot, the Barlaycorn, the Two Brewers, the Thimblemill, and the Londonderry to name just a few. Going into the remaining pubs with a clientele that no longer represents the wider community can, in itself, be a depressing experience.

Talking to people in the various friendly societies identifies a similar trend. Organisations like the Foresters, the Moose, and even the Masons have found it increasingly hard to continue in their previous forms. There is now a culture which militates against any involvement and engagement beyond the home and workplace. Fewer people are prepared to accept commitment which is what a healthy church needs.

So how do we arrest decline in church attendance in 21st century Britain?

I don't know.

British Gas contract

I'm just wondering if any churches have had a similar note from British Gas. They are renewing our contract  as from mid August. The unit charge is almost remaining the same. However standing charges are increasing from £0.0908 pence a day to £0.69460, an increase of nearly 700%! Over the last year we have been spectacularly successful in reducing our gas consumption (saving the church money and the planet). I now feel we are being punished for our prudence.
UPDATE: British Gas have now contracted me to offer a new one year contract with no service charges and only a very modest increase in the unit rate. Lesson learnt - it pays to keep an eye on the post and realise that higher costs are not inevitable.

Note for City Roaders (2)

I went to Bournemouth today to say farewell to Sylvia. I took a floral tribute on behalf of the church, but her children asked that it be placed in our church for Sunday rather than left at the crematorium, so it has had a round trip of 400 miles. My co-Godparent had come over from Guernsey and there was a good sprinkling of people from Sylvia's past.

Since returning to Bournemouth Sylvia had reconnected with some friends from a New Frontiers church and two wonderful nuns who lived in the local community. From what I heard she had  very much been the Sylvia that we learnt to  accept and love all those years ago. The funeral was actually paid for by local shopkeepers in the area known as Winton. There were wreaths from a local cafe, Waitrose and Wilkersons.  I will never be able to explain how moved we were for that simple act of kindness. It was a real credit to that community that they were able to gather together in that way.

The two nuns organised the details of the funeral and it seems that Sylvia was with them as she was with us. The wonderful thing was that she was accepted without being judged.  One of them had sat with her, holding her hand, as she slipped away. They were absolutely certain that Sylvia had made a commitment and even brought her prayer book to place on the coffin.

Naturally our minds and conversation went back to those difficult days. We were pleased to be part of a Christian community that could absorb and respond to those many challenges. It was a remarkable commitment from a remarkable Methodist Church. The details we can leave but I felt God was saying "well done though good and faithful servants".

We used to pray that one day Sylvia's past would be healed. It didn't happen when she was with us and I know that was very difficult for many. As I talked to those who knew her in Winton I got a feeling  that they too had a glimpse of the Sylvia that could have been. They saw Sylvia in the process of receiving that healing.

Sylvia is at peace now. She has been healed. God bless her. God bless her children. Give wisdom to Mick and to us, their God parents.  Thank you Lord, thank you. It has been an unusual task, but it has been a privilege.

Is there a Christian position on the alternative vote system?

On Thursday 5 May the British people will have the opportunity of changing the voting system for electing members of parliament.

The present system, "first past the vote" is very simple. Whichever candidate gets the most votes in a particular constituency is elected. All voters have to do is to place a "X" next to the name of their preferred candidate.

The option on offer is the "alternative vote" known as AV. Here voters mark each candidate in order of preference - 1 for the candidate they favour, 2 for their second choice, 3 for their third choice and so on. If no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes cast the second preferences of the least popular candidate are then counted and first preferences. If no candidate gets more than 50% after that count, it is then the second preferences of the second least popular candidate.....and so it goes on until the third, fourth and fifth choices are counted to get a candidate over the winning line.

First past the post has the advantage of being simple and easily understood. However the great drawback is that MPs can be elected on considerably less than 50%. In fact most MPs are elected on a range of about 33 - 45% of their electorate with a "winner take all" result. Some argue that this is not "democratic".

I can't see that AV will be any more democratic. My experience of fighting a "three way marginal" is that voters quickly grasp what the real choices are and vote accordingly for one of the mainstream parties.. Some however want to make a point and stay - rightly in my view - with the candidate that best reflects their most nuanced views. They want to make a statement rather than make a choice.

AV will enable people to make both a statement and a choice. This will mean that mainstream parties in some seats will be mindful that they need to attract some second preferences often from the minority parties that in themselves attract very little support. The outcome will be that the mainstream parties will have to adjust their message to attract the second choices of people who would otherwise vote for the minority parties of the far right or far left.

Christians see elections differently. It is not about making a statement. It is about choosing people to go to   parliament and in turn form a government. All the Biblical evidence is that we choose individual candidates for their personal attributes (see for example Acts 6:3-6) including their policies. When we vote it should be after prayer and our vote should be cast with conviction. I can't see how this can be done in the lottery of the second and third preferences of fringe candidates as proposed by the supporters of the alternative vote.

For this reason I shall be supporting the continuance of the "first past the post" system.

Some will argue that the AV system is a step in the right direction to proportional representation. My personal experience of PR, namely the closed list system for the elections to the European Parliament (which incidentally without consultation with those Methodists affected the public affairs team of the Methodist Church welcomed at the time) is that it seriously undermined the principle of choosing an individual and grossly inflated the importance of  groups such as the BNP.

Having worked with politicians on a day to day basis who have been elected by the various forms of PR I get the feeling that it creates more problems than it solves.

The most extreme form of PR in any country with Western standards of civic life and democracy is practiced in Israel for elections to the Knesset. I was a member of the European Parliament's standing delegation to the Knesset. Much as I have great regard for Israel I found it difficult dealing with a multitude of MKs from very different parties. Some coalition  governments were constructed after deals which gave tiny groups disproportionate influence over national policy. For example I had to run a campaign against a proposed "missionary law" because one of the parties insisted as a price of caolition. The advantage was that it enabled the minority Arab population to have a direct political voice, but this could have been achieved in other ways.

So overall, I'm sticking with first past the post. Our focus as Christians should be on the people we elect not the whims of the minority.

End of the world, soon

Once again someone has predicted the impending end of the world. According to The Independent, US preacher Harold Camping is expecting the rapture on 21 May:

He says the world will end on 21 May, because that will be 722,500 days from 1 April AD33, which he believes was the day of the Crucifixion. The figure of 722,500 is important because you get it by multiplying three holy numbers (five, 10 and 17) together twice. "When I found this out, I tell you, it blew my mind," he said. 
 

Recent events, such as earthquakes in Japan, New Zealand and Haiti, are harbingers of impending doom, he says, as are changing social values. "All the stealing, and the lying, and the wickedness and the sexual perversion that is going on in society is telling us something," he says. "So too is the gay pride movement. It was sent by God as a sign of the end."

Ever since new testament times various groups and sects have forecast the imminent end of the world. For two thousand years they have been proved wrong.I really don't have any reason to accept that Harold Camping's prediction is any more likely to come true than the others.

What I do know is that the 17th century clergyman Richard Baxter said: "I preached as never sure to preach again and as a dying man to dying men"

So  I have no problem about preaching with an urgency. Many is the friend who has passed on that I regret not speaking to them while I had the opportunity and they had the choice.

However I do question whether making such precise claims as that of  Camping's is the way to win people for Jesus. On the 22 May a lot of people may just wake up and ridicule him and in so doing ridicule the Gospel.

Note for City Roaders

City Roaders of the 1980s vintage will be sorry to hear that Sylvia died earlier this week. If you want to know more please contact me privately.

I shan't be posting for a few days as I am moving an aunt from one end of the country to another.

Go on a "pilgrimage", with your mind made up....

It has been an interesting few days in Methodism's campaign against Israel. Our bloggers are beginning to flag. Talks with the Jewish community are only open to selected Methodists (although locally one of our "Methodists" is an Anglican vicar) and the President and Vice President are urging us to go on a "pilgrimage" ----but with our minds made up. 

Earlier this week Methodist Church House circulated Methodist bloggers with the Quaker resolution attacking Israel. Only two bloggers took it up. Many other Methodist bloggers now steer well clear of the Israel/Palestine issue - an indication that the issue is far more complex than it seemed in the heady days of the summer of 2010 when the Methodist conference passed its nasty  anti-Israel resolution.

Time has moved on and the background noise seems to be one of reconciliation with our Jewish neighbours. All over the country there are joint meetings of Methodists and Jews. I asked to be part of this process in the Birmingham district. I got a note back saying that the Methodist team had been agreed by the District Synod, which according to the published minutes was a lie, and that anyway they had met together,  sang Kum By Ya (meaningfully)  and decided that  "We all feel that the dynamic of adding another new person to this process at this stage would be unhelpful to group dynamics and to our continuing conversation with our dialogue partners." Bless.....

Anyway  time really has moved on and we are already preparing for our next annual conference. There is now a draft paper going to next week's Methodist Council which will form the basis of a report to the 2011 conference (do we really need the annual expense of annual conferences with their attendant PR disasters? Sorry I digress).

It makes interesting reading. It boasts of providing online  "resources". Over the next few months I'm going to put together a list of resources. I wonder if they will be included?

The President and Vice President "noted the valuable opportunities that exist for pilgrimage to the Holy Land to enable people to meet Palestinian Christians and hear their stories." 

Why only Palestinian Christians? Why not Palestinian Muslims? Why not Palestinian atheists? What about Israeli Jews? Israeli Christians? Israeli Muslims? In fact why aren't the leading lights of British Methodists pointing out that pilgrimage to the Holy Land can provide opportunities to meet many people with many different perspectives? It may even offer an encounter with the living Christ and a blessing of the Holy Spirit..

Urging people to undertake a "pilgrimage" to the Holy Land with a closed mind and fixed agenda verges on blasphemy. Clearly neither of them have ever been on a pilgrimage, if they had, they would have realised just how daft that statement really is.

Thank G-d this pair, who last month I caught out accepting and repeating nasty stories about Jews without question on their blog, will be out of office in just a few months. Hopefully our new President and Vice President will begin the process putting right the damage of  recent months.

Quakers join the bandwagon

Let me begin by saying that one of my best friends is a Quaker.

But depressing news: they have now formally jumped on the anti-Israel bandwagon. Their yearly meeting at the weekend, representing all their 25,000 British members, saw them adopt a resolutely anti- Israel stance.

A couple of weeks back I expressed my concern at the future direction of the Quakers and their current activities.

A lifetime ago they enjoyed much love and respect among the Jewish community stemming from Quaker involvement in the Kindertransport (incidentally there's a recently unveiled memorial to this achievement at Liverpool Street station). In many parts of the country local synagogues would worship at the Friend's meeting houses where they had no building of their own. Sadly generations and attitudes have changed.

Over the years I've met some wonderful Quakers but must admit that when I've attended Quaker worship services the emphasis has been on a vague spirituality, sometimes verging on the new age, rather than the living Christ.

About 30 years ago I was asked to speak at a "Christian-Marxist" dialogue held at a Quaker Meeting House in Sussex. They had been meeting for about ten to 12 years. It consisted of about 20 people, all in their sixties, half of whom were Quakers and the rest Communists of the "tankie" variety.

Naturally I based my contribution on Holy Scripture (having read my Conrad Noel)  - Leviticus 25, Deuteronomy 15, Luke 4 and Acts 2.

Wow! Half the congregation were furious and half were delighted. The Communists explained. "We've been coming here for over ten years and no one has ever referred to the Bible, no one has explained why a Christian can be socialist."

The Quakers were furious. "For over ten years we have been trying to persuade the Communists that not all Christians stuff the Bible down people's throats."

Oh well....

The truth is that the Quakers, like the Methodists, are now in sharp decline. I was talking to members at a local meeting house in their Selly Oak heartland a year or so ago and they were saying how difficult it was to recruit new members and get people to take office. The Quakers, like the Methodists, are well endowed with property, without that historical resource both denominations would have died many years ago. But there is only so long that a Christian denomination can "live off"  rather than "live for" the Gospel.

As nominally Christian organisations face decline there seems to be a pattern of bandwagon chasing and entryism by single issue pressure groups. Resolutions and reports will become ever more hysterical and biased in favour of the latest flavour. 

I suspect that this is the future for the Methodists, Quakers, the URC and various smaller groups in coming years. Perhaps the future of Christianity in the UK really does lay with the new groups that have been set up over the years by people who have left the "mainstream" churches in their droves.

NHS chaos still has a way to go

This time last year the Conservative politicians were running round the country saying that they would not tinker with the NHS. Within months of taking power somehow they assumed that because they were in coalition with the Lib Dem poodles they could ditch all promises. Now they have run into trouble and it may be deeper than hitherto acknowledged.

Having worked in the NHS I can provide a list of what needs changing. Last July when I writing a briefing paper on the Tory proposals I could hardly believe my eyes, if only for the timetable.

The scrapping of the unloved but very necessary primary care trusts and replacement by GP commissioning is just simply daft. GPs should have a role in commissioning but they have more important things to do than sit in committees negotiating complex clinical and commercial contracts.

The truth is that GPs want to work within a well functioning health service which is able to supply secondary care, mental health services and public health functions when needed, they don't want to run it. What was going to happen was that the work would be sub contracted out to branches of the big accountancy firms or the usual suspects of out-sourcing suppliers.

Meanwhile, between the publication of the White Paper in July and until a few weeks ago, the country's PCTs were being told to pack up. One or two are already effectively closed for business. There have been hasty amalgamations, and where staff could leave they have done so, taking with them the key commissioning skills upon which a complex organisation like the NHS depends.

We now face chaos as the PCTs are recomposed in some form or sustainable alternatives are in place. An average NHS hospital has an annual turnover of nearly half a billion pounds, employs 5000 staff, sees half a million patients a year and is, to say the least, a very complex organisation.

Unilateral changes in commissioning arrangements can have many unforeseen effects, Even the recent turbulence could have a detrimental impact. Over the next few weeks there will chaos as commissioning arrangements and agreements are sorted out, in some cases for the third time in twelve months. This is no way to play politics with people's lives.
 

Beyond belief...or faith

Earlier today I posted about the intolerance being expressed against a Jewish owned business in London.

A few hours later I read that at least eight UN staff in Afghanistan have been butchered during protests at the "trial" and "execution" of the Koran by Pastor Terry Jones in Florida.

Christians have a different attitude to the written word than people of many other faiths. To us the word only becomes sacred when it is written in our hearts. Islam sees the Koran differently, they see its physical manifestation as sacred. Now we will have to agree to disagree on this.

However I cannot understand  why on earth anyone describing themselves as a Christian should seek to grossly offend people of another faith, especially when they were made aware of the consequences.

One only has to read the press in a country like Pakistan to understand how this is exploited with a spokesperson for a group of schoolgirls declaring  that "the days of American and Zionist agents are numbered and soon we will see the New Islamic Middle east without Israel and its agents."

Terry Jones is a publicity seeking tosser who is now responsible for the deaths of many innocent people.

I fully understand why so many people in the world turn from any sort of religion in disgust.

Brownshirts close Jewish owned shop in London

It is 2011 and one would have thought the world had learnt.

I was sorry to read in the Jewish Chronicle that a picket by anti-Semites has forced the closure of a Jewish owned shop, Ahava,  in Covent Garden, London.

Apparently a group of thugs have been harassing the staff and customers on a regular basis.

Sadly the shop owners received little support from their neighbouring businesses who focused their concern on the Jewish owned business rather than the trouble makers. Just like in the 1930s.

Ladies night - and a happy Julian new year!

It was Ladies Night at the Epworth Lodge last night. Although  not a Mason  some of my best friends are, and it was kind of them to invite us after recent turbulent events within the Connexion.

Despite wearing my  shades I was recognised by the Recorder photographer  as I was making my way to the Jabez Bunting suite (normally the Balmoral suite but renamed by the hotel for the evening). John kindly emailed me the picture which I don't think is very flattering!

Obviously I am going to respect the privacy of the occasion, but let me say it was an interesting guest list. I did not realise we had so many former presidents and vice presidents. Nor was I the only blogger present, and, I was startled to discover the identity of the Worshipful Master! It was interesting to see who wasn't there.

I was intrigued to know why the Lodge's Ladies Night was always on the 31 March, except where it fell on a Sunday. They were quite definite about this and mentioned it in the speeches, the loyal toast and even in the grace several times. It obviously had a symbolic importance.

Someone who introduced himself as "The Tiler" explained: Apparently the newly formed Epworth Lodge wholeheartedly responded to John Wesley's suggestion that the societies should hold watchnight services at the new year.

Before Britain adopted the Gregorian calender in 1752 the Lodge would hold a new year's eve watchnight service on the equivalent of the 31 March. The following day, 1 April, was the first day of the new year with its associated fun and games. So under the old   Julian calender in use during the connexion's formative years we would today be wishing each other a "happy new year".

With the change in calenders the Lodge decided to continue meeting on the 31 March but make it the annual ladies night, so it remains the longest continuous annual event in the connexion.

Lodge traditions run deep. Obviously no alcohol was served although the hotel provided some lovely drinks made from British fruits to a secret Wesleyan recipe. Nor was there any tea, coffee or sugar. Early Methodists boycotted these products because of their association with the slave trade and the tradition continues. 

It was a great evening though I did get some unusual handshakes. My thanks to the Worshipful Master and Wardens of the Epworth Lodge for their invitation and hospitality.