An amazing funeral

Andrew and Catherine were incredibly brave and Andrew's tribute to Hannah was wonderful. I had a serious lump in my throat most of the time and got through several kleenex. It was a funeral with some very poignant moments and yet real celebration of a very special life. More than anything else there was such a sense of hope that this was not the end. I think our faith comes into it's own at crisis times. It puts everything into perspective arguments about style of church, size of church, emerging, submerged or anything else. I was reminded half way through to love the Lord my God and my neighbour as myself..I'll keep trying, and hopefully others may then share Andrew and Catherine's hope.

Onwards

Tomorrow is Hannah's funeral at St.B's at 1pm. It's going to be tough and as a church we're feeling it right now. I saw Andrew and Catherine last week and they're doing as well as you can when your daughter has died, please continue to pray for them.

Our staff team has been away to Suffolk to a small place called Christmas Hall. (Check it out not many places where you can get 14 round the table comfortably.) It was a good time regrouping praying, laughing and eating lots. It is a good team to be part of and while we have our differences and disagreements they're a great bunch to have with you at a time like this.

Stunned

Very sadly Hannah who was 6 years old and the only daughter of Andrew and Catherine died last night. Andrew is at vicar factory having been a faithful committed member of St.B's for the last 15 years including doing a stint as Church warden.
Please pray for Andrew and Catherine as I can not begin to imagine what they're going through.

New Definitions of Success

First please keep praying for Hannah (see previous post) she is still critically ill, and underwent an operation last night to try and get her kidneys working again. My anxieties seem very small in comparison to what Hannah and her family are going through right now.

On a very different note I was struck by this post from Jordan Cooper that's popped on a few sites now.

Adopting a Missionary Mentality
From Reggie McNeal's book, The Present Future. We are having a small discussion on my denominations mailing list and this brought up. I had to type it up and thought I would post it here.

Adopting a missionary approach will require changing the scorecard. Church scorecards currently reflect member values: how many show up, pay up, and participate in club member activities. There are the numbers used to compare one church with another--the numbers that denominations ask for in their reports. These numbers establish the pecking order among clergy. The bigger the better and the more respected by club members of other churches.

A missionary church culture will need to begin keeping score on things different from what we measure now. These may include how many ministry initiatives we are establishing in the streets, how many conversations we are having with pre-Christians, how many volunteers we are releasing into local and global mission projects aimed at community transformation, how many congregations are starting to reach different populations, how many congregations use our facilities, how many languages (ethnic and generational) we worship in, how many community groups use our facilities, how many church activities target people who aren't here yet, how many hours per week members spend in ministry where they work, go to school, and get mail.

Until we start making heroes of people who decide to be and act like missionaries, we will fail to turn club members into missionaries. Until we bless people who "go out" from us to reach people who may not come to us, we will continue to have a kingdom vision that is shrink wrapped to church programs and church real estate. Until we start adopting school and hosting community food banks and teaching parenting seminars for people who come to us for food, we will keep fostering club member mentality.

Do you pray?

If you do please could you pray right now for Hannah, she is the young daughter of Andrew and Catherine who are friends of ours from St.B's, who are currently training for ordination at Ridley in Cambridge. In the last 24 hours she's had some type of E coli bug that's badly affected her kidneys and has been moved by ambulance from Adenbrokes to a special renal unit at City Hospital, Nottingham - please pray that she recovers to full health and that her kidneys are not damaged.

Crib goch one of the 15 to be climbed... 

15 Peaks Challenge

Crazy moment of the year so far has to be deciding to try to climb the 15 Welsh mountains over 3000 feet in 24 hours. My best man Chris has organised this a couple of times (info here) now and this year we're hoping to take a few teams from St.B's who are going to raise money for Hope House the youth and community charity we set up a few years ago. Training has started in earnest with a 5 mile run on Saturday after which I was quite pleased I could still walk. First training weekend on the mountains in March - I can't wait.

Confirmation

The Bishop of Edmonton came and confirmed 11 of our members last night. Mainly young people with some fantastic testimonies of life changing encounters with Jesus. I got to play Bishop's chaplain and managed to keep a straight face through out, but was sorely tested towards the end when I had to hold the Bishop's crook, with the Bishop standing to my left and my good friend and colleague Rex bleating under his breath to my right. Two blogs in three days - next one will be about the 15 peaks challenge - I know you can barely wait.

Welcome Back

OK so much for more blogging this year - New Year's resolutions and all that. It's not that there hasn't been stuff to say, more like too much and never quite sure where to start. Thanks Roy, Rich, and John for missing me! Church plant possibilities are growing, the training programme is going well, then there's days like Thursday when you get to see Nelson Mandela in Trafalgar square.

He's an incredible man and even at 87 gave a powerful speech the full transcript can be found at The Times website. I was particularly struck by the following bit towards the end,

"We thank you for coming here today. Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.

"Of course the task will not be easy. But not to do this would be a crime against humanity, against which I ask all humanity now to rise up.
"Make Poverty History in 2005. Make History in 2005. Then we can all stand with our heads held high.
"Thank you."

I was there with our trainees and I'm hoping it's not too late for my generation, I certainly want to keep commiting to make sure there's gets greater.

Making Poverty History