Could Do Better...

Fortunately one of my new year goals was not to do more blogging or I'd have failed already.

January is proving a really exciting month as our little community prays about the future and waits for God to point us in the right direction. We're being sent out on January 29th and while I will continue to have a link with St.B's, overseeing the students for the remainder of this academic year, it does feel like this is the start of a new work. On Sunday we've got Michael Moynagh from Fresh Expressions coming to spend the morning with us talking about mission which should be good.

The question that I'm getting most used to being asked is "where is this Church going to meet", and I'm loving it because I don't know and it's not my priority. We will meet together somewhere in North London and there are a few potential venues, but I'm really intending that any building we use short or long term will resource the mission of the community not act as a financial drain or focus for our energy.

It's great being able to start something with a completely blank sheet of paper and so we can work out structures and values with real freedom. I'm intending to gather a steering group this month and a friend of mine, John Chapman, pointed to the Benedictine way on major decisions. This involved the leader of the community asking for every member of the groups opinion, paying particular attention to the youngest and newest members. This being the case I've asked everyone for three names (of which only two can be the same sex) and after I've heard everyone I'm going to invite half a dozen people to form a steering group. This won't be a closed group i.e. anyone else can attend our meetings but it should provide a group who are identified by the community and committed to meeting regularly to discuss some of the community issues and decisions that I need some help with.

At the moment I need some help with a name for our venture having discovered that all the good ones appear to have gone, and that there's a London Network Church and another church called The Network Church in St Albans. We appear to be down to North London Network Church or the Network Community Church, any other suggestions are welcome.

If all else fails we could be Dan's suggestion which no one else has taken and is
the full on God's breakfast ministry of the gospel with signs and wonders and smoke and fire in the power of the spirit of the holy promised preordained messiah beloved son of Jehovah the most high with river of grace and peace and mercy and truth church - it is kind of catchy...