Jargon buster

Yesterday I attended my first governors' meeting at my daughter's school, as one of the parent governors. Although I used to be a teacher (ten years ago now) I was struck by just how much jargon and particularly how many abbreviations were used (both spoken and written) without any explanation or clarification. Some of course could be guessed at from the context, others were simply noted down so that I could either google or facebook the answers (facebook has been a great resource - thanks to all my teacher friends). Of course I could simply have asked - but no one wants to do that sort of thing do they.

I was reminded of the importance of keeping our church services jargon free. We were especially conscious of that last week with Back to Church Sunday but all the time we need to be conscious of the fact that we're not here for the 'in-crowd'. And therefore the language that we use has to be everyday. 'In jokes' and witty asides may be funny - but if you ain't got a clue what's going on you're going to feel excluded rather than welcomed.

Of course there are some words that we use, because, for example, they are in the Bible, that are not everyday words. I think it is important to hold on to these words, but to remember to explain what they mean. This is no longer a culture where people grew up in church and learnt the language. And so we need to make the effort to bridge that gap.

Back to Church Sunday

You don't need to spend too long searching on the Internet, reading blogs, visiting chat rooms etc. to know that there are plenty of people out there in cyberspace who are fascinated by Jesus but who can't stand the church. And there are all kinds of reasons as to why this might be. Some will have had a boring experience of church as a child and longed for the day when they were old enough never to have to return. Others may have been an active member of a church until something happened that brought disillusionment. Others have experienced the gap between what some people in church say but then go and do - the gap for example between love, forgiveness and grace on the one hand and a harsh judgemental attitude on the other.

But whatever the reason, this coming Sunday is Back to Church Sunday. An opportunity for those who attend church to invite their friends, who may have attended church in the past but no longer do so. For those of us who attend to church to say to our friends, 'Do you want to come along to something I really enjoy doing?'

And if you're fascinated by Jesus but can't stand the church, use this coming Sunday to find a local church that is holding a Back to Church service and give it go. You never know - you may be totally surprised by what you find.

Operation Christmas Child

This coming Saturday we are having a mission evening where we are looking at the work at Samaritan's Purse - particularly their Operation Christmas Child programme. We will be learning about the work through a number of DVD clips as well as wrapping our own shoe boxes.

'But it's only September', I hear you cry. Yes but it is good to plan ahead. The actual dates of the OCC appeal are 1-18 November, so in order to encourage as many people as possible to get involved we need to start letting them know now.

Everyone can be involved - to find out more, if you live in the UK visit www.operationchristmaschild.org.uk. If you live outside the UK go to www.samaritanspurse.org

New Beginnings

Feeling much better - just can't quite shake off the cough. But it really is about time I got back to writing!

At the beginning of the month, as a church, we started a new chapter in our history. Having been amalgamated into part of a bigger church for eight or so years (to help the church through a difficult time), on 1 September we once again were ready to stand on our own two feet, to go and make our own way in the world, to fly the nest...add any other analogies regarding children leaving their parents' home for the first time that you can think of...

On Sunday morning we began looking at the New Testament book of Philippians (1:1-11). And there is much here to encourage us. Just a few points.

Although we are at the start of a new chapter, we go into our exciting but uncertain future with a faithful God who has helped us this far, and who has promised that he will bring to completion what he has already started (6). It's not about us standing on our own two feet for we walk alongside a God who has promised to be with us every step of the way.

We are currently having building work done at the church, and so there has been a lot of dust and noise. Parts of the building can be best described as a building site. It's a mess, but the work is being done, and will soon be completed. Our lives resemble a life long building site as God works in us to fashion something amazing. Sometimes that work will create a lot of noise and dust. Other times we may hardly be aware that it is going on. But we will never be the finished product - God is constantly at work in us - until our life here comes to an end.

One of my dreams and hopes for our new church is spiritual growth. And I echo Paul's prayer in verses 9-11. Praying for increased love for each other; that we get to know God better; that as God works in us we learn what the right thing to do is in any situation; and we discern which are God's priorities in the long list of things that we could be doing. And that we will see the fruit - to God's glory.

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