Where did you get that hat?

I thought I would try to give a flavour of the seriousness with which the business of the World Methodist Council Executive was carried out through this photograph! The Secretary of the Council George Freeman, on the left, and the President, John Barratt, were presented with these hats by the Australian representatives at an early stage in the proceedings.

PS a few photos have now been added to earlier entries.

Methodism - its effect on Gilbert and Sullivan!

I have just arrived back from Australia this morning and am not entirely sure which way is up! We enjoyed a few days holiday after the World Methodist Council Executive. Later this week I will probably blog about serious and important things, but for the moment I wonder if anyone reading this can answer a question for me. On Thursday evening Garry and I went to the Sydney Opera House to a performance of the Gondoliers by Gilbert and Sullivan. We were interested by quite how emphatic the laughter was at the line referring to the King of Barataria having become a "Wesleyan Methodist of the most bigoted and persecuting type". What did Gilbert and/or Sullivan experience of Wesleyan Methodism for this to be here at all? Is it intended to be ironic? Certainly no Methodists I know could be seen as in any way bigoted or persecuting ;-)

I had an interesting conversation recently about how Methodism is alluded to and portrayed in the media and a number of examples came up that were intriguing (my favourite is a quote from the comedy"Dinner Ladies" by Victoria Wood) and this is a similar train of thought. What makes the writers have their particular view of Methodism? The Gondoliers was first performed in 1889 and I wonder what the general public view of Methodism was at that time.

First bite at fresh expressions

I spent Saturday in London at a Fresh Expressions vision day, one of several events over this year in association with FEx. I enjoyed it, and I think it was a worthwhile day for the 150 or so who attended.

Most of the issues I had reflected on before, but one question was new. 'when is a fresh expression not a fresh expression?' I was asked to comment about how FEx related to Emerging Church and the growing number of 'renewed expressions' in inherited churches (i.e. restarting the youth group and calling it a FEx).

I made the following comments.

I am less concerned with what you call all this stuff than with the fact it happens. Anything which contributes to the enlivening and renewing of the Church, large or small, seeming significant or modest - I'm for it!

But I do think there are differences between FEx and Emerging Church. Namely

EC tend to be a new ecclesial community in virtually every respect. Often arising from Alt Worship they tend to be configured around a group of believers, often pilgrims with stories of aother associations with church and churches, now finding a home together in a group with a rich ecclesial life. They spend time and energy adopting and creatively using all kninds of materials from Christian history to enrich their lives. They often talk in terms of new monastic movements.

There is growing up a corpus of writing, blogs and websites relating to EC, which already demonstrates a rich variety of expressions (e.g. Karen Ward seems to have a different kind of enacted ecclesiology to Dan Kimball)

By contrast FEx arise largely from inherited or traditional Church networks and often represent a renewed or innovative ministry within the whole ministry of the church. They seem to be more traditionally evangelistic in the sense that they are very often designed to engage people who do not know or have not experienced Christian faith with an authentic and innovative version of it. In this sense many FEx are not full blown ecclesial groupings (though some are).

But I'm sure there is more to it than this! What do you think?

Martyn

Last Sunday in Sydney

G'day. Am blogging from Australia from a very slow computer - but the connection is free so has a lot going for it! Now on a few days holiday after a week or so at the World Methodist Council Executive meeting in Sydney and thought I would share something of last Sunday. All of the representatives at the Conference and any accompanying partners (about 200 in all) were allocated to go to over 30 churches around Sydney on Sunday morning where members of the Executive had been asked to preach and share with local congregations.

So, last Sunday morning, six of us - Garry and myself, Jenni Sweet and Anne Vautrey from the UK, Vishwas from India and Margaruita from Bulgaria, met at Wesley Mission at 8.15 am to be taken to Lane Cove Uniting Church for the morning service. Lane Cove is to the north of Sydney so we crossed the famous Harbour Bridge, which was an experience in itself. The people there were welcoming and the service very familiar to those of us from the UK at least. Some of the concerns expressed were very specific - with sharing at the beginning of the service about the terrible droughts in certain inland areas, but the style of worship was a fairly formal communion service.

I was the Preacher and had only heard which church I was to be at on the Thursday afternoon which was followed by hasty conversations with Gerry Duncan, the minister there. I was also asked to share a little of what the World Methodist Council is. (More of that at a later point!) They were using the lectionary readings so I focused on the gospel reading of the lost coin and sheep.

After the service there was coffee and then we vacated the building so that it could be used by a Korean congregation (just as happens in my home church in Ruislip). We were then taken on a guided tour of the area and given opportunities for photographs of wonderful scenery before being taken to anothe Uniting Church centre for a barbeque lunch. It was good to share with th congregation there.

We arrived back at Wesley mission just in time for an afternoon reception and then the evening service in the Wesley theatre led by Keith Garner, one time Chair of the Bolton and Rochdale District and now Superintendent Minister and Chief Executive Officer of the Mission. What fabulous work is done there! The service was fabulous and set us up for the rest of the Conference. I look forward to writing more when I can get a faster connection - or should that be Connexion?!

It is good to share with the larger Methodist and Uniting Church family - even if the frustrations of our home churches are sometimes magnified. More of that later.

TUC - mimicking the Methodist Conference and mirroring Christian mission?

Ruby and I spent Monday and Tuesday this week in Brighton, visiting the TUC. Very enjoyable. And thanks David and Andrew for organising the visit, and Hannah Reed for playing 'mine host' so well!

How like the Methodist Conference the TUC is! It has a General Secretary (Brendan Barber), and an annually appointed President of Congress - Alison Shepherd. It has special seats reserved for speakers, a sizeable agenda, lights on the podium, and a lively exhibition area. People sit in groups, behind tables overflowing with paper. It was like being in Blackpool in July - nearly. But Trades Unionists, more than Methodists have adopted the 'mission statement' T shirt, and messages of varying kinds were emblazoned on every other person's top.

What the visit impressed on me again (a person not unsympathetic to Trades Unionism) was how closely the issues and agendas mirrored those of Christianity: protection for the vulnerable, equality, training and reskilling to increase opportunities, defence against exploitation, etc. The TUC, like many other groupings in our postChristin society, adopt many of the values of Christianity, but without the dogmas. Rather than see this as a glass half empty, I believe we should see this as a glass half full, and partner and work together with all those of good will who share values we hold dear.

Sibiu - super or superfluous

Well, after being away for what seems like an age - I arrive home again. Just as Ruby goes away for a couple of weeks - have a great time in Oz Ruby!

Most of last week was spent in Romania, in Sibiu. I'd never been there before but it is a cultural city situated in beautiful Transylvania - and hardly a sign of Dracula anywhere!

I was attending the third European Ecumenical Conference - with 2500 others. It was a grand affair but I return with some mixed feelings about it.

Many things were good. It was great to meet so many different Christian people, and I had some wonderful chats with Waldensians from Italy, Catholic reporters from France and Orthodox missionaries from Albania - to mention just a few. Some of the 'fringe' meetings were very helpful, and most of the acts of worship very moving. The Iona Community's 'Fencing In God's People' (about 3000 years of wall building in Israel and Palestine) was fantastic, taking place in a candlelit Lutheran cathedral.

The conference demonstrated to me again, in stark terms, just how varied European Christianity is. How, in different ways, Europe remains a challenging mission field - perhaps the hardest nut to crack of them all, in Christianization terms. The 'North/West' is very different to the 'East'. One is post Christian, the other post Communist. The adopted role of Christianity in (some) historically Orthodox and Catholic regions is very different to Protestantism in Britain.

Speaking personally, I return with questions, and it would be interesting to hear from anyone else who attended.

First, I was left with the impression (rightly or wrongly) that a major reason for the Conference was to provide a public forum for Catholics and Orthodox to speak to each other, and say generally affirming things - repeatedly. That is very important, I'm sure. But probably didn't need two and a haf thousand of us to be there to watch them do it!

Second, the hierarchical structure of both Catholics and Orthodox seemed to dominate the Conference. plenary sessions seemed stage managed to ensure that nobody's nose was put out of joint. Some of the vestments were fantastic - but I came away glad to be a Protestant, thankful for my jeans, and grateful that almost everyone refers to me as 'Martyn' and not 'Your All Holiness', 'Your Beatitude', 'Your Eminence' etc.

But third, and most significantly, there appeared to be a lack of real 'conferring'. Three and four hour sessions had mere minutes of opportunity for anyone other than prepared speaker numbers one to seventeen to contribute. This gave an overall impression that people were speaking 'at' or 'past' each other rather than 'to' or 'with' each other. I think for a number of Western European this modus operandi was particularly frustrating.

But hey, what do I know! I was glad to be there. And now glad to be back.

I'll post something on the TUC Congress on Friday.

Weekend in Wales

Well what a weekend! The inaugural sevice of celebration for the new Wales Synod of the Methodist Church in Wales took place in the Arts Centre of the University of Wales in Aberystwyth on Saturday afternoon following the Synod. With worship in Welsh and English, the commitment of the office of Synod Chair to Will Morrey and Stephen Wigley and presentaqtions in picture and music it truly was a celebration.

Then Martyn and I went with a large group from the celebration to the MHA 90 bed nursing & dementia Care Home, Hafan y Waun in Aberystwyth, which was opened in February. That too was inspiring as we heard about the work there and met members of staff who care for the residents and people who visit the day care centre. It makes you proud to be Methodist!

At that point Martyn and I went our seperate ways and I was driven through the wonderful Welsh countryside up to Wrexham in North Wales ready to take the morning service there ( I had a wonderful time, I hope the people in the Church there enjoyed it as much as I did), leaving Martyn to lead worship in Aberystwyth. We received wonderful hospitality and it was a joy and a privilege to be in Wales this weekend.

It isn't always easy to deal with the changes that a move to a larger District brings. In London many were nervous that they would be lost in a larger set up and I sensed a little of that this weekend in Wales. Our prayers are with those in the Wales synod and the Cymru synod in these next months of change. I wonder how others feel when Church structures change. Any words of encouragement? Any words of caution? It would be good to hear.