I just thought I would update the blog on the last two meetings. I was very hopeful, the time before last that some new people would come along. One regular member had said she had asked three people and was expecting to meet at lest two of them to come up to the house. However, at the last minute, she couldnt come herself as she was taken shopping by her daughter to buy a new outfit for her grandson's wedding.

That session we did a little bit of drama. Or rather we read through some sketches together. One person was petrified of this. She made lots of mistakes but at least this turned to hilarity! Another person was most impressed by one of the sketches because it was a biblical story - the wedding at Cana, but written in the style of Fawlty Towers. Again, this was an example of how their faith was brought to life by a different slant on an old story.

In the following meeting there was fewer people and we had a general knowledge quiz. And we also organised a trip which will appeal to a number of people. We are able to use our funds to subsidise the cost of the coach which I hope will enable people to come along.

Incidentally.. what I have discovered in the last couple of weeks is that ... although the bigo session couldnt be given up when I asked to use the space at the pensioners complex, bingo has now been given up for another activity. Ho hum!

well ... we had four lent lunches. They were well-received and people contributed on the whole. Different people prepared soup, another person brought bread rolls, and we each paid £3 for the privilege. We had a Bible reading and a prayer. But as yet, there are no people attending who do not go to church. So this is a real disappointment. It is a church I think (as opposed to a group) but it is a subset of the original church. What we need is some overlap. ... just one person coming along who doesnt go to the main church ... please!

the beauty of God's creation?

So the next meeting was a beetle-drive. Only 8 people decided to play but the others were happy chatting. Ibnstead of working on pieces of paper, I had some plastic beetles that had to be put together as and when the dice allowed.

We began with a reading from the creation story:- And God said, 'Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind.' And it was so. God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good. Gen 1:24-25 NRSV. A little bit tongue in cheek but it did begin a discussion on why certain animals and insects were created.

The following week, a number joined with the mother church in the next village for a pancake tea. This was positive as getting the two to join together is always difficult. Next time - Lent lunches.

To cut a long story short, the next two meetings were cancelled. The first was cancelled because I wasnt too well. The second, In January because of the weather. Or, at least, I didnt cancel the meeting, but no-one came.

The next time we came together, we played games (especially rummikub which has become a firm favourite) and listened to hymns and planned ahead. I omitted to read from the Bible but we did pray for ourselves and others.

We planned to have some Lent lunches. To my surprise this hasn't been done before in the mother church. But I think it will be a good way of encouraging people to bring others along. Some people may come just for those meetings and then stop again. But it will be 'outreach' and raising money for the Bishop's Lent Appeal. I think it might be a good idea to make it clear where the money has come from when we donate it. The problem with that is that the group doesnt know its an emerging church yet.

continuation

well, so successful was the previous meeting, a fortnight later, we continued. Still very interesting. Not so much hilarity but more conversations about the problems ... or people who have passed on ... or how things have changed. Still no 'non-church people'. But we're enjoying ourselves so does it matter? - yes, very churchy.

looking back - God's faithfulness

We publicised the next meeting as' looking back' and quoted Psalm 89 verses1 :- God's faithfulness to all generations. 12 people came to the meeting. mostly church people but two are people who only manage to come on a Sunday occassionally. I had found some old slides. Again ... we had such a laugh. I couldnt believe it. They loved seeing the old pictures of 50+ years ago. They were often hysterical. And memories were all flooding back.

One thing that astounded me - having previously heard about how great the old church was - was how shabby it looked. I guess by today's standards it was just very bare. Maybe they could see that too.

Before long they were crowding around the picture that was projected on the wall that it wasn't possible for everyone to see.

I began the afternoon with the Bible verse, and helped us to understansd that previous generations are not overlooked. God was faithful then and will be faithful now.

We finished the afternoon (an hour late) with a simple prayer.

first church meeting?

So eventually, in October, I took the bull by the horms and grasped the nettle and got going. I was looking for a suitable location for the new church. We had had the holiday club in the Scout Hall - nice and big but lacking in character and a bit cold. I tried the local pensioners 'complex' which is accommodation for some of the older residents ion the village and has a good size communal space. A number had come from there to the holiday club so I thought it possible. In the end, the warden reluctantly decided that the residents couldnt be expected to give up a bingo session so we had to look elsewhere.

I then tried a local chapel, but they also couldnt help. they were worried about insurance and such like. So in desperation we began meeting in my living room which is quite large anyway.

At the first meeting just 5 people came - all regular church members. However, I turned this into a planning meeting. They didnt know it but these lovely people were my leadership team.

When I moved into the vicarage, I discovered a lot of old memorabelia that included a lot of old slides of the old church and different activities. I also had a very ancient slide projector, and the new leadership team agreed that it would be good to begin with looking back at what the village and church used to be like - something they all like doing anyway. We also decided on trips out to which lots of people could be invitied. We could also use the scout hall for things like watching a film or doing some line dancing. We would meet fortnightly, and continue to ask a donation of £3 that could be used towards trips out or paying for equipment in the future and we could also give money to causes. Everything seemed to be going well. Every time we met we would always have a time of prayer and maybe look at Bible verses. After all, most people who would be coming would be familiar with such things. I felt very encouraged until someone enthusiastically commented 'it will be just like The Ladies Guild'.

how it started

My original idea of entering a mental institution to begin a church there was fraught with so many difficulties and there were so many barriers and suspicions put in my way that I decided to give that up and think again.

In my community there are many elderly people who used to come to church and no longer do so, so I thought I could work with them. It might not be an emerging church church but maybe a reemergining church. I took the plunge and in the summer I held a holiday club for the over 60's. The idea was that each week we would have a craft activity, some games and quizzes, have people in to speak and always have a 'spiritual' point for the afternoons.

I knew that people from the church would come along but I also hoped they would bring others. It was a surprising success - not as many people as I might have hoped but those that came had a real laugh. I had the feeling that they hadn't really had such a good time for a long time. A particular favourite was 'losing your marbles' game!

In some ways it was all very prescriptive and formulaic. I pretty much had a checklist of things we ought to do. People paid £3 entry to the afternoons that contributed to a donation to charity at the end of the summer (that was outreach!)

The theory was that this was then going to lead into regular meetings and we would what emerged ....

getting started

This is my first ever blog entry in my whole life so I'm just going to see what it looks like