Still shaking my head over yesterday’s phenomenal outpouring of love here for my last Sunday! The church family and local community came together for an amazing time of gratitude to God, quite overwhelming at times. Apart from making me eat unmentionable things in ‘I’m a Northerner get me out of here!’, having to sing ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams, and being presented with a beautiful album of our time here and far too many hugs and kisses – we were also really privileged to baptise 25 people! What a day – I will never forget it. Thanks to everyone – and thanks be to God! There are too many photos to upload an it takes ages – but here’s a little sample – Thanks be to God!
Tag: Church
Mystery Churchgoers?
Just been reading about the new service offered by Christian Research – ChurchCheck, a new mystery visitor service. For £60 plus VAT they offer to send some people to “look around and assess everything that goes on, making comments on everything from the state of the exterior noticeboard to the length of the sermon…” These otherwise non committed visitors will just blend into the crowd, “rate the atmosphere, strengths and weaknesses, singing and even the after-service chat before giving the the church a score.” Some more cynical ministers might retort, “We have those people anyway – without paying ’em!” Here’s a classic comedy moment from one ‘visitor…’ Christian research reminds us “The welcome someone receives at church is so important – and ChurchCheck puts it to the test. It gives a simple and accurate account of a church’s interaction with newcomers, and the results provide very precise “actionable” information to help churches improve. Personally I think people are voting with their feet every week and we have so much to learn, it’s not such a bad idea. What do you […]
GODISNOWHERE
Yesterday morning, as part of our “40 Days of Community,” our L1FEgroup (what we call our midweek groups) went out around the village, picking up litter. The parish council here provide the bags and the grabbers, and the faithful few from the village who usually do it were, I think, encouraged to have the extra hands. So much so they gave gloves to put on those hands. I ended up outside Cranmore, my designated patch being a lay-by just set off Epsom Rd to clear up. I’d passed a few places on the way that were fabulously litter free already, so I was looking forward to having little to do but feeling good about civic duty done. But when I arrived, this spot really was a mess. I was with Zoë and our friend Clare, they had their yellow jackets on and my ‘grabber’ didn’t work so I stood there watching for a bit – in supervisory capacity – until they realised passersby may have thought the ladies were on day release from nearby HMP Send, and sent me off […]
Resist the lion!
This clip shows that it’s so important we stick together – and fight!