A time to shine - 70 day cascade of prayer....

Over the last 2 days I have been involved in the Prayer Relay Baton "A time to shine" 70 days of Prayer and Blessing for the British Isles and Ireland. More than Gold and the World Prayer Centre have coordinated the Prayer Relay of Blessing, to link the 70 locations where the Torch will stop overnight. They contacted church leaders in each of the 70 cities or towns, so the prayer relay of blessing can go unbroken through the 70 days. The way the Prayer Relay of Blessing will work is as follows:
When the Torch starts its journey from Lands End on Saturday 19th May, Christian leaders in Cornwall will travel to the next main stopping place (Plymouth). Here they will bring prayers of blessing and hand on a
symbolic prayer baton to Christian leaders there. That simple process will continue day by day. That means on 29th May, Bangor leaders travelled to Chester and on May 30th Chester leaders travelled to Stoke and so on through the 70 days. As a result, each community receives and releases prayers of blessing.

This is a strategic time for our nation as we host the 30th Olympiad and celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty our Queen. Brian Mills (Director of InterPrayer International Partnership) prophesied in 2005: "So that, when hundreds of thousands of athletes, media, supporters and organisers come to Britain for the Olympics in 2012, we (that is we as God’s people) will be ready to welcome them into the presence of God. Just think, the nations will be coming to us. To prepare the way for the church to welcome them with love, grace, charm, politeness, and with a positive message born out of God’s love in our hearts."
God has spoken to a number of people about this unique 70 day season and all are seeking to work together through the More than Gold 70 day cascade of prayer and praise "Shine as the Flame Travels". On 18 May, 7:14 hosts an open air prayer event in Plymouth and will continue to do so each night before the Flame arrives in the 70 locations. On 19 May the Praise Bus will start its journey from Land’s End around Great Britain, two hours ahead of the Olympic Flame, and the More Than Gold 70 Day Prayer Relay begins. This will travel between all 70 towns and cities listed, with the prayer baton, containing prayers and scriptures, being handed over in each place around midday. For details of resources, times & places, go to: http://www.morethangold.org.uk/ ; 7:14 facebook page; http://www.thejourneyfromescalls.co.uk/   http://www.worldprayer.org.uk/

In Chester we got involved as we have small network of churches working together in Chester and across West Cheshire called Link Up, I lead this and we have Prayer as one of our main values and have for some time linked in from the local area into the national initiatives, so when the Olympic Flame was coming to Chester we wanted to use the Prayer Relay as a focus of prayer for Chester and the nation. We received the Prayer Baton on Tuesday 29 from Bangor - 3 people travelled across and inside the baton there were prayer and blessing written for Chester, we held a short time of prayer together at St Peters Ecumenical Centre in Chester.

Yesterday 6 of us from 3 different churches travelled to Stoke to the Beacon House of Prayer and we handed the Prayer Baton onto Stoke with it a book of prayer and blessings for Stoke we had put together over 6 weeks from across different churches/organisations in Chester plus some more prayer and blessings inside the baton. Today the baton goes onto Bolton.

Here is the Prayer of Blessing being prayed over each city and town:

We stand in the mighty name of Jesus and bless you (name of city eg Plymouth on Day 1)

That you might prosper under the mighty hand of God.

We bless you that justice and righteousness might take their proper place within your boundaries. We bless you that the favour of the Lord might rest upon you and give you peace.

We bless you that the Father’s compassion might fall upon your people. We bless your poor that they might be lifted up.

We bless you that the knowledge of Jesus might come in amongst you like a flood.

We bless the people of God in (name of city) that they might rise up with servant authority and become a people of blessing.

We bless you that the joy of the Lord might be your strength. Amen.

Maybe you could pray it over your city or town and over another city/town in the British Isles...

To be a member or not to be a member....

This week we held an evening called "connect" it was an opportunity for some of the new people who had recently started to come and get involved in HBC to explore with us the concept of membership. We had a very encouraging last 6 months with over 60 adults and children within this category of new comers!! 40% of these are new to the City of Chester, 40% have started to come with no other church background and at various stages of their journey of faith and 20% have moved to us from other churches in the area. Only 1 of them has had any involvment in a Baptist Church before!! So the concept of membership was one that they really were not aware of.

Recently I read an article on the ekklesia website entitled Baptist church attendance goes up - as membership goes down. Between 2002 and 2008, attendance at churches in the Baptist Union rose by about 3.5 per cent from 148,835 to 153,714. However, over the same period, membership of Baptist churches fell by 7 per cent from 149,685 to 139,244. In addition, baptisms dropped by a staggering 23 per cent, from 4,654 to 3,601!!! Like many baptist church leaders I have reflected for awhile on the role and purpose of membership and in particular the place of the Church Meeting in the life of our church. I have to admit I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the Church Meeting but I am looking for fully committed individuals who express a strong sense of belonging to a local church.

We have recently refocused our vision around the following statement: To be a congregation of believers: encountering God; building community; advancing the Kingdom. Our hope and dream is that as we work this out together we shall become more focused on being disciples and being missional. It was this vision and hope that we are looking for people to catch and get behind but it was also interesting to hear one of our other leaders talk about baptist history and how the earlier baptists gathered around principles not todissimialr to our present vision!

What was of interested to me was that approx 50% of our newcomers came to the evening but none of the under 30's came of which a third of the 40 adults are. Was there any significance in this? I'm not sure, in our present membership we have approx 20% under 30 and many fully engaged in the life of the church. Maybe the word member and membership are "outdated words" I must admit I personally I'm drawn to substituting the word "partner" for member. I know of one other baptist church who write this on their website  "we would love for you express that sense of belonging by becoming a Partner with us in our mission together. Our partners contribute directly to our decision making processes and enable your voice to be heard. Partnership is a very clear way of communicating to one another our support and encouragement by conveying that we are all “in this together,” committed to one another and to God’s purposes for us.

Maybe membership at HBC could be better expressed as "Partners in Mission." Now that's something to consider at my next Leadership Team meeting!!

Where are the 18-30s in our churches

This week I came across a new website www.missinggeneration.com The Missing Generation website is an initiative of the Younger Leaders Forum of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, they want to create awareness of the lack of 18-30 year olds in our churches. They want to resource, encourage and empower our churches, young adults and youth leaders into reaching the young adults of their locality.

Baptists are not the first group to begin to wake up to the fact that there ia missing generation in our chruches, in September 2009 the the Evangelical Alliance Council met to discuss the ‘Missing Generation’ of 18-30s in our churches in Britain today.  Research carried out recently by Innovista and the UK Evangelical Alliance revealed that 96% of church leaders place increasing the number of 16-30 year olds in their churches as either a priority or the top priority in their churches. Yet despite this only 11% of church leaders feel ‘well-resourced’ to do this. Jason Lane, Innovista’s Executive Director, writes: “16-30 year olds represent one of the greatest mission challenges of our day. The rapid-rate life change that accompanies these years creates openness as young people figure out what they will give their lives to. Offering this generation credible opportunities to follow Jesus is a 'must do’”

In June 2011 the Methodist Church produced a report for its 2011 Methodist Conference called

 The Missing Generation and the Methodist Church, interestingly they defined their missing generation at 25 to 40 yr olds. This report is 36 pages long and can be found at www.methodist.org.uk/downloads/you-missinggeneration-full-report-2011.pdf.

I have had a personal interest in this issue from the moment I became Pastor of Hoole Baptist Church at the tender age of 28, I have been through the process of being an emerging leader, a young leader and now at age of 46 I am established a “middle aged” leader!! The church I lead has been fortunate in that being placed in a University City we have, over the years, been one of the “student churches” and a steady if not small stream of 18 year olds turn up each October and begin to settle in life in Chester and with HBC. But even in a student city I have seen the numbers grow smaller over the years, in 2005 according to the English Church Census 3.5% of 19 to 29 yr olds went to church and Fusion is now telling us that only 2% of students are actively involved in church at university. Talking to church leaders across the city many are seeing an increasing gap in their congregations of this age profile. Thinking about this issue for HBC I am encouraged that approx 25% of our congregation is aged 18 to 30.

There are no easy answers but for me on how we engage with and disciple this generation but the recent advertising campaign for Hovis bread which shows a boy being sent to the corner shop to get some bread can give us some clues. As he travels back with his trusty loaf, he is transported through some of the key moments in 20th century British history. The message is that Hovis has been with us through thick and thin (excuse the pun) and can also be relied upon into the future. It is especially in difficult times such as the current economic crisis that we need to be able to look backwards to the good things in the past and carry them forward into the future. Teaching Bible truths is vital, but we also need some creative thinking to show how the Bible speaks to every culture and generation. Personally I like to connect Bible truths to current films and current affairs. I like to sing a mix of classic hymns and the latest festival worship music. I like to use modern technology and the latest gadgets as I quote from ancient commentators and modern celebrities.

I welcome this new initiative and look forward to hearing more from the Missing Generation website,  

Baptist Assembly - a few thoughts...

Let me begin with a couple of confession - this was my first Assembly where I stayed over & attended something on each of the 3 days. I have been before, to received my handshake & as a day visitor in Blackpool a few years ago. So why did I go this time? 3 reasons really, first to support Chris Duffett. Chris & Ruth were members of Hoole Baptist for 16 yrs, I met Chris when he was 18 & gave him his first job!! Second, I have been following the Beyond400 conversations with interest via website & twitter, and thirdly as some one in leadership of Fresh Streams I wanted to see for myself what an assembly was like. Second confession, I didn't go to everything!! I missed the AGM stuff, didn't fancy any of the Day Conferences & had booked a show before the Futures Discussion Session was put in the programme.

Some highlights for me:

• Seeing Chris so well received on Friday eve, I heard so many positive comments about Chris to convince me that his presidential year will be part of the catalyst needed to begin to see the changes that we need to see across Baptist churches in England.
• The online community using twitter helped me connect & belong esp. since there wasn't any real time to connect face to face.
• I thought Aradhna were outstanding at the morning communion, in fact the level of diversity & inclusion from the stage was clear to see & obviously reflected thought & planning
• From what I saw & heard I believe that those leading BUGB & BMS are genuine in the desire to hear from God through the listening to many voices, the job/task before them is not an easy one & they do need our prayers.

Could have been better…

• I would have liked to have seen more space in the main sessions to stop and wait on the Spirit, the programme had to be followed so closely there seemed no opportunity to be spontaneous.
• For me the relational dynamic of the assembly was very weak, there was no physical space to meet old & make new friends, for me this reflects one of biggest challenges as we move forward building a relational dynamic that underpins all the rest.
• I have to agree with a previous blogger about the number of non-Baptists involved in leading worship, and keynote speakers? Why did we have an American Baptist leader as a keynote speaker? Surely we have some British Baptist Leaders we could have used instead? I need to be inspired by UK Baptist leaders & I must admit, with no disrespect to anyone, I feel the assembly should be the place we find this inspiration. NB I did find the recognition of ministers & BMS mission workers very encouraging & humbling to witness - to see individuals willing to obey the call of God is inspiring.

Overall I enjoyed the 3 days, for me the opportunity to take time out to enjoy London was too much to resist, as this was only my 5th time of staying in the capital city, so this added to my experience. I was sorry to miss the Futures discussion, but thanks to the Baptist Times for a great summary and the twitter feed I picked up a flavour of the discussion. I do think we are in the midst of a "kiros" moment and it is my hope & prayer that we do fully embrace the moment. I also appreciate that you can't please everyone in seeking to move forward,  I recognise that as we move Beyond400 "you've got to be in it to win it" so as for me I am renewing my commitment to build relationally & prayerfully with fellow Baptists (& non Baptists) to see our denomination renewed and re envisioned and ultimately to see our nation(s) reached with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Beyond the past, Beyond our present, Beyond the walls, Beyond our comfort, lies the Big Hearted God who works beyond our imaginations.