Our Minister Writes

The Synod (again!) has also agreed to help fund a 20 hour/week outreach worker for Trinity-Henleaze to help us grow connections into the community and fresh evangelistic activities. We’ll be advertising in September and hope to appoint before Christmas. Plans for building improvements are progressing. And Carla, our not-so-new-now administrator, has settled in and is bringing a fresh and creative eye to what we do.
 

What do you notice?

Several things strike me from my list. One is that, without the support of our Synod, both in advice and with money, none of this would be happening. If ever we needed to be reminded that sharing in a Synod is a blessing rather than a distraction or burden, here it is!

Another is that we are doing plenty with our property. In some ways this might be seen as distraction – too much time, money and energy going into buildings. I don’t see it that way as long as we keep the buildings in a proper mission perspective. Having good and welcoming places within which to worship and celebrate is good. Ensuring our buildings have as small a carbon footprint as possible is deeply theological at a time of climate and habitat crises. The key will be the extent to which our newly enhanced and improved buildings become springboards and tools for mission, service and outreach. When Jesus announces that the kingdom of God has come, I suspect he didn’t mean go build nice buildings. But if better buildings free us up to share God’s love and the challenge and call of the gospel then I think Jesus will be urging us on. If our buildings become less restricted in what they enable, if they are much more user-friendly and far less costly to run, then that frees up time, energy and creativity for mission.

Meanwhile, Neil is preparing for his induction on Monday 6th July as Moderator of URC General Assembly…
 

What might I reflect upon in such a moment? 

Most importantly, I want to celebrate the URC’s deep wisdom in the tradition that the moderator serves only one year and that she or he does so whilst continuing existing work and responsibilities. Doing it for a year and part-time suggests long enough to be useful, but not too long to gain a degree of power and influence that could be unhealthy and unwise. Our URC roots go deep into Nonconformity and Dissent; the birth of the Church of England saw our ancestors rejecting ways of being Church that located plenty of authority in orders of bishops and archbishops. A new assembly moderator each year signals important things about how we believe God wishes the Church to be; a priesthood of all believers with no single voice given undue weight. That’s also why we expect the role to sit alongside existing roles; you have to juggle the diary, but you don’t leave behind the day-to-day commitments that already frame your discipleship and to which you’ll return. This is meant to be temporary. 

Another theme for me is thankfulness. This is possibly the only role in the URC that one can never apply for; nomination must come from others voting in Synod meetings without you knowing. To be nominated, and then to be voted in by the General Assembly, is one of the greatest honours of my life. The URC has always been a wonderful home for us as a family. In this moment, that home also becomes a family offering me the greatest of gifts that it can offer anyone. I am awed and humbled by the reality. And my thanks are for all of you as well. I cannot count the numbers of times you have asked me how it was going as this elect year has unfolded, and the times you have wished me well, wished Jenny well, offered prayers for us. I know many of you, especially our Elders and Church Secretaries and Pulpit Supply Secretaries, will carry extra work as so much of my time takes me elsewhere. Thank you for your beautiful support. 

Which takes me, neatly, to a final thought. Most of all, I thank God for this moment of calling. Since I candidated for URC ministry in the distant and hazy days of 1985, I have tried to serve as best I can as a response in love to the love God has shown me in Jesus and touched my soul with through the Holy Spirit. It has been a journey of blessings and of tears, of adventures and mundanity, of achievements and disasters. The heights have been a wonder and the lows have tested me beyond belief. Early on that road God gifted me Jenny and then our boys. I don’t have words for just how grateful I am to you three. 

One final thought on buildings. None of us were around when our church buildings opened. We inherit what other faithful folk made. Our joy and responsibility is to take their inheritance, treasure it, and pass it on to those who will worship and flourish in our communities long after we have died. We can be deeply grateful for what we receive. We now take our turn to carry the torch as we boldly make our way into God’s future. And to God be the glory - always.

Yours in Christ,

Neil