From Refuge to Warm Place

 Yesterday afternoon, after many months of looking guiltily at my home desk (it had become a collecting point), I finally sat down and started sorting and throwing out papers. It's because we have visitors coming soon, and ...well, you know how that goes!

And I came across this Wellington Weekly under a pile of papers. I really don't make a habit of keeping WWN copies, but this one I did! And I wondered why? And then I saw it!

From pretty much 4 years ago, an account of the opening of our Warm Place,

It's interesting to consider how we began the Refuge, or as it's now known, "The Warm Place." We prayerfully considered this long and hard at our church meetings. We discussed it, prayed into and sought to understand what God was saying to us.

Warm Place partly came out of the Ukraine Café, partly out of the Utility and Economic Crisis and is a missional response to feed those who cannot afford to do so, hence “Warm Place.”  Since those two big social challenges were experienced, it is accurate to say that their causes have not vanished, WP has matured into broader areas of social and local community connection that give comfort to the lonely and is a safe place for those struggling with mental health. Both of those are real areas of local community need, and as such have placed the church in good standing within the town. Not, predictably as an evangelistic outreach, but as a genuine good news activity of faith. People come because they are welcomed, not judged, nor preached at, but listened to and where possible practically supported.

WP has always existed in our ministries as stretching us, more than a church of our size could ever have considered taking on, let alone sustaining. Probably less than 25% of teams are WBC folk. And yet, WP nonetheless is known as a mInistry of the church. It is an intense, stressful and costly ministry, and it is one where spiritual realities are engaged with.

It is not, and never was intended to be the only outreach of WBC, even if some have perceived it as being so. In the town, others have come after us and developed their own. All of them struggle for volunteers,

WP until 25 was made up of 2 shifts – day and evening, all with their separate teams, which was intentionally designed so that new teams came on site and they were fresh and energised and ready to go. In fact, originally, WP went all through the entire day from morning through to evening, serving lunch and supper. We saw the meal times naturally dominate, so people would come mid-morning and settle in for lunch, then go. Then after lunch it crashed to a mere few sat either asleep, reading or chatting. Then the late afternoon surge for supper took place, with around 25 to 30. In 25 our evening shift numbers crashed out and that made the leadership team make an honest decision to review, and this led to close evenings. Unfortunately, the idea of shifts has in a minority not been heard and some have been present all day and night.

On numerous occasions, some have said “we could be doing this, and that and adding this extra facility and this one too!” I have welcomed such vision but in the end, the overriding reason that these were not moved forward with was that we did not have the people resources. 

At its simplest, it is a response to show the love of Christ to those in the community in response to the call of Jesus to clothe, feed and care for those who cannot, because they are Christ, Matthew 25: 34-40. 

In this context we are not directly evangelistic, but we are entirely missional. The thrust of such mission is therefore to show Christian love through practical care.

In the same way, those who attend Warm Place come from a broad spectrum of largely non-church and faith based background. I know of one distinct Christian attendee, for example. The vast majority are not. We see some homeless, some who are not badly off but lonely, some who struggle with mental health issues, some who are distinctly anti-church and faith.

WP is not a complicated vision, and in fact, the vision is in the Bible! Some suggest that having a more direct evangelistic vision to WP would solve the staffing challenges we have. All the text books say that vision can solve staffing. I suspect that this isn’t the case in this instance. Unless that is, that what is being said here is that “if the vision was one we liked, then we might join in with it.” 

It's good to remember where Refuge/WP came from, and to mark the 4 years we have been carrying out this ministry.

Justice in the community

 Article created for local Wellington Weekly Newspaper Christian Comment:

Justice in our community can be exceptionally challenging in these days of social media. Barely a day goes by without someone posting something that they want justice or resolution over from within the town. Posts are either very specific with photos “to name and shame” or more general with a “yet again” feel about it. Often posts are anonymous for fear of reprisal or online harassment. The way we do justice, mercy, restoration, forgiveness has now changed; not necessarily for the better.

On the other hand, local social media can be advantageous in some circumstances where a missing person needs to be found, or a tragic hit and run where no obvious witnesses saw what happened. Other scenarios too.

Recently I was assaulted in one of our local parks. I was so shocked that I immediately wanted “something to happen” and was sorely tempted to post something. I had to drive myself not to do so, simply because these are not my values.

Irony: the majority of people reading this will be doing so in traditional newspaper form. Not many will therefore be aware of the online tensions being frequently played out. Our local A/S Sarjeant has requested that this doesn’t take place and that statutory procedures, where appropriate are followed.

No part of this is easy to think about and reflect upon, except to ponder whether we have lost the ways of mercy, forgiveness, setting right disagreements and sitting down with others and talking through different opinions and views in a mature but appropriate way. Particularly where we see low key frustration, annoyance and modern-day tension, rather than being specifically criminal.

As a Christian, I find a different model of justice, mercy and reconciliation in the Bible. Scripture tells us to go quietly and seek reconciliation one-to-one. To seek peace and forgiveness, not revenge. To examine my own motives, speech and actions and to see if there was any offense in me. To heal and restore and grow with others rather than create further alienation. To live in peace with others as far as it is possible.

It might be that we need to “unlearn” some of the new ways of communicating, and in such instances make peace face to face.

Revd Sam Griffiths is the Minister of Wellington Baptist Church

COMS in Federation Space

 As an avowed "Trecky" - and by that I mean none of this modern Star Wars stuff (I know, I know - I'm really showing my age) but the proper Star Trek generation, the key breakthrough with alien cultures was when "The Universal Translator" became a feature of all Federation Space Ships. "What the heck are you going on about?" I hear you say. This little chip, attached to the little diamond on their Star Trek shirts, enabled them to communicate easily with all alien cultures, even though they didn't speak the lingo! Whether it was Klingon, Romulan, Borg or Vulcan, everyone could communicate with each other instantly. Not so, however, in a church! We struggle in numerous ways.

For one thing, there are a myriad of desired com-methods: some use only email, others won't go anywhere near anything electronic and are committed paper users. Others rarely go to their emails and use SMS Text. Whilst others still use Whatsapp only, and then still others use Facebook messaging. Then the really steely-hard pioneers still use a face-to-face encounter with their voices and occasionally their eyebrows. Some people claim their method of coms is email, but rarely check them!

Within a church, there has been a general trend away from paper to the e-coms means, because not only does it reduce copying costs (to say nothing about postage costs) but it also does justice to the green-planet-debate. Lower communication costs thererfore are vital.

And some people are never off their mobiles, and some people might occasionally turn them on once a day. Some read an SMS for 3 seconds and then forget it. Some people never reply to emails!

We are sinking in communication methods and yet we are a generation that still struggles to communicate!

It's not possible in a church to use all and every method of communication. Nor is it possible to pander to different methods that individuals require. We do not have lengthy time to go through every means. Ultimately we have to make a choice and then use it and then the church community has to either accept that or - as is becoming clear, choose not to be communicated with. Shrug the shoulders and ignore!

So we have chosen to use Joyned, aka Jovo, which not only complies with safeguarding requirements where say Whatsapp doesn't. Whatsapp shows the phone numbers, Jovo doesn't.

I guess it's possible to groan at how we com, but there is no perfect answer or solution. We have to make the best of it. We can see in Jovo who reads the message and who doesn't. And "ping" "ping" "ping" as yet another responds to the post or message can be annoying. Some people it seems don't want to be communicated with, and that then is a real problem to wrestle with.

Instead of pushing against the grain, might it be worth going with it and trying to make the best of it?

Afterall, in space, no one can hear you scream!

Stretched

Traditionally, summer is (at least in our memories) a time for a slower pace of life. That might have something to do with school holidays. The minute I type that last sentence, the stark truth is that many Grandparents step up, not down in school holidays! So maybe it's a mere myth! Yet I suspect that because we were all young once, we have this instinct that summer days should therefore be slower, more restful and have a more gentle pace of life. And that I think is just not reality. My observation is that many are finding that they are having to work harder, longer and be more productive. And the recovery time is taking longer for some, if not all. In short, there are numerous people, even in our own church family who are stretched more than any other time before. When you are stretched, it can be hard to cope with the ordinary, daily requirements of life. We are all familiar, I'm sure, with the balancing of the mundane aspects of our lives. The cleaning, tidying, washing, dusting (where does it come from), repairing, sweeping, hoovering, admin, financial admin and so forth - absolutely never goes away. It makes me remember Jesus at the home of Mary and Martha in Luke 10: 38-42 and Jesus arrives. You remember it well, I'm sure: Martha is annoyed as her sister, Mary, had left her to do the housework, so that Mary could sit at Jesus' feet. Martha wants Jesus to tell Mary off, and get on and do some house work. So Jesus comes to their house, and it's in chaos and you know what - he doesn't care! Tremendously reassuring. Can I widen it for a moment? He comes to your life, and it's in chaos, and you know what - he doesn't care! So Mary gets the "sister-prize" and just sits at Jesus' feet. Fascinating isn't it? Draw your own conclusions.

We had our holiday for the 3rd year in a row out of school holiday time, and it was delightful, and less expensive, but I found himself suddenly aware of those around us being generally older, and wasn't sure what I felt about that. "Has it come to this?" I heard myself say! But then I went back to reading my book, so it all became okay after that!

The stark truth is that since we came back from a very relaxing holiday, that the same fast pace of life has more than resumed. Which is far from ideal, but I guess not unexpected. 

I've been keeping my eye on local social media, and by that I mean the local facebook community sites I belong to, and off of the back of the local Police Sergeant's appeal for residents to not "name and blame" but report to him, I am increasingly seeing a growing tension on numerous issues. This had made me reflect on several things which I think we need to be aware of and pray into: 1) The means of peace making, mercy and reconcilliation are no longer known or used tools by the current generations. We take these for granted in the church. We may not be very good at them, but we know what should happen. That means that our communities no longer have the skills to reconcile, heal, forgive or be merciful. 2) The process that is becoming common is to now sweep out your camera phone and start filming and then immediately share publicly - "shame" so that public support in the form of "likes" can basically dishonour a person from within the locality. [irony] How clever we are and astute that this new basic form of "going for your phone" allows the truth to be be known. Except that in the brave tidal wave of AI now sweeping into our worlds, be very careful indeed, because the camera now pretty much always lies. What these observations and points say to me is that our "salt has lost its saltiness" in the community. Many simply do not have these key Kingdom values on how to live, forgive, reconcile and restore. And this is not somewhere else in some inner-city, it's right here on our doorsteps and in our community. Just like it's in other communities too. What are we going to do about it?

Pastor Sam

Wisdom is the deepest yearning

Sparked by watching the extraordinary speech to the USA Congress by His Majesty King Charles, I began to reflect on how we find wisdom. 

I read an article yesterday, probably in The Daily Telegraph, (I think it may have been - I read around 5 newspapers each day and rarely remember what was where) on how that speech would have been formulated and prepared, and who was responsible for it, and how long it took to create and edit. The article was fascinating, and yet in some respects it wasn't surprising. 

As someone who's regular task is to prepare talks, aka Sermons, the process interested me. Most Preachers in a local church rarely get the opportunity to hone and fine-polish a talk in the way that this speech would have been, and - according to the article, The King spent hours in his private garden and on the flight to the USA, and on the journey from Andrews AFB to Washington, still smoothing it through and learning it's required nuances. The process spoke to me, and rang echoes in my own small act of sermon-prep, of how a really good talk is gradually sharpened until you can do no more.

And some words of defense for the local church Minister who faithfully preaches each week: when Church friends tell you they went to hear a wonderful visiting speaker at an event nearby and how brilliant they were, remember - that speaker got to prep, hone and shine that talk with plenty of time, lots of funny lines and gags and quotes, and now they're off again to give it somewhere else. We, the regular preachers who do it each week, and move on to another text the following week, have no such luxury of time.

Back to the King: then I wondered, as indeed journalists around the world have done, as to just how much POTUS would have actually heard and understood. Congress seemed to love it, but Trump wasn't there, and the careful diplomacy hid the many highly significant points that the speech sought to make. Would someone have had to have told him or explained it to him? Or is POTUS merely surrounded by "Yes" people?

One of my regular prayers is "Lord, please give me wisdom." As I intercede and pray for people and situations, I finally begin to wrap up, which is when I pray for myself. And the continual prayer in 38 years has largely been that - "Lord, give me wisdom!"

I feel so often out of my depth in numerous situations that are complex. These are pastoral and leadership situations, none of them straightforward, and they are more often than not, of such a nature where I cannot essentially go to someone and say "What should I do?" These come with the territory of being a Minister of the Gospel. I feel the weight of them and they often exhaust me mentally and physically and I would observe that as a Minister, it is what we carry and continue to carry, which most drains us. There is a picture that I have hung above my desk which shows a robed Priest sat on his own, and the moonlight is shining through the church window upon him, with his head in his hands. For me, this perfectly sums up the call in ministry to carry!

That also got me thinking about ordinary, everyday wisdom and listening. And it struck me for all of us, when we need wisdom or advice, that "listening to what we want to hear is easy!" 

Just think about that for a moment. All of us can play a pretend game of wisdom-searching wherein if we want to have affirmed what we already think or have determined is right, then we go to those who we know will merely affirm that same script and say "of course you're right!" How often we do that with those around us. But listening to something different, to something alternative, to a different perspective - can I put it like this - "listening to what we do not (or may not) want to hear" - is very hard indeed!

It seems to me that real wisdom isn't necessarily found in what we want to hear and may have been pre-determined in our minds. Yet often, that's precisely what we do. Might I suggest that this is "shallow-listening?" And as for whether it's wisdom - well, you tell me what you think!?

That's why I wonder actually, if in truth,  wisdom and listening go together. If we're not good listeners, then we are, it seems to me, less likely to show wisdom or even be thirsty for it. If we're more prone to talking and always having an opinion, then maybe, the lack of listening might indicate a dearth of wisdom - maybe!

When Solomon asks for wisdom in 1 Kings 3, did God give him the ability to listen well too? Returning to the POTUS matter, I'm struck that this is potentially an obvious deficiency. It is a high-risk area for many leaders. When self-focus becomes your daily aim, how on earth are you able to listen?

In the book of James, wisdom is portrayed as a practical, heavenly gift and not an intellectual one. This, according to James, requires godly living, relational harmony and endurance during trials. It manifests through righteous behaviour, peaceability and humility and distinguishes itself from earthly wisdom rooted in selfish ambition and disorder. (3:13-18)

So let wisdom be something we work hard at and aim to listen well in. And, like the good fruit of the Spirit, work ourselves towards.

The shock of summer

So we bravely move into British Summer Time! One day you're in shorts, and the next day you're back in Jeans and a jumper! Such is the summary of our day-to-day lives - some days are great, and others perhaps less so. I am, however, struck by how we are into the 2nd quarter of this year, and life seems to not lack pace. If we merely cruise along, we will have let this year float away. I am determined to not reach Autumn without having made something of this year, even when some opportunities are already escaping me. And that makes me annoyed!

I am distinctly aware of just how many in the church are having to manage and cope with elderly parents and the required management of their lives. We are not on our own! In fact, the chatter over coffee after the service can, for some, be a moment to touch base over the week's challenges. It is "very" not easy to be in this place of having to deal with finances, health, carers, medications, power of attorney paper work, house clearances or "matters technical" such as the right button to press on the remote control or what's now gone wrong on the mobile, heating, online banking, spam emails, phishing scam phone calls, paperwork, or trying to explain what an app is, let alone how to use one. To have such loved ones nearby locally is one thing, to have them live further afield is taxing indeed. For most, these seasons creep up upon us when we were least expecting them, and rarely do we fit them into our existing fast-moving realities. Sometimes you can laugh at it all, and others find yourself weeping or angry or in despair, These are real emotions and are okay. Don't feel guilty. The honest reflection, I think, first seen in The Diary of Adrian Mole, is akin to being parents to your own children, whilst finding yourself parenting your own parents! The expression in The Secret Diary escapes me for a moment [answers on a postcard, please]. And having to cope with all of this, particularly when an emergency comes along, is very, very not easy! And that's being polite. The stress, worry and the sense of being pulled in all directions, whilst finding part of you is sublimanally grieving underneath, either by what's happened, or even by what's not happened yet, its all so very difficult. Perhaps we should form a club of like-minded WBC individuals who can share their woes and tribulations?

The Easter period for us in WBC was a truly joyful and amazing one. Many have provided very positive feedback of the United Good Friday Worship, and to celebrate on Easter Sunday with a Baptism was very thrilling. I observed just how many churches across the SW peninsula were actively involved in Baptismal services. So much so that it was reported and remarked upon by local media. God is clearly doing something new in the UK. To try to label precisely what that is, seems to be a potentially clumsy action at this point. Calling it a "Quiet Revival" may well make us feel warm and fluffy inside, but its premature to give what is happening a title or to analyse it. It seems best for us to engage prayerfully and with all our energies in this current wave and see where it goes.

Going back to how good Easter was, let me put a different personal perspective: it crept up on me, and that's not happened before. What got me this time around was the late breaking up of schools - essentially into Holy Week, or was it simply that Easter was early? Whichever it was, being asked to do Easter assemblies in Holy Week completely threw me, when normally I am doing my best to keep my head above water in Easter preparations. I have this problem at Christmas too and have now inked out those traps in that season. Clearly I am going to have to do the same now for Easter! Even after all these years, I am still mastering my diary so that there are no surprises. Know that feeling?

We have introduced a new channel to our Joyned communication called "Creative" - all of you are creative in numerous ways. Join Joyned Creative channel and share your creations!

I meant to say (and remembered on our dog walk) that Pope Leo is having a top quality run at the moment as he engages prophetically with the challenge of North American war engagement. He is saying publicaly what so many of us in reality think and feel. The contrast is great wherein previously the North American church seemingly acted with prophetic utterance in some areas, now that is gone and lost. If ever they needed to stand up and be counted, this is the time!

Into all of your day-to-day diary and care challenges, and just survival and coping of life, I pray God's peace and blessing.

Pastor Sam

Tank or donkey?

What would your choice be: a tank (if you can afford the diesel) or a donkey? Both are available, and the former says “power” or potentially “destruction” all over it, whilst the latter is largely harmless, and is so counter to our modern culture that it's highly likely to be mocked and screamed at from across our streets.

Inevitably, our thoughts right now are full of worry, apprehension and concern about the war taking place in the Middle East, and within Iran. This week hopes have been raised when POTUS stated that peace talks had in fact been initiated and in his own hapless way expressed the hope that they lead to something otherwise, “we’ll just keep bombing our little hearts out.” Seemingly a choice between the way of aggression and domination, and the way of peace. The former is about power, and the latter seemingly worthy of mockery.

We are presented with two choices in the biblical account of Easter, which is so up to date for our struggles, challenges and choices for our lives today. In the days before the Passover supper, arrest of Jesus, his stitched up trial and crucifixion, Judas hopes that Jesus will arrive in Jerusalem in power and authority (assuming legions of Angels) and deal with the Romans and their abusive military power and dominance. Jesus confounds Judas’ hopes by arriving on a donkey instead, thus showing a very different kind of Kingdom which has nothing to do with the abuse or display of human power.

Palm Sunday, Holy week, Good Friday, Easter Sunday provides us with a distinctly different choice on how we live our lives. Not for Jesus, the way of the tank, but that of the peaceful donkey. As Pope Leo recently stated, “God does not go to war!”

I love this Methodist prayer: “Come to us as you came to Jerusalem, not wrapped in dominance, but clothed in humility. Teach us to recognise your presence in the ordinary, vulnerable and overlooked. Open our hearts to peace that confronts violence, to justice that repairs harm, our voices to praise that become action. Through Christ, who comes gently and truthfully, we pray.”