Communion: Ouch!

Before communion we are supposed to sort out our differences with one another.

We share the Lord's Supper in unity, so we need to keep close "account"

I have known this to be a remarkably effective way of causing people to be restored relationally: because if we drink from one cup and eat from one loaf then we do need to be one.

BUT

I remember the first time I ever led a Sunday meeting in the Church. I must have been about 23 and so was a tad nervous. We get to communion and I am sat at the front and a guy in the Church came and sat next to me.

"Dave, before I can share communion I just want to say that I am really sorry for the way I have held all these negative thoughts about you for the last 3 years. I just want you to know that I am through it all now and have forgiven you."

I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.

And I still don't!

Communion

On Sunday morning we shared communion as a Church.

We do this on the first Sunday of the month.

There is something quite moving about seeing people gather in small groups around the main hall, breaking bread and praying together.

Then in our midweek group this week I was asked to lead a time of communion as part of our worship. It really struck me preparing that when Paul asserts we should test ourselves before receiving communion that is not as onerous or negative as is sometimes implied.

We don't just confess our sins before communion because we HAVE to, like in some ceremonial cleansing before approaching the table. It is not a religious rite to be enacted before we dare approach God.

Rather we confess our sins before communion because we CAN. Because it is finished. A way has been made. Our sin has gone. And therefore to remember Christ's death until He comes without first ensuring we are living in the fullness of it is not true remembrance.

Then today in our Newfrontiers regional meeting we shared communion together as we worshipped and prayed for God to work in and through us as Churches in this area. We were exhorted to remember our own story of salvation, and to never let the awe of that first encounter with Christ to ebb away.

Three times, three situations, three different emphasis. What a remarkably simple and yet profound gift Jesus gave to the Church when he gave us such a disarmingly simple and yet brutally public and clear way of remembering Him with one another?

Relaunching a Website

We have just relaunched our website.

It was quite difficult to know what to do.

Some Churches spend thousands on the latest technology. Others don't seem to have a website at all.

I looked across the board at different options and am happy with where we have ended up.

1. The old site was looking a little tired and needed sprucing up a bit.
2. Our providers have been excellent to work with and very cost effective considering what we get.
3. We looked at more complex system and for us we can't really justify the cost. If this was a city based student attracting Church plant I would consider something a bit more intereactive, but we aren't. Some of our folks don't even have email and we don't want to exclude people.
4. I think you can spend a lot on things that don't add value.
5. What we have done is made the podcasting bit a lot more functional, made the whole thing look smarter and reads better.
6. Almost every person who visits our Church has been on the website first. This has always been a strength of our site and something we wanted to build on

So add it all up and a new chapter opens up with our web presence. On Sunday morning a chap was baptised who responded to an Alpha flyer popped through his door.

These things make a difference!

Being part of something bigger

In 1997 our Church leadership team gathered for an away day in a local village hall.

We were in touch with newfrontiers having researched the various new Church groups and had found them to be very similar to us.

A guy in the Church with a significant prophetic gift had a picture of a fishing rod and a net.

We were challenged whether we wanted to be like a single rod that no matter how far the line went out could only catch one or two fish at a time, or if we wanted to allow ourselves to be knit in with others to form a larger net.

Last week I went away for two days Prayer and Fasting at Peterborough. That was great for many reasons, but something I found profoundly moving was seeing a room with 800 people from all over the country in prayer for our Borderlands weekend.

We are a small region of Churches on the edge of things geographically; but here was a national movement, over 240 Churches represented, getting behind our seven Churches and praying blessing upon us.

That touched me in a way that I am struggling to get my head around. In a good way!

Men's Weekend

We had great fun this weekend away at the Christian Mountain Centre.

We walked, we climbed cliffs, jumped into mountain stream plunge pools, dragged ourselves into waterfalls and sailed or paddled around an estuary.

We talked, we had an ale, we worshipped, we played table tennis, we reflected on scripture, we shared our stories, we prayed and we got to know each other.

Suffice to say, a good time was had by all.

There has been a lot of discussion about men and the Church. I am even reading a book about it. I am sure a group of women from our Church would enjoy a weekend away like this too. That is not the point. The point is it was good to get some of the blokes together. A very meaningful and worthwhile venture and I would recommend the venue wholeheartedly.