Tim Abbott

I wonder...

I often wonder what God thinks about those who think they know the most about God.

(Inspired by some musings by Banksyboy on the current Rob Bell debate/fight)

Oak Tree Coffee House

Oak Tree Coffee House is a Community Interest Company set up by our church, St. Luke's, in Colchester. It's across the road from the community centre where the church meets on a Sunday and is intended to be a resource for the community and a focal point for a range of community and outreach activities as well as a meeting place for the church mid week. It's in a perfect location by the main bus stops and on a busy pedestrian crossroads near to Tesco, small shops and the local Primary School.

The Coffee House opened on Saturday and was well patronised for most of the day. I made my first visit on Monday for a meeting about Street Pastors with a friend and was really impressed with the design and the standard of work. The big picture windows at the front, and the fact that they've resisted the temptation to pack too many chairs and tables in, gives the Coffee House a spacious feel and offers a wide range of seating options.

I was back in on Tuesday evening for the first meeting of a group of us planning community and outreach activities based in the Coffee House.

Then on Wednesday I needed to meet a local youth worker for a conversation about Chaplaincy in a local school and the obvious venue was, well, the Coffee House! We arrived during a slight lull, but by 3:30pm the place was packed again with mums and children, small groups and several girls from the local secondary school. The Coffee House has already become a focal point for many in the Highwoods area. We're excited by the opportunities it creates for new ways of engaging with the local community and making the gospel accessible to the people of Highwoods.

More photos on Flickr

Journey to Disbelief

My friend Tom has recently started a blog to record his journey to disbelief as a former Christian. Tom had a remarkable conversion experience several years ago and for a time worked with us in schools. He has a sharp mind and a compassionate heart and I found in him both a good friend and a stimulating thinker - we shared many a theological conversation, reflected hilariously and painfully on some of the tragic and embarrassing manifestations of Christianity, and created some quality materials for our work in schools. Tom was one of the people involved in creating the first Sanctum prayer room for pupils back in the spring of 2008.

More recently a whole series of cruelties, both evangelical and relational, caused a major crisis of faith and mental health for Tom leading, among other things, to a thoughtful re-evaluation of the basis of his Christian faith and its impact on his life. Today Tom describes himself honestly as an atheist.

Journey to Disbelief is Tom's blog documenting his thoughts as an atheist and former Christian. I can thoroughly recommend it. Tom is by nature humble, honest, gracious and thoughtful and his record of his (dis)belief journey is one which anyone involved in the church today should read. Tom is not alone, and to ignore or disregard stories like his would be to miss something of great value.

Godfrey Birtill at 'Levites'

On Monday night Godfrey Birtill was in Colchester leading worship and teaching as part of a weekly training evening called “Levites” run throughout June by Kingsland Church.

Godfrey has a distinctive worship style that, it would be fair to say, seems to divide opinion. At the very least he is unique, passionate and prophetic. Prior to hearing him in person, I’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that there’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye. Theologically he stands firmly with the Celtic saints in his approach to the word, the land, the spirit and the challenging road of following Christ, writing his own songs in his own style, as well as refreshing great hymns, once forgotten, with new tunes.

After leading an energetic time of worship, which included 10 or 12 minutes of peace, simply waiting in God’s presence, Godfrey taught for a while on worship. Here, in not particularly elegant form, are my recollections of some of his key points.

• You are the worship team. It’s not about the band. You can’t go home and say “that was a terrible time of worship” - you’re part of it.We’re fed a diet of worship by an industry that is concerned to remain safe in the pursuit of sales.

Here are some styles of worship that seem to be missing from the worship life of our churches.

• The dread of God - Sometimes we need reminding of the fear of God. Dread - meaning to create awe. (When he produced his album ‘dread God’ executives from the music industry told him they couldn’t release it because of the title - it wasn’t safe enough.)

• War songs - there is a spiritual battle. You don’t have to be a Christian very long to realise we’re in a battle.

• Lament - it may not be a season for that now - need a season of Joy to produce a different sound in a nation that’s suffering from financial insecurity and worry. But sometimes we need songs of lament to bring before God.

• Prophetic songs - songs that speak to the land. Scripture speaks about the land. Is 40:9 “Say to the city, this is your God.” Jesus wept over the city. Sometimes our worship is too nice. The prophetic can be a little off the wall and we need to make room for that, without going to extremes.

There’s a caution about  overdoing it on any of these, but they all need to be in the worship toolkit.

• The songs aren’t in a resource pack, they’re in you. Indigenous songs - where are the songs that reflect your locality and issues? Godfrey appealed to young song writers - a lot of songs put out by the industry are like Coke - it’s the same everywhere. “I like Coke, but there’s too much fast food and fizzy pop - pop music - in worship today. The Lord wants to release the new wine.” Don’t write another Tim Hughes song. Don’t write something that’s the same as what we’ve already got. Wine comes from an area - there’s a uniqueness about it.

• Recapture the mystical in worship. It’s not the occult. Don’t reject things because of an old mindset. Godfrey spoke glowingly of the depth of worship among Catholic groups he’s been working with.

• There have been many critics of revival - but you’ve never heard of them. But you’ve heard of Wesley and other leaders of revival. Some people appoint themselves as spiritual policemen - we need to make sure we're not part of it.

• It’s not about being professional - “The church should be more amateur than professional” Henri Nouwen. Amateurs have passion. Amateur doesn’t mean substandard - it means, a lover (from the French, amour). Pursue amateurism, keep that fire, that passion. Leave room for the Holy Spirit - it’s part of the adventure.

I gained a huge respect for Godfrey. He really is a unique voice in a crowded and often clone like worship culture. If you get a chance to hear him, take it.

IAM10

Saturday was the tenth birthday celebration of 24-7 Prayer, a movement that started with one prayer room and now covers 101 nations. I was there with Richard, Katy and Jean from the Colchester Boiler Room Community.

Based in the beautiful setting of St. Mary's, Wyndham Square, the day started at lunchtime and included some games (it was a party after all!) Phil Togwell inspired us with a round up of where 24-7 has got to and there were occasional video greetings from all sorts of people connected with 24-7 Prayer. There were also four workshops including one on Prayer Spaces in Schools which I was facilitating.

Pete Greig spoke at the evening celebration, reviewing the scope of the impact of 24-7 Prayer and daring to look forward.

Lasting impressions? The friendships that span the nation(s). And that this is still a movement; it hasn't fossilised into an organisation.  One simple inspiring idea has generated a wealth of creative prayer and profound world changing action. In many ways, this looks to me more like the church than almost anything else I know.

Seven sacred spaces

I was greatly inspired by David Keen's post on Fresh Expressions of Bookshop which cites an article by George Lings of Church Army. George has written about the 7 sacred spaces (Word Doc download) found within 'new' and old monasticism which express the life of the community. They are:

Chapel - place of public worship
Chapter - place of decision making and ordering community life
Refectory - place of eating and hospitality, community and service.
Cell - place of private prayer
Cloister - 'inbetween' space, unstructured, allows for informal interaction
Garden - place of manual work
Scriptorum - place of study.

David goes on to reflect on how these characteristics might be lived out by a church, and then by a Christian bookshop.

But, as someone with an interest in creating 'sacred spaces in schools' it also got me wondering about where else we might take Sanctum.

Do whatever is good... show true humility

This evening I gave a presentation to a group of Colchester Borough councillors about the work of Street Pastors in our town. Also there was Debbie speaking about the SOS Bus project she heads up with whom we have a great working partnership. Let me put on record... we love these guys and the work they do. We love it that we can work in partnership with them and that dozens of ordinary people volunteer to give up an evening to help others in the town centre.

There is a genuine appreciation for the work of Street Pastors from the public and also from the councillors we met this evening. But there was one question that bugged me.

One of the councillors asked me to comment on something someone had said to him - that Street Pastors somehow saw themselves as having a monopoly on the role of caring for people on the streets at night. We know this isn't something that's been said by any of our team, and it's certainly not the reaction we get from people we meet on a Friday or Saturday night who are generally really comfortable with the fact that we're Christians.

What bugs me isn't that someone might suspect such exclusivist nonsense of us. It's the worrying realisation that they feel they have grounds for such suspicion in the first place. How has the church behaved all these years if, as soon as it steps out to care unconditionally for others, it is suspected of doing so to claim some moral superiority over other people? (We know some of these other people - they turn out on Friday and Saturday nights too, not in the name of the church, but to care nevertheless and to help people through the work of the SOS bus.)

Of course, we weave for ourselves a mighty complex web if we attempt to answer all the shifting and unspoken assumptions of others. The world has its suspicions; sometimes it is right. By our actions, by loving the world as Christ did, we are perhaps earning again the right to be heard, even if some of our earnings are going to pay off a debt of suspicion. The councillor who raised the question (not a Christian) emphasised his enthusiastic endorsement of what Street Pastors do. We need to keep doing it.

As Paul said to Titus:

"Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and to show true humility toward all men."

Crash

Last night I was part of a simple but profound encounter. Eight people, some of them Christian, gathered round a meal to discuss faith, doubt and the possibility, or otherwise, of God. “Crash” is the brainchild of my friend Joe who says,

“It is called ‘Crash’ because so often in life two opposing views come crashing together and we try to salvage answers from among the wreckage.  Crash seeks to be different and looks to enable different views to come together in such a way that enriches us all rather than tearing us apart.”

Wisely, Joe established a few simple rules to ensure the playing field was reasonably level. Everyone is encouraged to get involved in the discussion and conversations. No-one is allowed to dominate the evening and conversations. And because the evening encourages various belief systems and world views to engage with each other there should be no aggression.

After a short introductory talk around the subject of the incarnation and the point of Christ and Christmas to provide fuel for potential discussion, dinner was served and conversation began. Predictably, to start with we chatted about all sorts of things. But quite soon conversation gravitated towards our respective beliefs and doubts in a natural flow of speaking and listening that included everyone and judged no one. Our discussions around the meal permitted a degree of honesty and reality about faith and doubt that I have not experienced in any other context. It was painful to hear how damaging some people in churches have been to some of those present. Is it any wonder that people give up on God when God’s people behave like pharisees? But there was also a confident hope expressed in Christ in a way that was confessional and gentle, respecting the beliefs and feelings of all in keeping with Joe’s vision for the evening.

In some ways, Crash seems pretty obvious. There may well be similar things happening all over the country. It left me wondering. There are lots of people who, faithwise, live in something of a cloud of unknowing. I wonder where they go to discuss their ideas, to hear stories of the Christian life, to chat about life’s big issues without feeling, rightly or wrongly, ‘evangelised’? Where do people go who have been hurt by church to stay connected to some expression of Christian community?

‘Crash’ is simple and, as an unpressured place to talk about eternal matters, very effective.

Big thanks to Joe & Sarah for hosting and to everyone else who took part.

We’ll probably do it again in January.

5 Deeply De-Christian Doctrines Meme

Joe tagged me with this so I thought I ought to play ball and join in.

List 5 doctrines that are taught within the Christian church that you believe to be deeply de-Christian.

I will interpret 'taught' in it's broad sense. Some of these things may not be preached from the pulpit, but are often taught by what we do. Also, I'm pretty much on the same page as Joe with the five things he listed so the pressure is on to find another five.

1. The longer / louder your prayer the more likely it is that God will hear it.

2. When Jesus said 'make disciples'; he had in mind a teaching series delivered by an expert

3. That holiness is more about what I do than what God does

4.The body of Christ looks like a (our?) church rather than the church (with all her faults, diversity and character)

5. That running a business is less spiritual than running a church / Christian organisation

Most of the people I might have tagged seem to be on a blog holiday however, should they wish to join in, for perhaps a more youth work tinted view I tag Ian, Sarah and Alice.

Creativity and Creeds

"The Christian movement which ditches the creeds and covenants in favor of total experimentation finds itself looking less and less Christian. The movement which favors creeds at the expense of innovation finds itself theologically correct yet culturally irrelevant. However movements which are able to find the perfect point of tension between creativity and creeds have the ability to become something truly special."

Creativity and Creeds by Mark Sayers