February 2012 Magazine Article

What is the Spirit saying to the Church? (Revelation 2 & 3)

 In a discussion I had recently with some of the Alton area church ministers we talked about the strange juxtaposition of St. Mary’s, Basingstoke and the Festival Place shopping centre. The church, which for a couple of centuries had dominated the town, is now dwarfed by the shopping centre. At lunch times people sit on the wall surrounding the church to eat their sandwiches, but they face away from the Church.

 The majority of our society faces away from the church.

 As we have read in Revelation chapters two and three, Jesus knows where we live and the situation we face and he calls us to faithfulness both, toward him, and in witness.

 We thank God for all that we, as a church, through our groups and individuals are able to do. We are blessing our community in so many ways, through Mum’s and toddlers, the various ‘Tea and’ groups, our Lay Pastors, Litter Picking, our extensive schools, children’s and youth work, helping people to face toward the Church and ultimately towards God.

 As a church we are doing well but we are losing ground. We are not growing in proportion to increasing population of the village – the majority still face away from the Church.

 This year we are hoping we can make a greater impact in our community. There are a number of things already planned and others taking shape.

• For our next prayer week (18-25 March) we are planning to prayer walk the entire village.
• We will be working with all our current groups to find ways of being even more effective in reaching out to those not yet included.
• We are looking toward using our Village Picnic, which this year coincides with the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations, to even better effect to reach into the community.
• We are looking at having a focus of mission in the build up to Christmas and a number of options are being considered including a Radio station, and visiting every household sharing the Christmas message.
• We are looking again at the pattern of Sunday services to see how these can be better accessible to those who have yet to join us.
• And with all this we are seeking to find ways of working together with our other village churches.

 The ‘we’ in the above sentences is all of us! Let’s hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church and let us remain faithful to Jesus and in witness – growing deeper in God and larger in mission!

 Yours Howard

A note from Simon

 

     

Dear Friends,

 I hope this finds you well. Sally and I are very much looking forward to moving to Four Marks in the summer and getting to know you all. Matt has asked me to write and tell you a little about myself before coming to COGS as the new curate, so here is a little bit of my story….

 I first had a sense that God might be calling me to become a “vicar” when I was about ten years old and a teacher asked me what I wanted to do when I was “grown up”. The only thing I could think about doing was becoming a “vicar”.  Although I can always remember praying, God became particularly important to me as a teenager after an experience of God in a Christian Union meeting in school. One thing led to another, and within a year or two I was leading a youth worship band and deciding to study Theology at University.

 At University, in Oxford, I continued to lead worship regularly, and a fterwards decided to move to Winchester and complete an internship with a view to gaining more experience of ‘church planting’. Over the last twelve years, I have worked in IT, Project Management and Accountancy. Alongside this, I have been ministering in a number of churches in the Winchester area, latterly as a Lay Reader and Lay Reader Training Tutor for Winchester Diocese. I am now studying in Oxford again, training for the priesthood, and doing some research in Practical Theology. I pray that God will use everything that I have learned so far, both inside and outside of church, to keep me thoroughly grounded as I  get ordained and start working for the church full time.

 It has been a real joy hearing about some of the things that God is doing in Four Marks. I look forward to hearing more and joining in – growing deeper in God and growing larger in mission.

 Grace and peace,

Simon.

January 2012 Magazine Article

Happy New Year!

 Picking up from last year’s Living for God we start a new teaching series this January.

 We want to gain a better view and perspective of the life we live now and the life to which we move in the future. To see beyond the ‘reality’ of this touchable world and to see, touch and taste the fullness of the reality which lies behind it.

 Apparently, in the stage adaptation of the biography of C. S. Lewis’ life, Shadowlands, from time to time the characters freeze and the curtain at the back of the stage opens to reveal an additional reality, the characters from Narnia going about their lives. In John’s Revelation, we have the curtain pulled back and the ‘additional’ reality is revealed. God reigns! He is in control of history. There is organisation and purpose in the story of earth but this story itself is subsumed into the great story of Heaven. Together this term we want to capture something of the ‘magic’ of this. Our perspective upon life, our hopes, ambitions, dreams and daily concerns are transformed in the brilliant light that emanates from the throne of our glorious King. There is redemption, restoration and resolution in God’s story and His story becomes our story because of his great love through the incarnation.

 The bizarre symbols and images John uses were commonplace for the 1^st century Jew. Revelation is not a secret file containing hidden information about the European Union, barcodes or other The Da Vinci Code type conspiracies! However, it speaks into our politics, consumerism and whole culture today as much as it did in the original reader’s day. The style of literature, known as apocalyptic, has no contemporary parallels and is therefore strange to us, but John’s readers would have understood completely.

 We are not able to capture every detail of John’s extraordinary tale but we have chosen passages which pick-up the themes. I would encourage you to read it all through for yourself.

 My hope is that through the series we will improve our sight of God, be moved to pray for ourselves, the state of the church and the world, becoming even more motivated for mission and less entangled by our culture.

 Yours Howard

Karamoja 2011 Visit Report

Julian (a Reader from Yann’s Benefice) and I visited Karamoja in early December. We travelled over 600 miles within Karamoja and had an additional 11 hour drive to Entebbe airport.

 We visited 15 different parishes, the two diocesan centres and the Diocesan Training Centre (DTC). We saw the excitement regarding the newly completed Karamojong Bible and we meet many DTC graduates – including those we as a Church had sponsored – witnessing their ministry first hand.

For example: Zackary Lotyang, DTC graduate 2009, works with the Ik people in Timu, probably the most beautifully located church in the world with views from outside the mountain Church into the Kenyan Rift Valley. Zackary saw 111 people baptised in his first year and a subsequent 81 on two separate occasions since. He has organised the church to build their now very full mud church. It was a 3 hour drive to Timu and there are huge issues for them of communication and transport, as well as access to health care. As an educated man Zackary could get a paid job – but his commitment to God is unswerving. He gets married to Rose on New Year’s Day, a service that will be shared with the bishop and will also see all those having been baptised, be confirmed!

 We were enthusiastically welcomed everywhere we went and were truly humbled by the warmth of hospitality and generosity in reception. We were enormously challenged by the extraordinary sacrifices made by the church leaders whose passion for Christ is out-worked in true incarnational ministry, dwelling among their people, sharing in their poverty and disadvantage.

 Our usual first thoughts of Karamoja are the extreme levels of poverty in a harsh unforgiving land but we would find it hard to capture sufficiently the inspirational landscape – it is a truly beautiful place. There are mountains (above 3,000m) in the north and south and rocky outcrops and massive boulder-heaps dot the savannah plains. The people of Karamoja are predominantly pastoral. Their goats and especially their cattle are important to them as a source of food but also as a sign of status. They grow crops in their ‘gardens’ but are heavily dependent upon the weather, which in these times of climate change, has become unpredictable. They like to dress in colourful clothes, have a rugged beauty about them and are extravagantly warm in welcome and hospitality.

 Following the 3 years without rains in some parts of Karamoja there had been unexpected lengthy rains and ‘cold’ for the past few weeks. The dry season is now upon them but for the moment the land is green and crops have been grown and some harvested. The extent of the rain had spoilt some crops and damaged the roads but overall the prospects are good for the coming months. However, famine is only the next drought away!

 Security is vastly improved and we travelled safely everywhere. There is zero tolerance policy on civilian weapons and this has brought peace to the region.

 We are very grateful for all the prayers whilst we were away. For continuing prayer:

• That the British government would lift their restrictions upon their citizens travelling to the area.
• That rain would return in the Spring and that the next harvest would also be good.
• That the pastors would be blessed in their work and the churches would continue to flourish.
• That the plans for a team to visit in 2012 would come together.

 If you like a copy of the seven page report from the visit – email Howard or Matt

 A fuller presentation on the visit will take place at the Karmaoja Supper – 24^th February 2012

December Magazine Article

This year Christmas starts early.  My first Christmas service was the 25th of November!  A couple of people have already commented to me how busy it seems to be getting and as I write we’ve not hit December yet!

At the November ‘Christmas’ service I spoke about the preparations and the ‘stuff’ of the season, the tinsel, the shopping, the feasts and how they hide Jesus.  We know this, we may even comment on it, drawing people’s attention to the materialistic nature of the festivities and the pointlessness of buying presents for people who already have two of everything they need.  Yet, still we are drawn in and collude with our culture – Jesus is pushed to the edges of our celebrating his birthday.

We’ve hit the last couple of weeks of our teaching series, living for God: heart, soul, mind and strength.  We have constantly been encouraged to orientate ourselves toward God, to follow him with all that we are, emotionally, spiritually, intelectually and physically.  We have spoken about taking small steps away from things that hold us back and to bring things into our lives which move closer to God.  I know many have taken such steps and made such moves – I hope you are among these people.  Christmas is a test for us.  Will we hold to God, keep Jesus at the centre or are we too busy with all the parties and preparations, pushing Jesus into a corner.

Jesus, ‘creator of all things, visible and invisible’ (Colossians 1:16) is not to be ignored, forgotten or placed in a corner.  Last month I reminded us that, ‘Jesus, gentle Jesus, meek and mild, the incarnation of Love, says: “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!”‘

I wrote: ‘The fire Jesus brings is holy, purifying, and it consumes and destroys evil.  The fire he brings is representative of the presence of the Almighty God and it is symbolic of the power of God.’

We want to see more of the fire of God in our lives, the life of our church and impact on our community.  Through the build-up to Christmas and the celebration itself, let’s keep Jesus at the centre.  Let’s put first that which comes first, living in passionate love for Christ and his creation.  In doing this we will see God’s Kingdom come and His will be done.  This is participating in the real festivities, joining in the party of Heaven, as lives are changed and Peace brought to all on earth.

Yours, Howard.

November Magazine Article

Jesus, gentle Jesus, meek and mild, the incarnation of Love, says: “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! … Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.”

The fire Jesus brings is holy, purifying, and it consumes (‘Our God is a consuming fire’ Hebrews 12:29) and destroys evil. The fire he brings is representative of the presence of the Almighty God (see Exodus 3:2 and 19:18), and it is symbolic of the power of God.

It is a dangerous thing to play with fire!

To be a Christian, a person with Christ-in, is to be inhabited by the fire of God. We are temples of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit who, appeared at Pentecost, and on occasions since, like tongues of fire.

This term we have sought the fire of God but it is a serious and dangerous business. It means allowing God to examine us, to search us and test us out (Psalm 139:23-24). It means turning from things which hold us back and straining towards Christ with all that we are; heart, soul, mind and strength (Hebrews 12:1-2 and Philippians 3:12-15).

Over the past weeks we have spoken about the small (or large) steps we can take to move away from things which hold us back (the sermons are all available on the church website). Things which might themselves be good but which obscure our vision of Jesus and dampen the fire of his presence – these may be things we read or watch, attitudes that we foster and cherish, habits that we indulge or investments we make of energy, emotion or resources, including money.

And we have spoken about fanning the flames moving toward God, deepening our relationship and strengthening our discipleship with prayer, bible reading, and fellowship. Taking responsibility for our own growth in God – practicing the presence of Christ.

In our 1 Timothy series it is obvious that we are in a war, a battle for our very being – hence Jesus’ dramatic words – and for the very lives of our family, friends and neighbours. Are we fanning into flames God’s gifts in us (2 Timothy 1:16), are we so on fire that God’s presence radiates from us (2 Corinthians 3:18) drawing others to Jesus? Pray it will be so!

Yours Howard

God All-matey or God Almighty?

Howard has been thinking about the following words of David Pawson…

“The sight of rows and rows of men of all ages and rank, standing equally together in the Mosque and then prostrating themselves before God, their foreheads touching the ground, is a sight not quickly to be forgotten… by contrast, the fear of the Lord has largely disappeared from contemporary Christianity.  Though spoken about many times in the Bible, in both Old and New Testaments, it is hardly mentioned let alone experienced in churches today.  Our worship is increasingly informal and even casual, so that a friend of mine put it to me like this: ‘We seem to be worshipping God All-matey, not God Almighty.’  At worst this can be little different from a session at a disco with its band, lead and backing singers and a platform covered with wires and amplifiers.  Kneeling is out, even to receive communion.  Seating must be comfortable.  Dress down rather than up, after all, it is the weekend.  And one reason for the disparity is that Muslims go to the Mosque for one purpose and one purpose only: to discover and do the will of Allah, whereas declining congregations in a consumer society can become obsessed with the idea of discovering ‘what works for me’, user friendly services, deliberately aimed to please people and getting close to an entertaining performance.  This may be acceptable, even advisable at an evangelistic event, but it has a damaging effect on Christian worship.”