From Vineyard to Anglican: Community or what?

Community…

It’s a funny thing. It exists without even thinking about it, community wanders along like a river meandering where it will.

Some communities become marked by drugs, some by hatred, some by violence, some by wealth, some by faith…where people are a community of sort exists!

So as Christians, where do sit with regards to the community?

My experience at Vineyard Church Sutton gave me some good grounding in the community even though as it has been pointed out to me that we didn’t live in the community but then again neither did most of my friends, however i’m not too sure where the community was as it swallowed up about 250,000 people. It was of course Sutton but Central Sutton? or around the School where we met? or maybe around the Church Centre?

I was never too sure so I guess it was the whole of Sutton and that is a big area.

SVC has done some great things and here’s a taste.

• There is The Wendy House to start with, a place for mums and babies and pre-school age children. They meet in the Guide Hall in Clarence Road on Monday and Tuesday mornings from 9.45 until 11.15 am and the cost is £2 per family including refreshments, my wife recommends it and I guess it is probably the longest running community project looked after by the very capable Sonya.

• Street Pastors which I have to say I could not do go out on the High Street of Sutton every Friday and Saturday night usually from 9pm to 3am. The aim is to be a visible presence on the streets contributing to a safer Sutton. Sutton Street Pastors work in partnership with the ‘Safer Sutton Partnership’ local council, statutory agencies and local churches and from what I’ve seen this is helping as central Sutton is a pub/bar/club/alcohol…err…hub I guess you could call it!

• The Community action team will go and help anyone who needs help. I know they have cleared gardens, painted rooms, painted homes, helped with flat-packed furniture. The work it has done has been good although maybe a little sparse but they now have a new leader, Alozie who will be great and I expect projects will increase somewhat!

• There is Sutton foodbank. Foodbanks have become better known in the media and has been serving sutton community over the past 5 years. Several SVC congregation members serve on weekly rotas in a variety of locations. People from Sutton are referred to the Food Bank by Social Services, or their GPS or Health Visitors,and are given a few days supply of non perishable food items to tide them over.

Some great action by hard serving Christians.

So I wondered what my new Church St Mary’s would do and how it would approach the idea of community.

It is very different for several different reasons. St Mary’s is one of many Church of England churches in the area so I think the parish area comes into it, there are 13,000 in the UK, it is like a spiders web across the UK. Parishes are generally much smaller than that of the 250,000 catchment area of Sutton and far more ingrained but then again there has been a Church of England has been around for 500 years and has been on the site since the Doomsday Book, so it’s got to be a help really!

More than that though it is ingrained into the community with the older generation via groups like more tea vicar or friendship lunches or the Long Ditton Garden Club.

There is the younger generation with Cubs, Scouts, Brownie and Guides, these are all attached to the Church, but not only that, they are attached to the schools but infants and junior who in their turn are attached to the church with the rector taking a weekly assembly at the junior school and just being around and about the community.

As a church there are many more social events, some of these are used to raise money for various projects for the church, parish or international projects.

And I look forward to serving this community of people and I am involved in voluntary work in both St Mary’s School as a teaching assistant and St Mary’s Church as a Synod Rep, server, reader and odd jobber.

So both different and I think I can and will learn from my experience in both.

The sadness of Breaking Amish

Breaking Amish is currently airing on TLC.

Basically a group of five young Amish/Mennonite men and women will swap the black and white of scripture and of their communities for the bright lights of New York City.

To appreciate this I think you really have to understand how both Amish and Mennonite communities exist.

Both Amish and Mennonite are a group of odd Christian (supposedly) church fellowships that are known for simple living, plain dress, and an almost allergic reluctance to adopt many conveniences of modern technology we have, so no TV, Radio, Cooker, Fridge (although Mennonites do have electric and have fridges. One could see them as a liberal version of Amish.

Members of both groups shun the outside world for fear of infection..Ironically the complete opposite of Jesus.

Those Members who do not conform to these community expectations and who cannot be convinced to repent are shunned, this is a cruel and unusual practice that limits social contacts to shame the wayward member into returning to the church and is in my opinion completely opposite to the forgiveness Christ teaches.

So these five are putting everything on the line. Their decision to pack up their bags and leave town does not come without a hefty price and my heart goes out to them…

For myself it’s just interesting…

Breaking Amish

Fighting the system…what a waste of time?

Sex Pistols and their naughty words!

I watched an episode of ‘In Confidence’ on Sky Arts a few days ago, it had John Lydon being interview by Laurie Taylor (Professor).

John Lydon is of course Johnny Rotten, singer and lyricist with the ever great Sex Pistols. In 1977 I was 11, punk and later New Wave was charting and I remember bands like The Members (Sound of the Suburbs), The Ruts (Babylons Burning), Sex Pistol (Anarchy in the UK),  All Around the World (The Jam), White Riot (The Clash)…makes me sound very cool really but I wasn’t because I just getting into music, finding my feet at secondary school, my parents had split up, I was scared, anxious, angry and the music fitted my mind and the circumstances of my life.

I am told that this is a very formative age, hormones buzzing around and all that, an age where you start to find out exactly who you are and that understandably leads to pushing the boundaries, kicking the doors down…I did, in fact it kind of became a way of life.

Skinheads, Mods, Rude Boys, Casuals and Headbangers – Sub-Cultures of 1980′s

Fighting the system…that sounds a little dramatic but I certainly was rebellious and had to find my way!

• Skins (or Skinheads) who adopted some punk bands like Sham 69 and then the ‘oi’ bands such as  Angelic Upstarts, Blitz, The Business, Combat 84, The 4-Skins and Screwdriver although many of them also liked two-tone bands like Madness, The Specials, The Selector. Glue sniffing was a big skinhead thing probably inherited from Punk and I remember seeing some with glue bags in the play ground at school
• Punks The Damned and The Stranglers were the bands I really liked. My best friend was a punk so I was exposed to all sorts of punk bands. I went to punk gigs where everyone was spitting which looking back on it was disgusting and thankfully doesn’t happen anymore. My first music phase…spikey hair and all that. It was short-lived.
• Rude Boys Two-Tone was the British interpretation of Ska but also crossed with Punk attitude which gave such great bands as Madness, The Specials, The Selector and even Bad Manners had their moments and a good skanking went down well. Again another phase…that again was short-lived.
• Jazz Funkers, Poseurs or Casuals They had funny wedge hair cuts and the latest Fred Perry or Pringle threads, they liked their Capris and seemed to like awful music like Level 42 and Alexander O’Neal.
• Mods They adopted The Who (Rock Band) and The Jam (Punk band) which encouraged a new breed of bands like Secret Affair, Nine Below Zero (who strangely enough I supported in a metal band)…Yet again another phase…that again was short-lived.
• Headbangers They evolved from the rockers of the seventies as did the music, The New Wave of British Heavy Metal or NWOBHM as it became known as. Bands like Saxon, Iron Maiden, Angel Witch, Praying Mantis and a plethora of new rock bands that took the country by storm. The older ones pulled up their boots and produced some equally brilliant music Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC to name but a few.

So I chose the Heavy Metal way or rather the music chose me, and I adopted its way of life which involved obviously heavy metal, going to gigs, clubs, drinking, smoking (I never did drugs but there was enough around) I grew my hair long, very long at one point down to my waist, and of course then there were the women.

Iron Maiden – 1979/80

I know to some of you this may seem stupid but it gave me a real identity, it made me an individual at school amongst my peers and became my life. I had my leather jacket, denim patches, my music and as far as I was concerned the establishment could go swivel. I wasn’t a law-breaker I just wanted to go to the pub, parties, get drunk, get laid, listen to music and go to gigs…all in one night was preferable and from time to time it happened but I always ended up falling in love…but there are plenty of songs that will cover that.

So anyway fighting the system got me thrown out of my house. My mum had enough and my step father had enough before he married my mum, my dad had a full house and so I was out on my arse, by myself with no money, no job and nowhere to go at the grand age of 20.

Pathetic really and yet brave, stupidly brave and stupidly pathetic.

So I went to stay on my mates floor, my good friend and fellow headbanger Pablo, his mum was great to put me up. I soon got an awful job as a postman and I was late on the first day as I had been out drinking the night before, had a shocking hangover and woke up late/ By then I was living in the singer of the bands house that I and another friend had formed.

I was a target for the police, in fact at that time most young people were. I/we got stopped numerous times but the Police scared me, they scared me like no one else. I didn’t trust them and still don’t…they lived their lives on clichés, I was man handled and searched because I was a cliché. I stood out and that was it not liked by the authorities but I didn’t care and continued in my own sweet way.

I had girlfriends but the relationships tended to leave me hurt and alone, I would fall head over heels and then it would all be over, and I would be alone.

Me…aged 21 ish…

But I still had the music, alcohol, gigs and at some point some how my metal life style took a step up and somehow I ended working in the music industry, I worked for some labels, a press office, I got to meet a few of my heroes.

I burnt the candles until they were very short at both ends, had a lot of fun and by the age of 27 or 28 I was fried…my excitement for music both listening, seeing, playing…well that dwindled and I was just tired of it all.

I fought the system but I didn’t really win, I had fun, I became creative, I learnt much but made my life so much harder than it needed to be.

From Vineyard to Anglican: Conversion?

Here’s a thought…

So I have left a Vineyard Church and now attend an Anglican Church…

Does that mean that I have converted from Vineyardism to Anglicanism?

I only mention it as Jason Clark, the senior pastor at Vineyard church Sutton congratulated me on my conversion to Anglicanism (which was a nice thing to do).

I was baptised at St John the Baptist in Kingston, Surrey. In fact my family have been and are still a part of that Church today, they have been for probably 100 years or so. I know my great grandfather was the choir master there and have a photo from around the first world war.

Does that qualify as an Anglican pedigree…I think so!

Anyway I took an adult baptism at South West London Vineyard, had my friends there to watch. It was a public statement of my faith but was I converting from Anglicanism to Vineyardism?? I have no idea really I have always just been a Christian whatever Church I am in or at…so what is this converting business?

Let us delve!!

Christian conversion is directly linked to Jesus, he demonstrated that He was and is the unique Son of God. He challenged men and women to put their faith in Him, that they might know God and what life is all about. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10, KJV).

When a person puts his faith in Jesus Christ, he enters into relationship with God Almighty, which results in changes taking place in his life.

And in this instance I know this to be true, I knew it to be true in the Vineyard and know it to be true in the Church of England, surely a conversion would mean that some belief has changed.

Church of England is protestant, and whilst the Vineyard Churches don’t have their own written theology as yet I would have still said they were protestant. More so I have had no ‘Road to Damascus’ experience…so is it possible to convert from protestant to protestant, or as it seems to me Christian to Christian?

I wonder what Jesus would say?

From Vineyard to Anglican: Friends #1

The lovely Bella at play in our garden!

People…

Friends and family are without a doubt the life blood of living…

The reality is that we are not made to be alone…

When we thought about leaving it felt very much thing right thing to do because God does this, he moves you on, I felt my work was finished BUT how could I leave my friends.

I sat with Matt and over a cup of tea asked him if we would still be friends if we left…of course! What dumb question.

So as I make new friends in a new church I have to mention some good friends who I will see but not on the weekly basis that I am used to and to be honest…I miss them.

I don’t mean to embarrass them but just to tell it how I see it.

If you want to learn a thing or two speak to Matt and Mel Gush.

We started out at the Vineyard around the same time, at the time Jason had an idea to run an internship which was a top notion and that was how we got to know each other I guess. It’s funny how you can’t remember, I don’t remember a time when we didn’t have children although they have spent a fair few evenings with us, some wine and my rather awesome cooking or Mel’s super tasty delights.

Most people know Matt and Mel; they have run a series of very good and oversubscribed small groups which I have on good authority are very good! They are on the leadership team and play an important part in VCS or SVC as I shall refer to it from now on (as it is now known).

If you want an example of people who follow Jesus, unassuming and faithful, quiet yet deeply spiritual.

On the other hand if you want a BBQ or a ‘Briar’ as it is called in their native South Africa give Matt a call, he cooked our BBQ on Poppy’s first birthday and they are her God parents.

Poppy wants Bella at her birthday party this year, just Bella who she misses.

Matt, well he is a good chap and Mel a fine chapess! and they will tell you how it is and it’s good to have that in any friend! If you don’t have one…find one!

“Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” ― Albert Camus

From Vineyard to Anglican: Election Special

Today I went to the my first Annual Parochial Church Meeting, that is an annual meeting of those involved in St Mary’s, those involved in the various ministries, who serve in various ways.

In someways it was quite similar to the Leadership Community Meetings I went to at Vineyard Church Sutton. It was chaired by our Rector and the Church Wardens with someone taking minutes.

We opened with prayers and like in any meeting issues concerning the church were discussed, talked about the building, mission, community, parish and then something which I found was extraordinary…People were sponsored  then seconded and we voted for people to take various role and I was voted in as one of the Deanery Synod Representatives for this coming year. This means I will also be on the Parochial Church Council (a defacto role as a Deanery Synod Rep) which is like Vineyard Church Sutton’s leadership team sort of.

Now I am not saying this is any better than being chosen by Jason and Bev (Senior Pastors at VCS) to do something but for me it made me feel that I had much more of a say, an involvement in the running and direction of my new church, it was all rather exciting really

Karen will also sit on the Parochial Church Council (both of us for a year) as well as attending a Pastoral Care course that is run for a year which will be great.

 

Prayers for Bangladesh

More than 350 people have died since Wednesday’s disaster and hundreds more are missing in the wreckage of a collapsed factory complex in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.

Apparently the smell of decomposing bodies is making some rescuers ill.

Water and food are being dropped through gaps in the rubble to those who can be heard and heavy machinery is now in place to get to those who are still trapped.

So lets pray for all those who have died, have lost relatives and for those whose relatives are still missing…it must be an awful time.

• Father, the hope and protector of all humankind; bless those whose loved ones are missing or dead. The agony of not knowing whether someone is living or dead is a daily torture. The uncertainty of life’s future relationships hangs in limbo. Hope rides a roller coaster. Yet each day must be lived. Give your people the blessing of your grace that they may face each day with courage and hope. Guard their families from further danger and harm and hold them in the blessing of your love. Amen.