01 June 2008
Julie's Blog from the Diocesan Lay Conference – part 1
An account from one of the parish representatives of her impressions of the recent Diocesan Lay Conference.
Phew! Just about had the chance to catch breath after the Diocesan Lay Conference! It was a packed weekend full of seminars, workshops and worship!
After the chance to settle into our rooms and find our way around the complex that is the Hayes Conference Centre at Swanwick we were able to meet other participants over a glass of wine before our evening meal. Then after our meal it was straight into the programme.
Steve Croft, the Archbishops’ Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions challenged us to catch a little of his vision for the church in the 21st Century.
What sort of church are we called to be? What characteristics are we to display?
Steve encouraged us to pay attention to the gap between the church and society. It is here that our vision should begin. We need to look out from our churches and to look into the gap to see what God is doing and where we might try to help.
Steve challenged us not to come up with the default model of being church or to spend all our energies in keeping something going for its own sake. Digging deeper into the recent past can not be a guide for the future. It is important to look at our roots. What is the church called to be? The trouble is we don’t have a map for this journey. It is very scary and unpredictable in a changing future. Steve suggested that a compass would perhaps be more helpful to us than a map. The compass will be the means of setting direction for the community. The church can do this! The compass and content for our vision is Jesus. Steve’s view is that it is Jesus who gives the church its DNA and if the church reflects the nature, values and character of Jesus then it will be on course. If not it is losing direction.
Thankfully taking on the nature, values and character of Jesus is achievable by small groups, a parish church, or by discipleship in the Diocese or Deanery. Steve then led us swiftly through the Beatitudes looking at how they reveal a vision for forming Christian communities in the 21st Century. There was so much in that session and in the Beatitudes it is impossible to capture without writing a book! (and I think Steve Croft has already done that!)
Well that was quite a start for a Friday evening! There were some big thoughts coming out of that session alone! After worship, we adjourned to the bar to help our thinking! And that rounded off the first evening.
Posted by Julie Withers