Tomorrow I'm off to St Andrews for my first ministers' conference in Scotland.  The programme looks rather different from those I've experienced in England, in so far as there are a couple of seminar slots when you get to choose from two or three options: this suggests it might well be a bigger event (or that the groups will be tiny).  I'm not wild about something that finishes at ~7pm with a two hour drive home, but it will be good to experience this thing in all its fullness, so will avoid the temptation to duck out early.  For the record, no, I won't be spoiling any good walks, not least as I wouldn't know which end of the bat to hold! ;-)

Even though I have met some delightful ministers through my college course (which I passed, woohoo, I'm now a thrice-qualified mentor) I am a bit apprehensive of being in such a different context.  I recall the trepidation with which I attended my first EMBA conference and also how it soon became evident that others were equally anxious.  I recall the grace and love that was evident among ministers and lay pastors as diverse in theology and church-personship as one could imagine.  Whilst I will notice the lack of women this time (EMBA was unusually high) I am sure that there will be more that is blessing than bane.

Who knows, there may even be a few other Happy Heretics out there...!

On Saturday I was doing a bit of sad narcissistic Googling (I'm everyone does they just have more sense than to admit it) with my name and that of our church.  Most of what popped up was obvious but I found one mention of a website that spoke very negatively of us becuase, shock horror, in my predecessor's time some attention had been given to green issues.  As I explored that site, I discovered that basically anyone who didn't share their exact views was a heretic, so we were in the good company of Rowan Williams, Tony Campolo, Steve Chalke and the Alpha Course to name but four.

According to the website (a blog, it was a couple of comments that referred to us) we are in a state of terminal decline, which is sad really because actually we are growing.  Yesterday during the offering I did a sneaky headcount and there were ~60 adults even though several were out with the children and a lot more were on holiday.  We had the delight of receiving someone into membership - the third since I arrived so around a 5% increase in 'formal' membership in that time, not counting the growing number of attenders.

So, the happy heretics are alive and well and worshipping in Glasgow.  There's always room for one more and the doors are open...