... one college I know is referred to by a friend as "the evangelly mould" at least two are often referred to that as "that place", in fact of Baptist colleges only Bristol and Scottish seem to manage to escape any derogatory remarks.  I saw this ASBO Jesus cartoon and thought, now this I have to nick!  I honestly don't think we were being forced into any kind of mould where I trained but the cartoon has an overall ring of truth. I feel.

It's a great phrase, and probably pretty much what I do when I'm on line typing up my thoughts and adventures!

Liz's induction service was a very happy event, well attended and friendly.  The preacher was entertaining and relevant, taking as his text 1 Corinthians 1:1 - 17.  His sermon was of the three aliterative points variety, with enough humility to admit that the third was contrived.  Three risks in ministry - Factions, Favouritism and Faffing About.  The faffing about seemed to cover two 'crimes' really; the first was displacement activities and the second, sanctified faffing, was doing things that other people could or should do.  He, rightly, said that ministers shouldn't be spending their time on admin, fine tuning Powerpoint or other such tasks.  The problem is, he was speaking from the luxury of a church that employs an administrator, has a children's worker, two ministers and many other available talented folk.  For those of us in small, older churches, the reality is if we didn't faff things wouldn't get done.  There are those who say that ministers should allow that to be the case, but I'm not so sure.

I think the essence of what the preacher was saying about faffing is correct - if there is something you as minister are doing that could be done as well (or maybe better) by someone else in the church, then they should be doing it, not you.  How we make the transition from sanctified faffing to sanctified delegation I'm less sure!

(Btw the way the raspberry trifle was excellent and I am envious of the city centre location...)

Popped into my local SPCK today to top up my supply of sympathy cards.  Whilst there I browsed some of the stuff on the shelves... a Christian book on how to handle childhood obesity... a book of Bible Sudoku (looked much like any other sudoku to me, except for the interspersed Bible quizzes.  Try looking on line there are LOADS of Bible sudoku sites)... and so on and such like.

I know I have a large cynical streak, but surely the way to handle childhood obesity is diet and exercise, hardly an exclusively Christian approach.  Sudoku is just sudoku, call it what you like. putting a cross on the cover won't make it more holy, not having one won't make it less so.

Are we really getting so silly that we think the only 'safe' books for Christians to buy come from dedicated shops?  Recently I came across something about a Christian open source 'office' type software package, which did nothing the others don't already do.  Probably there's a Christian blog platform out there somewhere.  It all feels a bit more like ghetto-ising (if there's such a word) than being salt and light.  What do you think?

Yesterday after the funeral for the former WAF, I got chatting to one of her nephews, a cheery man of around 65 who told me that he's a member of my church.  He couldn't quite remember when he was baptised, but he told how he'd done various things in his teens - including preaching, which it seems was expected at the time.  He hadn't been to church in over 40 years, he reckoned, but he was still a member...

I checked the roll book - he was baptised in July 1956, along with his brother and three or four other people, none of whom attend our church, most attend none.  In the 1960's when the non-active 'B' list was invented, his name was put on that as indicated by a pencilled B by his name; in the early 1970's someone wrote 'LEFT' in the 'comments' column.

So is he a member?  Of the 'one holy catholic and apostolic church' - well, yes, most probably (or definitely in some views of baptism).  Of our church?  I'd have to say 'no'.  He has not fulfilled the responsibilities of membership as defined in the church constitution, so beloved of his former Sunday School teacher.

So what, I wonder, is it that makes him believe that he is still a member?  And what harm might have been done had I been foolish enough to say 'no you're not'?!

Our church had a policy - there is no other word for it - until the 1980's of baptising 15 year olds and chucking them out of Sunday School (which was in the afternoon, separate from services, until the mid 1970's) at 16.  There was, so far as I can tell, never any expectation that they would attend church after this, so it is no real surprise that there are no younger people in the church - the last few were approaching 16 when I arrived.  Yet, having been made members at Baptism, they still consider themselves part of a fellowship they know nothing about.

I don't for a moment think our church is alone in this - just I guess I wish we were more interested in making disicples than members, for that is truly lasting.

Tomorrow afternoon I will be at the induction service of the last ministerial student who overlapped with me at college.  Overall that means I've had seven or eight years celebrating with newly ordained folk as they set out into the mysterious world of being a minister.

I have enjoyed the diversity that being Baptists allows us.  We have swung from chandeliers and shared pre-printed liturgies.  We have used symbols and seen Powerpoint testimonies.  We have met in Victorian barns and contemporary worship centres.  Some wore dog collars, most of us did not.  Most of us wore suits, a few did not.  We ate quiches and sandwiches, looked on politely as the last slice of cake disappeared before our very eyes, and drank chapel tea from the ubiquitous blue/green/yellow/pink cups.

It has been both pleasure and privilege to share with these fellow disicples on their various pilgrimages.  We are as diverse a group of Baptists as you could wish for - conservative and liberal, charismatic and liturgical (sometimes both at once), traditional and post modern, male and female, older and younger, married and single... But I think, whatever our experineces of college were like and. let's be honest, some thrived, some struggled, some loved, others loathed, we learned to value each other and to see how God calls such diverse people as are needed.

I'm not the person I was in 1999 when I started training, yet actually I am.  I'm not going the kind of thing I imagined doing, yet more than I dared dream.  I'm not always happy or fulfilled, but I wouldn't now do anything else.

As I look back, and look forward, it is with gratitude both to God and to those, students, tutors and friends, who shared the last eight years, and with hope that the future will be as much of an adventure in faith and discipleship.

May God bless you, Liz, as you take this next step in your own story of ministry and discipleship, with courage and companionship, and, above all, the assurance that in all things Christ is with you.