This is what we were celebrating yesterday, having worked our way through Five Core Values over the last couple of months.

This morning I got out the sheets where people had listed their commitments, and on the whole I was encouraged.  Four out of five groups had completed the exercise - the fifth group comprised people who were suddenly far too busy to do so (I think that is telling, considering who was in that group!).  Anyway, 4 out of 5 is pretty good and here is what they came up with...

• Keeping the fellowship strong
• Mission - in every aspect
• Encourage
• Continue to pray for lunch club, and that some of the guests will one day come to a service
• Pray for our BMS links
• Pray for success in the new pub-based intitiative
• Pray for the church
• Pray for the local community
• Support at least one outreach event by bringing a friend
• Continue to exist for those outside
• Reach out to others
• Help others who are in need

Obviously any or almost all of these need some 'unpacking' and some work to turn from good intention to actual practice, but they feel like a step in the right direction.

After Easter things get a bit clumsy due to various specials, but we will be picking up something around BMS, HMF and CHASTE in the next three months, as well as our outreach Pentecost events.  Now all tha remains is to create some evalaution forms for the Five Core Values stuff, as I put a lot of work into generating study material that may or may not have been used/useful.

Sometimes I wonder if I know my folk here at all - they can whinge and moan that we don't sing any golden oldies one minute and be choosing new things themselves the next.  Today we had our largest turnout for ages and people actually said they enjoyed the service, which ran to 90 minutes and was the most creative thing we've done for a very long time.

To start we sang the dreaded 'All Things Bright and Beautiful' (see Songs and Self-understanding post) with only pictures as clues to the verses; the orang utan and butterfly slide for one of the choruses raised a few titters.  Most people wrote a short thank you prayer on a heart shaped piece of paper and when we got to the intercessions it was quite surprising who did pray aloud in the small groups - my little group praying widely and wisely. 

Getting people to try to recall and share the history of our church - in milestones events only - was fascinating and revealing.  For all that people go on about how important it is to know "the 'istory" most had not got a clue of any dates, names or events beyond a certain 19th century writer of awful music whose name I will not mention!  Many seemed quite surprised to learn what little I pointed them to - gleaned from the material I was given when I arrived three years ago.

The 'everyday object' to symbolise the various church-related groups made me smile, not least as two groups had not brought anything and had to scrat around for something.  Two Bible study groups used cups (one pinched off the refreshment table!) because a cuppa is a big part of their meetings, the third offered two - a key, because their newest member (who has only been with us months) is finding the meetings are unlocking new knowledge for her, and a 'share pack' of chocolates because sharing is an important aspect of their meetings.  The women's meeting brought a leaflet on their latest charitable cause, the children's group a bean bag (pinched from the PE store!) and the lunch club a toy bus representing how we transport our folk around.  Some of the explanations were over long, and the main cause of the service over running, but it was good for people to have the opportunity to feel good about their groups and to be feted in church.

Communion round small tables worked amazingly well - a couple of people even commented that they'd really enjoyed it.  The fact that 'ordinary' folk broke the bread or offered the thanksgiving prayer was, in my view, a great expression of our profressed understanding of church.

We ended up with Paul's imperative to leave the past behind and to press on towards the future and sang 'Lord for the Years' before sharing tea and cakes in friendly atmosphere.  Quite a few even undertook the final task of committing to three things they would do as a result of having explored the five core values.

Next week we are back to 'normal' and one of my lay people is taking the service, so it will be interesting to see the church from the back row.

Until this week I had never heard of the Revd Paul Bennett, nor yet Trecynon where he served the local community. He was just an ordinary minister doing what all ordinary mnisters do - getting on with fulfilling their callings. Wyre Davis for the BBC spoke of how he was deeply committed to, and engaged with, his local community, how his door was open to all and sundry, how his faith and life were inseparable.

It spoke volumes to and for other ordinary ministers.  Unusually, this is a place where few strangers knock the door, but the manse is open and available for any who do.  It is far from unusual for me - or any other ordinary minster - to be engaged in conversation with people who are disturbed, confused or aggressive.  Events in Wales serve to remind us of the inherent vulnerability of the role.  Yet, and this is important too, events in Wales remind us of the need to continue with our ordinary ministries.  Not to be naive or careless - I have a chain on my front door - but to recall that the one we serve was brutally murdered to bring us life, and whose call is 'to take your cross and follow me'

I pray that Paul Bennett's family will find God's love embracing them at this time of shock and sorrow, I pray that the community will continue the work he began, and I pray, in so far as it is in my gift so to do, for the young man who murdered him that he will find forgiveness, hope and a future 'father, forgive him, he does not know what he does.'  I pray also that all ordinary ministers everywhere will go on doing what we do in the name of Christ and for his Kingdom.

The EMBA Roadshow is travelling to 16 venues - rather them than me - to share a message and a vision based on Ezekiel 47 and the river that flowed out from the Temple to the Dead Sea bringing life.  Tonight they came to our patch.

It was a great evening but the turnout was very poor - no more than two dozen people from five churches, and around ten churches had been invited.

The input was thoughtful and well delivered, and some of the small groups had great discussions.  Some did not.  One of my colleagues was in a group with three folk who sat, chins on the ground, and offered gloom and doom.  I sat with a group who were  reasonably cheerful but, as one of them said, 'did not want to answer silly questions' and had expected an in depth Bible study (i.e. sermon) on the passage.  The study that lay behind what we did passed her by.  I was glad that the one enthusiastic person from my congregation got into a good group and obviously had a whale of a time. 

I don't regret my choice of group, part of being the minister is to get alongside the difficult folk or grumpy groups and to free up the more positive folk to enjoy themselves.  The trick is not to get dragged down in the process.

I came away encouraged that what I am trying to do here is in keeping with what God is doing in this area, and glad that my ninth or tenth (I've lost count!) evening meeting in as many working days was such a good one.

Thank you EMBA team for such a good evening, I do hope something will come out of it, I'm just not sure what.

I have just updated the membership list for our seniors' lunch club, and added the 80th name.  From zero in September 2005, with a dream of reaching 40, that's pretty good!

Our current membership is 65 - a few have died, a few others have left or found better offers - and our present venue can cope with up to 90, so there is a little bit of potential to grow.  Perhaps as well as we are in negotiations to pick up folk from two other clubs that are closing.

It is perhaps a shame that dear old BUGB don't let us count adults the way we count children - we'd look like a big church then!!!  But then I sometimes wonder if a more honest child count would give us a better wake up call than the current 'any child who comes to anything you do at all' method.

Anyway, I thought the whole world should know we reached 80 not out!