With one of my various 'hats' I was at a meeting a couple of weeks back where someone was presenting ideas for support of ministers 'after NAM' as a part of which they told us what a massive difference the programme had made in terms of ministers surviving long enough to get the official handshake.  Ministers 'under five' are it seems the most vulnerable to drop out and the NAM scheme - and now a voluntary post-NAM scheme based on ideas from Yorkshire - make a big difference.

Many, though by no means all, of my minister friends are also rising fives.  Some of us trained together, some of us met through NAM events or special interest groups.  Some of us know each other really well, others maybe spend an hour together once every Preston Guild.  We have a whole range of views on anything and everything, and can agree to disagree.  Some are chandelier swinging charismaniacs, some are bappo-catholic liturgists (OK I exaggerate both for effect!) a lot of us are eclectic mixtures.  Theologically we are left, right and centre. All of us are pretty passionate about mission - and respect each other's approaches to it.  But I think we all know that if push came to shove, these people would be there for us.

We are, I suspect, all quite good at seeing what is wrong with our beloved Union (cos we aren't a denomination, no, not us!) but part of what makes it so good is that, somehow, it is a very broad church held together not by doctrinal statements but a set of principles that espouse faith, hope and love.  We get a lot wrong, a lot of the time, but overall I reckon we are a pretty decent band of pilgrims to be part of, and at least we try (yup, we're very trying sometimes).

Enough mush - I have to get ready to speak at a ladies meeting this afternoon to say nothing of a thousand other jobs.

To all rising five ministers out there - happy birthday to us, we made it!  And to those 'older' or 'younger' we love you too.

At our vision day a few weeks back now, my little congregation decided our prayer life needed an overhaul.  Our pre-service prayer meeting had bitten the dust and the take-up on the two alternatives was very limited.  Two people undertook to do something about it - one to set up a phone-based prayer network and another to get some study guides on prayer.  Both have been done but the uptake is still virtually nil.  So it falls to me - stalwart supporter of all the endeavours they come up with - to do a bit of preaching on prayer over the summer.  It's one of those themes I seem to have to return to at least once a year, and what I'd love to do - to set aside six weeks to epxerience different styles of prayer - would not be deeemd appropriate for Sunday worship.  Instead, I'm trying to think up some new avenues to explore and some new ways of doing so within the broadly familiar framework of Dibley sensibilities.

So far, aside from the usual themes (such as praise, confession, intercession etc) I have come up with one avenue to explore which is the whole area of private and corporate prayer.  How does one balance Matthew 6:5ff (go into your room and shut the door) with various bits of Acts where the believers are met together praying?  Given that most of the open prayer times in deacons' meeting are filled with embarassed silence, never mind any such endeavours at church (though I can usually get a few spontaneous thank you prayers), should I also be picking up spoken and silent prayer as a theme?

Answers on a postcard to the usual address!

This morning I had three helpers as we set about making enough sandwiches for the 5,000.  Jesus might have had five small loaves and two fish; we eventually used seven loaves and a few tins of salmon and tuna (so more a la 4,000 really) plus cheese, ham and eggs.  At 2 p.m. some more helpers arrived at school and we set up the hall cafe style, put crisps into bowls, cakes on plates, filled the urn and lined up the bowls ready for the strawberries!

At 3 p.m. we had 30 people gathered and singing.  Not a massive number, less than we'd hoped for and a fair few church folk noticeably absent.  Someone commented that it was a shame more lunch club folk hadn't come, especially as they'd chosen the hymns, and maybe it was.  But at the same time it was good to seven visitors, five of whom don't normally go to any church.  If a big congregation attracted a ~30% level of visitors it would be seen as wonderful, so why not when my little church does?

Everyone tucked in to the sandwiches, gobbled the cakes and demolished the strawberries; most people took a 'doggy bag' home with them for tomorrow's lunch or tea.

It was a good event and people really enjoyed the singing, the company and the food.  For me, it would have been worthwhile if no visitors had come ans we'd enjoyed quality time as a felllowship.  To have a 30% increase on the congregation we'd otherwise have had was a bonus. 

Next Sunday it's "Family Favourites" and the launch of the 2008 shoebox appeal (!) giving us another opportunity to worship God together and to reach out in a different way to share God's love with others who don't have blessings we take for granted.

Tomorrow my loyal team of bread spreaders arrive at 10 a.m. to make enough sandwiches for the 5,000 (well 50 anyway) and my fridge will be glad to disgorge the cheese, hardboiled eggs, ham, tinned tuna and tinned salmon that are needed.

It will be good to see the pleasure that this event brings to those who come along, even if I am really not even remotely looking forward to singing 'Stand up, Stand up for Jesus' - especially with a congregation many of whom couldn't even if they wanted to!

Friday evening is Kids' Club - and tonight was, so we discovered, the antepenultimate meeting for this club which will close after at least 15 years.  Tonight we had 13 children, all aged 11, and all with that odd prepubescent mixture of feigned sophistication and childlike need.  As we played various games and I ended up playing a from of badminton with the person no one wanted in their team, I reflected on the 30+ years (since I was a child myself!) that I have been fulfilling that specific role.

Next week is the school leavers' ball (if they get a ball at 11 what will they want when they are 16 or 18?) so we don't meet and then we have one more normal evening and the last ever last night before the club closes.

I am sad that there is no one in the church willing or able to take on this work, but the reality is that this season is now over.  We will become an adults only church with a round zero to appear in our annual returns to replace the 16 or so children connected to church we've had for the last decade.

So, I am now trying to think how I can contribute to a 'good ending' not only for the children but also for the leaders who've run it for a generation and the two deacons who've helped ensure it was able to run for the last six months when it would otherwise have had to close mid year.

We will mark this ending in a Sunday service, and the children will get a good send off.  It would nice to hope that some new work might arise from the ashes so that this fellowship might reach a new generation...

To every time there is a season - and now this season is over, and we lay down this work, trusting that through it, God's love has reached many, many lives.