Vicar's Annual Report 2007-08

Acts 11:19-30 & 13:1-3

We are seeking to order our life with the five 'emphases' of worship, fellowship, discipleship, ministry and mission.

I am beginning with Ministry which is the calling of every Christian, as is made wonderfully clear in the booklet of Ministry Reports. This has been circulated so that everyone has the opportunity to read about the variety of ministries exercised by a great team of people in the church. It makes marvellous reading. We will always welcome more members to take part as they discover and use their gifts. It has been encouraging to see some new groups started, for instance the Bereavement Support Group and Coffee & Conversation. "Thank you" so much to all those who are involved in all these ministries.

While ministry is the responsibility of every Christian, the pastors and teachers are to equip God's people for the work of ministry. I am very grateful for the partnership of John Anscombe, Ken Short and David Overington, especially over the last four years when we have been understaffed. This year it has been a delight to welcome to our team and to our fellowship, Matthew Fitter and Guen, with whom he is partner in ministry, and to welcome Dan and Jonny. We pray that God will bless their life together, among us and in ministry. It is great to have the family involved in the life of the church in a variety of ways. I especially commend the family to our prayers at this time in the loss of Matthew's sister, Gabrielle, yesterday morning.

The PCC recognised the necessity of providing a residence which would serve as both a family home and a base for ministry and, at a Day Away, we agreed to proceed with the purchase of 5 Thornton Dene. This was something which really tested our faith and was a challenge beyond our immediate resources. It drew us back in dependence upon God and, as one would expect, he came through trumps, and so did his people. I want to say a warm and heartfelt "thank-you" to people who gave very generously, many quite sacrificially, in order to make that purchase possible. We are grateful to you and to the Lord. It was a wonderful encouragement to us, to Matthew and the family, and a great confirmation that we were following the Lord's guidance in this matter.

As you will appreciate, it has been difficult without a curate and during that time the Churchwardens and the Deputy Wardens have been a marvellous support and continue to be that now Matthew is with us. I also want to thank the two Anns in the office, who produce all the regular printing of bulletins and service sheets, as well as, for example, all these reports and the booklet for our Weekend Away. A tremendous amount of work goes into all this. I am grateful to them and to Shirley Hutchings, for all that she does, and all that she has been doing additionally and magnificently, during Steve Ashfield's prolonged illnesses. We are glad that Steve is now making progress and is back with us. I also want to thank Gill Boulton, too for taking on the role of PCC Secretary, a baptism of fire, or with paper anyway, over the last few weeks.

A vital element of Ministry is Children's & Youth Ministry, where we are also maintaining the five 'emphases'. We had a Day Away with Bishop Zac Niringiye, focussed on prayer and partnership in mission, at which part of the programme was a special PCC meeting to confirm the appointment of a new Children's & Youth Minister. It has been great to welcome Tim with Katie. We are delighted they are with us and thank God for them and their ministry which is already going so well, and we are grateful too for the faithful team of people supporting them.

The aim of ministry is for the body of Christ to be built up until we become mature. That is the process of Discipleship. On our Day Away with Zac we considered the passages read earlier (Acts 11:19-30 & 13:1-3). Two of the characteristics of that spiritual community in Antioch were that they received consistently solid biblical teaching for a year and that there the disciples were first called Christians. In other words, as they heard, received and obeyed God's word, their lives were transformed so that Christ was evident in them. That is actually discipleship - for people to be formed into Christ's likeness. Bishop Zac observed that for the church then and for the church now it was a new day given by the Spirit. He commented that it is given by the Spirit, not by the PCC whose role is to get on board with what the Spirit is doing and not get in the way of it! With a new team we shouldn't ask how things had been done in the past: the seven last words of a dying church are "we've never done this here before"! Prayer was not just another meeting but a vital part of their shared life and an engagement with the Holy Spirit, leading them into new initiatives. So it should be with us.

Our mid-week programme, 242, is named after Acts 2:42 - "they devoted themselves to the Apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." On the first Wednesday of each month, we come together for fellowship, sharing food and refreshments, for some teaching and prayer together. All are welcome, whether or not they are in a small group during the rest of the month. In the other weeks those in home groups follow a flexible programme varying their frequency of meeting so that members can attend as much as they are able within the pattern of busy lives. The flexibility is also intended to provide opportunities for groups to focus on different emphases, from time to time. When Barnabas went to the church in Antioch, he saw the grace of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, evident in a spirit-filled community. That community created space for the Spirit to work, was open and receptive to his gifts and guidance. We need to move on in the Spirit's power. There is a danger, not just in small groups, but in the church as a whole, of being inflexible and inward-looking, of being too comfortable as we are and not wanting to break out of our comfort zones. But every community that focuses on itself dies. We need as groups and as a church to be mission-orientated.

Our next 'emphasis' is Mission. One of Matthew's key roles is development of the mission emphasis and the re-establishment of our Alpha courses which had been so effective in our local mission. Without a full staff complement, the other demands of ministry made it impossible to maintain the Alpha programme, but now it has restarted. The first group had over forty attending and a number of those are now following Christianity Explored. We pray that they will come to faith, deepen and be renewed in their faith. A new Alpha course is planned for September, so the big question is: who are you going to be bringing with you?

Another important part of our local mission at Christ Church has been the Breakfasts for Women which has been a powerful evangelistic strategy through which a significant number of women have come to Christ. I want to pay tribute to Harriet and her team for all they have done. As you know, over the last year Harriet had a serious illness which was a concern to the family and to all of us, and so we weren't able to have Breakfasts during the year, but we are looking to the future by God's grace. I am enormously thankful to God for Harriet, for her partnership in life and ministry. It was very encouraging to me, and it is so true of her, to hear somebody say recently that they were inspired by her vision and her passion for those who don't yet know Jesus. I know no one with such a heart for others.

Again, as we think about mission, there are the Street Pastors. When Marjorie Murphy and I went to the initial meeting we were excited by the prospect of churches working together in response to neighbourhood concerns. Matthew has now taken this on and seven from Christ Church are in a team of fourteen who are going out in the neighbourhood twice a month on a Friday evening. Two more of us are in training. I had the pleasure recently of going to Pub Watch (an entirely dry event!) when the clubs and pubs staff commented on how much it is appreciated.

It is appropriate to think about our site under this heading as it is our strategic home base for mission. This is a fundamental principle of our site development. We had a PCC Day Away, facilitated by David Dryer, to pray and to plan. As we reviewed the Spaces for Grace that we had identified, it was clear and confirmed to us that these are right. The question is, how are we to develop them appropriately, building on the work done by the former SITE Board. God has provided a breathing space of five years, perhaps a Space for Grace for us, during which Kwik Fit are taking over the garage site and enabling this income stream to continue. However, it is not a space to sit back, but to plan for future use of the marvellous asset God has given us, which now needs significant investment. Development is needed to prepare for ministry and mission in the coming decades, for the sake of the Gospel.

A small group is looking at how we might move forward. We emphasised the importance of prayer in our Site Development Principles: a Prayer Day is planned for 21 June and we need to be continuing to pray as a church about the future. Also an 'At Home' will be organised in the autumn to help church members see the needs and the vision. Often people don't appreciate the need to do something about the site because they simply are unaware of what is going on, what the condition of our buildings is and how this affects our ministries. To see something of what is going on, come on a Wednesday morning to the Mums and Babies & Toddlers groups. This is a fantastic ministry, thriving but in an inadequate, poor environment. We need to see the constraints on our ministry through the facilities that we have, and have our eyes opened to a vision for the future and for the site.

With regard to the site, considerable work has already been done. Although it is unseen, because it is underground, the provision of a new electrical supply to the Halls is absolutely essential for the future. So, too, is the complete rewiring and relighting of the Main Hall. Working groups have been meeting to prepare a specification for this and for the kitchen to bring it up to standards that are acceptable for the time being while we make plans for something more permanent in a development project. There has also been the refurbishment of lobbies, toilets and the 'Church Room'. These works are the ongoing responsibility of the Buildings Committee, chaired by Charlie Grimble, and we are grateful to him and the groups concerned.

Looking to overseas mission, our relationship with the world-wide church continues to grow strong as we link and have mutual visits with Bushfire and Kampala Diocese in Uganda (including the return of four members of the African Youth Fellowship Choir) and with IcFEM in Kimili, Kenya. Generosity as partners in mission was a mark of the church in Antioch. We are committed to supporting all of our mission partners and their families and thank God for the generous provision that there has been. The World Vision Weekend giving was up by 28% on the 2006 figure, and financial support for our missionaries was maintained at their desired levels. It is a wonderful testimony again to the grace of God and generosity of his people that contributions to missions during 2007 were over 30% of our congregational giving. Thank you for that, and for supporting mission overseas and, through our regular offerings, at home.

Mission at home is actually the mission of this church to our area which also requires continuing support and development, especially now that God has completed the 'home team'. The current economic climate brings further challenges with regard to Christian giving. For the Lord's work to move forward, we do need to consider our own giving, praying that both the giving will grow and that the church will grow, perhaps in the other order, that people may come in and give to God's work out of gratitude.

"Missions exist because worship doesn't," said John Piper, and worship is what we were created for. We recently completed a series on Isaiah. In his closing chapter, he shares a magnificent vision, a remarkable programme for reaching the world that all might come to see and acknowledge the glory of God. The thrust of the closing parts of Isaiah is that our mission in this world should be shaped by our hope of the new world into which God is leading us; his renewal of all things and that day when the world will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. Our passion should be that God might be glorified in and through our mission.

Worship, the next 'emphasis', isn't just what happens on a Sunday for an hour or so, but calls for our total personal response to God's amazing grace in Christ. It involves our everyday lives which is one reason why our Issues facing Christians Today is such an important series. It aims to inform and equip us to address current issues with a Christian mind and has been remarkably timely. Over the past year we have looked at the issue of slavery and human trafficking; at the challenge of pluralism and multi-faith issues; at the issue of abortion and life issues; at the question of stress and, most recently, at debt, which together addressed the emotional and the financial pressures we face in our society. It is essential for people to know that the Christian faith is relevant to contemporary society and for us to be able to communicate that. One of the issues facing Christians today concerns our actual involvement in our society. Tomorrow is the London Mayoral Election and it is vitally important as Christians that we turn out. Proportional representation gives us the opportunity to see Christian representation on the London Assembly. The local candidate for the Christian Alliance in our Borough is actually one of the Street Pastors. The political process is a part of being involved in God's world. It is a world in which Christians are increasingly marginalised and we need to support and add our voice to those who are seeking to stand for Christian values.

Worship is about living the whole of life for God and our Sunday services seek to help us in that. There are practical issues which need to be addressed if our facilities are to meet our ministry and worship needs and, especially, there is concern to improve audibility and visibility. The East End working group has been looking at that end of the church in particular and presented plans to the congregation. The largely positive response was considered by the PCC which requested some revision of the plans which are currently being drawn up for presentation to the next PCC and ultimately to the Diocesan Advisory Committee. We are most grateful to Ken Short for all his work with the drawings. With regard to the issue of sound, a specification for a new system has been drawn up and a third quotation is awaited. The PCC has agreed in principle to receive the best provision offered from the quotations received. We need to consider our pattern of services, including the frequency of Holy Communion, and the development of 'contemporary worship'. It is important to acknowledge the fact that we are a diverse congregation and recognise the growing points and many ways of being church together as God's people worshipping Him. We are blessed with a wealth of gifted people who assist with our music and in other ways, whether taking part, leading or providing technical support and we are grateful to them all.

Finally there is Fellowship. We want to be a church that expresses a welcome to all who come through our doors. The LIFE Team's idea of the photos currently being taken is to enable us to have a sense of belonging and to recognise one another. In the prayers, for instance, you may hear, "please pray for so-and-so who has lost a relative ? is in hospital ? etc", you may not know who "so-and-so" is, but if there are photographs it does help. We want, again like the church at Antioch, to be a welcoming multi-ethnic community. On the brochure for our weekend Away, Zac says that what attracted him when he came to Christ Church was the welcome he received, and he continues: "The most powerful positive and at the same time most negative witness of the Christian community to the wider society is the life of the community - it can be for good or for bad - and it is a matter of whether it reflects the love of God in Christ or not". In our text for the year, John 13:34, Jesus commands us to love one another as he has loved us. We are developing that theme at our Weekend Away. Zac notes "I am so glad we can spend the whole weekend considering how you can deepen your community life as followers of Jesus, and therefore how Christ Church can be an effective witness in Beckenham and beyond".

That is the emphasis we will be introducing after the Weekend Away, at the beginning of June, with 40 Days of Community. Jesus' new commandment in John 13:34 is one you cannot obey by yourself. If we love Him, we will love one another. Jesus says that it is by our love for one another that people know we are his disciples. We learn to love as we develop relationships with a whole variety of people in 'community' or 'the fellowship'. Christ squashes the idea that love is a gushy feeling or nice thought about someone; he pushes the definition of love to the highest possible level, modelling it on his own love for us. We are called to consider others before ourselves, to recognise that we need each other, to drop masks and face reality about one another. God has shaped us differently and, with our "hurts, habits and hang-ups", there is potential for conflict which is not resolved by cover-up or compromise but can be used by God to help us grow in Christ. Our differences are ultimately the strength of our community as we serve one another sacrificially with a diversity of people and gifts, but united in Christ.

It is our unity in truth and in love that is going to be the most effective witness to a watching world. Jesus' concern, as he faced the Cross, was for his Father's glory above all things, through his finished work and through his disciples' lives. God's aim for us is to become more like his Son and that means to become more loving, for God is love. As members of his family it is not really a choice that we have, it is a command that he has given: "A new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." May God give us the grace to put that into practice in our lives together.