Church in Theatre Land

On Sunday, B and I took a trip to the West End, not to see one of the great shows that take place in theatres there, but to go to Christchurch London! Just metres away from the glowing lights and hustle and bustle of Piccadilly Circus lies the small but elegant Piccadilly Theatre. For most of the week it plays host to Grease, but on a Sunday people start to gather early to worship God.

At 10am the setup crew arrive to start the long arduous job of building the stage set for the 4pm meeting. A full crew are involved in rigging up a giant scaffold structure which holds a screen that would not be out of place in a cinema amongst other things. At around 2:30 the band and sound crew arrive to sound check and from 3pm onwards it seems like a small army of people descend on the place wearing black t-shirts which say host on them. From the tube to the front doors right to your seats, you will encounter a warm and friendly person who makes you feel like you are really important to the whole gig!

At 4pm everything kicks off. The sung praise and worship rocks the stage and I myself encounter God. There are bible readings, prophetic words, prayers, a tongue and an interpretation. In a place which is used to singing 'Your The One That I want' and 'Hopelessly Devoted To You', it was wonderful to be turning these things around and saying that Jesus is the one that we want and that instead of being hopelessly devoted we can be devoted and full of hope!!!

Adrian Holloway then gave the third in a series of four talks based on the book 'Just Walk Across the Room' by Bill Hybels. This is a magnificent, inspiring book on personal evangelism from one of the best protagonists of this form of evangelism. Adrian brought the talk in his own inimitable style and people walked out buzzing with the message.

We then joined others from the church in a coke up at a local pub. In all, B and I came away feeling greatly blessed in having the opportunity to visit this local expression of church being worked out in a completely different environment. We came away with ideas and a fresh vision for what church can look like here in the town of Reading and looking forward to seeing that come to pass.

Looking forward in anticipation

It's been great to get away and refresh a little, but I'm now excited to back and raring to go. This is a big term starting next week with the arrival of three new year teamers. You will no doubt hear the names of Andrew, Hannah and Sam (Samantha) over the coming months, but just to say they are all quality people who we are looking forward to having on board.

This term will also see us running Alpha again (more details in a later post), foundations and for the first time, the marriage course. We will hopefully be partnering with Reading Girls School to put on a carol concert at the school as well as meeting for Christmas day in the church office.

The preaching series this term will be Gathering and Going which will see us teaching into what it is to gather as a church in different contexts and then subsequently how we are to go into our local community and the nations. This will, as always, be based in scripture and will build towards Sean and Liz moving to Amsterdam to start the church.

There will be people At RFC that will hear the call to go to Amsterdam with Sean and Liz and we will be taking up an offering to support Sean and Liz in setting up the Church Plant as a gift to them.

Sunday mornings will be back in Reading Girls School from the 14th September when the children's work will all start again. There will be some recruiting of personnel going on between now and then, no doubt, particularly in the area of creche. The students will return at the beginning of October which will mean a return to student lunches each week.

We will be having Ben Davies, Tony Thompson and Mark Landreth-Smith come and visit and preach with us. We will see Richard come into eldership and the church leadership handed over.

there is so much happening this term that it could be easy to take our eyes off of Jesus. We must be those in the coming weeks and months, who, regardless of what is happening around us, must look to the cross and know that we are Christians not for our comfort but for his glory. We as a church are not gathered to be a cosy community, but a radical community who live for something other than ourselves. In this busy time lets remember the author and perfecter of our faith and run hard for him. My prayer is that no one will be left behind in all the changes; that we will all be caught up in this great mission of starting two new chapters, that God has called us on.

Staff nights out and basketball

Last night, B and I went to her end of term staff do. It was a lovely evening spent chatting with a variety of people from a variety of backgrounds. Such a diverse group all coming together for one purpose, to educate a bunch of kids over on the Dee Road estate.

This morning saw me playing basketball with four big Zim men. As I approached the court onlookers could have been forgiven for thinking ' what on earth is he doing?' They are all brothers, spread across the nations at the moment but brought together for one weekend.

I felt privileged to have been invited to play with them and a little embarrassed that I showed them all how to play (only joking). They are a group of brothers who obviously love each other in a manly no nonsense sort of way, they are guys who love Jesus and they are guys who open up their family to let others come and be part of it.

Following on from my post yesterday I once again saw the joy of being part of this world wide family that is the family of God. In a small way, B's school reflects the diverse nature of the church, people from all backgrounds and experiences coming together for one purpose, only our purpose is to worship Jesus Christ.

Family ties

As I prepare to send out the final run order for Sunday I cannot help but be excited. What looks on paper, is a reflection of us as a family. We will have 9 children from Chernobyl with us on Sunday, part of the great work the Sue Butcher-Bigley is doing. We will be giving them bibles in Russian and generally making a bit of a fuss of them because we want to express our love for those who are in tough circumstances.

We will be baptising Steve and Jenny, each will give a short personal story and then we will baptise them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as they make public that which has happened internally. At the same time we will bring Steve, Nitin and William into membership; they are declaring that they want to be loved in this local expression of church and are saying that they are totally on board with the vision of its leaders.

Our brother from Zimbabwe, Sibs Sabanda is then going to preach from the word of God. Last time he gave us a word which was at a mid week meeting, it was a prophetic word for us as a church and so I am in anticipation as to what God will do through him.

During the morning we will be focusing on Jesus; our Brother, our King our Saviour. We will worship him in song and in the giving of our money. The only reason that there is so much to get through on Sunday morning is because we are family. Not humanly but spiritually. I have a wonderful earthly family, but I also have a wonderful spiritual family that is not just confined to the borders of Reading. This time next year, Sean and family will be in Amsterdam; Dave and Hannah Henson are now back in St. Petersburg; Pervez is back home in Pakistan; Sibs is over here visiting his family from Zim and will be with us on Sunday morning; Pastor Paul continues to do great things in Kampala, Uganda.

The family I feel part of and that we should all feel part of, is the universal church of Jesus Christ, expressed through the local church we are a serving, giving, loving part of in the town in which we live.