Tag Archives: Welcome

  • 18
    Feb 20
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Welcome to …

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As a child in Sunday School there was a song that began with …

“There was a dear old darkie

His name was happy Joe

Although his skin was black as soot

His heart was white as snow.”

There were more appalling lyrics, but you get the point.

I had hoped we would have grown out of our racist and prejudice in 2020, but apparently not.

Sadly there is debate among some Evangelicals and other Christians as to whether a welcome to country is important.

It appears for some if we acknowledge our First People that somehow we are not acknowledging God as creator?

I’m not convinced God would see it that way. I reckon if Jesus was walking around today, he would have more in common with the indigenous peoples of any country. Moreover I believe Jesus would acknowledge all first peoples.

Image from publisher’s site. 
Use of this image is not for commercial or promotion purposes, but to illustrate the idea of the possibility an existing (or pre-existing) relationship that is not mutually exclusive. https://secure.stpauls.com.au/product/97/Special+St+Pauls+Australia+Clearance/Fletcher+MSC,+Frank;+Byers,+Fabian+(ed)/7571/Jesus+and+the+Dreaming
  • 06
    Sep 14
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church could be like THIS

Category:Community,News,Social Media,The Trip Tags : 

So I’m back in the U.K. and heading to Leeds – WHY? I hear you ask – well for one simple reason to visit Harehills Lane Baptist Church – WHERE? I hear you say – Harehills Lane Baptist Church in Leeds, the church where Graeme Dodds is a minister – WHO? you might say – this guy…

He preached at our church a couple of years ago and many people (including me) said it was one of the best sermons they had ever heard!

Anyway, I went to Harehills Lane Baptist Church – and I have to say that church should (or could) be like this!

 

I walked in and the first thing that hit me was the welcome I got – the guy at the door seemed genuinely pleased I was there. He explained a little about the service, asked me where I was from and was really nice.

 

I sat down and everyone who came in (I mean everyone) said hello and as it filled people came over to talk and introduce themselves. Graeme came out and sat with me throughout the service, which was brilliant and was all about everything I had been to America to see.

The theme was traction – the idea of the ‘rubber hitting the road’. It emphasised everything I had hoped about the trip – the idea that doing is a vital part of believing. All that stuff in the book of James that faith without works is dead etc, etc. One thing, said almost in passing, struck a huge chord with me – “Pastoral work is important and it can be just a word, a phone call, a text or a facebook message.” God was speaking to me in that service – he really was.

 

The community of Harehills Lane is amazing – we sang happy birthday to a lady in her 90’s, I talked to a Ugandan asylum seeker and a northern biker, we moved furniture and ate cakes – it was a brilliant morning.

After the service (which was superb and, as usual, I won’t go too far into detail because I want to use some of the stuff – especially the music)  there was a lunch that could easily compare to anything the Melbourne Welsh Church would put on. People freely mixed and chatted it, was like being in at home on any Sunday morning. It felt great.

 

Another wonderful surprise was that Harehills Lane had a group going to Greenbelt and I was invited to join their number, I didn’t realise at the time what an amazing blessing that would turn out to be.

As with almost everything else I’ve seen on this trip so far it’s the little things, the simple things that make this church so special. Community is at the foundation of everything – you build the rest of the church on that. Harehills has got it right – their community is a warm, welcoming and worshipping one – it was a pleasure to share time with them. Thank you all.

 

After a bit of news from my folks the look of my week changed a bit – things were re-arranged. I missed visiting Zac’s Place in Swansea and I missed seeing John and Gail Rees but I was on my way back to Greenbelt after a gap of 16 years and I was excited!!!

 

  • 01
    Sep 14
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church should come with COFFEE

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So it is almost time to leave B’more and the U.S. but before I leave there is one last thing to do – another Bible Study. (Anyone would think I was religious!)

At some unearthly hour of the morning the minds behind #BreakingBread hold a Bible study in a coffee shop. It only seems fitting to finish this part of the trip the way it started weeks ago in Denver- talking God over coffee and breakfast.

I will be honest and admit that I was a little late mainly because I was staying over the other side of the city and it took longer than I had planned to get there. Still when I arrived the coffee was still hot (or in my case the OJ was still cool) and the discussion was well under way. Rev Jenn was there and I got to meet Rev Jason too, who was leading the study that morning. The team of J, J and S are amazing and so talented. In the short time I was with them I felt that God has looked on the people of their part of B’more and blessed them hugely! Keep up the great work.

 

As with most things on this trip it was a simple set up (that’s not saying the discussion wasn’t in-depth, it was). A table, a few chairs and a Bible and off we went. The more I see of how other churches do stuff the more guilty I feel for making things far too complicated.

Again I was welcomed and made to feel at home, again I sat and listened and learnt as normal people (like me and you, except with weirder accents) unravelled parts of the Bible in ways I had never thought of. Again I had a ball and even though I arrived a little behind time I didn’t feel left out and I gained a lot.

If you have been to our Wednesday morning Bible group or our Monday evening Bible group – it wasn’t dissimilar to those, except they stuck to the topic whereas we never do!

Did I mention it rained while I was in Baltimore…

 

As I draw to the end of the American leg of my adventure I sit here wondering if it was all worth it. I can, without any hesitation, say it most certainly was. I have met some wonderful people, done some amazing things, learnt some fantastic new skills and absorbed a head full of new knowledge.

To everyone I have met in Denver and Texas, in Washington and Baltimore a huge thank you – don’t think you’ve got rid of me that easily though… I want to come back – there is so much more for me to learn.

 

Onwards to the U.K. and the prospect of bikers and tents. It will be another interesting time!!!

  • 30
    Aug 14
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church should be ONLINE

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At the outset I wish to pour out extravagant praise for my wonderful host Meredith Gould. Her sacrifice of time, spirit and knowledge was above and beyond generous and I cannot thank her enough. Meredith you are a blessing to so many; an angel with a Doctorate; the Queen of Twitter and the fairy godmother of #chsocm (and you’re not scary at all IRL).

 

Enough of that – this is what happened when I went to meet the wizard…

After #BreakingBread broke up I awaited my host. It was like standing in line at a big concert – waiting for your heroes to take the stage – I felt like a little kid waiting for a chance to meet Santa – I was about to meet the great Meredith Gould. I’d got to Oz and the wizard was coming!!

Every car that went past, was it her? Every helicopter that went over, was that her? Eventually the moment came, a fleet of cars with flashing blue lights pulled up and in a crowd of groupies and hangers on I glimpsed her; the security detail arrived; my ID was checked; I was about to meet….

Actually it didn’t happen like that – a little car pulled up and out jumped Meredith with a huge, welcoming smile on her face. I didn’t know what I expected, but just like Harry Potter’s exam results, Meredith exceeds expectations. Bright, warm, vibrant and amazingly down to earth (for a guru) she is brilliant!!!

 

That evening and the whole of the next day passed in a storm of talk, laughter, fun and learning (well for me it did – for Meredith it must have been a tirade of inane questions, daft comments, and patient teaching). We went through everything church media related- the website, the blog, the Facebook and Twitter pages, Instagram and Pinterest – content, design, layout, colours. Meredith’s expertise and knowledge were as freely given as her smiles and humour.

I’ve been into the inner sanctum, I’ve even touched her computer, I’ve walked the yellow brick road and I’ve seen behind the wizard’s curtain and it is more magical and amazing than Oz could ever be – but it’s not the set up that makes it so great, as with everything on this trip, it’s the person.

All joking and hyperbole aside – all I can say is thank you Meredith, I hope I can do justice to all you taught me.

 

Before I left for this trip I was asked the question “Is being online and active in Social Media a real part of the ministry of the church?”

I didn’t answer it then, but I think I can now:  “In this digital age it is practically impossible to have a church ministry without being online.” Online ministry through social media is not, and I don’t think it ever will be, the whole work of the church but it will now never not be an important part. And thanks to David and Meredith and members of the fantastic #chsocm (church and social media) community I now feel better equipped to keep venturing out into the modern digital world with the Gospel message that is as relevant now as it was 2,000 years ago.

  • 28
    Aug 14
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church isn’t a DENOMINATION

Category:Community,Godsmacked,News,Social Media,The Trip Tags : 

Baltimore – where the “Star Spangled Banner” was written is a nice place. That’s about as effusive I wish to be about this small but strangely charming city.

 

Again though, like Denver and certain parts of Houston, it’s the people that make the place special and I mean extra special.

Wandering the centre city of Baltimore took me a few minutes and after talking to a very nice police man (in a fast pursuit vehicle, all the criminals must be overweight) I made my way towards the meet up point for my lift to #BreakingBread. Thank you Julie, I would never have found it on my own!

 

So three ministers walked into a church, a Lutheran, a Presbyterian and an Episcopalian. And that’s not a joke – Jenn, Sara and Jason run Breaking Bread. I don’t know the history or who did what with whom but Breaking Bread is another one of those simple church ideas that are just outstandingly wonderful. It’s not rocket science to do this sort if thing but wow it is very powerful, and those of us who haven’t thought of it before go, “I wish I’d thought of that!”

All it is (and I don’t mean to sound like I’m putting it down, I’m not I’m raising it as high as I can and jumping up and down shouting “WE ALL SHOULD DO THIS…”) all it is, in essence, is a simple service, a simple meal and and a simple Bible study. #BreakingBread’s brilliance comes from two things – the atmosphere and the people.

I may not have the order of the next bit quite right but you’ll get the general idea.

The night I went Rev Jason wasn’t there and Rev Jenn was leading and Rev Sara was in charge of the food. You kind of just walk in and do stuff. I was ordered (nicely) to help lay the tables – cutlery and candles were what I did, and they look great.

Being the summer holidays they weren’t expecting a full house only about 20 (I’d love a Bible Study of about 20). Four tables were set up, some food was prepared (mainly asparagus, THE vegetable of Breaking Bread) and things began. It started with a simple service of singing and prayers and a very simple (but amazingly profound) Communion service in which we all stood and served each other the bread. It was a very moving experience and God was there, in the eyes of the homeless guy across the circle from me, in the smile of the person handing me the bread. It was another Holy experience in a borrowed church hall.

The wine was shared around our tables and the act of moving from one place to another between the elements was great. It made me feel like what we were doing was communal (all in the circle together) and yet also individual as we drank from our own cups in our places by the table. Again very simple ideas brilliantly done.

After the service (which was maybe 10 minutes) we went for the food like ravenous beasts, sharing talk and laughs at the various tables. This wasn’t rushed and there was a feeling of community there – hard to describe but there was a ‘freeness’ to the proceedings that can only come from everyone wanting the same outcome. I’m sure that doesn’t do it justice but it’s hard to describe.

After seconds Jenn (the Presbyterian (yay for John Calvin)) led us in a Bible study that I will not describe here as I intend to use the idea at our church (she’ll never know!!). Once again the way it was done was simple yet the content was very thought provoking and the discussions at our table was deep and serious.

It was a wonderful night (everyone helped with the clearing up as well) in which a stranger from a long way away was made to feel very much part of a worshipping community. He was offered food and spiritual comfort, companionship and conversation, teaching and love. It was all very New Testament, early church, true Christian Community in action stuff and I loved it. I’d go every week if I didn’t live 8,500 miles away.

 

Thank you to the Breaking Bread team, you are the real presence of God at work!!

 

  • 27
    Aug 14
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churches should be ARMED!

Category:Community,News,Social Media,The Trip Tags : 

(with the sound suppressed, semi-automatic pistol of the Spirit. Yours for under $2,000)

 

I will draw my Texas blog to a close – in its own way Texas was as brilliant as Denver. Where Denver was hands on, feet dirty, get in there and do it Texas was very different. And I expected it to be.

 

I went there to learn social media stuff and wow did I have a brilliant teacher – Pastor David Hansen (as well as being an amazing pastoral minister (you should see the way the people in the church love him), an amazing host (with his lovely wife Megan), a very handsome man (have you seen the pictures? he reminds me of a movie star or at least someone I know I’ve seen before) – on top of all that he is also a social media guru.

A lot of my Texas time was taken up sitting in front of computers doing ‘stuff’. Twitter and Facebook are no longer mysteries to me – podcasting, pfft I can do it in my sleep now – and twitter chats – I’ve seen how the best moderates them (from an armchair, with a beer!).

But being a geek wasn’t all I did. There are just one or two little experiences I want to share before I move on –

 

Lunch with Bishop Mike –

The ELCA (The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) has bishops. I had lunch with one and his family. I would just like to say thank you to Bishop Mike for taking time out of his sabbatical to come and eat TexMex with me. We had a great chat and to hear of the work and how the ELCA orders things makes our Gymanfa look very small. (I know it is but this reminded me of how small.) Bishop Mike has been quite outspoken on the situation in Gaza and we had a great discussion about balancing personal and professional social media posts. I learnt a lot (and not just how to load a taco). Thank you.

Another visit to a Christian book barn.

WOW – these places scare me – piousness and poison under the same roof. A man cannot serve two masters – its either God or money well in this place God was served a lot – every transaction was something about God but he was not the master there, this was a Christian money printing factory. I might be wrong but isn’t “Clean hands and a pure heart” hand sanitiser going a bit far?? What about “the spark plugs Jesus would use”?

 

Some of the books would be funny if they weren’t serious titles – “God and Guns” was probably my favourite but there were plenty of others.

Bad breath? Jesus mints will drive out the demons of halitosis.

 

God bless my gun cabinet.

A prayer to God for peace, for America and for the Marine Corps.

 

It was endless – I was glad when we left and went to the gun store!

 

I had heard a lot about the gun culture in the States – the right to bear arms (but not to arm bears – it would be fairer if they did). I was intrigued to see it for myself and where better than the local, family run, gun shoppe.

 

If the Christian book store was bad I don’t know what this was. It was a temple to gun metal, and it was a very scary temple.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time around firearms, I know what they can do and I think I can use one safely. This place wasn’t a gun store though, it was an arsenal. You can get pink shotguns for your little girl; semi-automatic rifles to go ‘hunting’ with; as much ammo as you could carry; shoulder holsters; ankle holsters; gun vests; cartridge making machines – everything the wanna be gun nut could want; but the worse thing (or the best thing, depending on your point of view) was the pistol with military grade suppressor (silencer).

 

Why would you ever need one? I cannot think of a legal situation that would require a pistol with a silencer. I can sort of see why you would need a semi-automatic rifle with sub-sonic, hollow point bullets – if a huge bear was running at me, all teeth and claws and menace I’d probably be glad of one, (I still think they should arm the bears to make the fight fairer though) but a silenced semi-automatic pistol.

WHY?

Not for personal protection – I’d want every criminal to know I had a gun so I wouldn’t silence it. Not for hunting – its useless as a hunting pistol and still makes enough noise to scare off any game. Not at the local gun club – you all wear ear protectors. I cannot for the life of me see why.

 

I fell in love with parts of America and with parts of the American church but there are certain things that make me glad I’m coming home to Oz – and military grade, noise suppressed, semi-automatic pistols for under $2,000 is one of them. Makes me shudder to think of it.

 

I was sad to leave the Lone Star State. I made good friends there, I saw how two wonderful churches (Spirit of Joy! (don’t leave out the exclamation mark) and Grace Lutheran) and how two truly wonderful pastors work, I met loads of wonderful people of God who are doing amazing work in his name, even a couple of decent presbyterians. But Texas really is another America though – a wild, weird and wonderful place full of strange people, spaceships, gun shops and Jeezus.

 

Onward to Baltimore…..

 

  • 20
    Aug 14
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church is for EVERYONE (even little green kids)

Category:Community,Godsmacked,News,Social Media,The Trip Tags : 

Well I’m still in Texas (I’m not but the blog is, so stick with me, I’ve only got one more after this blog from here), and I’m feeling like a big kid.

Why????

I’m on my way to NASA!

Anyone born in the late sixties or early seventies will have a special place in their heart for NASA.

A year before my birth men walked on the moon for the first time; As I was being born Apollo 13 was in trouble; I watched the first shuttle launch in school; I saw the first shuttle disaster on tele; I wanted to be an astronaut!!!!

So here I am on the way to the Mission Control in Houston. I’m not going to go into detail here – this is not a tourist blog but the tour was great, a real high point of my trip. There were some amazing things to see – a real NASA skip (with NASA written on the side); Mission Control but the biggest thrill, however, was the Saturn 5 rocket!!!

 

I made a model of one of these when I was a child, it had a little Neil Armstrong and everything. I knew the scale of a man to the machine but seeing it was MINDBLOWING!

Huge doesn’t do it justice – the jets of the rockets had a 40 ft diameter and there was 5 of them – this thing is unbelievably big; massively large; unfathomably vast. Even that doesn’t make it clear how big it is!

 

I mention it because I have been in awe of the this machine for years and as amazing as it is it was nothing to how I felt that evening. My hosts (Megan and David) took me from NASA to a suburb of Houston to the Grace Lutheran Church where we met the pastor Lura Groen.

 

Grace is a fantastic little place in a hip neighbourhood of Houston that does some utterly amazing stuff. The three things I want to mention are –

 

  1. The Neighbourhood food bank that was going on when we arrived.

This is such a simple idea – local growers bring their produce to the church where a local co-op hires some space and sells good, local grown food for fair prices. Everyone wins – the church gets a working presence in the community, the community gets fresh local food and the growers get some money. WIN/WIN/WIN. Simple and brilliant.

2)   The work they do with Homeless teens.

Lura gave us the grand tour and one of the big things the church does, in conjunction with the other organisations, is to have a ministry to the local homeless youth, many of whom are gay. On Thursday evenings there is a drop in session held at the church with a safe place to talk (the church board has made the best room in the building available to the homeless – that speaks volumes, it says ‘you are valuable AND you are welcome’, words these kids may not here from anywhere else. There is a clothing bank and a food bank where good (hip) clothes and healthy food are available. They also supply things that we take for granted but to the homeless are luxuries – toilet paper, sanitary products, batteries etc. It is an amazing work that is not only needed but also really well done – Simple and Brilliant!

3)    Wednesday Night Worship

We arrived in time for the Wednesday Night Communion service. This is a small service held in a small side chapel. As with the House for All Sinners and Saints the liturgy was very traditional and yet was so fresh. It was a simple gathering where prayer, music and short sermon were shared and then we gathered around the table and shared the communion elements. It was made VERY clear that this was an open table and EVERYBODY is welcome. These weren’t just words spoken out of habit – this was a heartfelt invitation to all who wished to hear and come that this table was open to them!! It was formally informal or informally formal – in all the tradition and well known words there was an openness that was so wonderful to be a part of.

The service at Grace Lutheran struck me as living up to that verse that says we must accept the things of God as a child. It wasn’t childish but it was child-like – simple, profound and somehow very truthful. The service (indeed my whole experience was) simple and brilliant.

But what has that got to do with the SATURN 5 rocket – well this – as impressed and awe-struck as I was by the technology of the 1960’s that had 1,000,000 components and put men on the moon I was not as impressed or as awe-struck with that as I was with the wonderful work and the presence of God that I saw and felt at Grace. THAT was amazing in every sense of the word.

—————————————————————————————————-

They welcome they extend goes as far as green, alien children – honestly, it was in their stained glass windows – look-

 

I couldn’t put this in anywhere but I must tell you y’all; I touched moon rock!!!!

 

  • 28
    May 14
  • 0

Intolerance will not be tolerated

Category:Church sign of the week,News Tags : 

 

Intolerance will not be tolerated

 

 

 

We have a sign that you cannot miss as you walk into the pulpit to preach, it’s by a chap called David Hayward (http://nakedpastor.com/) and it reads –

 

“All means all.”

 

If you cannot agree with that ideal then we don’t think you should preach in our church. If you wish to pick and choose to whom you preach or if you wish to limit the scope and the Grace of the Gospel to those who YOU think should hear it then we don’t want to hear what you have to say, we probably wouldn’t agree with you anyway. We try not to be intolerant, we honestly try but we are intolerant of the intolerant.

 

You see, intolerance is not very present in the New Testament (expect for intolerance for the religious bigots of the day, and there were quite a few of them). All those who seem excluded at the outset of the story are the very ones who are welcomed in by the end. Jews and non-Jews join together to form the Church; Women and men become leaders and workers in the Church. Did I mention the orphans, widows, lepers, sinners, publicans, tax collectors and various other ‘undesirables’ who are welcomed? The ones who we (the Church of today in one form or another) usually exclude are the very ones who are sought out by Jesus and then by the Apostles and welcomed in, not in a ‘token gesture, look we welcome lepers” sort of way but right into the very heart of the church, into leadership positions and other important roles.

 

As an example of this look at the first gentile (non Jewish) convert to the early Church – a nameless man usually called by the flattering title of – the Ethiopian Eunuch (see Acts chapter 8). Everything seemed to be against his admittance to the Church and yet he is the one to whom the Holy Spirit sends one of the Apostles, a man called Phillip. Nadia Bolz-Weber (in her brilliant book “Pastrix”) puts it far better than I could: “The first gentile convert to Christianity is a foreigner, who is also a person of color and a sexual minority? If only the guy were also “differently abled” and gluten intolerant.”

 

In every way this man should be excluded and yet he is the first non-jewish person welcomed into the church. What does that tell us about how things should be within the church? – it screams out to me that intolerance should not be tolerated, that everyone is welcome and we shouldn’t try and choose who is and isn’t welcome, that’s God’s role. All we can do is open the doors and welcome in all who comes – whoever they maybe.

 

  • 22
    Mar 12
  • 0

A new blog

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Welcome to the Melbourne Welsh Church’s blog. Feel free to have a look around and visit us our website and follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

Melbourne Welsh Church

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