A Christian Leader is … ?

In his book "Being Leaders" Aubrey Malphurs says, "It's my view that the decline of the church in the West is due in part to boards that consist of well-meaning laypeople who don't understand or know how to lead churches."

Wow!  That sounds harsh, but is he right?  I think I would want to say "… well-meaning lay and ordained people who haven't grasped (or have forgotten) that the role of the church is to tell of Jesus, live the life of Jesus and proclaim the kingship of Jesus and have thus taken their eye and focus off the essential role of the church to bring those who don't know Him before His throne."  

Personally I would encourage any Christian leader to do a course like the 'Leadership, Renewal and Mission' course at Cliff College as an essential introduction to what leadership in the church is about - rather than all the current focus on man-management and use of resources.

Growing the rural Church

Yesterday I set off a little earlier than normal to go to worship at a church in a rural environment.  It is many years now since I last regularly led worship in the country chapels in the Skipton and Grassington Circuit so I was keen to see how rural ministry was shaping up to the changing times.

While I could not in all honesty say the church was well filled - it most certainly was not - the welcome was very warm - well you can hardly creep unnoticed into a small chapel and while I probably sat in someone's regular pew no one said anything or communicated it in any other way!

Led by one of my colleagues I knew we were in for a good service, but it immediately became clear that this was going to be a service with a difference - a new member was to be confirmed.  Now it has to be said that this too infrequently happens, so it was a great encouragement especially as the confirmee was a young man in his 20's.  This is also one of real privelidges of Ministry in the  Methodist Church because we actually preside at the Confirmation; we don't have to step aside for a Bishop as do our Anglican colleagues.  As a total aside, it did cross my mind how, in the renewed commitment that our Conference has just made to move towards visible unity with the Church of England, how this issue will be handled!

As the service continued towards the Confirmation, with all the words reminding us about what our faith means to us and demands of us, my colleague then invited myself and a retired Minister who was also in the congregation to join him at the front.  We were then asked to jointly Confirm this new member - now that was a totally unexpected but really apprecaited privilege.  It made a very good point - people are not Confirmed into membership of one congregation, nor just of the Methodist Church, but into the worldwide Christian Church!

The sermon slot was based on two great New Testament passages reminding us about what it means to be a Christian in a community of Faith and, being an all-age service (the Sunday School stayed in), the sermon slot unpacked the readings in a very accessible and visual manner which engaged everyone by demanding ideas and responses through looking at what it meant to 'belong'.

At the end of the service I felt there was hope for growth in the church in the rural community and privileged to have been asked to be a part in the service.

New College Bird Methodist Church

Post by W Arthur Harbottle.

New College Bird was badly affected by the earthquake and where the church lost a lots of its senior Ministers when a building they were meeting in collapsed.  Though the Church survived (except for the tower) much around it has been rebuilt.  These shots show something of the Church and school today.
 

Thomassin Methodist Church

Post by W Arthur Harbottle.

Furcy Mission, Church, school and Clinic

It was a true privilege to go to Furcy this morning. Only about 15 mile from Port-au-Prince but at an altitude of some 5300 feet the air temps are a much more bearable 22 or so degs! The steeply sloping hillsides are terraced in a manner which reminds one of the Andes or Himalayas, with houses dotted around and groups of people working the ground to produce crops to be sold on to the markets in PaP.

The area has suffered much from erosion due to so much of the area having been stripped of its native hardwood to repay debts to the west and a major reason for some of the poverty here. It is virtually impossible to get down to the church, school, clinic, hostel (for work teams and another for teachers) in a vehicle, so we completed the journey on foot. We were greeted by many who recognised John as the Doctor who came to the clinic on some Mondays - clearly confusing some because it was a Saturday!

Life cannot be easy here, not least as it gets so cold at night, but there is such beauty I felt so honoured to see what many others will never have the chance to set their eyes upon.

Post by W Arthur Harbottle.

The earthquake mass grave

When I was told we would visit the earthquake mass grave I had in mind something like the graves in Europe from the two World Wars.  Certainly, at least in my mind, a place were 260,000 of the 300,000 victims of the earthquake were interred would seem to need a significant memorial.

The first picture is an artist's impression of one idea for the site.

But on arrival at the site I was …. to say the least ….. caught totally unawares, for this is what we found.

A large boulder surrounded by a concrete fence, secured by metal gates .

No flowers, no pictures, no recognition of the individuals who died!

It is a place which still stirs in me emotion every time I visit it in my mind's-eye.  Can you imagine how this place would be if it were marking such a disaster in Europe?

However, as I reflected upon it and upon my response, I began to admire Haitians.  Even though this site is a full 10 miles from PaP and difficult for most to access with public transport, Haitians clearly don't need to have a place to focus their grief and memories the way we do in the UK.  The past is the past - what has happened is done - and life goes on.  Maybe in time, when the Government there has surplus funds or another country offers to underwrite the cost they will complete the memorial garden, but until such a time every penny - sorry, Gourde - has a better function to fulfil, to rebuild a nation, to rebuild a future, to create a society in which Haitians today can flourish!

Freres Methodist Church

This is the church on the compound where all the Church Offices have been since the earthquake and where our Mission Partners, Dr John & Sharon Harbottle live.  The church draws from the surrounding area which includes people from the school and District Offices.

Post by W Arthur Harbottle.