Conference Discussion Topic

One of the exercises you have to do at conference involves group discussion.  From your group of five, you each take a turn at presenting your topic to the group and chairing the discussion before summing up with the conclusion of the group at the end.  So everyone has a turn at presenting to a group and four chances of participating in a group.  You have fifteen minutes per talk, so no more than the first five minutes should be spent presenting your topic, and taking care to leave a short time for collating the groups position at the end, you then have ten minutes or so of discussion.  You want a topic that will generate opinion, but not so controversial that the debate descends into fisticuffs.  And Voldemort is strictly off limits!  

You will be asked to submit your question to 121 before conference.  Believe me, there's nothing worse than going to a public speaking competition to find that, of the six contestants, three are speaking on the same topic (in my year at school it was Women's Rights.) Especially when you have been politely advised that the judges are getting bored hearing the same topics.

My advice:

• Practice delivering your topic beforehand. 
• Discuss it with people from a variety of backgrounds so you are prepared for their responses. 
• Get your timing right.  Rambling on for thirteen minutes about your topic gives no time for discussion.  And on that note, wear a watch.
• Make sure you include everyone. 
• And remember that you are all in this together.  Trying to score points against your comrades just makes you look like an arse.

My question, along with the rough cut of my preamble follows.

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It could be argued that, Church aside, there are four buildings that form the heart of the community. The shop, the Post Office, the bank and the pub.

For those who live in the central belt, where we may have a shop on every corner, and 24 hour supermarkets in nearly every town, it is easy to overlook the pressures that rural communities are under. Closing the village shop means that villagers are forced to drive many miles just to buy the essentials, with the associated transport costs. Close the bank and businesses have to travel further to deposit funds, and residents may not be able to access cash. And if they can get cash, it may only come from fee charging cash machines. Close the Post Office, and you lose the myriad of services the Post Office offers, including cash withdrawals and deposits. And where would Eastenders be without the Queen Vic, or Emmerdale without the Woolpack? All these enterprises form a focal point for interaction within the community. Remove even one of them and the community starts to decline. The only interaction within the community will be a token wave as they pass each other on the way to Tesco. And as the community shrinks, takings at these enterprises reduces, reducing their viability, and causing more businesses to close, continuing the cycle.

And how do we support those who don't have a car?

But a willing community can make a change. Communities groups on the island of Eriskay and the village of Uig on Lewis have set up their own community enterprises, helping to halt the decline of their area. These include shops, Post Offices, laundrettes and even a petrol station. And pubs have even been bought out by their community. There have even been plans for community groups to become internet providers, in the areas where the traditional internet providers will not operate.

Given its position at the centre of the community, should the Church at parish or Presbytery level act as a catalyst for community enterprise? Should the Church help to alleviate the financial burden on those in the local area by ensuring they don't have to drive miles for a pint of milk? Should the Church be permitting use of its premises to provide a Post Office, a shop, a bank, or dare I even say it, a pub?

If the Church does not look after its community, then there will be no community left to serve, so the question I offer to the group is…

“Should the church step in to run essential community services when the traditional suppliers close within that community?”

Result

The letter arrived today.

After a year of exploring, I've actually managed to convince some folk that I'm cut out to be an OLM.

Perhaps after another year I'll convince myself!

With particular thanks to all the bloggers and commentors who have helped along the way, both online and in person.

Advantages

Well there's sod all I can do at this moment in time to improve on how I got on at conference.

So at the moment, If I want to see Mrs G, I have to drive my motorbike to Highland Cathedral through some very attractive scenery. stay with some very good friends, eat in a cafe that doesn't skimp on the portion size when it comes to chocolate cake, and drink at a pub that has an extensive and changing range of real ales on tap.  And the pub is in walking distance, so everyone can join in.

This summer is going to be hellish. :-)

Finished

Finished.  Home.

My head is now firmly located up my nether regions.

We had an orchestra sharing the building at Gartmore House.  There are few things more disconcerting than having an orchestra strike up in the next room as you are performing number 2.  In this Jubilee weekend, it's nice to know how the other half lives.

I'm giving the whole thing no more thought.  Thy will be done etc.  It's completely out of my hands.  So in a week and a half I'll get the answer.  But will my path involve a Stairway or a Highway?

From conference

I can't write.

I have spent so long typing everything that writing is an absolute toil.  The exercises we have to do that involve putting pen to paper are a chore, and I fear that my scrawl is going to count against me.  Every word is an absolute labour and I see that I can type considerably faster than writing.  And the linear thought process that is required to put an idea to the page just doesn't suit me.  Cutting, pasting and inserting is how I live my life.  It must be at least 10 years since I've been expected to write more than a few lines, and these have been strictly for my benefit.

For my final exercise, the staff have very kindly agreed that I can type it up.  You have no idea how much of a relief that is.

All is going well.  All good folk, and it would be great if they all got through. 

It's time.

Yesterday I was feeling that I would be glad the whole enquiry process would be over, one way or the other.  It's almost a year since I went to the Enquirers conference.  Tomorrow and I'll be at conference, where my call will be well and truly tested. But today I'm feeling much more positive, on the verge of something big.

I've had a few trial runs of my discussion topic, throwing the idea off random people, friends, and even a retired Provost from Perth.  I've stored away their responses, so I'm ready for a few odd answers as I chair my debate.

This isn't going to be a tick-box exercise.  In the interviews, I will really have to sell myself.

All I can do now is pray the prayer that Lynn gave me.

Dear God,

Give me the strength to do outrageous things.

Amen.

(But not too outrageous - not until I get the yes vote!)

What's your calling?

A soup kitchen needs someone to make the soup.

The Street Pastors I went out with are supported by someone who makes them sandwiches to take them through the night.

You don't have to stand at the front of the church, wearing odd clothes to demonstrate God's call.

Just do what you can.

Sometimes all you need to do is make soup and sandwiches.

Flowing

Today just seemed to go right.

This was the last of my four slots helping with my regular minister at Lane End and Fieldside.  The initial idea was to have some sort of interview type sermon, with us bouncing questions off each other and working that into Jeremiah saying he wasn't up for the task, and with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost reading from Acts.

Now the minister sent me his first draft of the sermon, and it became clear that there was going to be a lot of probing of my calling.  I'm usually OK with that, but I didn't want the sermon to appear to be all about me.  So on Saturday evening we discussed a plan which saw us using most of the content of his original sermon, and when questioned I gave an account of three people I had met on the enquiry process, all of whom had entertained the idea of ministry, but had then went on to follow God's call in some other way.  I went on to give examples of opportunities to follow God's call in the local area.  So in the end, the sermon was about 25% my content, 75% his, but with the delivery of the sermon split 50/50.

Yes I know this sounds muddled and complicated, but when we actually got up there and delivered it, it worked.  The 9.30 service at Lane End felt great for a change.  I have occasionally felt that, despite my best efforts, I have used their service as a dress rehearsal for the 11.00 at Fieldside.  Today it just flowed.

When I got to Fieldside, the projectionist had used a few images to illustrate callings within that local parish, and I was confident enough to divert slightly from the script and use them as examples of the varied ways people are called to serve God.  This was unexpected but it personalised the sermon to that congregation.

This was just the confidence boost I was needing.  This was the last involvement in a sermon that I will have until after my selection on the 5th.

Heart and soul 2012

Hats off to everyone involved in Heart and Soul.  You've excelled yourselves.

And hello to all the bloggers that were floating around.  I think I counted six, possibly even a seventh, however as the first rule of blog club is that you never talk about blog club, you can never tell if there's one of us out there.  To those that I talked to, it was good to see you all again. 

Not good

It just wasn't good.

My minister has let me shaddow him for the four weeks or so I have between placement ending and selection conference.  Last week it was a short prayer.  Simple enough.

This week I had a more involved prayer booked.  Fine.  Then this evolved into doing the introduction to the service, plus the prayers, then a bit on Christian Aid.

And that was when things started to unravel.  The intro had responses, printed in the order of service.  So I asked the congregation to join in, and I started, but the responses weren't coming back at me.  The minister gave the lines back at me, as the congregation should have.  Them Mrs Gerbil caught my eye and pointed at the order of service.  No responses. 

Merde.  That's for the 11.00 service at Fieldside, not at the 09:30 at Lane End.  That explains why the person that does the order of service looks panicked, as she told me later she was worried she had missed something.  Then my mic seemed to stop working while talking about CA week, totally mucking up my train of thought.

It all goes together to look sloppy, and I feel like I'm letting down Lane End.  There's often something goes wrong when I'm let loose at the front of the church, and even though things recovered at Fieldside at 11.00, I just left feeling pretty flat.

I have two more Sundays before conference.