jonnybaker

musing on ordination and wondering why pioneering is not all the rage...?!

congratulations to ali middleton getting ordained deacon today as a pioneer. it’s been such fun to have ali train with us on the cms/omc pathway. every year now i am involved in training ordinands and i will go to services where they are ordained deacon. so i am getting to know the gig/liturgy. this is all a bit church of england and even then a bit technical so feel free to zone out until the net blog post if that's not your world. but it has provoked a few thoughts in me about ordained pioneer ministry and i am left wondering why the church is not embracing it more fully. and why the training for all deacons is not more mission focused and pioneering too?!

when you have finished initial training for ordination you are ordained deacon, and then after a year of being a curate in a church with a supervising vicar you usually get ordained priest the following year. in both services the liturgy articulates what it is that you are being entrusted to do by the church in a declaration. here’s the full declaration for the deacon: 

Deacons are called to work with the Bishop and the priests with whom they serve as heralds of Christ's kingdom. They are to proclaim the gospel in word and deed, as agents of God's purposes of love. They are to serve the community in which they are set, bringing to the Church the needs and hopes of all the people. They are to work with their fellow members in searching out the poor and weak, the sick and lonely and those who are oppressed and powerless, reaching into the forgotten corners of the world, that the love of God may be made visible.

Deacons share in the pastoral ministry of the Church and in leading God's people in worship. They preach the word and bring the needs of the world before the Church in intercession. They accompany those searching for faith and bring them to baptism. They assist in administering the sacraments; they distribute communion and minister to the sick and housebound.

Deacons are to seek nourishment from the Scriptures; they are to study them with God's people, that the whole Church may be equipped to live out the gospel in the world. They are to be faithful in prayer, expectant and watchful for the signs of God's presence, as he reveals his kingdom among us.

the culture of the church in many places seems like we have not read paragraphs one and three so there is a focus assumed for a deacon of learning about preaching, baptism, funerals, pastoral care and worship including the eucharist - i.e. the internal or cultic activities of the church. these are of course important but they seem to me to make much more sense and to be much more exciting if framed in the context of  the other two being the bigger calling and frame.

here are a few phrases i have pulled out just to make the point a bit clearer.

• heralds of god's kingdom
• proclaim the gospel in word and deed
• agents of god's purposes of love
• serve the community where they are set (and that clearly means the wider community)
• searching out poor, sick, weak, oppressed and powerless so god's love may be made visible
• accompany those searching for faith
• equipping church to live out gospel in the world
• discerning signs of god's presence as he reveals his kingdom among us

pioneers are often in a new context so ali for example will be in a housing area where there is no visible church to catalyse something. this list seems a great checklist for her and other pioneers alongside the more emphasised paragraph two. i could do the same with the priest declaration but maybe i'll save that for another time. but when a deacon is ordained priest they do not stop having the mandate of being a deacon and fulfilling that commission so this still applies.

there are several things i could draw out of this. allow me a couple...

it makes sense for those called to pioneer where appropriate to be ordained - it fits brilliantly with this commission and that is the mind of the wider church. (i am not of the view that all those ordained are pioneers - they clearly are not though they probably need to be pioneering.)

all deacons, not just pioneers are called to participate in god's mission in quite tangible ways and need to be spending plenty of time beyond the borders of the church. i wonder how much of curates' curriculum for training is focused on these tasks and how much on paragraph two? i have a pretty good idea...

anyway way to go ali and other pioneers taking on this commission today. 

there is no other there is only us - worship trick

i started writing worship songs years ago because of words (ok i wasn't that keen on the music around either!). i found if difficult to find words that articulated what it was we as a community then (st matts in bath at the time) believed and wanted to express. it was a great journey of expression and led me to explore the same in alternative worship through a range of art forms. and actually it also led to setting up proost to collate songs and liturgy and movies that had this same sense of expression from the grassroots in soulful (and theological) ways. i am still surprised how few communities go this route. i get that it is more time consuming but it is so much more rewarding that simply using commodified worship songs or liturgies written in high places. though of course blending your own expression with good stuff written by others is probably even better...

anyway all that to say i was sent a link to this blog/site plural guild which is the first i have seen for a while that really embodies that spirit of articulation. and the words are words i can sing which i have to say is a refreshing change (and i know i am hard to please). so thank you to plural guild (love the notion of guild by the way)! the song below seems especially poignant today on a day when my country have voted to leave europe - love the line there is no other there is only us. there is a also a downloadable album of advent and christmas songs too. i am making these worship trick 64 in series 4

st mary's sessions this weekend - jazz - nice!

ssions 

st mary's ealing hosts a series called st mary's sessions. it's actually a really great venue for this sort of thing. we'll be hosting gav mart as part of the series at grace in july. but this weekend at almost zero notice and in spontaneous fashion st mary's sessions is hosting a jazz festival - see poster for details. chris read is playing saturday evening.

myths from the margins

really looking forward to gav mart hosting an evening for grace on july 9. gav is a singer songwriter and will be joined by friends for 'myths from the margins' which will also be the latest in the st mary's sessions series.

 

it's that time of year - thinking about september!

we have an open day next tuesday for the cms pioneer training. i find it's round about now people suddenly think about september onwards and maybe doing something new including some training. if that's you then come along and find out about the pioneer training. 

the options are to do a module (or more), a certificate, diploma or masters through durham university with us. our usp is pioneering mission and mission that is contextual i.e. takes seriously what that means and looks like in the community and culture you are in. all of that is wonderful but the real benefit we have found from what people feedback is learning with others who are creative and exploring mission at or beyond the edges of the church. there is so much benefit from the friendships and journeying together. see the flyer here and do email the address on there to let us know if you are coming. 

the strategic role of deaneries

ok that is not the most exciting blog post title so well done if you got beyond the title! but last night i spoke at a deanery synod in bournmouth on the theme of reimagining the church which is part of the focus of winchester diocese. for those not in the church of england a deanery is an area grouping of churches. at one level deanery synod neither sounds nor is the most exciting event on the planet. but what was both interesting and surprising last night was that the group planning strategy for the deanery presented a paper on their vision for the future which was fully supported bar one abstention for one quarter of the posts in the deanery (4 out of 16) being focused on pioneering in mission. this has a way to go before formally becoming policy with money allocated and so on. but imagine if every deanery in the country were able to imagine its mission and ministry in this way - it would significantly change the landscape. further the vision for these posts was not for all ordained either - the pioneering posts in particular may be lay or ordained.

mission shaped church is now over a decade old but on page 136 of that report is a section entitled the strategic role of deaneries which suggests that one of the best ways to recalibrate towards mission especially in the nitty gritty of the allocation of resources for mission is to think and plan in terms of deaneries. so it's great to see this actually happening (i realise it has elsewhere in some cases too - i have been impressed with the way bath and wells diocese have created pioneer posts through organising team or deanery ministry). there is so little will and imagination in many places towards the reallocation of resources for pioneering mission so this made a refreshing change and i hope it's indicative of the way the church as a whole might think to shift it's focus. would it be too much to ask that a quarter of funded posts in the church were outward focused in mission?