Remember when we met for Sunday lunch and some serious discussion about the vision and direction of the church?  Well we have been working on the feedback recieved from that day and can now tell you what you think!  Well, the broad brush strokes anyway.

The group leaders took careful notes of each discussion and you can download a thorough summary of those here.  We have noted all the comments on the welcome cards for you to read too.

This has been a really encouraging excercise - let me summarise some of my reactions to our discussions.

Most of us think that a building is important, though there is a strong feeling that we must not be rushed into anything.  There is a mature desire to get this right and a willingness to be patient in the meantime.  I am very chuffed with this, because it takes pressure of us and enables us to be still' as we seek God's guidance.

Communication is an ongoing issue and needs to be improved.  So starting this week we have set up a system to email and text everyone with up to the minute info about everything.  So let us have a nice fresh email and cellphone number if you want ot be included in this.

We flagged up the problem of getting people into jobs in the church - we have clearly made a few mistakes here and we will try to get it right in future.  Most goups advised us to rely less on announcements and more on personal one-to-one recruitment.  Expect a tap on the shoulder sometime!

Tony Blair became Prime Minister a few months before Cathie and I moved to Houghton le Spring to work with Bethany Christian Centre.  He has presided over an interesting decade, hasn't he?  Just compare a photograph of Tony Blair's face ten years ago with one taken recently; that is the cost of ten years worth of eighteen hour days on top of seven crises a week.

The world loves to hate and to criticise, and Christians all too quickly join in the chorus, we are more worldly than we think.  So when people pour out their hatred and scorn of people like Tony Blair I try not to get swept along.  Ten years ago we asked him to lead our nation and he has done so to the best of his understanding and ability - I believe that Christians should honour this and give credit where it is due.

Try a simple excercise in creative imagination; put ourselves in his shoes.  A princess has just died and the nation is starting to turn on the royal family; you must do something, what?  People are waiting two years for joint replacements; you must help them, how?  Bhagdad may have a chemical weapon that could reach Tel Aviv, they may use it, Bush wants to go in but he needs your help; you must deal with the bad guys, how?  Protestant and Catholic are killing each other in Northern Ireland; you have to cut a deal that will end it all, you must make the first move, what?

I find it astonishing that anyone would want to do this job.  Even more amazing is the list of talented and creative people who have stepped up to the plate, only to be insulted and derided by people like us.  The Apostle Paul was subject to political leadership that was apalling by our standards yet he tells us to "Pray for the government, for God is the one who put it there. All governments have been placed in power by God."  Thank God that he has been so kind to us... we could have got Nero!

Dick Dowsett gave us all a treat last Sunday with his refreshing look at Matthew 28:16-20 - The Great Commission.  I took notes.  Here they are:

Mission begins when you get excited about Jesus.  Verse 18 says that he has all authority; he calls the shots in heaven and on earth, so we can expect God to work.  We are threatened today with gradual erosion of our freedom to share the Word of God, but the first Christians met such threats with boldness.  "Jesus put his name on this cheque, let's cash it!"

Look at the people he uses for the job (in verse 17).  A disciple is an apprentice - someone who learns on the job.  Matthew tells us that some of them doubted - interesting;  we would weed out the doubters, but Jesus didn't.  Thomas is part of the gang!

"As you go", Jesus says, "Make disciples".  You are going anyway, so make disciples as you go. Develop an intentional mindset - and don't be too ethnocentric.

Look at the depth of ministry.  In verse 19 (We are baptised into the reality of all that God is: Father, Son and Holy Spirit).  "Teach them everything" he said.

Jesus is with us always. "I'm not going to watch you make idiots of yourselves, I am coming too!"

I was reading an article on life in first century Greece a few weeks ago (sounds boring I know - but its what you do if you want to get your head into the world of the New Testament and it is not boring, really) ! While I was reading this article, I came across this.  "When Paul arrived in Greece he found an ideas-hungry society".  Ideas hungry... when did you last meet anyone who was open to new ideas?  You don't get many of those 'round here.

So what are we hungry for?  If Paul had arrived in our world what would he find us hungry for?

I think we are an image hungry society - that's right - we are addicted to pictures.

Well, you wouldn't have stayed so long on this website if there hadn't been some nice pictures, would you?  We are surrounded by images.  When politicians want to get our support their image is more important than  what they actually say or do.  We are bamboozled by images.

So there is always a temptation for us to believe that if the church's image is right people will believe what we say.  Get a nice logo and a website and away you go!

But people are not that stupid.  They know deep within them (God hard-wired it in there) that spiritual reality is tested by what people do.  People will not be impressed by what we say, or the graphics we present, but they will register what we do.

It is what you do that is important - let God look after your image.  He is a good publicist.