Will's first post

Hi everyone,

This is my first attempt at blogging - all very exciting! We just thought that this would be a useful way of getting some feedback about the way we do church and any ideas in general. As the church grows, things keep changing and we keep trying new things. We are not the finished article by any means and we are committed to renewing and reviewing continually what we do. Our goal is not to please everybody and only do what is popular, but to please God and discern the leading of His Holy Spirit - which we often see as we interact with one another and reflect together on what is happening. It is amazing how we all see things differently, so it is vital that we listen. Because we are quite a big crowd now, I realise it is not always easy to speak to me or one of the leadership team, so I hope this blog will be helpful to some to give ideas and feedback.

One or two ground rules: lets be sure to be encouraging, sometimes blogs can be an excuse to moan and complain. We want to build each other up and celebrate what God is doing, as well as make suggestions for improvements. Also, the blog is not the place to comment on individuals. If you want to say that someone did a good job, that is fine, but if you have concerns or are upset with someone in particular, you need to speak to them directly, not in a public place like this. Jesus gave us clear instructions in Matthew 18, 'If someone wrongs you, go and deal with it, just between the two of you, if you can't sort it out, then involve others if you have to, but do it discreetly not in public (or only as an absolute last resort).

But as an ideas factory this could work really well, we can all see each other's comments. I can't promise every one will get a response, but they will all be read and fed into the mix.

Let me get the ball rolling by saying that we are at an interesting time in the life of the church. We have grown a lot in size from small beginnings 4 years ago to around 400 people attending every Sunday morning. We want to keep growing for the simple reason that there are loads of people out there who don't know Jesus, or who believe in Him but are not in church, serving God and growing in their love for Him. So we want to make room for them, and welcome everyone we can into our church community. But this means sacrifice! We have to give up stuff to make room for new people, we have to spend less time with our friends and it can feel like it becomes less personal and friendly as it grows. Practically there are problems too, you can't see the speaker or the band so well, and you can't spread out so much because there simply is not room. The result is that we now have a stage, larger screens, more chairs in rows and less 'cafe' space. But by growing we don't want to lose our personal welcoming culture, or our 'cafe' atmosphere, so we are working to make sure we have both: more room and a relaxed welcoming style.

There is another important factor: why do we meet together? Yes, we love it and it is a real blessing to come to church, but the primary reason is not for our own benefit, but for God. We come to worship, to bless God, to honour and adore Him and to welcome others to join with us, no matter where they are in their spiritual journey. So we want to use everything we can, the music, the video screens, youth and children's ministry, the preaching and the conversation to give glory to God and to inspire people to worship. The new set up has this goal in mind.

So we live in a tension, wanting to do two things wholeheartedly: to worship God, and to welcome outsiders in. Sometimes there is a tension between the two, and we need to wrestle with that and find the best way. But we need to be careful not to confuse that tension with our natural resistance to change, it is always difficult, but it is always necessary too!

Let us know what you think, we are listening! We have already had some great feedback by email/face to face and made some improvements to what we are doing, lets hope the blog makes that process work even better.

Will Kemp