Managers from Baptist campsites around Australia converged on Camp Wilkin at Anglesea, Victoria last month for the inaugural Baptist Camping insurance workshop.

More than 20 camp managers from camps in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia met for the first time to learn more about assessing and managing the risks connected with camping activities.

Ross Daniels, Director of Camping with Baptist Churches Western Australia (BCWA), Andrew Collins, Manager of the Busselton Camping Centre and Bert Winning, Manager of Camp Kennedy near Albany, along with Jill Birt, Insurance Officer with BCWA, travelled from WA.

The Australian Baptist Insurance Scheme (ABIS) hosted the training event, flying the camping personnel, along with ABIS state representatives, to Victoria.

Risk management is a serious matter for church ministries.

“Youth leaders and camps plan fun, challenging and energetic activities all the time and we’re keen to help them do things in a safe manner,” David Berry, Chairman of the ABIS board said.

Camp Wilkin won Vero Insurance’s national award for risk management in 2012. The campsite can house 161 people and offers activities including bikes, high ropes, low ropes, archery, flying fox, climbing wall, surfing and canoes.

The workshop toured the campsite with Geoff Caldwell, Director of Camping at Baptist Camping Victoria, hearing stories of how risk assessments of various activities were developed and on-going risk management happens.

After 24 hours at the campsite the insurance training group moved to Werribee Mansion Hotel 45 minutes closer to Melbourne because a school group had booked out the campsite.

ABIS and Vero Insurance sent a team, including their underwriter, a risk engineer and a lawyer who specialises in liability claims, to meet with the workshop group on the final day of the conference. Ian Hopley from Cacet, the South Australian group specialising in child protection, also spoke at the event.

 “It was a great opportunity to talk face to face with people who specialise in the risk areas of insurance and to ask questions,” Ross said.

“The responses we have received from this first Baptist Camping workshop have been incredibly positive,” Kym Bennetts, ABIS National Insurance Manager said.

ABIS in WA expects to run a trial training event in risk assessment for youth group leaders and camp directors later this year.

Jill Birt writes for The Advocate, a monthly newspaper distributed to Baptist churches in Western Australia. For more information, visit the Baptist Churches Western Australia website, www.baptistwa.asn.au.

The Prime Minister this week announced that the Rev Tim Costello will chair the Australian Civil Society 20 (C20) Steering Group.

The role of the C20 Steering Committee will be to facilitate dialogue between civil society and the G20 when Australia hosts the G20 next year. The G20 is an international forum of 19 developed and developing countries plus the EU whose leaders meet each year to set policies on how to achieve sustained and balanced economic growth.

According to Tim, “It’s important that we ensure the benefits of economic growth are enjoyed by all, particularly the most vulnerable. That’s why civil society has a vital role to play in influencing the G20. With our strong connections to local communities, we have policy ideas to share on how governments can ensure that all people, and especially children, have access to the resources and support they need to live productive and meaningful lives.”

In her announcement, Prime Minister Gillard stressed the importance of the benefits of economic growth reaching everyone, especially the most disadvantaged in our community.

“We must build a strong global economy that leaves nobody behind, and places jobs and growth at its core” she said

“The Australian C20 is one of a number of groups that will ensure that business, labour, civil society, youth and think tanks can contribute effectively to Australia’s G20 presidency by gathering the views of civil society from across the globe, and convening a C20 summit to develop recommendations for G20 leaders’ consideration. The C20 must be civil society-owned and civil society-led” said PM Gillard.

While the Government will work closely with the C20 Steering Group on matters of process, the C20’s input to G20 deliberations will be independent.  This year, Rev Costello and the C20 Steering Group will be engaging with Australian civil society, working closely with their counterparts in the C20 during Russia’s presidency, and developing a process that will facilitate effective and productive engagement between civil society and G20 leaders in 2014.

In addition to Rev Tim Costello as Chair, the C20 Group will also include 13 Australians who are leaders in their field:

·         Mr Joseph Assaf AM – Ethnic Business Awards

·         Ms Jody Broun – National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples

·         Reverend Tara Curlewis – National Council of Churches in Australia

·         Dr Cassandra Goldie – Australian Council of Social Service

·         Ms Julie McKay – UN Women Australia

·         Professor Rob Moodie – Melbourne School of Population and Global Health

·         Mr Dermot O’Gorman – World Wide Fund for Nature Australia

·         Mr Marc Purcell – Australian Council for International Development

·         Mr Bill Scales AO – Swinburne University of Technology

·         Ms Sally Sinclair – National Employment Services Association

·         Judge Rauf Soulio – Australian Multicultural Council

·         Dr Helen Szoke – Oxfam Australia

·         Mr Greg Thompson – Transparency International Australia

Baptist Union of Victoria, Director of Mission and Ministries congratulated Tim on this appointment, highlighting the need for people of faith to bring influence in public life.

“The Kingdom values Tim brings to his leadership of World Vision and to the many boards and committees he is involved with is significant. We need leaders like Tim, and we welcome this acknowledgement of him by the Federal Government, and encourage Victorian Baptists to support his work as part of the C20 Committee”.

Habitat Supervision SPACE is a new initiative designed to provide professional supervision for people in ministry and caring professions. A team of qualified supervisors offer a listening space to ‘hold you in the love of God with compassion as you reflect on your situation’. 

People in ministry and caring professions find themselves in all sorts of complex and unique situations: They accompany people liturgically and pastorally through times of joy, struggle and transition; facilitate groups in emotionally charged contexts; balance overwhelming administrative tasks with human needs; often work in isolation; are called on to provide inspiration to communities; have to develop sensitive leadership skills and negotiate healthy boundaries around their work. It is vital that people who work in these kinds of situations have a safe space external to their work context in which to de-brief and reflect on their work practice.

Research tells us that when work is demanding and ill-defined, the rates of burn out and stress are high. Neglecting to care for one’s own soul correlates with periods of crisis. People who received supervision began to operate more efficiently, with greater energy, care, compassion and with better personal and professional boundaries. In a Christian context, people in ministry and caring professions need a space where they are held in God’s love and attend to their relationship with God in the context of their work. Indeed, the Code of Ethics governing most ministry practise and caring professions mandate attending professional supervision.

Habitat Supervision SPACE is a project of the Habitat Uniting Church based in Hawthorn. The minister Rev. Joan Wright Howie has developed a partnership with social worker, councillor and supervisor Marcel Koper. They have called together an ecumenical Advisory Group to oversee the project and team of professionally trained supervisors.

‘At Habitat Supervision SPACE we know that when one person is supported in their ministry and work, then whole communities or client groups can be affected’, says Marcel. ‘We believe that professional supervision can reduce rates of people leaving the work due to tiredness and burnout’.

‘The term, supervision, may have negative semantics for people with images of someone looking over your shoulder and checking up on you,’ says Marcel, ‘But in the context of the caring profession, supervision is better described as professional care and resourcing.’ Supervision is space to gain greater clarity about individual’s work and emotional responses in the light of their unique sense of self, personal history and personality and spirituality type. It is a space to debrief work dynamics, develop strategies, receive encouragement and attend to their inner life.

The cost of supervision can appear prohibitive, but Joan and Marcel believe that, in reality, there is a far greater cost to the individual and church or employer where professional supervision is absent.  ‘Habitat Supervision SPACE is an advocate for employers contributing to the cost of supervision’, says Marcel. ‘We are also seeking sponsorship so we can provide a subsidy to people who need it’.

It is with great enthusiasm that Marcel says: ‘the practice of professional supervision inspires me especially in the context of Christian ministry. When one person is supported, consoled, heard, encouraged, held accountable and encouraged in their work I am also supporting their whole community or client group.

‘For the majority of my professional career I have worked in the caring profession in a secular environment. I attribute my longevity to having received regular supervision by someone external to my place of work. It was challenging working for 10 years in drug and alcohol counselling. It was particularly tough when combined with being a father and husband, and part time student for over 11 years. Supervision not only helped my ‘survival’ but is a place where I can admit mistakes, deal with organisational stress, understand and learn about ‘pointy end’ issues such as sexuality and attraction between people, learn new ways of dealing with challenging behaviours and situations.  Ultimately it has always been important to simply have a place to offload and receive support.

‘By listening to myself and listening to others I can now recognise the internal signs of when I am working too much, or too long. I now know when I am tired physically and spiritually and I need to focus in a new direction or just slow down’.

The Christian gospel calls us to love God with heart and soul and strength, and love our neighbour as ourselves. By fostering love of self, supervision enables us to live out this high calling to love God and neighbour.

By Joan Wright-Howie. For more information www.habitatsupervision.com.au or to link with a supervisor (some supervisors have been trained through the WelSpring Centre at Ashburton Baptist Church where Rev Anne Lock is Director) email support@habitatsupervision.com.au or Tel: (03) 98192844

'Baptists in Australia: A Church with a Heritage and a Future'

By Philip Hughes and Darren Cronshaw

BUV’s Brett Lyons-Lee and Meewon Yang launched the new book 'Baptists in Australia: A church with a heritage and a future' at Gathering on Saturday 24 May 2013.

Darren talked about how his understanding of Baptists and our mission challenges has developed:

I became a Baptist after growing up as an Anglican and spending my teenage and university years in Pentecostal churches. I joined a local Baptist church (Bulleen Baptist) partly because of what I had begun to understand was Baptist was of doing church, but especially because of the commitment to local and global mission I saw in many local Baptist churches.

Over the last almost 20 years my understanding of Baptist distinctives has broadened and deepened, as has my awareness of the significant mission challenges we face. This has gone up a level as I have worked with Philip on this project.

It is terrific that Baptists are one of three denominations that have growing in Australia over the last five years. However, 98% of our growth has come from immigration – people who have come to Australia and identified as Baptists. Without this significant number of migrants, Baptists would have declined by 3 percentage points below population growth rather than increased by 3 percentage points above population growth.

This underlines the importance of celebrating and welcoming cultural diversity – and welcoming people of other cultures not just into our churches but into our worship and leadership teams, and on to our pastoral teams. But it also shows how important it is to grapple afresh with connecting with Australian-born unchurched people who are not connecting with our churches so well.  

To help us understand this, I appreciate the work of Philip Hughes and Christian Research Association, the gift this book is to our tribe, and the privilege of working on it with Philip.

We appreciate those who have helped with the book, including people who are here at the launch: Vasti van Wyk and James Burke from the BUV office who helped with photos, Brent Lyons-Lee and Meewon Yang who helped with content suggestions, and people who helped with editorial and proof-reading, including a massive effort from Marita Munro, and the input on previous versions of the EBook a decade ago by Ross Langmead and Gwyn Milne.  

Philip Hughes introduced the book by saying:

One of the greatest surprises in the analysis of the 2011 Census data was to see that the Baptists were growing faster than almost every other denomination – and even fast than the Pentecostals. Over the years, it has been interesting to see many of the other denominations shrink, but the Baptists have continued to grow about the same rate as the population. One of the great privileges of my present work is that I work right across the denominations … and both visit churches and conduct research in churches of all types.

It seems to me that the Baptists have some particular strengths:

Firstly, Baptists’ flexibility due to the emphasis on the local church; flexibility to try different things, to be innovative, to adapt to the needs and interests of the local people; and be flexible in finding the right leadership for the local congregation.

Secondly, your emphasis on personal commitment to faith – as expressed in baptism. The centrality of baptism ensures that Baptists are highly committed. 63% of Baptists are at church once a month, compared with just 20% of Uniting, and 9% of Anglicans.

Thirdly, more importantly and recently, Baptists have been hospitable to people of all races and all backgrounds. Migrant communities have made a huge difference over the years. The number of Baptist immigrants in the last decade 2001-2011 was 42,000, which is equivalent to all Baptist immigrants in previous 30 years from 1971-2000. You have made great efforts to accommodate them. They have been a major source of your growth … and you have provided them a home.

You have a story to tell that other denominations would do well to hear. It has been good to work with Darren Cronshaw on this. Together, I hope we have provided a way for you to understand a little more of your own story and a way of sharing that story with others.

The book is available in print for $25 (+postage) or as an EBook for $8.50 through:

https://www.cra.org.au/products-page/books/baptists-in-australiaa-church-with-a-heritage-and-a-future/

There are dozens of excuses people give for not developing leaders. But the number-one excuse I hear is … “I’m too busy to develop anybody.”

It’s true, leaders are busy people. They have places to go, people to see and things to do.

However, the “I’m too busy” excuse actually indicates you’re perfectly positioned to develop other leaders. Here’s why:

The busier I am, the more opportunity there is for a potential leader to follow me and watch what I do.

Leadership is more caught than taught, so invite a potential leader to follow you around and observe your activities. You would be amazed at what they can learn, not only sitting in meetings with you, but those little moments before or after meetings can be great opportunities to share leadership nuggets.

The busier I am, the more I have to give away.

Make a list of what you’re doing, and ask yourself who can you give certain tasks to and how can it be used as a developmental opportunity. Not only will this help the potential leader, but it will help you offload some of your busyness.

My busyness is an opportunity to lead by example.

I can show the potential leader how I establish priorities, produce results, work though people and manage my time. One day they will be a “busy leader,” too, so watching you may help them learn to establish priorities and be busy with the right things.

Today’s Challenge: Look over your week and highlight opportunities you have to develop a leader in the context of your current schedule.  

Mac Lake is the Development Pastor at Seacoast Church, a multi-site church with 13 campuses, where he oversees leadership development, small groups, missions, communications, and internships. He is a popular church leadership conference speaker and the author of the training resource Growing Small Group Leaders. Learn more from Mac at MacLakeOnline.com

“There have been too many revelations of adults who have averted their eyes from this evil.” Prime Minister Julia Gillard

It was extraordinary how quickly, it seemed, the government moved to establish the upcoming Royal Commission into Child Abuse in November 2012.

Well, perhaps that’s not the right way to think of it. Evidence of the failure to deal properly with allegations of child abuse in church and other organisations have been surfacing for years. State commissions have been set up at various times, but still the sore has not healed. Still the allegations keep surfacing—in appalling numbers. Not only have there been vile acts committed on the most vulnerable. But these acts were overlooked, or minimised, or outright denied by the institutions that employed the perpetrators.

The Roman Catholic Church has borne the brunt of the criticism; and doubtless it has particular systemic and theological issues that have made the problem worse. It is hard to see how the loneliness and isolation brought about by vows of celibacy have not added to the problem. In addition, a high view of the priesthood as the domain of a spiritual elite lends to the perpetrators an air of credibility and purity.

The word ‘priest’ has become a byword for ‘child-abuser’ in the community. It is that bad.

However, Protestant churches should not think themselves somehow untouched by the emergence of this scandal. In the first place, the community at large does not distinguish between denominations in the way that we might. So, we have a vested interest in the Catholic church getting its house in order, since we are all tainted by this.

But—and this is more important—the Protestant denominations and churches have had their own scandals, and their own coverups— and that means, sadly, their own trail of victims.

Each of these victims represents a person for whom trust has been broken not simply by an individual, but by the church itself. The trauma of the abuse has been magnified by the refusal of the institutions to accept responsibility.

How could it happen?

There has, in my observation, been a combination of theological errors at the heart of this catastrophe—one that has led to an institutional self-deception on a massive scale. It is at its worst with child abuse, but these mistakes have an impact in other areas as well.

The first of these errors is to underestimate the ongoing impact of sin, even in the life of the believer. Scripture itself should have alerted us to the fact that conversion to Christ does not mean an end to the ongoing presence of sin.

Now, you’ll find that evangelical preachers will say that they are still sinners. But the sheer disbelief with which we have treated the news that one of our number has committed a foul act gives the lie.

I know of instances where the clergy simply closed ranks around the accused because the person involved was a ‘good chap’, active in church politics and had grown a church. He couldn’t possibly do something like that, could he? And isn’t the victim a bit unhinged?

Well no, she wasn’t; and yes, he could. The devastation wrought by these acts persists, decades on.

This is an over-optimistic view of sanctification, and especially the sanctification achieved by someone when they become a pastor.

There is also often a failure to recognise the way that power corrupts the best of us – even ecclesiastical power. The ministry can accrue to itself a kind of aura of incorruptible holiness. That title ‘Rev’ can be an indicator of spiritual pride, alas. Speaking as someone who has served in pastoral ministry, it is dangerously intoxicating to have people trusting you and asking you questions and depending on you. People believe what you say. I can see how it easily gets out of hand.

If we really believed in the doctrine of the fall, Christian organisations would be more zealous, not less, in the kind of checks and balances that they set up for their ministers. If we understood that Christian sanctification does not by any stretch mean a kind of perfectibility, then we wouldn’t be so trusting. And knowing this is the case, most ministers ought to welcome the extra scrutiny in the name of protecting the vulnerable.

But there’s another theological misunderstanding, and that’s to do with the nature of forgiveness. We certainly want to believe that a person who is guilty of even the worst of these acts is forgivable. Anyone can make a mistake – anyone and everyone does sin. And does not the death of Jesus on the cross cover even the sins of a Zacchaeus or a prodigal son? Is it not true that there is no end to the forgiveness of God? And if God has forgiven a person, shouldn’t we also show them mercy?

That’s a half-truth which is as dangerous as any going around. The gospel of Jesus tells us that no-one is beyond the pale as far as forgiveness goes. That’s one of the most powerful things about it. However: declaring that someone is forgiven is not the same as giving them complete trust again. Human forgiveness is not capable of mending the brokenness of people to the degree that the child abuser ought to be trusted around children. In fact, a sign of the repentance of the sinner is their willingness to be mended, and to subject themselves  to the discipline required to not sin again. The ministry and the status it brings has become an idol, it seems, such that the apparent rights of a person to remain ‘in ministry’ trump what is right and good and true, and even the protection of the innocent victim.

That’s the danger, too, of a faulty eschatology (the doctrine of the last things). The promises of Scripture are not that the coming of the Holy Spirit marked the final restoration and consummation of all things. It was only the beginning of the end, not the end itself. Recognising that a repentant sinner is forgiven because of the cross of Christ is not the same as giving them complete trust again ahead of the final judgment of God. Insisting that an abuser be brought to the bar of human justice, even when they say they are sorry, is not a denial of their final forgiveness. It is an appropriate demand, even while recognising that human justice is not the final word.

It is shameful that it has taken the secular world to insist that the churches open themselves to scrutiny here. Too often, churches have failed to realise that they have damaged their witness by hiding behind the skirts of lawyers and being instructed by insurance companies. Now, like Cardinal Pell, I would want the truth to come out – including the good work that has been done to counter the problem in various churches since the mid- 1990s. That should not be forgotten.

But the church of Jesus Christ is a confessing church. It meets on the basis of a mutual need for the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. Of all human communities, it should be willing to admit its own fallibility, its own mistakes and its own limited moral vision. That’s what it is, by nature, after all.

So I think we ought to welcome this Royal Commission as a chance to bring justice to the victims (as far as possible), to clear the air and start again – this time with systems in place that will minimise the damage that the misbehaviour of individuals will cause. The secular world is watching carefully: will the churches seek justice and truth, or will they seek to hide behind their privileges and exemptions?

By Michael Jensen

This article appeared in Eternity Christian newspaper and can be found online at: http://www.biblesociety.org.au/news/michael-jensen-on-misunderstanding-forgiveness

View National Reconciliation Week Factsheet:  2013: Activities for NRW - Part 5 (694.46 kB)

In the lead up to National Reconciliation Week 2013, the Witness will bring focus to the various resources available from Reconciliation Australia, to prompt churches to engage locally in becoming communities of reconciliation. By profiling different Reconciliation Australia Fact Sheets in the Witness for the next 6 weeks, we hope Victorian Baptists will look further into available resources, and find ways local churches can be involved in taking practical steps towards reconciliation with indigenous Australians. The BUV office is currently working on a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), and part of this will be our provision of information and connection with resources to raise awareness amongst Baptists, and to encourage each Baptist Church to undertake its own RAP.

Consider what your church can do, not just during National Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June), but as an ongoing intention to live in reconciled relationship.

Questions to discuss:

1. Do we know the name of the Aboriginal groups who were the first peoples and custodians of the land on which our church meets?

2. Do we have a plaque of acknowledgment of this group or peoples on or near our church meeting place?

3. Do we acknowledge this group or peoples in special services or public events we run?

4. Should our church develop our own Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)? (see reconciliation.org.au/home/reconciliation-action-plans)

BUV Regional Pastor Graeme Semple organised a well-received retreat and fellowship time for pastors from our Western Region, at the Baptist Campsite, Halls Gap during May. From all accounts, it was terrific to catch up with pastors from other Baptist churches on the west side of the State. Participants really appreciated hearing from BUV reps including Kylie Kendall, with opportunity to get more familiar with “Safe church” procedures and other areas of administration, to help with more efficient running of our church family life. Let all things be done decently, and in order - 1 Corinthians 14:40. It was also valuable to hear first-hand from Nikki Capp, Head of BUV Communications, and Church Health Consultant, David Underhill. Devotions, reflection, sharing and discussion based on Psalm 46 and Ephesians, proved a really valuable times also. 

Western Region Pastors Fellowship participants

Graeme interviewed various pastors over our meal times – and other occasions - enabling us to “hear their story”. This helped lead to some great sharing and prayer times

Of course we had some “relax” time – some of us climbed the Pinnacle.

The view from the top of the Pinnacle was spectacular.

On top of the Pinnacle we discovered this little ‘rock hopping’ bird – the White browed scrub wren and his ‘cousins’ – there were three of them. It is always a delight to experience close hand the wonders of God’s Creation. The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it. Psalm 24:1

Part of the Wonderland walk en route to the Pinnacle – climbing out of the Grand Canyon.

 

Walking through 'Silent Street'.

Bob on the ‘nerve test’.

What constitutes communion in the setting of the emerging church?  By this term I mean churches in which a ‘fresh expression’ – new forms of worship and practice – are adopted.  Does the distribution of bread and wine in an ecclesial setting constitute the act of communion, or is it simply the sharing of a meal?  What makes the simple meal of bread and wine ‘communion’?  Is it the inclusion of a liturgical act performed by a recognised priest, or the sharing of food with the recognition of Christ’s death and resurrection?  Two experiences in the same small chapel have helped me to reflect on what constitutes communion.

Argoed Baptist Church has recently celebrated its bicentenary, yet it is an emerging church.  The membership is emerging from years of decline and seeking new easy to engage in mission within a rural village where all amenities have been removed.  In the church’s archives a recipe for an early type of yeasted bara brith dating from 1846 was discovered, originally made for a chapel tea.[1]  This rediscovered bread has been recreated and enthusiastically received by the congregation, amazed that they can lay claim to their own recipe.

On Palm Sunday we engaged in a reflective, all age communion service, recounting the whole crucifixion narrative.  Within this service, held in the hall rather than the sanctuary, the participants were gathered around a central low table on which was placed the bread and wine.  The Argoed Loaf, as this bara brith has come to be known, was used.  The whole loaf was broken and distributed by the children rather than the diaconate (as normal), enabling them to participate fully.  As the bread was shared the congregation was invited to think about the ingredients.

Bread is the ‘stuff of life’, yet the addition of fruit, sugar, spice and fat creates a cake.  Bread is often eaten alone, yet cakes are for sharing, associated with festivals and celebrations.  Bread takes time to make, often three days at a minimum allowing for milling grain, growth of natural yeasts to aid fermentation, and kneading the dough.  We are reminded that the falling grain is a vivid symbol of resurrection (John 12: 23-25).  The grain offering in the Old Testament is without yeast or sweetening agents, so the bread speaks of offering (Leviticus 2:11).  Spices were included in the ancient offerings as incense, formed part of the gifts of the Magi, and the burial spices brought by the women to the tomb, as well as the lavish offering of perfume over Jesus’ feet.

Symbols

The Argoed Loaf contained water, the symbol of life, as well as butter.[2]  The vine fruits brought to mind Jesus as the true vine and also the cup of suffering.  We focussed on how grapes are crushed to make wine, or dried as raisins, both symbols of death, but also of joy.  The action of yeast, unseen, working within the dough and bringing the loaf to life is symbolic of God’s power at work, the miracle of bread making to the extent that in mediaeval society yeast was known as ‘Godisgood’.[3]  Yeast is used both positively and negatively within scripture.  It is used as an analogy of the kingdom of heaven, in that yeast permeates every part of the dough, and therefore every part of society (Matthew 13:33, Galatians 5:9). Yeast is also used negatively, indicating the insidious nature of the Pharisees’ teachings (Matthew 16:6, 11-12). 

Typical of the Lord’s Supper, each participant only took a small morsel of the large loaf during communion, but after the service members gathered around the remaining loaf, eagerly cutting and wrapping the bread in serviettes to share with family members, neighbours and friends.  On reflection, this practice spoke eloquently of the sharing of Christ with the whole community, the hospitality of the Lord’s Supper extending beyond the walls of the church and into the community – a visual demonstration of the action of yeast, the kingdom of heaven infiltrating every part of society.  It also echoes the traditional practices of distributing wedding cake to absent guests as a sign of favour.

The distribution of the Argoed Loaf demonstrates the favour in which the recipient is held in by the givers, and it echoes the hope of Christ’s return and the wedding feast of the Lamb.  It also speaks of covenant: we send cake to witness to the covenant of a marriage, in turn it is a metaphor used by OT prophets for God’s covenanted relationship with the people of Israel.  Accepting the food, partaking of the feast indicates participation.  Carter states that it is:

A gracious gift from God, a symbol of God’s justice and provision of adequate resources for all, of God’s goodness and transforming presence.[4]

The sharing of the bread with the community was a surprise to me, being completely spontaneous.  Some Christian traditions keep the communion bread set aside to be taken into the community, others emphasise that the bread must be completely consumed at the meal.  This distribution fitted neither patter.  The communion loaf, broken, shared and gathered by the participants to share further with friends and family, spoke of a longing for the mission of the church to break the bounds of what was considered ‘normal church’.  There was a sense in which this was the ‘priesthood of all believers’ in action.  One can only guess the conversations that these gifts of bread engendered.

The use of a loaf indigenous to the culture of the believers provided a sense of communal identity.  This community is able to trace its roots through many generations.  The people remember the church in its heyday, a time of demographic growth in the village with the arrival of the coal industry coinciding with a religious fervour.  The recreation of the loaf also looks forward to a new generation, using the past to inform and provide continuity with the future.

While celebrating communion away from the sanctuary and the table raised a few eyebrows, moving the altar to the centre of the church is sometimes seen in modern ecclesiastical architecture, notably the Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, Liverpool.

The central place given to the altar or communion table has strong symbolic significance.  The community is gathered for a meal.  It is an offer of hospitality.  This is in marked contrast to the focus placed on a pulpit located on a stage.  It is a move from the celebrity to the celebrant, from someone speaking who is speaking to you to one who is eating with you and who welcomes you to the feast on behalf of Christ.[5]

Interestingly, those who had excluded themselves from communion felt able to share the loaf after the formalities of the service had ended, which raises questions of hospitality.  The fencing of the table, combined with an emphasis on self-examination before communion, has led many to believe that they are ‘not good enough’ to share the feast.  By contrast, in the gospels Jesus feasts with sinners and outcasts, not asking them to change prior to the meal.  After eating with Christ they often do change.  Paul’s injunction for examination is to ask whether the Corinthian church practices are hospitable to the whole body, rather than a check for unconfessed sins.

A second Eucharistic meal?

A second meal within the same community took place a week later when a small group of members spent the day cleaning, decorating and preparing the chapel for the Easter celebrations, which included a baptism.  Topics of conversation moved around hopes and dreams for the church community, the anticipation of new life evidenced through the baptism and the opportunity to open the doors of the chapel building to the wider community in evangelism and mission.  Finally the little group became hungry and so one member went out for fish and chips.  The members gathered for that meal laughed at the implications of the order: ‘five fish and two chips’.

The story of Jesus feeding the five thousand was recounted from memory, without recourse to a Bible and while there was not ‘prayer’ in a liturgical sense, there was still a sense of prayer and praise, acknowledging God’s abundant provision.  Was this meal of fellow believers, remembering Christ’s actions and God’s goodness, any less a real communion than a liturgical celebration of the Lord’s Supper?  This question raises the question of whether it is the bread and wine that make ‘communion’, or the words of institution and liturgical prayers, or is it that Jesus is present when his followers meet and eat, remembering his life and seeking to live his way in the power the Holy Spirit?  I would argue that this meal of fish and chips was indeed a holy communion, Christ present where two or three were gathered.

Throughout the gospels we witness many meals where Jesus is both host and guest.  The fish and chips at Argoed were reminiscent of the post-resurrection breakfast hosted by Jesus of grilled fish (John 21:11-14).  As with the bread, the fish must be broken to be shared and eaten.  The single fish, being part of a shoal, echoes the many pieces from the one loaf.  More importantly, it is Jesus’ presence which elevates this from being a simple barbecue on a beach.  With our fish and chips, it was the presence of Christ, ‘where two or three are gathered in my name’, that made this simple meal into a Eucharistic experience.  In our gathering, our informal prayer, and our laughter, we were remembering the whole of Christ’s ministry encapsulated in the story of the feeding of the five thousand.

In The Prodigal Project,[6] the authors discuss ‘reframing’ as being essential in ‘curating’ worship experiences.  Reframing means placing something into a new context, bread and wine becoming not simply elements of a meal, but endowed with symbolic meaning.  The authors explore other communion meals in which traditional elements were replaced by hamburger buns and coke at a festival, the elements being appropriate to the setting.  Jesus reframed the common elements of a meal within his society.  In the 21^st century the common elements of a meal may well be beer and chips!

Theological symbolism may be lost when bread and wine are replaced by other foods, but how far removed from the symbolism of abundant wholeness are our offerings of cubed, processed bread and de-alcoholised wine or Ribena?  Willimon compares so much of what is offered in communion, to a Weight-Watchers’ meal, rather than the joyous feast of the bridegroom.[7]  While moving the Lord’s Supper our the sanctuary or using alternative elements might be regarded as sacrilegious, the experiences at Argoed have provided opportunity for reflection.  Perhaps we have superimposed so much meaning on communion that we have forgotten that primarily it is the celebration of the community, with each other and with God, with whatever elements we have to hand, and in whatever context we find ourselves in. Nigel Wright says:

...the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not to be located in the bread and wine as such but in the way in which the Holy Spirit is present among the people of God in the act of sharing bread and wine together as themselves the body of Christ.[8]

While Clark argues that:

Eternal life is the fruit of communion (John 6:58) with Christ; the Eucharist is the means of that communion.[9]

However, if we are partakers of the body of Christ, sharing in his life and death, this is so much more than simply eating bread and drinking wine.  John perhaps speaks more of our sharing in the actions of Jesus, in community, symbolised by the bread and wine, the body and blood.  Ultimately we are called to take the new life, borne out of communion with Christ into our wider communities, be that through an indigenous bara brith or from the deepening participation in communion over a meal of fish and chips.

This article originally published in the UK Baptist Ministers Journal January 2012.

Fran Bellingham has recently gained her MTh from South Wales Baptist College where she studied while her husband, Richard, was training for Baptist ministry.  They are now in the settlement process searching for their first pastorate.  Richard and Fran have two adult children.

After 27 years in counselling ministry, Dave Carder was not prepared for a sharp rise in his caseload of women addicted to pornography. "If someone had told me 10 years ago that I would be seeing rapidly escalating numbers of young women involved in pornography, I would not have believed them," says Carder, a Pastor at First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton, California. "There is a growing body of observation and research that suggests that women's sexual appetites and level of desires are changing," he notes. While men are considered more visual than females, there seems to be a transformation underway.

"Desire for women used to be for closeness and affection; it was more the desire for intimacy," Carder says. "Women are much more sexually aggressive than they used to be," Carder notes. "The whole sexualisation of the culture is bringing about these changes." Radio commentator Dennis Prager observed that at the last Academy Awards ceremony, many of the jokes and songs featured strong sexual innuendo. Even sporting events, which used to be a family-friendly viewing zone, are dripping with sexuality. Pastor Carder finds common backgrounds in the women he counsels about pornography addiction.

"There is a lot of molestation history in the women's lives as children or teens." Some come from broken families, with mums who had several boyfriends. "Many of the women who struggle with pornography also struggle with alcohol and obesity," he notes. Two recent books suggest the neurological wiring for pornography addiction may be changing in women. "These books suggest women have the potential to develop the same arousal response to visual stimulation as men," Carder notes. Another disturbing trend is that more and more Christian couples are watching pornography together.

"Christian couples set up boundaries and say they will watch this, but not that. But over time, they begin to expand their viewing habits and they are headed for trouble. Addiction erodes all boundaries." Pastor Carder has the same approach to treating men and women addicted to pornography. He notes "They need the same kind of support as someone recovering from alcohol. They need a group, a sponsor, and at least three months for recovery," Carder says. The number of Christians battling these issues is astonishing. "Too many women have struggled in silence," he maintains.  With Christ, freedom and victory can be won."

This news article appeared in the Australian Prayer network international news, 15th April,  2013
Source: God Reports www.godreports.com

How is pornography impacting lives in your church?
How can the church help people struggling with addition to pornography?
How can we support and resource churches to talk about issues like this?