Electing Trustees, Eating Georgeous Lunches, Talking and Listening.

Tucking into a toasted Panini filled with Spinach, Bacon and Brie gave me an opportunity to reflect on a busy couple of days. I've spent yesterday tucked into an airless room devoid of natural light. That aside it was an inspiring, invigorating and challenging day.

Monday I travelled down to London to stay over at my brothers (he is now vicar of St. Marks and St. Luke's in Deptford), the train journey takes a while from Morecambe to London but it is a good opportunity to sit and catch up on things that need time. This time I edited a chapter of my friends book (more of that another time). It was nice to see Steve and their new house (I didn't see Jenny and the kids until the morning). The house has obviously under gone a major transformation since he posted some pics on his blog. Catching up with Steve and co. was an added bonus, the real reason for my trek down to London was to go to what is rather grandly called "The BMS Council of Reference".

When I think about B.M.S. (the Baptist Missionary Society to the uninitiated) I get both excited and nervous. I get excited because of the fantastic stuff they do all over the world. I get nervous because of the scale of the organisation, and its resources. I'm sure you know what I mean, big organisations sometimes exist in their own big organisation vacuum and the need to control the message of the organisation takes away its spontaneity and personality.

One of the things I love about B.M.S. is that the team that the trustees have running the charity are forward thinking and much more familiar with their post-modern landscape than their official speeches and documents lead you to believe. Another great thing is that the five strategic themes that influence their practice echo the life and ministry of Jesus. "OK Gray cut the blither." I hear you saying.

The council of reference exists to:

• Appoint Trustees.
• Eat delicious lunches.
• Feed back to the Trustees how the churches in our area are perceiving the work and life of the charity.

To my surprise it does seem to work! We are particularly good at doing the first two things, and the trustees and senior staff are very good at listening to the discussions. They appear to hear what is said and include it in their discussions about the future.

I have been paying a fair amount of attention to the B.M.S. since I moved to Morecambe and one of the things I have noticed is that they are a progressive organisation. They are:

• Influenced by the best of the current trends in Missiology.
• Changing as an organisation away from the western "we know best" approach of the past.
• Allowing themselves to be influenced by the needs of the churches that provide their income.

One of the most interesting things I heard today was about their work in India. They have significantly changed their approach and have noticed that the best missionary practice is happening on the fringes of the organised church. Indigenous people are training others and releasing them into mission among their peers. The really great news is that B.M.S. are directing some cash at supporting those indigenous mission projects. It's FANTASTIC! I am particularly interested in this subject because from my limited observations I think that the best Missionary practice in Britain is happening on the margins of the church.

I am left with two particular questions as I return home:

• Although the organisation is influenced by current Missiological and Theological trends, how much space is created for them to think Missiologically and develop in their thinking beyond being influenced by the current tends? There is a training section called "The International Missions College" which does a great job of preparing individuals for cross cultural mission. It's not intended to be an academic institution but does it create space for thinking and writing rather than mere reaction?
• B.M.S. are taking more people from non Baptist backgrounds as missionaries and volunteers, I wonder how those churches are represented within the structures. The church up the road from us (Carnforth Free Methodist Church) have released one of their members to serve with B.M.S. I wonder if those who stand outside our peculiarly Baptist structures but have a significant investment in the Society have any way of feeding back into the organisation.