My research proposal has been given the go-ahead by Manchester University (
http://study.graham.doel.org/phdprop/).
I will be looking at two church planting movements. One of them is historic and is a product of the Evangelical Revival and the other is contemporary. I hope that in looking in detail at these two periods of time it will help me as a Minister lead churches into mission in their area. My work is being supervised by
Richard Kidd who is the Principal of Northern Baptist College and by
Stuart Murray Williams, who started a mission agency called
urban expression.
One of the things I regularly do is change my style of preaching (particularly in the evening services). I assume that if I get bored of my approach, then everyone else probably does as well. In the evening services I have often asked people for suggestions of sermon topics, books of the bible or topics that they would like to cover, then they choose from the selection (we are currently doing Revelation).
This month I have widened this opportunity to make suggestions to the morning service and I have put out cards for people to write their suggestions on. So far I have had two suggestions both of which took my by surprise:
- Faith vs. Works (Paul vs. James). I thought this subject was a long lost historical curiosity, but apparently not.
- Which Old Testament Laws should we obey? Just the Ten Commandments? What about Deuteronomy 22:5?
It will be interesting to see what else appears.
For those who know me well, you will know that without my phone, to tell me phone numbers, addresses, and to remind me of appointments would be utterly lost. For such a small device it is utterly invaluable.
Last week, however, I managed to get myself a reputation for having a fantastic memory. I was at a meeting representing the Baptist Churches in my area to a large charity that does Mission and Relief work (
The B.M.S.). I was talking to someone who grew up with someone in the congregation that I am part of. The discussion went on and it transpired that they had lost touch. I offered him their address, which I knew because I have visited on a number of occasions. I reached over and grabbed a pen and paper and proceeded to write it down. When I looked up the entire table was looking at me in silence. I thought I had done something terrible. The silence was broken by someone saying "I don't know, these young ministers, he didn't even need a PDA!"
