Structures alone can't change the church.

posted: 21 Sep 2008 comments: 0category:

I wrote about structures a few weeks ago. I think we need to realise that changing the structures alone, will not change the church. Tomorrow night at Kirk Session will be quite an important evening. The Kirk Session re-structing group will be reporting back. The plan is that they will give out the papers for the future structure and we will agree a date when we can meet in conference to discuss the implications. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to fire us up so that...
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Alpha and Forgivenesss

posted: 19 Sep 2008 comments: 1category:

We had our second 'Alpha Night' at the Inchyra last night. There was a good mix of people from different backgrounds and I'm sure its going to be once again an interesting life changing experience for a number of people. Our theme last night asked the question" Why did Jesus die?" It is an opportunity to talk about the central theme of Christianity namely, "Forgiveness" it seems to me that this is one of the central issues that faces all of humanity. All over the...
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Father's Heart in Bo'ness

posted: 13 Sep 2008 comments: 0category:

Later on today hundreds of people will be descending upon our little town for the "Father's Heart Conference". Ken Whitelaw the local Apostolic Church Pastor has worked hard to bring this event to the town. I wish him well and hope that the whole day is a great success. Last year I visited the Clan Gathering in St Andrew's and heard Dr Mark Stibbe, the day before I took a group from the church over to India to visit our partner churches. He is an excellent communicator...
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Structures Can't Change Decline

posted: 24 Aug 2008 comments: 1category:

Here we are talking about structures again. However the right structures can give to everyone a sense of freedom as well as security. I just wish the way we ordered Church in the Church of Scotland released us into freedom and community. Too much of our structures are centred around business meetings rather than the love feast. we celebrate business more than we celebrate the eucharist. It is this image of a business structure that has shaped the identity of the...
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The Servant Leader.

posted: 22 Aug 2008 comments: 0category:

I've been thinking about the role of leadership , in the light of Nehemiah and especially, when an organisation, like St Andrew's is in the middle of restructuring. One of the differences between the church leader today and Nehemiah's time is that we have the encouragement of the scriptures and perhaps a greater awareness of what it means to be " The One and the Many in Christ" In other words the teaching found in 1 Corinthians 12 under pins and helps to...
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