On this rock...

To Church for the first time on Sabbatical, so it is with mixed emotions that I go to St Peters on St Peter’s day. St Peters it turns out has gone though quite a transformation over the last twenty years from twenty five and dwindling to four hundred plus and bursting out of its building. Their secret has been an open one, a lovely vicar with a genuine desire to reach the whole community by providing a mixed menu of services ranging from Matins this morning to Rock Solid on Saturday night. They have at least five congregations all of which function as separate churches. They also hinted at a good social outreach programme as they talked about giving breakfast to down and outs six days a week.
Two things struck me about the church: one positive, one negative. The positive one is that it is all built on volunteers in that as far as I could work out there was only the vicar and his volunteer assistant minister to run this great effort… that and of course a great team of volunteers. There is such power in that great British phenomena of the willing volunteer.
The negative, and it is just a small one, is that they are busy planning a reorder on their church because it no longer fits the congregation that uses it. Like a pair of old trousers after Christmas no loosening of the belt makes them fit anymore, so time to get new trousers. They have employed an architect, a couple of times I think. What’s a bit sad is that although they are a “civic” church they are not yet in conversation with their council.
Mind you, when we started we didn’t talk to them either…
Could it be that you needed to have gone some way down the creative road before you have something to talk about. Is regeneration about formulating new ideas together or about pooling our hopes and dreams to make a community?
Tomorrow we hear from Yorkshire Forward about whether they will follow Calderdale and the Church in supporting the St Michael’s scheme.
No pressure there then!
Just prayer.

On this St Peter's day it good to be thinking about the slightly incompetant disciple who never the less pushed his boat out further and caught so many fish.

With my boat now firmly out of its depth in so many way I look foward to a profitable time of fishing.



Incidentally if you want a look at S: t Peters have a look at their website: http://www.stpetersharrogate.org.uk/