Administration, meals, practical work and worship - just an ordinary week for a student minister?

Even without all my studies to do, it has been a busy week as I have been at Decatur First United Methodist Church getting involved in their life.

  

An example of a cheese ball

  On Thursday (13th Sep) I popped in for lunch with the staff (you won't be surprised to hear that I found time in my diary for that!).  The lunch was hosted by a member of the Staff Parish Relations Committee, the body which is responsible for hiring staff and, as the name suggests, ensures good relations between the staff and the Board of Trustees.  It was a lovely lunch in a lovely house with a veranda out the back to sit on.  It was a very nice lunch and I got introduced to cheese balls.  They are basically, as the picture shows, a ball of cheese with various other things added to it suitable to dip biscuits, carrots etc into.  The one we had was a smoked cheese with bacon in and was delicious.  However, initially I did feel a bit of a fraud.  The lunch was organised in appreciation of the work the staff had done - and obviously I hadn't actually done much work at all in the week since I began my placement.  The staff and the committee though actively invited me and encouraged me to be part of this.  It was a fantastic time to get to know staff members, that I had maybe only met once or not at all, in a relaxed environment and it was also good to see the staff of the church being appreciated for the work that they do.

  My next time at Decatur First was for Sunday worship.  The previous Sunday my alarm had failed to go off (or I had forgotten to set it - I'll leave you to decide which is a more accurate re-telling) and it had been a rush to get to church on time.  So this Sunday I was determined to be up and out on time - which I accomplished.  Unfortunately, because I believed I had so much extra time I took my time walking for the bus.  This resulted in having to sprint the last bit as I saw the bus already at the bus stop!!  Thankfully I made it which meant I was able to go the 8:45 service which I was not involved in.  It is so nice, when involved in leading acts of worship, to have times to just be, to worship God without worrying about what came next - and the traditional format of the service certainly made that possible.  At 11am I walked over to our other chapel for the Come As You Are service (CAYA).  That Sunday saw the beginning of a 3 week series entitled 'Engaging the Church on homosexuality'.  It will be a difficult series, but a necessary discussion.  This first week focussed on why should the Church care?  Revd. Katy Hinman encouraged the congregation to see the Church as a place where all people can find a welcome, and are valued.  Therefore, if there are people who are excluded, the Church can not fully be what it is called to be.  She was clear that this is not about telling people what to think, but challenging us all to consider how we can hold very opposite opinions and yet still remain united as a community of faith and love.  The following two weeks will look at What does the United Methodist Church say about homosexuality, and What should the Church be doing?  The service also provided the opportunity for more food!  There are 2 other placement students and we were asked to go for lunch with anyone who wished to go and talk about the service.  There were only two people who went but it was a time when real discussion could be had and people could be free to express their views and ask questions.  I am discovering that providing safe spaces for people to respond and question are really important for discipleship.
 
  My last point to reflect upon was on the Tuesday after (18th).  After getting soaked in the rain waiting for the bus, I arrived at the church and was asked to help set up for a sale that was being held in the church's sports hall.  My job was erecting wooden stands that would hold clothes rails.  By the number I had to set up it was obviously going to be a big affair.  The scheme was that people could donate anything to do with children that they wished to sell.  Each person donating would have their items tagged with a unique code and they would get a percentage of the profits.  What is more, if they volunteered to work a shift selling during the sale (which ran for two days) they would get a larger percentage.  I thought wasn't it great that the church could be involved in a scheme which rewarded people for taking some responsibility and no doubt learning important skills, gave people a sense of worth that they weren't having to rely on benefits, while at the same time provided affordable goods for people with children.  I addition on Tuesday I was working at the computer imputing data on who was present on a given Sunday.  Every week the congregations at the services are encouraged to fill in an attendance book to say that they were present.  Not only does this help spot visitors and make contact with them, but it is also good to be able to spot if people are no longer attending so that appropriate pastoral visits can be arranged.  For a church this size it is important to have organisation in place to track this, as it would be difficult to do it otherwise.  Neither of these jobs were glamorous, and most people probably won't ever know that they have been done.  However, the role of the minister has to be to also do the smaller jobs to ensure that the pastoral life and the outreach of the church continues.  It is an important reminder that being a minister isn't all about what happens at public events - in fact that is only a part of it.

  The week has been varied and the plans for the weeks ahead mean it will continue to be so.  Hopefully through it I will gain ideas and vision for when I return to the UK for what the church could do, what it could become, and how it can continue on the journey.