Ch-Ch-Changes for OBC

Well it is really good news that Tim Fergusson has accepted the call from Olton Baptist to become our next minister and will move here over the summer with his wife Ali and children Joel and Alex.  It is something we have been praying for a long time and God has been faithful and answered those prayers.  The Search team made the following comments related to Tim and the Church meeting echoed and supported these views:-

A man who is close to God
Passion for the Kingdom
A natural leader
Honest and considered in his approach
Excellent communicator
A passion and heart similar to OBC
Knows his weaknesses as well as his strengths
Gifts for teaching and discipleship
Someone excited by possibilities at OBC
High family values

Much appreciation to the Search team for all their prayers and time – to the Trustees and Ben, Andrea and Joanne.

A couple of things to reflect on – there will be change and it is good to be prepared for that.  Things won’t stay the same and Tim will guide and lead us and take us in new directions.  It is good to be open minded to what that might look like.

Prayer is key – we need to keep praying – for the unity of OBC in a time of change, for Tim and his family and their move, for Tim’s current Church and their next steps, for vision and guidance for Tim as he leads us, for the leadership team at OBC and  Dave and Penny as they work out new ways of working together.

There are also good things at OBC that we don’t want to lose – using people’s gifts in and outside of Church, missional discipleship, accountable relationships, and the loving and welcoming community of OBC.

So lets pray, welcome and support Tim and his family when they start with us and look forward to a new phase of journeying life together.  Proverbs 3 5-6 seems to be very appropriate as look to the future – Trust in the Lord with all your heart;  do not depend on your own understanding.  Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.

Bernice VLT
PS Song by David Bowie in case you are not old enough!

We conclude our series on missional discipleship this month, and conclude by exploring a number of different facets of what it means in practice. It is important that we ground our faith in reality; what does this look like in my life? Some of the questions we’ll be asking ourselves we encourage you to think about in your own situation where God has placed you.

May 6^th

Dave will be exploring what it means in reality to love our neighbour. We will also be celebrating Zoe Vellacott’s life and dedicating her to God today.

May 13^th

This Sunday, we welcome Reza, Rima and Arman to Olton as they update us about what is happening in the Iranian Church. We will hear of their exciting plans coming up, and they will lead us through what it means to be a Christian, with the question: what is your testimony?

May 20^th

Dave will be leading our time of worship and fellowship together by looking at how we pray for each other, and how we do this practically.

May 27^th

As we draw the series to a close, the VLT will be leading our time together, looking at the costs behind us living such generous lives. This will also be a time of communion as a Church, with the OK Club also hosting their own service.

A couple of things have struck me about this as we’ve worked through our series on Missional Discipleship.

The first is that each of our journeys is different. God has placed us each in different places, each with different challenges. There is not one person at Olton (or anywhere else, for that matter) who could argue that life is a bed of roses since committing to following Christ. But wherever we are, we are there for a reason. We may not know what that is yet, but as the kids taught us the other day ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.’ (Proverbs 3:5-6) This journey is not something we do alone. We are not cut adrift and told to go and disciple or convert the world under our own steam. The Lord says through Isaiah, whose commissioning we explored at the last VLT service, ‘I will guide you continually’ (Is. 58:11) We can take heart, then.

That does not mean we can crack on and do things under our own steam and ask God to bless our good ideas, though. Not by any stretch. If we don’t seek God in what we do and how we live, good ideas count as nothing. It is the Lord’s real and true guidance which brings us to a place of real understanding. Proverbs 16:9 says ‘A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.’ God ideas count; good ideas count for nothing.

The second thing which is clear from this series is this: each of our journeys is also the same! A bit paradoxical, perhaps, but run with me here. We are all in different places doing different things, witnessing through our lives in different ways. But each of us has, in that different situation, the same calling on our lives. Each of us is the recipient of God’s question to Isaiah ‘Whom shall I send?’

Ultimately, His plan involved Christ – the sacrifice which took the bad stuff we’ve done, hid it in a tomb and left it buried there when He rose again three days later. And it is that miraculous truth we are able to celebrate together this month. Yes, our family, friends, addresses, work situations and lives generally are different. But we are united together in this revelation every single day.

At the beginning of the series, Paul spoke about the Great Commission, where Jesus shares with His disciples the vision to evangelise and disciple the world. And it is no coincidence that through that, His final words are ‘Truly, I will be with you until the ends of the age.’ (Matt 28:20)

As we celebrate Easter together this month then, let us be encouraged. Wherever we are, whatever we do, we have the Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ alongside us. We are not alone.

We continue our exploration of what it means to be missional disciples this month, as we also celebrate the pivotal moment in our Christian lives. The death and Resurrection of Christ brings even closer focus to our walk with God, and how we practically live out the life that He has called us each to. We also celebrate the dedication of Zac Costello together, welcoming him formally into the Church.

1^st April – Palm Sunday

Geoff Rudge will be preaching and looking at the need for us to replace comfort with an element of risk in our Christian journey.

We also have a Messy Easter event which is running at St Helen’s Church, from 3-5pm. Please see Penny for more information.

8^th April – Easter Sunday

Today is a family service as Dave and Penny lead us in a time of celebration and praise at the Resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

15^th April

Maurice will be leading our time together this morning, as he looks at our own personal missions God has called us to.

22^nd April

Today is a really special day, as we celebrate the life of Zac Costello. We welcome particularly friends and family of the Costello’s as they join with us today. We also welcome Nick Wood from Regents’ Park who will be preaching about loving the unlovable. We will share a time of communion together, also.

29^th April

Today the VLT lead our service together as we share what God has been doing in each of our lives.

As I write this, I am listening to John (Lord) Prescott taking his turn on Desert Island Discs. At the risk of incurring [yet further] scorn from my children, I admit that I really enjoy DID: the fantasy (for me the misery) of the desert island, the choice of eight tunes, a book and a luxury, but more interestingly, the insight that appears from all of these as the great and good talk through their life stories – the highs and the lows, punctuated by songs from their chosen soundtrack.

However, my overwhelming sense is one of unhappiness: for all of JPʼs achievements – Deputy PM for 10 years, he says that he was and is unable to put his arm around his two sons and tell them he loves them. How sad. It seems there are complex reasons for this – his own experience of a distant father, divorcing parents and possibly more besides. But nevertheless sad, both for JP and his sons.

This aspect of JPʼs life story has reminded me how special it is that we can in our lives know the love of God as our Heavenly Father through His Spirit – searching us out and welcoming us into relationship with arms open wide (remember Luke 15:11+). As we continue to look at what it means to be missional disciples, to be more salt than sugar, antangelists even (listen to the podcast for 19 February) it is going to be crucial that we get in step with what the Holy Spirit is doing in and around our lives. And itʼs crucial that we know our Heavenly Father is out looking for us, loving us, graciously loving us, loving us to be consistent (the same Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and so forth) loving us to be who He has made us to be (because we are made in His image and to “shine like stars” itʼs the best for us) loving us with our “shadow side” (allowing us not to be condemned by the things we least like about ourselves) – quite profoundly, graciously loving us – radically breaking into our otherwise second best days and ways.

But lest this is too “sugary” (itʼs not – but do listen to the podcast from 5 February) let us recall what Jesus says of the Holy Spirit – that He would come in power (Luke 24:49) that we might be His witnesses in wherever we are (Acts 1:8 puts it as “Jerusalem, and in all Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth”). We can therefore expect God to give us His gifts of the Spirit and it will perhaps be useful to remind ourselves of Mauriceʼs sermons on the subject from last year (click on our website for these).

As a leadership, we are committed to doing what we can to be instep with Godʼs Spirit at work in us as a church and for us thatʼs being prayerfully engaged with Him and each other, recognising that when we come across His gifts we encounter a supernatural God in a supernatural (and therefore not entirely comfortable, albeit ultimately comforting) way. This may mean waiting on God in prayer for an interpretation of a tongue during a meeting, or perhaps trusting the leadership instead to weigh a word or picture outside of a meeting before reporting back on a later occasion. In Wesleyʼs time, movements of the Spirit were accompanied by surprises to their ordered meetings (for whom even meeting out of doors was considered ungodly). So we may be surprised too. But if we are prayerfully engaged and gracious, open and trusting – as I know we will be – we can expect to be blessed and to enjoy being the missional disciples we are.

As we get ready for Easter and as we get used to thinking as missional disciples, as we remember the journey God is taking us on (Nehemiah, the 52 days, accountability, working through the hot topics into discipleship of ourselves and others, both within and outwith the church) letʼs be looking for God at work by His Spirit, wherever we are and whatever we are doing.

Oh and by the way, JPʼs music – some classy jazz (at least thatʼs what I thought) and his luxury, a pre-programmed piano.

God bless – Jon