The newsletter of the Presbytery of Hamilton
No 9 March 2003
Editor: Rev Les Thorne, Hatherleigh, 9 Chatton Walk,
Coatbridge ML5 4FH (01236 432 241)
e-mail: les.thorne@presbyteryofhamilton.co.uk
to whom all contributions should be sent two weeks before presbytery next meets
Having piloted it through its first
session, I have come to the conclusion that it is time for me to vacate the
editorial chair and pass it on to someone else. I have therefore decided that I
will end my period of office on 30th June. I hope that someone will take on
responsibility for The Presbyter, and that whoever it is will
take it forward and bring a fresh approach. There are two further issues due
before then, and I hope that someone will be appointed in good time so that a
satisfactory transfer is effected. I would like to thank the members of the
Editorial Board for their advice and assistance during my term of office. If
anyone is interested, or would like to know what is involved, please get in
touch with me.
THE CHURCH AND CHRISTIAN
AID
This is the second year
in which the Church of Scotland and Christian Aid are working together in a new
way to support three projects in Bosnia, Haiti and Mozambique. For many years the Church of Scotland has
joined with other British churches to reach out to communities in need of
relief and development through Christian Aid. This tried and tested
relationship had found fresh expression through a focus on these three
projects. Christian Aid encourages people to support their work by giving,
acting and prayer. This year the focus is on prayer. Through our work in World
Mission and Christian Aid, our partners often tell us how important it is to
know that people in Scotland are praying for them. Like the Psalmist we believe
that God listens to our cries for help and answers our prayers. Please remember
in your prayers the people in these three territories who are rebuilding their
lives and communities after being torn apart by years of mistrust,
exploitation, communal hatred and war.
Prayer changes things -
join in!
INVASION OF PRIVACY
Are you getting tired of
that mountain of junk mail which just goes for recycling? Fed up with those
annoying telephone calls selling double glazing, just as you are sitting down
to your tea? You can avoid both. Contact the Mailing Preference Service,
Freepost, London W1E 7EZ or mps@dma.org.uk to stop junk mail. Contact the
Telephone Preference Service on 0845 07 007 02 to stop unwanted sales calls.
EVANGELISM ISN’T WORKING
by Mark Greene
Mark is Director of
Development and Lecturer in Communications at the LBC. David Geddes hopes to be
able to arrange for Mark to speak in the Presbytery area at some time in the
near future. Anyone interested should contact David
In today’s church,
evangelism is singing outside Tesco’s, it’s sketchboarding, it’s acting in
shopping centres, it’s inviting friends to ‘seeker’ services, it’s developing
relationships with our neighbours, it’s lots if things. But one thing it isn’t
- it isn’t working. The one place where Christians are not actively encouraged
to make a difference is the one place they may spend fifty, sixty or seventy
per cent of their waking hours. The one place where Christians and
non-Christians have to meet. The one place where the playing field is even,
where Christian and non- Christian are subject to the same corporate culture,
the same pressures. The one place where the non- Christian can actually see the
difference that Christ can make to a life - not for a couple of hours over
dinner, but for twenty, thirty, forty, fifty hours a week over a couple of
years. The workplace. The church national is doing its research. It has
concluded that the number of people who even know the basics about the claims
of Jesus is growing fewer and fewer. It is concluding that we need to build
bridges to the unchurched, to go to the fringe and beyond, that we must learn
to speak their language. The response is however to send us out on the highways
and byways, to neighbours who are often only marginally interested, to knock on
doors, to talk to people who on the whole we don’t know very well. Church based
evangelism is often a cold contact farm. Meanwhile, back in the workplace, the
average Christian has already built bridges and crossed them, has already
developed relationships and already speaks their co-workers’ language. Warm
contacts. We are encouraging people to go out and fish in pools and puddles
when they are often sitting on a lake full of fish. Sending them up the road
when the hall is full of people. Often the people who know us well don’t live
next door, they work at the next desk.
But how many churches
are equipping their people to minister in the workplace? Not many. 50% of the
evangelicals I have polled have never heard a sermon about work. Never. Not
one. 75% have never been taught a theology of work, though almost all have been
taught Genesis 1 to 3 - no bad place to start. 75% have never been taught a
theology of vocation. And only 25% have been encouraged to minister in their workplace.
In reality, those figures are probably more positive than the overall situation
and reflect the fact that the research was conducted among highly motivated
groups.
Nevertheless, these are
startling statistics. Contemporary Christians are simply not being equipped for
life where they spend 65% of their time. If we really believe that the word of
God equips the person of God for every good work, then why is it so many
Christians believe that their job is not as holy as the minister’s, that the
quality of their work is of secondary interest to God, that the workplace is no
context for ministry or evangelism, and that working in the home is a third
rate choice?
Are many ministers
inadvertently letting their desire to build a strong local church distract them
from asking how God might want to use their people outside the local context?
There is a danger that we will view church members exclusively in terms of how
they can contribute to the local household of God rather than how they might
also contribute to the growth of the kingdom of Christ, wherever he has placed
them. And there is a danger that we will become focused on getting
non-Christians into church to hear the minister rather than into the kingdom of
God by hearing the word.
Britain’s workplaces are
filled with all kinds of people, with all kinds of problems: illness, fear of
redundancy, adultery, grief, confusion, purposelessness, promiscuity, ethical
conundrums, criminal negligence, racist hiring policies, dirty tricks and so
on. Oh, that we would encourage one another to see these little ‘villages’ and
‘towns’ the way our pastors see us: with compassion, understanding, with a
heartfelt desire to see us free and fulfilled in Christ. And what a difference
that would make to so many Christians - to be released into confident ministry
right where they are. Nehemiah, Joseph, the Exodus midwives, Naaman’s servant
girl, Daniel, Esther, Lydia would all have approved, I’m sure. After all, when
it comes to witness in a pagan environment the Bible is very clear - leave it
to the workers.
(Sadly, too many
‘evangelicals’ do fail to address the real concerns of ‘pagan’ people, and do
speak in language which is often obscure and at times judgmental – Editor)
FROM THE CONGREGATIONAL
MAGAZINES
Motherwell
Dalziel St Andrews:
‘How to get along with
people’
1
Speak to people - there
is nothing as nice as a cheerful word of greeting.
2
Smile at people - it
takes 78 muscles to frown, only 18 to smile.
3
Call people by name -
the sweetest music to anyone’s ears is the sound of their name.
4
Be friendly and helpful
- if you would have friends, be friendly.
5
Be cordial - speak and
act if everything you do was a genuine pleasure.
6
Be genuinely interested
in people - you can like everyone if you try.
7
Be generous with praise
- cautious with criticism.
8
Be considerate of the
feelings of others - it will be appreciated.
9
Be thoughtful of the
opinions of others - there are three sides to a controversy: yours, the other
person’s, and the right one!
10 Be alert to give service - what counts most in life is what we do
for others.
INTRODUCING FAIRTRADE
Rev Margaret Currie has
sent in a guide to Fairtrade, which will be of assistance to those
congregations who mark Fairtrade Fortnight (March 3 - 16 this year)
This is the church’s
biggest opportunity to raise awareness of the Fairtrade mark and the impact
that buying Fairtrade foods can have on some of the poorest people in the
world. Co-ordinated by the Fairtrade Foundation, Fairtrade Fortnight brings
together churches, development agencies, women's organisations, local councils,
campaigners, retailers, fairtrade companies and celebrities to ‘Make the
FAIRTRADE Mark famous’. The Fairtrade Mark guarantees that the
producers of food stuffs bearing it have been paid a fair price for their
goods, instead of being beaten down to the lowest price by big multi-national
corporations. Fairly traded brands include Co-op, CafeDirect, Green &
Black’s, Traidcraft, Oxfam, TeaDirect. Look for them in your supermarket. Resources
for congregations include posters, information leaflets, sample packs,
promotional merchandise. Contact Rev Margaret Currie (01236 763 173) or
Fairtrade Foundation, Suite 204, 16 Baldwins Gdns, London EC1N 7RJ, (020 7405
5942) or their web site: www.fairtrade.org.uk
Church of Scotland - Hamilton
Presbytery
Children’s Ministry Advisers present a
SEVEN A SIDE FOOTBALL COMPETITION
2
- 5 pm on Sunday 23rd March 2003
Children in P4-P7 age
group (Boys or girls or mixed teams)
at STRATHAVEN RUGBY CLUB
Hamilton Rd, Strathaven
£5.00 per team of 7
players and up to 3 substitutes
Further information from
Iain Shaw on 01357 520 805
COMMITTEE CONVENERS!
Use The Presbyter to
publicise your activities, conferences and events
Copy accepted in any
form - disc, hard, plain text or fully typeset. Please send it to the Editor,
with instructions regarding issues required. Normally TWO insertions will be
made, if sufficient notice is given. Use The Presbyter in addition to other methods,
or on its own. It is here to serve YOU!
Church Education Committee
- Child Protection Training Courses
The following courses
have been arranged for the coming session
8 Mar, 10 am Greenhills, E Kilbride
29 Mar, 10 am Craigneuk
& Belhaven, Wishaw
Remember! Everyone who
works with young people under the age of 18 is required by the church to
undergo child protection training. Please make sure ALL your youth leaders and
workers are trained and registered
Further
details/registration:
Eileen Milne 01698 264
320
Eileen.Milne@btinternet.com
AND FINALLY . . A minister who had upset many in his congregation by becoming
too much of a ‘happy clappy’ preacher, announced that Jesus had told him to
move to another parish. The anthem that morning? ‘What a friend we have in
Jesus’.