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Park
Avenue Methodist Church, Park Avenue North, Northampton, NN3 2HT
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01604 720624
Administrator - Alan Brett ::
Senior Stewards - Denise Turner, Liz Hale
office@parkavenue.org.uk | webmaster@parkavenue.org.uk |
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Summer Weddings & Baptisms
02 Jul 2010 by Rev Glayne Worgan
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 Summer is here again – at last! As well as strawberries and suntans to enjoy, it is the season for weddings. We Methodists do not have as many as some of my Anglican friends, but this year I have a delightful ‘glut’ of infant baptisms. Babies, toddlers, all ages, shapes and sizes.
Weddings and Infant Baptisms pose some dilemmas for the ministers. It’s never a problem if the family is fully integrated into the active, worshipping life of the church. But what should we say when asked by people who are not regular church-goers, to marry them or baptise their kids in church?
Some denominations are very straightforward and strict about this. Only church members are allowed to have such services, and always in the context of the whole church family being there to support them. Or they will only marry couples if they attend the church for an agreed time before the wedding. We Methodists have a more open response, of welcome and further conversation. Within our team here at Northampton we have different approaches, but we have discussed some of the issues together. My personal approach is to usually say ‘yes’ to such requests.
What do you think? Do you ever ask if such an approach is right or wrong? Do we show a desire to attract new people into the church by allowing weddings and baptisms? At least they are in church, if only for that service, to hear the gospel – who knows what may come of it. I know a woman who is now a Methodist minister who first became a Christian following her child’s baptism. Shouldn’t the church be showing a warm welcome to families especially if they want to come to church for their wedding or baptism?
Others may argue that such promises can only be said if the people involved are fully believing and practicing Christians, demonstrated by their previous membership and attendance at church.
My answer to that is that faith is a journey, and in these days, where the couple has such a wide choice of venue possible for a wedding, for them to choose the church shows some understanding of the relevance of God in their lives, and by agreeing to do the wedding I am giving them an opportunity to discuss what God means to them. And when a family brings their child to church for a baptism, it is because at some level, they value the ritual of baptism. When I suggest the thanksgiving service instead of baptism, very often, they will be insistent that they want their child baptised. Somehow they know it is different.
I do these services in hope. Hope that they will hear and experience something of God’s love during the service. Hope that they will see something in the church community that they want to connect with. Hope that in the middle of this important day for them, they will remember that God had a part. Hope that the promises that they make will stay with them.
All of this is my part to play in the wedding or baptism. What part does the local church have? In baptism services we remember our baptisms, and also promise as a church to be there to support the family. Do we ensure that we always show our very friendliest side to our guests? Do we try to see church through their eyes, to help them feel at ease before, during and after the service?
In September many of our churches will be taking part in Back to Church Sunday – a day when we make an effort to personally invite friends and family back to church for a ‘enquirer-friendly’ service. I see these baptisms and weddings as similar chances to make church accessible for those who might not otherwise be there.
I hope you all have a good summer, and enjoy your holidays. And if there is a baptism at your church, see what an opportunity it can be for spreading God’s message.
Love from Glayne.  |
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Pentecost
01 Jun 2010 by Phil Snelson
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When it comes to preaching or teaching about Pentecost, I've found that people either try to explain away the supernatural signs - the rushing wind, tongues of fire, speaking in other languages - or more often, ignore them altogether and focus on other aspects of the story e.g. as the beginning of the Church.
I do realise that by the time you read this Pentecost Sunday will have passed but it is still in "next week" for me as I write, and I hope you aren't going to just hurry on from it too quickly.
Pentecost was a wonderful event, a time when God came to people in a whole new way, something to really celebrate. The difficulty with Pentecost is that it is all a bit supernatural and kind of tricky to explain and - let's be honest - makes some of us a bit nervous. So how do we handle it? Is it better to focus on other things in the story?
It seems to me that these special signs are an important part of the story – the signs are what brought the crowd together to find out more and are also a key part of the beginning of the Church. It is good to be able to explain our faith but we don't need to feel obliged to explain everything God does with scientific justification – which is just as well because we can't!
Sometimes, as his witnesses, we just have to tell others what God has done.
They heard a sound LIKE a rushing wind; they saw what SEEMED to be tongues of fire. It was wonderful and this is just the best way they could find to describe it. The coming of the Holy Spirit is absolutely supernatural. Pentecost is particularly about celebrating his coming, and when the Spirit comes wonderful things happen, too wonderful sometimes for words! The other languages were clearly given as a sign for people and to enable the message about Jesus to be heard by everyone who was there.
When the Holy Spirit comes he does unexpected things; wonderful things; powerful things. Jesus said when the Holy Spirit comes we should expect the unexpected!! (John 3: 8)
But we should expect the unexpected knowing that God is good and gives good gifts of all kinds, including miracles, all sorts of healings, hearts and lives touched and changed for good. The Spirit will always act in accord with the love of God and with Scripture, for building up and encouraging the church and to bring glory to God the Father. All these are good things, aren't they?!
When we see signs of the Holy Spirit's presence we need to celebrate, even if it "throws" us for a moment and isn't quite what we had planned. We need to celebrate not so much the signs themselves, but that God is here with us and powerfully at work for good.
God is at work by his Holy Spirit all through his Church. We can celebrate the Spirit whenever we see something good happening. At the same time, however, there does seem to be something missing: while there are occasional exceptions, and I'm not just talking about miraculous signs, we don't see 'the Lord adding daily those who are being saved' – at least not in our part of the Church. I believe that God has much more to give us in his Spirit, if only we are willing to be open to receive and allow Him to do the unexpected, even wonderful signs and especially adding to our number new people coming to faith.
How I long for the Holy Spirit to come again upon his church as he did at the first Pentecost; to see the church taking the lead in supernatural things, in order for the message of Jesus death and resurrection to be heard and our heavenly Father glorified as he adds to those 'being saved'. If you look into it you'll find these are all part of early Methodism too.
So I invite you, even challenge you, to pray more, to seek more of the working of the Holy Spirit, to be open to receive and to go with whatever the Holy Spirit is doing…
Yours in Christ,
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Sabbatical
03 May 2010 by Maureen Spinks
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 I don’t know about you but I have a great deal of difficulty stopping.
I may not have a very routine life but like a lot of people, I do have a very full one, and though stopping, having a holiday or a sabbatical sounds like a heavenly idea it is not all that easy to stop. Even when on holiday I find myself starting with the active thing I can do until my body has wound down enough to do the more leisurely things.
So too with this my second sabbatical, first I found time to do many of those jobs I haven’t got round to for the last couple of years; painting a wall, clearing a cupboard or two, catching up with some sewing and then tackle the more active parts of my sabbatical plans like walking (not long ones but two or three times a week). Gradually it was easier to sit still, to ponder, to talk and listen to Ian and to Rebekah and others.
By then it was time to get to grips with my dissertation, two separate weeks at St Deiniol’s Library in Wales writing about the challenges of ministry in a postmodern world for Methodists, this was followed by the last few weeks of my sabbatical which were spent at home sweating and groaning under the pressure of trying to get the 15000 words finished to an acceptable standard. For someone like me, getting the english right and trying to get the myriad details of footnoting and presentation right was a nightmare. I would not be willing to live through that agony again, pass or fail, I am finished as far as my academic journey goes and my family will give a resounding hurrah to that I assure you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ian as willing to go into respite care as he was during that final week!
So my Sabbatical is over, you might ask what am I bringing back with me into circuit from it?
More questions than answers I suspect,
Questions for me to answer come out of the opportunity to take a kind of personal MOT test and seriously face some issues that we all need to ask ourselves from time to time such as: how is my relationship with God? How has my understanding of my calling changed and in what ways and how much does my current lifestyle reflect that, or distract from it? Where do I belong and who do I journey with and who are my friends and how do I make them? Have I got stuck in a rut, what about my life is comfortable and what needs shaking up? What do I need to let go of and what do I need to focus on?
Most of the answers to these questions are highly personal and some will find expression in the life of my ministry among you in the future.
The questions for us as a church and a people, seem to be focused on:
How aware are we of how much our lives have been shaped by our church life especially for those brought up in the faith?
Do we actually think we are good by nature or are we consciously aware of how many of our actions and attitudes are shaped by the gospel?
Do we prefer people to believe we are just nice people, or do we ever explain that we are nice people because our live have been shaped by Jesus?
How far is our attitude and behaviour created by Jesus either explicitly because we have been challenged to change by Jesus or more implicitly because we have grown up in the church and our lives have been shaped by the expectation that we will share the ethics, the values of Jesus as understood by the church through worship and by study of the bible, and following the example demonstrated by the family of Christ we have grown up among...
Who gets the glory for making and shaping our lives the way they are? Do we allow other people to assume that is just what we are like, or do we occasionally remind them it is because we have walked and are walking with Jesus.
How often do we give credit and recognition to the one who has shaped our lives?
Hopefully these and many other questions that have occurred during my sabbatical will find their way into our life together.
This was my second sabbatical in 17 years I want to thank Methodism and you locally for giving me this gift and I hope the results of it will bless you in many and in all sorts of ways as we journey together.
With love
Maureen |
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What is it really all for?
05 Apr 2010 by Rev Martin Swan
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 For me one of the benefits of being asked to write a newsletter is that it allows me, as I consider what to write, to have a time of reflection as well.
Recently, there have been many discussions, and many meetings, to consider both the future and the shape and style of the church. And so as I write, I also reflect upon what it means to be part of the Christian community called the Methodist Church and what does it mean to be part of a Circuit of churches which seek to work alongside our ecumenical partners?
What is it really all for? Well, of course in my pondering it did not take me long to come to the obvious conclusion that all that we ever have been, all that we are and all that we do is about bringing glory to our Lord Jesus and bringing honour to His name. And of course we are to help others to come to a knowledge of a living faith in Him too.
However, this is not the complete answer. For we must never forget that the Christian church is also about people. God’s people. The Bible does not often talk in terms of ‘Church’. However, it does describe a revolutionary community designed for any society, in any age.
The Bible offers a blueprint for worshipping God, and also a blueprint where God’s people of all ages are loved, nurtured and protected. In this community our different gifts are to be used. We are called to explore our differences, so that they can become a positive rather than a negative.
And so in our different meetings as we continue to discuss the future of our Methodist community, we are challenged to always keep in the forefront of our talks the understanding that all are to be included of every generation.
When God’s people are wounded and hurting, and worried for the future, the community of faith must have a pastoral caring heart for them.
God calls us to have unconditional love for his people and also uncompromising accountability to Him for our care of each other.
The church in every generation should have an understanding of the world which we seek to reach. However, we must be careful that in our deliberations and decision making about our circuit shape, we do not lose sight of our foundation stone and our reason for being.
We must keep a firm hold on the foundation of the Christian faith. The church (the people) is called to be a bridge between the culture of today, and the timeless Biblical truths of God’s Word.
Of course we all realise that our places of worship must be relevant for our generation. However, they must also be places of warm welcome, never-ending joy, celebration and worship.
Thankfully, there is considerable liberty for our Circuit to plan and develop ways of being church.
There are, however, some guiding principles and priorities that we neglect at our peril.
The care of our older brothers and sisters who have travelled the road of faith for many years mean that they too must feel part of our new journey. Young people, families, the single person, the marginalised must all be included and be part of our thinking. Otherwise in our desire to discuss buildings, we lose sight of what it means to be Christian.
I marvel again that God our Father invites you and me to enter into relationship with Him as his children.
My dear late father was not overly blessed with a great intellect. However, the one gift he had in abundance was common sense.
I think most of you reading this newsletter do truly understand that we are in some difficulties in the church. The financial situation and the need to reconsider the make up of the circuit mean that we need to be approaching this with a good dose of common sense.
I fully believe that with God’s Grace and people’s generosity we shall come through this together. And that must be the over-riding principle ‘together’
The one thing I have learnt as I have travelled this circuit is that we have many people with the God given gift of common sense.
Some of our younger members bring thoughts and ideas garnered with the enthusiasm of youth. Many older members bring common sense proposals nurtured by years of steady walking with the Lord. May we hear God’s guiding voice through all of these as we travel this exciting road together?
God Bless you all in your ponderings 
Rev. Martin Swan |
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Vision or Heresy?
01 Mar 2010 by Phil Taylor
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 Dear Friends,
Vision or Heresy?
That was the question that Glayne posed in the final paragraph of her letter last month.
Have you decided your response yet?
I ask that question because about an hour and half ago we sat down as a family to eat our dinner together and as we did so it became very clear that it had produced a response in Jon, our son. They had been discussing the questions that Glayne had raised in Junior Church the day before and it had clearly provoked a thoughtful response that he had been thinking about since then.
He engaged me in conversation about it almost as soon as he got home from College and it continued as we sat down to eat and for the next half hour or so. At the end of it I knew that what I had to write in this letter had been altered and Jon has agreed that I share some of his thoughts with you...
His verdict? Definitely Vision, though probably a little limited! (I’ll explain the limited bit later).
But let’s start with his genuine excitement about the possibility of the Methodist Church in Northampton meeting together in one central, modern, purpose built building. To begin with the idea of more people of his own age (he’s heading towards 17) or indeed of any age meeting together for worship and getting to know one another was immediately attractive. He posed the question, how can you expect to either attract or keep within the Church, people say aged 20, if when they go there are no other people around their age who they can relate to? Now he understands that people can relate across the generations and he has had plenty of experience of that happening at Towcester Road but he recognises the strength that comes from people meeting together in larger numbers.
Then he was talking about the need to have a Methodist church that was sustainable into the future. He thought that those who had belonged to the different churches all their lives would want that. To give to generations to come the possibility of being part of a church with a future, a church that wasn’t slowly dying out. It is what we would all want, isn’t it? He was actually very generous in his analysis of the future – he thought if nothing were done the Methodist Church in Northampton would die out in 3 or 4 generations. I don’t think that I am that optimistic.
He was also excited by the possibility of different styles of worship taking place at the same time that would give people an opportunity to worship in the way that helped them. He was thinking at least 3 styles of worship – so the Park Avenue model plus - its part of that bigger vision thing! He was aware that many people who come to church do so by car and so there shouldn’t be a problem with people getting to a new central location. But for those who are used to walking he recognised there would be a need to provide transport to get them to a new place. “There shouldn’t be a problem paying for that if we are not spending lots of money on keeping all these buildings going!” As to the question will people be happy to go somewhere new to worship, his response: “If people are serious about their faith and worshipping God that won’t bother them – if they are not they will make up their own mind what they will do”. I guess he’s right and he challenges us all to consider our response to what we would do if the building we are used to worshipping in is no longer there.
I have already mentioned that Jon attends Towcester Road, where he has worshipped regularly for the last seven years or so. One of the reasons that he chose Towcester Road was because of the number of other young people around his age but it has also been a place we has found a sense of welcome and belonging. The building and the people there are special to him and have played an important part in his life. I therefore think that it is significant that he is saying that he is ready to see that church building close in order to have a bigger vision of what the Methodist Church can be in Northampton. So, you see Glayne, just suggesting bringing three churches together in the centre of Northampton is too limited a vision, for someone like Jon. He can see the value of the village churches maintaining their life and presence in their local communities but why all these Methodist churches in Northampton itself?
So for my son, definitely Vision not heresy and one that calls us to make a response. Had we not had the conversation at dinner time the letter I would have written would have almost certainly been more nuanced and less direct and would have been the worse for that. The great thing about teenagers however is that they are often more direct in their thinking and their responses to situations and they can ask us questions that perhaps we would rather not hear and face up to. So Jon has made his response to Glayne’s letter, he has posed the questions and I, and I hope you, will want to take them seriously. I also know, given that Critical Thinking is one of the A Levels he is studying, that he will quickly see through any answers and responses that are not properly thought through. So you and I have been warned!
As someone for whom the call to ministry part came through a colleague at work asking me the direct question “Phil, when are you going to become a Methodist minister, because I think you ought to?” I have always recognised that God can speak to us through the voice of others so possibly, just possibly the Word of God was being spoken at the dinner table this evening challenging us to a new and very different future for the Methodist Church in Northampton. It is certainly a possibility that I cannot avoid considering.
God bless,
Phil Taylor |
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The Future of the Methodist Church
01 Feb 2010 by Rev Glayne Worgan
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Dear Friends,
Before you start to read this newsletter, can I ask you to find a pen or pencil because I want you to do your very own mini survey. Look at the following statements about your expectations of church life and tick the ones you agree with.
Your church should provide Sunday morning worship that suits your needs / the needs of non-churched people.
Your church should provide worship at other times that suits your needs / the needs of non-churched people.
Your church should provide comprehensive pastoral care for all its members and adherents.
Your church should provide pastoral care for those who need it most, when they need it.
Your church should be a gathering point for people to come to pray, as well as organising prayer chains etc.
Your church should provide opportunities for Christian education and discipleship training for all ages.
Your church should be running Christian activities for children and young people.
Your church should help those in need – locally, nationally and globally - by raising awareness of issues, offering practical help, money and time.
Your church should reach out to those who do not know Jesus and share his salvation with them.
Of the statements that you have ticked, how many are you able to support yourself or to be involved in? The recently distributed discussion paper, ‘the Business of Church’ (please ask your church stewards for a copy if you haven’t seen it yet) suggests that only 20% of church members actively support the work of the church. The other 80% are happy to come along on Sundays, maybe once or twice a month, but do not get involved with any other activities. Perhaps that is because their needs are met by Sunday worship alone.
This leaves 20% to do most of the work, and fund most of the running costs of the church. My concern is that the 20% are becoming increasingly worn out! I go to Church Councils and hear of huge maintenance bills and the difficulty of finding people to take up important roles within the church. As a Circuit, we want to budget to employ people for the next 5 years to do youth and outreach. We have some wonderful visionary ideals, but can we do all this, and still run so many large prestigious buildings?
I often say, in regard to financial discussions, well, basically, I am just a housewife! I am the one who has to manage the bills at home, and make sure there is money to pay them. Other single parents like me, with children flown the nest, living on one salary, have ‘downsized’ from modest family homes to very small 2 bed terraces, because they are fed up of struggling and worrying about roof repairs or gas bills. ‘Living within your means’ has meant a dramatic change of lifestyle which they were not expecting to make until they retired. Some of you have made similar decisions as you retired or family circumstances changed.
Is it time for the churches to downsize? To look at what we want to do as a church (see the list at the top of this letter) and then work out how much building we need in order to fulfil these aims. I have always been slightly bemused that Northampton Circuit still has so many church buildings. The ‘Methodist Cathedrals’ of the town centre are prestigious and beautiful buildings. But they are difficult to heat, far bigger than we need and not very ‘disabled-friendly’. I come from Rugby, which merged 3 (then 4) church congregations to build a purpose-built modern church 25 years ago. Rugby Methodist Church Centre is facing challenges with regard to its mission and leadership, as are many churches today, but at least it has a building that all can use and that is not a drain on their energies and finances.
Is it time to come together to have one building in the town centre for Methodist worship? (One building, one secretary, one treasurer etc.). I am not even suggesting that everyone has to worship together in one congregation. Park Avenue’s practice of 2 congregations alongside each other is a model which has much to commend it - both the traditional worshippers and those wanting a more contemporary style are listened to and have their needs met. Methodism has lost 2 generations of its children over the past 20-30 years. Where are the 20, 30 and 40 year olds in our churches? I believe that Park Avenue’s approach has enabled those in that age range to stay in Methodism, whereas other churches have lost them. One building that is accessible and warm, with a worship area for traditional worship, plus a multi-purpose, multi-media hall for contemporary worship. The 80% whose needs are met by Sunday worship alone will be able to worship as they wish. The other 20% who want to do a whole range of other activities in church and reaching into the community will then be free to do so, because they will be released from the burden of running huge old buildings, or duplicating 3 sets of stewards, secretaries, treasurers etc.
Heresy or a vision for 2020? What do you think? Is anyone even willing to sit down and look at the suggestion to see if it could be possible? If I am wrong, and the church buildings are not a burden that you are unwilling or unable to bear for the next 10 years, you can tell me to be quiet. I won’t mind – I am not responsible for looking after the buildings. But as a minister I am responsible for leaving a Circuit that is sustainable and life-giving to all its members. What kind of church do you want?
Yours in Christ
Glayne |
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