Sorry to regular readers... I haven't posted for a few days due to hardly having the time to sit down at my desk! We had a meeting at the CMS residential this week to begin to thrash out the management and commisioning/licensing...
The Management group will consist of Vaughan Sweet (Dean and Line manager), Mark Ireland (Diosecan Missioner), Paul Thaxter (Mission and Movement - CMS), Jonny Baker, Myself and hopefully the Bishop of Shrewsbury... with Bob and Mary Hopkins leading the annual review process... I'm sure you will agree this is a formidable group with a vast well of experience in terms of Church, culture and mission - lots for me to glean and learn! For those who know Jonny you will understand why I am so pleased to have him as part of the group - he brings a real experience of contemporary cultural issues, a national (and somewhat global) picture of emerging church thought and experimentation and a fresh attitude - Cheers Jonny! This is not saying I don't welcome the others, just that I was expecting their membership and Jonny's came as a bonus!
Secondly we continued to look at the licensing/commisioning/launch... we had initially planned to go for a quiet affair primarily aimed at the local churches and friends, family and wellwishers... but we feel that the purpose has been refracted slightly by the media attention - we feel that though this was not solicited we must make the best use of it! So we thought of a two stage event - a public launch with a private liturgical bit... but Chris Neal pointed out that this would make a dualistic statement bout what church was! So... weather permitting we are beginning to explore the possibility of a BBQ type event in the large and impressive town park (right in the centre of Telford next to the large shopping centre) which would use local products only (Paul T's idea) and have a number of response/prayer stations perhaps including a large map of Telford and Fire torches... more thought on content needed... The plan now is to run from 6 (the time the shops shut) to around 8, with a short annointing and commisioning toward the end. The whole point of the rethink is to look to allow a point of contact for folk who may have been intrigued by the media and we will be running some adverts locally and perhaps flier the centre as well. The other issue is if the media do want to follow us (which I am still a little uncomfortable with but am sure that all things work for the good etc. and we have a great media team now) it gives them a good starting point too.
If you have any thoughts... I would love to hear them!
The only bad ting about the day was the second London attack and the strange start to the Ashes series!
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