I reckoned it was about time to write a decent retrospective of the last 6 months in the life of mrBen. It’s been an extremely hectic and tumultuous time, but, as these things tend to be, quite important. I’ll try and step through it systematically, but I apologise in advance for both rambling, and repeating things I’ve already posted about.
- The end of LugRadio (even with the prospect of LRL UK 09 still on the horizon) did have a significant effect on my life, although looking back I can kind of see how it seems to have fitted in nicely with a change of direction in my life as a whole.
- Not least, of course, the start of Classic Yak way back in August. We’re consistently getting 50+ listeners for each show – not quite up to the LR standards, but the Christian online community appears to be much more fractured and disorganised than the FLOSS community (no surprises there). We’ve just released our 7th episode, and have plans for 2 more episodes in Season 1, and then a bit of a break before Season 2 kicks off
- In September Heather and I began the year-long Invest program. Every time I’ve mentioned Invest on this blog, I’ve said “I’ll explain more later”. I guess there’s no time like the present…
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Invest is a year long program aimed at (to quote their site) “equipping pioneering church planters”. It was established from our church in (if memory serves) 2006. The program involves some residential teaching (a weeks induction, and 4 weekends in various places around the country), time in a placement church (ideally around 4-8 hours a week, I think) and individual study and reflection. Additionally, there are essay assignments of 2000 words before each weekend.
Heather and I have been placed in the Rock Community Church in Dumbarton for the past few months. Their Sunday meetings are in possibly the most orange room ever constructed. We were also involved in the Dumbarton Alpha course, which is jointly run by people from the Rock, the CofS, the Baptist church, the Brethren church and the Roman Catholics. (I don’t think I’ve missed anyone out…)
So why, you may be asking, is a Linux geek getting involved in such a course? Now – you might not be asking that at all, but I’m going to tell you anyway
But it all needs to be put into a context that some of you may not be all that aware of.
I first came to Scotland in 1995 at the tender age of 18, to spend a year working with Scripture Union Scotland. At that point I was intending to become a youth worker, most likely within a church. After a year traipsing round the Borders and Edinburgh, mostly doing schools work, I had to make more decisions about my future. I decided that the appropriate continuation on the path was to take another year out with SU, ideally doing work with churches, rather than around schools. And then I was going to University to do Divinity/Theology, in order to get a good theoretical background to underly the experience I had in youth and childrens work.
And so, in 1996 I found myself in a team of 1, working for a barely-conceived church of 8 people, under Alan McWilliam. Being part of Whiteinch Fellowship, as it was then, has shaped the last 12 years of my life considerably, and has fostered me through University, marriage, fatherhood and my 8 years at IBM.
From the beginning of my time at Whiteinch, I was aware of certain skills and gifts that were coming to the fore, not least in leading worship, and teaching. Plus, I had (and have) a fascination with church strategy. I think at that point I knew that one day I would lead a church.
Fast-forward through that year out, 3 years of university, 8 years of work, and probably the most spiritually dry 10 years of my life to date, and you find me in the middle of last summer, agreeing to do Invest, but at the same time having God reach down and give me a good slap and telling me to get my act together.
“And so here we are on the raggedy edge…” I’m fairly sure that within the next 3-5 years myself and Heather will be part of a team beginning a new church. It probably won’t look like what most people imagine a church to be. It probably won’t be what I imagine it to be at this time. But it will definitely be an adventure.
“I aim to misbehave”
mrBen