Church life

What with Christmas and everything I never got around to blogging about the fact that before Christmas I went and met with Peter V to talk about how the church can mark the anniversary of the abolition of slavery (which was very positive - the theme for Lent will be "setting captives free" with a focus on modern slavery on 25th March) and he asked me not only if I would be willing to do a couple of the talks on the forthcoming Alpha Course, but also if I would lead on setting up something for the fourth Sunday in each month that he wants to call Conversation. I feel really excited about this - I think (hope) it is a chance collaboratively as a church to work out ways of applying the Gospel in the "real world"; I'd love to develop something peer-driven that discusses issues that people bring and creates space for people to allow God to speak to them. I need to get a couple of people together, so that it is (a) clearly not my project, which is really important for me, and (b) to help make sure that the ethos stays collaborative and peer-driven rather than directive or hierarchical. I'd really like to start this at the end of January but we'll see - probably better to start with something thought-through in March than rely on enthusiasm alone and then struggle.