Very interesting WEBA Ministers' Conference last week. David Coffey was excellent on Joseph and though I had heard the sessions last year at a conference, it bears listening to a second time - and more. Communion at the end of the three day shin dig was an unexpectedly emotional affair for me and I've come back with plenty to think about.
Perhaps the most challenging session was from Stuart Murray Williams who asked lots of great questions about how we do church and, rather frustratingly, refused to give us easy answers. His central question, or at least the one that stood out to me and many others, was, "Is what we are doing sustainable and is it sustaining us?" Rather less snappily, can we keep things going the way that they are, or is it killing us? Are we trying to do too much and are we burning people out in the process?
Stuart challenges us to have the courage to review what we are doing and to undertake some judicious pruning. What could we do without doing? One thing we all agreed in our group was that if we were starting church from scratch we wouldn't start from where we currently are. But that is where we find ourselves, so what next? Answers on substantially more than a postcard please!
