Lord unless you build this house I am building it in vain

10th July 2013

A very interesting day.

Started off this morning looking round the various rooms in the church complex to see the preparations being made for the Vacation Bible School next week. The props and scenery being made are amazing. I forget the theme but it all revolves around knights and kings and queens. So there is a castle backdrop, a classroom turned into a mini banqueting hall, another classroom turned into a dungeon.

Although the church buys in the VBS material the envisaging of the scenery and design of it all falls on one woman. Amazing.

(Photos will follow. I’ve just not had time to download them from my phone.)

Then we had staff meeting. I was asked if I’d like to give my first impressions of the church. While I was gathering my thoughts, one of the ministry team said “Why don’t you expand on your thoughts from your blog about the worship last Sunday?” I explained that I felt I should have given more direction on how to shape worship to fit the UK Methodist liturgy.

But I also said that one observation I’d make is that Sunday mornings are too rushed. 9.00am Contemporary Worship followed at 10.00 am Bible Class followed at 11.00am traditional worship. This pattern doesn’t lend itself to people being able to attend the full 9.00 service and Bible Class. I mentioned how we’d experienced First Presbyterian in Fresno where the pattern is 8.30am service 9.45 – 10.45 Bible class and 11.00am service. This is not so rushed and allows groups to mingle.

(On the subject of worship I told them the joke ‘What's the difference between a church organist and a terrorist? -You can negotiate with a terrorist’. For the record, I have to say this does not apply to any church organists / pianists / musicians I have the pleasure of knowing.)

We then had a discussion about the difference between being friendly and being a friend. One of the team flagged up that although new people are made welcome, and realise how friendly it is at Fairview, they do not necessarily get to make new friends. For example a couple who have been attending Fairview for some while say hello to the new couple. But when the Fairview regulars spot someone they’ve known for a while they make a bee line for them rather than introducing the new people and allowing them to make friends.

I think this is a very shrewd observation and it is something common to many friendly churches in my experience.
This evening, I was invited to dinner at a new friend’s house. Had a delicious meal and a great conversation. They had visited Europe several times and we compared memories of places we’d visited. But the gentleman then started to tell me about the charity Habitat for Humanity. http://www.habitat.org/ or in the UK http://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk/

I had heard about the charity but didn’t really know much about it and I’d assumed it worked at building places in third world countries. It does do that but it also works at building affordable housing for people in the USA to buy, supplying the people with a zero percentage mortgage in order to do so.

Volunteers build houses and the prospective purchasers are expected to put in 500 hours’ worth of “sweat equity” in helping with the build.

A very interesting concept.

I'm reminded of a worship song by Lou Fellingham

All I have and all I am is Yours;
there's nothing that I have on earth
that doesn't come from You.
I lay aside my pride and worldly worth;
to serve You is the greatest thing
that I could ever do.

For unless You build this house,
I am building it in vain.
Unless the work is Yours,
there is nothing to be gained.
I want something that will stand
when Your holy fire comes;
something that will last,
and to hear You say 'well done',
giving glory to You, Lord,
glory to You, Lord.

See it on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryip0dD1uoo

Called in to the church as at 10.00pm the building was still a hive of activity. Very impressive.

Someone who is involved with Stephen Ministries at Fairview said that if we thought it would work in the UK in Swindon, he’d be prepared to come and train people. He’s frequently back and forth to Europe on business. I do think it is a concept that would work so I’ll do some research to see if it exists in the UK.