FIVE DAYS TO GO!

Five days to go! At our weekly team meeting this morning, we were trying to sort out last minute details for our tent. We hope to do a simple presentation telling a little of our story as a church. It's hard to summarise the life of a church on a few picture boards.

An encouraging email today from Albert Bogle. 4000 already booked to come over the weekend. They are aiming for 10,000. There is also a good article by Ron Ferguson in the Herald giving some of the background to the event.

Mission Aviation Fellowship

Friends and Volunteers of MAF are invited to a meeting on Wednesday 30 April. Andy and Caroline Gillies from South Africa will be the Guest Speakers. Tea will be served from 7.00pm in the small hall. Meetins starts at 7:30 and finishes at 9:30. Everyone welcome.

Jean Green (Church MAF rep.)

ATONEMENT

This morning at our 10am service we looked at a number of themes related to the film Atonement. I'm not doing it on purpose, but it seems that my thinking seems to be in synch with some of the blogs I regularly read. For those who want to follow up on some of the themes of our service this morning, take a look at Maggi Dawn's blog today

News from Alejandro Mesco

On my first visit to Peru in 2004, I met a pastor called Alejandro, who was leading a church in a very poor part of Arequipa, the second largest city in the country. Over the last 4 years I have tried to keep in touch.
I recently had this letter from Alejandro, giving some interesting and inspiring background information about his current ministry in Cabanaconde. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have, and that you will share it with others.

Valuing the Spirituality of Children

An invitation for all Sunday School Teachers, Youth Organisation Leaders and Church Children's Workers. An afternoon of training on Valuing the Spirituality of children,led by the barnabas children's ministry .The afternoon will be practical and participative as well as having something to listen to.

Sunday 27th April from 2 -4.45pm in the Ness Bank Church Hall.

at a round table there are no sides...

Thanks to Maggi Dawn for the following post which echoes my feelings entirely. I have always disliked going to church meetings which are set out with a top table and so on. Give me a circle anytime!

CWW NATIONAL GATHERING UPDATE

Albert Bogle has been busy promoting the National Gathering, since being with us at Hilton last weekend. You can read his update here.

stoning the prophets

There is very little, if anything, that is truly original in any congregation's life. More often than not, we are on the look out for ideas which have worked well in other congregations, which we can then adapt. Here is one such idea which we are going to use in the autumn. The series looks great, and I'm excited about its impact in Hilton.

AFTER MCDONALDIZATION!

John Drane's new book is coming out next week. After McDonaldization is the sequel to The McDonaldization of the Church. The new volume promises some thoughts on theology, ministry and mission in a postmodern culture. We are indebted to John & Olive Drane for the way their observations on the church have shaped the way we think at Hilton Church. Many of the things we take for granted as part of our life as a fellowship were set in motion through weekends we spent with John & Olive in Hilton Church in the late 90's.

Dads Camping Trip

This years camping trip to Badaguish, Aviemore has been arranged for Friday 20th and Saturday 21st June 2008.
More details will be posted here but it will follow a similar format to our trip last September.
Costs £6.50 per adult per night. £3.25 per child per night. Under 3's free. There will also be a charge, as per last year, for some food/meal which will be provided.
Please contact Alan Brown on 715 720 for more details and to confirm if you are coming for either one or two nights.
Please pass the word around to friends/family/colleagues at work as we are keen to extend a welcome to everyone.
Alan

MORE GREEN ISSUES

It's funny how, when you begin to focus on an issue, other related matters come into focus. Here is a very interesting link which I picked up from reading Jonny Baker's outstanding blog. Jonny is also going to be sharing at the National Gathering.

PLASTIC RE-CYCLING IN INVERNESS

I have just returned from the lunchtime prayer gathering at Hilton Church. Today the focus was on environmental issues and was led by Ann Thomas who is co-ordinating that aspect of the Community Cafe Project. We were lamenting the lack of facilities for re-cycling plastic in the area. Here is an email just received from the Barn Church who have been petitioning the Council on this very issue.

For those of you who have been petitioning for the plastic recycling facilities - Good news!There was a council meeting last week (to which I was able to send petitions from around 300/350 people) and plastic recycling facilities in Inverness have been approved.Thanks to all of you who have contributed to raising awareness of this issue and need.

Peru Re-union

Is it really 6 months since a team of 35 went from the Highlands to work for the Vine Trust on 2 street kids projects in Peru? It didn't seem so as I looked out at all the familiar faces and their families last Friday evening at a re-union in Hilton Church. Even the guys from Skye made it across with their families to be with us. Ruth, Caroline and Adrienne had set up tables in the church with flowers and candles and, with everybody contributing, served a delicious meal. We even had a special guest in Albert Bogle (Chairman & originator of the Vine Trust). He thanked everyone for their efforts in terms of work and fund raising. Over £30,000 was raised by this work party and Albert was telling us that the Vine Trust now has a turnover of over £1.25 million. Albert said the grace and by the time the first course was finished everyone was mixing and chatting and having a great time. After the meal 3 who had been on the trip talked a little about the highs and lows of the trip and their reflections on the impact on their lives since they returned home. I had received an update on the work over in Peru and shared the good news of 2 new homes that have opened in the city of Ica (badly hit in last August's earthquake) and in Urambamba up in the Sacred valley not far from Machu Pichu. 20 boys are settling in to a new life in Ica and co-incidentally the first 20 boys were moving in to the new home in the Sacred Valley on Friday even as we had our re-union! Some of these boys have heart rending stories of hardship and abuse. It's easy to relegate them to the back of our minds as we pick up the threads of our own busy lives. To get news of them is a timely reminder of the need to pray for them and continue to support them (and their new house parents) as they move away from a life of the streets. It really is a great work and such a privilege to be involved in Jesus' ministry to abandoned street boys. In Peru we had some tremendous laughs as we played with the boys and at our re-union on Friday we finished the evening with one of the games we had played with them. Before we knew it it was 10 o'clock and clearing out time. Thanks go to all who came and contributed and worked so hard to make the evening a great success. For your diaries Calum Munro from the Vine Trust tells me that STV are doing a mini-series on the work in Peru and will be showing pictures of Kusi up in the Andes where the team spent their second week. The first programme is scheduled to go out at 11pm on the 6th May.

Barry

THE NATIONAL GATHERING

Albert Bogle was up in the Highlands promoting the National Gathering over the weekend. He gave an inspirational talk at our 10am service on All you can't leave behind. What do we really need to take with us on our journey with Jesus,and what can we leave behind? It was a call to travel light. It was encouraging to hear many people during the rest of the day saying that they were now planning of going to Edinburgh.

Emerging Church

For those interested in themes related to the emerging church (whatever that means!) there is an interesting conference taking place in Melbourne called Grassroots. Too far to go for the weekend, but I've found a fascinating blog called Pacific Highlander which is giving regular reports on it.

GLOBAL DAY FOR DARFUR

"It is time to change the narrative........the world needs to wake up. For too long it has let these children suffer. Our politicians need to act on Darfur." declare a group of writers including JK Rowling on the eve of Global Day for Darfur. We will be praying for peace in Darfur in our services tomorrow.

OFFENDING PEOPLE NICELY

A great post here by Maggi Dawn. We all like to be liked, but following Jesus has a way of leading us into uncomfortable situations where we will offend people. The gospel is inherently offensive to many people.

Hope and Depravity in the Congo

2 years ago, many of us were moved by a report of three children working in the copper mines of the Congo. Here is a report from Orla Guerin of the BBC which gave an update on the boys situation. A ray of hope in a very dark place. Yesterday, I received an email directing me to a Radio 4 report from Eastern Congo, an area where many of the forces who committed genocide in Rwanda fled to in 1994. The report is terrible beyond words and the temptation is to gloss over it or even ignore it. I'm posting it here because I think it's important that we're aware of these atrocities taking place across our world. It's good to hear that the Church in the Congo has been in the frontline of providing help.

National Gathering

We've written quite a bit about the National Gathering in Edinburgh on this blog. Albert Bogle who is the chairman of Church without Walls Team is up in Inverness promoting the Gathering this weekend. He is speaking at the Old High Church at 8pm on Sunday, but the good news for us at Hilton is that he will be sharing at our 10am service. Albert is also chairman of the Vine Trust. In partnership with the Vine Trust, over 80 people linked to the congregation have visited Peru to help with various projects linked to street boys. The team which went to Peru last October is having a re-union this evening, so perhaps more about that sometime soon.

SOULEDOUT

We have received an email from Chris Dowling with news of a very exciting event taking place in Inverness later this year called souledout

"........ The event is free to attend & very much for all denominations & age ranges & we have booked the Iron Works to hold the first event booked for Saturday the 1st of November. We are obviously starting to spread the word now & an advertising campaign will follow shortly but we want to make personal contact with as many people initial so it’s clear what we are trying to do & who it’s for."

NEW SECOND SERVICE

The newly revamped second service at 11.30am got off to a very promising start on Sunday. A guest OM team from Atlanta, Georgia shared in the service led by Rob & Gwen Barlow. The format of the service is very simple. A brief outline of an important aspect of christian faith, some teaching on prayer and some worship. If you're reading this and want to think about some of the core dimensions of Christian faith, this is a service worth being at. The outline of the services over the next period of weeks is as follows:

April 13 - Bible - how to read it
April 20 - Bible – why read it
April 27 - Bible view versus World view
May 4 - New Testament - overall message
May 11 - Jesus is the key - why?
May 18 - Jesus had to die - why?
May 25 - Jesus - can you believe it - resurrection?
June 1 - Jesus - what did He accomplish?
June 8 - Jesus - popular excuses for avoiding Him
June 15 - What is a Christian?
June 22 - How do you become a Christian?
June 29 - What is the Christian life like?

Communion

We had a very special sharing of communion at a memorable Passover meal one of our homegroups organised for Maunday Thursday in the church. We must do it again next Easter! Here is another great suggestion for communion based around the Emmaus story. Must try it out soon!

CONGREGATIONAL BOARD

Last nights board meeting was relatively short. Home in time to watch the second half of the Champions League tie between Arsenal and Liverpool! We have a significant amount of work to do in the next year to bring our buildings up to standard in relation to Fire, Disability access together with Health and Safety. We have a great team led by Alan Brown working away at this in a very professional manner. At our next meeting we will have to prioritise the programme of works, as it is going to be extremely expensive. According to recent reports, over 60% of all Church of Scotland congregations are struggling to cover their existing financial commitments. I can't help wondering how such congregations are going to fulfil all the demands of the endless legislation which flows on these matters, when money is so tight. Will it hasten the demise of many congregations who just can't afford it?

A BLESSING

May God bless us with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that we may live from deep within our hearts.
May God bless us with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of God's creations
So that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless us with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.
And may God bless us with just enough foolishness
To believe that we can make a difference in the world,
So that we can do what others claim cannot be done:
To bring justice and kindness to all our children
and all our neighbors who are poor.
Amen.

(Brian McLAREN)

MAKE POVERTY HISTORY

Jim Gordon consistently writes thought provoking articles, which more often than not surpass the standards of the journalists who write in the broadsheet newspapers. A good example of this, is his latest post on the impact of the latest tax changes. You can read it here

COMPASSION

On my recent trip to Uganda, I came across a group of bloggers from the US on a trip up the River Nile to Murchison Falls. They were touring Compassion's Projects in Uganda and recording their experiences on their blogs, as well as taking many photos and videos. A great way to get the information out to a world wide audience. You have their experiences at your finger tips!If you want to find out more about Compassion and Uganda this is a good resource

Christ plays in ten thousand places

This morning I have been preparing a sermon on the baptism of Jesus from Luke 3. I count it a real privilege to be regularly engaged in this process of studying and meditating on the Scriptures in anticiption of sharing as part of the worship at Hilton Church. In the last hour, I have been reading some of Eugene Peterson's thoughts on baptism, and I can't say anything more than that it regularly thrills my soul to have my horizons expanded though his writings. If you are looking for a Christian book which will stretch you and excite you, then let me recommend Christ plays in ten thousand places.

John Drane writes, "Eugene Peterson know how to share Biblical and theological insights in ways that both inform and excite his readers, and in this work he excels even his own high standards."

I couldn't agree more.

Are you coming?

We are hoping that as many people as possible from Hilton Church will be able to share in the National Gathering in Edinburgh on 3&4th May. We have purchased a tent to share our congregational story durng the 2 days, and we hope to reflect as many dimensions of the church's life as possible. Albert Bogle has been travelling the length and breadth of Scotland publicising the weekend, and his latest blog is worth reading.

New Assistant

We have received confirmation today that Jonathan Fraser will be joining us at Hilton Church to do his 15 month probationary period as part of his training for ministry. Jonathon, aged 24 ,is married to Susie. He is currently studying at Princeton Seminary in the US.They begin at Hilton on 1st June and their first child is due in August, so it is going to be a summer of change for them.

OPERATION MOBILISATION

We are delighted to welcome a team from OM (Georgia, USA) who will be working in various churches, home groups, street work in and around Inverness over the next week. The official welcome will take place at the Hilton evening service (6.30PM), but a team will also be helping with worship in the second morning service.(11.30AM) Events during the week that you could join in with include a Prayer Walk around Inverness on Monday 7th April, starting from CYC Inverness City Centre at 7.00pm, International Prayer Meeting at CYC, 7.15pm Thursday 10th April, and for all our young folk we commend the Connect Youth Meeting at CYC, 7.30pm Friday 11th April which will be led by the USA team and Youth from all around Inverness will be attending.

Adult Baptism

On Sunday morning, April Sutherland who has recently become a Christian, is going to be baptised. I'm sure that will be a very joyful occasion. In Hilton Church, we generally baptise by sprinkling water, although on one memorable occasion we took over Culloden swimming pool for a baptismal service. There is something quite powerful about the symbolism of being fully immersed in water, but perhaps not in the cold waters of the Pentland Firth which you can watch here.

TINKERING

The context in which the church seeks to share the gospel in the UK today is far from straight forward as this article from Jonny Baker illustrates.

Laurence and Mairi

For those of you that have been following Laurance and Mairi's newsletters over the months, the final edition can be downloaded here. We look forward to catchin up with them in person before too long.

EMMAUS ROAD

THE ROAD to Emmaus is not on any map. It is whatever road we take today. For some, it will be the 8.17 from Surbiton and the day in the City. For others, it will be the trail round Tesco, the dry-cleaners, the doctor’s, and the school-gate. The Emmaus road may be the first-class flight and the conference in New York. Or it may be the slow painful path from bed to tall chair and the drawn-out hours by the window.On every Emmaus road, there is the possibility of a stranger falling in step with us. We may or may not recognise him.

Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Emmaus road was the wild Antarctic seas, and the peaks and glaciers of the island of South Georgia. The crew of his ship, The Endurance, was stranded on Elephant Island. Shackleton set out in a small lifeboat for the coast of South Georgia, 800 miles away.He and his two companions traversed the island’s unmapped mountains to reach a remote whaling station. There Shackleton reported the plight of his crew, and mounted the expedition that would rescue them. The great explorer wrote of that journey:

When I look back at those days, I have no doubt that Providence guided us, not only across those snowfields, but across the storm-white sea that separated Elephant Island from our landing-place on South Georgia. I know that during that long and racking march of thirty-six hours over the unnamed mountains and glaciers of South Georgia, it seemed to me often that we were four, not three. I said nothing to my companions on the point, but afterwards Worsley said to me, ‘Boss, I had a curious feeling on the march that there was another person with us.’From South (1919)

T. S. Eliot, moved by Shackleton’s story and its echoes of the Emmaus journey, writes of the mysterious stranger who sometimes keeps us company:

Who is the third who walks always beside you?

When I count,

there are only you and I together

But when I look ahead,

up the white road

There is always another one walking

beside you.

From The Waste Land (1922)

By John Pridmore

SHIP OF FOOLS - 10 TODAY!

Ship of Fools celebrates ten years of 'Christian unrest'

The Ship of Fools website celebrates its tenth birthday today.

Five Ship of Fools highlights:
An icon for a strapline - Iwan Russell Jones talks about the launch of the print magazine in the 1970s and relects on Martin Luther King, the ultimate 'icon of Christian unrest'.
All at sea: Celebrating a decade online - the highlights of the last ten years of foolishness.
The Mystery Worshipper - Undercover reporters go to church.
The bulletin boards - Probably the UK's most active online Christian discussion space.
Gadgets for God - The best tacky religious artefacts.

Sunday Morning Second Service

Just to let everyone know that a 14 week series started last Sunday entitled "Unpacking Christianity” at the Hilton Church Second Sunday Morning Service at 11.30am. We have put a poster up about it on the church notice board but Duncan reminded us that it would be a good idea to blog about it too so here goes..
There was an introduction last Sunday just to let folk know what to expect, but essentially it is a series designed for folk who answer "yes" to any of the following:
Do you have questions?
Are you enquiring about Faith?
Have you stopped growing?
The Second Service is a smaller congregation than the first and therefore by nature more informal, has more latitude to be more interactive and therefore provides a forum for folk to be able to ask questions if they want to in a non-threatening environment. Each service will take the format of a session on teaching from the Word, a session on prayer and a session at the end where we praise God. This coming Sunday April the 6th we are pleased to have a guest worship team from Operation Mobilisation.
If you are interested in attending any of the services in the series or know anyone who would like to attend we'd be very pleased to welcome you! There are printed leaflets in the church foyer for you to take away with the following details of the series:
April 6th - Bible - origins and overall message
April 13 - Bible - how to read it
April 20 - Bible – why read it
April 27 - Bible view versus World view
May 4 - New Testament - overall message
May 11 - Jesus is the key - why?
May 18 - Jesus had to die - why?
May 25 - Jesus - can you believe it - resurrection?
June 1 - Jesus - what did He accomplish?
June 8 - Jesus - popular excuses for avoiding Him
June 15 - What is a Christian?
June 22 - How do you become a Christian?
June 29 - What is the Christian life like?

Any questions about the series, please just ask Rob or me.If not for you please do bear in mind it could be just right for a friend or a member of the family… whatever age… so please do pluck up courage and tell them about it. Thanks.
Take care,
Gwen

Back to the estate

I have been catching up with a few of my favourite blogs today, and am amazed at the level of encouragement and challenge one can receive from reading blogs like the one here

Beatitudes for childrens workers

Blessed are they who love children with all their heart, for they shall be rewarded with big smiles.

Blessed are they who have planned and prepared, for the children will be interested and pay attention.

Blessed are they that arrive early, for they shall be able to welcome the children have time to talk to them rather than rushing to get things in place.

Blessed are they that get to know the children, their children’s parents, and the children’s home situation; for they shall be able to minister more effectively.

Blessed are they who respect each child’s personality and seek to meet that child on his or her own level of understanding, for young lives shall reap benefits from these efforts in years to come.

Blessed are they who bear witness to children week after week, for they shall see boys and girls grow in knowledge and love of God.

Blessed are they who spend time alone with God each day, for they shall grow spiritually and the Lord will use them as His instruments.

Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for the Lord will honour your commitment and give you pleasure and satisfaction in your ministry to children.

(author unknown)

ALPHA BISHOP

Alpha has been a huge blessing to the church over the years. The course began nearly 20 years ago at Holy Trinity Brompton Church in London. The vicar of that church was Rev Sandy Millar, who is now a Bishop He is speaking at the Barn Church on Thursday, 10th April at 7.30pm on the power of God's reconciling love. An evening not to be missed and one which the current folk attending alpha may wish to experience. He is a brilliant speaker.

Emmaus

On Sunday, two of our services focussed on the Emmaus story of Luke 24. We even had a chocolate fountain to share from at our first service. A good post here about Emmaus. This blog regularly posts poetry linked to the themes of the weekly services. It's been great to see the emergence of song writers at Hilton. Maybe we will see the emergence of poets next!

Church without Walls

Once again this year Old High St Stephen's congregation will be hosting a series of evening services at the Old High Church featuring prominent names as guest preachers. The first preacher this year will be the convenor of the Church of Scotland's Church Without Walls group, the Rev Albert Bogle, on Sunday 13 April at 8pm.

Albert Bogle will be taking the chance of his trip to Inverness to promote the forthcoming National Gathering at Ingliston on 3-4 May, a huge event for folks of all age groups and denominations (see http://www.cwwresources.org.uk/ng/ ).