DAVESDISTRICTBLOG

I recommended this blog sometimes ago. The photography is superb.

ON LINE SERMONS

I missed hearing the sermon yesterday morning. Matt Paton, who has worked with WEC in France for 45 years was preaching. It was great to be able to go onto the church website and listen to the sermon later in the day. We've only been putting the sermons up regularly for a few weeks, but already I'm aware of a significant number of people accessing them via this medium.It was inspiring to hear a person with such passion for sharing his faith. He was basically saying that we're all missionaries and we are all called to "go. " We might go to share the gospel in our local setting and we might go to the ends of the earth to share it. I wonder where you see yourself going this week, next year? I was also impressed by his encourgement to pray for our children. Is this something we need to be more disciplined in doing?

ADVENT

There are many websites around which may be of help to you between now and 25th December. Here, here, here, and here are some of the ones which stand out for me.

Gary McKinnon

Jim has a great post on Gary McKinnon, Asperger Syndrome, obsession with UFOs, and the wounded pride of Empire. I have written to the Prime Minister expressing my grave concern and opposition to this decision.

ROUGH SLEEPING

Well done to Isabel and Rory from Nitelife, who along with Jonathan spent the night sleeping out in the Lighthouse garden. They were joined by a group of students from HTC led by Andrea Boyes, who were fund raising for the Homeless Shelter Project. It was a really miserable night to be sleeping out with heavy rain and low temperatures. Hopefully, some photos,comments or posts about the experience will follow.

What!

The words below are from Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the UK's ambassador to the UN in 2003. He was being questioned today as part of the latest Iraq Inquiry. It could easily be part of a script from Yes Prime Minister!

"If you do something internationally that the majority of UN member states think is wrong, illegitimate or politically unjustifiable, you are taking a risk in my view."
"I regarded our participation in the military action against Iraq in March 2003 as legal but of questionable legitimacy in that it did not have the democratically observable backing of a great majority of member states or even perhaps of a majority of people inside the UK.
"There was a failure to establish legitimacy although I think we successfully established legality in the UN....to the degree, at least, that we were never challenged in the UN or International Court of Justice for those actions."

CREATING COMMUNITY WEEKEND

The feedback about our recent weekend with the Northumbrian Community has been largely positive. The most comprehensive response has come from Iain Macritchie, and it is below for you to read.

Dear Duncan,

This is a belated but sincere note of thanks to you and to Hilton Kirk Session for a fantastic weekend with the Northumberland Community a couple of weekends ago. It was inspiring, challenging, sensitive and timely in the life of Hilton Church, raising several hugely important questions at both a personal and congregational level.

It was also a necessary follow-up to last year’s weekend, when we looked more at personal spirituality and personal spiritual growth – this year’s emphasis on communal aspects of faith was most welcome.

BIG POSITIVES:

- the constant challenge to reach out and to be an inclusive, non-judgemental community
- the worship: inclusive language, and culturally rooted in their own community, challenging us to a similar inclusiveness and rootedness in our own rich culture
- the worship: use of liturgy, unafraid to take a tradition and adapt it, challenging us beyond our comfort zones and the easy routines of our own patterns of worship
- the worship: use of story-telling as another means of communicating scripture – brilliant!
- harnessing people’s creativity: the use of art, music, narrative, language etc in building and celebrating community, for me this is where it really is at.
- the challenge to know people by name! (And if people have a name, then they also have an identity and belonging and a voice and an opinion in the shaping of our church)
- the challenge to find our church’s DNA. Our own, rather than an imported or imposed identity. What makes Hilton Church what we are? And can we embrace this answer unafraid and with confidence?
- the challenge to embrace local culture in order to transform it – e.g. having a regular Ceilidh
- the challenge to live by acceptance and forgiveness in community and to care for casualties along the way

SMALL CONCERNS:

- For me, sometimes I want to be where no one knows my name! Personal challenge here!
- ‘Soft edged and hard centred churches’ like Hilton do well. I guess I still struggle with the ‘hard centre’ where acceptance becomes a lot more conditional and where people can get hurt.
- I am very comfortable with liturgy. I’m not sure everyone is, and I would be concerned if important challenges were dismissed or lost because of the style in which they were delivered.
- For the whole church community not to define Hilton Church by those who attended the weekend

(I deliberately put this in terms of ‘positives’ and ‘concerns’ because it is all too easy to talk only negatives and then make excuses why uncomfortable challenges can be dismissed!)

I thought the whole weekend was prophetic in terms of the life of Hilton Church and dovetailed so well with a lot of the issues facing the Church at this time, e.g. engagement with the wider community, inclusiveness, embracing difference rather than imposing conformity, and generally living out Kingdom rules through the community that is Hilton Church.

So thank you (and presumably the Kirk Session) for having the vision to invite this group again. As a member of Hilton I look forward very much to seeing the fruits of the Northumberland Community’s visits in the life of our church.

With every good wish and prayer,

Iain

ADVENT BOOKS

I recommended this book for advent earlier this week. I'm going to follow 2 books through advent. The meaning is in the waiting and do nothing, christmas is coming! Anybody reading something else for advent?

Fr. Daniel Sysoev

I have been watching A HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY with Dairmaid MacCulloch on BBC iPLAYER. I have learnt a significant number of new things about the history of Christianity as a result. I hadn't been aware that the gospel bore fruit in China in the 7th century, nor had I been aware that the celibacy of the RC priesthood was rooted in the desire of the various Popes to stop family dynasties growing up which would threaten their power.Last week, the programme focussed on the Orthodox church. In that very week, Fr Daniel Sysoev was martyred for seeking to share the gospel within a muslim context. The Orthodox tradition is very different from my own experience and background, but I was truly humbled by this interview which I read this morning.

Learning from others

I think we are reaching an interesting and challenging phase in the life of Hilton Church. With the development of the Lighthouse and a variety of other ministries, which means that so much is going on every day of the week, it is becoming increasingly difficult to manage all this within the traditional patterns and expectations of the Church of Scotland. At the moment, I have a lot of questions and not too many answers! At times like this, it's good to look around for patterns of ministry and leadership which can perhaps give us insights as to how we can do things in a better way. I found this church website in New Zealand several weeks ago, and have found many aspects of this congregation's life very stimulating. Christchurch with Opawa and Spreydon Baptist Churches would be a really good place to spend time. I encourage you to have a look at the website, but beyond that I sense the way forward will emerge as we give ourselves more to prayer as a congregation.

One year on

It's just over one year since the US Presidential elections. Bush's departure and Obama's arrival on the world stage seems to have created a much more hopeful atmosphere. The Bush Presidency is coming back into focus in the UK with the opening of the latest Iraq Inquiry. I found this fascinating photographic record of the Bush years. 8 years which culminated in global financial meltdown and spiralling conflict in the Middle East.

IGNITE

We’re nearly there! After all the preparation & planning another event is upon us & the team are really looking forward to the challenge Steve Levy will bring on Saturday. Also on the night we will be showing off our brand new website which will be going live in the next few weeks which includes resources & images from previous events.

There are still some tickets available so why not invite that friend, neighbour or colleague you’ve always thought about asking & come expecting that God might impact their life!


Chris Dowling

(m) 07919 066 139
www.ignite-event.com

WEC INTERNATIONAL

WEC works in over 70 countries around the world, with the goal of evangelising its remaining unevangelised peoples as speedily as possible. We have a couple from WEC coming to share at Hilton Church this weekend. They have spent most of their time with WEC planting churches in France. Here is some background to their work.

I'm especially interested in hearing the experiences of church planters, because of our current involvement in the planting of a new church here. There may well be some very interesting insights for us as they share about church planting this Sunday.

IDEAS FOR CHRISTMAS

Here's an email from Graham, the minister in the church where Jonathan used to be a Youth Worker. He has a website for sharing good ideas for Christmas.


Hi

For the last few years I've been asking around for good ideas for Christmas services to use myself - and have also put them on a website so that others can benefit. Christmas 2009 is fast approaching and the website page hasn't been updated for almost a year - it desperately needs new ideas and so do I !

Do you have anything that worked well for you last Christmas that you can share with the rest of us? It could be something very simple that others could build on in their own way - the germ of an idea is often enough. Or a drama sketch or a video clip that worked or a powerpoint illustration that helped - anything! The website link is

www.loanheadparishchurch.co.uk/christmas

Thanks.

Graham Duffin

GIFT AID

In common with many charities, Churches can claim back the gift aid on congregational giving. This can increase the giving by up to 28% without the giver having to add a penny. All they have to do is to sign a gift aid form and make a clear link for the Inland Revenue to the donation. There is a very interesting article on this on the BBC website. Only four out of 10 givers to charity nationally gift aid their donations. The main reason for this is lack of awareness. It is something we are currently trying to raise awareness about in Hilton Church too, through putting together some information for sharing at Sunday services. Many people give to the congregation through the plate which is passed around every Sunday without gift aiding it. We could increase our income by several thousand pounds per year, if we could get everyone to gift aid. Hopefully we can raise awareness of this situation over the coming weeks.

MISSION SHAPED MINISTRY

"I thoroughly recommend the mission shaped ministry course. We are at a crossroads in the life of the Church in our land. The challenge is to engage with a culture that has walked away from church, but is deeply interested in spiritual things. This course is intended to equip individuals and faith communities not only to think missionally, but to imagine new ways of being church. It brings the recent experience of fresh expressions of church which are springing up throughout the land, alongside some serious theological reflection which will enable participants to learn from the past, and the recent past, and prepare for the future. I know of no other course which will more effectively equip people at many levels, to "do" church in a way that reaches our culture."
Andy Scarcliffe, Mission Adviser, Baptist Union Scotland

Hilton Church is going to be hosting an MSM course beginning on 16th January. Full details of the course are here. John & Olive Drane will be the main tutors for the course, which is very exciting. If you are part of Hilton Church and the possibility of sharing in such a course, and being involved in imagining new ways of being church fires your soul, speak me to me soon!

NEW CHURCH FOR INVERNESS

Duncan has mentioned here about the new church that the Presbytery of Inverness is planting on the south side of the city, called Inverness St Columba New Charge. Things are developing now, with a Manse site having been reserved last week and a site for the church itself potentially identified. However, much more important than physical buildings are the people whom the new church will seek to serve. Here is an article click here outlining a little of the history and asking you to join in prayer, bringing the whole venture before God. Murray.

advent book

If you are looking for a special book to guide you through Advent (which begins this Sunday!), then look no further than Maggi Dawn's Beginnings and Endings. Quite a number of folk within the congregation have used this book over the last couple of years and have found it to be inspirational. I'm one of them!

WESLEY OWEN

I'm not clear on all the details, but links like this one indicate that there are going to be some major changes in the near future which will affect books shops like Wesley Owen.

THE FIRING LINE

I saw a 30 minute programme yesterday on BBC 24 HOURS NEWS called The Firing Line.It's available on BBC iPlayer until 30th November.It pays tribute to freelance camera operators, whose courage and initiative often get taken for granted, but on whom we all rely when we watch the news. It's not a programme for the faint hearted, but it highlights the importance of these camera operators work, in truth telling. The programme also highlights the depth of human experience and behaviour.

Simon & Nicole's wedding

We all had a great day on Saturday in Ballater celebrating Simon & Nicole's marriage.

Sermons on-line

Thank's to Gwen and Iain, who have been working on getting sermons uploaded. I think they have identified a way of streaming the services, which means we can put them on line immediately after they take place. We've put up some of the talks from the weekend with Roy Searle, together with the talk from John MacLeod, which I promised you. I think the sound level needs to be turned up on the recording desk , but hopefully, if you have speakers linked to your pc, you will be able to hear them clearly.

LIGHTHOUSE NEWS

Plenty news about the Lighthouse over here.

A WEDDING AND MARRIAGE

Tomorrow, I am going to Ballater to share in Simon and Nicole's wedding. This morning, I have been trying to weave some of the comments on Simons blog into a short sermon at the Service. One quote about marriage by Eugene Petersen is especially worth reflecting on at a wedding service.

“Weddings are easy; marriages are difficult. Weddings are important. They are beautiful; they are impressive; they are emotional; sometimes they are expensive; they are fraught with details; and they are memorable. Still they are easy.Marriage is complex and difficult. In marriage we work out in every detail of life the promises and commitments spoken at the wedding. In marriage we develop the long and rich life of faithful love that the wedding announces. The event of the wedding without the life of marriage doesn’t amount to much.”

WELCOME

Elna Harvey began working in our church office today, and will be with us until at least Christmas time. We plan to advertise for a new administrative post in early 2010, once we have more clearly established what the needs of the Lighthouse and Church are. There has been so much change over the last few months, that we need time to work this all out. Elna will be doing the weekly bulletin and general administration, as well as helping out in the Lighthouse office.

THE BARN CHURCH, CULLODEN

Last night I was leading a team on a Quinquennial visit to the Barn Church, Culloden. Each congregation in the Presbytery is visited on a 5 year cycle. The visit provides an opportunity for the congregation to reflect on its journey over the past 5 years, and it could also provide a forum for addressing any difficulties within the congregation, if they emerged in the course of the visit.

At some point soon, I will have to write a detailed report on the visit for the Presbyterial Superintendance Committee. The Church of Scotland specialise in long winded terms! You need to be a good speller to cope with all these long words!

My key reflection as I think about all that I saw and heard last night, is that the Barn Church is a great church. It was so encouraging to be with Jim Robertson, the minister and the other church leaders, and to see how excited they are about what God is doing in their midst. We met in the new wing of the Church called the Barn Centre which has recently been re-developed. The church buildings are used extensively throughout the week for many different church and community groups. There is a lunch club for up to 70 people every week and a new counselling service which there is a growing demand for. The Church also has members working in Kenya, Gautemala, Thailand, Romania and Cambodia, as well as being involved in numerous city wide ministries like Street Pastors and The Homeless Shelter.

The Barn Church is a shining example of a church which is getting involved locally and globally and making a huge impact for the Kingdom.

quinquennial visit - former term for the five-yearly visit paid by presbyteries to each local church to assess the health of the local parish (now known as the 'presbytery visit')

THE STEAMIE

Another Scotland manager bites the dust! I found it interesting to note that one of the social commentators was expressing the view that the former success of the Scotland team (5 world cup qualifications in a row) was partly linked to social deprivation. The hardship of living in an area like the Gorbals created a hunger and a passion to succeed among many young men. Life has improved for people in Scotland generally, but in the process we have become poorer footballers. Apparently, young people are also nolonger "physically literate!"

I went to watch "The Steamie" at Eden Court last time. It was one of the funniest performances I have ever seen. Much of the play was centred around the deep sense of community that the women experienced at The Steamie while they attended to the family laundry. They shared their joys and sorrows, and dreamed of a better tomorrow when they would live in Drumchapel and have an inside bath and a TV. If you have time to see it this week, GO!

It struck me that there may be some parallels between The Steamie and the Scotland team. While the era of the Steamie has long gone, and we all have our TV's and inside Baths, community is often more of a word than a reality. We wouldn't want to turn the clock back to the days of The Steamie, but it's worth reflecting on what has been lost, and on what we can perhaps be and do as a Christian community to counteract some of these losses.

FUTURE FOCUS

A major new resource for Congregational Development Future Focus is a ‘toolbox’ of ideas intended to help congregations understand their situation better, to read the signs of the times and to answer the call of God to be all that God wants us to be in these challenging times. It has been used to help congregations think through: developing a vision for the future; congregational and community analysis; changing worship patterns; working in partnership with other churches; preparing for a new ministry; community engagement; leadership development; better use of church buildings; and new pastoral strategies. The final road show will take place on 21 November, 10am–3pm, Inshes Church, Inverness. Refreshments and lunch are available (no charge).

I'm in Ballater next Saturday for Nicole and Simon's wedding, so can't make this event. It would be great if some folk from Hilton were able to attend Future Focus.

DREAMS FOR OUR CHILDREN.

DREAMS FOR OUR CHILDREN is the theme for Prisoners’ Week Scotland, which began on the 15th and runs until 22 November. We all have dreams. What do we hope for the children growing up in Scotland’s communities today? No-one dreams of time in a prison cell or of being made a victim of crime. Prisoners’ Week is an opportunity to remember all in our communities who are affected by crime and imprisonment: prisoners and their families, victims of crime and those who work within the criminal justice system. It is an initiative of the Churches that aims to stimulate discussion, highlight concerns and share hope. For further information, including activities planned by Chaplains, reflections, worship resources and contact details of organisations that offer help and advice, visit www.PrisonersWeekScotland.co.uk The Prisoners’ Week leaflet/card, which is being distributed widely, can also be downloaded.

JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM

There hasn't been much time to bring you up to date with JTB recently. Great progress is being made on many fronts, and it has been so exciting to see the diversity of people involved in this project. Hilton Primary School is taking all of its classes on the garden journey which Jonathan and Emma have been organising, as well as taking 2 stalls for the Saturday market. Bill Lamond has done an exceptional job in creating the background settings for Bethlehem and Drew Kuzma is working on some of the backdrops with some of the youth. Alan Fraser is kindly lending us hay bales for the garden, and the Light house have plans for various events during the week. There are numerous people sewing costumes and Sandy Lyall was working with the Sunday Club yesterday to produce various eastern/Roman costumes. The angles on this project are too numerous to mention here - drama, carol singing, food..... - but suffice to say that it's shaping up well, and we would simply ask you to pray for the week 16-23rd December to be a blessing to the community of Hilton.

JOB ADVERT

Interested in helping to run a city centre local food outlet?
Social enterprise based job in a business set in a local High School. You'll be working in part with teenagersWorking primarily in local fruit & veg, bread, cheese and other local produce.... are you passionate about local food?Part retail shop work; part warehouse supportEnthusiasm and motivation essential. Experience preferred; the work involved in this post is physically demandingCV and references required. Disclosure undertaken if you are successful.
If you are interested, please call Iain on 07795064635 or on iain.shem@btopenworld.com

Church and Culture

A great weekend with the Northumbrian Community. At some points I was well outwith my comfort zone but it was good to be challenged and to see how other people worship, and to see ways in which our lives at Hilton could be enriched. One thing I really liked about the group was the way they identified with their corner of the country- the history, music, landscape and culture- they are very much northumbrian. In what ways are we identifiable as a highland congregation? I guess many of us are from other parts of the UK and anyway we’re not all fishing for herring any more, but still, we have such a rich cultural heritage, fantastic landscape and distinctive music there must be ways of bringing more of it into the church?
Dot

ADVENT

I discovered through reading Celtic Daily Prayer that today is the first day of Advent within the Celtic tradition. I'm going to follow the Daily Office of the Northumbrian Community in the coming weeks. I'll let you know how its progressing as I go along!

christian community

A hopeful vision of christian community:

'Dynamic and erratic, spontaneous and radical, audacious and immature, committed if not altogether coherent. Ecumenically open and often experimental, visible here and there, now and then but unsettled institutionally. Almost monastic in nature but most of all enacting a fearful hope for society.'

William Stringfellow in his book 'An ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land'

Story telling

Another memorable dimension of the weekend was the workshop on story telling led by Simon Airey. One of the most striking aspects of the 90 minutes together (quite part from Simon's wonderful gift in story telling) was the realisation that so many of the folk sharing in that time were very good story tellers too. I believe this is something we can use to great effect in a variety of different ways. In our morning service today, Simon told the story of Isaiah's revelation of God (chapter 6). This way of presenting brings the biblical text to life, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who is still thinking about it tonight.

A RULE OF LIFE FOR HILTON CHURCH

We've just shared in a very rich weekend of fellowship with the Northumbrian Community. The weekend was based around the theme of Creating Community - learning from how Jesus did it. I've just been reviewing my notes, and what stands out for me, are some of the questions which Roy asked.

Why did God raise up Hilton Church?

What is the essence of the Church in Hilton?

What are the words which describe that essence or rule of life?

The Northumbrian Community sums up its life together as being about "Availability and Vulnerability."

Saturday

At the train station for 6.30am to drop off Eilidh for Girl 's Brigade event in Dunblane. Rory heads for Murrayfield to watch Scotland v Fiji shortly after 8am, and Peter leaves for a football tournament in Dingwall at 9am. Parents head for Creating Community............we are part of a family community which is involved in a very complex web of activities and relationships.

Creating Community

Our weekend with the Northumbrian Community began this evening. It was a very special evening. Beautiful music, very simple but profound prayers and a thought provoking time of sharing by Roy Searle. One of the challenges I feel, relates to the folk who I hoped would come along tonight but didn't. I have worked so hard over the last few months to try and encourage as many folk as possible to come along, but I didn't really suceed in breaking through whatever walls exists in terms of keeping people at a distance from such a rich experience. It's a case of people not realising what they are missing, but how do you solve that one?

LIGHT COLOUR FOR LIGHTHOUSE

Today, Craig started the painting of the Lighthouse in earnest! It was a good sunny day for it, but it may be a while before another good days comes judging by the forecast.

LIGHTHOUSE MARKETING

We had our regular Lighthouse management team meeting on Tuesday evening. The cafe and centre are progressing well. One of the challenges we face is to increase awareness of the Lighthouse and what it can offer. Gwen has designed a superb website and we have asked the congregation to share the good news by emailing the link to as many contacts as possible - viral marketing! In our conversations, it occured to us that there might be folk linked to the Church who have Marketing experience. We would value any help or advice that you have in terms of marketing the Lighthouse. We would also welcome you e-mailing the link to the website to all your friends.

expensive letter

A couple of days ago I blogged about a global journey which led to asking for some legal advice from a New York lawyer. What we were asking for, was a letter confirming that we were an exempt charity in terms of the US Revenue regulations. I don't think it would have been the most challenging piece of work to complete. Thankfully, I asked for a quote for any work that would be done! The reply came back - around$2500!! It's obviously not only medical care that is super expensive in the US. Needless to say, I have now found another angle on this problem.

building community

GUILD WEEK 22nd NOVEMBER TO 29th NOVEMBER

Now in its sixth year, Guild Week gives local people and communities the opportunity to find out all about the Church of Scotland Guild. Described as a "trailblazer" for the national church, the Guild and its members are addressing local, national and global issues.

The Guild's current national convener, Betty Dunn, stated: "Guild Week is now an well-established and important week in the Guild Calendar; one in which we take the opportunity to share the fellowship of the Guild with others in our communities.

On Sunday 22nd November there will be time during our Morning Service for up to date information on what is happening in the Guild. There will also be a special event occurring on Sunday 29th November so make sure you are there that Sunday or both Sundays.

On Saturday 28th November the Inverness and Nairn Presbyterial Council will be holding Coffee Morning to mark Guild Week. This will be in Dr Black Hall, Inverness from 10.am to 12 noon, tickets are £2 per person and there will also be a Christmas Stall where you can pick up some bargains hopefully.

Thanks
Rebecca Wilson
Leader Hilton Church Guild

SPECIAL OFFER Life & Work SPECIAL OFFER

LIFE & WORK MAGAZINE

2010 Year of Promotion

I encourage you to consider taking out a Subscription in 2010 for a very readable magazine.

There are a number of regular columnists including Rev Ron Ferguson and for the past few years it has told the life stories of distinguished "Christians in our day."

The special price for an Annual Subscription is £15.60 which will be payable early in the New Year.

Please contact Jean Barron for more information or email the Church Office

BULLETIN

In common with many congregations, we produce a weekly bulletin for Sundays. We hope to be able to beginning advertising for a new administrator in the very near future, but until then we have no-one who can collate the information for the bulletin, produce and photocopy it. Unless we find volunteers to help with this, we will be bulletin-less for the next while!

Comments please

Simon & Nicole have an interesting question to ask here.

Global church

I was reflecting over my day last night, and made some intersting connections in terms of the global nature of life these days. The Congregational Board needs the advice of a US lawyer. I e-mailed a friend of mine currently lecturing at a Law school in Bangalore, India. He contacted a law firm he worked for in Glasgow to establish a suitable contact, and by 4pm I was emailing a lawyer in New York with some questions!

CONGRATULATIONS

Great to hear the news of the safe arrival of a baby boy, Harrison Ross (8lbs 14ozs) this morning to Iain & Fiona MacGregor. Fiona and Harrison are both well.

ARMISTICE CONNECTIONS

Steve and I had a great weekend at Greenbelt in August. One of the bands headlining the event was Athlete. During the concert, this song was sung which was written by the lead singer in memory of his grandfather. This week, because of Armistice there has been a great deal of publicity about the song in the media, and we've discovered to our amazement that the song was written in honour of Major John Potts, a very fine Christian, who we both knew when we lived in Kincraig in the 1980's. It's a small world.

As a post script to this post, I discovered that the uncle of the leader of Athlete was at the Creating Community Weekend!

Jump Family Praise Evening

‘Jump Family Praise Evening’

Our next ‘Jump’ event will be on Saturday 28th November 2009. This will be a special event for the whole family held in Inshes Parish Church from 6.30pm till 8.00pm. A great evening of creative praise and worship for the whole family, plus a great bookstall from Wesley Owen.

It would be great to see you and your family at this event. If you need any more information please email me at info@jumpinverness.org.uk

Thanks
Chris Watt
Jump Team Leader
http://www.jumpinverness.org.uk/

SEASONS

I stopped by the roadside in May to take a photo of Ben Wyvis. I stopped again this morning!

CREATING COMMUNITY WEEKEND

I have worked really hard over the last few weeks and months to encourage as many people as possible to be part of our sharing over this coming weekend. It's good as a church to pause every so often to reflect on where we are and where we believe God is calling us to. If you are engaged in the life of Hilton Church, could I ask you to be an ambassador for this weekend. To come and to encourage others to come too. A large team from Northumbria are travelling up on Friday. I'm really hoping that they will not be disappointed with our level of engagement.

Light house

The Light house management team has one of its regular meetings tomorrow evening. It's really encouraging to see the progress that has taken place over the months. I've just found this very positive review - the Lighthouse shining bright in Hilton.

First time for everything!

No posts last week. Life has been pretty full on, with little time for blogging.

Many years ago, there was a mix up and I found myself having to preach a sermon without any preparation when the preacher for that evening didn't turn up! Last night, entirely due to my inadequate communication, we had two preachers ready to share at 6.30pm! It all worked out wonderfully in the end, and it was a great delight to have John MacLeod sharing with us. I'll try and get the sermon posted this week for you to hear. It's a cracker!

Inverness connections

I've just being doing a bit of research for next Sunday morning, which included looking at the Church of Scotland website. While doing so, I stumbled on news about the appointment of the moderator designate for 2010, John Christie. You can read all about his Inverness connections here.

MUSICAL BLESSINGS

In my first couple of years at Hilton Church, the singing was predominatly organ led. I've nothing against organs as such, but I don't see them as being the best/ only musical instrument for leading worship in our culture.I can remember going to a couple of alpha training courses, and being so amazed and uplifted by the worship led by a variety of different musical instruments. I was very concious at the time of the gap between these experiences and the reality at Hilton Church. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been really aware of the blessing that we have in terms of musicians and worship leaders. There is nolonger a gap between my previous experiences and the reality in Hilton today. All my hopes have been exceeded in terms of music. We even have a couple of our worship leaders who are writing new songs. Last week, Murray introduced an outstanding new song which he had written based on Philippians 1. Yesterday, part of our morning service was led by a Junior Praise group who were excellent. This post is by way of thanksgiving to God for such a rich blessing and to all the musicians who share their gifts within the congregation.

ARRIVAL

Great to hear of the birth of Caleb Yang Mackay, born at 1835hrs on Saturday in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary weighing in at 7.085 lbs. Congratulations to Stewart and Maggie.

World cafe service

We hosted a world cafe service last night. Some fabulous music from Julie Keen and Megan Kiln, together with helpful insights from a variety of mission situations. What struck me towards the end of the evening is the power of tables and food to change the whole character of a gathering. We can double the number of people coming to an evening event by adding food! The majority of the additional people coming will be children and youth.(Judging by my headache last night, you also increase the level of stress and work - hospitality and cafe services involve a lot of extra work !) It seems to me that a congregation which places hospitality high on its way of living will have a very powerful impact on our culture. A high priority in my life over the next period of time, will be to look for ways to put this more fully into practice at Hilton Church. One or two of you have emailed letting me know that this aspiration strikes a chord in your heart. Watch this space!

Turning points in Christian history

How much do we know about Christian history? Steve Taylor has begun a fascinating series on turning points in Christian history which you can watch here. Last week he looked at monasticism, yesterday he looked at the Reformation. If I had only one blog which I could access, this would be the one!

YOUTH MINISTRY

Jonathan Fraser formally began work as our new Youth Minister yesterday. Today he is doing a health & hygiene course at Inverness College! This will enable him to begin using the catering dimensions of the Lighthouse for his work with youth in the evenings. Jonathan is also relaunching a youth event in the Hall tonight along with Drew Kuzma and Brian Irvine of Youth Inclusive. I think Jonathan is more into Facebook than blogging, but hopefully over the coming months you'll be reading and hearing about his developing ministry. We wish him every blessing and pray that he will see great encouragements in his work with young people over the coming years.