lighthouse garden

This was the scene which greeted me this morning at 8.30m when I began the weeding. " Many hands make light work!" I think it might be a little bit of an exaggeration to say that we had many hands, but we did make great progess this morning and this afternoon. I'm off back to the garden for the evening. I will try and post some of the days photos when I get back.

lighthouse garden

We are hoping to get the Lighthouse Garden completely sorted over the next couple of weeks. There is quite a bit of weeding to do, some fences to be painted and some gravel to be added to the paths. I am not really a gardener, but I'm setting aside Tuesday to do some work. If you would like to join me, I'll be there, on and off, from 9am until the evening hours. Many hands make light work! If you have a trowel for weeding, please bring it along. We have 3 trowels in the Lighthouse.

PS If you are doubtful because of the weather, you can ring the Lighthouse 224477 to check the situation on Tuesday.

L'ARCHE @ THE LIGHTHOUSE

Over the years, quite a number of the residents and carers from L'arche have regularly worshipped at Hilton Church. Last week the Lighthouse hosted a meal and celidh for them.

GOD IN THE ORDINARY

I'm working on tomorrow's service, and in the process I have been reading and thinking about this short article from Eugene Petersen. Some great wisdom about our expectations when it comes to following Jesus.

bike racks

I have noticed over the last while that the number of people cycling to church has increased significantly, but that the level of provision we have in relation to storing and locking bikes at the church and lighthouse has remained woefully inadequate. I was reminded of this when I saw the above racks recently in France. It's something we really need to address as a matter of urgency. Perhaps there is someone reading this post who would like to research the issue further and find some suitable racks for us to provide. Here's one link which may be a starting point.

John Stott

John Stott died yesterday at the age of 90. I never met him or even heard him speak, but over the last 30 years, I have benefited so much from his books and commentaries. He was probably the most influential church leader in the UK of the 20th century. Here is a tribute to his life.

PS: John Stott was a very enthusiastic bird watcher, and on at least one of his visits to Africa, David Shepherd took him on a bird watching trip.

lighthouse

We had a very enjoyable bbq in the Lighthouse garden on Wednesday evening for staff and volunteers. The evening was an opportunity to express gratitude to Michelle Hamill for her leadership of the Lighthouse over the last 18 months. Michelle has stepped down from managing the cafe, but we're delighted that she is going to continue with us on a part-time basis. Today, marks the beginning of a new chapter in the Lighthouse, with Wendy Budge taking over as Centre Manager. Wendy is a Kiwi, and has recently moved from New Zealand to the Highlands. Her husband, Angus is currently studying at Highland Theological College.

It's quite amazing to see the way that the Lighthouse has emerged and blossomed under successive leaders. I called in yesterday, and the place was absolutely packed, and I mean "packed!" We have now begun to use the extra room downstairs on a regular basis for additional capacity, and we have 3 additional tables in the garden when the weather is fair. We wish Wendy every blessing as she seeks to develop the ministry of the Lighthouse in the time ahead.

stop press: today was officially the busiest day in the history of the cafe!

blue flame @ lighthouse

INVEST

Here's a note from Alan MacWilliam about an excellent course on church planting which has been running for several years, and has used the Lighthouse as one of its weekend venues:

Invest is a year long course for pioneer church planters based on five residential weekends. We are now in the process of taking in applications for the 2011-2012 course. We wanted to alert you to this opportunity now since we have limited places available for the course, which starts in September.

We have just completed the 6th year of Invest, which now gives us thirty eight students who have passed through the course. These people have gone on to plant churches and set up new initiatives with a missional focus as well as being successful in procuring jobs with specific requirements for developing missional and emerging church opportunities.

Invest moves students from a place of having good information to being in a position to really move forward and pioneer new and imaginative missional initiatives.

For further information, please check out our website (www.investscotland.org.uk) where you can also pick up the application form.

NEW DAYLIGHT

I was very kindly given a complimentary copy of NEW DAYLIGHT, which contains 4 months of daily bible readings and comment. I have now followed it for about 6 weeks, and have found the daily comments to be well written and thoroughly stimulating. The last 2 weeks have been centred around the theme of Messy Faith, which resonated with me and my experience of faith. BRF have a wide variety of daily reading notes, and if you are looking around for something to help you, take a look here.

andrew walls

"Andrew Walls may be the most important person you don't know." Walls was a revered lecturer in the religious studies department of Aberdeen University when I studied there many years ago. I found this fascinating link to him here, and then read this article about him here.

"Western theology has pursued an inward-focused, intellectual, and pastoral agenda rather than outward-looking evangelistic and missional agenda … As Western theology moved into the university and was professionalized, it became increasingly detached from ecclesial reality and cultural context."

Steve Taylor has a very challenging post here, which raises some significant questions to think about.

messy church

I think we are now in a season at Hilton Church where we are re-evaluating what we are currently doing in terms of worship and services on a Sunday. We are asking whether we need to make some changes. Perhaps we don't, but it's important to be at least asking the questions. The landscape of a Sunday has changed beyond recognition over the past two decades in Inverness, but little has changed in terms of the way we do church or the times when we do it. I have been asked by the leadership within the congregation to sketch out a few possible ways in which we could re-think Sunday. I'll perhaps try and share a few ideas over the coming weeks. Perhaps we could have a greater focus on sharing food as part of our experience of worship. Are 10am and 6.30pm good times for services? Could we offer a variety of different servies and teaching streams in the morning, and not have an evening service? Could we offer a service on a different day of the week?Could we explore different approaches to worship such as Messy Church? I don't think we will be making any large scale changes, but I suspect we will use the next year to experiment in a variety of different directions. If you have any ideas or thoughts, I would be delighted to hear from you.

duncan@hiltonchurch.org.uk

60 plus

Northumbria Community

If you ever feel yourself to be in need of spiritual refreshment, I would highly recommend a visit to the Northumbria Community. I recently spent several days at the new Mother House, If you are interested, here's the programme for the rest of 2011.

new tables

We have bought some new wooden tables for the garden. All we need now is some better weather!

a summer in orkney

Good to hear that Andrea Boyes has arrived safely in Rousay, and is settling well into her summer placement.

church outing to nairn beach

alive ministry

Hi Friends
I hope you don't mind me contacting you directly.
We are coming to the end of our Festival week, and what a really blessed time we have had, with great evenings and fellowship together!
This Saturday sees the week end with a Worship Evening in the Ironworks from 5.30pm, with 4 great bands. Lou Fellingham & Phatfish, Superhero, The Steels and LZ7.
It was planned that this event would be a real celebration of the week and a chance for all churches to come together in worship, and an opportunity for youth groups to get involved and outreach.
Tickets still available: £10 Adults and £8 for U16s, and what a great chance to come together to witness and celebrate right in the heart of our city!
Thanks for your help with this, any queries please do not hesitate to email or phone me.
Warmest Regards
David

David Maclean
Alive Festival
The Alive Festival: 9-18th June 2011A week of Christian Events across the City!!www.alivefestival.co.uk

christian teaching

Last night I received an email from someone in the congregation who travels a great deal, and was looking for audio materials which might be helpful to her in terms of learning and growing in faith. There are so many good resources available on line, much of it free. One teacher who I know some folk in Hilton Church find helpful is Tim Keller. Today, I listened to one of his sermons which I can only describe as outstanding.

wisdom from dallas willard