Weekly Update!

I'll try to do this particular post once a week, so as to give you an idea of the week that I'll have had.

Let's think...

Monday was my MA Induction Day in Manchester at College, and was very interesting and overwhelming all at once! I met a group of about 16 others who are doing the MA course, all for very different reasons. Some are doing it like me, as a way to train for the ministry, others are already in ministry and wanted to do some more study. We've got a good mix of Baptists, Anglicans and Methodists, and possibly others, though I haven't got to know anybody yet, and am finding names a problem, as my train was late and I missed the first 20 minutes of introductions! Not a good start! I'll have to get an earlier train in future I think, just in case.

We spent the day talking through the subjects we'd be studying, and made our choices in modules, as it's a modular course. I have opted for two modules this year, as I want to take it easy and ease into study again after being away from it for more than 14 years, blimey I'm getting old!!

I'm doing 'Introduction to Contextual Theology/Studying at M Level', for the first five weeks, then for the next five I'll be doing 'Examples in Contextual Theology'. That will basically take me up to Christmas, (assignment for that module will be 4,000 words and due in on the 6th Jan) and in the New Year I'll be starting another module called 'Contemporary Trends in Evangelism'. (the assignment for that will be the same length and due in sometime in July I think) I'll have a mixture of Seminars/Lectures/Independant Study/Tutorials to assist me in learning, and will have to do alot of reading, both before and after lectures.

Part of the day we also spent being trained in use of the Library at the College, and Registering online for each module we were doing, so as to be able to pick up online notes/suggested reading, etc from each tutor.

Tuesday was spent trying to sort out stuff I haven't been able to do until now, such as registering to vote at the new address, registering to pay Council Tax, setting up Direct Debits, etc. I also started some preparatory reading for the lecture on Monday.

Wednesday morning I met up with Alan Garner at Costa in Liverpool, to review and get some feedback on my preaching at his church last Sunday. It turned into a really good conversation, and I got some really valuable feedback for me to use the next time I'll be speaking. The afternoon was spent chasing up more bank related things, and trying to sort tax stuff.

Thursday mornings tend to always be the same routine as I meet with Alison (the Pastor) for a few hours to help with planning services and reviewing what I'm doing, and also to pray together and have some bible study. From next week we'll be able to plan more involvement for me, as by then I will have sorted out some Learning Aims and Objectives with my Tutor Richard to put into practice in the church. Thursday afternoon was off, as I had a meeting in the evening. Thursday evening I went to a URC Council Cluster meeting, which sounds very ominous but isn't!! It's basically a local network of all the URC churches in the Wallasey area who meet up three or four times a year to share together about what's happening in their churches and to encourage and pray for each other and make decisions.

Friday morning I went to church and studied in a very concentrated way in my office at church. (yes, I do have my own office, but it has lot's of stuff in it from the church, so technically it's the church's office, but Alison has her own, so I claimed it as mine!!) It was very quiet during the day on Friday, so I got quite a bit of studying done and made my head hurt! (my head always hurts when I have to think and ponder alot!)

I left church at dinnertime, as there was no-one about and I got a sore back sitting on the chair in the office leaning over the desk! I came home and read in the comfort of my leather desk chair, which was much better! In case anyone is interested, (probably not!) I was studying the Translation Model in Contextual Theology, and trying to understand what makes a Translation view/model unique as compared to other approaches. It's actually very interesting, but my head hurts when I read the textbooks because I've got to get used to 'academic speak' again. I just wish they would use plain English!! For example, instead of the phrase 'current approach' they would say 'contemporaneous approach'. Meg agreed there was just no need for it, and she's a writer who's been trained in the correct use of English, so there!! :p

Today was a day off, although for a few hours this evening I went to a barbecue at church (in the rain - typical!) which was all the local URC Churches (Cluster Group) meeting together to be socialable. The food was good, the conversation was good, but the Quiz was really hard!! It was a Cryptic Clues quiz on sweet names, with clues like 'Royal herb'. (= Imperial Mint!) - Huh?  I must mention that Sarah (collins) came to take Meg out for a few hours and we showed her round the flat very quickly before they both went off to look at fabric, or something... (I didn't show much enthusiasm, my apologies!! :D)

Anyway, that's my week so far, tommorrow I'm obserbving Alison leading Chapel Communion before the main service, then leading part of the morning service, and taking part in a sketch!

That's all for now!