Ceud mìle fàilte.....A thousand welcomes

On Friday I'll take the last of my trips. I'm heading "Homeward Bound" to Scotland, the land of the thousand welcomes, Haggis suppers, and deep fried MARS Bars. It's just going to be an overnight stop at Murray and Linda's in the Dumfries and Galloway area. This is where my own father was born. It will be great to catch up with them again, as I have not seen them since before Christmas. I'll ride up on Friday and ride back on Saturday afternoon. This concludes the three months of Sabbatical travels and I'm back to work on Sunday. I'm attending the morning service, which is the first morning service I'll have been at since the 28th December 2010. 

I'm looking forward to getting to Scotland. I have a ritual that I always perform on the M74. On the M74 at the England / Scotland border there is a "Welcome to Scotland" sign and as I go through the border I have got into the habit letting out a roar of "FREEDOM!" and raising my hands to heaven in tribute as I go through the border. Silly, I know but has been a ritual for many years. Normally I have done this in the car, not so easy on the bike, but still it must be done.

It will be good to conclude all my travels in the land of my birth. It feels strange to come to the end of all the travelling.....and I return to work with mixed feelings. somethings I'm going to have to work through, and I'll be blogging all the way, so continue on the journey with me.

Where does all the time go........?

It only seems like 10 Min's ago that I was preparing to take a sabbatical leave. Now I'm fast coming to the end of a three month break of reflecting on Radical mission and Faith communities. Two weeks left and I'm back to work. The next two weeks are crucial, I'm going to be writing up a report and some theological reflections that have to be sent to Baptist House by the time I have returned to work. Where do you start? There has been so much to think about. I do have some thought matter floating about my head that I want to reflect upon and this week I'll make a draft start. The full reflection will be posted on here over the next few months, a bit at a time. with further comments. The full word count will be 6,000 - 7,000 words or more. I have decided to continue to keep the blog open and to use it as a tool for reflecting on radical and feral mission. Check in again soon.

Ukraine Gallery

Back Home................Again!

Got back into Leeds at 2.30am on Tuesday Morning thanks to the driving of Pete Beaumont who picked me up from Sheffield. Top Bloke. Home to the family sleeping. Thanks to be back in my own house in my own bed and my own lumps and bumps that I have grown  to like. All good. So many towns and cities and countries, and continents. I have not yet dome the milages involved but It must be in the tens of thousands by now. some how I've got to put a report together to send to Baptist House about all the trips, what to put in the report and what to keep out, and what angle to report on. I've got a few weeks yet to think this through. Would like to go to Scotland next, to round the Sabbatical Travels off. Do not know if this is possible it may be.  I've got so much to process afteer returning from the Ukraine. I'll be blogging some of the highlights in the next day or so. This photograph is of Kiev on a busy Friday night.

Travel, Work, Sleep, Work, Oh and did I mention Work?

I was Back at Zhitomir on Saturday working in God's Garage, completing a stud wall which will be come the bathroom, toilet and shower. Friday, I travelled from Kiev to a village 3 hours away, to collect some furniture for God's Garage, then another three hours to Zhitomir. In a Russian truck on Ukrainian roads. We got into Zhitomir at 1.30am, having stopped once as we hit a crater in the road to fast and bent a disc. In the photo im collecting water from a well, as it's the best kind of drinking water in Kiev.

A bus ride from Zhitomir to Kiev.

Today I awoke to the busy sound of children coming down from the loft in Pasha's home. It was time for breakfast. After breakfast Pasha and myself, Dema and Vladik (Pasha's young children) went into the centre of Zhitomir to get a leathersmith to put some eyelets into the new leather "cut off" that Pasha's mama made for me. We were with Pasha's Mama and her husband a "Pastor" last night in the middle no where, and a shed for a toilet but that is another story. After a bit of hunting we managed to find a place that would do the work on the "Cut off". after that Pasha took us all the the Market Bazzar and bought a budgie for the children.

The final thing for Pasha to do was put me on a bus to Kiev. Now, the buses here are not like the UK, they are rickety and rackety, bits falling off, no pigs or chickens on my journey, but it is heard of in these parts. I found a seat and started a three hour bus journey. Bearing in mind I know no Russian or Ukrainian, so I could not ask what stop to get off. Pasha had a arranged that Vladimir would pick me up from the bus stop on the outskirts of Kiev. (Vladimir Aka Wosik has been a prospect for one month now with GSCMC Ukraine) Thanks  to God that is what happened, although I had to wait for a little while when the bus terminated at the last stop. I just prayed that I got this right as my phone was not fully charged and what would I do if Vladimir did not turn up. FAITH was needed.. Anyway Vladimir turned up and took me to his home to meet his wife Oxanna and his two children. The photograph is of Oxanna and Vladimir and his oldest child Matthew.

I'm currently sitting in Vladimir's work place called "Hi Tech House" Vladimir works at designing and installing hi tech remote controls for domestic houses. (The kind that close curtains and switch on lights etc...) Later I'm off to Bogdan and Anya's. Bogdan and Anya live at the other side of Kiev about 50KM away from Vladimir's workplace. If you remember Bogdan and Anya run the orphanage for teenage children who have been in care and now have no place to live as the state care in the Ukraine finishes at sixteen years old. Before I get to Bogdan and Anya's, Vladimir is going to take me on an excursion of the city and also a visit to the shops for presents for my own family as well.

Who knows what excitement tomorrow will bring. 

More Photographs from the Ukraine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now for the rest of the schedule........

Today I'm working at God's Garage in Zhitomir, puttting in a door frame and door and  also working on putting up a stud wall. Then this evening I'm getting together with some of the guys for a meal.

Thursday I'm visiting Pasha's mother and step father's at their home  which is 50 km from Zhitomir for a meal, then It's off to the Irlanski bap (Irish Bar) Friday I'm in Kiev (2 hour drive from Zhitomir to Keiv) with Bogdan and Vosik for a guided tour of the city, then on Friday night it's a stop over at the orphanage with Bogdan and Anya.

On Saturday it's back to Zhitomir (2 hour drive) to work on God's Garage with everyone from GSCMC Ukraine. it's all hands to the plough to get everything done, that needs to be done. Im sure that we be able to accomplish everything.

On Saturday night after working at God's Garage I will return to Kiev (2 Hour drive) for the last few days before my return to the UK.

On Sunday I'm at "Simple Church" which is a home church at the orphanage that Bogdan and Anya run with 30 of the children who are staying or who have been staying with them, some others attend as well.

So there is still a lot to do and experience of the Ukraine. So far so good. I have seen the blessing of God on the vision and work of committed people. I pray that God's continued blessing may be on them all. I pray for the work of the new God's Garage in Zhitomir, also for the work that Pastor Max and his wife Natasha are doing in Pechanovka among the villagers there, especially the children. I pray for the work in Kiev at the orphanage that Bogdan and Anya run. So much to do with so little resources.

I just went for a walk

 

 

I woke up and decided I would go for a walk. Today in the Ukraine it is a public holiday in praise of all mothers. Pasha was treating Svetta to some R&R and we were to look after his two boys. I thought that I would get out of the house and give them a bit of space on this special day. I only went around the block and took some photographs. Life iis hard in the Ukraine, compared to Australia and the Uk where I have also spent some time on my sabbatical. Just spend a bit of time looking at the structure of housing and public services will tell you that for the people of Ukraine life is at times very difficult. With the some people earning 90 Euro a month you begin to see how difficult life really is for people. On the whole, when you scratch the surface you find people trying really hard with what they have got. When you reflect on what things we have in the UK and what we waste, you cannot help feeling that we have a real responsibility the more we have, the more we should be responsible for. The plan today is to take the boys out some where. Also we are going to get some fixings for a new Leather Waistcoat the Pasha's Mama has made for me.

Looking for the right bikes.......

 

Today we went to another town with russian name I could not pronounce. We went there to see if we could exchange Vosick's Transalp for two smaller custom bikes (An Intruder and another honda cruiser.) The owner of the motorcycle yard is currently thinking about the deal. We then went to Sasha's garage and then his home for a meal and bit of a conversation and some prayer. It was decided toleave and return to Pasha and Svetta's and from there im moving on to Max and Natasha's where I will stay till Wednesday night. I'll be feeding some of the children from the village in the morning and following Max around as he does his visiting and his pastoral duties. Im hoping to return to Zhitomir on Wednesday and the be here at Psha and Svetta's till Saturday when I return to Bogdan and Anya's in Kiev.

Reflections on life..........

I would like to take this time to reflect on my thoughts so far from my travels in the Ukraine. I have no intentions of wanting to cause any offense, my comments are not meant to be patronising. I'm simply revealing some of my open ended thoughts, some things i need to do more thinking on as the impact on me has been powerful.

1. Social Life.

Ukrainians are very hospitable people, they have given me a great welcome. This is a social thing. Every Ukrainian is a welcoming person it is instilled in the young and it is part of there cultural identity. In some places in Ukraine life is hard especially the villages and small towns, people grow foos because it suppliments their diet. In the village that Max lives and pastors in there are about 30 children and others who come to the church on a daily basis for food that is cooked by church members in the church for feeding. It's a church feeding programme. Food is also taked out to the elderly church members in the community. Social life is filled with generous hospitality. This is an example of inclusion and welcome, but it also declares the heart of God for the poor. This has been a very powerful thing for me. People who are in hardship themselves reaching out with love an attention to others who are in a worse situation.

2. Church Life.

From what I have seen churches have a good attendance, both the churches that I went to on sunday (Baptist) were full. Faith is very important to these christain people. They want to know more about God and his word. They are keen to learn. Some of those who I have spoken to about Church life in the Ukraine would say that the church does not really connect with the Ukrainian people as good as what the should. For some churches anything different from the norm causes them great angst. My prayer is for God's Garage that it will have an integrity among the churches in Zhitomir, and that God will use this new venture for much work among a whole generation in Ukraine that simply do not see the need for church. On my visit to the Churches I saw people who were much older, (Some young people were there, but not many) people who perhaps lived through the times of persecution in the former USSR. In contrast to this the average age of people in the Irish bar was early 20's. A whole generation to be reached by the love and Grace of God.

Im learning a great deal on this visit to the Ukraine, and there is much to reflect upon, some of which I have written about here, other thoughts I'm keeping close to my chest, but I may include at another time.

Life in the Ukraine.....

I have been in the Ukraine for 3 days now. I arrived on Friday and stayed in Kiev with Bogdan and Anya.

I moved on to work in Ukrainian God's Garage in Zhitomir on the Saturday, all day. Zhitomir is 2 hours drive from Kiev. The work in God's Garage was very cold but great to do. See the photographs below of Sasha, Pasha, Vashik who were working in God's Garage also. I've also included various views of the New God's Garage in Zhitomir. In some of them we  are putting in a doorway and putting up a stud wall.

On Saturday night we went on to the village where Max lives with his family. It is about a two hour drive from Pasha and Anya in Zhitomir. The roads are really bad in the Ukraine. We arrived at Max's and went for a sauna, Ukrainian style, very very hot. Max has a Sauna in his back garden which was occupied by club members and church leaders when we arrived. On the Sunday I preached in the baptist church where Max is pastor.I was one of 2 preachers and other giving words of encouragement. When we finished we then went on a pastoral visit to church member named Maria, who was 96. In the afternoon Pasha asked me to drive his family and him self back home, to Zhitomir this was nerve racking, craters in the road, mad Ukrainian drivers, driving for two hours in a LADA. Danger is my middle name, and I took on the challenge.  When we got to Zhitomir, Pasha declared that I was a good driver. Pasha then took me to a traditional baptist church for the evening service. There was about 400 attending. I could not understand a word but I could see it was traditional. This was Pasha and Svetta's home church.

The evening was rounded off in an Irish Bar, that had no Irish beer left. Newcastle brown ale was the best they had, we had a good night of listening to U2 and AC/DC while we talked about life, faith and God's Squad. A great evening together. Roll on the rest of the trip. I might not be able to access the internet for a couple of days, but I will blog again when I can. Stay tuned for the next instalment.

Visiting the Ukraine

Got here safe, using ukrainian computer, took, a long time, just to say this much, as mine wont work.

Attractional Vs Incarnational

If Jesus were alive today and his mission was still to ‘seek out and save the lost’ what might he do?…

Would he hire a building, set up a sound system, develop a music team, drama team, and then do local letterbox drops advising people that they could come and be part of his church on Sunday? Frankly I don’t believe this approach to mission would rate a blip on his strategic radar. The so called ‘attractional’ mode of mission centres its focus on the church service and is dedicated to producing an event that people will want to come to. The theory goes that the more professional the service is, the funkier the music, the better the coffee, and so on… the more likely the punters will come, hence the term ‘attractional’. As such the success of mission in this mode is almost always measured by the number who attend on Sunday. While a small minority of larger churches do experience some success with this approach, the overwhelming majority of smaller churches attempting to be Hillsong clones continue to haemorrhage members every week because they cannot offer the same quality of music, preaching or other services that their mega-church comrades down the road are able to provide. ..

Was it ever Jesus’ intention that non-Christians should seek us and desire to attend our worship events? Or didn’t he say quite clearly that it was his calling, and now ours to ‘seek out and save the lost’ to ‘go’ to their world and enculturate the gospel there. Little Bo Peep evangelism (leave em alone and they’ll come home) is fast running out of steam as the Christian story ceases to be the dominant framework for people to interpret their spirituality.

By contrast the incarnational approach to mission is refreshingly simple. It requires us to live amongst the people in our communities, love them, share the good news of the kingdom both in action and in speech and then as people become followers of Christ to form up indigenous communities of faith that reflect the specific context. This requires no great resources or buildings, no slick marketing plans and no highly talented people. In incarnational mission the gatherings exist to support the believers as they move out in mission rather than being seen as the place to bring people to. While attractional churches will continue to dominate the landscape of the Christian world, I strongly believe that hope for the future lies increasingly with an incarnational approach to mission that takes both gospel and context seriously and sends Christians out as missionaries rather than calling people to come and attend church.

Flying to Ukraine......

Getting ready for the flight to Ukraine tommorow. Passport - Check. Boots- Check. Long Johns - Check. mmmm what else do I need? I'm going to try and travel light this time. No big bulky suitcase, just enough to scrape by with hand luggage on the plane. Being met at Keiv Borispol by friends. Leaving Leeds at 5.30 am on the train to Luton. Hoping that this trip will help me see another side to life. From what I can gather there is much to see. I'm not sure at this stage who frequent I'll be able to update the blog. I hope I get get some access somewhere. Spent some time today looking at some information about the Ukraine as a country, on the internet. Im hoping to get a feel for the country and to be able to see some of the great sights, as well as getting to know people who I will be staying with, and perhaps even get in a bit of riding as well. Keep checking on the web www.revgraeme.net for updates.

Boiling Blood......

There I was minding my own business, trying to enjoy the conference, and it happened, they (The people in charge of the sessions) began to really get up my nose. It was their language and the use of metaphors, to describe mission. The view I was hearing was domesticated, centralised, non organic, atractional, full of wrong assumptions about life, faith, the church and God for that matter. and in my view deeply upsetting. I was fuming. It taught me one thing, that the journey I have been on over the last 2 months has really affected me more than I thought. I say all these things in a humble way, not judgemental, but never the less, if all we ever do is focused around the institution (much of what I was hearing yesterday) we are stuffed. Okay rant over, now for breakfast. Long live feralism.