Dads in church

Last Saturday I spent a rather unproductive day in Early Learning Centre trying to recruit volunteers for work. Most of those who came in were far too pre occupied trying to stop their children taking everything off the shelves to think about volunteering with our charity.

However, it did give me time to do a good bit of people watching. The most interesting group of people coming in were the Dads with their children. Most of the dads fell into two distinct catergories. There were the dads who were fraught with the whole shopping experience and then those who were so excited about being able to play in the Early Learning Centre without getting funny looks! There was one dad in particular who was thrilled by all the different gadgets and toys to play with. His favourite was a very cool policeman's helmet that had a flashing blue light and siren on top. I must admit, I would have liked to have one!!

It did make me wonder though if we are missing a trick at church. Traditional patterns of church probably do suit women better than they suit men and I wonder if we could do more activities to engage men, and dads in particular, in church. We should consider having more activities that revolve around gadgets and toys that many men can enjoy being part of. We should also focus on doing activities that bring whole families together. Not just something that one parent (often the mother) and the children attend, but have events that really do engage everybody. This may mean that for some of the time there is more than one activity happening so that all are fully engaged. The church should be promoting and modelling the family unit. Famillies are often men and women, old and young and that is how our churches should be. Families shouldn't stay together purely because it is economically beneficial to do so, but rather because being part of a truly loving family is the best place to be.

Cumbrian Shooting

At a time like this it can be so easy to rush to judgements about the person involved, whether we should ban gun etc.

However, today should just be a day to say that our thoughts and prayers are with all those who have been touched by this tragedy. God bless them all.

World Cup Fever

The countdown to the World Cup is well and truly up and running. As with 4 years ago there are countless cars driving around with England flags flying from them. I feel this celebration of our national identity is really important and unifying. In an age where we mourn the loss of community and struggle to discern how to express our identity in a multicultural climate, it is important to have occasions to come together and celebrate who we are.

However, 4 years ago I was a leader on a youth group trip to Germany (where the World Cup was being held) and so we bought some German car flags to fly from our minibus. The mischievous side of me would like to drive around now flying the German flags and see what reaction I would get. I fear that it would be very negative. While it is good to celebrate national identity and hold a desire for our country to do well, it should not lead to others being excluded from celebrating their culture and beliefs, or a breakdown in dialogue between different cultures.

It is the same within different Christian denominations. I do not believe that Christian unity should mean Christian conformity where we all meet together and do the same thing every week. I believe we should celebrate our own denominational identities. Different denominations worship, engage with God and the community in different ways and this should be celebrated. However, it should not be done in such a way as to suggest that one denomination has all the answers or that one particular interpretation of Scripture is the only one.

I hope this World Cup will be a positive experience of national celebration from people of all nations. But let us continue the dialogue between different communities, cultures and denominations.