Leighton Carr – Page 15

Geoffrey Clarke Exhibition – Room 2 – Introduction

Following on from yesterday’s image of the Geoffrey Clarke Exhibition Entrance, today’s is the transition wall, the introduction to Charles Cheers Wakefield and the birth of the Castrol brand.\r\n\r\nIn the late 19th century Charles Wakefield was working for Vacuum Oils Limited selling lubricants for heavy machinery. In 1899 he left to form his own oil company C C Wakefield Limited in Cheapside, London. Wakefield was a visionary and even at the beginning of the 20th century he saw that Automobiles and Aeroplanes would be the future of transport, and they would need lubricant oils. These oils would need sufficient liquidity to start working when cold but enough stability to work in extreme heat. Castrol was created, from mixtures of lubricants and Caster Oil taken from the Caster bean.\r\n\r\nBy the 1950s, when the new HQ Castrol House was commissioned, Castrol was synonymous with land speed records, motor racing and Honda superbikes.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

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Geoffrey Clarke Exhibition – Room 1 – Entrance and Reception

It’s been many years in the making (!) but here’s the concept proposal for the entrance to the exhibition of Geoffrey Clarke’s ‘Extraction and Refining of Oil’ – his 1959 cast aluminium frieze covering 1,000 square feet of Castol’s HQ foyer.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n

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A Church Graft of … One

One strategy to re-purpose a church is to ‘graft’ in some new members from a younger/fuller/richer church to add resources and critical mass.

There seems to be an accepted view that fifty new adults is around the number required to make a graft work.

But if I were a bishop I think I would hope that every appointment of a new clergy person to a post would be a church graft …

… of one.

It should be, shouldn’t it?

The 7 Principles of Public Life

I’m trying to work out whether to loan some pieces of my sculpture to a gallery and in the course of my research I read the webpage on the Board of Trustees at the…

I’m trying to work out whether to loan out some pieces of my sculpture to a gallery and in the course of my research I read the webpage on the Board of Trustees at the Tate. The text outlines the purpose of the board and the role of an individual board member.\r\n\r\nIt’s strangely heart warming to see a public body spell out clearly that a trustee cannot use their position for personal gain, nor ‘seek to use the opportunity of public service to promote their private interests’.\r\n\r\nBut best of all was the list of ‘Seven Principles of Public Life’ drawn up by the Nolan Committee at the end of their short report in May 1995. They are worth serious reflection.\r\n\r\nThe seven principles are:\r\n\r\nSelflessness\r\n\r\nHolders of the public office should take decisions solely in line with the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.\r\n\r\nIntegrity\r\n\r\nHolders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organizations that might influence them in the performance of their official duties.\r\n\r\nObjectivity\r\n\r\nIn carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.\r\n\r\nAccountability\r\n\r\nHolders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.\r\n\r\nOpenness\r\n\r\nHolders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands it.\r\n\r\nHonesty\r\n\r\nHolders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in any way that protects the public interest.\r\n\r\nLeadership\r\n\r\nHolders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

Growing in Leadership

One of my leadership highlights this year was listening in to a telephone Q&A session between Dr Henry Cloud (also see Cloud-Townsend Resources) and Dan Rockwell of Leadership Freak Blog The call was planned a few days ahead of time and a several hundred people mainly from across the US signed on a few minutes before the session started one Wednesday afternoon ready to gain some wisdom.\r\n\r\nAfter some early introductions Henry Cloud was asked this:\r\n\r\n“If you were able to give the young Henry Cloud some practical advice on leading effectively what would it be?”\r\n\r\nThe answer was this:\r\n\r\n”There’s no magic formula that guarantees you will lead effectively, but there is a magic formula to help you get there. Work on filling up these four columns:\r\n\r\n1 get some significant relationships to model and correct and inspire and mentor. Seek out people to fill this first column\r\n\r\n2 you’ve got to know what you’re doing. In terms of whatever your endeavour is, you’ve got to do your homework – reading, workshops, training etc. It’s inconceivable that a surgeon would never read a book.\r\n\r\n3 get experiences. Again, you don’t want to be operated on by a surgeon who’s never done it. So volunteer, get on teams, get on projects, scare yourself, hold on by the bootstraps. You’re not going to figure it out unless you get on and do it, and no-one else will get you there apart from … you.\r\n\r\n4 figure out a structure for your development. Make time to develop. Make a structure. It doesn’t just happen. You don’t throw a maths book at a kid and hope they learn maths. In other words, nothing happens without planning”\r\n\r\nFood for thought …\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nWritten in the top floor cafe of John Lewis, The Mall, Cribbs Causeway

BHAGs – Big Hairy Audacious Goals

It’s an expression used in business and particularly by entrepreneurs:\r\n

Big Hairy Audacious Goals.

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To set a Big Hairy Audacious Goal you take a Realistic Opportunity and multiply it by a number. For example, “Let’s sell ten holidays by the end of the month, that is do-able” becomes, “if ten holidays are do-able, let’s try and sell fifty. In a fortnight”

\r\nIronically, if a BHAG is not rooted in reality no one believes it and no-one stops to give it serious thought. Being rooted in reality makes people pause and think. Mmm … surely not? And then, why not … that might just be possible. After all, it’s a GOAL not a Big Idea. Unlike a Big Idea, a Goal is measurable and achievable.\r\n\r\nHere’s an example of the difference between a Big Idea, a Realistic Opportunity and a BHAG:\r\n\r\nBig Idea: “let’s invite everyone in our parish of 30,000 to the Carol Service”\r\n\r\nRealistic Opportunity: “why doesn’t everyone in the church invite their neighbours to the carol service”\r\n\r\nBHAG: “let’s invite 1,000 specific people to the carol service(s) and give them mulled wine, mince pies and a Christmas present beforehand.”\r\n\r\nMany churches will dream of the Big Idea and then fumble the Realistic Opportunity. But the Big Hairy Audacious Goal of inviting 1,000 specific people to church for a social Christmas is much more interesting. Leaving aside how you manage the space and enable the volunteers, where do you find 1,000 specific people in a parish? Here’s a start:\r\n

Invite the Head teachers at every local school and their spouse or partner. And their teachers.

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Invite Managers of the local care homes and their staff.

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Invite the local MP and local counsellors with their partners.

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Create a joint choir from local school children to do the service. Invite their parents and families.

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\r\nLet’s say that’s another 200 people.\r\n

And each of the 50 church members hands out an invite to 10 people, from work, family, shops, neighbourhood.

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\r\nThat’s another 500.\r\n\r\nWe’re up to 750 specific invites. In 2 minutes. Plus the 50 church members.\r\n\r\nMmm … maybe inviting 1,000 people to the pre-carol service party wasn’t a Big Hairy Audacious Goal after all?\r\n\r\nSo, you pick one…\r\n\r\nPS\r\n\r\n… this would be a challenge for a church of fifty people but with planning and prayer it’s certainly possible. If your church is 150 people strong, imagine what Big Hairy Audacious Goals could be achieved …\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nWritten in Zazu’s Kitchen, Southville

I made the universe for you

There is an old jewish saying:\r\n\r\neveryone should carry a piece of paper in each pocket of their coat. On one piece is written:\r\n\r\nYou are nothing but one of millions upon millions of grains of sand in the universe,\r\n\r\nIn the other pocket the piece of paper says:\r\n\r\nI made the universe just for you.

7 Top Tips for growing Messy Church

It’s a common story. Regular guests at Messy Church are making little or no progress towards becoming more involved in the life of the whole church, and if a growing church is the aim – then Messy Church isn’t working. Many church leaders are now stuck with bacon sandwiches and crafts once a month and are desperately asking: what’s next?\r\n\r\nThere is a key mistake in the way we think of Messy Church.\r\n\r\nTo put it simply, we need to stop seeing Messy Church as an introductory church programme designed to bring people to another, more important programme called ‘Main Church’. And it follows that we need to stop treating guests as attendees in an organization and start treating them as family members in a family.\r\n\r\nWith that in mind, here are my seven top tips for taking Messy Church to the next level.\r\n\r\n1 Appoint a pastor. The pastor will be the focal point for developing a strong community within Messy Church. It may be a member of the clergy or it could be an experienced lay person. It might be a great role for an experienced couple. Whoever it is, the pastor needs lots of time to be the pastor and take responsibility for the welfare and concern of their flock, a flock which may be made up mainly of people who don’t go to church. A word on gender: the pastor could be male or female, but consideration should be given to how to engage the fathers and grandfathers who come with mothers and children and just read the papers. My observation is that fathers are usually much less comfortable at Messy Church.\r\n\r\n2 Localise the goals. As long as the goal is to move ‘attendees’ from one programmed event to another event of some perceived greater importance, then leading Messy Church will tend to be impersonal and remote. Instead, set growth goals local to the group. Are friendships growing across the group, do people know each other better this year than last, do they care for each other? What is the quality of community we are building? Have we pitched our worship at an appropriate level to move on their discipleship? Focus on growth that is possible within the group this year.\r\n\r\n3 Make it personal. Encourage community growth by creating opportunities for people to really get to know each other. Plan times where families can share BBQs, go for walks on Bank Holidays, babysit for each other, learn the names of each other’s children. We say it but don’t believe it: most people need to belong before they believe. In patient parish ministry we weave a community together over a long time, and the richness of this work depends on our ability to step outside the church walls. In this work Messy Church is a gift. It gives us an natural, fresh opportunity to deepen the quality of our community, but it only happens when people are in close proximity for extended periods of time.\r\n\r\n4 Be personally vulnerable. If Top Tip 3 is Make it Personal, the next has to be make it personal – to you. This is possibly the hardest thing do. In general church leaders want Messy Church to grow through organization and they really, really don’t want to commit to a new set of deep relationships. There simply isn’t time. But the reality is that the true cost of effective leadership is not in organizing a well run event – that’s easy. The real cost is in the time it takes to become friends. If you never allow people to cross your own personal thresholds then you can never grow a church of deep and high quality community. It’s tough. It’s not only time consuming, it places demands on the whole family, and it can be the source of personal pain and disappointment. But it is an important key to growing Messy Church. Pick leaders who will make leading Messy Church their sole ministry, and be clear about the sacrifice required – in personal time, friendships and church attendance.\r\n\r\n5 Be clear about identity. Rather than hoping to surreptitiously slide people from Messy Church to Main Church, be clear about the identity and limitations of Messy Church. Say up front that Messy Church is a great opportunity for whole families to take part in a simple act of worship, but that it’s only one small part of what mature Christ-followers do. Promote church events. Talk up teaching programmes being used across the church. Invite people to opportunities for deeper worship, for family ministry, for discipleship. Help people see that they belong (not just attend) to something with a clear identity, but which is part of something bigger and richer.\r\n\r\n6 Challenge personal growth. Also be clear about the call and expectations of every Messy Church member in the light of the gospel. Just as we would encourage every-member ministry in the Main Church, so we should create opportunities for personal growth at Messy Church. Ask people to read out loud, to invite their friends to special events, take part in service planning, even to pray in public. We have to create opportunities for the group to serve each other.\r\n\r\n7 Integrate with the whole church. A strong identity allows Messy Church to stand-alone so that people can belong, but we should then create clear opportunities to join and serve the larger church community. This may mean joining in significant acts of worship or other community events, or taking part in leading some aspect of whole-church life, perhaps helping organize a family day or the Christingle service or the summer fair. Plan integration carefully to make sure it happens.\r\n\r\nAll these tips come down to one main point about dedicated leadership in Messy Church:\r\n

Leading Messy Church should be the most important ministry for those that do it. It cannot be a clip-on ministry playing second fiddle to something more important.

\r\nWill it work? I have grown house groups, Alpha courses, nurture groups, pastorates and churches, and all of the above tips have played a key part in every group that’s grown.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nWritten over two weeks in various places, finished in Neros Clifton

Transformations: St Peters Bishopsworth (5)

So you are Evangelical?

Following the Evangelical Revival in the 18th century the word Evangelical (with a capital ‘E’) came to represent that part of the Church of England that promoted

A high regard for the truth of the Bible

Focus on the atoning work of Christ

The need for personal conversion

Faith expressed in action and service

It was known as an ‘Experimental’ religion (rather than a formulaic one perhaps?) meaning that it was both inwardly and outwardly vibrant.

After a recent discussion on the purpose and progress of the church (the church in the West, that is, and of England specifically; the church in the East is a different matter all together) I am left wondering how many Evangelicals today can rightly own the name?