Building the kingdom in bread
August update. Love-made-known
Music, preparations and prayer begin ‘Bread and Shred’ days. Margaret and I talk as we work and learn more about each other each time. We package up each cooled roll and deliver them around the houses near the church, starting with all the bungalows and telling as many people as we can about the drop in.
‘And what a lovely way to let us know what is happening!’ Said one lady.
We meet people with encouraging stories and those who face many hardships. Each fortnight, except for one, Margaret and I have baked bread, got to know each other and prayed for various situations we know about in the surrounding area.
The Incarnate Conference held at Bethany Church in Houghton-le-Spring seemed to give an affirmation that what was happening with Bread and Shred was the right thing to be doing. I felt blessed to ‘running over’, at Incarnate. But, speakers of the stature of Tony Campolo and Steve Chalke were adamant that enjoying and receiving from worship was worse than useless if that energy was not directed in service.
I believe this is service and is valuable, not in terms of ‘bums-on-seats’ for the church, but in terms of ‘love-made-known’ which is the message of the Kingdom.
Rain is a feature of this summer
and in the pouring rain, I introduce myself as bringing a ‘slightly soggy gift
from
Some things we are glad to see
and give thanks for:
· A successful press release for the local newspapers
· A newspaper photographer who came to picture what was happening
· A neighbour of the church came and shared new bread with us
· A lady we’d delivered bread to the previous time, came with her two grandchildren towards the end of the drop-in and had rolls and drinks with us
· Ladies from the Catholic church dropped in and stayed for lunch
· All the work being done by devoted members of the church who are seeking the money to upgrade the toilets for people of all abilities
Some things we need to think and
pray about:
· child-friendly equipment for little ones to play in safety
· how we can get elderly, infirm people to the building
· additional help to ferry people about and make simple sandwich lunches if needed
· some funds to make all these things happen
23rd April 2007
White-le-Head is a small church in an ex-mining village in the north west of CountyDurham. The old building we used to own is an eyesore and it is attached to the hall, where we now worship. We wanted to encourage people living near the church building to use it more so I looked for something that would cost the church little and those coming along, nothing.
Several things came together to give me the idea of ‘Bread and Shred’. I read of a church where they realised that older people were afraid of identity theft so they invited people to come along to a coffee morning in a church building, where they could shred their unwanted documents. When I mentioned it to one or two others in the church they felt it might be a useful service in the community. One of the main benefits was the simplicity of the idea.
In addition I had begun to read Barbara Glasson’s account of her ‘Bread ministry’ in Liverpool. I was stunned by the simplicity of this idea, too; by its potential; by the need she uncovered; and by its obvious success in bringing people for whom the regular idea of church was not appropriate, to an understanding of their own spirituality and need.
Margaret heard about the idea of ‘Bread and Shred’ and said she felt she could help with it. I was glad she wanted to work with me, someone she really didn’t know at all well, but between us, we would soon change that. We needed a tester day to make sure we had everything right and chose 20th April 2007.
The idea was to bake rolls, package them separately and attach a brief explanation about what ‘Bread and Shred’ is about and distribute them.
The first morning, it was very quiet. I set up the bright posters on the door and the gate, saying:
‘
I heated up the oven, boiled the kettle and began the process of making bread.
It remained quiet. As I mixed and poured and kneeded, I had the leisure to pray for many things: for Margaret as she visited a bereaved friend; for the bereaved woman that she might find strength in that visit; for ‘Bread and Shred’, the venture Margaret and I were embarking on; for the service the following Sunday evening when we would distribute bread rolls to the congregation and ask them to pass more on.
When Margaret came, the first rolls were in the oven and the smell was good. It turned out she also made bread at home. We mixed up another batch and talked as we worked.
When George came to turn off the heating his greeting was’ “By that’s a grand smell there, lad!” The work had begun.
27th April – First steps
We talked and worked much as the previous week, learning even more about each other during the morning. Margaret said I was easy to talk to and that was a bonus for me which seemed justification enough to me for what we were doing. If no-one else was ever involved, we had got to know each other.
The cooled rolls were packaged up and this time we delivered them around the bungalows behind the church building, talking to half a dozen people who seemed genuinely happy to receive our small gift.
‘’What a lovely way to let us know what is happening!
We feel encouraged by what we have achieved, although we know that in the eyes of many, it will not look like a successful morning’s labour. It may take many weeks or even months to help people around our church building realise that the church is there, and it is there for them, not for us.
Perhaps building in bread, roll by roll, seems a slow way to build the kingdom, but it is a new way for us to attempt, a ‘fresh expression’ of our church in the community.
Future Dates for Bread and Shred
Friday 9th November
Friday 23rd November
Friday 7th December