June 21
The hard wind was blowing against us, so we leaned forward as we walked up
The previous night the “Hoppings” was host to hundreds of people screaming with delight on the adrenaline-inducing rides and taking their chances with games, side-show barkers and fortune-tellers. Originally “the Hoppings” were set up as a more family-oriented event than the nearby race tack, where drunkenness once was common. Ironically, we could spare no time for the fair because were we on our way to drink in New Wine on
I was a bit surprised to find cattle grazing along the public path. “The Freemen of Newcastle have exercised their right to graze cows on the Moor from time immemorial, the right to do so having originated prior to the Norman Conquest.” http://www.freemenofnewcastle.org/ More disconcerting were cattle with horns, just there to the right.
Don’t bulls have horns? Aren’t bulls dangerous? Whew, I am wearing blue, but why did Deborah wear her red skirt? How long will this take, exactly? How many sets of horns are there? … one…two… six….nine…nine that I could see… we quickened our pace… Fortunately for us the wind kept the cows settled close to the ground. Soon we crossed the bridge over the already busy A127, stepping onto the campus of the
ST LUKE’S
We entered the warmth inside through a charming but unpretentious narrow wooden side door to the west – not at all looking churchy- an obvious advantage to those doing a new thing. I have to wonder how non-churched people here would react to being invited to attend St. Luke’s Spital Tonques (it’s official name). Rebranding it was a necessity: first “New Wine on
“Duke, welcome!” I wondered how awkward it must be to call a Canadian commoner like me by a title reserved here for royalty.
Yet we were treated royally.
The hall was a fresh space, well equipped and without any musty old church smell. A gracious and miraculous gift of £50,000 ($100k CA) at the time of the official commissioning of the work 18 months ago, is allowing the church to fix up the parish hall and some of the upstairs for worship and meeting spaces. Church start time is listed as 10:30 AM for 10:45 – cleverly extending grace to late-comers.
THE REV’D DR. ROBERT WARD
The rector and founding pastor, The Rev’d Dr. Robert Ward, introduced himself and, while the people slowly gathered he quickly showed me the un-refurbished old sanctuary: much work required there but they don’t use that – yet. Robert apologized that many of the students who fill the church had just left the week prior, the spring term being over – and indeed they were at just over half their regular strength (usually about 100 on a Sunday).
The work actually started in 2003 when Rev'd Dr. Ward, for whom a suitable parish had not yet been found, was commissioned by the Pentecostal church they had been attending at the time. But that was it – no team except a few that believed in and gathered around Robert’s vision of planting a cell-based charismatic Anglican church in
That New Wine on
Stuke’s success is also a testament to his ability to gather. Indeed Robert sees bringing Christians together in networks of support as part of his calling. Case in point: he promised to try to connect me with John and Carol Arnott of the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship who had been at St. Luke’s just a few weeks before (I seemed to have been following in the wake of other Canadians all across the UK!)
Soon the church grew through the expanding of cells using for several years a Council owned meeting room, then an upper room in the St Luke’s Hall, rented from the church. The church then closed & was re opened with Robert as Vicar in January 2007. Now Stuke’s is among the most northernly FX in the
MORNING WORSHIP
Among those not there that day were their musicians, so we sang both traditional and contemporary songs a cappella – but their voices were strong. Their projection of words on screen is a familiar sight at the Rez; the service itself straightforward ASB. The expository preaching was longer than at the Rez but a forty-five minute address is not at all uncommon elsewhere, especially in New Wine churches. BTW, Charismatic churches across all denominations in the
At the peace, I brought greetings from Toronto Diocesan Colin Johnson and my area Bishop Patrick Yu and explained briefly what I was doing in on my FX pilgrimage. This prepared the way for my talk in the evening that turned into my third speaking and teaching in the
UNIQUE LIVING WATER COMMUNION TABLE
At the front of the hall was one of the most original arrangements for a communion table I have ever seen: a sheet of clear plexiglass straddling four columns of six-pack Abby Well plastic water bottles, five packs high. I wondered what the message was: Living water receives and supports the body and blood?
Nice guess… but wrong.
“Stuke’s” is the Fusion Connection church for both
WALLSEND - OFF-SITE RECTORY
It is unfortunate that the housing offered the rector’s family is far off campus at Wallsend, some nine minutes drive-time from the church (named for the end of
Viv Gregg, reviewing several studies of third world church plants, concludes that "the extent of incarnational modeling and pastoral leadership from within the communities determines whether the churches will be established" (In Conn, Harvey. Planting and Growing Urban Churches,
When Deborah and I accepted the call to the Rez, we insisted on the necessity of living in the parish. This has born fruit here. Several people on our block now regularly attend our church – including key leaders. It has also shaped our attitudes about how to be neighbours among these people. In this delicate time in Stuke’s life when it is still forging links with university students, I would urge all concerned to consider enabling this godly man and their family, if they are willing, to seek to live on campus as soon as possible. I sense it will make a significant difference.
EVENING ANGELS
Central to New Wine spirituality is the necessity of moving with the wind of the spirit.
The prophetic prayer circle which met 45 minutes before the evening service prepared us for worship. Originally I was to bring my conversion testimony… But a controversy had arisen the previous week as someone suggested (wrongly) that people should pray to angels. So in addition to a summary of my FX trip, the rector extending great trust, asked me to speak into this issue. Retrieving a Christmas message on angels from St. Luke’s nativity story (an appropriate text given the church I was in!), I said, in brief that 1) angels are spiritual guardians who can set up a safe perimeter much as our military might, 2) bring us messages from God, 3) are there to suggest that there is more to our stories than we usually see, and 4) also show that we are surrounded by mystery. But there is no biblical warrant for praying to angels. None. We just do not have that authority. Pray to God in the name of His Son in the power of the Spirit.
RETURN TO THE SPIRIT’S WIND
Before I spoke, the gentle “Geordie” keyboardist on loan from local Bethshan church ministered to us in song. As he did about a third of those gathered, quietly walked to the back of the church to the carpet provided. There they settled close to the floor, lying quietly, praying and soaking in the silent wind of the spirit. Several churches in
I was honoured to be asked to go around to each to “seal” whatever the spirit had been doing in them during that time. I have prayed perhaps for thousands of people – but these nine had to have been among the most rested folk I had ever seen. No trouble etched in anyone’s brow but many beatific smiles: bliss lying all around. Surely overstressed university students would find this restful form of Christian spirituality balm for weary souls. We don’t pray like this at the Rez – many of us probably wouldn’t be comfortable with it – but as pastor I long to see my people experience such bliss.
The evening concluded with
them surrounding and praying for me and for why I had been sent over. “I see crowds, many people milling about with different flags.” “I see a garden growing with blessing.” What do those visions captured in prayer and conveyed to me mean?
We’ll need the spirit’s confirming wind to know.
Stuke’s, God bless you all.
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