Scarborough Weekend: 'Change'

It's nearly a week since I led a retreat for St Christopher's Church over in Scarborough, and I'm still tired. It was great but exhausting. 70 odd adults (some very odd) all expecting a spiritually uplifting but challenging weekend. Gordon Dey and I set up the programme based on theme of 'Water into Wine' which gave us the opportunity to introduce the idea of 'change'.

Introducing the notion of 'change' to any church is quite a difficult task. Most people have become happily comfortable in the routines which they hope will be there until it is time to say farewell to loved ones. Mission and reform are two words often heard in church circles, but only by the lunatic fringes in most cases. The keen new Vicar is allowed to float the notions during their first year, but then must quietly behave themselves for the duration of their incumbency. Some talk about mission all the time, but it is just another way of bullying congregations into following all their madcap ideas without discussion.

St Christopher's doesn't fit most categories. An ordinary working class church, still growing. Still loving its local community. Still adapting to change. So it was easier to do this weekend than expected. Indeed, it was fun. We did difficult tasks like adapting Prochaska and Diclemente's Cycle of Change to faith settings, and looking at what makes us reluctant to change the obvious needs in our communities. It was all done with honesty and laughter, and I thank God for the Christians of Holme Wood.

May they never change too much!