4 December 2009 4 Comments

A week ago: main chapel. I’m watching the Spongebob Squarepants Movie. Ingmar Bergman it ain’t, but I still laughed at several points (which I never would at Bergman). It’s a free film; since we took the 30 silver coins of the Lottery we have had a fixed projector and screen.

As we benefitted, someone in the chapel took it on themselves to show free films, 2 a Friday, every 2nd Friday in winter. So far, numbers are up, but still not huge. The 1st film is normally a kids film and the second an adults’ film (usually tied in with what the Book Club is reading). In a village, it seems to ‘work’.

And I’m sat there thinking:-

(1) Is this just a good time?

(2) Is this Kingdom stuff: free, fun, serving?

(3) Some people give so much that others are blessed.

(4) I’m seeing people in here I never do. Whatever may happen to this church; if some kids grew up and said ‘Those people let me watch films for free and didn’t mind popcorn being ground into the carpets’ wouldn’t that in itself be good?

Maybe in a community like this….above average affluent but a village, this is some of what ’service’ looks like…it can’t be quantified, it fits no statistical return and no one is ’saved’…but for now it feels good. Beginning to think that if this and other things are where growth points are, how does ‘church’ function, what is ‘church’ and what could ‘church’ be?

This is uniquely how a small/medium village/community church can work. Larger ‘commuter’ churches may be more ‘exciting’ (I sometimes wonder if larger churches that people commute to mainly just minister to the Christians who come…but I would do that wouldn’t I, as I exist in the villages…) but cannot be as locally rooted as this.

…and part of me reads that and thinks: ‘Why can’t you just stop thinking and watch the film?’