Order! Order!

St Columba's, Woking

I belong to an Order!  It’s a religious one and it’s called The Order of Baptist Ministry and this afternoon I returned from its annual two-day Convocation, which this year was held at St Columba’s Conference and Retreat Centre in Woking.

This ‘Order’ has been in existence for some six years and I’ve been part of it since its inception.

It’s loosely based on groups like The 3^rd Order Franciscans – that is we have certain ‘monastic’ principles which bind us together but we are a dispersed community rather than a residential one.

I suppose for some it might seem strange that a Free Church movement like the Baptists has such an Order – but I have to say that for me this recent initiative has been one of the most appropriate and nourishing to come out of my parent denomination.

To belong to the order – and two ministers took their vows today at our concluding Communion Service – you have to pledge yourself to five core activities – here they are:

1) To regularly use the Order’s Daily Office
2) To meet in Cell about once every six weeks with other members of the Order – to say the Office together and be ‘accountable’ to one another as to how one’s spiritual life is going
3) To meet in Convocation once a year with all the other members of the Order
4) To have a Spiritual Director with whom one meets regularly
5) To go on retreat once a year

I took my vows three years ago – but I was reminded at the Convocation that I have forgotten to pay this year’s membership fee!!

I have benefitted beyond words by the supportive and sustaining fellowship of my Cell Group and attendance at Convocation alongside like- minded colleagues is a real joy.

One of the most precious pieces of thinking to come out of the Order for Baptist Ministry is the ‘Foundation Document’ that we all sign up to.  We read it together at the beginning of our time in Woking on Wednesday afternoon – here it is – and I think in reading it you’ll get a flavour of this group to which I’m so happy to belong:


                                                                                            

We dream of an Order, a community of equals

                                                                                         

Where we are gathered and dispersed

journeying together even when alone

rooted within the Baptist story.

Where we hold a view of Baptist ministry

as a way of being that mediates the presence of Christ,

particularly expressed in word, sacrament, pastoral care and mission.

Where we seek to be attentive

to Word and Spirit

contemplating in silence and conversation

in stillness and in service

the Triune God -

known and unknown

mystery and revelation -

present in Christ

within us

between us

and around us.

Where we offer safe space 

cradling, nurturing and holding us

that we may risk and explore

think aloud

hear and be heard

value dissent and freedom of conscience

walk together and watch over one another.

Where we live within the disciplines of this Order

committed to prayer

committed to gather

following the rule of Christ

with hearts set on pilgrimage

makers of peace

pursuers of justice

lovers of mercy

bearing witness to Christ.

We dream of an Order

committed to the way of Christ

faithful to the call of Christ

discerning the mind of Christ

offering the welcome of Christ

growing in the likeness of Christ

engaging in the mission of Christ

in the world that belongs to Christ.

We dream...


Best wishes,

Ian