My week

Friday already. I'm really not sure how that happened - another week has flown by and I'm not even sure what I have done with my week. Let me recap, as much for myself as for you.

Tuesday:

• Tuesday morning was our weekly staff meeting. Dan, Matt, Dave, Ann and myself constitute the office staff. We chat about various issues that need to be talked out/organised/worked out (most of which don't directly concern me but it's good to get an insight into the day to day workings of the church and also get some input) and we also spend some time in prayer. Occassionally other arguably less important issues make their way into the meeting - this week it was radiators, and Matt, Dan and Dave spent some time discussing the ins and outs of heating and radiators before going off to B&Q to buy some more heaters for the office...
• I spent Tuesday afternoon at my desk in the office. I like Tuesdays because it's generally the only day you will get all 5 of us in at once. The office banter makes for good fun, and we do manage to get some work done inbetween.
  
• Actually now that I think about it, Tuesday afternoon was quite productive. I had a phone chat with Simon Allen, who heads up social action for Newfrontiers in the UK. We chatted about what I am doing and he suggested which churches might be relevant for me to visit.
• I also made contact with a few churches in Edinburgh and made appointments to go and meet various individuals to chat about their social outreach.
  
• Finally I spent some time looking for Bible verses to use as visual aids for the social action proayer meeting on Sunday, before I headed home excited about the election....

Wednesday:

• On Wednesday morning I went to visit Fairbridge, an organisation that works with troubled inner city youth. I met with a guy who chatted me through their programme, before showing me around the centre. They really do a great work, and have seen lives transformed and teenagers getting back into Education or into work.
• I headed back to the office where I spent some more time getting resources together for the prayer meeting (I now have a whole stack of laminated pictures and Bible verses).
• I also spent some time looking at the various Befriending organisations that exist in Edinburgh. One of the big needs I have found is lonliness and social exclusion. There are a lot of befriending organisations in Edinburgh, but they are all short on volunteers and their client waiting lists are huge.
• My day ended with Matthew piling a whole load of magazines from charities and organisations onto my desk (he was having a clear out) which should make for some interesting reading in the future.

Friday:

• Today I had another meeting, this time with Freshstart - an organisation that deal with people who have just gotten into accomodation having previously been homeless. They provide starter packs, such as bedding or kitchen items. They also run a 'hit squad' whereby a team of people will go and redecorate their flat in 2 days, as well as providing a befriending service. It's a really great organisation, who interestingly are supported entirely by churches but is not a christian organisation in itself. They really do a great and valuable job in Edinburgh but are threatened with extinction if the council cut their funding in March (which looks reasonably likely).
• I left there and headed back to the office where I had the fun of plotting out (using pins) all of our church members onto a map. It's really interesting to see where everyone lives and work out where we have a presence in the city. As a church that draws people from all over the city, working out where we have a presence is very important in deciding where exactly our local community is.
• Then finally, to wind up my week Ann Graham came for a cup of tea and a chat. She is a long standing church member and we had a good chat about what I am doing, how it is going, and also the theology of whether it is acceptable for christians to be rich...
  

So that was my week. I guess it actually was quite productive! Next week looks to be similarly busy, but I am hoping to get some time to reflect and read. I am always thinking in this job, contemplating different issues and trying to work out how they relate to us as a church, but I think I need to spend some time reading and getting things written down. Matthew (our lead elder) wants me to spend some time writing down my thoughts on the theology of social action and presenting it to him and Dan (another church elder) - something that I actually really want to do, so it'll be good to be forced to have time for it.

All in all, another good week, another week led by God, and another week of productivity!