LLM Conference

Two weeks have passed, sorry for the delay, since the Oxford Diocese LLM (Lay Minister) conference and I am ready to blog, so here goes.

Before I head into the actual formal bits of the conference I need to share my highlight and that was the people. To meet so many lay ministers and those in training was fantastic. I compared notes about portfolios and callings and churches and balancing ministry with life. I have even got a buddy for my training, she has offered to just be there through the ups and the downs of the production of portfolios. Thanks Elizabeth!

The theme of the conference was preaching "how do they hear" and there were speeches, workshops and seminars on the various aspects of preaching. On top of that there were services of various formats and styles throughout the weekend. It was busy, really busy, and I could have done with just half an hour at some point to reflect and absorb, but that is the only negative I have of the whole weekend.

We met on Friday afternoon and started with a service before dinner and then the first speaker Rev'd Stephen wright "Cutting out the interference: letting the voice of scripture be heard today". He started by highlighting that the way we as preachers help people hear scripture can be hindered by all sorts of interference from the simple misunderstanding of words in daily life, to the affect of historical context, to the delivery we use which can confuse the scriptural message. Stephen's summarised points:
- the important of attempting to recover some of the biblical meanings and resonances of words by explaining the scripture accurately
- it is good to counter our own ways of explaining by listening more carefully to the scripture itself and use it's tones and performance to come into our sermons
- we need to inhabit the meanings of the words as written and perform it for the audience of today by bringing if to life
- we are asked to enhabit and enact the scripture so congregations can be moved and transformed by words crisply and clearly

Saturday started with worship before moving into seminars and workshops. I chose "preaching in a sermon series" by Rev Philip Tovey for my first seminar. We started by comparing how our churches programme their preaching, to a one we follow the lectionary; before looking at how we could produce a series of sermons on a subject of interest or on a biblical book. It was fascinating to think about this possibility and is something I hope we might be able to use.

The second workshop I attended was "storytelling". I apologise profusely for forgetting who presented it, but suffice to say he was the most amazing storyteller. The workshop started with him telling the parable of the good samaritan from Luke 10. He then asked us to go into pairs and tell the story to each other purely from memory. It was surprisingly difficult to get started but the interesting point was that once we got into the zone the story just flowed. I have been interested in story telling since I saw Bob Hartman speak last year, this workshop has peaked my interest further still and I intend to try and use it in the future.

After lunch it was free time for some, but for those of us in training it was a meeting about our training, how we feel about it and how we would feel about possible changes for the future. As a new trainee I appreciated hearing from others and voicing my experience, but it was clear from those who are at the end of their training that this was a very new and extremely welcome experience.

It was then time for the third workshop of the day and I went for "communicating to those without a church background" by Sheila Lloyd. We started by thinking about what we know about church, what those who have been coming to church for some time know and what those 'out there' know. we decided that it was probably along the lines of:
Us: 90%
few years in church: 65%
Occassional visitor: 35%
concluding that if visitors don't know things about church then they might be less inclined to come along to church; they might in fact be ashamed of what they don't know. We need to be aware of this in our preaching. We also looked at how a persons age affects their knowledge. Fifty years ago most people would have a biblical knowledge of some overview and social morality was common to Christian. This commonality changes for those under 40 who have not had the same backgrounds as previously.

How can we make it more accessible?
- set the scene
- talk about mountains and geography
- introduce the characters
- explain what transfiguration is and include examples eg butterfly
- catch peoples attention so they are interested to keep listening
- retell the story in normal language - perhaps with story telling
- use pictorial aids
- make sure it's not too long
- reduce the scope of the sermon - clarify the message
- relate the story to real life - in context
- encourage reflection on the feelings of the people in the story
- ensure we provide some challenge so that the more knowledgable are fed and extended - leave them with questions to take away

We have to make sure we have caught peoples interest and that there is opportunity for them to ask questions of people within the church. If we touch peoples' hearts then we are doing our job.

It was then dinner time before our evening speaker; Margaret Withers who spoke on "hearing in their own language - communicating with all age congregations". she started by asking what makes services easy to access; we concluded that the following elements increase accessibility:
- Familiar structure
- Less words and more visual impact
- Easy songs to sing
- Not much to learn

She then went into some details about how we can make workship more accessible, interesting and useful.
- It's not about adding gimics to a dull service but about providing ways for the congregation to participate more usefully.
- The way lituurgy is led and presented is about deepening the experience of worshipping god, the delivery can make it dull or exciting.
- Using settings in different layouts can refresh and invigorate a service.
- Music is often the main aspect of a service that people are affected by. Therefore the length, type, mood, subject and speed of the chosen music are important.
- Drama works for many old and new testament stories. Drama bibles are great. It is powerful to have someone mime whilst the gospel is read.
- Often the dramatic part can replace a sermon or even the whole service (eg the passion on good Friday). Actions can speak louder than words but you need to keep it simple.
- Posture and movement have meanings and impacts - don't disregard them.
- The church itself and all it's furniture are the most amazing signs and symbols. Fonts, crosses, banners, stained glass. Even 100 years ago most people couldn't read and therefore the culture was to learn through pictures and muiral. We then focussed on words. But now we as a society is back to focus on short texts and animations - we need to use the same.
- Visual images last longer.
- The most evocative sense is smell.
- Every service is all age because every person is at a different stage in their spiritual journey and life. Make sure you challenge the regular and mature congregation members in every service, do not just drop to the lowest common denominator. We should challenge not entertain. We should ensure that we give the full Christian message at every service.

Saturday night concluded with an Iona service, perfect!

Sunday morning started with breakfast before our Eucharist service. The reading for the day was on Joseph which a number of us read out in a dramatic style. There was then a sermon on the importance of preaching and how we can and should reach outside the church in our ministry. We then broke into our area groups for a bible study before lunch to complete the weekend.

I left for home physically exhausted but spiritually buoyed. I was apprehensive about what the weekend would be like but am now determined to attend all future conferences, next years' weekend is in my diary already.

Oh and finally, we are going to try and call ourselves Lay Ministers from now, it should be more accessible than LLM.