The dates are:
May 25, 2008 London , United Kingdom
May 26, 2008 Woodbridge, United Kingdom
May 27, 2008 Edinburgh, United Kingdom
May 29, 2008 London, United Kingdom
Jun. 2, 2008 London, United Kingdom
Jun. 2, 2008 Liverpool, United Kingdom

Now I have to say this list including Woodbridge made me giggle, I know the place well- it's a picturesque small town about 6 miles outside of Ipswich. Somehow a small town, in the mist of Tractor Land, which boasts little more than a wonderful cinema and a good walk along the river, oh and the odd reasonable pub being part of a speaking tour is well very English.

This exam congestion disadvantages students taking particular packages of subjects more than others. A real step forward would be if the exam boards actually gave some thought to what subjects "go together" and didn't put all the papers for one subject on the same date. To highlight the madness of the current system 2 AS English papers and all 3 AS Psychology papers are being sat tomorrow. For many students this means over 5 hours of exams in one day (even more for those entitled to extra time). This cannot be right and means that by Psychology paper 3 any student taking both subjects will be likely to be struggling.

Add on to this the fact that Sociology, a subject many students take with English and Psychology, has its final AS paper on Monday and one realises that students taking a popular range of subjects are severly disadvantaged. Firstly because of the amount of exams over a few days, secondly because their papers are all towards the beginning of the exam programme where as some subjects have an extra 3 weeks until their papers and finally because it is impossible for them to properly schedule revision and breaks between exam papers.

So I hope the exam board listen to the recommendations. We all except with the amount of exams to be fitted in that there will be issues, but surely a bit more thought could sort some of them out.

At work I want (and aim) to give 100% until I go, yet when discussion moves to next year my mind switches off slightly.

In terms of church I want to make moving on an ickle easier for myself (I am going to miss the HBBC crowd soooo much - it is an amazing church) and so have started to find myself disengaging in not so good ways. This is not good. This church has become my home in ways I really can't describe. They have seen the good, the bad and the downright ugly with me over the last few years and accepted me just as I am throughout. So as much as I might try to disengage I need to accept on one level they will always be a part of my life. Without them I wouldn't find myself seeking to explain good practice.

I guess this is why I have never quite been able to leave - the church may not be perfect but it is home.

Now this is not a scheme where you invest with the hope of getting huge financial dividends back, although you should get something non-financial back through the feel good factor. I'm also not only looking for financial investments.

The four categories I am seeking support in are as follows:
1. Financial support - even an investment £1 would take me a step closer to finding the fees
2. Prayer support - this is just as important as the financial stuff and I am quite happy to except prayer without finance
3. Fundraising ideas - creativity is a gift. If you want to use it to help me I would be greatful
4. Passing on any ideas you have for anywhere else I can approach for funding

In terms of how to get in contact with me. Well, I'm kind of taking it that most people who read this blog (and anybody who would like to contribute) would actually have an awareness of who I am in real life anyway and so could probably get in touch somehow.

If you don't come into this category (and aren't on the ship or GCN either, which would give you the facility to pm me) let me know and I will see if I can work out some way to contact you without either of us having to plaster personal contact details over the net.

I also purchased the Big Issue ,a festival edition, and was dismayed to find out they were listing Greenbelt as being in July rather than August. I hope somebody from the Greenbelt office has been in touch and is getting them to print a correction.

Also on a festival related note tickets for Cambridge Folk Festival go on sale today and it looks like one not to be missed, (Billy Bragg, Levellers, Imagined Village and K D Lang on the bill amongst others).

Imagine if you will a bunch of Christian leaders heading up a prayer meeting for revival in a standard suburban town. Suddenly they hear the sound something which resembles a hurricane approaching and the sound of the storm engulfs the whole building. Then they start seeing divided tounges, looking like fire, resting on each other. At this point there is a mixture of fear and exhileration going on; some realise this really is God but others are fearful that it's the repurcussions of a long forgotten period of experimenting with acid.

Then stuff gets really wierd, they start talking in languages they don't even know. Their rational, post-enlightenment minds would be freaked by this. Anyway they make their way outside, unsure of the safety of the building after the sound like a hurricane engulfing it. To their surprise they find a huge crowd, who have heard the sound coming from the building and are scared about what's going on - is this another terrorist attack?

In the mist of the confusion some are saying "what does this mean?", whilst others are accusing them of being drunk or junkies. One of the leaders, who kinda gets what's going on stands up and begins to explain that it's a God thing, a fulfilment of prophecy. At this point several thousand people decide they want a piece of whatever this is aswell.

So practically what would this mean?
The authorities would move in using public order legislation. This would not be a licenced gathering and there would be all sorts of public safety fears. Just like Peter the leaders would be arrested and have to explain, only thing different is this time they would be charged with arranging an illegal gathering.

Due to the public outcry it is likely that the religious leader would be offered a caution aslong as he ensured there would be no repetition and all future gatherings would be properly licenced. Seeing as this is a God thing, though, no sure reassurances can be offered.

The next day, (because these types of prayer meeting tend to happen on a Saturday),churches would all be inundated with "new recruits" but the new "mega churches" wouldn't be able to bus in experienced workers from smaller, failing churches who wanted to move to a more vibrant churches. This would give major problems not least because there would be massive numbers of kids wanting to go out to Sunday school and not enough adults who'd had CRB checks to supervise.

The average vicar / pastor/ minister would be excited but completely out of their depth and over-run with things to do. They would have to make a strategic decision about what to do, either directing operations by computer out of the church office or just being out there somehow trying to control the chaos. Their already overstreched church members would soon be suffering exhaustion and burn out caught up in the buzz but unable to do everything which is required in terms of follow up, etc. The discussions about what gay people could and couldn't do in churches would momentarily be forgotten as it needed to be all hands to the pump.

New forms of church would emerge, not in a forced way coming from the frustrations of the middle classes, but rather new forms of church would be born out of necessity. Christians would find that their friends and neighbours who knew that they were believers would be knocking on their doors. Unable to get what they wanted from the churches these new Christians would go to their friends to find out what they were supposed to be doing. On this basis house churches would be formed because your average existing Christian would probably say "I'm not quite sure, praying, reading the bible and communion are important, oh and we have to have some music. Hang on, I'll put the kettle and a CD on and then we can have a chat." As the door bell went a few more times mini-congregations would spontaneously be formed. The mini-congregations would all differ in the way they did things, because they would largely be making it up as they went along (with an ickle help from the over-stretched clergy, the internet and God TV).

There would be a huge demand to hear those who were in the room when it all kicked off and people would flock to their churches, probably from all over the world as well as all over the country. There would be banks of media professionals trying to get a bit of the action aswell. It would be complete chaos and there would be yet more public order offences being committed, due to the numbers of people involved. Basically we would end up with a Christian Castle Morton.

Because there would be so many Christians who didn't know "the rules" they would be praying outrageous prayers which God would honour and there would be signs and wonders. Also they would be reading the bible as written and some would probably do things like give a way all they owned and share everything.

As the "professionals" became stretched there would be grumblings from the rural churches who felt they were being overlooked as resources went to the urban masses who could more easily be reached. There would be concerns that the needs of some of the vunerable, with no church connection prior to the revival, weren't being properly met as churches sought to use their resources to help those known to them first.

In the mist of this religious fevour there would be false prophets rising up to try and make a quick buck and it would all be very messy, trying to work out who was sound and who wasn't.

There would also be a strong bank of opposition from a range of directions. There would politicians, fearful of the apparent breakdown in public order as these mass religious gatherings continued, some licenced others not. Some businessmen would be fearful of the effects of the sudden move to ethical consumerism and others would just be unhappy and fearful about the rise of religion. The net result would be a range of moral entreprenurs would start rumours, and false charges would be made. Religious leaders would find themselves in court facing false charges supported by corrupt "witnesses" who had lied in their statements.

In reality not much would have changed in 2000 years, except the laws which would be used to prosecute the leaders. So are we really ready for another Pentecost? Yes we want the conversions, yes we want to experience the Spirit of God moving in ways we can't imagine but are we ready for the chaos, corruption and confusion which would also be unleashed if God answered our prayers and serious spiritual warfare was engaged in?

In terms of the British model and the debates which Christianity magazine is talking about I have to say it worries me. In an age of growing theological illiteracy the debate is continuing to be framed in such a way that it is likely to (i) disengage people and become an elitist discussion and (ii) is likely to occur on a more general level as a hyper-bole of simplified statements which are likely to add fuel to troubled waters not heal them.

The American discussion which is opening up, however, I find much more useful. Although framed in the American context to reach into that culture much of the material within the Evangelical Manifesto (summarised here ) is relevent to the UK (and wider). In an increasingly globalised world, where what is happening in the American evangelical world feeds into the UK discussion through speakers, books and other resources it provides a useful starting point. More than that, having looked at the accompanying study guide , the material which is provided to help people unpack what it means to be an evangelical today is largely appropriate for UK audiences aswell. (Infact it is not until page 23 of the study guide that you get to questions which would need to be amended for UK discussion).

Additionally, the US approach encourages study and discussion and a journeying together in order to find what it really means to be an evangelical today. The questions within it are challenging, and whilst obviously framed to try and lead people to a particular general conclusion they are good questions which need to be asked. This is an attempt to try and get people to engage with the hard questions and also to understand the theology which links to this.

My personal view is that this manifesto should be welcomed and the study material provided actively engaged with on this side of the Atlantic aswell. However, this should not become an activity which becomes an excuse for further navel gazing or division. Rather it should be a springboard for radical re-engagement with God and his purposes by those who seek to own the E label.

**For further discussion on this one I invite you to either use the comments section here or if you are connected on Facebook come over to the Strangers In A Strange Land group**

(There is also, as with most things in life, a thread running on SOF about this one and one of the contributors on there has made this insightful comment about the US E manifesto on his blog).

If anybody has can direct me to any interesting blogland reports on these things would be most greatful.

Think it is a sign of my gradual disengagement that I don't even know who our church sent as delegates this year.