Times of Transition
When I worked in London, I would sometimes come in on a Monday morning and greet my staff with the immortal words “I’ve been thinking.” This was usually greeted by them putting their heads in their hands and going “Oh no!”
I’ve been thinking.
It’s not my fault! I guess its one of the things about being in transition. As work comes to an end in one place, and you start to get excited about the new, you find yourself in that place called “waiting.” For those of us who like to be busy, it’s a very frustrating place, but one you have to go through. For me, as I wait I find it’s not a passive, lazy, nothingness waiting but an active waiting. My heart begins to let go of the old and embrace the new. I begin to dream about what might be. What could happen. How might we start? What would need to change? A million and one thoughts, all flying round at once, asking for permission to land. It’s good and healthy – and necessary – to dream, to imagine.
But it’s not just about thinking of the “how” but also the”what” the ”why”and the “who.” It’s OK to dream, but there comes a point where you want to know how dreams can become a reality. About 12-months ago God began to remind me of my past heritage, and encourage me to rediscover the adventure of listening to him, recognising his voice and walking by faith & not just sight. He reminded me that it’s “not by might nor by power but by the Holy Spirit.”
What am I thinking? Well I’m thinking about how to listen to what God wants to do. I’m thinking about the importance of calling as well as character, chemistry & competency. I’m thinking about how to build team. How to communicate passion and heart. I’m thinking about how to unlock people’s potential. How to learn from my mistakes and inspire others to have a go and make mistakes. I’m thinking what wine-skins need to be formed to hold the wine that is going to be poured into them.
We live in challenging times. Last Sunday I preached on Courageous Christianity. Then David Cameron spoke about Big Society, and then I spent a morning in prison meeting people who are seeking to help rehabilitate offenders into society, give people a second chance, and how church has so much to offer into that. Isn’t that what the gospel is all about, people discovering a fresh start and second chance?
What I’m thinking is that as church (in the UK?) we have a huge opportunity. As government contracts and looks for community to take more responsibility, we have the invitation to develop people and community centred ministry that serves our cities and towns and provides bridges for people to experience the love, hope and truth of the Christian message. Such an approach though will change church. How we do it. Our attitudes. Our approach. Our discipleship.
I’ve been thinking….
Ok I shall be the first to leave a comment mainly cos I am feeling sorry for you that no-one is commenting on your blog!
How do you see our (the Churches’) approach changing Chris? ….
I have been interested in the subject of the “emerging Church” for some while now and previously involved in organising alternative worship / seeker style services etc for a period of about 6 years. My current observations is that the evangelical Church in general still has a “come to our all-new re-branded trendy service mentality” which just isn’t where people in the UK are at.
I see a lot of new Churches setting up branding themselves as “21st Century Church”, “Church for this Generation” etc but it always seems to amount to the same thing and sadly sometimes occurs due to groups of disgruntled or divided Christians!
I am of course being deliberately provocative and cynical to stir debate and online discussion!
But I thought one of the good things to come out of the recent 4-1-1 project was for me a lesson in doing what I would would describe as some “spiritual repair work”. The is a large percentage of the UK for whom the Church has a bad association and I think the likes of the 4-1-1 projects helped reverse this process – if only by a little.
Hope that helps with your thinking!
Thanks Andy. I think I agree with you – when it comes to “relevant church” there are many shades of the same colour. So being relevant surely can’t only mean its all about what WE do?
Over the last 2 Sundays while i have been “off” we visited two very different churches that i enjoyed in very different ways. Firstly we visited Ribble Valley FM church. Billed as a “church for the next generation” the worship was great, contempary and much like going to a gig. The make up of the congregation was largely “younger” but not exclusively; the message was topical, the Bible referred to and recommended rather than read aloud, with opportunity for people to respond. Yesterday we visited Garstang FM church. Set in retirement central, you had an older congregation. The style of the service was very traditional, the worship will never set the world on fire but people engaged. The message was biblically based, with some interesting insights. And then afterwards, as people mixed, the church came alive….
Two very different churches, but both “relevant” in their own way to different people groups. But then, i still found myself asking how relevant to the world outside the doors is any church, after all, there is an enormous journey that anyone has to take before even contemplating walking through the doors? My old pastor once said to me – people usually don’t join or leave a church because the teaching isn’t good enough, or the worship isn’t quite to their taste. People can generally look past those things if, and its a big IF, they have good relationships with other people. For me the first step in being relevant is being open – open to making time to deliberately and intentionally welcoming people into our lives. And for that there are no short cuts – it takes time, it takes a commitment to love – it costs us. Unfortunately, there are no short cuts.
The problem I see in being relevant is that for so many of us we are too busy to build relationships. If we could just find the time…
So when i think about relevant church i begin by thinking about the type of relationships we are building. Relationships that force us to listen, to ask questions. And when we do, we start to learn what people need, and then once we know what the needs are, we can begin to develop “relevant” ministry. And in so doing we build relevant church, relevant to the world outside our doors and so by a process of journeying, relevant enough for them to walk through our doors.
It’s not about changing the timeless truths of the gospel. Nor is it simply a question of packaging.