Category Archives: Mission

Posts relating to Mission

Alpha – But not as we've known it before

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Something unusual, surprising and encouraging happened a couple of months ago. Since I arrived in Sarisbury we have had a church Alpha course most years starting in January. It has happened following the traditional pattern of Alpha. A meal together, Nicky Gumble on DVD, coffee and then a chat about the talk and anything else that comes up. They have been great, and we have a number of people who are now regular members of our church community who came to faith, or whose neglected faith was renewed through Alpha.

I was encouraged and excited over the summer with the possibility that an Alpha course might happen that I wouldn’t lead. There was one person who I knew would be interested plus others who had friends who might go. For various reasons this didn’t happen and I was left with the question of what to offer the one person I personally had contact with who was interested. The offer I made was, rather then you coming to our church Alpha course, why don’t I come to your home and we’ll listen to the DVDs together?

I now have the privilege of spending an evening each week in his home talking together about the Christian faith. And, here is the BIG and, he has been joined by his family! So instead of one person coming to ‘our’ church Alpha course, there is a whole family together exploring the Christian faith. WOW!

There’s no meal, but there are drinks, nibbles, cakes and one week I had the privilege of sharing in a family birthday cake! We watch the Alpha DVD which is either Nicky Gumble or the Student Alpha talk and then we chat.

The privilege of leading the Alpha course is amazing. Each time I have led one I have sat alongside people exploring faith and coming to a real, living relationship with Jesus for themselves.

Instead of saying ‘come to us’ I’ve ‘gone to them’ and the difference is great. This has led me to ask myself how we use Alpha in the future. Should we run ‘come to us’ Alpha courses? Maybe. But maybe we also need to free Alpha from the constraints of arranging meals and from the constraint of the vicar being involved?

Here’s what I’m thinking. Do you know friends, family, neighbours, colleagues or other acquaintances who might be interested in spending time with you to explore the Christian faith? Why don’t you do Alpha with them yourself, or maybe with your friends in the church community? Run Alpha as a small group for the people you know. Do Alpha with your own friends. Go to them and don’t expect them to come to you. Do it over a beer or glass of wine in an evening. Do it in the morning with some mums after they’ve dropped their children at school. Do it at lunchtime with colleagues at work. And when they say yes to your invitation ask them if they know anyone else they could invite to join you as well.

You won’t have all the answers, neither have I! One thing I can guarantee – you will grow amazingly in your own faith as well as introducing others to Jesus. We’ll provide the material and the support, all you have to do is dare to ask others if they’d enjoy doing Alpha with you. Don’t wait for the next ‘church’ Alpha course, it may not happen again! Go for it yourself.

Before you jump in with both feet, and I really, really hope some of your will, here are three things to consider. Firstly be prepared to grow as a Christian yourself. One of the greatest ways of growing in our own faith is to share it with others, the more you give the more you’ll grow. Be prepared after the Alpha course has finished to continue to journey with your friends as they explore the christian faith and get to know Jesus. And lastly have someone else with you or supporting you. When Jesus needed a donkey even he sent two people! Do Alpha with other christian friends, as well as the friends who are exploring, or have someone who regularly prays for you and who you share how things are going with.

Change – But How? Part 2

To follow on from my last post the first thing I need to say is that I have lots of questions, but I don’t have many answers! I believe the church in this country is moving unto uncharted waters, the maps we have used in the past may still be of some use but that use is limited. Someone recently described the job of church leadership today as being akin to trying to fly a plane whilst building it when the pilot has never had flight lessons! I know how the writer feels!

At the end of my last post I mentioned the new group that has formed around our connections with young families. The roots of this go back a number of years with our St Paul’s Lambs parent & toddler group. In September last year Clare took on the leadership of this group. She led it in a different and initially surprising way, in that she didn’t continue with the more overtly Christian elements of Christian nursery songs and bible stories! Instead the focus was on the opportunity to build friendships and relationships within a relaxed and welcoming setting. The group grew quickly to around 20 families on a regular basis.

Last Autumn, as an experiment, Clare and others organised a Carols and Cupcakes gathering on a Sunday afternoon and despite the snow five families came. This developed into approximately bi-monthly Under 5s Tea Services on Sunday afternoons which now welcom about 15 families each time.

Alongside this in January we ran our annual Alpha Course which was attended by a number of guests. Out of this course a new small group started. One of the things I noticed was that a number of the people in the new group were also supporting the Under 5s group and the Sunday Tea Services. It made sense to make this link clearer and now the mission focus of the small group is our work with young families, and in particular the Sunday afternoon Tea Services.

The lesson I am learning from this is that the heart of the small group, the heart of the Under 5s and Under 2s groups and the heart of the Sunday afternoon Tea Services is relationship. Loving and committed relationships that are expressed in multiple ways. The relationships go beyond services and small groups. What is being formed is not a service or congregation, it is not a small group or fellowship group. It is a Missional Community, a community of disciples who are involved in mission together and are together learning and growing as friends of Jesus.

For the young families that we are reaching their expression of the Christian faith may look very different to the expressions we have grown up with. These families may never attend a ‘service’ as we know it, and the children may never attend Sunday school as we know it. What we need to find is an expression of faith, worship and community that is right for these families and not try to force them into what we know and prefer. I don’t know what that will look like, but I’m looking forward to finding out in the coming months and years.

Next time I’ll look at Alpha and how my thoughts on how we use it may need to change…

What needs to change in today's church?

Last week I suggested that the church as it is today needs to change. We need to change for the sake of the 96% who have no meaningful connection with Jesus or his followers. If we need to change the next question is what needs to change? Here are my thoughts.

We need to quit coming to church and become the church. We’ve talked abut this, especially in our series earlier this year on “What is church?” But the idea of church as a service on a Sunday morning in a Victorian building is so ingrained in us that it is incredibly difficult to change. The church is not a service or a building and does not have to involve singing, organs, choirs or sermons. Whenever and wherever Christians get together the church is present. That means that there are members of St Paul’s who NEVER attend a Sunday service but who are just as much part of our church community as those who do attend Sunday services.

Our focus must change from getting to giving. Sadly much of the church today reflects the consumer priorities of the society in which we live. Archbishop William Temple famously once wrote, “The church is the only organization that exists for the benefit of its non-members.” We are so used to consuming that we bring that attitude to church and changing our attitudes is not easy. (See my blog post about restaurant or bring & share).

We need to change from being a church that does mission things/events to become a community of missionaries. Mission events are good but they can also have other effects. So often only a few people are actually involved and the rest of the church community let them get on with it and feel good because ‘the church’ is doing something. I also think that sometimes mission events don’t actually provide the environment for building long term relationships which are the foundation for people to come to faith. Missionaries have the long term commitment to build relationships with a purpose. They are willing to learn about the culture in which they live and share the Gospel in ways people in that culture can hear. Missionaries are willing to forgo their own preferences for the sake of others, they are also willing to step outside their own comfort zones in order to introduce others to Jesus. For a missionary the Christian faith is not just about an hour on a Sunday, it is about how they live and share their faith every day in every place and situation.

The famous preacher Charles Spurgeon said “Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter!” Being a missionary is not just for some, for the elite, keen and dedicated. We are all called to be missionaries.

Finally I believe we need a new focus on discipleship. I think we have often seen this as knowledge and understanding, but true discipleship is about imitation of the person we are following not merely information about that person. Discipleship only truly happens when we are willing to make ourselves accountable to others for the character of our Christian lives. Discipleship does not happen in a service, it happens out of regular conversations with other Christians we love and trust and from whom we are willing to receive both support and challenge.

Have I hit the nail, or am I wide of the make, what do you think?

Ecclesiology & Missiology – Which comes first?

For decades, if not centuries, in the life on the Church of England our ‘Ecclesiology’ has driven and defined our ‘Missiology’! You may be reading this thinking what on earth is the vicar on about, have I been reading the dictionary for fun!

Our ‘Ecclesiology’ is our understanding of the Church, if you ask the question ‘What is the church?’ your answer is your ecclesiology. For decades, if not centuries, our understanding of the church has been of an institution that has been focussed on a weekly gathering of the faithful in a particular style of building and that gathering has been led by professional ministers

That in turn has led to our understanding of mission or our ‘Missiology’. That has focussed on a message that has said ‘come to us,’ where mission has been based on what happens in a particular building and where the professional ministers have been the focus for that mission. Over recent years that has developed but often has still focussed on attracting people to come to our building. We have learnt to do missional events but the hub and the heart of all that happens has remained what we do for an hour in a particular building on a Sunday morning.

I want to suggest that it is time that we changed and that our ‘Missiology’ shaped our ‘Eccleciology’ rather than the other way round. That the importance of reaching out with the love and life of Christ to all in our local community starts to shape how we view what the church is, how the church lives, when and where the church meets and what the church looks like.

This means that our mission cannot be restricted to the chosen few, rather that all Christians, however old or young, however experienced or inexperienced, however confident or fearful, all are involved in the mission of God. It means that our focus cannot be restricted to an hour on a Sunday morning but the mission of God effects every hour of every day, wherever we are and whatever we’re doing.

It means that the most fruitful ideas and visions for mission are going to come from you and not me! It means that the times we meet together as Christian family during the week as just as important (if not more important!) than the time on a Sunday morning. It means that there will be many who will be part of the Church community of St Pauls who never come to a Sunday service, but are just as much a part of our church community as those who come on a Sunday and aren’t involved during the week. It will mean that discipleship becomes far more important than membership or attendance at a service.

What does this mean to me you may be asking? I have three questions for you. Question one: Who would you like to become a Christian? Question two: How can you share your faith with them? Question three: How can I help you?