A visibility problem

As I was doing some of my devotional reading this week I came across a comment of King David as he spoke to those who might well have been his enemies:

‘David went out to meet them and said to them, “If you have come to me in friendship, to help me, then my heart will be knit to you; but if you have come to betray me to my adversaries, though my hands have done no wrong, then may the God of our ancestors see and give judgement.”’ 1 Chronicles 12:17

I say occasionally that if you can’t bear to mark your Bible with underlines or comments then you need to get another Bible just for making a mess in! A trip through my Bibles over the years is a journey full of clues about this particular pilgrim’s progress. I was struck by the opening couple of lines of David and they earned yet another underline in my Bible.

‘David went out to meet them’ As a local church leader, this seems to me to be a fairly obvious comment; but increasingly I am becoming aware that it is not nearly so obvious to many others. I am occasionally accused of being an idealist and I always take this is a compliment, even though most of the time it is meant as a put down. I have this theory that the church could do with a few more idealists.

A regular comment that I receive from church ‘experts’ now that we have moved into the factory estate, is that we need to do something about our visibility. Now, I agree with them but not for the same reasons. Many experts still live in the 1950’s when people actually might be looking for a church building to worship at. Visibility today means something else.

We have to be visible. We, the church, need to be the best advert for Jesus in town at all times and in all places. Years ago a church building with tower and steeple were the biggest buildings in town where nowadays even the great city cathedrals are swamped by the modern day places of worship – corporate towers and shopping centres. But that’s fine because I have another theory that Jesus never dreamt of a church being defined by towering steeples and uncomfortable pews.

Our biggest challenge as a local congregation is not better signage (I hate that word!) but better visibility and the two are not the same.

‘If you have come to me in friendship, to help me, then my heart will be knit to you..’ The upcoming Jesus All About Life campaign asks a question something like – ‘How come I have lots of friends but no friendships? Real friendship is a very risky engagement and I use the word engagement deliberately, as David used the term ‘my heart will be knit to you’.

To grow a new church today is less about buildings and more about connections. It is less about the style of music and more about the depth of love. To grow a new church today is less about a greater understanding of the Scriptures and more about a greater understanding of the one who is called the Word of God – Jesus. To grow a new church we have to follow the one who says ‘I will make you fishers of people’, and I just about guarantee you that Jesus will not lead you anywhere near a church building on that mission.

‘but if you have come to betray me to my adversaries, though my hands have done no wrong, then may the God of our ancestors see and give judgement.’ With this level of openness we will risk moments of loss and betrayal. The ones who love most are the ones who have the most to lose and the ones most open to be hurt. Many choose not engage because of previous hurt and that is easy to understand. I believe that the call of the church is to ‘Go’ as Christ calls us to and trust God for the outcomes. I know, too simplistic; guilty as charged.

Where is your heart?

I read a quote this morning from Thomas Watson a former president of IBM. He said,

‘To be successful, you have to have your heart in your business, and your business in your heart.’

Those words struck me as something of an encouragement at the beginning of the day.

The small reflection that I was considering went on to quote from Colossians 3:1 & 2:

‘So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.’

As I write this piece the clock is ticking around to 10.02. For those of you who were in church on Sunday morning hopefully you took home a 10.02 card calling us to pray each day at 10.02 for a few seconds, or minutes. The idea comes from the passage in the Bible where Jesus says: ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into the harvest.’ Luke 10.2

These past weeks have been very busy for several of our number as we have been working hard to set up our new Ministry Centre at Annangrove Road. I know that I have spent an inordinate amount of my time focused on giving this new era every chance of success. However, my heart is not encouraged by property, or finance or structure of any particular kind.

I find encouragement in people and that encouragement is made most clear through an ordering of my life. I love people; but unless I spend time with the Author of life, my love for people is very easily diminished. You see, twenty six years ago I made a decision to risk this journey with Christ as head. I read the Bible and began to haltingly pray and decided – with a very incomplete knowledge – that above any other philosophy or ‘ism’ the claims of Christ were authentic and deserved respect. Indeed, I came to a place of agreeing with the great missionary Studdert Kennedy, who once said when challenged about his highly focused faith – ‘If Christ be God and died for me, no sacrifice too great can be..’

In the busy times of recent weeks I have on occasions been knocked off course and forgotten that I am ‘raised with Christ’. If I am raised with him then I need to be seeking the source of strength that was the basis of His life. I need to seek the things that are above because my heart and mind are too easily nourished by short term – yet quite tasty – stuff! It might be tasty, but it is hardly nourishing and within a very short time period I am hungry again, seeking the next fix it pill.

There are so many claims on our time these days; so many attractions bidding for a place in our hearts. Until my mid 30’s I was always in the market place trying on the latest trifles for size. I wasn’t the world’s worst husband or dad; but I was conscious that try as I might I just wasn’t making headway. The more ‘successful’ I became the less traction I seemed to have in my life; it was a crazy time.

Then through a number of ‘God-incidences’ I found myself in a local community of faith that nurtured and nourished me. I don’t think that I am overstating things when I say that this group of Christian people saved my life! Some people wonder why I believe so strongly in the local church – it’s where my heart is.

Back in the good old days!

Of recent times I have been reading a little about the work of St Patrick and his amazing success in converting the ‘barbarians’ of Ireland during the 5th century. Patrick had all of the odds stacked against him as despite his being a Briton and connected to the Celtic peoples his family were aristocrats, who had converted to Christianity and his first language was Latin and he was therefore more Roman than Celtic.

In a book that I have enjoyed by George C. Hunter called ‘The Celtic Way of Evangelism’ there is a marvellous quote in the Preface:

‘In the face of this changing Western culture, many Western Church leaders are in denial; they plan and do church as though next year will be 1957.’

Beautiful!!

Having been about this new church stuff for almost twenty years now and finding the journey ever more lonely as I continue to head along the road, I am always finding myself in a quandary. You see, while I believe deeply in reaching to people outside the life of the church, the easier way forward is to go back to 1957! Dare I say this to my own flock? It is not the pagans / barbarians that make me nervous it is the Christians.

The one regular part of the life of our local church community over the past three years has been the regular departure of Christian people. Oh, we have also lost a good few people on our outer edges who have tasted for a while and then seemingly spun off; but almost without exception these people remain a part of us in some way or other, whereas ‘the believers’ just disappear?

One of the key aspects of Patrick’s work was that he simply went and spent time amongst the various tribes of Ireland. He didn’t impose his views without first listening to those with whom he was visiting. Patrick did not bring a church structure with him; he created an indigenous church in the form of the particular village / community where he was based. The early church was less an institution and more a movement.

Patrick formed monastic communities but these were not birthed to lock people out; rather they were designed as a haven of grace, care and hope for the people of the district. It was the openness of the Christian way that attracted the people.
Here is the problem. If you are a church that is open to all, the ever present temptation is to close it down just a little bit, and then a little bit more and then.. As I say, 1957 is a very tempting option. Provide the ‘customers’ with the right stuff and build from there. Gosh, get a few more good and solid Christians in and we might start paying a few more bills!? Does the term ‘good and solid’ make you a little nervous when related to the church? It does for me. When I hear someone described as being a pillar of the church I get this picture of something very large, heavy and totally immovable.

Mind you this way is probably much easier than seeking to find out what God might be up to among the great unwashed of the community and then perhaps even allow them to be part of the shaping.

I found it really encouraging that in the case of Patrick those who supported his great journey to Ireland eventually were offended by him. Patrick maintained a passion – a call he believed that was given him by God – to give the best of his time and effort to those on the outside of the church. The Church of Rome and his immediate chiefs in England had instituted a faith that looked after the saints first and foremost. Once the pagans were ‘civilised’ and ‘Christianised’ then look after them so that they stayed that way!

My naïve theory is that followers of Christ are much better equipped to look after themselves than those who are not a part of his community. We have the Scriptures, we have the Holy Spirit and we have the church to encourage and equip us. Some one told me recently that while I speak of our community being different to other churches, in reality we are no different. I figure that we might not look too different (that is a deliberate ploy) but I still think that we are very different underneath. Don’t judge a book by its cover!