Kia ora e te whanau
Once again I’m going to start with an article I wrote for the Methodist Monthly Touchstone:
Maybe we got it wrong
“Mission is what the church does when it is dying”. Attributed to Deitrich Bonhoeffer, this is an uncomortable challenge. We don’t want to believe it/him. Like someone dying of thirst we’ll drink salt water – even when it makes the thirst worse. We cling to the conviction that ‘mission’ is the answer to our malaise, even as the pursuit of it (or at least a commitment to the idea of it) is killing us. It’s something we talk about – and don’t do much of. Perhaps it’s simply keeping us focussed in the wrong place.
After meeting with a signficant group of Co-operating Venture leaders a couple of weekends ago, I was challenged with being myopic – the church needs to be ‘looking outward’ to ‘those beyond its walls’, I was assurred. Yet the story of one parish in particular has left me wondering if this accepted wisdom is fundamentally flawed.
A small parish of older people that has a Somerset retirement village being built next door. Yes, you know who you are 
. This Parish has not had paid presbyteral ministry for many years. They run a warm, engaged, delightful service on Sunday mornings with their own rituals, and ways of doing and being. Is it perfect? No, of course not. It is a people who want to be together, engage together, and worship together. And as people wander in from the village next door they sense that this is their kind of place, and these are their kind of people. Their tendancy is to return and stay. This church is growing. I’m not aware of any considered and intentional mission plan. They’re simply being themselves doing their best to love God and one another. Are they engaged in mission? Yes they are. It springs from who they are. They run activities that they will enjoy and benefit from, and invite their friends to join them.
As I said in last month’s offering, the early church grew along the trade routes, where Jewish Christian followers of the way of Jesus sought out people like themselves, in familiar places – the synagogue. Was their primary goal proselytization? Most likely not. My hunch is that they would have been looking for places of belonging – ‘safe’ places – with people who shared their culture, language, world view – and to whom they were bound by familial ties.
I’ve been consistently badgered with the mantra ‘The Church needs to be looking outward, in mission to the world’. This surely will result in church growth. Yet, where do we see it happening?
Perhaps, instead, we could focus inward – in meeting the needs, enriching the lives, imparting joy – to the people we already have. Unashamedly, instead of continuing to make one another feel guilty with a constant diet of ‘try-harderism’, the church might once again be an attractive place – a community of people we’d all want to be part of. Warm, rich, loving, authentic – seeking the way and presence of Jesus. How hard can it be?
The power of story
Since writing the above, I’ve been reminded of a wonderful story called the Rabbi’s Gift. I include here a link to it being told by M.Scott Peck https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z1pIrV2F6c
After telling this story in a sermon many years ago, I was asked by one of our leaders “Was it a true story”? I responded with “Well, that depends on what you mean by ‘true’. If by ‘true’ your mean ‘Did it really happen?’ I have no idea. But if by ‘true’ you mean ‘Does it tell the truth?’, then yes it’s a true story”. Just like many of the stories and parables that Jesus told – did they actually happen? Almost certainly not – some are border on the ridiculous. Yet they remain ‘true’ stories.
We all live in stories, our own lives are stories – which is why we resonate so powerfully with stories – it’s the stories told that we will remember, rather than the propositional truth statements we might be wanting to point to.
Personal and Leadership Resources
- 3 ways thinking like an athlete will improve your communication skills
Some great tips here on public speaking. As one who, as a 16 year old, never imagined I’d ever get married – not because I wouldn’t find a partner, but because I couldn’t imagine myself standing in front of a church full of people and saying two simple words – “I do”. There are some tried and tested helps here for those terrified of public speaking (apparently 80% of the population will claim to be more frightened of public speaking than dying). The article can be read here: https://www.fastcompany.com/90662863/3-ways-thinking-like-an-athlete-will-improve-your-communication-skills
- Kamala Harris’s Laugh Is a Campaign Issue. Psychologists Insist It’s Also a Lesson in the Energizing Power of Joy
Time to lighten up. Jessica Stillman makes a case for genuine joy. She describes it as a battery pack. And I think she’s right. Without taking any sides in the current US electoral contest her article can be read here: https://www.inc-aus.com/jessica-stillman/kamala-harriss-laugh-is-a-campaign-issue-psychologists-insist-its-also-a-lesson-in-energizing-power-of-joy.html
Homilies
Trevor Hoggard’s sermon considers 2 Sam 18 vs 5-9,15,31-33 and John 6 vs 35,41-51. Trevor gives a very effective overview of King David’s children’s messy relationships and the revolt of Absolom and its consequences. He then contrasts David, Moses and Jesus as a result of the feeding of the 5000, and challenges us with the difficult choices we need to make.
Trevor’s offering can be experienced here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7AIYiO2_8I
My response to the Gospel text of John 6 vs 35, 41-51 is titled ‘Who is this Bread of Life?’ and focuses on Jesus claims of himself – describing God as his Father and his having come from heaven.
It can be experienced here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ygeh25jdsXI