Is your church swimming or treading water?

Both swimming and treading water are important skills, and at times each is likely to become essential, but if the intention is to get from one place to another, trading water is not likely to be much help.  It occurred to me that for many churches in our villages, all the energy, time and money that is invested is enabling us to ‘tread water’ at best or to sink more slowly.

 

I undertook adult swimming lessons because, as a child, I had developed a fear of water.  It did not matter to me how many people were diving in or swimming and playing in the sea or our local swimming pool; I was terrified.  Having advanced from ducking under, floating, and picking up objects from the bottom, I found myself in a small group of intermediate learners.  Those more confident were quickly enjoying newfound confidence, while the worst group had the attention of the trainers.  We were left to our own devices.

 

Then, as the series of lessons was coming to an end, we were suddenly put under pressure.  One goal proved easier than the other.  So long as the instructor’s pole followed beside me, I managed the length of the pool using backstroke.  Completing the width of the pool using breaststroke was more difficult as, however good my intentions were, my body assumed an upright position halfway across the pool, and progress was halted.  Nevertheless, I was proclaimed to be ‘a swimmer’ by the course trainers.  My own opinion was that I had achieved to become a slow drowner!

 

This experience has helped me to become empathetic towards those for whom mission or evangelism seem very alien.  Often, the very language of mission can be disturbing, and we become determined not to jump in and discover the joys.  After all, we can leave it to others, and we can watch from the side lines.  Is this, I wonder, why so many churches are not making progress as far as growth and conversions are concerned?  We might actually ‘be in the pool’ but nervously gripping the side rail.  Or we might be trading water, expending lots of energy similar to swimming but not making any forward progress.

 

Rural Mission Solutions offers the choice of three alternative solutions, two of which will be happening in the next few weeks and the third is on offer free of charge to any church that is serious about a gentle discovery that mission can be fun.

 

The Rural Churches’ Forum is a periodic and free online event open to rural church leaders, both lay and ordained.  It is a conversation.  A very successful conversation was held earlier this year when we explored the changes that have taken place both in rural communities and village churches.  A second conversation is planned for November 9th.  This was originally planned for October, but we felt that releasing promotional material at the same time as mourning for the death of our late Queen seemed insensitive.

 

The theme on this occasion will be how churches can develop mutually helpful links between their church and the community in which it is set.  In the past such links were strong but now seem much weaker, leading to decline in interest in the church and its message.  But this is not always the case.  So, we will be exploring what we can learn about developing and maintaining healthy and helpful relationships that help sharing the gospel and growing the church.

 

It starts at 10.00 and you can register to attend by CLICKING HERE.  You do not need to subscribe to Zoom.

 

A Rural Consultation is a relatively small gathering of rural church leaders living and working close to one another.  Typically, two dozen clergy or lay leaders are invited to spend six hours together for fellowship, mutual encouragement and prayer, with some helpful input on simple and appropriate ways of sharing the ‘Good News in the Countryside’.  Just such an event is planned on 22nd October for churches in the Sharnbrook Deanery of the Diocese of St Albans.

 

Our David Wells has been working within this diocese, encouraging various initiatives and supporting the clergy.  The close geographical area of a deanery makes this kind of consultation ideal.  It can be, as in this case, for a single denomination, or it could be open to various traditions.  Costs are minimal and we will work with any church that is willing to take the initiative.  More details can be obtained by emailing an enquiry to info@ruralmissions.org.uk.

 

While we value your prayers and interest in these two schemes, there is the third resource I have yet to describe.  It is here that the parallel between learning to swim and becoming effective in mission are most pronounced.  We are currently offering to provide the content - absolutely free - for any rural church, or group of churches - for an Away Day exploring how Mission Can Be Fun.  It takes approximately six hours and includes a light lunch.  Together we will explore what gifts and resources God has already given to the church(es) and look for creative ways in which these could be used to respond to the needs and opportunities in their location(s).

 

It is an interactive programme and has always proved enjoyable - often to the surprise of the participants.  The intended outcome of the Away Day is that members of the local congregation(s) grow in confidence in their faith, and the church(es) are able to design their own appropriate plans for mission that fit their size and feel comfortable.  It aims to do ‘what it says on the label’.

 

This Autumn through to Spring 2023 is an ideal time for looking afresh at how we are joining in God’s mission and the expression of his love for the people surrounding our churches.  We value your prayers as we offer such helpful programmes to individual churches and groups of churches.  Many of us are looking at our programmes post pandemic.  Now is a great time to get it right.  Can we help you and your church?  Start a conversation soon.  Treading water is for those who merely want to stay afloat   Swimming is for those who plan to make progress.  Let’s get swimming together.

Reflection on Loss

 Reflections on Loss

We all knew that she could never live forever, and yet the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II seems to have proved a shock to millions of people across the nations that make up the United Kingdom.  A tidal wave of grief seems to have swept through countries around the world.  Tears have been shed by many of the hundreds of thousands who have shown their respect for the Queen by queuing for hours in the cold to show process past her coffin in Westminster Hall.  Many more have wept in front of their television sets. It is as if the personal sense of bereavement has somehow touched people who had no previous contact with their sovereign during their lifetime.

It seems as if much else has been put on hold for the moment, including our readiness to acknowledge the new King Charles III.  He has, of course, led the country in formal yet personal expressions of mourning.  The cries of “God save the King” have seemed strangely muted even when they have been expressed.  It is as if we feel it is not time yet; we have not quite let our late queen go.  Perhaps we will see a change after the funeral this Monday.

It is that ‘letting go’ that is sometimes hard to do.  In my own life, it has been a little over two years since I lost my beloved wife of 45 years.  My observation is that it often takes two years from a moment of such a bereavement before life begins to return to some sense of normality and life can go on.  Many grieve for longer.

All of this has given me pause for thought about how loss is experienced within church life, and how, when handled poorly, that sense of loss can hold back much needed change.  It is as if, sometimes, allowing change to take place dishonours the memory of those who were once part of the way things were, but whom we have since lost.

In our weekly online Bible studies, we have been exploring the Acts of the Apostles recently.  Of course, for them mourning the death of their Master became pointless as they celebrated his resurrection.  Even the loss of his presence after the resurrection became compensated for - or perhaps even more - on that day when the promise of his continuing presence was fulfilled at Pentecost.  They were not left as orphans (John 14:18).  Life went on as it had always been meant to.  And how it went on in signs and wonders and the conversions of thousands.

Letting go of what has passed is not easy.  Will the photographs of Her Majesty gradually be replaced by those of His Majesty.  Should they?  And in our own lives, eventually, the clothes and so much besides that remind us of the losses we have experienced will be replaced by new items, and perhaps even a new person.  And yet in churches and chapels across the country, memorials to those who have gone before - sometimes hundreds of years before - surround us as we gather to worship an unchanging and eternal God.

It is not that I fail to appreciate history; quite the contrary.  It is more that I regret our general inability to let go of what has been so that the new thing God longs to bring to our churches might come.  We are stuck in the past.  I repeat the point I made earlier, that perhaps we fear that letting go and welcoming change dishonours the memory of those who helped to make the past what it was.

You must reflect on the issue of change in your own life and church. Could we be experiencing a tidal wave of new blessing because we cannot let go?  So much of our church culture reflects the past.  Why do some churches hold onto hymn books written long ago?  Why do people fight to retain pews that were once necessary but are no longer fit for purpose?  Why do we hold onto (wait for it!) buildings that drain our resources that belong to our past?  Is this a British characteristic?  How important is our ‘hymn sandwich’ on Sundays?  If our forms of worship satisfy us but clearly do not appeal to most of those God loves around us, why can’t we let them go?

As we weep for the loss of our much-loved Queen which, doubtless, will remind us of other personal losses experienced, let us do so with an eye on a new era that is dawning.  Let us welcome change, not because we hate the past but rather that we love the past that was once new and different to those to whom the past belonged.  We can let it go - even if it is painful for a while.  Are we stuck?  Worse still, is God stuck because we find moving on so difficult?

It is right to pause at such times as this.  In Rural Mission Solutions, we were ready to run a promotional programme for a national consultation but felt that this should be paused as a mark of respect, and the date for the event postponed. The main purpose of the consultation will be to explore how churches can better engage with those around them.  It will wait, but not long.

When I was studying business management, I was introduced to a quotation, “Change is here to stay.”  In other words, simply to change only to become stuck again, is wrong.  Life goes on, and I hope that our desire for it moves us on.  Right now, my home is unnecessarily cluttered because I tend to hoard rather than throw things away.  But I need to downsize and move my home.  But I cannot do that until I have got rid of old documents and equipment which are now of little or no value.  A very good friend stayed in my home a few weeks ago and helped me with this task.  Like many, I can teach people about efficiency but fail to practise what I preach!

That said, if your church is struggling to let go of the past and grasp the future, I think I could be helpful.  Let me know.

Barry Osborne - 17th September 2022

If you have found this article helpful, please write or email to let us know. info@ruralmissions.org.uk