The slow nature of Christian ministry
It was Jonathan Milton-Thompson who said to us a year or two ago, 'You may not see the fruit of the work you're doing now. Maybe your children won't see it. It might be your great-grandchildren's generation who reap the fruit of your labours. It doesn't mean it's not worth it - so keep on!'
As we head towards the close of 2010, we are ever conscious of the meaning of Jesus' parable: his kingdom looks like a mustard seed. Nothing. Yet we hold on to the truth that it will be seen to be biggest thing of all.
Like our snow-covered garden, our church's progress may seem so slow and quiet. Illnesses, setbacks, people drifting (as well as those coming, and growing), frustrations, disappointments... The world around us carries on in its wreckless complacency towards Almighty God. Jesus is now forgotton from Christmas. The people we want to reach out to are so ingrained in godless ways it's hard to know where to start.
Yet Jesus says to us, 'Take heart! I have overcome the world.' (John 16:33) Paul says, 'Therefore we do not lose heart.' (2 Corinthians 4:16) We look ahead to 2011 with fresh hope and energy, knowing Christ will build his church. We remain joyful, faithful, delighted by the gospel of Jesus, trusting in his providence over all, pressing on energetically with visible results or not.
Church planting the African way
Check this out: it's James Lagos Alexander, a bishop from Sudan. And here's how they do church planting.
So what do we learn from this? It's right to pray for many people to turn to Christ and be rescued by him. It's right to pray for church growth. But we should never expect that to be glorifying to us! Church growth is something God brings about, and if it happens, it won't make 'Wellfield' look good. It won't be so that we can feel nice about it. With growth comes pain. So if we're going to pray for it, we need to know we're praying for God's glory, not our comfort.
As some of us read in Torrey on Friday morning: "Many pray for revival... but many prayers for revivals are purely selfish. The churches desire revivals in order that the membership may be increased, in order that the church may have a position of more power and influence in the community, in order that the church treasury may be filled, in order that a good report may be made at the presbytery or conference or association. For such low purposes as these, churches and ministers oftentimes are praying for a revival, and oftentimes too God does not answer the prayer. Why should we pray for a revival? For the glory of God..."
We've got a lot to learn from the church in Sudan. True greatness is humility, that thinks not of ourselves but the wonderful kingdom of God.
God loves a nobody
One of the striking points from Luke chapter 1 last Sunday was the way God chose Mary for one of the most amazing jobs in history. She wasn't a princess or a well-known figure. She was an ordinary working girl from a Northern backwater. (I found on Sunday that jokes at this point don't go down well.) That's the way God is. To him, our 'nobodies' aren't nobodies. This Christmas, let's think about that person who no-one bothers with - who will live and die and no-one will particularly care. Let's invite them to church, or Christianity Explored in January. And if you feel like that 'nobody', then know this: you're not, in God's kingdom. Please come to church - because you're 'somebody' there.
Devoted to... the Fellowship
To be a Christian is to be part of a community. The Bible teaches that Jesus died to make a people for himself - to bring sinners into relationship with himself and one another. Whilst coming to know Jesus is something an individual must do, continuing in the faith is far from an individual thing. Being a Christian is a hard task: people think we are mad, bad or just out of touch. If we are to keep following Jesus, then we need to help one another. Being devoted to fellowship therefore means being devoted to those in our local church, being devoted to our Christian brothers and sisters - not just on Sunday but all through the week.
We need to ask ourselves the question: do we spend time with others from Wellfield - not just our personal friends, but with all of our church? Wellfield is small enough that we ought to be able to spend time with everyone from our church within a fairly short space of time. We can do this through organised activities like Growth Group, Prayer Meeting and Sunday meetings; these are a great way to encourage people to follow Jesus as we look at the Bible and pray together. But if we only do this, I don't think that this counts as being devoted to fellowship. Socialising with each other, spending time just doing the ordinary things of life, shopping, chatting, eating, watching the game, whatever you do as part of your individual life can be done together with someone else. And it's often more fun that way.
This isn't about creating a separate community; far from it. It's rather about creating a strong community where Christian brothers and sisters can grow together, share their lives with one another, talk about the hard things, the private things and the things we're shy about; a community where we don't just talk politely but meaningfully so that we all go from strength to strength together. When we build such a community with the help of God, we find something which is very attractive to most of the world which is so often starved of such friendship and love. Then we can more effectively reach out to those around us, as we invite them to get to know us, and through that to get to know Jesus' community. Evangelism is made easier, as involving people in your life will naturally lead to them meeting others from Wellfield, a place where those gifted in answering questions or talking about Jesus can use their gifts, so those of us who aren't can concentrate on our own gifts. So lets pray and then start using our diaries to meaningfully plan people in to our lives, as this is the only way it will ever happen.(By Mike)
1 Church, 4 Congregations
St Andrew's has changed its slogan. It was there on St Andrew's literature last Sunday, and people immediately asked, 'Ooh [yes, they did], is Wellfield no longer part of St Andrew's?' Well, the aim is to help clarify things for us. Now that Buckshaw Village Church exists, the idea is that St Andrew's is now '1 Church, 4 Congregations, and 2 Cousin Congregations'... but that's a bit of a mouthful. However, it is an opportunity to answer the question, What exactly is our relationship to St Andrew's?
[1] The terms 'Church' and 'Congregation' are, I think, a bit blurry - 'Church' is the gathering of God's people around God's Word (like the Israelites around Mount Sinai in Exodus). So we (Wellfield) aren't just part of something else - we are a church. (Hence the name of our website.) This is even more so given that we meet in a different place with a specific mission - to reach people who 'don't do church'.
[2] There are various ways of 'planting' churches. We are aiming to gradually gain independence. For the time being, we're dependent on St Andrew's financially, and accountable to the Church Council. We're grateful for the help and support. But the bigger the organisation, the more red tape, inevitably. For the sake of reaching people with the good news of Jesus we will need more and more to 'do our own thing'. (Of course, we'll always want to encourage them, and they us.)
[3] This 'moving away' is in no way saying we dislike St Andrew's, or anything they do! So, for example, the fact that we've not advertised any St Andrew's Christmas events this year does not mean we don't like them. But for the sake of our mission, we're saying we reach people through our ways. The more we throw ourselves into that, the more we'll need to pray, and own it, and the more we'll be excited about it.
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