As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. (John 17:18)
Carey Nieuwhof has written (on his blog) about the challenges facing churches as they ‘reopen’ towards the end of the current pandemic. The challenges usually we break down into questions such as: What have you maintained? What do you want to keep that you have gained? What do you want to discard (after expressing due gratitude)? What do you want to recover?
Nieuwhof, an Evangelical, lists four marks of congregations he expects to thrive in coming years:
In my view, churches that effectively reach unchurched people in the future will likely be those that:
Fully embrace hybrid ministry—digital and in-person forms of ministry.
Focus on moving people forward, not getting them ‘back’.
Embrace the people they’re trying to reach rather than judge them.
Be Gospel-driven rather than ideologically driven or partisan.
Of course this doesn’t apply just to ‘reaching the unchurched’ and as Stewart McDonald has pointed out we need to focus on the mission not on ourselves. Remembering Barry Beisner’s first sermon as bishop I recall his three points (and yes we have the T shirts):
Stay together.
Focus on the mission.
Keep moving forward in the name of Christ.
In his priestly prayer, in the 17th chapter of John, our Lord prays for his followers, that they may all be one, that they may love one another, that the Father keep them safe, but also that they be sent into the world as the Father sent the Son.
That’s a tall order. Think about it. To spend your life proclaiming and embodying the arrival of the reign of God. To accept that witness may include martyrdom.
“When all about you…” Rudyard Kipling’s speech went. A trifle, in comparison, to being sent by the Father as Jesus himself was sent.
But we are not alone. There is the promise, nascent at the time of the Ascension, that we are one, not only with each other, the Father and the Son, but with the Comforter, the Empowerer, the Enlivening Spirit. Not emperor, empowerer: one who empowers: encourages, supports, gives authority, gives freedom to do something. Not just talk.
Remember when the disciples chose Matthias? One of two candidates brought forward, who could witness, from the baptism of John to the present moment, all that had happened, all that had been going on, with Jesus. One who not only saw it but saw what it meant and committed to follow the Way of Love, the Way of Christ.
We as people of God each have a way to follow. Alone and together. We too are chosen simply because who we are is who God made us to be and called us to become.
He by the power that is at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)
Where do we start? Or, how do we go on from here?
Embrace what is new, embrace who is new, move forward together, tell the good news, and live it out.***
Jesus, in his resurrection appearance to the disciples just before his ascension, had said, 'you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
What that means, to be his witnesses, in all its implications, becomes the business of the church.
Good thing the Spirit shows up. It's time to get on with it.
As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. (John 17:18)
JRL+
Christ the King Episcopal Church, Tucson.
Sunday after the Ascension
https://careynieuwhof.com/the-coming-church-split-its-not-what-you-think
"If you can keep your head when all about you..." (If—, by Rudyard Kipling. https://poets.org/poem/if)
