Three links about mission

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13 responses to “Three links about mission”

1. 

   jaye richards-hill

   04/04/2013

   I originally came to St Mary’s for the music, however, I wouldn’t have stayed if I’d been made to feel that there wasn’t some place for me there. The music has actually become less important to me as the past six years have gone by, and I’d have to say that now the draw to the Cathedral is the moral leadership, said to be lacking in other places. I have noticed an increasing number of younger people drawn to St Mary’s by this leadership. As a Cathedral, you’d hope that this would be provided by the Bishop, but at the moment this is sadly not the case. However, this leadership does come from the Clergy team in spades, and this leadership reaches out far beyond the walls of the place to a city beset with social deprivation and inequality, some of it promulgated by other places of worship which should know better. That your sermons are widely anticipated and reported is proof of this. I think that this is a mission discourse, for a new age.

   I don’t contribute much in the way of active involvement, I’m afraid. I could and should do more (particularly with a 21st century mission discourse agenda into which my skills-set dovetails quite well) rather than just be a passive creature who doesn’t say much, however, I do get a moral leadership and spiritual comfort which is much needed in my rather chaotic disorganised and disjointed life at the moment. Is the fact that I get this evidence of the success of the mission and pastoral work of the community at St Mary’s.

   Could we talk about the way folks feel about each other, and the way this presents to ‘incomers’ ? Yes we could. We could start with a series of open conversations. Maybe sermons could be opened up, say, once a month or every six weeks, to members of the congregation perhaps? There does tend to be an ‘echo chamber’ effect present in that its usually the same folks who stay for coffee after Sunday mass, and who sit on committees or working groups and so in effect, its a case almost of ‘preaching to the converted’. When I give talks at conferences, I usually have to ‘shock’ delegates out of such similar comfort zones by challenging their opinions and beliefs head on. Its only after such deconstruction that its possible to encourage a growth mindset.

   Cormac Russell talks about an ABCD approach to capacity building. He calls it Asset Based Community Development. Start with what you do well, and draw in your community to develop it further. Like dropping a stone into a pond and watching the ripples spread I suppose. We might consider starting with a food bank, for example. That would extend our presence in the community, and by extension, our mission.

   What do we do well at St Mary’s, and how do we get our community to develop the growth mindset necessary to develop this in a wider community context? – new bums on seats, to use Andrew Brown’s words. Why not have a series of conversations about what we do well and take it from there?

   Apologies for the ramble…I do feel quite strongly about mission work though, particularly in such hardened times.

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2. 

   Elizabeth

   04/04/2013

   The church seems to be waking up to the fact that people rarely just walk through its doors. But it also needs to recognize that it is there for everyone and not just its ‘members’. Churches that have recognized this and understand their local context have the ability to thrive. Our Anglican church is a parish based church, even where large mission communities are formed, i’d really like to see much more on being outward looking rather than inward looking.

   I shared the account of rural ministry in the article in the spectator on facebook as I recognized much that was mentioned. Somebody commented that bullies like this author will go away if ignored. I’m more concerned that our church will vanish if we continue to not face up to what is so often happening. I’m looking forward to a continued ministry in rural Devon and the challenges you have blogged about.

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3. 

   Robert Beard

   04/04/2013

   The only mission the Church should be involved in is the mission of Jesus, who said absolutely nothing about Church attendance but said and did a great deal about feeding the hungry, healing the sick, caring for the poor and giving away money.

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   1. 

      kelvin

      04/04/2013

      Jesus did attend both Temple and Synagogue though, which I think does rather puncture the idea that he was not that interested in organized religion.

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4. 

   Andrew Page

   04/04/2013

   Organised religion was somewhat different in the first century. A lot of what we consider to be Christianity is merely the product of hundreds of years of church culture and liturgy, and bears little resemblance to religious practices of Jesus’ time. Its character and very nature on so many levels is incomparable.

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5. 

   kelvin

   04/04/2013

   > Organised religion was somewhat different in the first century.

   Well, yes, obviously in some ways. I bet in some ways it felt very much the same though. I bet there were people who worried about the roof and people who worried about the preaching and people who worried about the people who worried. It some ways comparing then and now is like comparing organized religion in differnent faiths – there are obvious differences, but some obvious common experiences if you bother to encounter one another.

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6. 

   chris

   04/04/2013

   My church experience is more or less all rural/small town, and over the years in the same parish it has varied. A few years ago we were threatened with closure because of building problems and falling numbers; today we’re about to vacate the premises for several months to allow radical building repairs to take place. The congregation has more than doubled in weekly size, and the children we used to fret about not having are a lively bunch at the back of the church. They won’t stay for ever, because this is a town young people leave to further their education, but their parents are the vital growth area along with the lively retired who move here. I was once a young parent, and now I’m one of the retired cohort – but the laity are involved at every level, from administering the Reserved Sacrament to preaching to leading Intercessions to … to … We are fortunate in having an energetic priest who provides confident leadership, and an ethos that allows for a real depth of spiritual growth as well as a great deal of fun. I have visited churches which resembled the one so brutally described in the Spectator, and suspect we may sometimes have seemed like that ourselves – but there has always been a flicker of something else, an unpredictability, a sense of walking on the edge that has kept me at least going .

   Does that lead anywhere? Does it help to say that the congregation pulled itself together *before* the present incumbent was appointed, realised what had to be done and got on with doing it, with prayer and argument and tension and love? There were times when those of us in leadership positions felt like giving up. But I’m glad we didn’t.

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7. 

   justliz

   04/04/2013

   Ysenda should have come to Dunoon ….

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8. 

   Rosemary Hannah

   05/04/2013

   Jesus said sufficiently little about feeding the hungry that I feel slightly guilty focusing on it – though based on the totality of the Biblical faith I feel entitled to make it a serious concern.

   What makes a church live? I think the laity are very important – I too was part of a team which turned round another rural church and interestingly again in a vacancy – though somewhat earlier than Christine’s expereince. There was an element of luck. Some people blocking good things happened to leave (which would tie into Brown), and others wanting good things happened to move into the area. In each case, a key was being open to what was possible to improve worship in that place at that time. Not every church will be able to start with every thing.

   St Mary’s also benefits form happenstance, and I think we need to acknowledge that many failing churches suffer from the negative side of that. However, I failed to join two churches, although I was looking for a church to join. One appeared to be in the midst of desperate internal strife, and nobody cared enough about if I was there or not to have got my address and make freindly enquiries when I failed to turn up after a number of weeks. The other failed to keep me for any number of reasons, which I have already got into enough trouble for detailing in public, but which certainly included being at the time a depressing place to worship, where nobody sang.

   We can tackle non-singing. We can tackle dire sermons – we do not. Why?

   And forgive me – but I think some terribly well-intentioned people mistake their vocations and end up in positions in both laity and clergy for which they are not well suited, and I think that few get enough help of the right kind in discernment – a more helpful way of tackling this than ‘selection’.

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9. 

   Rosemary Hannah

   05/04/2013

   p.s. Bishops never run cathedrals – that is not their job. The people who do this are deans (in England) and provosts in Scotland. The

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   1. 

      Jaye Richards-Hill

      05/04/2013

      I was talking about a public stance from the diocese, like +Tartaglia gives for example. Whilst I take issue with many of his public utterances, he is a figure of authority when he speaks. Without wanting to bash our Bishop, I’d like to see him being more vocal on certain issues regarding social justice. I know he doesn’t run the Cathedral, but it is his seat, so to speak.

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10. 

    kelvin

    10/04/2013

    See also the discussion here: http://md.glasgow.anglican.org/2013/04/the-monday-article-78/

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