A new disciple?!
This coming Sunday will be the end of our 6-month focus on exploring new ways of being church. We met as a community last week and shared some of our insights and reflections on the journey. For some it has been so difficult they have chosen to stay away when we have been trying out new things and we spoke about that. For most people the exploration has shown us several key things about ourselves as a ready-made and formed community:
1. Those who were not regular Sunday churchgoers were more open to change than most of the regulars
2. We are friendly but not easily mixed together in worship with non-churchgoers.
3. If we are honest we do not expect the unexpected when we come together to worship
4. We don't want to rush into separating ourselves into little and very diverse groups but we don't know how to respond to what we shared
5. Gathering together with the Bible weekly apart from Sunday has become central again in our community. Those who do this have come to really miss it when it or they are not there.
6. In the different styles of worship we most enjoyed the 'Valuing Older People' and 'Feast' recreating together the feeding and sharing of the people with Jesus. For both of these we sat in the round and in small groups and for some the initial reaction was 'we won't like it' but these were very soon forgotten when we got on with worshipping differently.
7. Where do we go from here as traditional church and fresh expressions of church?
8. In sharing about ministry for mission over a 5 week course almost half of the congregation participated in these evenings with visits, input and reflection about mission and the churches response locally.
9. Communication of what we are doing and why is vital throughout to enable people to have power and share it
10. Personal responsibility worship is an area for further encouragement and work. We like others to be responsible for worship - music, sermon, setting out etc. However, we experienced that if some are part of that prep it changes us.
11. Being given choices about what to do link with personal responsibility. The regular non-churchgoers who worshipped together were much more happy about making choices and decisions for themselves within worship eg. making something, writing a prayer at the cafe-style worship than others. But at the 'Feast' with bread and grapes from around the world most regular churchgoers were excited at becoming part of the story. My reflection is that this is one of those stories which we are familiar with if we are churchgoers but that anyone can join in and share in different ways.
12. There is much to do in the area of bible reading and interpretation within our commuity and congregation - the perceptions, barriers, assumptions and methods we have. We are working on this in a focussed way and hope to see where all this takes us.
13. Honesty is really difficult when we don't want to offend but are also upset. Rather than speak about things some of us have removed ourselves from worship or different kinds of conversations about church life, change and interpreting what new ways may mean for the local 'solid' church. We are trying to speak the truth in love together whilst interpreting together the signs of the times locally. Honesty is a big commitment and we have been thinking that we are not always wild about it but that if we are continuing to create community then that will help us.
Being disciples means being teachable and open to new learning. In relation to God and the bible it is a given for me as a leader that I try and be that and nurture the kinds of approaches that do too.
So there is a little of our sharing. We are a mixed bunch and ask for your prayers as we continue to seek to respond to God around and amongst us and see where the Spirit leads us together.
