Scraping away the old reveals the inner life

Our church is so beautiful now it is refreshing to worship in it!  We are warm, wrapped in beauty, welcoming and worshiping so well, Praise the Lord!

Now that the re-decorating of the church building is completed, I am anxious that we re-decorate the life of the real church, the people in it!  This doesn’t mean that I want all the women to start wearing hats to church, (although I personally bemoan the fact that women no longer do that, as I like the colour and the personality expressed by hats!) but it means that we now should re-examine what the work of the church is.

We say each Sunday that we are “the body of Christ” so we should look at what that means.  Bishop Andrew has given each parish a MAP, which is short for a “Mission Action Plan”, and I want to challenge the congregation to begin taking this seriously.

The four sections of the MAP are, Teach the Faith: Grow the Congregation: Increase Giving and Serve the Community.

TEACH THE FAITH.  This is a fundamental aspect of our work.  We need to make it possible for people to know what we believe. It seems to me that we do not make a very serious attempt at this.  I have offered Bible Studies on a number of occasions, but apart from the small number of regulars on Tuesday mornings, they have not been taken up. There may be reasons for this, but no one has given me any! I have offered discussions about problems in the church, no response! Maybe what is needed is a systematic, theological discussion/teaching spot, but….  So how can we deepen our knowledge of the faith? Suggestions please.

I am also worried that we do not have anyone doing RE in the schools; we are unable to run a Kids Club or similar to search out and teach our children.  Someone must be concerned about the future of the church. We need to look out the right people and pray that they may respond!

GROW THE CONGREGATION.  We have begun doing something about this, but we need to have more enthusiastic ideas. We have begun a “Golden Oldies” outreach, but we also need a “Silver Middles” outreach as well! We need to think creatively about the younger generation with families.  I am worried that we are not really welcoming to those with children, nor are we making it possible to include them in the services of worship. If we don’t, we have a dismal future in our parish.

INCREASE GIVING.  In the past we have relied on the fact that we have a good basis in our Trust Funds.  What has been of concern for many is the wrong use of these funds.  The fact is, that they have topped up the income from the plate and the envelopes to enable the parish to stay afloat.  Without the valiant effort of a few very energetic fund-raising people we would be in dire straits. However, it is not really fair that the majority should sit back and allow a few to work so hard raising funds when with a more realistic approach to our giving we could have the regular income needed to pay for the costs of Ministry.  We have re-arranged the finances so that we know what is required for Ministry, Maintenance and Mission, and we now know that it is inadequate.

SERVING THE COMMMUNITY.  Our work in Ray M Begg has now settled into a regular pattern.  The small team is working together and the regular attenders value our presence. We now need to settle into the same regular pattern at the Thomas Hogan Wing as there are a number of Anglican folk there needing our friendship. I would like to see the Mothers’ Union re-established as there is a very real need for ministry to young mothers, especially single mothers.  There is a valuable ministry waiting for someone in ministering to those who bring babies for Baptism. A Men’s Group would make a good contribution.   An extension of the “Thank God it’s Friday” program, and many other ides would make a good start in this direction. But unless someone sees the possibility we will not have such ideas put into practice.

Finally, our parish can be re-decorated by every one being involved in some way.  Please think about what God has given you and what you have received from the ministry of the church in times past.

We have been very good about fund-raising, let’s now concentrate on using the gifts of the Spirit to make our church life as beautiful as our church building!

Let’s scrape away the old paint and reveal the inner life which God has blessed, and use our hidden talents for his Glory.