iSalvos

iSalvos is a great site and a healthy new venture.

http://isalvos.ning.com/

By creating a cyber corps, one immediate help to me here is that we can now invite people of all ages to make contact with The Salvation Army, either  local presence, and/or the net presence.   – That’s not intended as an attack on the older congregations, simply stating realities.  While almost all of the energy in mission is now incarnational, ie we go to where people are rather than inviting them to church, inviting people to gatherings can still be helpful. It’s not always appropriate to invite younger adults or young couples to a congregation if you know the culture of that congregation is way outside what they are used to, and if the congregation is so diminished it no longer has the resources to provide good discipleship, a regular Bible study or prayer group etc.  iSalvos has the potential to help a lot of soldiers to live missionally and faithfully, lit up by and conveying this life-giving charism.

Gorf_BR_repair_kit

 

Gorf_BR_repair_kit

Originally uploaded by Joey the Clown

If Christendom-shaped church is designed to make sheep rather than disciples focussed on mission, why bother with trying to bring renewal in traditional congregations? Why not let them die – the new forms will surely develop? I’m certainly learning to budget my time, but I’d bring a few points:

1. Fading and aging traditional congregations can adapt and learn new ways, they can go through renewal. Most don’t, but some do. When they do experience renewal and turn around from decline into new growth, it implies some adjustment at least has probably been made to the changing cultures of their neighbourhood.

2. The denominations may be the focus of alienation of those outside the church from Christianity, but renewal implies at least potential willingness to try to put right some of the failures of the past, if they are ‘dead’ they can’t take part in the process of rebuilding trust. There’s still a journey to be made.

3. The newer movements and streams may be growing like weeds, but they need to learn about church health and safety nets from those who have been on the journey of organised church for much longer than them.

4. We are in a transitional time, there are still people around who can connect more easily with a traditional denominated church than with a new movement or alternative. It’s appropriate at this time that the diversity of churches exists, and this gives us a golden opportunity to learn lessons of church unity, of warm ecumenical relationships and of making progress in regaining trust in the neighbourhood by how we model good relationships with one another.

Provided the main focus of our time is on being faithful to our main calling and vocation, it is not a waste of time to encourage those traditional congregations that are dying to experience renewal.  If God seems to be moving in a situation, our first responsibility is to go where the Holy Spirit leads so we can take part in it. What isn’t healthy is being trapped in a situation you cannot influence and cannot help, and where there is no prospect in sight of renewal. In that situation you have to put following Jesus first in the sense of making sure you are somewhere it’s possible to serve him.

In a situation where so very many of us are on the margins of the inherited churches, even when we are regularly attending, we need to help one another by listening and discerning together what God is saying.

Gateway

Gateway

Originally uploaded by perkriz

The last 2-3 weeks I’ve been thinking on this:

In previous posts I’ve identified some things that congregations undergoing renewal have in common, (quoting Dr J Pugh) and they are really pretty obvious when you think about it.

The leader needs to ‘lead from an ethical heart’, and be emotionally mature and well differentiated, the culture of the church needs to shift from being a control culture toward collaboration and consensus cultures. (Control freaks block renewal like nothing else.) The congregation of believers needs to use/keep a few familiar things or people (transitional objects) around which to navigate the chaos of change – it’s a bit like a child going into the care system taking their blanket and favourite toy with them. It provides a sense of continuity, security and identity through the stress of profound change. The leader needs to create an adequate holding environment, in other words communicate warmly with everyone, friend and foe, and make sure everyone knows they are held in their warm and positive regard. (The full thesis is available from Amazon, Fantasy Land Faith)

Nothing will happen without the grace of God and the movement of the Holy Spirit. So this is all so many words if the foundations of prayer and Biblical reflection are not in place.

The nuts and bolts are becoming more apparent to me here, looking around at different congregations. In the case of aging congregations here in the UK, they are:
- it takes the believers having faith that the tide can turn.
- it takes them to be willing to learn how to be missionaries in another culture, because younger adults live in a different culture here.
- it takes them to learn how to tolerate and lead in other styles of worship than the one they are used to, (possibly as well as continuing what they are used to for a time, as the older generation need nourishment too.)
- it takes them to be very, very persistent in how they are going to communicate the gospel. (For example, if they are going to run Alpha they need to do it well and relentlessly, year after year).

By the grace of God, renewal in aging congregations is possible.

Missional Order

Why am I convinced missional order is the only direction for Salvationists to take together in the UK?

I learned from my experience with the Franciscan Order that this kind of covenanted community life has the potential to offer absolutely cracking discipleship, spiritual formation, mission team opportunities, vocational discernment and development, mentoring while you work out your vocation in whatever field you are called to, spiritual accompaniment with a Spiritual Director, training that’s broad and deep, participation in learning communities, reciprocal as well as some minimal hierarchical accountability, and above all else the framework of a covenanted life.

These things don’t happen to sheep. They don’t happen in clergy obsesssed, Christendom-shaped churches that warehouse believers.  Let’s have a future.

In faith

When it seems overwhelming to be faced with the challenge of being a blessing to a church in such a state of decline as exists in much of the UK, I find it helps to look into the future, picturing the people of God here thriving and praising God twenty years from now, and fifty years from now – and I try to aim that everything I do work toward that great blessing that God has in store for his people, for he is a God who loves to bless us and who has made big promises.   Everyone needs to be involved in this, young and old, now,  in faith.

Acts 3.25And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your ancestors. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’

Short break

The demands on my time are difficult to manage at the moment as I’m trying to finish my degree while searching for work – as well as all the various things I’m involved with locally, both voluntary and faith community related work. I need to take a short break from blogging, I will continue to update and interact on Facebook as usual.