Working for the Good of our communities - Part 1

I was asked in a governors meeting the other day what our churches mission statement was.  I was relieved that on the spot I could say it "to be grace in the community to the glory of God."  The question is how are we being grace in the community.

Partially we do that every Sunday as we meet and proclaim the gospel, as we model the gospel to them in the way we care for one another and in the way grace overflows in our love for those in the community outside our fellowship.  We are grace in the community as we hold events and invite people in, as we cook and support and share.

But we also want to be grace in the community as we look to bring to the community basic things it needs in order to flourish.  The impact of Grace Church being in Hayfield ought to be obvious, there ought to be a hole in the life of the community if we were not there.  Hayfield ought to flourish because of the prayers, presence and purposeful service of God's people in their midst.

That is quite a challenge.  It got me thinking where can we encourage flourishing and well being where it doesn't exist?  Where can we serve and love and care?  How do we make that sustainable as a small church which is not either financially rich or people rich?

Those questions must drive me to God's word again and again and again.  People's greatest need is their eternal need, they need Jesus.  First and foremost the Bible ensures that I put that foundation in place, and keeps on bringing me back to that.  But it also encourages me to pray for God to send workers, partners, and prayers.  And that's prayer we want to make daily.

Why inviting people to church works.

As a church we're not flush with cash so any promotion of events we do tends to be low key, a few posters and some invitations for our folks to give to friends, neighbours and family.  Occasionally we'll leaflet drop the area we consider our parish, but that rarely seems to get results.  So much so that we didn't even do it for our Easter Service this year.

Yet for our Easter service we had over 60 visitors from the community we serve.  Visitors outnumbered regular church family which was a real answer to prayer.  Sunday School jumped from about 30 to 60+ and lots of families came to church for the first time and others returned having been at Christmas.

Why?  God works, first and foremost it was obviously God at work bringing people in.  But how did God work?  God worked through his people committed to, embedded in and caring for their community inviting people from that community to come to church.  The community see that the church is for them, both in terms of loving them well and welcoming them if they come along.  That melts away some of the barriers in terms of getting through the door.  The community have also experienced that the church loves their families, of all ages.

It wasn't a high glamour event, we don't really do those.  It was a simple Easter service followed by an Easter Egg hunt, followed by a BBQ.  Some families couldn't stay for the egg hunt and BBQ but came for the service anyway - which was a huge encouragement.  Others came and stayed for all of it.

Our prayer is that God is just beginning his work in the hearts and minds of these people.  But the lesson we've learnt is simple and in many ways not unexpected. God works through his people building relationships, caring for, and inviting others to come and see his goodness which they've glimpsed in his people.  A people not perfect but trying to relate to one another by grace as they live assured of God's love in Christ, praying for him to bring others to know that love and grace.

When is an invitation not an invitation?

I've been thinking about what it means to invite someone to church this week.  Partly because we've given out over 800 invites to our Christmas events and there have been some surprising responses.

Our default assumption is if I've given you an invite to something you are welcome at the event.  However, what we've been finding is that invites through a door aren't enough, in fact they don't seem to be taken as saying that at all.  Lots of people in the community have then messaged people in church to ask if they are "allowed to come".  Do you see the unspoken assumption in that question - general invites aren't for everyone even if you give them to everyone.  Whereas personally reassuring people that of course they are invited and not only are they allowed to come but that we'd love to see them works without question or confusion.

It makes me question again the value of flyering.  It proves the value of real face to face contact in our invitations so people can see the invitation and welcome in our actions and faces that you can't see in a flyer posted through a letter box.  A personal invite says I want you to come along.  Does that mean next year we need to knock on doors with the invitation, maybe, its certainly something we need to think about?

At the time when we celebrate God's incarnation, his coming to us personally with the greatest invite of all, I'm glad he didn't just post an invite through my door.  Perhaps its not so surprising that we need to invite people to celebrate the incarnation in the way God invited us, incarnate!

Creating a caring culture?

How do you create a caring culture?  How so you ensure that caring culture is caring towards all equally?  In Acts 6 we see one element of the early churches caring culture in its provision of food to widows, but we also see how imperfect this care is as some grumble that they are being overlooked.  The answer is a practical one as the fair distribution of care is sorted out by appointing a team to oversee this care of all.

Sometimes when we preach on the need for loving one another deeply or constantly we assume that the job is done, automatically people we start to love one another deeply.  We may even see cases of that happening in the church as we look.  But we need to ask; how even is it?  Are there people who are not being cared for?  Are there people who are missing out?

Primarily care in church happens as people invest in church and the relationships people find there.  So you are cared for as you go along on Sunday as the bible is taught and as people encourage you.  You are cared for in your small group or gospel group or whatever you call it as you go along and invest.  You are cared for in the toddler group or men's or women's bible study.  It doesn't happen automatically but as you access God's word to you and invest in others you grow and develop caring relationships.

But who do those groups leave out?  And how do we care for those who are outside of those groups in which care is easier?  How do we best care for those who opt out of those sorts of groups?

I'd love to know how others do this, what they've found works and what doesn't?

Do we dare to expose ourselves?

In preaching through 1 John there are a number of themes which keep on coming up again and again and again. One of them is the truth that those who have been loved by God in Christ and who know the God who is love as their Father will love others.  It is just natural - you've been loved, you are an adopted son because of the love of the one who is love therefore the family DNA will flow through you.  You will love the brothers and sisters just as your Father who is love loves them and loved you.

But John also brilliantly points us to some things which might stop or limit our love for others.  One of those things is seeing need.  Do we look at our brothers and sisters and look for needs which we can meet as we look for concrete ways in which we can love them?  But the flip side of that is do we allow others to see the needs there are in our lives?  Are we honest about our physical struggles, our spiritual struggles, our emotional struggles?  Do we dare expose ourselves and our hearts to our brothers and sisters?

We will dare to expose our hearts if we are convinced that they love us as God's children love one another.  Loving one another makes it safe to reveal our needs knowing that they will be met with loving acceptance and a compassion that will do what it can to meet them.

The real joy in preaching this theme in 1 John has been to see how that love has been taking shape in the church.  With Lucy being out of action for weeks we've experienced that love in real tangible ways - loads of meals prepared for us, flowers dropped off, cakes baked.  The house cleaned (more thoroughly than I think it has ever been done before!!!) for us.  It has been both humbling and thrilling to have had a need met with such love.  It is a joy to see the gospel at work and the church displaying it's DNA as it loves.

Does church short change believers?

I've begun re-reading Mark's gospel in preparation for preaching the second half of it in the Autumn.  As I read I came across familiar verses, "there is no-one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and the gospel, who will not receive a hundred fold now in this time... and in the ages to come eternal life."  I then ended up discussing just that very idea later in the day with someone else.  And it got me thinking, Jesus says those who count the cost and give up those things, specifically family, will be blessed with his family.  The church is God's means of fulfilling Jesus promise to those who pay that price.

That is a staggering statement, an amazing promise.  But are we failing in keeping it?  Are we short changing people who have given up to follow Jesus?  I remember a conversation with a friend of mine not long after he got married having been a single professional for a long time.  The biggest difference was all the invitations they as a couple had to come over for a meal which he had never received when he was single.  That testimony shows us a huge problem if that is replicated in the church.  We are not being God's family to those who have left family, or moved away from family, are estranged from family, or have no family.

Having someone round for a meal is not the answer, it is just symptomatic of the problem, though inviting a wider range of people would be a good start.  The bigger issue is to do with generosity and hospitality, with love and reshaping church to be family.  We need to reshape our picture of church and our very British values and view of our homes.  Our family is our church, that means we are to be doing life together, that means we should be in and out of each others homes, not just on special occasions but in the mundane.

This is especially vital with single people who may feel they are missing out on a family.  Invite them to share in family mealtimes, in family days out, in life.  As a family, as their church family be their brothers, sisters, and children.  Do the same for students, for the widowed, the elderly, the single, the teenager, and the divorced, in fact make that your norm no matter who its with.

Can you imagine the attractiveness of a church that rediscovers this call to be family?  The witness to the wonder of the gospel as people share with their non-believing friends the joys and struggles of their church family which they share in and where they are loved, welcomed, and valued.  The opportunities to grow in grace and love.  The strength of relationships and increase in possibilities to speak the truth in love to one another across societies normal boundaries.

Would it create a church with no narrowly defined specific need groups?  No singles ministry, no twenties and thirties group, no seniors bible study?  It may change that it may not, but it would certainly ensure that those groups didn't divide church.  That church was a big family rather than a collection of small families.

Jesus envisages church as a blessing, as a family, as inclusive and welcoming and loving.  Dare we allow the church to be anything less?