Mission of the Church

MISSION OF THE CHURCH

(Preached July 2011)

Three quotations:

The first, 'It is too late to try and save a failing church.'

The second, 'The Church as it now stands no human power can save.'

And finally, 'The Church of England today is in a more critical and perilous position than at any period in the last two centuries. We are in rough waters, and whether or not we will weather the storm remains to be seen.'

These three quotations do not come from newspaper journalists. They come from two bishops and one headmaster.

The first, 'It is too late to try and save a failing church', was Bishop Butler's excuse, in 1747, for declining the Archbishopric of Canterbury.

The second, 'The church as it now stands no human power can save", comes from Thomas Arnold in 1832, who was headmaster of Rugby School.

And the final quotation, 'The Church of England today is in a more critical and perilous position than at any time in the last two centuries. We are in rough waters, and whether or not we will weather the storm remains to be seen,' comes from Bishop Ryle of Liverpool in 1880.

You will doubtlessly have noticed that none of these three quotations were written recently. In fact they were written between 130 and 270 years ago. And yet the Church of England is still here!

I mention this because once again the gloom merchants have been busy in the General Synod, meeting in York two weeks ago, and have provided the press with some negative headlines to sap away at the morale of church members.

The Reverend Doctor Patrick Richmond, a clergyman from Norfolk, suggested that the Church of England would probably not exist in twenty years’ time. He based his prediction upon the average age of parishioners, which is 61 years, and suggested that the congregations will start falling through the floor in 2020.

Now, before you get too depressed, it is good to be reminded that the prediction of the death of the church is nothing new, as the three quotations from Bishop Butler, headmaster Thomas Arnold and Bishop Ryle remind us.

However, perhaps the forecast of Dr Richmond is a timely reminder that the church needs to change course.

At the risk of over simplifying the situation, I would suggest that the church over the past sixty years has been meditating upon its navel.

When one considers the major items of discussion, you will note that it has been very inward looking. I am thinking of the revision of Canon Law, plans for Church unity, the introduction of synodical government, the endless revisions of services, the place of women in the church's ministry, pastoral reorganisation, the reorganisation of the church's finances and the conditions of service for the clergy. All these are inward looking with a view to enabling the church's mission. Perhaps the one ray of light was Faith in the City.

And whilst the church has pursued an inward looking agenda, the number of worshippers and clergy has declined, whilst the number of Bishops, Archdeacons and specialist clergy has increased, with a view, we are told, to enabling the fewer clergy in their ministry. Like the NHS, the church has become top heavy and more and more bureaucratic which has become a drain on the meagre parish finances,

So perhaps, Dr Richmond's prediction is a timely reminder.

An answer to the situation was also put forward at General Synod by the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, the Rt. Revd Paul Butler, who suggested that the church should engage upon a National Mission Strategy, and that dioceses, deaneries and parishes should undertake Mission Action Plans. This was carried.

The danger here is that the church can become even more inward looking, by producing more reports, holding more meetings and employing more specialist clergy, in order to enable such Action Plans to be produced.

At the risk of echoing the Conservative party, I do question whether we need more top down initiatives. Surely any action should be localised, based upon what God is already initiating in each locality, if only we had the eyes to see. After all, mission begins with an invitation from God, in the same way as he, through Jesus, invited the early disciples to follow.

It also involves a change of attitude of each member of the church.

Let me illustrate what I mean by reference to my holiday in the South West, last year. On a Sunday in September, Joyce and I found ourselves in an evangelical church observing 'Back to Church Sunday'. This is an initiative to encourage members of the congregation to invite a guest, and especially lapsed church members of the church, to come and experience the church of today.

The service was simple, easy to follow, relaxed and user friendly. Visitors were made very welcome by the Vicar and by enthusiastic smiling parishioners. After the service, Joyce and I went into the adjacent parish room for coffee. I suggested that we stood in the centre of the room so that we could be clearly seen. And do you know, not one person acknowledged our presence!

Hence I say, there has to be a major change of attitude on the part of many church members.

And the source of that change is the regular worship of God. The church exists primarily to offer worship to God - to express his worth in our lives. Only the best can ever be good enough for God. This involves the selection and singing of hymns, the reading of scripture, the preaching of the Gospel, the leading of the prayers, and so on. Only the best can express our worship. And that places an awesome responsibility upon those who lead worship, that it be done with dignity, as befitting the occasion, so that the hearts and minds of those who worship, are lifted up from earth to heaven where we catch a glimpse of the mystery of God. It is 'Almighty' God whom we worship and not 'all matey' God!

And as we offer our worship, Sunday by Sunday, so we will find ourselves being slowly changed, reshaped, remoulded, just as a rock is slowly changed, reshaped or remoulded by the continual flow of water in a stream.

It is those changed lives which can become agents of God's continuous mission in the world, as others are attracted and want to know the secret. In other words, we can become advertisements for God, just as the saints of long ago.

I often think that the most important words of the Eucharist are the dismissal, where the priest says, 'Go in peace, to love and serve the Lord'. In other words, go out now, having renewed your vision through the words of Scripture and the sermon, and having been refreshed through the eating of the bread and drinking of the wine, being the body and blood of Christ himself, to be Christ in the world. To reveal, through your words and actions, the continuous invitation of the risen Christ to follow him.

So, my friends, do not let yourself become depressed by the gloom merchants, such as Bishop Butler, Headmaster Arnold and Bishop Ryle of the past, or even the Reverend Doctor Richmond of the present..

The church is still here, and will be here in the future, because it is God's church.

However, the church of the future may well look different from the church of today, in the same way as the church of today looks different from the church of the past.

In the meantime, we must be prepared to allow ourselves to be changed by God, so that we may become agents of his continuous mission to the world of today and tomorrow.