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Moderator, Members of the Assembly

In moving resolution 14, I bring from Mission Council the report printed in Appendix 1 p.134. This is the most important business before this Assembly and I dare to say that nothing else in the next year should be allowed to distract us from a serious consideration of its analysis and its implications locally and for every other council of the church.

Part 1 (A Church at the Crossroads) faces squarely our decline in numbers. But it places these changes in the historical, ecumenical and contemporary contexts which make nonsense of our self image as the only shrinking church in the world. It touches on our failed attempts to respond to this decline in recent years and then argues the case that growth is not human achievement but God's gift. Finally it explores some definitions of mission and concludes by offering as a benchmark the Five Marks of Mission.

Part 2 (Towards a Mission Strategy) sets out a programme for the next three years, calling for changes, explorations and initiatives which in some measure respond to Part 1's analysis, which are tested by the Five Marks and which aim to balance our well known commitment as a United Church to the unity of all God's people, with a similar commitment to share in God's mission. The test of such commitment will be as the life of the local church is shaped by the Five Marks of Mission.

Moderator, I risk alienating all my colleagues on the staff, when I say to members of Assembly, if you only read one report in the book, read this.

The first half of the report is written back to front, at least, in the way we normally present serious matters. Rather than beginning by exploring our theology of mission, we face up to that deep and nagging anxiety which in different ways affects all of us: a shrinking church. There aren't many figures in the report. And let's not quibble over the accuracy of their detail. The downward trend from 1972 is clear: 1 member in 2. But that's not the only number which has gone down. 1 stipendiary minister in 3 and 1 church in 6. Note those differentials: 1 in 2, 1 in 3, 1 in 6. Some of our present problems stem less from the decline in membership than from these different rates of loss.

But the argument makes clear two very significant points. First, this decline did not begin with the union of Congregationalists and Presbyterians in 1972. They'd had their problems with decline long before that. For Congregationalists the seeds were sown before 1850. Read the historical summary and apply it to your own local church's history. Second, this numerical decline is affecting all our other partner churches in the United Kingdom and those who are familiar with church life in continental Europe could tell similar stories.

Not only then is the picture of decline much, much more complex than the false mantra that the URC is the fastest declining church in the west but the reasons, so far as they are understood, are also varied, different for different generations, and complex. Even where there is growth, whether in churches outside the mainstream or in our own local churches, there are questions, from historical and continent wide perspectives, as to whether these are temporary phenomena, or a shuffling of people's allegiances, or indeed the work of God's Spirit.

And that must be the foundation of all our thinking, that growth is God's gift. The New Testament emphasis is on our calling to be witnesses, which is not the same as planning for growth. When Jesus sent out the twelve, he warned them that they would not be welcomed everywhere. Preaching which is centred on the Cross does not always pack in the crowds. As Jesus knew well.

But if growth is God's gift and not to be achieved by our endeavours, does that mean that all we have to do is to lie back and think of heaven?

There's a powerful sermon story from the early church, recorded in Matthew's Gospel (14.22-33). Jesus goes to pray and leaves the disciples to cross the lake by boat at night. The waves were high and the wind against them. Then in the morning light Jesus came to them walking on the water. And to Peter he said come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water but he began to sink, so Jesus caught him by the hand and saved him.

Beginning in Genesis' first creation story and continuing through the Bible, the sea is the watery chaos, the emptiness of the unredeemed forces of nature, image of the powers of evil; water is all that is hostile to God's sovereignty. But Jesus walked on the water.

With that understanding of the meaning of water, a frequent image of the church in the New Testament is the boat. What is significant about this story is that Jesus is seen and met out there and his call to Peter is come. Leave the boat. These are pictures of mission: the church tossed about by the world's turbulence and hostility, yet a Christ, not on this occasion in the boat, but symbolising God's rule over creation, and calling us to follow. Jesus is already there, and, when the going gets tough, the conviction expressed by the early church is that Jesus will clasp our hand and save us. Mission is walking on the water with Jesus.

But so that we cannot hide behind the preacher's rhetoric, the report offers as a model in plain language the Five Marks of Mission.

• to proclaim the good news of the kingdom;
• to teach, baptise and nurture new believers;
• to respond to human need by loving service;
• to seek to transform unjust structures of society;
• to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, to sustain and renew the life of the earth.

(p.140 para 4.4).

If some feel that the picture of the church painted so far has been too negative, then Part 2 begins with a short section (5.1) which reminds us that we do have lively churches; we have many able and talented members; that in old and young, we have committed faithful people giving to God their best. In spite of all that's said in Part 1, mission is not something new for us. To some degree, a large number of our churches are missionary congregations. This programme issues a challenge to every local church to examine itself, using the Five Marks as a test; it's a challenge to share our insights and experiences with each other, to be ready to learn from others. Above all as individuals and as local churches, we are called to be more loving as disciples of Christ, more trusting in the leading of the Spirit and more obedient to God. It's not going for growth; it's growing up.

It may be argued that the weakness of Part 2 is that it is not primarily and directly about the local church. But that is its strength. Assembly cannot create a mission programme for our church at Bank Top, Bolton. Assembly can create programmes, challenge other councils and ask questions, but local churches have to decide on their own part in God's mission.

So the aim of the programme is very simple (p.141 para 6.1). We are to be a church as committed to share in God's mission as we claim to be committed to the unity of all God's people. And the test of such commitment will be as our local churches shape their lives according to the Five Marks.

This report is only the sound of the starting pistol in a long race. Part 2 takes seriously Part 1's analysis, and focuses on pivotal points where a significant change may trigger other improvements in our church life. Not all is new this year, for example, last year two building blocks were agreed by Assembly. One was our programme about belonging to the world church. What changes might come to a congregation whose vision is lifted from its own locality to the ends of the earth? Last year we also realised that in our dependence on our ministers for local leadership and stimulus, the church could well be held back, if in this rapidly changing world they were not supported by a programme of Continuing Ministerial Education.

The Report touches on some serious questions. The key one is directed to every local church: Is there, here in this place, a part for us in God's mission? But there is a particular challenge to our many small churches. 1 in 8 of our churches have 12 members or less. Now I have ministered to small churches. In some communities, however small, they are the biggest locally organised voluntary group, with more resources of committed people and premises, than anyone else in the neighbourhood. Some of them, as worshipping communities and as participants in God's mission, have a great deal to teach much larger churches. But we also know many small churches that merely tick over and miss the ecumenical or even united reformed opportunity to collaborate in a more effective way. And we must not forget the image presented to the community of an outdated church, its empty pews eloquently speaking to a secular age of deadwood in the body of Christ.

There's a question too about our many-layered councils. With the creation of local group pastorates it has to be asked whether or not the necessary functions of the district council could not be carried there?

There's even the question as to whether or not our whole ministry and mission financial system, in the way the payment of ministers works, is not loaded against mission, because essentially it has a conservative and not a dynamic mechanism.

Again and again we argue for new initiatives. We believe in planting – but for there to be growth, we have to prune as well. But whenever the suggestion is made that some church, or part of the church, has completed its work and should be closed or its use ended – the fallout is heavy.

There is much else beside but I want to focus on two major points. Evangelism is not everyone's favourite word; so much is it associated for some, with unacceptable methods and narrow theology. In the past, we've ducked the issue, believing that if we leave our church doors open, create within an atmosphere of warm spirituality (Forsyth), people who drift in and settle, will catch the faith. The facts are that not so many drift in and, increasingly, the concept that faith is caught not taught, is seen to be an evasion of our Christian responsibility. This is not to argue for big campaigns or for buttonholing rather than for listening. But the inadequacy of many of us, in putting into words what we believe, and our inability to gossip the Gospel is a denial of our discipleship. And in these times, words alone are not enough. In the past our traditions have been good at faith in action, as if people would deduce the Gospel from the deed. Now, to be credible, in an age of ignorance about Christianity, we must speak as well as act; we must witness in deed and word. The challenge to ministers is to create a safe environment within the church, where all can practise our expressions of faith and share our experiences and grow together for the sake of those outside.

Much of our congregational action has been in serving the community in our neighbourhoods. We are very good at that. I find it astonishing that throughout our life as a church, we've never attempted, in a formal way, to learn from each other, to challenge each other, to develop policy together. Read Appendix B carefully. But evangelism and concern for the community belong together – a local church must witness in word and deed as much as the individual follower of Jesus.

Moderator, all this is spelled out in greater detail in the report, and much else. The resolution not only accepts the mission programme but strongly commends it to local churches, district councils and synods. I'm glad, even before Assembly has agreed the resolution, to have heard of local churches and synod meetings discussing it.

It will kill this initiative stone dead, if we treat the report as holy writ. Part 1 should stimulate honest thinking on decline and an understanding of mission that will unite us. The Five Marks are a challenge to every local church. The opportunities for the local church flagged up in Part 2 should emerge in our life from a variety of initiatives from: individuals, ministers, training officers, committees, councils, articles, not from the bare summary in this paper.

To conclude, Moderator, what is offered in this programme is but the first step in a change of direction. It is towards a strategy for mission. It begins with an honest facing of the reality of where we are and a reminder that mission is risky. It's walking on the water, but that's our calling and faith is putting our hand in the hand of our Lord as we step out.

Let me repeat, this is a sobering report with a sober programme. We need to stick at the essentials of church life and of discipleship but do them better. It's taking the good things some churches do and challenging all our churches to learn from their experience. Above all its about the greater commitment to God of every member.

This might seem a wimpish conclusion and it might not be a popular one either. Well, it was a similar message that Jeremiah gave to the exiles in Babylon (29. 1-14). Other prophets offered dreams and visions, but Jeremiah said just be normal, build houses, plant gardens, and marry. As for plans, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare ….. to give you a future with hope.

Moderator, we may be exiled from our days of strength, we may be a remnant of a once large company but, as the Old Testament teaches, God looks for faithfulness not triumphalism. And when we turn the pages of the book, the beckoning figure of Jesus is seen – not saying grow but come, follow me. If we do that then, with God, we are a church which has a future with hope.