Introduction
What is the vision?
1.
‘….transformed by the gospel
announcing good
news to the poor,
proclaiming
freedom for those in prisons of wealth, poverty, disease and disorder,
committed to
making a difference
to the world’s
kingdoms
as we live
Christ’s kingdom..
(Catch the Vision Prayer: Record of Assembly 2004 p
52)
A vision of a
people who have their eyes on God’s big picture…
A vision of a
people who want that big picture to change their lives and their world
through Christ’s power…
A vision of a
people who are truly church…
It’s not a new
vision…
It’s as old (and
ever new) as Pentecost….
It’s about God,
who has chosen to reconcile all things to himself in Christ…
It’s about God’s
astonishingly gracious invitation share in that mission…
It’s about being
channels of God’s peace, love, and difference-making…
It’s about being
‘wordly saints’, equipped by the Word, fed by bread and wine…
It’s about
bearing witness to the Christ who shows us God…
It is a path to God’s future which
leads…
-
Towards new
ways of being church and deeper engagement in mission
-
Towards a
slimmer, more rigorous organisation
-
Towards
renewed ecumenical commitment
-
Towards a new
spirituality for the 21st century
2. There are 1691
congregations in the United Reformed Church. Each is unique, for each
in its own context has its own unique blend of gifts and
opportunities. We rejoice that many are actively asking what their
vision is, and we know that the vision of the United Reformed Church
will not be fully seen until all those visions come together like pixels
in the creation of a digital photograph. Pixels are individual, yet they
belong to each other. Without that togetherness there would be no
picture. We are both responsible for, and accountable to, each other in
the gospel. We are quite literally, ‘together, making a difference for
Christ’s sake’. This report is about how we can build on that.
3. The question
is, how do we get there?
‘Blessed’, wrote
one of our correspondents, ‘are those who make the tea and set out the
tables for they enable the mission to be done.’ We make no apology for
the fact that much of what follows consists of detailed practical
proposals rather than grand statements of principle. We are wary of the
easy distinctions between ‘maintenance’ and ‘mission’, between ‘vision’
and ‘inheritance’, between ‘form’ and ‘function’. They are admirable in
textbooks, but in the messy world of reality, they are bundled up
together. If we are to get to ‘there’, we have to begin ‘here’. We need
spiritual bi-focals which allow us to keep our eyes on the big picture
of God’s kingdom whilst we are reading the ‘smaller’ picture of the
church and its maintenance.
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