|
|
|
Catching the vision of God’s tomorrow Unpacking the vision statement
(If your church is having
difficulty with the first question on the all-church questionnaire,
please see the note in
It is our goal to become a vibrant and sustainable Christian community in the next ten years.
We are called by God to be a church which is centred upon the gospel and the proclamation of its message of freedom and justice. In communities throughout our nations we are called to be diverse and lively, inclusive and flexible, as we strive to share the gospel in ways which are relevant to to-day's world. We will seek, visibly and recognizably, to make a difference to our communities and our society, in the name of Jesus Christ.
Achieving that goal will require sacrifices and pruning. We have considerable resources - but we must use them in a more focussed way. We can still attempt great things for God but we cannot do all things. Hard choices will have to be made at every level of the church's life.
Our choices will ensure that power is released to the places where the work of mission is done. We will become less bureaucratic, more ecumenically focussed, and develop the potential of lay leadership.
Working together we can, by the grace of God, be a church that is excited by the gospel and equipped for mission in the name of Jesus Christ.
A vision statement is necessarily short and to the point. It does not waste words. In the statement we have tried to re-present to the church what we think we have heard the church saying to us through conversation, letter and e-mail. We think we have heard a remarkable convergence about the need for change and a renewed commitment to live the Christian life in a way that makes a difference in the world for God’s sake. The transforming message of God’s love and longing as recorded in Scripture and made flesh in Mary’s child is at loose amongst us. This paper is offered to the round of Church Meetings in January as a guide to some of the critical issues that underlie the vision statement.
Called by God...centred on the proclamation of freedom and justice The church is not like a chain of supermarkets, and it cannot be managed like one. That is because the church derives from its relationship with Christ. It is the company of those called to be 'in Christ'. That is to say, it is inextricably caught up in the very life of the Trinity, and in the purposes of God which precede creation and will continue after time has concluded its work. Its primary task is therefore to be focussed on God, to praise and worship God, to hear God’s Word and to let that Word loose in the world. To speak of ‘the gospel’ is to invite a theological debate about the nature of God's love and purposes, and also to encounter the wide variety of theological interpretations that exist within our fellowship. However, we believe passionately that life with God-in-Christ makes a difference. We see that difference as people and communities are set free to become what God wants them to be, and in witness to God's alternative kingdom, known and proclaimed in Jesus Christ. To proclaim the gospel is to promote God's 'different' way of life, and to try and live those priorities rather than acquiesce to a consumerist agenda. What are those priorities in your community, and in your church?
Diverse and lively, inclusive and flexible.
The URC is a broad church. It holds together very different styles of worship, theology and discipleship. This is a cause for celebration, for God has given us a wonderfully diverse world to enjoy. We wish to be inclusive, for Jesus welcomes all who confess that he is Lord into his kingdom, and there is an open door for seekers after truth. That means rejoicing in the rich mix of ethnic cultures that is such a notable part of British life, particularly in our larger towns and cities, and seeking to ensure that that richness is reflected in our own life as a church.
We believe we must be flexible. We live in a rapidly changing culture. New forms of being church and being Christian are emerging in some contexts as Christians grapple with the meaning of 'mission' in their context, some free from the chains of a building and the confines of Sunday.
We are living in a time of varied experiment in church life. Many ways are being explored to re-connect churches with their communities. Listening to communities results in all kinds of experiment in service, and sometimes in the form of 'organised' church life. Café churches, pub churches, network churches, cell churches, and other different forms of church and being Christian are coming into being. Some will survive, others will not. That is not to say that traditional church is dead. There are many examples of vibrant traditional churches. However, the need for a 'mixed economy' is apparent. The question for the URC is how to encourage and keep accountable new forms of mission engagement.
Visibly and recognisably making a difference
The gospel is about an encounter with Jesus that leads to transformation. Lives can be turned upside down. Social and economic structures can also be altered - Commitment for Life is a good example from our own discipleship. When we work together we can make a difference. One question before the URC is whether we wish to be more focused and disciplined about that. We welcome comments.
Sacrifices and pruning
Mission Council's sanctioned this process because it believed that God still has work for us to do. Part of the response to that feeling of call was realism. The Churches Information for Mission Church Life profile shows that the age structure of our congregations means that we shall be half the size we are now in about 20 years thanks to simple demography.. It is not that we are not making new members – we are. It is simply that our age profile means that we are losing more members through natural causes than we are making. That is why our membership is declining steadily at roughly 3% per annum Equally, balancing our M & M budget becomes more difficult every year as rising costs have to be met by fewer and older people. We cannot continue as we are.
We have commissioned a great deal of research into the amount it costs to run the United Reformed Church at every level. We have not finished that work yet, but it will (we hope) be ready for Assembly. That means that we will know for the first time precisely where we are investing resources. That information will then allow us to make judgements about how we want to use our resources in the future. We have no pre-determined plans about that. We simply wish to say that we cannot go on doing all that we do now because (unless giving increases considerably) we cannot afford it. Some things which we hold precious and dear will have to be sacrificed. We therefore:
Cannot do all things
But, we can still attempt great things for God. We do now. There are remarkable stories that could be told of churches and programmes making real differences to the community, of Jesus being celebrated and known. The question that we will have to face is how we use our resources of people, buildings, money, ideas and time. Do we spread them thinly like jam, or do we concentrate them? Once again, we have no pre-determined answers. We simply remind the church that there are:
Hard choices
We have a bad record about making hard decisions. Sentiment encourages us to maintain the status quo at all costs. Shutting down things that we no longer need (whether buildings, communities or programmes), or re-deploying much cherished resources (eg. selling a little used building to finance a piece of mission ten miles away), is not our forte. We place the church on notice that these choices will have to be made in the next few years. There will be no evading them. And we emphasise that we do not have a hit-list (despite the rumours!). It will be for the whole church to decide.
Power released to places where mission is done
All our correspondents agree that we are top-heavy with councils and administration. Needless to say there is no agreement about what should be done about it! We are convinced that power needs to be released to places where mission is done. That raises the question of what 'mission' is, and how we identify places where it is happening, and how we create mechanisms to release resources to those places. In many cases (but by no means all) they will be local churches. In other instances, the mission of the church is best advanced by regional or national focuses - for example, trade justice campaigns, or the support of refugees. We are a connexional church, made up of councils and we are church in all of those ways, not just in the local church meeting.
Less bureaucratic
Those who created the URC offered us a remarkably flexible structure. They did not intend it to be set in concrete. In almost every Synod plans are afoot to change the number and nature of our councils. In the course of the next year we will be pursuing the question of governance, with a view to bringing proposals to the 2005 Assembly. A leaner and more efficient structure is essential if we are to have sufficient fleetness of foot in the future.
More ecumenically focussed
We do not waver in our commitment to unity both locally and in the church catholic. It is our defining characteristic. We are putting in place ways of working ever more closely with our partners, particularly with our friends in the Methodist Church with whom we already share so much.
Develop the potential of lay leadership
Future patterns of church life will need to rely more heavily than they already do on various forms of partnership between the ordained or commissioned and lay leaders. We are well aware how well we are served by our elders, lay preachers, church secretaries and others. We need to think carefully together about how lay leadership can be developed across the church.
May God be with you in your thinking and praying. We look forward to hearing from you.
The Steering Group
|
