APCM 26th April 2010 - The Vicar's Remarks

There’s a lot to look back on, and many people to thank. As last year, we have welcomed several new people, and said goodbye to others who have moved away; and sadly others have died. We have been busy this year - thank you to all those who are involved in so many ways. We’ve also been joined by Dan and Natalie, who have made a tremendous difference even in the short time they have been among us. Overall, it must be said that much of the progress has still been below the surface. There has been some important ‘housekeeping’ to do on the way we we work as an organisation, so that we can function better as a church family. So, looking back, there is a great deal to thank the Lord for.

What we’re about

Looking ahead, let us remind ourselves of what we’re about: our ‘core business’. Our summary mission statement is to Reach, Build and Send:

• Reach Wembdon & Bridgwater for Christ
• Build strong believers, rooted in the Scriptures and mature in Christ
• Send workers into God’s world, be it the workplace, or be it the wider world.

Reach

One of the ways we have tried to think about Reaching is in terms of providing ‘Stepping Stones’ as shown in the diagram. From left to right we plot how well we know people: STRONG means those we know well, and WEAK is those we know little. Then from bottom to top is how clearly we are able to talk about God with them: at the bottom is not at all (LITTLE), and at the top it’s straightforward (LOTS).

Relational evangelism means sharing the gospel with people we have come to know. In other words we are aiming to work in the top right-hand corner. Of course it’s a huge leap from the bottom left-hand corner to the top right-hand corner, and we rightly feel daunted at trying to help a friend make the transition in one leap. A better approach is to break this journey down into smaller steps, with ‘stepping stones’ along the way.

This is where Passion for Life has been so helpful: the pattern is to have relationship-building activities (like the walks, or the Village history); some moderately Christian meetings (like the Fiona Castle evening), and then other where there is more direct Christian teaching (like the Passion for Life main events with Mike Cain). We want to carry on with this way of working, so that ‘Passion for Life’ gives way to ‘Pattern for Life’.

Two important points need to be made here: first, this is something we are all involved in. It’s not something The Church does for you (let alone to you). The Church’s role is to organise events that might help individuals build relationships and make connections, so that we’re not working on our own. The second point is that whatever, under God, we set out to do, the Lord may have other ideas of what we actually do! Remember Proverbs 16:9 : “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”

Build

We are to Build one another up because Jesus commanded his disciples to make disciples (Matthew 28:19 ), not just converts. There are many aspects to this, but for the moment let’s focus on Church attendance. There’s more to discipleship than church attendance, but little will grow without us meeting together.

We can make a good estimate of our age spread by using the Church Prayer Diary, and the results would look like this:

Notice:

• There is a good spread of ages. Each decade is represented. That’s something to thank God for,and never to take for granted!
• There are a lot of children. 50 children to 150 adults is unsually high (25%). Again, that is cause for thanksgiving! That is why Sonseekers is, rightly, such a demand on our resources - we have such massive opportunities. A closer look at the children’s ages shows a big bunch of under 4’s (and lots of girls among them!). Again, this is wonderful. It’s early warning that as they grow up (and if, God willing, they stick with us), the Sonseekers work will have to grow with them.(Hence the strap-line for our youth and children’development strategy: ‘from the Bottom Up and the Inside Out’).

Adult Church Attendance

What about adult church attendance? It would be good to aim at increasing this. Let’s say we aim (and pray) for an increase from a Sunday morning average to 100 to 110 (remember this is from a membership of 150). We need to note that simply increasing attendance on its own is not church growth.

Our aim must be to increase the number of regulars. We will do this by:

• Increasing the number of regulars (by helping visitors return), and
• Increasing the frequency with which regulars come to church (from once a month to twice, from twice a month to three times and so on). That is why we need to keep giving attention to the quality of our Sunday meetings, to get them better and better.

Send

We are built so that we can go out and serve. So we reach and build in order to send. There are two main parts to this:

• Mission Partnerships
• Every Christian is ‘sent’.

Mission Partnerships

We have six Mission Partners: SWEEPS, Carlos Odora, Opendoors, Tearfund (Sarah Dellor), Ebenezer (Alison Cross) ect. We review these annually, and this process is now under way for 2010. (Please pass any comments or feedback to Tod Merson before 16th May). We should carry out the review in the May and June PCC meetings. If this results in any change, this will take effect from 1st January 2011 so that mission partners have a good amount of notice.

Every Member Is Sent

Of course it’s not only ‘Missionaries’ who are sent. Every one of us is sent into some place: work, community, school, neighbourhood. The church does not have simply two-and-a-half ministers (Ed, Dan and Andrew): it has 150 ministers (the regulars: we could add the youth too). Each of us is the church to the people we meet - often people whom no other Christian can reach.

That’s an overview of what we’re aiming to do in general terms, as far as our;‘mission’. It’s a privilege to be involved in this work - together with each other, and together with God:“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:3-6 NIV)

Ed Moll. April 2010