The minister writes… (from our October 2023 newsletter)
Where are we heading?
Where is God leading us?
These are a couple of important questions that we need to ask ourselves as a church. To be honest, they are the kind of questions we should be asking on a regular basis, but we all get caught up in the busyness of ‘doing’ and it can be hard to find the time to just pause and ask:
‘Lord, are we still walking the path you have planned for us?
Is our vision the same as yours?
What would you have us keep doing?
What might you want us to set aside?’
We know that the Church in this country (indeed in the West generally) is struggling. Struggling to stay relevant to the communities around it. Struggling with declining numbers and ageing congregations so that finding people to do the jobs that need doing becomes increasingly difficult. Struggling to be outward-looking and not inwardly focused.
We know that God is not irrelevant and that the message of his love in Jesus is timeless and one that needs to be heard more than ever before.
That IS the Missio Dei but how can we be a part of his mission when we have limited resources and our efforts are occupied with just sustaining the status quo….?
There are churches that buck this trend of decline.
What is it that they do that other churches don’t?
Is there something we could learn from them?
What excites us about our faith?
What is so important to us that we want to share it?
Is God ‘right up there’ in that list?
Since it is difficult to find the time and opportunity to get together to discuss these questions and to pray about them, I have organised that I will be with you twice during October – once at the beginning and once at the end of the month. My grateful thanks to Revd Mike Thomason who has offered to take the Communion service (15th October) which frees me up to do something a little bit different during those services.
Don’t worry, they will still be acts of worship. We will still have Bible readings, we will still sing and we will definitely pray. What I hope we will also do is give some space for God to speak, that we will talk with each other and listen to each other’s ideas.
I believe it will make a great deal of difference to the fruit that will come from those services if we have prayed about them beforehand. Whether you are able to be there for both services, for one or even none, your prayers are essential. Please pray that God will speak to each of us. Pray that we may discern his path for us as a church and that he will provide the resources we need to follow it. Pray that he will give us wisdom, courage (that’s important – especially if we have to change anything!) faith and strength.
The faith of Christians before us built our church. Over the years it has grown and prospered and been blessed. Maybe the ‘glory days’ are behind us but that doesn’t mean God has finished with Sandhurst & Yateley Methodist Church yet! However, remember Psalm 127 v. 1: ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, they who labour in vain who build it.’
Let us ensure that all that we do, all that we labour for, yearn for, pray for, has God at its very heart.
In prayer and blessing,
Sharon