Mark 1:14-20
In our first reading today we hear the call of Jesus of the very first disciples. It’s a reminder to us that we are all called to the church, but our second reading reminds us that we are called to different things.
The story in Acts describes a dispute that had arisen in the newly formed church. What began as a movement for Jewish people had now become a movement for all people and now non-Jewish (Gentile) people were part of the community. But there was the feeling that the support offered to widows in the church was really favouring the Jewish people and so this distribution of aid needed to be carefully managed. The complaint gets to the leaders, and they decide that though its an important job needing done – that another job is not what they can handle.
The first leaders got tore into the job of leading the new church, but they soon discovered the truth – they couldn’t do everything.
What was wrong with looking after the needs of the widows? Nothing. Except that they were already committed to doing so many other things. What they needed to do was to find other people take on these roles. If any leader or leaders try to do everything themselves their effectiveness will suffer.
The message is - concentrate on your main calling, and let others discover and concentrate on theirs.
So there is a wee story from the early days of the church and one of the issues they faced. Here we are sitting here in Glasgow in the latest days of the church and our challenges are different.
We are all living at a time of great change.
For hundreds of years we have been living in a period called the modern period, but now things are moving and something new is dawning. We haven’t got a name for it yet - so it’s simply called the post-modern world.
And in the post-modern world things are not the same. Things are certainly not the same for the church. In fact things are very, very different.
As we enter a new age the church is no longer at the centre of society,
...no longer respected and looked up to.
...no longer seen as important.
...no longer understood.
This is the new world we find ourselves in. How is the church responding to all this?
I think they are responding in one of three ways...
Denial.
Many churches aren’t responding at all!
They take the attitude - lets just keep going as before. Point out (if we can) that if numbers are going down we are not as bad as that other church down the road.
Don’t think of doing anything different – after all, you’ve got to think of who is still here - and keep your existing customers happy at all costs.
Don’t dwell on bad news.
Just float.
Accept that this is happening everywhere anyway and we are all in the same boat. Just become used to decline – become used to the fact that numbers are dropping. Accept that it’s the way things are, and we can’t do anything that will change it.
So there is one kind of church reaction in the face of the troubles the church faces. Denial.
And shockingly, I have to say, it is the response of most congregations.
Here is the second response.
Panic.
There are a few churches that take the challenges seriously. They look at the situation and they realise they have got to do something.
They decide on action!
But what action? More and more stuff. More activities, more programmes, more organisations and a demand for more and more time from members.
Any new ideas that seem to work somewhere else are appropriated.
The churches in this group are working so hard to make a difference. They deserve so much more credit than the first group of churches – but everyone is gonna be knackered!
There is no sense of purpose.
There is no sense of direction .
These churches are running around like headless chickens. Panic!
There is one more response that churches are taking. (Sadly it’s the least taken response).
But it’s the best thing that we can do.
Plan.
Some churches are taking time to really look at what they are doing. They take time to ask why, to ask what is working, and what is not working. And then they spend time looking to discover their calling from God.
God deals with us as individuals and I believe that God deals with each church group as an individual group. Just as all people are not the same all churches are not the same. And we are not meant to be either.
Just as we all need to look to God to discover our calling as individuals we need to do this as a group.
One thing that I have always found surprising throughout my whole life is the similarity between churches in terms of what they are doing. Worship may be quite different in style but basic church programmes and organisations seem to be almost identical wherever you look.
Most churches aspire to provide programmes for all ages. (In recent years of course many churches find that hard to sustain. But if they could still do it – they would.)
What studies have actually shown in both America and the UK, is that healthy churches – the ones that seem to grow - actually try a different approach. Instead of attempting to do everything and running themselves ragged they do a few things – but they do them well.
The other week I quoted the words of Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in America. I don’t agree with him on everything but what he says about church structure is worth hearing. He thinks the trouble with most churches is they try to do too much – especially if they are established churches.
This was something I have noticed for some time in studies carried out in America, but I recently came across a book written by another guy called Warren - Robert Warren who is a minister in the Church of England.
He was asked to help run a special conference organised to bring together reps from 30 churches in England that were doing something very unusual – they were growing.
A meeting was held to bring them together to see what it was that was the common factor. What they discovered at first was that finding a common factor wasn’t easy.
Some of them were in new communities some were in older ones.
Some were very evangelical – and some were very liberal.
Some had young ministers – but some had older ones.
Some were from the city – but some were very rural.
Some were in posh affluent areas - some were in areas of multiple deprivation.
Some were really big organisations – some were a lot smaller – yet they were all growing.
It took a bit of digging to discover some common features. But this one came out loud and clear. And it was the mark that for Robert Warren and his team, was the most unexpected.
These churches don’t try to do everything. They do a few things and they do them well.
He says they were:
“focused rather than frantic, able to leave some things undone, able to enjoy life and all that is, and to reflect on the value of what they are doing”.
(Robert Warren: The Healthy Churches Handbook p44)
How do these churches decide what these things are?
How do they decide what to leave out?
Or take up?
Well, they refuse to float around aimlessly repeating everything they have always done year in year out.
No denial, in other words.
These churches refuse to simply do the first thing that comes to them – exhausting everyone in the process by adding more and more ideas.
No panic, in other words.
Instead these churches spend time in reflection, discussion, analysis and prayer. They speak about this together and they ask God to guide them as to what they should be doing – now – in the place they are.
In other words – they plan.
And they build into their life regular opportunities to review what they are doing because they know that their calling may change over time.
Now all of this is exactly what we are doing right here at Langside.
We are embarked on a time of reflection and planning and there will be ways for everyone in our church to be involved in this process. And although the big news about Langside seems to be that we have lost our building and we are waiting on a new one, I think this process we have begun is actually even more exciting and far-reaching.
What lies ahead for us? What will we discover?
It may be that our church will discover that God is calling us to a very new and big and unlikely challenge, or, (as with individuals), it may be that God is simply calling us to do what we can do best – to use the gifts we have around us already.
A calling is always an individual thing.
If you decide your calling is to work with a particular charity,
or to visit people who are housebound,
or become a teacher,
or work in a homeless shelter - it doesn’t mean that you are better than anyone else.
In the same way, if our congregation ends up doing (a) and not (b), and if we spend more time on (x) and not (y) - and end up different from our neighbours down the road - it doesn’t mean that we are better than them or that they are better than us.
Each church needs to discover its own mission – its own sense of identity. And each church needs to ask God to continually guide their steps.
In our day, denial is no good.
Panic is not much better.
Asking God to help us plan and find our path is what all churches really need to be doing.
We have got our building project across the road. That’s the part of the church that everyone sees and talks about. As the minister I am always meeting people who ask me how are things going with the church. (You too may get some of that).
And of course people mean the building.
What is happening with that?
Now the building is not exactly unimportant. And it takes a wee bit of planning and decision-making on our part. And when we go in to our restored church building it will be very exciting.
But - listen to this - if we can cross that road again
with a new understanding of our mission,
with a clearer idea of our identity,
with a greater sense of what God is calling us to do and to be,
that will really be the most exciting part of all.