May 2008

Dear Friends,

Vision4Life - TRANSFORMING THE URC

As part of the United Reformed Church we have been involved in a process over the last few years called Catch the Vision, which has been about renewing the life and structures of the Church.  This process now enters a crucial stage which some of us have been waiting for longingly – the stage called Vision4Life.  You might say it's about moving beyond structures to the nitty-gritty of renewing the spiritual life of the United Reformed Church. It's not only about personal renewal, however; significantly, it's about drawing the whole of the Church into a renewed and shared engagement with the Bible, prayer and evangelism.

Vision4Life arose out of conversations between people from across the UK and the whole theological spectrum in the United Reformed Church.  They found a new excitement about approaches to the Bible, praying together and sharing their faith stories and found the experience enormously enriching.

 They felt their experience could and should be shared throughout the Church.  They could picture whole congregations developing their skills of storytelling, listening and conversation so as to connect the ancient texts with their situation and stimulate a new confidence in who we are and what we believe.  Might this be how our churches could renew their vision for life? Might people then use these skills to become a diverse, lively, responsive denomination, ready to speak, act and attract fresh generations of believers from a wide range of places?

Therefore each congregation is invited to set up conversations to explore 'the big picture' and their own local story about:

1.       the effectiveness of the Bible in their church;

2.       the role of prayer in the life of their church;

3.       how comfortable they are talking about their faith to each other and to outsiders. 

We are already very involved in the first of these conversations through our sessions on ‘Being Biblical’.  But it is important that we have conversations about the other areas.

After these conversations we will be in a position to decide whether to commit to developing our own 3-year programme of renewed engagement with the Bible, Prayer and Evangelism, using material and support from the Vision4Life process – a decision we will take in the autumn.

In order to proceed with this process Vision4Life will be introduced to the congregation as part of morning worship this month and on Thursday, 5^th June at 8pm we shall have a Vision4Life evening when we shall look at some of the material produced by the planning group. 

I hope that as many people as possible will be involved in this process.  It provides us with an opportunity to look at some of the basics of our faith and renew the life of the church. 

With love and prayers,

Russell J Furley-Smith

SUNDAY EVENINGS - BEING BIBLICAL

As many of you will be aware, there has been much prayerful discussion over recent months about Sunday evening worship.  At the January Church Meeting it was agreed to continue with weekly Sunday evening meetings organised by a small group in consultation with myself.  The meetings will sometimes be acts of worship, on other occasions there will discussion and Bible study.

As part of this new pattern we shall be undertaking a study of a recent URC publication, Being Biblical, written by Rev’d John Campbell who is currently principal of Northern College, Manchester.  His book challenges us to consider the place of the Bible in the church today: “Can we trust the Bible? Is it God’s instruction book for our lives? How, exactly, does it give us answers to ethical questions? The Church today faces huge questions about the Bible and how we uncover its meaning and message for our life together.”

Alongside the book, there is a study guide, containing six sessions based directly on the book as well as six Bible studies which put into practice the issues raised.

LETTER FROM THE MINISTER

April 2008

 Dear Friends,

It is easy for me as a minister to stand up and say that Christ is risen, that the world is a different place as a result and you could all say “Alleluia!” and then we'd all go on our way feeling good about everything. But at some point we have to work out what our Easter faith means in light of the real world, because the real world is not looking transformed. It is a place where evil and death seem to reign supreme and unchallenged much of the time. People plant bombs on buses carrying people to work. Politicians become dictators in some parts of the world and people don’t have enough to eat.  Relationships fall apart all across the globe and human beings are in danger of destroying the only home we have.

So what do we mean when we say Christ is risen and life is triumphing over death?  The message of Easter, and its public promotion, is dangerous and disruptive for the same reason that Jesus himself was dangerous and disruptive. It is because it violates and exposes so many of the accepted patterns of our world and our society, and those patterns have become the basis of so many little empires and power bases.   Jesus got himself into a lot of trouble because he challenged and undermined the accepted world view on which so many had built their monopolies and empires. They were not going to give them up without a fight, and that fight went as far as having Jesus set up on false charges and sentenced to death by torture.

The good news that we celebrate at Easter is that Jesus' radical message of freedom and transformation didn't end there. Just as the tomb couldn’t hold Jesus, so the prison couldn't hold Peter and John. So, as we attested this Easter, from our own experiences, Jesus Christ is alive, and continuing to set people free from all that would destroy them. Jesus Christ continues to be active in the world, undermining the strongholds of exploitation, degradation and injustice.

But as exciting as that news is, there is a scary side. The risen Christ stands among us now, as we read of him standing among his followers on the first Easter Sunday, and says, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  We are not permitted to stay locked in for ever. Jesus found the disciples locked away in a room together, sheltering from the world outside, and in the encounter he renewed their confidence and commissioned them for action. Of course, there is nothing wrong with us spending time together. God does want us to be together in sheltered spaces, seeking to deepen our intimacy with Christ, and to be transformed and empowered by him. If we are to be Christ's followers we need that.

But the risen Christ does not let us stay in this sheltered room the whole time. “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”  We are to go, to witness to the reality of new life, to witness to God's passion for justice and love, and to oppose everything that would destroy and degrade the beauty that God intended for the created world.

Out we go to make known the good news of God's all-inclusive love.  If we want to live up to our identity as God's children and as followers of Jesus then we must as a community take on his mantle and continue his mission.  Whether it be the Holiday Club or a coffee morning, these are signs of Christ alive and Christ active today.  May God bless all we do in his name.