October 2008 letter
October 3, 2008 by Andrew
Together with the other clergy of the Diocese of Exeter, John, Dan, Andrew and I spent a few sunny days last month in Falmouth at the Diocesan Clergy Conference which is held every three or four years to gather us together from the four corners of Devon. The theme was ‘Reflecting God’s Glory’, and we gave thought to this in the lectures, Bible studies and services.
So here are three observations from our time together.
1. These are not easy times for the church. The wider tensions in the Anglican communion over sexuality and women in the episcopacy have been well documented. There are also problems with finance and clergy numbers which of course have the knock-on effects of stress, limited resources and difficult decisions about priorities. There is a real concern to tackle this, not least by encouraging the sort of lay ministries (readers, youth and pastoral workers etc.) with which we are familiar at St Andrew’s, but there is no doubt that church life will be very different in 30 or 40 years time from that which we know today. Perhaps that is a good thing; after all society too will be very different. But change is often unsettling and the challenge is to be faithful to the gospel while contemporary in our expression of it.
2. Going for growth. This was very much the theme of the Bishop of Exeter’s address. To look at the Acts of the Apostles, as we did in our evening services over the summer, is to see a church praying, preaching and living for Christ in a way that ‘turned the world upside down’. And while individuals may encounter Christ in all sorts of ways, the local church is the key (and normal) place where the Christian faith is proclaimed. Our ‘Deeper’ weekend is one initiative to set forth the gospel to friends and neighbours. Week by week we try to make all that we do as accessible as possible to those unfamiliar with the church. We rightly target our resources towards young people and young families, and soon will have the facilities of the servery to offer greater hospitality to the community. All this requires long-term commitment, but also a degree of imagination as we try not to “always do the same old things” but put ourselves into the shoes of others to see what would be most helpful to them.
3. The glory of God. To fit the conference theme, the writer and broadcaster Elaine Storkey gave three Bible readings on Paul’s Second Letter to the Corinthians, chapters 3-5. They speak of the glory of the new covenant brought by Jesus, and how “we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the lord, who is the Spirit.” The whole Christian faith springs from the grace of God which we find in the death and resurrection of Jesus. For that reason “we do not lose heart”; in fact more than that, we look for the eternal glory which puts any present difficulties in perspective. The apostle Paul knew better than most the realities of serving Christ, the present cost and the future glory, and we too have the demanding commission to be ambassadors for Christ through whom God makes his appeal.
Whatever the local and wider difficulties of church life, we are to keep our eyes on the glory of God which we see in a dying figure on the cross and in the glorious hope of heaven. Then, far from losing heart, we can get on with that life-changing message of reconciliation which grows God’s kingdom.
Nick McKinnel