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PAUL WRITES MORE ABOUT A VISION FOR THE CHURCH (26.3.2000)
Last Sunday evening, I shared the vision that I believed the Lord had given me for this Church in Banstead. It is impossible in this article to give all the details so please ask the tape team if you can hear the presentation which was recorded.
In essence, I believe that God has called us ..
To teach and invite,
by word and worship
many other unchurched people of all ages and cultures,
to commit themselves to Jesus Christ,
His lifestyle, His Church and His Gospel,
anywhere in the world,
starting in Banstead.
This vision may help us to understand the special objectives of this local Church. This chimes immaculately with the slogan phrase we introduced in 1993 "Serving Jesus Christ in the community".
Amongst our objectives is that we should move along the following spectra:
From maintenance to mission
From yesterday to today
From criticism to permission
From rights to responsibilities
From masks to honesty
From unwilling duty to willing service
From monoculture to multiculture
From preservation to radical growth
In one sense, this is nothing new. All through the history of this church it has seen itself to be an undenominational gospel mission work. Successive generations of church and team leaders have held these principles and tried to put them into practice in the culture of their day. The Gospel never changes, but the culture does.
In the last fifteen years, we have seen the demise of "Christian England", the desecration of Sunday, the rise of eastern religions (there are now more Muslims than members of the Church of England) and a huge explosion in information technology. At the same time, the baby buster generation has rejected traditional notions of commitment to work, marriage or community, fewer young couples are getting married, more childen have experienced the pain of divorce, alternative sexual lifestyles are now acceptable and the concept of 'absolute truth' has disappeared.
If we are to be effective as a Church for the unchurched in Banstead, then we can no longer think merely of satisfying our own spiritual needs, but we have a primary obligation to meet the needs of a community that is without God and without hope.
Over the past few years, many of our structures have changed to facilitate growth. Most of our small groups now make provision to include those who are unchurched in one way or another. Indeed, the opportunities are so many and varied that we can probably no longer think of just being one church where everybody knows each other (there are already over one thousand individuals who attend events run by this Church excluding those coming to BeaconLight courses).
So what is the way forward? I believe we are becoming a "multichurch".
What is multichurch? This is a church which uses one set of accommodation in many different ways at different times. Some people only come Sunday mornings or Sunday evenings and for some who come to Afternoon Praise that is their only contact with the Church. Alpha, Golden Alpha and Youth Alpha groups each already reach a different constituency. In the same way, Whizz Kids and Friday Club reach different young people than those who come on Sundays. Some of the young people's events attract a regular following of unchurched youth although few of these would say they belong to YP. Likewise, Men's Group and Women Together attract those who rarely come on Sunday. Coffee Pot is bursting at the seams with over 30 mums, most of whom are unchurched and the special buffet supper events such as the forthcoming evening with Fiona Castle have a good following amongst a number of unchurched people in our community and also those who come from other churches. Bible Outlook, a weekly Bible study mainly for mums, now has a third of the attenders coming from other churches.
As we use one accommodation in lots of different ways, there will be more groups and services; this will need more staff to provide leadership. We also need to be flexible to provide styles that will fit more with the people we do not have as well as with those who are already attending. Above all we need to ensure that our structures develop to facilitate church growth rather than inhibit it!
Practically, we will need more staff to build up new ministries, grow existing groups and disciple the stream of new Christians. Some of these will soon develop niche ministries - and possibly in areas that we have not yet contemplated. They may well be part-timers or even self-supporting, but committed to ministry.
Our accommodation will need changes. For example, our kitchen facilities need improvement. The worship area is our largest space and yet is used for only 5 hours a week! An architect is currently looking at ways of transforming it into an attractive multi purpose area with excellent presentation facilities. The computer graphics presentation equipment (currently on loan) will also need to be purchased.
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