Welcome to the real world
Love isn't what you fall in.
It's what pulls you out
of what you fall in.
Love isn't a good feeling.
Love is doing good
when you're feeling bad.
Love means taking the knocks
and coming back
to try to make things better.
Love is the strongest weapon
known to mankind.
Other weapons blow people up.
Only Love puts them back together again.
And everything that seems real,
that looks smart,
that feels good,
has a sell-by date.
But Love has no sell-by date.
Love is Long Life.
Love is the ultimate
preservative.
I don't know too much about Love
but I know a man who does,
up there on the cross
loving us to death.
Love is the key
to the door of the place
he's prepared for you
in the kingdom of God.
If you're beginning to understand,
then welcome to the real world.
Extracts from Godfrey Rust's poem 'Welcome to the Real World' (c) 2000 from an anthology of the same name.
Car-repair 'village'
There's a car-repair 'village' on the outskirts of Jos in Nigeria. Without any leadership from the formal church the mainly male workers set up Wednesday lunch time worship (praise, Bible study and prayer). They were from a social class too poor to have Sundays off. Their Muslim friends gave them the idea with their Friday prayers.
This 'non-church' has been going for nine years and a few dozen take part. The workers were led by the man who ran the lathe. From time to time he got in touch with the Anglican church which sometimes sent a member of the clergy to help. But the worship was their own.
Emmanuel Lukund, who describes himself as an artist which probably means he painted cars after repairs were carried out, says: 'The fellowship has really helped me to growing closer to God Sometimes you wake up and you cannot pray. But here you get to know other people and you learn from them how to say thank you and beg for forgiveness and pray for what ever you want to pray.
Liz, York
Liz felt called to give up teacher training and do evangelism. She was rejected for the ordained ministry but through an Alpha group she found herself teaming up with someone who lives on a council estate.
The estate is full of drugs and alcohol. Nearly all have criminal records and broken lives. But they responded to the healing love of Christ in a way that Liz hadn't anticipated. 'They didn't have our middle class inhibitions. When they found Jesus changing their lives they just went and told others and 50 to 70 people came to faith in a year. They are not put off by Christianity but by church.'
They are beginning to meet monthly in the community centre at Foxwood. They have testimony and Bible teaching and it's totally informal. Teenagers sometimes come en masse sometimes. None of this has been planned; it's just evolving. 'God's doing something and I'm trying to keep up with Him,' Liz says.
Gerrards Cross
People often think of missionaries as professionals who go to 'those poor people out there'. But the mission committee of St James', Gerrards Cross decided to develop a strategy for making mission integral to their church life. The baseline was to be the Great Commission not just for the church but for its individual members.
Now mission is included in the church's teaching and it is at the core of their prayer life. In developing their strategy the mission committee observed a number of aspects which the chairman, Ian Scott highlights: We wanted to be more than just signers of cheques. When people we supported came and talked they had a 'halo effect' which can last for some time. We observed what worked: for example we are linked with a very different type of church from ours in Holloway in London and support their 'Paradise Project'. After a visit to those we 'support' we actually came back with ideas for getting involved with our own community. We noted the effect on adults as well as young people when they make connection in developing countries.
One new initative is that for each mission agency we support we now have a 'champion'. Each champion gets £50 to give on introducing themselves to 'their' agency. It is a way of nurturing people's skills and being relational with the agencies says Ian Scott. 'We want St James' outlook to be organic, relational and networking' he says.
Reflect and engage
1. As you read these stories what in particular strikes you?
2. How do we view mission, and do we see the connection between mission 'over there' and our own discipleship and mission engagement?
3. Are we willing to step outside our comfort zones, do we encourage our Christian community to live at the point of risk?
4. How might church look and feel in the future?
For meditation
Read again: Romans 12:1-2 and Philippians 2:14-15.
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