The
Church Today
An interactive address
given at the ARM (Wales) Annual General Meeting.
by
the Revd Nicholas Jones, Rector of Pencoed, Bridgend.
Nick
started by reading from Genesis 6:13-22.
He said he thought that this passage was appropriate for us today - us
being the Church in Wales, but not just the Anglicans.
In one sense it was appropriate because it was about the Flood, and we
had all seen a lot of that lately. But
the main point was that it was about God telling Noah exactly what he should do,
and as it says in verse 22: Noah did
everything just as God commanded him.
Nick
had been hearing a lot about what God is doing in Wales recently.
In Bridgend he has had a
group of forty pastors from Indonesia, who
heard a call from God to pray for Wales. They
didn't just get down and pray in Indonesia, they came to Wales to do it; and so
far they have come five times, at their own expense.
Much of what they had to say was about prayer.
In Indonesia they have prayer
towers, which are manned twenty four hours a day by priests and prophets and
other functionaries. He has also
met a South American who has come specifically to pray for Wales in fulfilment
of what started in 1904. Sadly, we
don't seem to have the same enthusiasm here in Wales.
Nick
posed the question: "What are we doing in our local churches and dioceses
and in ARM (Wales)? Are we ready to
do what God wants - are we ready to teach and nurture newcomers, for
example?"
A
few years ago, when Nick first became an incumbent, he found that everybody
expected him to make decisions. Eventually
he contacted a couple of clergy friends and they met and prayed together.
They formed a diocesan renewal team, and discovered that there were other
clergy who were into renewal but were isolated and in need of support.
They wanted to encourage them, because it is so easy to become isolated -
clergy fear that if they stick their necks out and do something different, they
will get criticised. Now they have
a clergy support group which holds monthly meetings; they go around the parishes
ministering in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
It is very important for the Church to have clergy in renewal, for the
sake of the lay people; and we also need lay support teams.
When
Nick first moved to Pencoed he made contact with leaders of the free churches in
the Bridgend area; they began meeting together and praying for revival.
Then there is also the New Wine Network, which
is encouraging people into renewal,
and which has organised a gathering at Hebron Hall on 26th March next year.
Thus there seems to be a number of strands which are coming together and
leading us in the direction to which God is pointing, towards renewal and
revival; and we should run with it!
Next
Nick divided us into groups of six, carefully excluding colleagues and spouses,
so that we could share with each other what is going on, in the churches, in our
area. Maybe, he said, we shall hear
something new and encouraging; maybe we shall find some common ground; maybe we
shall discover some needs. Little
did he know.........
Group
1 told us about a carol service in a pub. What
a wonderful idea!
Group
2 said that it could be very frustrating for lay people if they wanted renewal
and their vicar was just not interested in it.
Group
3 said where there was a need for a clergy support group they should ask the
church. If the congregation
understand their vicar's problems then they are in the best position to offer
both prayer and practical support.
Group
4 said there was a general need for support, and lay people feel unsupported
when their vicar is like the one in group 2.
Group
5 said that many of our church services are not friendly towards newcomers.
Every church should have two services on a Sunday: one of the traditional
kind and one that is more free and open. Also,
clergy can be a bottleneck in restricting the flow of the Holy Spirit.
Ideally the clergy should be attached to deaneries and allow the lay
people to run each parish church. One
lady had a vision of the Church as a conical flask with the PCC and the people
inside, and the stopper was the Vicar. What
could we do about it? Answer: push
the stopper out!
Group
6 again emphasised the feeling of isolation experienced by a lay person who may
be the only one seeking renewal in a congregation of twenty.
In
the general discussion that followed, one lady told us the answer to these
problems is to start a prayer fellowship in your own home; she has had one going
for twenty five years and is now able to organise a bus-load to come to the Flames
of Fire Conference.
Another group have a morning prayer gathering in a house in their
village, which includes Anglicans, Chapel and Pentecostals - and the Holy Spirit
really moves amongst them.
Overall,
vicars seemed to be getting a lot of stick in these discussions, and we were
reminded that some congregations do expect the Vicar to do everything, (mainly
because successive vicars had taught them that way). In the general discussion we were urged to use the clergy to
train the laity to lead; and we were reminded that in 1999,
Bishop Graham Dow said at our Conference that he would allow people to
try out their ministries before they go for training, to make sure that they
were suited for it.
In
the final stages of the discussion, we were given some words: Mercy triumphs over
judgement - we should beware judging people and condemning those who do
not agree with our way of thinking. We
must also remember: Noah did everything
just as God commanded him, and obey God in all details.
Finally
each group used these thoughts to pray for each other; and then the Meeting
prayed for the new Executive Committee. The
whole session was a very moving and rewarding experience and we are very
grateful to Nick for serving us in this way.
Brian
Newsom.