Catching
Glimpses of God -
the
new CMM Renewal Team
In
December 2000 the new Council for Mission and Ministry appointed a Renewal
Officer, Chris Webb. We
caught up with Chris on a late train from Bangor to Cardiff, and whiled away the
hours finding out more about the new Renewal Team.
So,
the Renewal Team - firstly, what is it?
Good
question. I had a great time at
Spring Harvest last Easter, just after I’d started this new job.
Every so often, while chatting after some seminar or at the kids club,
someone would ask what I do. “I
work for the Church in Wales as a Renewal Officer,” I’d say, and watch their
eyes grow wide like saucers. “The
Church in Wales has a Renewal Officer?” they’d ask, and I’d smile ruefully
and say, “Well, yes - but it's not that kind of renewal ...”
Not
“that kind of renewal”?
Well,
I’m not the ‘Wimber Officer’.
Then
what kind of renewal is it? Oh, and you still haven’t told us what the Team
is.
It’s
renewal in the broader sense of the church being reshaped by God so it can
better fulfil its calling, and engage in its ministry and mission.
So that does include charismatic renewal - it also includes evangelical
renewal, anglo-catholic renewal, liberal renewal, radical renewal ... well, you
get the idea. In April 2001 the
Bench of Bishops reformed the national church structures, bringing the work of
the former Board of Mission and Board of Ministry to a conclusion and forming a
new Council for Mission and Ministry - the ‘CMM’.
The Council is trying to discern a vision for the future of the Church in
Wales, to see where God is leading us over the coming years, and the Officers of
the Council have been appointed to help form that vision, and to help bring it
into reality. As Renewal Officer I
get to work on areas like mission, evangelism, spirituality, discipleship,
stewardship, ecumenism, healing, vision and strategy.
Quite
a list.
It
would be, if I were doing it alone. Actually
I’m working as part of a much wider Team.
The
Renewal Team - we’re still trying to find out what that is, by the way.
We’re
getting there. Actually, it’s
more like a ‘virtual reality’ team. If
you came to our office, you'd only find my empty desk - I’m usually out on the
road somewhere - and Fiona Gardner, our administrative genius.
The rest of the Team is simply ‘whoever we happen to be working with’
on a particular project. That
includes some fairly permanent members - people like diocesan missioners and
officers - and others who we work with on more specific projects - local clergy
and churches, and groups like ARM (Wales).
Depends what we’re doing, really.
It’s less a fixed body, and more a description of the way we work.
Interesting
idea. So what does this Team
actually do?
The
first - and most important - task of the Renewal Team is to assist the Bench of
Bishops, the new Council, the Governing Body and the wider church in this
process of discerning a vision for the future of the Church in Wales.
Before we strike out in bold new directions, we'd better be sure we
understand what God is calling us to become, and have some sense of how God is
at work in Wales as a whole.
Easier
said than done.
Of
course. Look at the Bible. Ezekiel
had the advantage of walking round the new temple, watching it being measured,
describing the building materials and wading into the flowing river.
But we’ve found ourselves more in the shoes of Zechariah, who saw
fleeting and strange visions by night of coloured horses, women in baskets,
olive trees and crowns, and came time and time again to find out from “the
angel who spoke with me” what this might mean.
We’ve caught similar glimpses of God at work, small fragments of
possibility, and we’re listening intently for the voice of our angel to make
some sense of the pieces.
How
do you do that?
Well,
the main contribution of the CMM Renewal Team to this process has been the
formation of a research group, the Renewal Strategy Team, to look specifically
at ways in which Welsh society and culture are changing and how the Church might
respond, particularly in its mission and evangelism. The group has been working
since June 2001, drawing on expertise from every diocese, other Welsh
denominations and beyond, and we’ll present an interim report (alongside a
report from a related group looking at ministry issues) as part of a major
debate at the Governing Body in September 2002.
By the way, we’d welcome any submissions to this group on the subjects
of social change, postmodernism, evangelism and contemporary communication.
I’ll give you our contact details later.
OK.
What else are you working on?
Mission
and evangelism are the next priority.
Still?
We just had a whole Decade of Evangelism.
And
we learnt a lot during those ten years - it really helped put evangelism on the
radar screen for our churches. But
it didn’t actually make much difference to the overall decline in attendance
we've seen since the early 60's. We
talked a lot about evangelism, and some churches really got stuck in.
But on the whole we didn't actually do much, and we achieved even less.
I
think some of us would be wary of playing the numbers game.
Rightly
so, in my opinion. What we’re
aiming for is faithfulness and grace, not scalps.
But numbers do matter. We're
seeing churches shrink and close - that's not just a numbers issue, it’s a
tragedy. Besides, even if it makes
no difference to the numbers, we could still do a much better job of sharing the
‘amazing grace’ of God, don't you think?
I
won’t argue with that. What are
you doing, then?
Not
direct evangelism - I’d better admit that up front.
It’s hard to share the grace of God with Evan Evans in Pwllheli when
you’re in an office in Cardiff - or even on a train from Bangor.
So we’re providing a support service for those who are involved more
directly, and hopefully that'll lead to the generation of new resources which
can be used in the local situation. Right
now we’re focusing on creating a good, effective network for diocesan
missioners and evangelism advisers, and a second network for church planters.
We're also building links with missioners in other denominations.
You're
right - that’s not evangelism.
No,
and I wouldn’t pretend it is. It’s
a first step to improving the church’s ability to engage in sharing its faith,
and to understanding evangelism in the broader context of mission - a context
that recognises that Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God reaches beyond
evangelism into the whole way our faith is lived and experienced.
We’re bringing people together, and listening, and discerning how best
to move forward. We’ve got a long
way to go.
We’ll
keep an eye on that one, then.
Do.
And let us know how we can do better.
Righto.
What’s next?
Well,
the third area of the Team’s work focuses on spirituality and discipleship.
Spirituality
has become something of a ‘buzzword’ over the last few years.
Yes,
people have become more open to mystery and transcendence, and more ready to
seek a deeper experience of the spiritual life.
The Church clearly has a role to play in nurturing and guiding people in
the exploration of this new mysticism. It
also needs to challenge it. Christian
spirituality is not just about experiencing grace, but also being changed by
grace. The call to die to
ourselves, to devote ourselves to living a Christ-patterned life, is fundamental
to an authentic ‘spiritual life.’
What
have you been doing, then?
In
November 2001 the Team began exploring this by hosting a consultation on
spirituality and discipleship at Llangasty retreat house; we wrote up the work
of this residential conference in a new report Transforming Spirituality - it
was sent to all clergy and GB members, and it's available on our website.
The clear consensus of the consultation was that the churches in Wales
had gifts and resources in abundance for living and teaching spirituality, but
we’re not doing that very effectively at present, and there is scope for much
improvement.
Maybe
so. It seems a pretty nebulous
area, though. What can you actually
do?
Right
now, following the recommendations in Transforming Spirituality, we're aiming to
form a national, ecumenical group to work together on developing this ministry,
while the Renewal Team will work in partnership with the dioceses to further
existing diocesan and local projects, and create new ones. We're fostering an ambitious vision - but, we believe, a
realistic one - for a considerable culture change in our churches that brings
spiritual experience and formation to the forefront of everything we do.
The process of learning and consultation, begun at Llangasty, is ongoing,
and if your readers have something to contribute to that, we’d love to hear
from them.
Mind
if I make an observation?
Go
ahead.
It
sounds like lots of ‘networks’ and ‘committees’ and so on.
Why are we throwing money at all this?
Why not just get on with the job?
Ah
yes. Strip away the useless bureaucracy and set the church free.
You
agree?
Well,
it’s hard to argue without sounding self-interested.
So let me give you my honest angle on the situation.
I don't subscribe to the view that the DBFs and Cathedral Road are a
waste of money - they don’t do exciting, front-line church work, but what they
do is vital to our church’s life. At
least, I think we value clergy getting paid, legal problems being resolved,
ordinands’ grants being sent, vicarages being maintained and so on.
Well
... I suppose so. But what about
your job?
Indeed
- I don’t fix buildings or pay people. But
my work, too, has to be justified on its merits.
I don’t think networks. meetings, reports and committees are always
very exciting, but if they genuinely help us do mission, or spirituality, or
healing, or stewardship better, then they may be worth doing.
On the other hand, if in a few years time the church finds it doesn’t
need this level of support, co-ordination, challenge and initiative, it can fire
me.
Is
that a promise?
Hand
on heart. All I ask - all the CMM
can ask as a whole - is that we get a fair shot without being condemned out of
hand.
We’ve
gone off the point a bit. What else
are you involved in?
A
Provincial Stewardship Executive, working on resources and initiatives in
stewardship - primarily looking at ways to encourage the church to move away
from a ‘paying for the church’ mindset towards a ‘giving to God’ one.
Also we're hoping to create a forum for developing the healing ministry,
and we’ve done a little work in that area already.
We’re involved with Cytun and Enfys on the ecumenical front, and more
broadly with ecumenical work across the UK.
We’re even doing some work for the Anglican Communion as a whole, since
our sister churches overseas know they can learn a lot from us, just as we learn
a lot from them.
Sounds
good.
I
think so - and it's just a small part of the overall work of the CMM. There are
also officers working on Ministry, Inter-Church partnerships, Communications and
Creative Resources, Education - schools, chaplaincies and young people - and
Church and Society.
We’re
almost in Cardiff, and we’ve covered a lot of ground. Do you think we should let on that you've been interviewing
yourself?
Probably
not. People might worry.
Mind you, there’s not a lot else to do on
these great long train rides, and it does mean I get helpful questions.
Perhaps
you’d better just give us the contact details you promised.
Sure.
If you’re interested in finding out more, you could visit the website
at www.churchinwales.org.uk.
You
can write to the Renewal Team Office at 39 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9XF.
My email is renewal.cmm@churchinwales.org.uk, or you can call Fiona the
administrative genius on 029 2034 8254.