Undertakers' men or pioneers
The
Church in Wales is fighting for survival, just as the Church of England has
begun to do.
A
PCC member of a church in Buenos Aires attended the Anglican Decade of
Evangelism mid-term review in 1996. In
1997 he reported to me that the Church in Wales was heading for extinction by CE
2030. My instinctive reaction was to repeat Jesus’ saying, ‘On this rock
I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it’
(Matt. 16:18 NRSV). But
reflecting further, I had to ask, ‘Will the Church in Wales we know and love
remain a member of that invincible Church of Christ?’ The Council for Mission
and Ministry published in CE 2000 a paper ‘Five scenarios for the future
church’ which confirmed my Argentine friend’s claim.
In CE 2002 it published ‘Ar Daith/On a journey’, a
consultation document to encourage all members of the Church in Wales to engage
in a positive response to the crisis. No
doubt more proposals will appear on future agendas of the Governing Body and
diocesan synods. I want to
select two key items in the ‘On a journey’ report with which
ARM Wales might usefully engage.
The
research groups responsible for ‘On a journey’ identified,
among other things, a major calling:
‘As disciples encouraging one another to live out the gospel,
sharing in worship and learning, each individual is strengthened and deepened to
discern and respond to God’s work.
For a few this will involve a practical concern for the gathered church
in the locality. In most
cases, though, discipleship will be dispersed in places of work, neighbourhood,
family or the wider world.’
This
is a call to Christian discipleship as a life-style for all members of the
Church. The second key item is
about ministry. ‘God’s life in the world is made tangible in Jesus and
spread abroad by the activity of the Spirit. This suggests that all our patterns
of ministry should ..be collaborative. The ordained ministries of bishop, priest
and deacons, acting together, encourage local churches and all disciples in
drawing out their full potential. Ministers
, therefore, are not the centre of the church, but companions to the church. They support and challenge local churches to expand in their
capacity for depth, range and contact in mission’ (p. 11).
This calls on everyone to collaborate, to work together in the mission of
the Church.
Time
and time again Jesus stimulated the understanding of his hearers by asking them
questions, not by providing answers. ‘Who do you say that I am?’ he
challenged his disciples. The living God inspired Peter to reply, ‘You are
the Christ’ (Matt.v16:15-16). My
question is this, ‘Does ARM Wales have a humble but distinctive contribution
to promote collaboration in Christian ministry and Christian discipleship in
life-style?’ Are we to be pioneers, or will we stand by, happily doing our own
thing, watching the church go into further decline like undertakers’ men at a
funeral? I am not making the arrogant suggestion that ARM Wales
is the sole agency for resolving current or projected problems.
But do we have a contribution to make which is distinctive?
Can we be pioneers?
An
act of God
Blaenannerch
near Cardigan and Moriah Chapel in Loughor are receiving more publicity now than
they have for years. Evan
Roberts, a ministry candidate of the now Presbyterian Church of Wales, was
awakened spiritually at Blaenannerch in 1904, a century ago.
‘..at
Blaenannerch Roberts underwent a profound experience of being anointed by the
Holy Spirit. He returned home to Loughor and began to hold prayer meetings at
his home church, Moriah. On successive nights these meetings drew ever larger
crowds, and within a matter of weeks the revival had spread across
Glamorganshire with tremendous power. The most significant feature of the
revival was its concentration on the gift of the Holy Spirit; the meetings, even
when Evan Roberts was present, were conducted with complete spontaneity. People
were urged to pray, testify, confess or sing as the Spirit moved them…Yet the
revival was by no means limited to places visited by Roberts: it was a national
phenomenon and it was calculated that it led to some 100,000 conversions,’ (R
Tudur Jones).
Of
course, this is the answer. How
often we have prayed, ‘Lord, do it again in Wales’. How
often we have quoted as good practice the faithful praying few, to whose prayers
apparent responses were the D L Moody campaigns in Britain and the Hebridean
revival! And yet, these
remarkable interventions of God into human affairs are not negotiable; the Lord
is sovereign, and we have to wait expectantly, as we plead.
In the meantime……….
Eight
years after 1904 Bishop Edwards of St Asaph published ‘Landmarks
in the history of the Welsh Church.’ His
chapter on revivals describes Griffith Jones, Methodist Societies, Whitefield,
Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland, ‘curate of Llangeitho’ in Ceredigion.
Quoting a negative eye-witness of ecstasy at revivalist meetings, Bp.
Edwards comments, ‘Though men like Rowland, as many of the revivalists in
our own generation, accepted such manifestations in good faith to strengthen the
influence of the movements with which they were associated, it may reasonably be
doubted whether this hysterical self-abandonment is a genuine token of moral
regeneration…Yet these unhappy events must not cause us to lose sight of the
real merit of the work of revivalists among such people as the Welsh’ (p
200). Faint praise indeed!
Today would members of ARM Wales risk the opprobrium meted out by
Anglo-Catholic, Evangelical and Liberal Church leaders on ‘manifestations
of the Spirit’ among Charismatics in the 1970s?
Yes, we would bear the reproach, if the prize is worth the pain.
But in the meantime the challenge of collaboration and discipleship are
on the Church agenda.
History
cannot repeat itself
Much
renewal in the Church in Wales has been partisan.
I heard often as an ordinand and assistant curate in the 1950s and 1960s
that the Church in Wales, unlike England, is not divided by churchmanship. But since Disestablishment the largely broad-church,
stoles and frontals, jumble sales and prize-draws image of so many local
churches was spotted, in some dioceses more than others, by clear marks of
robust Anglo-Catholicism. Later
in the last century the existing handful of distinctly Evangelical churches was
replaced by a growing movement of younger Evangelical clergy, laity and,
consequently, churches. When
ARM Wales began, its members were drawn from Catholic, Evangelical and Liberal
cultures. This reflected the Church
of England whose early Charismatic leaders included the Catholic Humphrey
Whistler, the Evangelical David Watson and the then Liberal Colin Urquhart. Because of its ‘unity’ ARM Wales was well-placed to
attract large numbers to its movement for renewal in the Church in Wales.
But history cannot repeat itself.
Any attempt to recycle in the 2000s the Charismatic emphases practised in
the 1980s offers no solution. People
can repeat mistakes and re-play old tricks, but the historical context and its
culture has moved on. Wales
in 2004 differs from Wales in 1980, certainly 1904.
In the 1960s UK church culture was humanist, in love with all-powerful
Science, and impersonal. Theologically
the traditional understanding of God was either dead or had only a human,
political, face. Sanctuaries
and naves were used exclusively for worship, not for conversation.
Historic churches had a large ‘fringe’ to renew, with many clergy and
laity hungry for something more. Charismatic Renewal reintroduced a supernatural
God exercising extraordinary, supernatural power.
His human face was intimate, concerned to serve the needs of individuals
who now came out of church feeling good and excited, instead of bored. God the
Holy Spirit had inspired them not only to chat but to laugh in the sanctuary.
But today the market has changed. 80%
of the UK population is supposed to believe in the supernatural. The ‘me’
culture of TV adverts sets out to make everyone feel good, all the time.
There is plenty of generosity around as charities – secular and
religious – have become boom industries.
The church fringe has been decimated to the point where more UK Muslims
attend a mosque each week than Anglicans attend a church. Alpha and Soul
Survivor are examples of new growing Christian movements, and even the Church
Commissioners in England are talking about putting into new ways of ‘being
church’ some of the money usually spent on cathedrals.
It is a new situation in which we are being called to collaborate and
live out Christian discipleship.
Forward
with the Word of God
An
early defence of the Church of England before Welsh Disestablishment or the
formation of self-governing Anglican provinces overseas was a ‘reformed church
always open to reformation’. The authority for such reformation was the
Crown/Parliament and the Christian Bible interpreted in the light of
ecclesiastical tradition by the exercise of the mind/reason.
I want to turn to the latter for illumination on the call to
collaboration and discipleship. 1Corinthians
is a good place to begin. The most pressing issue Paul deals with in this letter
is the failure of the Corinthian Christians to regard different people who
ministered to them as collaborators. He describes them as people claiming to
belong to distinct groups under distinct household names, ‘Paul’, ‘Apollos’,
‘Cephas’ or ‘Christ’. Paul
spends four chapters undermining the attitude underlying such division.
Collaboration
He
identifies two principles regarding collaboration: first, Christ is the only
household name, the sole agent in ministry and the only one to be given any
credit. Second, ministers belong
together under Him. Salvation, baptism, power in preaching, divine wisdom and
church planting begin and end in Him.
The ministers are described in various ways, deacons (3:5), co-workers of
God (3:9), underlings (sailors’ assistants) of Christ and household
administrators (usually slaves) of the mysteries of God (4:1). The last are not
bosses but trusted servants to be called to account on the Day of Christ (4:2).
Paul ends the description of his and other leaders’ roles with a catalogue of
the human pressures and stress he endures for the Corinthian Christians’ sake
(4:9-13). But he remains
their ‘father’, for all his sufferings on their behalf (4:14-15).
Two
principles stand out: first, a consciousness of the centrality of Jesus, the
living Christ, in all ‘church activity’.
Why do we do what we do? Our
conscience replies, ‘It’s my job, my ministry, my church, my vocation.’
Paul calls us to replace ‘my’ with ‘our’, and ‘our’ with
‘His’ Alpha markets
‘Jesus’, not ‘Church’. While
we love the Church in Wales, she is neither our motive nor our raison d’être,
even if our salary cheques appear with her name on.
And Alpha is theologically sound at this point.
To collaborate with each other, to have his discipleship as our
life-style, we need to re-learn to live for Him and to attribute all we do to
Him and His power.
The
second relevant principle emerges from the words used to describe the
relationship between Paul, Apollos and other leaders.
Deacons – those who wait on others.
Co-workers of God – those who work together under God.
Christ’s sailors-assistants, who probably spent most of their time in
rowing gangs driving the galleys. House-keepers/administrators of God’s
mysteries, called to account. The attitude needed for seeing ourselves in the
light of these images is the type of humility ascribed to Jesus in Paul’s
letter to the Philippians, chapter 2; seeing others’ needs as our raison d’être;
working with others on principle, not just because a particular job requires it;
open to change because we are ‘under God, under Christ’ and not in total
control of our situation; a bottom-dog team, and handlers of precious goods who
cannot get away with any shoddy work. There is little in our self-advancement culture
to help us adopt such attitudes to Christian ministry.
We cannot judge them right or wrong on utilitarian grounds, because they
will secure certain ends for us. We cannot judge them good or bad for
preferment, CVs or career paths. We can take comfort from the fact that they
motivated one of the most effective evangelists, church-planters and teachers in
the history of the Christian Church. But this cannot be our reason for adopting
these attitudes, since Paul’s ministry is, humanly speaking, dead and gone,
never to be replaced. Our only motive has to be that this is His Word; if
discipleship means anything, it means that we follow Him.
Discipleship
The
remainder of 1Corinthians can teach us a lot about discipleship, as well as
collaboration, in our pluralistic, no-blame culture. ‘To Corinth’ meant for
Paul’s contemporaries to practice whoredom.
Although this ‘sin city’ had earned its reputation before its
destruction in BCE 146, long after it’s rebuilding in BCE 44 the word ‘to
Corinth’ appeared in Greek dictionaries.
‘Sex in the city’ and ‘Footballers’ wives’ are only two current
TV programmes which would have gone down well in Paul’s Corinth.
His fifth chapter calls on Christians to aim for a higher moral standard
than their Jewish or pagan contemporaries, even if they have fallen short
already. He warns against sin in all its forms, mentioning theft, greed, verbal
abuse and sex outside heterosexual marriage (ch.6). He makes heterosexual
marriage or celibacy the recommended options for human relationships (ch.7).
Even the highest motives should not allow a Christian to engage deliberately in
the ritual practice of another religion (ch.8). A minister has a right to a fee,
wages or a salary, but not if this casts doubt on his or her commitment to the
Gospel or if it restricts the minister’s freedom to preach the Gospel to any
or everyone (ch.9). Chapter nine
repeats the call to godliness (ch.5) and to an exclusive faith-commitment to
Christ. The distinct and inter-dependent roles of men and women
are discussed in chapter nine, along with instruction on the right preparation
and conduct of the Lord’s Supper, the precursor of the Eucharist.
Collaboration is spelt out in detail in chapter 12, and its heart is the
freedom of the Holy Spirit in Christ to exercise the various spiritual gifts
distributed to different Christians. God’s ownership of His gifts and the
interdependence of gifted Christians makes collaboration happen. He is in
charge; we need one another, show one another that we are all valued and needed
and respect the fact that others have gifts that we do not have. Chapter 13
celebrates the fundamental attitude of collaborators: the service of others, as
demonstrated by the love of Christ, our trust in Him and our expectation of His
coming. The overall principle of building up the church community regulates ways
of exercising different spiritual gifts in public (ch.14). The magnificent
chapter 15 informs the Christian’s attitude to the future.
Sci-fi, futurism and rapacious political ambitions present scenarios of
the global future which promote unease and despair. The Christian disciple has a
unique witness to a future glory offered to those who believe in Christ, for
free, not in return for a destructive voluntary martyrdom.
This Christian hope motivates a present stability, ‘Therefore…be
steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord’ (15:58
NRSV). In chapter 16 Paul encourages regular Christian giving and greets people
by name in the church. He ends, ‘My love be with all of you in Christ
Jesus,’ (16:24), and that’s how I am ending too.