One with the Father.......
In
my own prayers I return to this unity with God frequently, perhaps because I see
everything in terms of a
relationship with God. Now
I hear God reminding me of this in every aspect of our Christian lives. It is relevant to our situation within
A.R.M.(Wales), it also applies to the future of the Church in Wales or, to think
of it closer to home, to our parishes and deaneries.
All are considering changes and perhaps even to start again with the plan
that God has for us. So
let us attempt to see it from his viewpoint.
He is probably stuck with the Church in Wales because it is what we want! Just ponder that for a moment, He has given us free will and we have over the centuries come up with a complex system of rules and organisation that were certainly not spelled out in Scripture. In fact I have been reminded recently that the Normans, under William the Conqueror, had some hand in it. Before that the Celtic Church was a much looser grouping of Christians. But before you blame the English (French actually) ask yourselves why a Christian nation didn’t do more to evangelise the Anglo Saxons?
Our Commission is to make disciples of all people and that means work for all of us, but how unless we are guided by God himself, by the Holy Spirit?
Firstly I believe He is telling us that we are not ready to do this work in our present state. We might all have thoughts on how we would like our Church and A.R.M.(Wales) to be, but how much is it of God and how much is it “me”?
Secondly He is saying that He can make us ready but that means changing us. He will not insist on changing us but if we are not willing to be changed then He will reluctantly have to find someone else to do His work in Wales.
At
their Autumn event, Bangor Renewal Team hosted a meeting at which Christina
Baxter was the speaker. Her
theme was the Potter’s Wheel as described in Jeremiah 18.
Then the word of the LORD came to me: “Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done?” says the LORD, “Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.”
She pointed out that God was speaking to a group of people and we could apply it to our Anglican Church. She spelled out recent changes within the Church of England which had produced new structures which would make it possible for the Church to again be able to give mission a priority. She started from the point that lack of money had led to the various parts of the Church working together and sharing what they had. Perhaps God had allowed the shortage of money so that He might take the Church to the Potter’s wheel?
So
what about the Church in Wales,
what about A.R.M.(Wales)? Are we willing to be
remade, even to start
again? In
the local scene I am
praying into
the past because I believe that God has already told
us what He wants and I feel that we have wandered away and done our own thing. I am intrigued with the idea that perhaps small
groupings as in the “cell churches” could be similar to our old Celtic
Church.
You will now know that the resolution
presented at the A.G.M. was amended because it was so clear that many of our
members were hurt and upset by the idea of giving away the Flames of Fire
conference, to a yet untested organisation, New Wine Cymru. Most of the Executive were very disappointed but
our unity is more important and we praise God for the way He has held us
together. Now we must
get to know New Wine Cymru and see how we can work with them.
Nick Jones is in fact heading up both groups, please be aware of the
enormous amount of work he is going to have to do as well as serving his two
parishes. Perhaps you have
gifts that could be offered to make his task easier, especially to help Flames
of Fire and publicise the event to bring more people to the conference.
We need at least another hundred delegates to break even in 2005.
The Executive is seeking God on how we can do more in other parts of Wales especially within Anglican parishes to encourage Renewal. But to return to what God has previously shown us, we must remember our Welsh name:
ADNEWYDDIAD
EGLWYSWYR CYMRU
which was given after much prayer and
searching to an earlier membership.
Flames of Fire
has given us an opportunity to work with many from other denominations and a
large number of our delegates are not Anglicans. We praise God for this for we are sure that He wants us
to be “one”, and especially “one with Him”,
but I believe that He is reminding us of our call to renew the Anglican
Church in Wales.
Is it a coincidence that after volunteering
to be one of the two representatives of our parish to the Deanery Conference I
found myself being asked to join the steering group to devise a “Deanery
Plan”? I see it
all coming together for the Deanery needs Renewal.
They may not yet see Renewal as we do but they know that we can seek
God’s guidance in prayer through the Holy Spirit, and we have made a start
with a prayer day in the parishes and a Deanery Day is planned.
The Diocese is offering training days through the ”Board of Renewal and
Parish Development” but these are very ambitious in that few from our P.C.C.s
are likely to attend until God shows them that they have a part to play
and cease to depend on the clergy to do everything.
At the end of his televised Christmas
message our dear Archbishop Rowan said, “You are needed to make a
difference”. I believe that we can all apply
that to whatever area we are working in.
Every Blessing to you all for 2005.
Mary Newsom