“In my church you’d think the Great Commission instructed us to go into all the world and form committees”, joked one of my friends. His frustration may have been delivered with a grin and a healthy dose of satire, but the point stung.
He is not alone in thinking that there is often a priority gap between our marching orders from the risen Christ (Matt. 28v16-20) and the everyday priorities of our churches – and us as individual Christians.
This is perhaps understandable. Many congregations are exhausted, and simply maintaining existing programmes can feel like a stretch. Church politics and managing division can be perplexing and stressful, and end up dominating every agenda. The demands of running a charity never get smaller; auditing accounts, having safeguarding policies, paying the pastor, Gift Aid returns and building maintenance are all important. Internal struggles within denominations and congregations to maintain theological precision can also leave little time or energy for the lost. If your church is in the middle of a building project, that useful “tool” can, left unchecked, become an end in itself. Busyness too can overwhelm us; the “tyranny of the urgent” is a rock upon which many a godly vision has been shipwrecked.
Halloween: A mission opportunity?
I have a confession to make. When I was asked to write about creating a culture of engaging with Halloween …