It started with a conversation between a couple of ministers at our weekly online Coffee Room about the challenge of finding support for evangelical ministry in more deprived communities, writes Susie Leafe.
That led to a one-off Ideas Exchange, which has now developed into twice-termly online meetings and the beginnings of an informal network stretching from the west coast of Wales to the south coast of England. Plans are afoot for a new section on our website, to enable home-grown resources to be shared more widely.
Knowing that the Lord likes to work through ‘that which is not’ should have prepared us for this unexpected development of Anglican Future’s work, but despite priding ourselves in ‘thinking ahead’, none of us saw it coming.
Last month’s meeting took on the challenge of examining our unspoken and unexamined assumptions about what ‘good’ ministry looks like. In an earlier session, Dr Duncan Forbes (Urban Ministries) had called us to make sure that it is Jesus, not ourselves, who is the benchmark and role-model for all we do and seek others to aspire to.
As one participant said afterwards: ‘In a way it shows how much there is to talk about, because I don’t think we got into what bearing the gospel has on money and on family life – both areas where there probably will need to be big shifts in thinking, discipleship, change, but where we need to be particularly careful not to just translate our own cultural values onto those we’re discipling.’
It has been a joy to facilitate this gathering of real people doing amazing but often unheralded and unsupported ministry. Don’t you love the way the Lord works?
If this is something you would like to be part of please see our website www. anglicanfutures.org for more details. We welcome lay and ordained leaders, and non-Anglicans are always welcome.
