Mission in our Culture

Roger Medley, Diocesan Missioner, explores what this might mean for your church, and suggests some helpful reading.

We all know we are living in a historic period of incredible social change. These changes tend to creep up on us, as individuals and organisations.

They either make us feel angry that things are not what they used to be, or we become confused as we attempt to make the things of the present fit what we know from the past. Then we become stressed when it does not seem to work.

As these 'shifts' take place, different cultural groups see the world around them with different understandings of how things are and work.

Once, people came through the door of the Church relatively easily, for rites of passage, faith conviction, sense of religious duty and cultural normality. It was probably more noticeable to stay away than to conform, as if the atmospheric pressure inside was lower than outside enabling a steady flow into church.

Today the reverse is the norm, as if the pressure inside is greater so people are finding it difficult to flow in, and many are moving out.

As cultural norms shift the Church is finding itself more out of sync with popular social trends and the prevailing culture in which it is placed.

As LMG's set up new forms of collaborative ministry, we need to address how a life-changing spiritual encounter with the Living God in Christ can be offered to those who 'cannot' access Church as it is presented.
We need to provide for them.

This will differ between rural and urban situations and with the make up of each community.

There needs to be space for the 'not yet', and openness to new expressions of what we understand as Church. It is vital to think missional as well as pastoral.

Over the last few decades we have realised that faith is seen primarily as a journey, a process and most people came to faith as a result of a long-term relationship with a Christian friend.

However this committed Christian base is getting smaller as the Church ages/declines.

We therefore recognise the vital role of those who are going to make something happen in the faith journey, kick start the process, point people in the direction of discovery and growth and assist with points of commitment on the way.

Finding Faith Today
by John Finney
(Bible Society)
Evangelism-which way now?
by Booker and Ireland
(Church House)
Hope for the Church
by Bob Jackson
(Church House)
Counting People In
by Richard Thomas
(SPCK)
Changing Communities
by Hinton and Price
(Churches Together in England and Ireland)

Our pluralist culture is in constant change, the gulf between the formal Church and the prevailing culture in which it is placed is widening.

The role of the Local Ministry Team will need to include a challenge to the local Church to move beyond the gulf, as well as to invite some to come the other way into a more accessible Church.

The entrepreneurs (evangelists) in our congregations will need to be given levels of permission and authority if new forms are to be:

• taken seriously
• given value
• kept accountable

This will then allow for 'changing lives' in both directions, within the Church and out in the communities around us

If you wish to have further help in this area, either specific information or a visit to discuss the issues with you/your team, a PCC or a congregational presentation/discussion contact:

Email: Canon Roger Medley, Diocesan Missioner

Address: The Old Deanery, WELLS  BA5 2UG

Tel: 01749 670777