Bit by Bit

I suffer from Severe Asthma. This means that I tend to be thwarted these days when I need to do any heavy work like digging in the garden. Exercise is good for me but when I try to dig the heavy soil in my garden it takes a very long time to complete the job. Thankfully I don't end up with a full blown asthma attack. I just have trouble breathing for a while.

The other day I decided to start removing a mound of clay that I had disguised as a rockery last year. It was left there when we had a new central heating system installed. The oil tank stands where the clay used to be! But after planting it with rockery plants last year we had a change of heart and want to erect a greenhouse on that spot. So I removed an amount of the heavy clay and suffered for it at the weekend. Today, it was sunny and cold so I took it into my head to do a little more. In short bursts of working I suddenly found that within an hour and a half the job was done! Wow! Now we can order the greenhouse.

With a little pain and suffering we can achieve significant victories for God. In the United Kingdom the Christian Church is not winning, and never will win the battle for Jesus. Yet, in this country, we are all that he has to work with. Our members cling tightly to what they know and hope people, searching for anwers, will pop into church. But they won't. The work of the church in our land has to change radically and rapidly. We have to tackle the task the opposite way round, today.

There are many, many people outside our walls who are seriously looking for answers as to who we are and why we are here. They do believe in God, in a way, but haven't made the connection. As for the Church, it doesn't hold any appeal for them. Most of them think they have slipped too far anyway to find their way back. At the end of this month I am attending a course at the Windermere Centre in the Lake District. It is called "The Emerging Church" and will be looking at ways we can use to connect with the people of whom I am speaking. Oddly enough, the Centre is a United Reformed Church establishment and I am a Methodist. But I only became a Methodist last year after 55 years in the URC and previously the Congregational Church. So I think they'll still open the door to me!

Things have got so bad these days that people are now writing off the church as irrelevant. But I see on the Internet that in the USA the United Church of Christ have a campaign going entitled "God is still speaking". I find those words very encouraging. I am now 62 years old but I am still wanting to take "the Word" out to God's people. I hope I have many active years left to me. But it isn't enough to find Jesus and then keep him to myself. So I am off to Windermere to take part in the discussions to see if God has a message to share with me.

But, like the way I dig the garden, I know we are on a long missionary journey. But we must get the ball rolling soon or miss the party. I know that adverts on church walls are a waste of time. I know that smiling faces at the church door once a week don't draw people to God. I also know that unkempt, badly maintained buildings do not help with mission. I do know that, if we get a start made, our financial problems will cease and there will be enough money to maintain our buildings whatever and whever they are. Always remember that Jesus never said, fill your church with people. He said, "Feed my sheep."