Minister's Letter

Martyn Atkins the current president of he Methodist Conference writes in his book about a visit he made to Cuba in 2005. The church in Cuba, including the Methodist Church has grown significantly in the last 15 years or so, and he asks why this is. In 1959 when Fidel Castro came to power three quarters of the leadership of the church in Cuba left the country rather than live under Castro's atheist regime. The remaining church leaders were all forced into menial jobs, and all the buildings were taken over by government and put to 'good' use. Then in the early 1990's a stream of young people began to arrive at the doors of Christians in the country wanting to know about faith and God, and asking why, amidst the clearly atheist teaching of the state, they still found a longing for the spiritual, for something which the state simply could not provide. The result, a vibrant, young church experiencing rapid growth. So, asks Martyn Atkins, if we want the church to grown in the UK, all we have to do is sell all the buildings and sack all the ministers. At that point people laugh, assuming he is joking, but what if he isn't and what if his idea is right?

Tom Stuckey, President of Conference a couple of years ago, and coming from a very different Christian background than Martyn Atkins, writes about mission in one of his books and says that mission is no longer about the church getting people through its doors, but rather about the church being engaged with the community, in partnership with anyone who will work with us, and seeking to be a blessing to people by using our resources to their benefit, in the name of Jesus.

Two very different people, who have made very different journeys but who are seeing the future of the church as being very different from anything we have been seen yet. These ideas may be uncomfortable and untidy, even unpalatable, but they hold out a new future to a church which sees its more traditional forms caught in serious, and in some cases threatening decline.

Jesus said to his disciples 'whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it' (Matt: 16:25 NIV). He says this in the context of speaking about people taking up the cross. He is talking about the risk involved in following him. How might we respond to this? We could throw out all the traditional things of church and rush headlong into the new. Or we could put our heads in the sand, ignore the decline we see around us and hope it will all go away. Or we can keep the traditional running and seek to set up new things as well. As a Circuit we are looking at the third of these and are intending to try to do both, and then see where God leads us. There are no guarantees of success, except the words of Jesus, that if we faithfully follow what he calls us to do, we will not lose out in the end. It could be an unpredictable journey, but it promises challenge and excitement as we seek to do what God requires in our generation.

God bless,
Chris