Rediscovering Mission (Part 4)

Continuing from where we left off last time, this month's article examines the question, How does religion survive in our post-Christian society?

Spiritual Hunger
Religion survives, surely, because at the deepest level religious and spiritual needs and impulses are as great as ever. They simply show themselves in other ways: emotional outpourings of public grief (like the Diana phenomenon), new age spirituality, yoga, meditation and alternative therapies. This should not necessarily be seen as a negative sign but proof that people are still prompted to express their religious feeling about human existence.

Critically, Mission-Shaped Church argues that God calls us to meet people where they are with the love of Christ and that we may need to change the way we "do Church", to develop fresh expressions of Church. This certainly applies to our mission to the vast number of non-churched people. In being true to our calling to share in God's Mission the report points out that "the task is to become church for them, among them and with them and under the Spirit of God to lead them to become Church in their own culture."

The Church of England has for too many years relied on a 'returners strategy'. Inviting people "back to Church" as we currently know it may be an effective mission strategy for reaching perhaps one third of the population who have had some meaningful contact with the Church; for the non-churched majority this approach is misconceived. Then, when you consider the fact that 70% of those who come to faith do so before the age of 20, we realise how pressing is the need for evangelism among our young people.

Fresh Expressions of Church
So what are these fresh expressions of being Church? Many innovative and exciting examples are springing up. A mid-week service for mums and toddlers, 'Kidzone': an after school worship service for 5s to 11s and their families.

A ministry of care initiative in Northampton has forged a huge new congregation for the over 60s.

New church planting and cell churches in non-parochial settings are being carefully developed up and down the UK. An innovative workplace church has been set up for over a hundred young professionals. Eternity Youth congregation, Bracknell, started as a Friday night youth event in a school: now it has spawned two outreach cafes, a magazine, home groups and a basketball ministry. Soul Survivor, Watford, and Ignite, Willesden, are two further examples of successful youth ministries supported by their diocese who reach out to young people through contact café nights.

All these experiments are about being culturally appropriate to the people they are trying to reach. All exist alongside traditional forms of worship. However, rightly and wisely Mission-Shaped Church warns us against choosing new Church models and approaches "off the shelf" - Hey, there's a good one on page 76: let's try that! Each community is unique as is every individual within it. So there is no one approach that fits all: a stunning success in Northwood may not be a triumph in Yiewsley. Instead, we need to allow our imaginations to work in tune with the Holy Spirit. In this way we may be able to echo the simple prayer from the Decade of Evangelism:

Set us free, O God
To cross barriers for you
As you crossed barriers for us
Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

– Robert Jones, September 2005

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4