"It is no use going simply to teach or to speak. It is necessary to sit and listen and serve .... there is opportunity, often to witness to the gospel and to see people come to faith. "(Croft)
It's easy to sit and listen and serve. But I've been wondering does it make church, can it become church? If I have the opportunity to pray with people that come does that make it church?
A lot has happened since I last blogged (some of which I cannot publish here). As a group we continued to meet on Saturday mornings, share breakfast, make Christmas cards and have good conversations around the table. What I also discovered was some of the parents seeking me out to talk on a one to one basis. During these times I was quite taken aback by what they were prepared to share with me ... yet I was also humbled by the fact that the relationships had deepened to the extent that they could openly and honestly trust me with real, personal issues and to some extent heart breaking things that were going on in their lives. So I had to really listen. This happened many times over the past few weeks and not just in the context of Saturday mornings ... it happened in the local shop in the estate, outside the school gates, in the school at a nativity play, at the community centre. I have prayed with and for some of these mums .... I have seen a change in attitudes towards God .... but they have a poor perspective of the church I minister in. To be honest there is a sense in which this very small group have a greater sense of what church should be - they have an openness that I don't always find elsewhere - yet - Saturday mornings may not meet certain criteria that say it is church but it has become something more than just somewhere to kill time while the children are at the kids club. I think there will be opportunities for faith to be explored.
Some of them came to the carol service and also to a family movie night (Muppets Christmas Carol) where more conversations emerged after the movie over coffeee and mince pies while the children enjoyed crafts!
This weekend we will begin to learn how to do cross stitch which should bring some hilarity to the proceedings ... and I will continue to sit and listen and serve those who come.
I seek to have that holistic perspective on what has happened over the past few months and on what will happen in the months that lie ahead. I'm continuing to hold on to that hopeful imagination...
2 comments:
My weekend at Grace and Moot has made me realsie that for them church is often not in what happens on Sunday, but what happens in small groups throughout the week, so I would say your listening ear is achieving some of that.
Glad you spent some time at Grace and Moot!! I understand that it doesn't have to take place on Sunday I suppose I still struggle to see what I'm doing as church at the moment! I seem to find myself asking what is church and what needs to be added to the times we meet to make it church!
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