Dear Friends,
These last few months have been busy- so much I did not have time to write in February! As someone asked me, “is every January going to be this busy?”
Don’t worry, it won’t be as busy (you have a written promise now!), but it was important for us to gather life groups together and those wanting to join them.
A real highlight was the benefice vision day and a great example of us working together when we found the heating not working and transferred to the lower Hall.
One of the highlights of the benefice vision day was the afternoon when we introduced the proximity network based in Manchester who supports Churches working in urban and deprived communities and doing Church differently.
Here is the 20-minute video of me interviewing Tom who is a pastor in Bootle in Liverpool and leads Proximity: https://youtu.be/7YGwDdI-2yk
The question we were asking in the afternoon was “how do we connect to our changing community?”. Tom shared such good wisdom and there was a real buzz in the room as people shared their hopes, visions, and where they saw the Church could grow, connect, and do something new.
The headline was: People Not Projects.
This has stuck with a lot of people since we gathered and something we are going to be praying and exploring about in the coming months.
This is not a new idea; this is what Jesus’ ministry was all about. People. Why did Jesus create such a stir with the Pharisees? Because he was focused on the
people. He was focused on the person and their story and God’s story with them. Whether they were fishermen, tax collectors, or prostitutes, He was focused on them, not their place in society and the community and what people thought of them.
I am always struck by John 4 of Jesus’ encounter with the woman at the well.
He did not come with judgment, an agenda, nor did he have a great plan. He was just focused on the person and her needs. The human need in that moment for water also offered her the spiritual need she not only needed but longed for. The part we tend not to quote much is how it ends:
John 4: 27-30
27 Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman.
But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”
28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,
29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.
The disciples were shown what it means to put people first rather than a project or agenda and the woman’s response. She shares Jesus’ message of hope and love with more people.
When we focus on people it is contagious and life changing and news spreads.
How and why some Churches grow more than others at the core of it all is when we send our people out to be with other people and share this message.
This coming week we shall start Lent and we invite you to come to one of our Ash Wednesday services and here we shall give some space to focus on Jesus and the promise of Lent. To be given the invitation to receive a sign of the cross
through Ash where we shall say these words:
“Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
These are powerful words, a reminder of who God is and what he sees in us, and a promise of what is to come. Ash Wednesday is always a powerful service for me as a reminder that God loves us even in our brokenness and sin. He loves us and forgives us because he is all about us His people.
So, what does that look like for you this lent? What does being focused on the people that God has placed on your walk? This lent instead of giving up lots of things that may not last, maybe take time to focus on people in prayer, in hospitality, and in time. Just as Jesus stopped with the woman at the well and
how it not only impacted her life but others as she went and invested in people just as He did and shared his hope.
May lent be a time of hope and love and a foundation of serving and being present with the people God has placed on your walk.
Love and Prayers
Mark