The Rector Writes – June 2010
Dear Friends
I have been reading a book called ‘Dry Bones Can Live’ by John James, who is a former minister of a Baptist church in Penarth near Cardiff. The title is based on one of the most graphic passages in the Old Testament – the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel chapter 37. In his vision the prophet is shown this seemingly hopeless prospect and is asked ‘Can these dry bones live?’ He is instructed to speak over them and as he does so they are drawn together, they gather flesh and then stand up as a mighty army. Ezekiel is then told that the dry bones are the people of Israel, who have been complaining of their lack of vitality and strength. God will bring renew them as he exercised his great power for their benefit at various times in the past.
The appeal of this book is that it speaks to the condition of many churches in Britain today, whose members feel that their strength and numbers are declining. Just as the Israelites could be encouraged to trust God afresh by considering what he did for them in the past, when they were weak or in difficulties, so the author urges Christians today to look back to the earliest days of the Church, when the twelve apostles and their companions witnessed explosive growth at the first Pentecost festival after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension.
St Luke, in chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles, gives us an outline of the life of the Church in Jerusalem:
‘The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.’ (from the New International Version of the Bible)
John James identifies eight features of the church in Jerusalem: 1 learning; 2 fellowship; 3 prayer; 4 worship;
5 sharing; 6 witness; 7 exciting; 8 happy.
He goes on to suggest that each of these must be true of any church at any time anywhere if it is to succeed and grow. He mentions people who claim that one of these features is more important than all the others, and so they promote that above the rest, but their church will only gain ground if it has been weak in that respect.
At our annual Vestry Meeting in April there was an opportunity for members to rate the life of our parish under each of the above eight headings on a score of zero to ten. Two things became evident: firstly that we had a wide range of perceptions of our church’s strengths and weaknesses – what some people thought was a strong feature others said was weak; and secondly, people understood the eight key features in very different ways. For instance, some used the term fellowship to describe social gatherings whereas others reserve that for the study of the Bible or shared enterprise in mission. Then some people said that we were not learning churches at all because we do not have a Sunday School, whereas others recognised the function of preaching and of our all-age worship to fulfil this role. Some gave the parish a low rating on prayer because we do not hold a separate prayer meeting, whereas other appreciated the place of regular intercessions in all our worship services.
Over the next few months I intend to return to these eight features of a healthy church to help us see where we need to develop if the Spirit of God is to be allowed the freedom among us which is his due. There is scope for broadening our understanding of these themes and for finding suitable expressions of them within the setting of our parish.
I was surprised but pleased to find myself locked out of the former car-park of Emmanuel church recently. The sale of the land for housing purposes has been completed and the architect is concluding the design for the re-ordering and extension of our building before going out to tender shortly.
Yours sincerely
Martin Snellgrove