So, what's it like being world famous rock stars?
Ok, that was a terrible joke, I apologise.
Recently I have been thinking a lot about the Methodist
Church, how it works (and sometimes it doesn't), politics, procedures, priorities,
and so on. I'm going to write about some of the questions I've been pondering.
I'm quite good at asking questions, but not so good at providing answers.
Especially as some require out of the box thinking, and as I said recently, I
am not good at thinking outside of the box, but I am ok at knowing when being
inside the box doesn't work. Maybe some of them don't even have answers... I
like bouncing ideas around, hopefully this blog can serve as a place for that
to happen. This is going to be a bit of a stream of consciousness. So let's see
where this goes.
(Disclaimers: Some of these thoughts might be wrong,
factually incorrect, and I'm happy to be corrected.)
Do we expect Ministers to be masters-of-all-trades?
Do we expect Ministers to be masters-of-all-trades?
Ministers are trained in Theology. This isn't a bad thing, obviously we need
our ministers to be strong theologians. But when they go into Circuit, they are
expected to chair Church Council's and oversee the 'business' side of the local
Church. As far as I know, ministers aren’t trained for this side of the role.
(There may be some who have those skills from their former life, but not all.)
Does this affect the long-term life of churches? Where is
the business-minded thought to the future, to using resources to their full
extent, and joined up thinking about resource sharing with other churches
(Methodist and Other)?
Would Churches function better with two leaders; a pastoral
minister who is a theologian and looks after the pastoral and spiritual side of
the church, and a 'CEO' who deals with the financial, business, resource- and
people-management side?
Are we too numbers
driven?
How often is out outreach driven by a desire to get more
bums on seats, more members, more people putting money into the collection
plate, and how often is it driven out of a genuine desire to spread the Good
News? How often is it our agenda, not God's?
Often I have heard people comment that fresh expressions
haven't translated into more members. 'Yes, it's great that Messy Church has 40
families on a Saturday afternoon, but they don't come on a Sunday, and they
don't give much toward the costs.' Is this really what Church is about?
Are we too precious of our members? I read something where a
church was worried that some changes might lead people to 'leave us for other
denominations'. Were we called to make disciples of Christ, or members of the
Methodist Church?
What is Church?
Do churches need a physical building of their own? Can a
church offer the same things to the community and to its members by renting
time in a community centre? Chapels can be community centres, so why not make
community centres chapels? This could release money that is otherwise spent on
maintaining bricks and mortar. Or is there something important about having a
physical presence?
I'm going to leave it
there for now, this is a good start. (It's just been pointed out that I have
written 3 main points, all I need is a few hymns for a traditional Methodist
Service, ironic...)
Please, please get in touch, comment, tweet, carrier pigeon,
or any other out of the box ideas. I
meant this as a conversation starter.
And now for our final hymn, we stand and sing Hymn 77 - Rockin' All Over The World
And now for our final hymn, we stand and sing Hymn 77 - Rockin' All Over The World
(PS, as this is post number 65, this blog is being given the option of retiring. Luckily, it feels well enought to carry on.)
