Mobilising

I have been posting a series of articles that emerged out of an invitation by the Swansea ministers' fraternal to speak to them on a strategy for Wales. The introduction is followed by posts on place, migration, and settlement.

Here is the first of four posts on strategic issues:

Although we must not narrow ourselves to one text in Scripture to summarise the mission of the church, the centrality of disciple-making through evangelism and teaching is a good place to start (Matt 28:19-20). Having said that, we must do all we can to avoid dividing the works that our church members are doing on an everyday basis into a two-tier system of spiritual and secular. 

Nevertheless, we would do well to be creative to think of ways that we as churches can multiply our impact on society. In saying this I am aware that we must avoid mission creep. I take it that the mission of the church is not to do everything that individual disciples of Christ are called to. But there are ways in which we may be able to mobilise members into works of service that are good in themselves whilst also building bridges with the community.

One expression of this is social entrepreneurship. Manumit Coffee set up by Dai Hankey is a good example of social entrepreneurship in Wales. 

It is no surprise that the proportion of committed churchgoers involved in parent-toddler groups, foodbanks, and debt counselling services is way higher than our proportion of the population.

Can we extend that reach into other areas: care homes, friendship centres, and other community services? These do not have to be run by the church as church. But church members may be encouraged to take up the challenge and their involvement in such works can lead to fruitful connections to the core activities of the church. Since these services would not be specifically oriented to church activities it would be perfectly appropriate to accept public funds.

Can we encourage church members to address the growing crisis in the care sector? As a nation we should hang our heads in shame for the way we treat our elders. Taking care of the needy and vulnerable has always been a significant way that the church has attracted outsiders. Since the advent of the welfare state, however, the church has been marginalised by the state. Our country is facing a complex of serious social crises. This has been brought about, among other things, by the abandonment of our Christian heritage and its replacement with the selfish pursuit of pleasure and affluence. The consequential high rate of abortion, aging population, tension with immigration, crisis in mental health, and intergenerational alienation gives the church a new opportunity to step into the gap and do what it had always done so well before. For instance, I recently heard of a church parent-toddler group that now meets regularly with senior citizens. They all love it and it meets several needs at the same time. 

Considering the mobilization of workers, I have a particular question about one demographic that we need to be more alert to: migration statistics tell us that students from the rest of the UK tend to leave Wales once they have completed their degrees or soon after. Should we try to keep young graduates who are followers of Christ in Wales? If so, how? We may have a ready supply of workers if only we were able to share our vision with them and find ways to make that more attractive.