Adieu. Farewell. So long and thanks for all the ...

Following is the text of my Farewell Speech from Conference 2012, held in Wellington, NZ.

Last week I ran in the Auckland Half Marathon.  The event is not as iconic as the New York Marathon, which was to run on Sunday.  The crowds in Auckland were not as big as New York – only 45,000 in Auckland, compared to the estimated 2 million who line the streets of the 5 Boroughs’ of New York.  But however big or small the crowds are, one can still feel the power of the crowd support.  In Devonport, we ran past 5 kids who had had a sleep over and were sitting on the front lawn at 7am - cheering us on.  At the finish line there were hundreds, 7 or 8 rows deep.  And they clapped and cheered for all of us, though they didn’t know who we were, and we didn't know most of them.  That support gave each of us a palpable surge of energy and a strong sense that we could finish – no matter how much we were hurting. 

Today I want to celebrate the support that I have received from many people in the church as I finish this race, and to acknowledge that without you our ministries would be nearly impossible.

•       Rebecca, my wife and best friend, who has put up with all the nights and weekends away, and all the stuff that the church has asked of me, and thrown at us.

•       Letitia and Jacinta, our amazing daughters – your welcome home is always worth coming home to.

•       The Mission Resourcing Team – Nehu, Esme, Andrew.

•       Aso, who was president when I was ordained, is far more than a colleague and director.  He has become a very close friend – wise, prayerful, deeply caring.

•       The Mission Resourcing Board, and especially Marilyn Welch and Hamish Ott as Chairs

•       All of the Synod Superintendents, Presidents and Vice Presidents, both General Secretaries, and many many other colleagues and friends – lay and ordained (I don’t distinguish)

•       Diana Tana and members of Hui Poari, who welcomed me warmly on my visits

•       Our Korean Ministry colleagues, and all our conversations and meals.

These seven years have been a roller coaster ride.

Aso and I started in the Board of Ministry days, seven years ago.

We have experienced 3 different forms of Governance, including the Commissioner John Hinchcliff.

For very different reasons, we have had 6 Board chairs – 8 if you count the various reincarnations of Michael Greer

We have lived through the illness and death of our dearest friend, colleague and pastor, Andre Le Roux.

I’ve been privileged to go to South Korea and South Africa – and to be part of the writing and signing of the statement of intent with the Seoul South Annual Conference this year.

I’ve visited every synod at least twice, have been Tauiwi EO twice, have served and led 21 Tauiwi Strategy meetings, and have been privileged to serve on various national ecumenical Boards and committees on behalf of the church (hospital chaplaincy, uniting congregations, fresh Expressions, church life survey, NZ Christian Network, and others).

I am not the same as I was when I have started. This job - and you - have grown me as a person.  I have grown in faith and understanding of God and of my fellow travellers.  I've tried to lead with compassion and serve with hope.

But at the heart of all I’ve done has been the delightful work with congregations and my colleagues. 

I’ve used the words delight and privilege because I mean it.

It has not always easy (understatement), but it has been an honour to lead and serve the church as Director and Tauiwi Executive Officer.

If I leave something with the church, I hope it is this.

The Church doesn’t grow – People grow: 

So grow the people – not buildings or committees or …

• Live in Faith, Hope and Love.
• Work harder at being colleagues who live the mandate of Jesus to “love one another”
• Build deeper faith in Jesus Christ, with each other and your communities.
• Don’t be scared to confront the bullies - whoever they are.
• Take time to share your stories and doubts with each other, and pray with and for each other.
• At the heart of your ministry, cling to the grace of growing people as disciples.

To my Christchurch friends -stay strong in the face of tiredness and change or no change. I know it is hard, but stay strong.

At the end of every race we make a choice – will I run again, or is it time to hang up my shoes? There is another race for me, and I am grateful to my friends who have encouraged me to stay in ministry.  The next race for me will be in Australia.

Next year we will be living in Melbourne, where I have accepted a congregational ministry with the Uniting Church of Australia.  Australia is Rebecca’s home, and this is an exciting move for all 4 of us – with delightful new possibilities.

The Methodist Church of New Zealand has been a spiritual home and has provided a fantastic ministry journey.  The thing I will miss most about all this are the friends I have made – from Riverton and Bluff to the Bay of Islands;  Familiar voices and friendly faces.  You will forever be friends, Whanau.

Finally ...

May our faith be greater than our fears,

our courage greater than our cowardice,

and our hope greater than our cynicism.

In all things remember this; God is with us.

Where do our Ministry Candidates come from? Part 3

(Click here for the Introduction; Part 1; Part 2)

Part 3. What can Synods, Congregations and Mission Resourcing do for leadership identification and recruitment.

In part 1 of this paper we noted the following:

“Several factors influence decisions to engage in intentional leadership training for ministry. The following are particularly true for Palangi candidates.

·       Understanding of Church, God, ministry and ones self

·       Personal skills in ministry and leadership

·       (Personal) Discernment of the call of God to particular ministries

In addition, some cultures emphasise more strongly the call of the community, the wishes of family members, the social status of the family, and the influence of parents or grandparents who have also been ordained. For Palangi candidates, these factors are far less influential.”

As far as I know, we have never done any intentional recruitment for Presbyteral ministry. For many years Rev Dave Mullan promoted Diaconal ministry, and the fruits of that were seen in a dozen or so deacons coming into ministry within a space of several years.

Some Congregations provide very good leadership development – The Youth group are groomed as leaders of the holiday program; Pastoral visitors are trained monthly; Parish Councillors have a 4 year non-renewable term; etc.

Some Synods have provided ministry exploration events where those wanting to know more about ministry (lay or ordained; Diaconal or Presbyteral; Administration or Parish leadership; leadership in missional or new ventures) can come and explore together what a call to ministry might involve.

We believe that in order to encourage people to consider ministry, the whole church (congregations, regions, synods, Trinity College and Mission Resourcing) will need to provide practical and theoretical training for lay and ordained in order to provide a “discernment journey”. This could take place in 4 settings:

1.     The parish / congregation / community

2.     Trinity College (formal training)

3.     Ministry experience which is reflected upon

4.     Ongoing spiritual and ministry development

These four areas can be provided for both lay and ordained leaders. Each step provides opportunity and challenge for discernment, assessment and experience / qualification.  In this way the 3 areas of Understanding, Skill and Discernment become ongoing features of this lifelong process. The process also provides any candidates / leaders with proven and provable development.

Other areas for further exploration:

·       Synod discernment days

·       Early encouragement of people into Lead Worship, Lay preachers qualifications or (if these are completed) other ongoing study, reading and reflection.

·       Congregations encouraging people to experience their Committees – if only for a couple of meetings

·       Church leaders (lay and ordained) encouraging leaders and potential leaders to attend and participate in Synod meetings and events.

·       Church leadership encouraging their members to try new ventures in mission in their communities.

In discussion I have suggested that we can improve our candidating / recruiting by 3 steps. (Note: these connect with the material in the first section of this report)

·       Advertise: Every year we could advertise in Touchstone and Emessenger for those considering candidating to make themselves known to their presbyters and Synod Candidates Conveners (SCC’s).  Part of this advertising could be to issue a challenge to consider ministry, and part could be to kick off the coming year’s candidates processes.

·       Challenge: The call to ordained Presbyteral and Diaconal ministry is a sensitive one, but involves a challenge to ‘leave your comfort and take a new journey’. The call is to a fulfilling and challenging ministry, while at the same time becoming part of the re-shaping of the church. *Missional intentions and ‘fresh expressions’ of church are going to need people who have a sense of ministry that may be different to ‘orthodox’ or traditional forms of ministry. This is a challenge that should be given through congregations and ministry leaders.

·       Inform: In a new processes, the minister and local parish become the major first port of call for candidates (NOT the synods, Mission Resourcing or "someone else"). In order to accomplish this well, ministers and congregations will need to gather material to engage the conversations, reflections and ministry praxis necessary to facilitate the discernment processes.

For Reflection:

o   What ways have I used to encourage people to think about / discern their ministries in our church?

o   What spiritual disciplines are necessary for good leadership in a church?

Link to Introduction

Link to Part 1

Link to Part 2

Where do our Ministry Candidates come from? Part 2

(Click here for the Introduction; Click here for part 1)

Part 2. The race challenge: What does a New Zealander look and sound like?

New Zealand Journalist and commentator Paul Henry’s public and racist questions about the Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand’s not ‘looking and sounding like a New Zealander’ have been (mostly) publicly refuted and condemned in the media and in many café and pub conversations around the country – though interestingly not so much on talkback radio.  Critical reflection has been engaged in whether we ‘all think in this way’ – and clearly many of us don’t. 

But critical reflection is necessary in many other parts of our society – not just the media.  The church is no exception as these are also questions we hear from our congregations.  We need to look critically at ourselves.

In the stationing process we have seen some parish councils or members dismiss ministers on the stationing sheet out of hand because they have ‘foreign names’ (often Pacific or Asian). This dismissal is built on the assumption that these people probably can’t speak English well, and are not ‘like us’. 

We also hear comments following the announcement of successful candidates in our candidating process like, ‘Where are the New Zealanders?’ (note: Often linked to this is the question *‘where are the younger ministers?’)

Interestingly this comment is almost never the case in churches that have intentionally embraced multiculturalism as part of their lives – they have multi-cultural leadership (representative of the parish and wider community, not just in ones or twos), have worship lead in different languages, have mixed-culture youth groups and (maybe most importantly) have a pastoral care structure that is based on ability, not history or ethnicity. These groups accept the lay ministry of all, no matter what the culture of the people involved.

It may be hard for us to hear, but I would tentatively suggest that the number and quality of Palangi candidates might reflect the strength and age range of palangi in our churches.

The comments I’ve noted above appear to be based on several assumptions. Here are some that I have heard and would want to see challenged:

Racial / Ethnic

That these people are not New Zealanders (they don’t look and sound like us).

That a minister who does not ‘look and sound like us’ can’t provide caring & competent ministry to us.

That we cannot relate to a minister who does not ‘look and sound like us’.

Discipleship

That someone else (some other parish) is providing the ‘breeding ground’ for candidates / presbyters and deacons (see above).

That ‘somewhere out there’ is a group of (often) younger people who want to come into ministry

… and that that ministry will be done the same way as we like it at the moment.

Missional

That our church is, and will always be, as it currently is; and we want a minister who will minister to us in this way.

That there we (the church) are one part of society that is not changing in demographics, culture or ministry opportunities.

That migrants are a group to be ministered to, and that they cannot provide leadership or ministry to or with us.

Can a “New Zealander” be Fiji-Indian, Tongan, Samoan or Korean? Of course. We cannot ignore *the changing face of the church which includes people of many cultures and races – and that these people bring graces and gifts to our church and communities that we should embrace in our leadership.

Paul Henry’s attitude has provided us with ‘food for thought’.

For Reflection:

o   What are the factors which determine the depth of pastoral relationship which allow others to minister to me?

o   Is race or ethnicity a determining factor?

o   Could God be challenging me to be open to ministry by someone of a different ethnicity or age group to what I am used to?

Link to Part 1

Link to Part 3

Where do our Ministry Candidates come from? Part 1

(Note: The Introduction to this paper can be found here)

Part 1. Where do they come from? Some vital but general comments regarding candidates.

Our candidates come to us from a variety of different backgrounds.

Several factors influence decisions to engage in intentional leadership training for ministry. The following are particularly true for Palangi candidates.

·       Understanding of Church, God, ministry and ones self

·       Personal skills in ministry and leadership

·       (Personal) Discernment of the call of God to particular ministries

In addition, some cultures emphasize more strongly the call of the community, the wishes of family members, the social status of the family, and the influence of parents or grandparents who have also been ordained. For Palangi candidates, these factors are far less influential.

All candidates come first from our congregations.  Parishes and congregations are the primary ‘breeding ground’ for leadership development – lay and ordained – and it is necessary to recognise the vital importance of the atmosphere of encouragement, discipleship, and leadership (and leadership development) opportunities provided by congregations.

Youth groups, bible classes, cell groups, and fellowship groups (and even committees) all provide an opportunity for a person to grow in their faith, their understanding of God, the church, ministry (in a general sense), themselves and therefore their individual and specific role and place in the church. 

*An important side issue to this is that most people in the church make decisions to become Christians at a young age, often through intentional or regular Children’s ministries and / or through the relationships that they have with other Christians (Parents, family members, other church members, ordained ministers). Other ‘doors’ to Christian discipleship include evangelism, missional projects, Music and Movement groups, and friendships.

In this atmosphere of leadership development - of the possibility of risk and failure, of the graciousness of opportunity, and of the deepening sense of one’s relationship with Jesus Christ – a person is able to develop a confidence in leadership, and a skill and experience base on which to grow their sense of call to ministry. This leadership development is real (worship leading, parish council participation, chairing committees) and cannot be seen as simply a training ground with ‘real ministry’ being done by older or better trained people.

A sense of the call of God to ministry is also part of the discernment process, and can come in a variety of ways – the shoulder tap from a church leader, a course through Trinity College, Laidlaw, Otago University, or EIDTS, the example of a presbyter, a sermon, etc. 

As with faith, the call is personal, but never private.  The call is affirmed by the community of faith in many different ways – parish council, ministry experience, candidates discernment and assessment, etc.

Candidates come from Parishes and congregations, and are most often encouraged by existing lay and ordained church leaders.  Opportunities for ministry development and exercise are one aspect of strong and vibrant churches. 

For Reflection:

o   Is my parish / congregation a place that encourages people to engage in, take risks in and learn about leadership?  If so, how? If not, how can we change?

o   Do we challenge people to ‘go deeper’ in their faith? How can we do this better?

Link to Part 2 (Coming 21 September)

Link to Part 3 (Coming 28 September)

Where do our Ministry Candidates come from? Introduction

Thoughts and Questions on Candidates for Ordained English Speaking Ministry

Introduction

This is the introduction to a 3 part paper, exploring questions around where our candidates come from and how we might better understand the ways in which candidates are given opportunities to explore their call, gifts and skills.

The Methodist Church's Mission Resourcing continues to develop leadership and resources for Children’s Ministries, Youth Ministries, Stationing, Candidating, and workshops on a variety of topics. In this context we recognise the need for intentional identification of leadership resources and development of leaders in all these ministries, both lay and ordained.

This topic is one ‘corner’ of a project being undertaken by Mission Resourcing in leadership development.  In part it has arisen as we look to be more intentional in our leadership development. It has also been raised because of comments made (in regards to both candidating and stationing) that there are “no palangi candidates available”.

NOTES:

·       * indicates areas which may be further explored

·       Where this paper may be lacking or unclear, where other areas may need to be explored, or where the paper can be strengthened, please feel free to get in touch with me (nigel@missionresourcing.org.nz).

Introduction

People wanting to consider and be considered for Ordained ministry (“Candidates”) in the Methodist Church of New Zealand come from within our congregations. They experience a calling from God, from those around them and from their parishes or congregations.  These are exceptional people who reconsider their life’s direction, their career and their future in the light of an identifiable (or sometimes vague) sense of being drawn to or pushed to consider something new.

Over the past few years, our candidates ‘pool’ has been increasingly filled with Tongan and Samoan candidates, many of whom are making themselves available for English Speaking ministry. These have been accepted, trained and stationed and in most cases have worked well.  *Further mentoring and ‘cultural adaptation’ that are required (a separate topic) - but these intentional interventions are often required in adapting to any new ministry situations (urban to rural, Methodist to Cooperative Venture, big city to provincial).

However questions have arisen about why we are not recruiting more Palangi candidates for ministry.  This paper seeks to raise some of the issues associated with this question, answer some questions and raise others.  This paper is intended to guide the thinking, discussion and planning of the Mission Resourcing Board, Synods and anyone who wants to participate, towards new decisions and intentional actions, and is offered to the wider church.

In this paper, the term “Palangi” is a Tongan word which describes those of ‘European’ descent or ethnicity as against those of (e.g.) Indian, Samoan, Tongan, or Asian background.  Factors related to English language ability or cultural background are not implied in the use of these terms.

Link to Part 1 

Link to Part 2 (Coming a bit later)

Link to Part 3 (Will arrive after the last one)

Beyond Supervision

They told me that I needed supervision in order to stay safe in my ministry.  As with many people, I did it because I was told to - and then found myself enjoying it and growing. I am committed to ongoing growth and learning, so supervision and its accountability have injected new life into my development.  But I have found myself questioning several assumptions about what we call "Supervision".

Supervision is a requirement of many of our organizations (and churches) for those engaged in working with people.  It gives opportunity for a person to reflect on their work, and the relationships within that, in a way that ensures effective and ethical work practice, and growth of the individual.

There are four different areas of supervision which I have identified, some of which can or do overlap. The following are my words and should be ‘reshaped’ for your own context!

a. Spiritual Direction: This is seen as necessary in an organisation where leadership is selected and maintained by a Spiritual focus.
b. Supervision: The art of working with a person on their work, with a particular focus often on the various relationships
c. Mentoring: Often done by a person who has ‘been there – done that’ and can provide some assistance and direction when facing questions about direction or actions.
d. Management Supervision: Looks at areas of time management, staff management, some leadership issues, recruitment etc. Where this is done with executive staff (CEO’s etc), it can be termed ‘leadership coaching’

As I say, they all can overlap.  Some are more strategic for some jobs than others – e.g. a, b, c are essential for congregational ministers, while c & d may be better suited to a new CEO.

But beyond this lose definition, I'm not sure there is much agreement.  My critical reflections on this are around 3 key areas: Safety, Supervision and Spirituality, Coaching.

1.  Safety: I don't find that phrases like "keeping you safe" are all that helpful.  They assume a negative starting point, that those who don't do supervision are "unsafe", and that supervision has a force-field like quality that keeps you from harming others (but the power of the force-field runs out every month to 6 weeks!).

Supervision only 'works' in any sense when the person being supervised is open and vulnerable with their supervisor.  As long as I am hiding my 'addictions', supervision can't help me with them. Being open and accountable to a supervisor is a skill. These conversations are not always easy.  However the harder the work, the greater the potential for growth.  

A key phrase used by one of my supervisors was to have the courage to talk about those things that you would rather not talk about – to name the things you struggle with – and to continue to confront the areas where you are not strong!

The result of this is not to make you safer, but to make you more effective (and safer as a bi-product): Rather than learning not to tell lies, you learn to tell the truth; Rather than learning to bury your feelings more effectively, you become more comfortable with them.

If you would like to look at a description of Supervision, you'll find one here on the Mission Resourcing website. 

2. Supervision and Spirituality: Several years ago a friend and I talked about how 'clinical' supervision was frustratingly ineffective for ministers, as it didn't ask the question "So where is God in this?". I soon discovered that we were not the only ones struggling with this.  The reason for this struggle is clear; Ministry (and life in general) is not a series of separated activities.  In this case our 'God understanding' effects how (and why) we relate to others and ourselves - and therefore should be part of a supervision process.

So I worked with my Supervisor to put some Spiritual Direction type questions into our work.  It worked really well - and continues to. It makes sense that people in church work don't separate effectiveness in work and relationships from spiritual growth and understanding.

If you want to read some good material on Spiritual Direction, you will find it here on the Mission Resourcing website.

3. Coaching: Supervision will often work to draw out the answers from a supervisee's experience and background, rather than 'giving answers'.  This is great for building tools for reflection and growth, and avoiding dependency on others for solutions.  However sometimes I just don't have the resources - I have never been in that situation before.  The Counselling methods on which much modern supervision is based does not cope well with a 'coaching' function - but supervision by nature needs to cover a wide array of the known and unknown.

In those cases I need some coaching or mentoring.  Sometimes that comes from books or podcasts, but other times it comes from someone who can tell their stories (for example) of having dealt with a compulsive liar or a suicidal young person.

So part of the function of a person in supervision is to find enough people who can walk alongside them. And part of the function of the supervisor is to be flexible and clear when other methods of companionship are required.

I don't think one can or should find all 3 of these characteristics in one person.  But I do think that all 3 should be available to us on a regular basis - The Supervisor, Spiritual Director and Coach.

Which of these have you found to be the most helpful? How do you use supervision, spiritual direction, and coaching?   

Prayer and reflection in Holy Week

Note: This post is longer than normal.

Today is the Monday of Holy week - the week before Good Friday & Easter Sunday; Crucifixion & Resurrection.

This week gives a unique opportunity to allow a different pattern of prayer and listening to God to be part of our lives.  Holy Week gives an opportunity to listen to the stories of Jesus, the followers of Jesus and others in the lead up to Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday - and to allow those stories to speak to us in a way that is different to the normal pattern through the rest of the year.  

However for many of us to do this well means adopting a different model and habit of prayer.  

Here are some steps or habits you might consider for this week.

1. Set aside a chunk of quality, uninterrupted time every day.  

Intentionally put this in your diary or daily routine.  Give more time to this habit than normal - you might want to try 30-45 minutes. Doing this in the morning allows the readings, prayers and thoughts to speak often during the day.  Switch off email, mobile phone, landline and TGIF (Twitter, Google, iPhone, Facebook) and find a quiet place where you will not be distracted or interrupted.  It sounds easy, but for many of us doing it is much harder.

2. Gather some necessities before you start.

A Bible, the readings for the day (see below), pen or pencil and journal. You might want to have a small cross you can hold in your hand or a Palm Sunday flax cross or some other item that helps you focus your prayer. Tissues might come in handy too, as the stories of this week touch the deepest emotions we have! If you use the suggestions below, you will want a device to play the reflections (iPod/mp3 player/cd player).  Setting an alarm means you won't need to look at a clock or watch constantly. You might choose to sit or kneel - helpful if you have a prayer stool!

Creating a ‘prayer space’ is a good way of entering this prayer – a specific corner of a room in your house.  Collect images, icons, pictures and other items through which the meaning of this time can be made more real for you.  Some of these might be contemporary pictures from the newspaper, remembering that the passion of Christ is for the world.

For some people, their prayer space may be a familiar, quiet walking route – maybe repeating a simple prayer phrase like “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom”

3. Find a ritual to start your prayer time

Light a candle; take a couple of deep, slow breaths; pick up your pen, write the date in your journal and then put the pen and journal down - Anything that engages your heart and mind into ‘changing gear’ and being in a different space. 

4. Bring yourself to the scriptures

Approach the scriptures with an attitude that allows them to speak to your heart.  Read the scripture out loud, slowly, a couple of times.  This is not sermon preparation time, but a space for God to reach deep into your head, heart and emotions.  Prayer enlarges our consciousness of God and the world, and deepens compassion; it changes the one who prays.

5. Get together with others who pray

Look out for a church that offers a Tenebrae service (Service of Shadows, normally held on Holy Thursday) and Good Friday service.  Attending a service that someone else is leading allows you to relax and experience the story for yourself.

Ways to pray and meditate in Holy Week

1. Gospel Readings

You might want to listen to the introduction to Holy Week from Pray As You Go;  "The best way to pray this week is simply to follow it, content to receive what God wants to give us.  Allow yourself to be taken on a journey - 'thy will be done'.  Let scripture take you on this road.  Be attentive to the details of scripture and trust yourself to it.  Don’t fill up your prayer with too many words - let each period of prayer begin simply by asking for the grace of this week, to be close to Christ as he does his father's will - to touch something of the mystery of his life and love."

The Gospel readings for Holy week are

 Monday of Holy Week

March 25, 2013

 John 12:1-11

Tuesday of Holy Week

March 26, 2013

 John 12:20-36

Wednesday of Holy Week

March 27, 2013

 John 13:21-32

Maundy Thursday

March 28, 2013

 Holy Thursday

 John 13:1-17, 31b-35

Good Friday

March 29, 2013

 John 18:1-19:42

Holy Saturday

March 30, 2013

 Matthew 27:57-66

 or

 John 19:38-42

Holy Week Audio

I'm a fan of seeing and hearing. I often use the daily reflections from the (Irish) Jesuits, which can be found at Pray As You Go.  You can download individual reflections or the whole week to your computer. Or, if you have iTunes (Mac or Windows) or Juice, you can subscribe and have them come automatically.  Instructions for this are on the website.  

The link for the Holy Week reflections is http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/.  This week the reflections are 12-15 minutes long, with Good Friday being almost 17 minutes.

2. Stations of the Cross

Another pattern of scripture at this time are the Stations of the Cross.  These can be used in worship services and personal worship.  These stations are best engaged on Thursday or Friday of Holy week.

Again, the Jesuits have some very useful resources for personal prayer and reflection.  Here they provide 10 stations. Alternatively a local Catholic Church will probably be open, with  Stations available for contemplation.

3. Other Lenten Reflections

Another resource of short thoughts and reflections through the day is 

http://lentenreflections.org/

I wish you well in your journey with the passion of Christ through Holy Week.

A blessing

May you have ears and eyes to see God at work in yourselves and others

And hands and words ready to serve and witness.

And may the stories of Holy Week speak deeply to your heart and mind, leaving you changed and hope-ful.

Whisperers of hope

I have grown up with images of Evangelism that portray street preachers, megaphones, bible-thumpers and people going door to door giving out tracts - and it can be very difficult to imagine a different way. These were the images and models I was given in my formative years as a young disciple - like they were the only way.

While many of us have (for better or worse) abandoned that way of speaking our faith, the gospel keeps poking us with an imperative to speak of our faith. With words.  So how can we 'talk' the gospel in ways that are more natural, more loving, more honest? 

I'm exploring what it might mean to be a witness. I'm not avoiding the "E" word totally; I'm trying to reframe it in biblical terms. Acts 1.8 talks about the followers of Jesus 'being witnesses'; Matthew 28.18 talks of 'making disciples'. Neither of these phrases talk of converting or evangelizing. Both focus on the task at hand, not the end result. Both imply that the task belongs to everyone. 

One of the ways in which witness holds my attention is that it seems more of a relational term. It has unhelpfully been used as a verb ("I'm going out to witness"), when its intention is as a noun - a word that describes one's being. Being a witness means being in relationship

This phrase grabbed my attention in a sermon recently;

"We do not shout the gospel from afar: We whisper it in the ear".

In order to whisper, we need to get close to a person; 

inside their personal space; 

with their permission.  

To do this, we must have built a certain level of trust; 

trust that is both given and received; 

trust that takes time and shared experiences to build. 

It is a kind of trust that requires respectfulness of the other.  That sort of closeness is vulnerable, intimate and personal.

Whispers are not long speeches. 

They can be as short as a word or two, or as long as a short story. 

Whispers are not read, they come from the heart. 

They allow time for thinking and response.  

Whispers can come in all sorts of ways.

Ric Stott, in the D:Sign podcast from the Methodist Church in Great Britain (Scroll down to find this one - The D:Sign Podcast: Ric Stott, 23 December 2011) talks about his ministry as an art therapist, but especially his experiences painting and drawing in public places where people will come and watch and talk. (This 20 minute podcast is worth taking time over a  cup of coffee to listen to).  Ric talks about the work of the church not as evangelism, but as creating life-giving communities of people centered around Jesus Christ.  

In this context witness, relationships and these whispers are important.

From the beginning a genuine witness watches and listens before speaking - they take the time to observe what God is doing in others lives, and whisper gently and hope-fully.

Question: In what ways have you seen "whispers" of witness contribute to the creation of this life-giving community of people centered on Jesus Christ?  You can leave a comment below.