I have found myself sat in the cafe of the Creation skate park in Moseley, Birmingham as my 10 year old demonstrates his prowess on his scooter, and devises ever more interesting ways to persuade me to enhance his scooter.
I am supposed to be writing for the Grove Booklet Educational Series on schools and churches working in partnership. I sink a little lower in the excuses for not getting on and doing it; by reading. I am reading Crossover City, which is edited by Andrew Davey. Its subtitle Resources for Urban Mission and Transformation whets my appetite. I find myself impressed by Bishop Laurie Green’s almost autobiographical piece, devour the chapter on the connections between the Eucharist and ‘Bring and Share’ by Mandy Ford; and finally come (in terms of the book backwards) to the chapter by Peter Robinson on evangelism in the urban context. I find Robinson readable and for the most part persuasive.
I come across one particular quotation that has meant that I have turned on the laptop, skipped past note on the desktop which cries out ‘get on and write for Grove’ and begin another blog. Robinson writes:
“In baptism, regular Eucharist and the cycle of the Christian calendar, worshipping communities come to understand the patterns of devotion and ethical behaviour that are consistent with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The worshipping community in the midst of the diversity and vulnerability of human life represents an alternative means of engagement with the complexities of the contemporary city”.
The theologian, pastor and prophet in me all leap for joy as I read and type these words; and then I think how untrue such a statement is in reality. It is not that I do not want it to be true; I most certainly do; but it just does not seem to be, for me, that is. It is not true because in my experience, we have lost sight of the big picture. I am not convinced that those who are regular members of our worshipping community actually know enough, experience enough, feel enough of the big picture to even know that they can connect up their community with the overarching narrative of the Incarnation and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Indeed, why should they, when a good number of the people I know who are in authorised ministry (my pool is limited to the British Isles) would not be able to paint their own lives in the context that Robinson alludes to.
We are unable to do this because we have lost the ability to tell the story of God. Churches are able now with great eloquence to tell the stories of their local communities. Churches can speak with a local dialect – and that is brilliant, and should have us dancing whatever our favourite particular jig is. Let me be straight: it is not that we have lost confidence in the story; we just no longer know the narrative.
This brings me back to half a thought that I had yesterday at the same skateboard park when trying to pen some words for Grove. The recent Chadwick report comments that schools should be part of the package which provide children and young people ‘with a life-enhancing encounter with the Christian faith and the person of Jesus Christ’.[1] When I read that I wondered how many teachers, governors et al would feel equipped to do just that. Reflecting on Robinson’s words, I wonder how our people will ever be able to connect up to the big picture, when we train leaders who no longer know the story.
I want to go on to suggest some answers, but the truth is all laments should begin, once stated, with silence – and those other words ‘get on and write for Grove’ on becoming more and more insistent.
[1] Church Schools of the Future Review, p. 9.
lurchersontheedge 
Completely agree with you. For the most part our congregation seem happy to paddle in the shallow end of the Christian faith, leaving deeper engagement to the ordained. This includes folk who’ve been coming all their lives, starting in the church primary school. Struggling against that unwillingness to engage in depth, plus the pressures people feel to invest their time elsewhere.
I am getting more and more exercised by the question of how we get the joy of the Gospel over to our communities, and even many of the congregations we belong to. My explanation of the difficulty is radical; I don’t think Christian leaders are preaching the right Gospel. I don’t think the Gospel they preach is free enough.
We live in an age of a great divide between leaders and led. Wilkinson & Pickett, in The Spirit Level, have shown how damaging the inequalities are. Professor Sir Michael Marmot, in his great Whitehall Studies, has shown the greatest stress – as measurably shown by all sorts of health indicators – is always felt at the bottom of an organisation, not at the top; the challenges are much greater higher up the pecking order, but so is the freedom of action to do something about them.
I honestly believe that the Holy Spirit comes more as a dove to the less advantaged in society, and those of lower rank. His yoke is light. and at first at least, He demands little. The Holy Spirit appreciates the burdens they already have, and doesn’t add to them.
Yet Christian leaders always seem wary of preaching a Gospel that’s ‘too easy’. Good God, the congregation might even relax! They are often capable people, not realizing that few of those who listen to Christ’s word are; the capable people don’t know their need of God. I haven’t read Bonhoeffer on ‘cheap grace’, but I would point out that his smug congregation was a well-heeled
Berlin one. Today’s Guardian has the Nazi lie on the front page – ‘Arbeit Macht Frei’ – ‘Work Makes Free’ – to which the great antidote is Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone.
Possibly, if you want congregations to be active, the first thing you must do is teach them the full freedom, that God isn’t demanding that they do anything.