The
Grapevine
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Ministers Letter
Letter from the Manse
Nowadays the word “mission” is much used. The Space Shuttle is operated from “mission control”, many businesses have “mission statements” and following the US Presidential elections Barack Obama has been described as a “man with a mission”. But what does the word mission mean? How would you define the word mission?
It comes from the Latin and describes “God sending Jesus for a particular purpose” i.e. “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son…” The Christmas mission is God acting at a specific moment in an obscure corner of the Roman Empire in the time of Augustus Caesar, when Quirinius was governor of Syria, to bring about His great act of salvation. Among Christmas’ paraphernalia of turkey, presents, mince pies and carol services it is possible for us to lose focus on what it is all about. Christmas is about God’s mission to us.
If the story of Christmas is about God acting with clear intent, so it stands to reason that His church must also have clarity about its mission. So, as this Grapevine spans both Christmas and the New Year I want to highlight two ways in which LMC are planning to act with clear intent during 2009.
Back in March you may remember that a significant amount of money was gifted to LMC to enable our premises to work in partnership with the Christian Drama Resource Centre that had recently moved out of their Church Hill site. Since then a feasibility study has been undertaken and we are now at the stage when Church Council wants to consult the congregation. There is real excitement that drama, music, painting and dance can engage all generations with the Gospel. A visit was made to the Methodist Lantern Arts Centre in South London and it was inspiring to see how that centre reaches out to so many people who would otherwise never come near church. The intent is that a new build would create a Christian Arts Centre as well as hosting CDRC.
Church Council is anxious to receive your feedback- not least as there are three building options to consider. All are costly, and all will require the church congregation to be involved in some significant fundraising. But the potential benefits are considerable and it is important that we pray through the various options. The plans are duplicated in this copy of the Grapevine, pages 13 to 15, and are also displayed in the Welcome Area. Please respond either to myself or Jill Angold-Stephens by January 11th so that all views can be considered by the Church Council that meets on Sunday 18th January. Above all, please pray that the decisions will enhance our mission opportunities.
Another mission initiative for 2009 will take place on June 4th-6th when LMC will be having a “Living in God’s Love Weekend”. This will be a weekend of fun, learning and sharing for all the church family. We will be joined members of the Lay Witness Movement who are an inter-denominational group of people who encourage local churches by sharing their Christian stories of faith. We are hoping that everyone in the church will be involved. There will be activities for children, meetings in homes and plenty of opportunities to eat together. There will be no external bookings at LMC for that weekend so that we have the sole use of the buildings. It’s a bit like a church weekend away, without going away! Starting at Easter there will be themed preaching leading up to the weekend ~ a little bit like the Emmaus course ~ and after the weekend these will continue to the end of July. For now I ask you to do two things. Please book the weekend of June 4th-6th in your diary and make this a priority. It will be one of the major LMC events for 2009 and will be the stronger by your presence. Secondly, please begin to pray for the weekend now. Only by prayer will we know all of God’s blessings.
As we celebrate God’s Great Mission ~ the sending of Jesus, so we too want to act with clear intent in order that the Good News may be declared in word and action. We pray that the plans for working in partnership with CDRC, creating an Arts Centre and the Lay Witness Weekend will be some of the ways that we respond to God’s great mission activity that is celebrated at Christmas.
God Bless
Tony
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