TRAJECTORY 

Sometimes it’s only by looking in the rear-view mirror that one can see where you have come from to make sense of where you are. Especially when following God’s lead…..

Our mission has been Making Passionate Disciple for Christ with a threefold sub title – Rooted and grounded in God’s Word, Led by the Holy Spirit and Giving it away.

We see these coming to fruition in the story that continues to unfold for Christ Church.

Let me take you back to lockdown in 2020-21….

We were required to close the church and stop services. When we were allowed to return we replaced a church capacity of 250 to a mere 20 chairs, two meters spaced, with a one-way system and limiting service times to 45 minutes – only the leader could speak and no singing. We had some profound times of a sense of God’s presence by greater focus and emphasis on the words that we could use – and the silences in between as we waited on the Lord.

Then came “Car Park worship” – do you remember those? It rained the first time but it didn’t matter – we could sing and preach and pray together – socially distanced but spiritually aligned. We only received two complaints from neighbours about the noise – which given the power in the speakers was quite remarkable!

Then we were able to meet again inside and sing. We kept a distance but by row this time. The services were designated as “Welcome Back” services. There was something special about being able to meet again in this way – with Jesus as the centre. For it is he that would make people return, not our hospitality (important as it is) , but the attraction of the presence of our Lord and saviour. There was a buzz in the room.

The practicalities of what we had learned, how to minimise the risk of infection, were fewer numbers, less time and distance. So we returned with THREE services instead of the pre-Covid two. All designed to be 45 minutes long. After adjusting the timings to the quarter hour (yes they did used to be 9 am and 10.30 – remember those times?) we could fit in three services. That means less time and fewer people in each.

Now, if we have three services we need not just do the same thing twice, surely?  – why not try something new?

And so the THIRD SERVICE was born.

Broadly fashioned around the New Wine / Vineyard / HTB format of Worship-Word-Ministry it started falteringly. I remember saying to the congregation at the first one “I don’t know what this is, but let’s see where it goes…”. I think it probably showed!

Band leaders both saw the extra burden of up to 10 songs across a morning but also the opportunity that it gave us for extended sung worship and creating a space for waiting on the Lord and pressing in to what he might be doing.

The flow began to establish with new ways of being.

Sometimes stopping between songs in response to a sense of his presence. Changing up the order in response to words of knowledge. Deep prayers of response at the back during ministry time. Words and pictures being shared – sometimes by very unusual suspects.

And increasingly, week on week, we would find that the song words and message from scripture, independently chosen, would dovetail and complement in a remarkable way. I wonder how that happened? ……

We have had occasions where the Lord has spoken to members of the congregation who have shared a word with everyone. We have seen healing. We have had messages in tongues spoken out and an interpretation of that tongue (which is the condition for speaking tongues out loud – all ordered according to Pauls instruction in 1 Corinthians 14).

None of this was a weekly occurrence but it was a place where stuff happened and God’s presence was manifest in different ways each week. Many being filled by his Spirit.

The message was always based on a bible passage or two but not so much written as shared observations. Sometimes these were profound and landed in a way that the ones crafted in the study over two days were not!

Rooted and grounded in God’s Word and led by the Spirit.

Then last summer I was invited to watch some teaching from the New Wine Leadership Conference from the previous March. It was a welcome invite and I accepted looking forward to great company and a bit of inspiration.

What I found was that I was moved, prompted and challenged.

God is on the move and there is always more of God if we want to receive.

From this profound experience and a sense of God’s call on Christ Church, the end of our series on Romans needed a new theme. And from this “How much more” was created. It was a mini-series running from October through to just before Christmas. The verse that inspired it was Luke11:13 “how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”. The context is a passage which suggests that God is much more generous than we are. And in other Gospels that is how it can be read.

But Luke is very specific about the gifts that God bestows. “His Holy Spirit”. God wants to pour out his Holy Spirit on his people. And so the sub-title of the series entitled “How much more?”  was Spirit Filled Worship.

As the sermons unfolded they hung on two repeated quotes:

“Churches are not museums that display perfect people. They are hospitals where the wounded, hurt and broken find healing” (Anon)

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God…. we must not assume that our schedule is our own to manage, but allow it to be managed by God” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Over the weeks that followed we explored the role of the Spirit in faith, worship, confession and repentance, prophecy, healing and intercession.

In each case it became clear that we are called to both rely on and make space for the work of the Holy Spirit and that our expectation of what that means for us should rise.

In staff team, while contemplating what services could look like, Jude shared something of teaching she had heard at a Regional Leaders conference about Spirit filled worship.

“The Holy Spirit is my pastor”

“Presence of God is always transformational”

“God is the most important person in the room”

These chimed very much with where God had been leading us.

The plan therefore is to bring the essence of what was going on in the Third service,  for a few,  to the majority who attend the larger service at 10.15am. Band leaders and staff team had been consulted and what emerged is the service pattern that will come into play from February. Dropping the Third service from two weeks a month and bringing that same format into the 10.15am service.

The anticipation is that these services will develop to include:

• More extended sung worship with space for reflection and ministry time
• A continued focus on God’s Word
• A more free-flowing service that might be slightly different each week but with a recognisable shape
• An opportunity for all to ask to be filled by the Holy Spirit
• A “Healing Hub” where people can ask for healing prayer
• Creative approaches to intercession which allow the intercessors to intercede

• A Common Worship service with Holy Communion
• Worship for Everyone – showing our commitment to intergenerational worship
• Third Service twice a month

This plan, as you will see above, has been gestating longer than my perceived call to move to Sanderstead. I did consider whether it should be dependent on the outcome of that process. I very strongly feel that this is Christ Church’s calling into more of the Holy Spirit and is the next step on your journey, not dependent on mine.

This is the basis of the changes that will come into place in February (and will therefore be reflected in your Parish Profile when you come to seek your next leader).

I commend them to you.

It will develop over time. But I encourage all involved whether you are leading or part of the congregation, to take seriously Bonhoeffer’s advice – “allow it to be managed by God” – and I truly believe that He is leading you into a new season of fruit and blessing.

Any questions please do contact me.

Every blessing in the Lord.

Doug

vicar@christchurchpurley.org.uk
 
IN THE BEGINNING….