Do God’s work – and have fun!

When we were on holiday we decided to worship at the local Parish Church. We knew nothing about it except where it was and the time of its service. So we had little idea of what to expect when we went through the door! Would it be “high” or “low”, contemporary or traditional in its worship? Would the church be packed to the rafters or nearly empty? Would the people be friendly or standoffish? We simply didn’t know!

We needn’t have worried. The congregation wasn’t very large but the folk were definitely friendly. The service was traditionally Anglican but fairly informal. And the self-styled “merry Rector” entranced us with his lively telling of the story of the paralysed man lowered through the roof to be healed by Jesus – although I think I’d find his jollity a bit much to cope with every Sunday!

As we left I picked up a piece of paper which set out the church’s “Vision Statement”. I liked it so much that I thought, “I must share this with the folk back home”. So here, in a slightly edited form, is what it says:

“We will seek to be a church that embodies the Christian faith we believe in and which we proclaim” – in other words, we want to both live and speak about our faith.

“We will seek to change and grow – both in numbers and spiritually. And we will seek growth which leads to our congregation’s age profile being closer to our parish’s” – well, how similar is Christchurch’s make-up to Llanedeyrn’s as a whole?

“We will seek to be a place where people’s deepest needs are met: where they find life, hope, love, support, healing, forgiveness, peace, joy and faith” – whew!

And this, I thought, was the best bit: “To succeed we will need to be fun and to have fun: with creative worship; teaching from the Bible; being welcoming, friendly and accessible to the local community; using the gifts and talents that God has given us” – that emphasis, by the way, isn’t mine: it was in the church’s own document.

I’m sure that church is getting serious about working out its mission in its community; I’m also sure that they want to have a lot of smiles and laughter as they do it, rather than being grim-faced and strait-laced. Let’s make sure we do the same!

Best wishes,

Andrew