With longer sunlight hours, I’ve noticed that the seasons are changing. We’ve celebrated Matariki, and we’re past the shortest day of the year. So too our Season of Discernment is now also ending. I’d like to share some insights from what was an extraordinary time for our diocese.
We met last year at Synod and discussed some significant issues in our churches that are quite common amidst big changes in society. We felt God invite us into an extended time of prayer and discernment. The Reo phrase we adopted was “kōrero mai ano”, inviting God to speak to us again. True to his word, as we draw near to God, he draws near to us in various and sometimes surprising ways.
We gathered in groups in every deanery and in ministry teams to hear what the Lord is saying to the Church. Many people discerned that opportunities for mission already surround our churches.
“There is no scarcity of opportunities for mission and ministry in our area,” said another. “The problem rather is as our Lord puts in Matthew 9:37, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.’”
“I sense that we need to take the church to the people, not expect people to come to the church,” another said.
When we asked about the barriers facing our parishes, people brought up things like age, time and money. “Loving our neighbours will cost and won't bring in money,” one person pointed out. They noted that we can tend to “see this work of love as being in the too hard basket rather than being the invitation of God to fullness of life, for us as well as those we seek to serve.”
Some saw cultural barriers contributing to decline, like the individualism and isolation we see in society. “There are major cultural and psychological gaps between generations,” one said.
Many felt a spiritual complacency in our congregations. “There is little evidence that we have turned to God in prayer. Chatter, but not much prayer.”
But there is hope in our churches. We know that we walk in the power and love of God. As one discerner said:
It may take time, and it may be hard to measure our success as we reorientate. But if we can be kind, patient and trusting as whānau on mission together, then I believe we can find numerous new opportunities to bring the bread and water of Christ to hungry thirsty people.
These contributions from the Season of Discernment play a vital role in our plan going forward as we prepare for mission and ministry that will revitalise the diocese. The discernment seems to fall into four broad themes:
This theme is all about spending time with God to get to know him and his ways. To borrow from the lyrics of well-known worship song, we need our hearts to be broken by the same things that break the heart of God. The King James Version puts this truth in Daniel 11:32 poetically, “but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” This discernment is a clear invitation from God to renew our relationship with him, as someone who is our closest friend, and someone who we worship with all our hearts.
Many contributions pointed out how far we have strayed from our true identity as being part of the Body of Christ, with our failures, hurts, divisions and apathy. There was a strong emphasis repeated across the diocese that we can only be revitalised to the degree that we behave and prioritise the things that Jesus would have us do. If we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we need to take more seriously the claim that Christ makes on the Church: “Mine!”
There has been genuine celebration of the things that God is still doing in all our parishes. Many people discerned that we need to be reminded that God is not dead! The Spirit of God is still transforming people’s lives, nourishing community and revealing the truth about Jesus. We must continually appeal to the sovereign power of God to do what only God can do… while at the same time take responsibility for what we can do despite our limited resources and reduced capacity. God has done it before, and can do it again – in us, with us, and through us.
The contributions that fell into this theme, sounded in many ways like the critique of the churches in the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3. There is much to lament in the failures of our past. It is also difficult to hear about our current blindness and our recent faults. We are so grateful to those who were brave in addressing and confronting these missteps. The discernment is clearly that we can only move forward to the degree that we lament, seeking God’s forgiveness and healing. As our Prayer Book puts it:
We need your healing, merciful God: give us true repentance.
Some sins are plain to us; some escape us, some we cannot face.
Forgive us; set us free to hear your word to us; set us free to serve you.
There is much more work that is underway that will be shared by Bishop Steve at Synod, and much work to be done in our parishes. Indeed, a number have begun the work of parish reviews with the help of our friends from City to City Australia. You can learn more about Revitalise Nelson here.
May we now walk boldly into the next step in this journey as a united Church, fuelled by the love of God and led by his Spirit.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
With longer sunlight hours, I’ve noticed that the seasons are changing. We’ve celebrated Matariki, and we’re past the shortest day of the year. So too our Season of Discernment is now also ending. I’d like to share some insights from what was an extraordinary time for our diocese.
We met last year at Synod and discussed some significant issues in our churches that are quite common amidst big changes in society. We felt God invite us into an extended time of prayer and discernment. The Reo phrase we adopted was “kōrero mai ano”, inviting God to speak to us again. True to his word, as we draw near to God, he draws near to us in various and sometimes surprising ways.
We gathered in groups in every deanery and in ministry teams to hear what the Lord is saying to the Church. Many people discerned that opportunities for mission already surround our churches.
“There is no scarcity of opportunities for mission and ministry in our area,” said another. “The problem rather is as our Lord puts in Matthew 9:37, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.’”
“I sense that we need to take the church to the people, not expect people to come to the church,” another said.
When we asked about the barriers facing our parishes, people brought up things like age, time and money. “Loving our neighbours will cost and won't bring in money,” one person pointed out. They noted that we can tend to “see this work of love as being in the too hard basket rather than being the invitation of God to fullness of life, for us as well as those we seek to serve.”
Some saw cultural barriers contributing to decline, like the individualism and isolation we see in society. “There are major cultural and psychological gaps between generations,” one said.
Many felt a spiritual complacency in our congregations. “There is little evidence that we have turned to God in prayer. Chatter, but not much prayer.”
But there is hope in our churches. We know that we walk in the power and love of God. As one discerner said:
It may take time, and it may be hard to measure our success as we reorientate. But if we can be kind, patient and trusting as whānau on mission together, then I believe we can find numerous new opportunities to bring the bread and water of Christ to hungry thirsty people.
These contributions from the Season of Discernment play a vital role in our plan going forward as we prepare for mission and ministry that will revitalise the diocese. The discernment seems to fall into four broad themes:
This theme is all about spending time with God to get to know him and his ways. To borrow from the lyrics of well-known worship song, we need our hearts to be broken by the same things that break the heart of God. The King James Version puts this truth in Daniel 11:32 poetically, “but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” This discernment is a clear invitation from God to renew our relationship with him, as someone who is our closest friend, and someone who we worship with all our hearts.
Many contributions pointed out how far we have strayed from our true identity as being part of the Body of Christ, with our failures, hurts, divisions and apathy. There was a strong emphasis repeated across the diocese that we can only be revitalised to the degree that we behave and prioritise the things that Jesus would have us do. If we pray in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we need to take more seriously the claim that Christ makes on the Church: “Mine!”
There has been genuine celebration of the things that God is still doing in all our parishes. Many people discerned that we need to be reminded that God is not dead! The Spirit of God is still transforming people’s lives, nourishing community and revealing the truth about Jesus. We must continually appeal to the sovereign power of God to do what only God can do… while at the same time take responsibility for what we can do despite our limited resources and reduced capacity. God has done it before, and can do it again – in us, with us, and through us.
The contributions that fell into this theme, sounded in many ways like the critique of the churches in the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3. There is much to lament in the failures of our past. It is also difficult to hear about our current blindness and our recent faults. We are so grateful to those who were brave in addressing and confronting these missteps. The discernment is clearly that we can only move forward to the degree that we lament, seeking God’s forgiveness and healing. As our Prayer Book puts it:
We need your healing, merciful God: give us true repentance.
Some sins are plain to us; some escape us, some we cannot face.
Forgive us; set us free to hear your word to us; set us free to serve you.
There is much more work that is underway that will be shared by Bishop Steve at Synod, and much work to be done in our parishes. Indeed, a number have begun the work of parish reviews with the help of our friends from City to City Australia. You can learn more about Revitalise Nelson here.
May we now walk boldly into the next step in this journey as a united Church, fuelled by the love of God and led by his Spirit.
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
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