Phil Potter issues challenge to be 'mission shaped'
Revd Chris Bennett reports on the Changing Church in a Fragile World Conference recently organised by the Down and Dromore Mission Council for the churches of the diocese.
"You know the old bad news/good news joke where a man wakes up after an operation to be told he's lost both his legs, but the man in the next bed wants to buy his slippers? Phil Potter used a similar structure at the 'Changing Church in a Fragile World' event at the Jethro Centre in Lurgan - but with much, much happier stories to tell on the 'good news' side!
First the bad news - Phil painted a picture (using some scary facts and figures) of the established church in decline, failing to reach a world where patterns of the week, neighbourhood networks, culture, basic understanding of scripture, and the sense of individual spirituality are radically different (and constantly changing) from the world which birthed our traditional parish models. He suggested that we look at our churches with ruthless honesty, and ask ourselves if we are guilty of church-shaped mission (hoping that our inherited programmes and practises will reach a changed world) rather than mission-shaped church.
Then the good news: Phil shared pictures, videos and stories of several fresh expressions of church he has seen spring up and reach out effectively to their cultures and communities. He described a model for mission where imaginative new forms of church start small, operate simply, develop in stages, require a passion, get permission, take root quickly, reproduce easily, produce new leaders, cross all boundaries and complement existing ministries. I was particularly struck by the example of a 'fresh expression' in the local police force (which has subsequently been effectively copied in other locations, including the PSNI), where a group of people, for whom regular Sunday worship was pretty much out of the question due to simple practicalities, formed a meaningful expression of church in their work context. This was just one example - there were many others, all very thought-provoking.
Seminars then provided a chance to quiz Phil and engage with his talk, as well as a variety of sessions with leaders who were trying something 'fresh' in the local context in Down and Dromore.
In some ways it was an uncomfortable morning of challenging, unsettling input - but it reminded me of the old Bill Hybels adage: "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got". Phil Potter might add that you'll get even less than you've always got, as culture slips further away from church! But he showed with humour, imagination and clarity how 'mission-shaped church' allows us to face the future not with hand-wringing despair or defeatism, but great hope."