Zetland Park Methodist Church Pastoral Letters
May 2016
"As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (John 20:21)
A recent series on TV has greatly inspired me, had me hanging on the edge of my seat when I have had the chance to catch up with the programmes! The series sees Paul O'Grady finding out about the Salvation Army and experiencing the sort of work they do today. In all previous Circuits I have been in I have had the privilege of working closely with Salvation Army Officers and always been inspired by their deeply practical caring and service in the community. In many respects they remind me of the social care of the members of the Oxford Holy Club amongst whom were, of course, the founders of Methodism, the Wesley's themselves. It also reminds me of one of the major reasons I was attracted to faith in Jesus; everything in his life and teaching oozes love and care, especially for those who are having a tough time - and that is what I wanted to do and to be!
The philosophy of the Salvation Army is to show the love and care which Jesus showed, as a witness to his continued presence in the world today but by working through his followers who respond to Jesus's commission to Peter to "feed my sheep" & "tend my lambs". And that is where, I think, every church should be, practically loving and caring the most needy in our communities, visibly!
Though many individual members of our church are involved in caring for others in the community in one way or the other, and we do support good causes like the Foodbank, the visible presence of the Methodist Church locally, reaching out into our community to help the most needy and vulnerable is clearly obvious by its absence! How will people see what we stand for if they don't see our church doing it in our community? In the words of Paul Wilson we need to 'name the name', not just in what we say but in what we do!
Now I do not have a list of things I think we should be doing, though I am hoping you might have some really good ideas in time for our future discussions on the subject, but I am convinced that we need to be seen to be doing the practical caring and loving as a church, not just doing it invisibly through support of the Foodbank and other good causes. It is because they are so visible that the Salvation Army are so highly regarded, even by non-Christians, and why people are still being drawn into continuing their work.
If we are to more powerfully 'speak' of the love of Christ, which we claim we have experienced ourselves, to our community, then we must find time for it, even if that means we need to let one of our regular 'religious' activities go so as to create the time and space! So what are the real needs in this, our community, and what are we being called by God to do to help show his love to those who have not yet recognised it? Blessing
All Blessings