Zetland Park Methodist Church
Welcome Calendar News & Letters About Us Thursday @Church Flower Festival History The Organ Contact Us

Zetland Park Methodist Church Pastoral Letters
October 2017

Training and encouragement.

I went out the other morning to place rubbish in the bin and, for the first time, noticed numerous trailing runners on the early clematis hanging randomly from the trellis and looking very in need of being trained and organised if they are to be ready to give a good show in the Spring! It reminded me of a quote I chose to do an essay on while pursuing the MA course at Cliff College in 2014. The quote was words of Revd George Whitfield, a contemporary and sometimes friend of John and Charles Wesley.

“My brother Wesley acted wisely,” Whitefield said. “The souls that were awakened under his ministry he joined in societies, and thus preserved the fruit of his labour. This I neglected, and my people are a rope of sand.”

The early Methodist societies and classes were a hugely successful way of training and encouraging those who responded to Wesley's preaching. It ensured that they were helped to develop and grow in Biblical understanding and in application of their discipleship to everyday life.

Without that training, like my clematis, Whitfield's followers became messy and disorganised as individuals and as disciples. They lacked the training to give structure to their discipleship and became a "rope of sand" - I just love that phrase!!!!

So too in the church today, we all need training and encouragement. That cannot just come from attending Sunday (or even Thursday) services but from organised study of Scripture and the reading of inspiring literature. I wouldn't go so far as saying that everyone has to attend a house/fellowship group - though my experience tells me that those who do are usually far more confident and assured in their faith. And when I say a house group, I am not necessarily thinking of one formally organised by the church - it could be a gathering of a handful of near neighbours who meet to share fellowship, support one another and maybe talk about the sermon on Sunday or a Biblical passage that sparks their interest. That often gets folk digging deeper into Scripture and their understanding of it and then gets them excited about what, together, they have learnt! One word of warning, though. It is very easy for small groups like that to pick up some strange, one might even say wayward, ideas, which iswhy credible study guides and Biblical commentaries are so helpful.

I have also known individuals develop an incredibly deep faith and understanding, not by joining with others, but by their own concerted efforts to read and study - though maybe this is for those who already have the basics and an enthusiasm to dig deeper than their neighbours, and this often puts them in a very good place, in time, to become a teacher themselves. This is why new Local Preachers' are often so enthusiastic as they pursue their training and study.

We all need to grow in faith and understanding no matter how long we have been in the church, but sometimes I think we too easily expect to be 'spoon-fed' rather than taking responsibility for our own growth and by seeking out fellowship with those around us. That said, I do firmly believe that those who are young in faith need to be carefully nurtured and taught together as it is so easy for those more confident in their faith to intimidate and discourage them, and this is why I am putting my effort into supporting nurture groups at this time.

Let us make this year a year of seeking out how each of us can grow more in faith, to take more responsibility for our own growth and to support others in theirs that we might all become more fruitful. Or as Wesley put it,

He bids us build each other up;
and, gathered into one,
to our high calling's glorious hope
we hand in hand go on.

Arthur

Welcome Calendar News & Letters About Us Thursday @Church Flower Festival History The Organ Contact Us
Web site and contents are the property of Zetland Park Methodist Church