Last Sunday morning Lizzy and I went to Southampton to lead the Children's Celebration Sunday. Whilst on the journey (which was 2 hours shorter than the journey home) down from Nottingham we listened to Aled Jones on Radio 2 Sunday breakfast show. One of the guests on there was chatting about "Back to church Sunday" with the tag line "come as you are."
This got me thinking about how this idea is the wrong way round and that we should be going into the world rather than thinking people are going to stop what they are doing and come to church. We have been trying that for a long time and I don't believe it is a sustainable solution for the church. It is about time we turned our own backs on our church buildings and set out into the community to find out what exactly is needed rather than react to what is presented before us by people.
Jesus met people in their own village or town, He got out and about and His name and works spread out across the whole of the region. He was active not passive, mobile not static and people knew what he was about. In Matthew 13 Jesus sends out his disciples to go and cast out demons and heal the sick. He sends them out into the reality of a world where people needed to be freed, healed, restored and resurrected. He commands them to "go" and they go.
Isn't it about time we went back into our local pubs, shops, barbers, sports teams, schools, library, sheltered housing, council offices and many other places and take the message of Jesus with us for all to see.
Matt
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