Beware the needs-meeting church!

There is a much quoted adage that ‘wherever there is a need there is the Salvation Army’. And there can be little doubt that this observation is intended to be complimentary, indicating a virtuous capacity for response. But is need-meeting all it’s cracked up to be? Or should we, as a Movement, as individuals, at times be a little more discerning?

Ann Morisy in offering a ‘new approach to Christian mission’ certainly suggests so when she warns of ‘the distraction of a needs-meeting perspective’.

According to Morisy ‘when a church or a project gets caught up in a needs-meeting perspective it puts the Church and the congregation in a position of superiority. Those ‘out there’ are the ones in need, whilst those within the Church have the capacity to help’.

While this may well be a limited caricature, it is undoubtedly true that needs-meeting as an aim must imply that those who are needy are in some way deficit, whilst competence and resourcefulness are retained in the hands of the helper. Of course the Gospel with its propensity to invert everyday assumptions will have none of this – and neither should we. Rather we should seek to imitate Jesus’ own example and up-end the taken-for-granted pattern of giving and receiving.

As Ann Morisy herself warns, 'unless we can free ourselves from the liberal mantra of needs meeting, we may miss the real blessings and gracefulness associated with journeying out – without the expectation of being able to meet people’s need’.

As with all prophetic voices we ignore Morisy’s counsel at our peril.

Nevermind the answers what about the question?!

According to Hirsch & Frost two of the primary commitments of a missional-incarnational church 'seeking to infiltrate society... are socializing and Jesus talk'. The thinking being that if the church is living an intriguing alternative lifestyle that is so marked by goodness that it makes the gospel attractive, then to truly be effective it follows that this lifestyle must be lived in close proximity to not-yet-Christians. As Hirsch and Frost themselves write 'the missional-incarnational church should be living, eating, and working closely with its surrounding community'.

In trying to make the most of our 'blanksheet' its fair to say that we are keen to learn as much as we can from the early church - the first planters. In doing so it is impossible to miss the prominence of the home and the centrality of the love feast. Keen to reclothe and recover helpful sacramental symbolism there is little doubt that in sharing our dining room table we've discovered a powerful symbol of intimacy, generosity and acceptance.

The idea with the ‘Jesus-talk’ is that as we socialize and the net of friendship expands, so in casual, ordinary ways should the subject of our hope come up. As Paul wrote to the Colossian church ‘be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone’ (Col. 4:5-6).

Of course the assumption – the often forgotten assumption, is that a question has been asked in the first place. As Christians we must always resist the temptation to answer questions that have not been asked! But when opportunities do arise we must ‘always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks [us] to give the reason for the hope that [we] have. But [we have to] do this with gentleness and respect’ (1 Peter 3:15).

As we spent New Year’s Day together, sharing food and playing cards Paul had no shortage of questions… ‘what’s God like then? Did Jesus actually claim to be God? What is church all about?’

Answers on a postcard!

How to freak someone out - a discussion

Lisa and I are having an ongoing 'discussion' about whether or not I should be saying 'hello' to people. By people I mean anyone we see on our estate, whether we know them or not.

Lisa, speaking from her own experience reckons it might come across a little freaky and may scare people. And I must admit that most people are surprised (the first time anyway), but generally I think it is a pleasant surprise?!

But I'm just trying to do what I'm told.

On hearing that we were coming to Stratford, a friend with years of urban experience advised us to be 'country people'. Now I must admit that I was a little surprised and quite intrigued by this seemingly unusual advice. With images of 4x4s, wax jackets, wellies and fox hunts I couldn't help wondering why the 'city needs country people'.

The explanation?

With eveyone generally 'keepng themselves to themselves' our cities are increasingly marked by isolation and loneliness - not the stuff of God's kingdom. As Jacques Ellul insists 'the Christian is the citizen of another kingdom and it is thence that he derives his way of thinking, judging and feeling'. Which means swimming against the tide. It means displaying a contrary set of values and has a different vision of life. So as Christians seeking to demonstrate an alternative lifestyle, to share an alternative story, the idea is that we model an open, welcoming disctinctive and live in a 'counter-spirit' to the world around us!

So as a 'country boy' I'm smiling at people and saying 'hello' - even to those I don't yet know!(apparently that's what happens in the country) Freaky indeed!

My world - so far...

Inspired by my friend in Tower Hamlets (plagiarism has rarely sounded so grand!) here is 'my world'...so far:

click here to create your own visited countries map

Ding dong, it looks good if you've been to Moscow and anywhere in the States! Still the Middle East and Asia clearly remain to be discovered and the 'stats' tell me that I've so far only managed 8% of the world's countries!