I am not fully decided whether it is the pandemic or the predicted economic and employment turmoil that I am most concerned about. Just when I thought I was coming to terms with where we have got to this year, I realised that we are still a long way from reaching something resembling normal.
Across the world of church administration, many gifted and talented individuals are finding their roles being deconstructed or in some cases being on the road to redundancy. How can it be right that people who we know to be competent and fruitful individuals in the service of God are being dislodged from the place for which they are clearly shaped?
Is this God, or not? Our natural reaction is one of feeling aggrieved, indignant, and questioning the judgement of those who may be making the decision. However, I was reminded last week of the parable of the sower.
Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed.” (Matthew 13:3)
“Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:8)
God is a farmer. He sows the seed, spreading the good news of the Gospel far and wide, across all sorts of terrain. The farmer does not exist for the seed, it is the other way round. We are the seed that the farmer sows into the neighbourhoods and communities we live within. Wherever you may find yourself planted, do your job – aim to grow. Be bold, stand firm, take root, and be your best. Reminiscing about the plant which produced us as seed is a distraction from who God has made us to be. There is currently no way back to re-join the original plant, only forwards to grow and become a new one.
If you are finding yourself being scattered, don’t despair. God sows good seed.
God is a farmer and knows what He is doing. There is no need to be afraid. History tells us that God knows how to farm, through both good and bad seasons. If you are seeing your church congregation scattered, a good response is not to try and gather it up again, but to look to see what falls on fertile ground, and join in with God in his farming. There will be a good harvest to one day be gathered.
Many parts of the church across the world have never been able to meet in large groups. Perhaps this is the season for helping small groups of people thrive as a new scattered expression of church, and work on how to aid communication throughout this distributed set of people.
This month, John Truscott helps us with some reminders about organising small groups – focused on the type that church may just be about to transform into. Whether your church calls them cell groups, life groups, clusters, thrive groups, or similar, ministers are going to need our help to know who is where, how communication will work, and how to effectively connect new people into an appropriate group.
If we can help you and your church, don’t hesitate to post questions to the UCAN forum or to contact us direct.
Julian Mander
Executive Director, UCAN on behalf of the UCAN team.