I don't know what you find yourself watching on tv at the moment, on any rare evenings where you get to switch off from church meetings and life admin. For my wife and I, it is Jamie Oliver: Together - a show based on the premise that being together with others is life-giving, and therefore the recipes Jamie demonstrates can be prepped in advance, to maximise the time together with his guests when they arrive. It's a great show, and I produced an impressive roasted steak, twice-cooked potatoes, caramelised onions, and watercress sauce last Friday!
One of the great joys of the past few months has been the opportunity to travel once again for my work, visiting different churches around the UK and being together with administrators in their home settings. In fact, I’m currently sitting in a church sanctuary in Oxford before my day’s appointments begin. 2022 has taken me to churches in Manchester, Devon, Bristol, Newport, Surrey, London and Sheffield to discuss a range of topics from financial systems to HR, administrative processes to strategic planning, and governance to communications.
Each church building I’ve arrived at has been different. I’ve seen Norman and Victorian architecture, graveyards and gardens, city centre and rural, converted warehouses, reconfigured Georgian town houses, revamped Methodist chapels, modern conferencing centres and High Street church coffee shops. All different, but all characteristically God’s one church.
I share this with you for a number of reasons.
1. If you feel discouraged at any point, or start to buy into the narrative that the church in the UK is struggling, think again. There is so much life, creativity and positive influence at work in and through the church. God is not done with his church, and neither should we be.
2. The church isn’t meant to be uniform. – We worship a creative God and have been made in his image. We are meant to reinvent, recreate and respond to the different needs of our communities in different ways. What might this mean for your church and community?
3. Common to all these situations, across the plethora of varied premises, are people who love Jesus and are faithfully serving Him and His church. They are in paid and voluntary administrative roles, each week choosing to sacrificially give their best to further the cause they believe in – I praise God for them, and I praise God for you – as YOU are part of this significant kingdom workforce.
And this is the heart of what I want to emphasise today. You are not alone or working in isolation. You are one of the regional branch representatives of an international, philanthropic and missional conglomerate, existing to bring about life transformation and the restoration of society. Let’s be encouraged together, and start updating our email signatures and business cards with the description above now!
Togetherness is a core value of UCAN. We exist so that we can all ‘do ministry together’. We exist, so that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel from scratch, or feel isolated in your work. We exist to encourage togetherness within our church teams. Together WE ARE UCAN, and when we’re together YOU CAN thrive in your role.
Andy Bagwell
Executive Director | UCAN