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Mission Statement William Allberry 12th December 2010 |
| Where there is no vision, the people perish. Proverbs 29.18 |
| John the Baptist was certainly a visionary. He preached the baptism of repentance, of new life. And he spoke of the One who was to come, who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The vision that he communicated was so intense, and so contagious, that crowds of people from Jerusalem and the whole of Judea and the Jordan area all flocked to hear him, to share in the vision. |
| In today’s Gospel reading it’s clear that when John was in prison, his vision rather went off the boil, and he needed reassurance. In the circumstances he found himself in, it’s not surprising that John should doubt whether Jesus was the ‘one who was to come’. He was in prison for offending an unjust king, and perhaps he knew that he was soon going to be put to death. So he wonders whether he had got it right. |
| Visions do need refreshing. John the Baptist had spoken of the kingdom of God which was coming, and he must have felt impatient that it hadn’t happened yet. Two thousand years later we understand a bit better that the kingdom of God isn’t going to rush in and take over the world as we know it; and yet there are signs of the Kingdom all around us, signs of God’s activity in the world through those who follow him. But we need that vision to help us see what’s possible. |
| This is why we’ve been thinking in the PCC about a Mission Statement for our church. It is true that every small business nowadays seems to have a Mission Statement: and certainly more and more churches do. For some time I have used our Diocese’s mission statement on our headed notepaper, since it announces that we are part of the Diocese of Guildford. The statement reads: Responding to the liberating love of God in Christ. Serving all who live and work in the Diocese. It’s not a bad statement as far as it goes; but what does it say about our church community in Esher? |
| Why do we come to church? Why do we have a church at all? Why do we have particular services? What do we want to say to the community we live in, and what do we want to do for them? |
| These are questions which may have obvious answers, but the answers may not always be so obvious. It’s important to sit back from time to time and question why we do certain things – to make sure that we have a vision which is leading us forward, rather than a sense of doing something for the sake of tradition. |
| We have thought about a mission statement of our own in PCC meetings over the years, but have never really thought through why we might want one, and what precisely it might say. But in the summer the PCC set up a Mission Working Group with a brief to thrash out these questions, and with a view to formulating a Mission Statement on which we could build a vision for our church’s future, giving a basis for strategic planning and budgeting. |
| We tried to develop some of the questions. What sort of church community are we? What do we believe, why do we come together to worship God, and where does this worship lead us in our development as individuals, and in relation to the community we live in? Every church and every parish are different, so how are we distinctive? |
| After some useful discussion we came up with a statement which we hope provides some clear pointers towards answering these questions: |
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Sharing the Power of God’s Love in Esher: Caring, Supporting, Guiding. |
| The intention was to use as few words as possible to encapsulate our reason for being what we are, and the first line states our primary function, which is to make God’s love known – the love we know in our lives, and which we want to share with a world that needs God’s love so badly. Sharing the Power of God’s Love in Esher. This is the essence of why we’re here today: it’s God’s love that gives us life in the first place, God’s love that renews that life in us constantly, God’s love that brings us together to respond to that love. And we want to share it with others. So, Sharing the Power of God’s Love in Esher. I hope you find that a visionary statement. |
| The second half of the Mission Statement contains just three words: Caring, Supporting, Guiding. The three areas overlap, but they can be unpacked to show the activities they include: |
| Caring – there are times when we all need the love and care of others; we are a warm and welcoming church community, and we’re here to offer that love and care in many ways: through the work of Esher Care and the Car Service, supporting those who are bereaved, being good neighbours, and generally being open minded and accepting people. This is our response to God’s love for us: Christian people have always reached out to help others – not so as to turn them into churchgoers, but simply expressing the love of God that we know for ourselves, and wanting to share that love with others. |
| And then, Supporting. We all need help and support from other people, through both good and difficult times. As a church, we offer support to the people of Esher and beyond through the major events of life: birth, marriage and death, family and parenting support, the Church schools, and pastoral support in many different ways, by clergy and by all church people. In addition, we support charities in this country and overseas by setting aside 5% of our church’s annual income, and through the special appeals each Advent and Lent, in addition to special appeals in response to disasters from time to time. |
| And lastly, but by no means the least important, Guiding. There are times we all need answers to difficult questions, and even to express our doubts and uncertainties. As a church which preachers a liberal theology we hope to help and encourage individuals on their spiritual journey no matter where they start – by providing a variety of church services for all ages, with challenging and thought-provoking sermons, I hope, and with a rich musical tradition; to offer bible study and discussion groups, children’s groups; to address matters concerning family life and ethical issues, the environment and Fair Trade; and to offer pilgrimages of discovery. |
| Our Mission Statement is only a beginning, and I am sure that we will develop further the expression of what we do already – and what we might do in the future. If we are single minded about why we’re here and where we are going, we can focus on areas for development of the church and of our church life. The Mission Statement will give us a benchmark to measure what we are doing; it will enable us to judge whether we’re going in the right direction. Are we sharing the power of God’s love effectively with our children? How could we do this more effectively? Are we giving the young families the support they need? Perhaps we should be thinking about investing in their future by employing a Children and Family worker. Are we sharing the power of God’s love with the people in our community who are lonely, the people who feel that their lives are futile, or those who are really disadvantaged? Could we be doing more for them? |
| The Mission Statement is important both for others outside the church and for ourselves in it; if we are to share the power of God’s love in our community, it is important that we communicate to our neighbours who we are and what we believe, and I hope that this will prove an effective way of opening the conversation. But it is important for ourselves too, to make sure that we don’t perish for want of a vision. If John the Baptist risked perishing for want of a vision, we should make sure that we don’t! |
| So back to our Gospel for today: John’s question was, Are you the one, or should we look for someone else? Notice that Jesus, ever the master teacher and never dogmatic, doesn’t answer the question directly but invites John’s messengers to look at what is going on. What they should be able to see is precisely what prophets foretold and the psalms sang about: ‘the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.’ All these things have taken place in the earlier chapters of Matthew’s gospel. So Jesus challenges John’s friends – and so John himself – to look around him and to recover his vision. |
| Where there is no vision, says the Book of Proverbs, the people perish. Let’s make sure we don’t run the risk of perishing. Let’s focus on who we are, where we are now, and where God is leading us. |
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