on 5 October 2022
Dear all at IPC
In the last week I’ve been about told a young peoples camp that I used to be involved with and a church that I know well.
Back in the day both were thriving, both the youth work and the church saw people converted and discipled. It’s been a wonderful thing over the years to meet people who have ended up in ministry all over the world who were given their first opportunities to serve at those camps or in that church. They were both an enormous encouragement and help to me. There has been genuine enduring spiritual fruit that has come from these works. Yet both of them now find themselves struggling. Both in many ways a shadow of what they were.
In church life there is a cycle of ministries going up and down, and we shouldn’t panic when less babies are being born or something like that which means the toddlers groups is smaller for a couple of years. We’re also aware that there are life cycles for all groups and ministries and not everything in church life is permanent.
There are periods where a ministry, in the providence of God, will prove to be very fruitful, but over time the locality changes, or the particular people who had a gifting for such a ministry are no longer part of the church. It is right at times to be willing to stop ministries.
The other danger is equating numbers with fruitfulness. The two aren’t exactly the same and yet we are encouraged to think in Scripture that the Church and the work of the kingdom should ordinarily grow.
As you look around this city and the UK, it is littered with churches that used to be thriving and now are just about surviving. It’s easy to look back with rose tinted spectacles and we should have nothing to do with Christian nostalgia. We need to be realistic, because there are times when ministries and churches shrink, and with good reason.
It is good to think about why that happens and not pretend that it is just the ‘sovereignty of God’ that things are as they are.
The church that is riven with division will not grow. People won’t be attracted to a divided church.
Distraction is another way that focus can be lost and we can end up doing lots of things, expending enormous amounts of energy while the priority of reaching the lost and seeing people brought to maturity in Christ is lost. Again this isn’t deliberate, and yet subtly the focus can be lost.
It is possible to make decisions so that there will be no growth. Often those decisions are not done deliberately but when there is an unwillingness to change, a stubborn refusal to adapt on things which are adaptable. I can think of one situation known to me where because a family would be upset if a decision was made, those decisions were delayed for decades. In that time the church lost many, many good people and attracted very few to replace them. The church was held to ransom for fear of upsetting this one family. Never negotiate with terrorists.
Wrong appointments in leadership is another reason why churches shrink. Well meaning decisions can be made, but if you get the wrong person in the wrong role, it is nearly impossible to rectify. I’m not sure there is an answer to it. Richard Bewes who was the Minister of All Souls for decades, said to me once that he prayed most during his time at All Souls when he had to make appointments: they are so easy to get wrong.
There’s a real sadness at walking past churches in Ealing where the gospel used to be preached but where now false gods are worshipped. We mustn’t think this could never happen to us. To continue to pass the gospel on to generations to come will mean that we have to stay united in the gospel. It’s easier said than done, to not allow frustrations and even disagreement to effect our oneness in the Lord Jesus. As a church grows it will rightly want to start new ministries but we need to guard against being distracted, subsuming all under the aim that Christ may be known. At times that is going to make the hard decisions to stop doing things, being willing to adapt the adaptable.
We have in the past and will need to in the future, make decisions to enable growth and that will mean change. It’s the same in a family. More children means that changes have to be made and though that can be painful, it’s worth it.
Lastly, in the appointment of those to leadership, great care and prayerfulness needs to be taken. Amongst God has been so good to us at IPC Ealing, let’s not take that for granted and work while it is light.
Your minister and friend,
Paul