St Wystan's, Repton, Church Army Preachment
'Feast of St Mary Magdalene'
Today the Church
celebrates St Mary Magdalene and our readings this morning reflect this.
What one word comes into
your mind when you hear the name of Mary Magdalene?
Apostle – she was sent by
Jesus to tell the apostles that he was raised from death.
After years of
vilification Pope Francis passed a decree in 2016 to reinstate Mary Magdalene
and set her Feast Day as the 22nd July, overturning years of
misrepresentation by the Western Church. Mary Magdalene is now known as The Apostle to the Apostles.
Being sent by Jesus to
bear witness to his resurrection is very apposite as I come here this morning
to speak a little about the Church Army.
My own involvement with
Church Army began forty years ago in August 1978 when I joined a Church Army
Beach Mission in Great Yarmouth.
From there I then went to
London to work for Church Army as the Warden of a Conference and Holiday Centre
in Victoria, London.
In 1983 I entered the
Church Army Training College in Blackheath and on the 24th June 1986
was Admitted to the Office of Evangelist and Commissioned as a Church Army
Officer at Southwark Cathedral by Archbishop Robert Runcie.
As a Church Army Officer I
have served in Luton, Northumberland, in Cornwall and Sussex, coming to
Stafford in January 2015.
The Church Army began with
a young charismatic curate called Wilson Carlile who started a ministry in 1882
in the slums around Westminster, known colloquially as ‘under the clock.’
Wilson Carlile was a
successful businessman who went from being a nominal Christian to embracing the
faith with a passion. A faith he wanted
to share in words and actions, knowing and having personally experienced the
trans-formative power of the Gospel.
He recognized that the
clergy for the most part, couldn’t speak the language of the people, especially
those who rarely engaged with the church, the poor and marginalized.
Wilson Carlile wanted to
create a mass movement and to quote; 'he wanted to cast out the dumb spirit from
the Church of England Laity.'
Initially recruiting men
whom he would call Captains (no ranking as in the Salvation Army) they would
have a 100 ‘soldiers’ under their command – men who could respond to Carlile’s
challenge…
‘Can you tell the Gospel
in the same homely language of the workshop?’
However following the good
example of the Lord he loved, he recognized that woman could have a key role to
play as well.
In 1883 the first Training
College for men opened in Oxford and this was followed in 1889 by a College for
Woman with the help of his sister, Marie Carlile.
At this time the only
opportunity for woman’s ministry in the Church of England was the newly
recognized Deaconesses. On the 18th July the Church remembers the
first of these, Deaconess Elizabeth Ferrard, Founder of the Community of St
Andrew in 1883.
As woman in ministry in
the Church of England was still a novelty the woman joining Church Army
undertook training in hospitals alongside their training for mission and
evangelism. Hence they became titled as Sister’s from the medical profession
not the religious.
Today much has changed and
only a very few older Officers occasionally wear the distinctive grey battle
dress uniform. We have embraced the
current casual culture.
However, although uniforms
may have gone the idea of reaching out to the least, the last and the lost in
words and actions remains at the heart and core of Church Army today.
In September 2012 the
Church Army became an Acknowledged Mission Order within the Anglican Communion.
As a dispersed Mission
Community we offer four pathways, Commissioned, Covenanted, Co-worker and
Companion.
Explaining in reverse
order…
Companions – are people who share Church Army’s vision and support it through prayer,
giving and/or practical help. Vital to the health of Church Army they are
involved where possible in the life of the Community, live by the Rule of Life
and ascribe to the ethos of Church Army.
Co-worker – are people who work for or alongside Church Army and/or its evangelists,
whether in a voluntary or paid capacity, but are not themselves evangelists.
They are involved in the life of the Church Army Community, live by the Rule of
Life and ascribe to the ethos of Church Army.
Covenanted – are members who are evangelists who have not been formally trained by
Church Army but are supported, helped and guided by being in relationship with
Church Army.
They do the work of an evangelist, are involved in
the life of the Church Army Community, live by the Rule of Life. They need not be members of the Church of
England.
Commissioned
– this
remains the bedrock of Church Army. After suitable training Captains and
Sisters are Admitted to the Office of Evangelist and Commissioned as Church
Army Officers. This is the only recognised Office of Evangelist within the
Church of England. When I was training 35 years ago I attended the Wilson
Carlile College of Evangelism in Blackheath London. In the 1990’s the training
college and then our headquarters moved to a purpose built building in
Sheffield.
As the Mission Community has
grown and developed we have moved away from Residential training and began to offer
training in Centres of Mission, working and training alongside two or three
senior experienced Officers.
That has been developed
further and now we offer training in-situ much the same as someone might train
for Ordination through something like Queens, Birmingham.
The training has common
elements but is also tailored to the individual and their circumstances. And
the length of training depends on any prior qualifications.
Someone with a degree may
only require one or two years, but someone without any formal qualifications
might require three or four years.
When we became an
Acknowledged Mission Community we also reversed the bar on Ordination so that
now the Church Army has both Lay and Ordained Officers and members of the
Community
We currently have around 600
people involved with the Church Army across the UK.
We have also seen an
increase in people coming forward to train as Church Army Officers.
One of the key
developments of Church Army has been its Centres of Mission. I mentioned these
earlier in regard to training. Here a small team of Evangelist work with the
local Church in partnership with the Diocese to implement the Church Army’s
DARE strategy.
Doing
Evangelism
Bringing people to a living faith in Jesus Christ
throughout these islands is at the heart of Church Army.
Advocating
Evangelism
We are passionate about
encouraging the wider Church to become more actively involved in evangelism.
Resourcing
Evangelism
We train people and put
the right tools in their hands so that they are resourced to do what God has
called them to do. For example…
Faith
Pictures
Posada
Why
on earth? Video resource asking some of the big question
Enabling
Evangelism
We enable people to do
evangelism in their own context by creating opportunities for them to join the
Community or work alongside Officers on projects and initiatives.
Our Centres of Mission are
located all across the UK, mostly in areas of urban deprivation but also in
deeply rural and isolated locations, adding the lonely to the least, the last
and the lost.
The Church Army also run a
Youth Programme with a difference called Xplore…only you don’t go away but stay
in your own community with support and training.
Xplore is for 18-30’s who want to live missionally doing
evangelism. It is a peer led community where everyone gets to do
evangelism in their own context.
We also have a flagship
Woman’s Centre in London, the Marylebone Project that last year offered 40,000 bed nights to homeless and vulnerable woman.
In Cardiff we have special
residential unit for young people who self-harm.
In all of this and we
remain true to the charism of Wilson Carlile, sharing faith in words and
actions.
There is a story told of Wilson Carlile outlining one of his latest plans
to the Archbishop. The Archbishop said, it seems to me Mr. Carlile that you
want to turn the Church upside down. O no, your Grace, came the swift reply,
inside out.
Our current ABC Justin Welby began his 2015 Lambeth Lecture on Evangelism
by saying…
I want to
start by saying just two simple sentences about the church. First, the church
exists to worship God in Jesus Christ.
Second, the
Church exists to make new disciples of Jesus Christ. Everything else is
decoration. Some of it may be very necessary, useful, or wonderful decoration –
but it is decoration.
I see the
evidence of your worshiping God in Jesus Christ here this morning.
But what
about the makings of disciples – or to put it in even better terms, are the
People of God at St Wystan’s encouraging disciple making disciples?
From Romans
10.13-14
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then can they
call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One
of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?
The People of God gather together for
approximately 10 hours every week. For 110 hours they are the dispersed People
of God going about their daily lives.
It is here, in our daily lives that we need
to heed again Jesus’ commission to Mary Magdalene to tell about Jesus
resurrection.
It is here that we again need to recall the
Great Commission of Matthew 28, which is now as much our call as it was theirs
– to make disciples.
It is here we hear the words of Wilson
Carlile echoing down the years, with language that might have changed but with
the same challenge…
‘Can you tell the Gospel in the same homely
language of the workshop?'
Let me close by using Prebandary Wilson Carlile’s Consecration Prayer
And
now and here I give myself to you,
and now and here you give yourself to me;
and now and here I find your love within.
Break
through me Lord that others I might win;
Your
wounded body and your life blood poured
impel me forth to live and preach you Lord.
Want to know more - check out https://churcharmy.org/
And watch this video to get an idea of both our past, our present and under God our future..
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