CA Preachment St Michael and All Angels Colwich 29th May 2016
The
Church of England is currently undergoing restructuring and renewal and reform
at all levels. Archbishop Justin Welby has made evangelism one of his top three
priorities and established an Evangelism Task Force Group. We have just had the
call to prayer from both Archbishops for the evangelization of the nation. Yet
despite all of this, a recent report has predicted that we are not going to see
any kind of turn around and real increase in numbers engaging with the Church
of England for the next thirty years.
This will be exacerbated by a huge tranche
of priest who will be retiring in the next ten years – the ‘baby boomers’ born
in the 50’s and 60’s.
Some of course see the inevitable decline
of the church until it becomes a total irrelevance.
You may well have had it said to you that
religion is just a psychological crutch, or you may have heard people say that
Christianity is a myth, a fairy story.
The Church Army's CEO Mark Russel paid a visit recently
to The Amber Project that exists to support any young person (aged 14-25) in
Cardiff and the surrounding areas who has experience of self-harm.
He got chatting to one young girl who he
said had arms that looked like the map of the London Underground. Mark was
curious as to why anyone would want to self-harm in this way and so asked her
why she did this. She told him of her abusive past at the hands of an older brother. That made her feel awful inside and so in self-harming she
was trying to show outside what she was feeling on the inside. Mark began to
say how awful that was but she stopped him and said, Mark you have not noticed.
There are no new marks or cuts because Jesus is cleansing me from the inside so
I do not need to self-harm any more.
Through a set of circumstances, a woman in
her seventies found herself sleeping on the streets of London. Desperate and
cold someone suggested she try the Church Army Marylebone Project. Gradually
she has been helped to get her life back on track and now works as a volunteer
at the project. The Marylebone Project, which is one of the very few projects
for homeless woman, last year offered over 40,000 bed nights.
If Christianity is just a myth and fairy
story then is it a brilliant one.
Through the ministry of Church Army, many
people are saved, literally as well as spiritually.
Prebandary Wilson Carlile founded the
Church Army in 1882 to help people come into a living relationship with Jesus.
That remains our core business, for only in Christ is there fullness of life.
The world is a vastly different place from
those early days that initially focused around Westminster,
London but quickly branching out across the country with our first Training
College in Oxford.
Today we are a mission-focused community of
people who are transforming lives and communities through the work of
evangelists, staff and supporters. We are committed to sharing the Christian
faith through words and action in a variety of contexts across the British
Isles.
I have been involved with
the Church Army since 1978 and my first CA experience was on a Beach Mission at
Great Yarmouth.
Then I moved to take up a
post as Warden/Manager of a Conference and Holiday Centre in Victoria, London.
The Church Army has always been innovative and willing to check if a piece of
work was still fit for purpose or to try something new and different. Brookfield House was a tall up and down town
house in Ecclestone Square and initially offered a safe home to young girls going
to London for work as home-helps, nannies or secretaries. Then it shifted focus
and began to offer a London experience to many youth groups from across
England, Ireland and from many other parts of the world.
Residential Centres are
very expensive especially when trying to meet the ever-increasing demands of
new laws and legislation. Therefore, the
Church Army gradually moved out of its Men’s and Woman’s hostels and its Care
Homes and Holiday Centres.
We still have a few
flagship residential centres, principally the Marylebone Project in London and
The Amber Project in Cardiff.
A key part of the Church
Army today is the Centres of Missions established around the country. A new one has just opened
up in remote Tuam in the North West of Ireland in partnership with the Roman
Catholic Church.
Centres of Mission, which
began in 2008 are a community of evangelists working together to pioneer a fresh
expression of church or a new piece of evangelism with the aim of bringing
people to a living faith in Jesus Christ.
We moved out of
residential training much the same time and Centres of Mission are also the
place where our Evangelist-in-training are currently placed for their four-year
training.
Another major shift came
in 2012 after three years of consultation and research.
Wilson Carlile’s original
vision was to create an army of lay evangelist, who ‘could tell the Gospel in
the same homely language of the workshop.’
Over the years, that idea
of a mass movement gave way to an elite group of Officers, largely without any
troops.
In September 2012 at a
Special Service at St Paul’s Cathedral, where Wilson Carlile is laid to rest,
the Church Army became an Acknowledged Mission Community.
There are four pathways
with everyone accepting a simple Rule of Life and Prayer.
Commissioned
Covenant
Co-worker
Companion
We have also welcomed back
into Church Army many of those who moved onto become ordained and had to resign
their Commission. The Church Army is now for both Lay and Ordained Evangelist.
In addition, while our
roots remain firmly with the Church of England we welcome as Covenant Members those
who have been trained as an Evangelist with another denomination
In the consultation and
research, we spent time going back and trying to capture the charism of Wilson
Carlile and then asked ‘what does this look like in the 21st century?’
Therefore, as we welcome
more people into the Church Army Mission Community we are once again becoming a
mass movement and our numbers are growing.
Another core aim was to
‘go for the worst, seeking out the least, the last and the lost and sharing
faith in both words and deeds.'
We have re-embraced that
and a key component is our DARE strategy.
DARE has four objectives
which underpin our work:
- Doing evangelism
- Advocating evangelism
- Resourcing evangelism
- Enabling evangelism
One of the ongoing debates
is about our name. In 1882 such a name would have been readily understood, in much
the same way as the Salvation Army.
Our Sister Society in Canada is now called 'Threshold Ministries.'
However, at a Community
Gathering in 2015 Paula Gooder helped us reflect on feedback from Officers and
others about the name, among other things. She said we should reclaim the
name and that it still had value today.
Personally, I was
delighted as I have never found the name a barrier or a difficulty, although I
have had a few conversations about the kind of battle we are fighting and
the weapons we are using.
I became a Christian on
the 1st January 1975 and was Confirmed in February 1976 at the age of
24. I took on and fully accepted the call of my infant baptism; that I was to
fight against sin, the world and the devil and to continue a faithul soldier and
servant until the end of my life.’
Therefore, for the moment
the name Church Army is remaining as a reminder that we are men and woman
called to engage in battle against all that would hurt or harm, against all
that stands in opposition to God. All that would prevent people from knowing
that in Christ they can have life and life in all its fullness.
This leads me nicely into
saying something briefly about another solider we met in our Gospel story.
Remember this is an
occupying army, this is a pagan, a Gentile, someone for whom death and killing
was second nature. He was a man under authority and with authority. An
authority that could extend to having a soldier or anyone else summarily put to
death.
Yet there is something
about this man and about the way he has come to acknowledge the religion of
these very strange people, the Jews.
We meet these people from
time to time, often called God fearers. This unnamed Centurion had been kind
and generous towards the people in Capernaum and had even built a
Synagogue. I cannot see any hint at all
that this was anything but a genuine act, not trying to curry favour and get
along with the Jewish people.
Roman Centurions did not
need to do that, they had might and might was right and anyone who forgot that
would soon be crushed.
Now there are more
questions in this passage than answers. What had he heard about Jesus?
How is it that the Jewish
Elders are also apparently okay with going to ask Jesus for help on behalf of
this Gentile soldier?
One thing this Centurion
knew about Jesus was his authority and if there was one thing he knew about it
is authority.
‘I say to one soldier go
and he goes, to another come, and he comes. I am also a man under authority.’
Yes, I recognize authority
when I see the genuine article and a word from you, Jesus, is all that is
required. You do not need to add to your problems by coming into the house of a
Gentile but simply say the word and your authority will mean that it will be as
you command.
This week I was in
Blackpool for the Annual Missioners Summer Gathering. On our last morning, we
had Revd Jean Kerr offer some reflections having retired last year. (Yet being
as busy as ever)
I was profoundly moved by
what she said and the way she called us back to first principles.
She said, before you are anything
else, Missioners, a Bishop, an Accredited Lay Evangelist, you are ‘in Christ.’
That is our place, that is
our calling, that is our vocation and that is our authority - we are 'in Christ.'
Another saying within
Church Army is that whilst not everyone is called to be an evangelist everyone
is called to evangelize, to witness to the hope that they have within them.
To help with this the
Church Army has produced a fantastic simple free course called Faith Pictures.
This helps you frame your
faith story.
More in depth and yet
still accessible is our study book ‘Stepping into Evangelism.’
The report I mentioned
earlier predicted a turn-around would take thirty years. I believe in a God who could turn things
around in 30 weeks, or even 30 days.
However, that calls for
prayer, for confidence in the authentic authority that is ours in Christ.
That calls for passion and
willingness to share Christ’s love in words and deeds.
That calls for each and
every one of us here this morning to know the love of God deep within our
hearts.
To know that he died and
rose again that we might have life and life is all its fullness.
If you do not know that and
have yet to accept Jesus as your Supreme
Commanding Officer then make sure you sign up before you leave this here
morning.
If you do know Jesus as
your Supreme Commanding Officer, here is one way how we can begin turn things
around.
If everyone here seeks to
bring just one other person to faith ‘each one to reach one’ that will help
focus our hearts and minds on reaching out with the life changing message of
Jesus.
If we become excited and
expectant that through the life and witness of this Community of People of
Faith we will see lives changed, we will see new people engaging with us and
making their journey to faith and life.
If we are realistic and
yet do not give in to negativity, to the snide remarks about it being a fairy
story.
If we know and search out
those stories of lives radically transformed by the power of the Gospel, and there
are plenty on the Church Army web site.
If we believe we are in a
battle for the heart and soul of our nation and for our world.
If we believe these things
and act upon them, if we encourage each other and not neglect to meet together
to pray, to study Scripture and to share our lives.
If we dedicate to walk
alongside and support each other in covenant rather than convenience.
If we can come at the
last and say along with St Paul…
I
have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
Then my brothers and
sisters we will see our communities transformed.
For changed lives, changes
people and transforms communities.
Let us not merely pray the
Lord’s Prayer – let us work to make it a reality in our lives and in the life
of our community, our nation and our world.
So we pray...
O
Saviour Christ, in whose way of love lays the secret of all life, and the hope
of all people, we pray for quiet courage to match this hour. We did not choose
to be born or to live in such an age; but let its problems challenge us, its
discoveries exhilarate us, its injustices anger us, it possibilities inspire
us, and its vigour renew us. Pour out upon us a fresh indwelling of the Holy
Spirit; make us bold and courageous in sharing faith in both word and deed for
your Kingdom’s sake we ask. Amen
