‘We are gathered into communion so as to be sent our again. We are sent so as to come back. This…is the breathing of the Church ... this rhythm of gathering the community around the altar and then sending it away belongs to the oxygenation of the Church's life blood. Without it, the Church would stop breathing and die.’ Timothy Radcliffe, Why Go to Church?
There are 168 hours in the week.
Take away 48 hours for sleep and 120 remain.
Of those 120 even the most committed member of the church will probably only spend 10 hours in church activities.
That leaves 110 hours.
So here’s the crucial question: do we actively connect the 10 to the 110? How do we make the most of what we do in the 10 to support life in the 110? Are we able to bring the issues, challenges, questions which we encounter in the 110, on the Frontline, into the 10 hours we share together? Even further than this, is it possible that we might have a vision for the 10 which allows us to use the time and space we share together as a test-bed for life in the 110, a vision which allows us to recognise that whether together or apart, gathered or scattered, we are the body of Christ?
We believe the 110 needs the 10. The 10 needs the 110. The two have to be held together in dynamic relationship. We believe in the biblical need for the gathered experience of the church, time when God’s people are together to be encouraged, re-orientated to God’s Word and truth, engage in worship and prayer, sustained in the communion act of remembrance and baptism. And we believe that for each of these moments and practices shared together to be their most valuable they must be done mindful of the majority of time when God’s people are scattered. We need to be together to be something different when we are not together.
Expanding the Value
This means that:
1) We recognise that church members spend most of their time outside church contexts
2) What happens in here has to make a difference out there and we consciously help people make the links
3) We will not seek to use people, but to serve them in order that they might flourish in the whole of life
4) We come to church recognising that it has importance for resourcing, equipping, supporting and releasing us for the rest of life as followers of Christ
5) We discover what helps our members most in living well for Christ wherever they are
6) We help our members see how their service in church connects with God’s wider mission
7) Whatever activities we perform at church we seek to give people the skills and perspectives that help them in the rest of life
8) We have contexts at church in which people can explore the issues, questions, thoughts they have in the whole of life
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