Update from the North-West - Chick Yuill

Some of my best friends - the kind who know me well enough to tell me what they really think - have sometimes suggested to me that I might occasionally suffer from delusions of grandeur! I’d always thought they were joking until I took up the post of - wait for it - North West Regional Church Life Consultant for the Imagine Project. It’s worth getting out of bed in the morning for a title like that! My mates might have been right after all...

Seriously, it’s a great job which requires me to get involved with individual local congregations, clusters of churches in the same geographical area, and denominational groupings. And my role is simply to help them make the transition to Whole-Life Disciple-Making communities. It’s fascinating to see the range of churches who are either showing real interest or who have actually come on board with the Imagine Project here in the North West - a long-established Anglican church, a non-denominational new plant, a large Black-majority congregation, a lively Church of the Nazarene congregation, a URC church, a relatively new church in the Oasis network...


In addition, we’re in serious dialogue with a major denomination as to how we can help them across the entire region in giving a renewed emphasis to the vital importance of helping their members live as authentic and effective followers of Jesus in their everyday lives.

I haven’t the slightest misgiving that this is a task that’s worth every ounce of energy we can put into it. Nor do I think for a moment that the task will be easy or quick. One of the most effective church leaders I know said this to me as he reflected somewhat regretfully on 20 years of ministry which most observers would have considered effective and successful:

‘As I look back, I realise that I didn’t create a system that intentionally produced disciples. Instead, I created a centralised missional station to do mission. The intention was mission and discipleship was a by product...I was driving a mission truck with a follow-up discipleship van...I would now create a spiritual formation within the mission.’

The more I contemplate his words, the more I’m convinced that the Imagine Church Project has a vital part to play in changing the culture of the church, not only here in the North West, but throughout the nation - creating a culture in which disciple-making is at the heart of all we do. And I can’t think of anything I’d rather devote my time to. Though, if Scotland ever made it to the World Cup Finals and they were looking to hire a coach, it’d be a close call...