Church

Sometimes words can mean different things to different people. Church is one such word.

Just a few days ago now we issued a press release explaining that our St Johns Church in Stone had taken the decision to put its premises up for sale. Though there is deep sadness because there are so many memories tied up in those bricks and mortar, there is also a real sense of relief and excitement.

We know that God is with us and is leading us to a place where we will be able at last to live out our Christian faith without feeling like we are using all our energy to prop up a building that is beyond economic repair; a building which will never be able to meet our needs for this and future generations.

You see we know that Church premises are there only to serve the purpose of the Church, and when they stop doing that and become a huge obstacle to us being Church we know the time has come to move away.

The problem with this word Church is that we use it to describe the people of God while others think it only means the building!

One person came to me having heard our news and said they were very sad that St John’s Church was closing down; I tried to explain that we were moving not closing but I am not sure they understood because for them this word Church was tied so completely to one suite of buildings.

St John’s you see is not closing it is growing!  We are seeing new people come and join us, our worship is vibrant, our fellowship alive, caring and loving, our passion for Jesus and our community burning strong.

For us Church is not a building or tradition or music or leadership, though all of those can be good things, but you could take all of them away and Church will still be there; Church is the people of God gathered in His name to worship and seeking to live out His life in the world.

At St Johns we are following in the footsteps of all of God’s pilgrim people, called to leave behind that which might hold us back and press on towards the goal.

God has a mission for us at St Johns and I know that He does for all of you reading this now in your various communities. It is a simple yet vital plan, to plug into what God is doing in a Church community, to be part of a small group where your faith will grow, and then to live out that faith with your passions and gifts driving you on as you share your faith and live for God. Our communities need us to take seriously that calling, when we do we really are being Church.

I wish everyone could see St Johns in the way we do – not as a town landmark, or a Church building with a history, but as a vibrant growing fellowship with a future because we travelling on this pilgrim journey with a mission from God!