On the last day of General Assembly, five people from across the country shared their reflections on two questions: What does it look like for the church to be on the edge of new possibilities? And, what does it look like for church to take those first steps into the crossing?
Here are a few excerpts from those presentations: (Click the link to get the full presentation)
Corrie Stewart, elder, St. Andrew’s, Sydney Mines, N.S.:
[To many] elders, being on the edge means looking for sustainability … keeping the church building open in the face of declining attendance, significantly aging congregations and financial pressures. I think first of all, that is the challenge. How do we change minds to understand that being on the edge is not about fear and looking for ways to survive? It is about defining possibilities to engage God’s mission—not our mission—and participate in God’s mission in the world in the places and times that we find ourselves.
Ivan MacLean, young adult representative from Tyne Valley, P.E.I.:
I came to Christ when someone showed me a real, living example of what it means to live for Christ. This individual … let down the walls, revealed their imperfections and showed me how Christ made them whole. … I think we need to have the same levels of transparency in our congregations. … How are we supposed to be able to pray for each other as a church when nobody knows what anyone is struggling with? How can we build a strong community that will make other people want to be a part of it? I think at the heart of it is love.
Rev. Karen Dimock, Morningside-High Park, Toronto:
In scripture, God has given us a word of hope over and over again.
… When they stand on the edge of the Jordan, there are only two things between the Israelites and the Promised Land. There’s the river and there’s fear. Because stepping into the river is to step into difficult places. It’s to begin to have difficult conversations. It’s to begin to surrender ourselves to be challenged, to be disturbed, to really listen to one another. And it’s to accept that we are going to be changed.
Susan Mattinson, student representative, Vancouver School of Theology:
In order to recognize that we are on the edge, we have to recognize that there is … some area or opportunity just outside our usual experience and our comfort zone. We can make a choice and leave our comfort zone and enter the comfort zone of another. We can invite the other into our comfort zone, or we can meet them somewhere in the middle. … A church on the edge of new possibilities looks like a church that is intrigued by the other rather than fearful of the other. A genuine and deliberate desire to know people, particularly people who are different from ourselves, opens the doors to a rich and varied church community.
Rev. Dr. Dale Woods, Presbyterian College, Montreal:
I don’t think we should underestimate that when we’re going to do something new—when we’re going take steps into the future in a new way—anxiety is going to be part of that experience.
It does something important for us. It draws us into dependence on God. … If we want to learn what it means to be a church on the edge, we have to learn what it means to be a church that’s dependent on God. Because we’re going to be fearful. Believe me. … And we see it in the scriptures. How many times do we hear that phrase: “Do not be afraid”? Why does God keep saying that? I think it’s because they’re afraid. I don’t know if that’s good biblical scholarship or not, but that’s how I read it. And the answer is to draw back into relationship with God.
