We had a Corps Council meeting last night, mainly to discuss dates for this years Corps calendar. At first the meeting was a bit fragmented as everyone competed with diaries waved like scimitars! However, eventually we settle down and moved on to discuss other topics such as prayer and outreach.Then the strangest thing happened….
It quickly became apparent that if we were to become an evangelical Corps there was no way one meeting on a Sunday morning was going to provide sufficient capacity for everything we wanted to do!
What we needed was street outreach (open-airs) and then we needed dedicated meetings (gatherings) to bring people back to. In short we were probably going to have to consider the reintroduction of a Sunday night (or maybe a Saturday night) salvation meeting, a mid-week holiness meeting, a custom designed ‘Alpha’ type initiative (one dedicated to discipling within an SA concept with the aim of making ‘Soldiers’)
I couldn’t help thinking about meetings taking place in the same hall, years earlier where (with the best will in the world) SA infrastructure (Corps Cadets, Open Airs, Directory, Praise Meetings etc) was carefully dismantled brick by brick and here we were in the same hall contemplating putting the whole thing back together again.
Why did we change? Was it to accommodate the needs of the world? Was it to become more family orientated? Was it to become more seeker friendly? Or was it simply because we lost our heart for mission, became lazy and apathetic and to quote Keith Green ‘loved the light of our TV’ more than we loved God?
I don’t blame soldiery, I hold Officers accountable, at the end of the day the CO is the manager and the motivator and the buck must stop there.
Love and prayers
A
5 comments:
There's not necessarily a difference between the two, is there. If things worked before, there no reason why it shouldn't work today. Apply the same principles, the same common sense, maybe adapt the style etc but as long as souls are won for the kingdom, that's the main thing.
Don't fear the past, buddy. Lets learn from it and manipulate and improve on it rather than discarding it as often happens.
My thoughts on this subject are that everyone followed whatever was the in thing (like sheep)and sadly we discovered that people left because we had left our first love - that of evangelising, bringing in lost souls and then discipling them through to soldiership.Maybe in some places we forgot that our first love should have been Christ. Where I live it became unpopular to become a soldier - the cry was it wasn't necessary. Thankfully the tide is turning again and new people are enquiring about how they can become soldiers (full members) of the Church and they are not satisfied with any half measure.Praise God!
Surely de-construction followed by re-construction is not necessarily a bad thing?
If something isn't working right take it apart & rebuild it in a way that works for the purpose for which you need. Some 'old stuff' that had been abandonned (eg Corps Cadets) may have have been done out of such slavery to routine that its' original vision was lost. I certainly know of places where re-instituting such activities would be very useful.
I also think that we sometimes fall into the popularity trap. Since I've been in my current Corps the suggestion of a re-instated evening meeting has been met with the standard response of "We were only getting x number in" - now if that meeting is a Holiness meeting and it's done well - who wants to lose that?
How few is too few?
It seems to me that we are too often 'playing the numbers game' rather than concentrating on The Great Commission. Let's start with one or two and build up from there.
Another factor to consider are the 'faithful few' who are so busy on Sunday morning ensuring the main meeting goes well, running the Sunday School, etc, that they don't get fed. Perhaps they need a separate Sunday meeting for them?
Pleased to hear of the desire to do more in Dartford again. And I know under yours and Traceys leadership it will not be doing more just for doing more's sake. I pray for you and the Corps as a whole as you embark on providing more opportunities for people to learn about God and his plan for this world.
blessings.
Dan
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