Those of you who have been coming along to All Saints for a while will know that close to the beginning of each year, we remind ourselves of the vision that we believe that we’ve been given to energise and direct our work as God’s people in this community. For those of you who have joined us more recently, this might not be as familiar to you, so it’s a good opportunity to hear what we are about here.
At it’s most basic, we believe that are called to be closer to Christ and sent to be closer to others.
Our vision is seen in these three key images.
This first one reminds us of all those things that God has poured into our lives, as individuals and as a church. A church that has experienced and is experiencing the generosity of God in so many ways cannot be hidden. It has to shine out, it has to spread out. In this image of our vision we see the generous riches of God pouring into this church, a beacon of light, overflowing to the community around us.
Here we have a representation of a meal in a house in Bethany. Jesus is seated in the middle. Mary is worshipping with abandon at Jesus’ feet. Martha is serving faithfully in the kitchen and Lazarus is leaning, in friendship against Jesus. All three are coming closer to Jesus, who is our Lord, our God, and our friend. In this image of our vision we see a Christ centred church of faithful service, intimate worship, and friendship with God.
Thirdly we have a strawberry plant, spreading by sending out runners. On these runners are tiny baby strawberry plants that have the opportunity to take root and to grow to become plants themselves, and to bear fruit. In this image of our vision we see a connected community of fruitful congregations, sharing the same DNA, growing in a variety of contexts.
As we work towards this vision, we do so in a way that expresses our core values of Loving God, Loving Each Other, Loving Our Neighbours, Celebrating, and Exploring.
As we go into this year, I would like us to think particularly about that image of strawberry plants, the growth of new expressions of church, and of new Christians.
Let’s begin with the scripture, and particularly the ministry of Paul and others in the city of Corinth.
We read in Luke’s history of the early church, the book of Acts, about Paul’s first visit to Corinth. The first thing that he does when he arrives is to team up with other Christians who were already there. Initially he goes to the local synagogues to share the good news of Jesus, whilst continuing to work as a tent maker to support himself financially. More of his team arrive, freeing him to concentrate on preaching. When those he was preaching to initially rejected his message, he went on to share with others. Many of these responded, and came to believe in Jesus, and the church grew. Paul stayed there for at least 18 months, preaching and encouraging the new believers, before eventually moving on to new places.
As we read on in Acts, we hear how Apollos came to faith, and went on to Corinth to continue the ministry there.
This all sounds great, with God providing different people to tell the people of Corinth about Jesus at different times, all to grow the church. Unfortunately, things seem to have gone a bit pear shaped, and some years later, when Paul is writing to the church in Corinth, it seems that the church has become divided into factions. Paul is heartbroken. He focusses the attention away from himself and Apollos and onto God, the one who gives out the different tasks to his ministers, and is the one who brings the growth.
All the way through both these accounts of the planting and growth of the church in Corinth, run two clear themes – those of evangelism and partnership. Sharing the good news of Jesus with others is fundamental to our call as Christians – it is what Jesus has commanded us to do. We are to be good news, tell good news, share good news. We are good news people – sent to be closer to others. We do this most effectively when we do it in partnership. Paul and Priscilla and Aquila, Timothy, and Silas. Our attempts to share good news are damaged and hampered when we fall into division and competition.
So, it seems to me that when we plant new strawberry plants, if they are to thrive and be fruitful, then we need to be confident in sharing the good news of Jesus, and doing so in partnership.
Let me describe some things that I have seen in our church life over the last year that have fed into my thinking about this.
We carried out a discipleship survey in the autumn of last year, asking people where they are in the discipleship journey. One of the things that came out of that was that we are not having very many conversations with people outside the church about our faith. We need to grow in our confidence and capacity to share the good news of Jesus. This is something for us to explore as this year goes on.
In partnership with the churches of the Haughmond and Wrekin team Nick and others have helped start a Forest Church, once a month, at St Peter’s school in Brattan.
In partnership with House of Prayer, we have been supporting Ukrainian guests in Wellington to set up a mutual support group, and a learn English through reading the Bible study group.
Caroline has led the starting up of a weekday evening Pathfinder club night, giving opportunities for our young people to get together and grow in friendship with each other and have conversations about faith. This has only been possible because of the team that has come together with Caroline to make this happen.
A number of new strawberry plants, all strong in partnership, being and sharing the good news of Jesus in our community. These are things to celebrate.
I’ve been aware of this book since very early in my time here in Wellington, and I eventually tracked down my own copy a couple of years ago. The passage that describes the Wellington revival has always sent shivers down my spine. A couple of times last year I shared it with different groups from church that I was meeting with, and they encouraged me to share it more widely. So, if you’re sitting comfortably, I’ll begin (a slightly edited and trimmed account, which was first published in 1949)
By far the most unusual religious Awakening in Salop took place in Wellington, under the leadership of Dr Cranage of the Old Hall. In June 1859 he visited Ulster, where he witnessed the work of the Holy Spirit, bringing people to repentance and faith, and he came back to report it in Wellington.
“A little group of about 30 devout Christians met to hear the account. A dozen of them agreed to commence a daily prayer meeting, so an empty shop was rented, and a prayer-meeting was announced for the same night. The shop was crowded with standing people and nightly the place was packed in anticipation of an immediate Pentecost, which did not come.”
They kept praying, through many discouragements, and, in the end, a revival did come, in the autumn of 1861, with many people coming to faith.
“There was a further development in the Wellington Revival of 1861 when Dr Cranage announced plans for building an interdenominational hall seating 800. The hall was opened on the last day of August 1862, and services were carried on at times avoiding a conflict with denominational worship, the whole programme being made interdenominational. Dr.Cranage was a loyal Anglican, but his helpers were of every evangelical variety, and the preachers who ministered were both Anglican and Free Church.
Baptists and Congregationalists in Wellington in the Revival period increased membership by 66%, Methodists by 75% and the Anglicans consolidated a new parish. Wellington Parish of All Saints is still ardently evangelistic and there is unusual inter-church unity in the town.”
Evangelism and partnership again, hand in hand.
Now, I know that the relationships between the different churches in Wellington hasn’t always been great, but I am so encouraged that we are in a good place now. Even before I came to be vicar here, and was working in Priorslee, I would often come over to the Wednesday morning prayer meeting here with the Wellington church leaders. That prayer meeting still happens every week, though now on Zoom. Different church leaders, coming together to pray for each other and the whole church in this place.
So, what does all this come together to give us, as we look forward to 2023. Well, I think these two watchwords. Evangelism and partnership. The best way we can build our confidence in sharing the good news of our faith is to do it with others.
On the evangelism side, we are going to work on encouraging each other to share the good news of Jesus. There is a new initiative starting up in this area, which will bring together folk from different churches to support each other as they lead new expressions of church. One of the key things that this will do is provide ideas and encouragements to find appropriate ways of helping people to explore the good news of Jesus.
On the partnership side, many of you will know that for some years we have had been running Ignite. Towards the end of last year, we began exploring with House of Prayer what it might look like to work together on this. These conversations have now come to fruition, so we are stopping Ignite and starting “Wellington Worship Evening”. The first of these will be on Saturday 21st January at 7:00pm at Belmont Hall.
I know that there will be some challenges in the coming year, not least financial, as the cost of living bites, inflation is having an impact on the cost of our ministry, but I believe that we have a generous God who will provide what we need. I am encouraged by the heritage we have in Wellington of partnership and evangelism. I want to celebrate the way in which we have seen those things bearing fruit in the last 12 months. I believe that as we build on that spiritual heritage, so we will see more fruit. And who knows, even another revival, one that future historians might write about and say once again, ““Wellington Parish of All Saints is still ardently evangelistic and there is unusual inter-church unity in the town.”
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