Imagine Church

Releasing Dynamic Everyday Disciples

Neil Hudson

• Publisher: IVP
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9781844745661
• eBook ISBN: 9781844746361
• Edition: 1
• Subtopic: Religion

How can an ordinary church become a community of people who help one another live out their whole life at home, work, church, in the neighbourhood as followers of Jesus in his mission to the world?This book is for those who want life together in church to equip disciples who live out their faith in the realities of their day-to-day world.- Draws on three years of work with pilot churches across the UK
- Practical examples of how a church can change
- Real-life stories of churches and individuals

1
God’s people out there:
in place – ready to go?

Then...

It was a Wednesday morning around 10.30 am in 2004. I was a paid leader of a local church and I was sitting in a packed room full of paid church leaders, listening to Mark Greene calling for the end to the sacred–secular divide, the belief that some things, but not all things, really matter to God, a belief that has plagued the mission fruitfulness of the church. I was hearing the challenge to get engaged in whole-life disciple-making and I was imagining what could happen if all the people in my church could grasp the simple idea that where they were, at that exact time – around 10.33 by now – could be the place that God wanted to use them for his kingdom purposes.

I was hearing all this and I was becoming indignant.

I wanted to defend my past sixteen years in church leadership; I had been trying to do this all along. Internal voices told me that we were doing all right as we were: growing in numbers, reaching out to our local community, beginning to see a youth work develop. And yet other voices inside me cheered the message on. I had heard this before, but somehow had never been able to move past good intentions. Could things be different if I were able to gain a new perspective?

I had a prayer meeting planned for the following week, and that was on my mind. Mark asked what we usually prayed for in our church prayer gatherings. Did we only concentrate on the corporate activities of the church: youth work, the children’s work, our outreach programmes and the like? Or did we also pray for people where they were: home, work, wherever? The question led to an idea.

Ten days later the prayer meeting took place. I asked three people to talk about their work situations: one was out of work, one loved his job and one person was in a new job. After I’d interviewed them and asked them what they were learning about God and themselves in these situations, we prayed for them. Then we all split up into different areas of the church according to the signs that were displayed around the room: ‘I love my job’, ‘I’d like a new job’, ‘I wish I still worked’ and ‘I need to know what to do next’. People talked together, listened to the issues each was facing and prayed for one another.

It was the first church prayer meeting that I had ever led where the agenda had been shaped solely by the everyday experiences of the church members out in their everyday world, rather than simply praying for the activities of the gathered church. Why had it taken so long?

That evening began a process. That simple shift in our prayer meeting demonstrated that we could challenge the old sacred–secular divide, that there was a way forward. I suspect the meeting addressed a suppressed yearning among the church community, a yearning that when we gathered together our activities would be more directly linked to our everyday lives. And it also triggered something in me. I realized that the desire I’d long had that people would be shaped and commissioned to make a difference wherever they found themselves could come true. And that made me realize how strong that desire was in me. It connected to the heart of why I came into the pastoral ministry in the first place.

And now...

Shuttle forward five years or so, and I’m sitting in a minister’s front room listening to a group of people from one of the churches engaged in LICC’s Imagine Pilot Project. I was asking people where they spent most of their time, and what they did with that time.

In the group was a lady called Isabelle. She was a quiet lady and hadn’t contributed much to the conversation thus far. Turning to her, I asked her what she did with her time. She looked very thoughtful. ‘I don’t know; I’ve been wondering that while you’ve been talking. I just clean the house, go to the shops and look after the grandchildren from time to time.’ I asked her to tell us more about the grandchildren. She told us that she picked some of them up from school and she told us that her oldest granddaughter came to Sunday dinner most weeks. Often she would ask Isabelle about church and what had been happening. So Isabelle would tell her about the service and the sermon. I asked her what age this grandchild was, expecting her to tell us that she was about ten years old. It turned out she was twenty-two.

The conversation that followed was really interesting. Up until then, the minister had assumed he’d been preaching to a largely elderly congregation, hoping somehow to reach a younger generation. Suddenly he found out that at least one of his listeners was passing on his sermon to a young twenty-something woman. He began to think about what he might say at 11.30 to Isabelle that would be most relevant to her granddaughter a couple of hours later.

The others in the group had been friends with Isabelle for years. But they had never heard her talk this way about her grandchildren, didn’t know their names, and had no idea of the challenges that they might have been facing. So no-one could have prayed for them, nor for the ministry that this grandmother already had in the family.

We stopped, prayed and recommissioned Isabelle back to her family.

A few months later, at the next meeting, I asked her about her grandchildren. ‘Well, I don’t know what’s happening, but my daughter’s asking questions about faith and church now. I’m on a bit of a roll.’

And then she added, brilliantly, ‘I know what I’m supposed to be doing now.’

This story is important for all sorts of reasons:

• It’s significant that Isabelle had been engaged in a meaningful ministry for years, though neither she nor her church realized it.
• She was taken aback by the initial question because no-one had asked it before. And her nonplussed response may well be common. Most people do not think of their everyday lives as being the arena where God will work. Many feel that it might even be big-headed to think that God could use them there.
• It’s significant that after we listened to Isabelle’s experiences and prayed for her, she had a renewed confidence in what she was already doing. Most people don’t need to be encouraged to do more; they just need to see what they do in a different light.

This is a story that has released many other people’s imaginations. This unassuming grandmother had thought she had no significance in God’s plans or any real missional influence. By ‘unearthing’ what was already happening, she was able to see that she did have a real area of influence and began to believe that God could use her. Nobody had ever prayed for her about the role she played in her family because no-one knew about it.

How many Isabelles are there in our churches? How many people would find a new energy and confidence if they were able to hear that what they were involved in was significant mission work? Could it be that it is these people who are a key part of the answer to the central mission question that we all face together: ‘How will we reach the UK’?

Good news for individuals and churches

My story as a church leader and Isabelle’s story share one thing in common: both of us had been encouraged to see our lives differently. Change becomes a real possibility when we gain a new perspective on our lives: our lives together as church gathered together, and our lives when we are apart from one another.

We are convinced that God wants to liberate people like Isabelle to embrace their everyday lives for the sake of his mission. This happens on our ‘frontlines’: the places we are in, with people who do not know Christ and where we accept the responsibility to live as mission agents of the kingdom of God.

However, we know that many simply do not think of their everyday lives through these lenses. Still, to be fruitful out on the frontline over the long haul, people not only need a new set of lenses to see their situations differently; they also need a church community behind them that is committed to helping them be God’s people in all of life.

And for that to happen, what is needed is more than some new programme; it’s a much more fundamental shift of perspective. It will involve everyone connected to the local church – the church leaders, those responsible for the different departments of the church, the worshipping members of the church. It may begin with a small group of people committed to the cause, but if the change is successful, it will affect everyone’s experience of being part of the local church.

This is because what is being proposed is a change of church culture. We need a new culture that changes the way we relate to one another; a culture where our activities help us see the potential for everyday mission; a culture that enables us all to become mature, whole-life followers of Jesus.

Perhaps the easiest way to give an insight into what might be possible for many ordinary churches is to allow people who have been through this process of change to tell their story.

When a church changes

There’s a church in Dewsbury who invited LICC to work with them on the Imagine Project. They were a successful church in their town, not a particularly large church, but a strong church aware of the challenge of witnessing to the Christian faith in a place where Islam has a very visible and, at times, aggressive presence.

Their story is one of equipping people to live confidently for Christ when they were not within the perceived safety of their gathered church, when they were scattered across the town Monday to Saturday.

After two years of intentionally concentrating on becoming a whole-life disciple-making community, the pastor was asked to reflect on the culture shift that had happened in the church:

‘What’s changed?’ he says. ‘Everything has changed, and the biggest change has been in me. I’ve had to change the most.

‘For many years we have been an “attractional” church. The central focus was on getting people into the church building. And over the years we’d done this well, filling the church building and putting on great services. But gradually we began to realize there was a disconnect between what was happening in the building on a Sunday and what was happening in people’s lives during the week. It was as though once we left the building, the really important business was over. I needed to be reminded that for the church members, it was just beginning.’

The fruit of this change of perspective was heard in the conversations that people began to have in the church:

‘People used to say to me that they loved church, but hated what they do “out there”,’ he continues, ‘but now that has changed. People are saying, “This job is exactly where I’m meant to be. I may not like the job right now, but I’m exactly where God wants me to be and I want to be the best I can be in this place.” That is simply because we have heightened the importance of where they are and commissioned them to do it.’ This is a vision that runs right through the church, from the very youngest. People are being equipped to go to the places where they already are, whether playgrounds or old people’s homes, as missionaries.

Essentially, people in the church began to reclaim their everyday lives as their frontline, the place they could be used by God:

Peter works for an engineering company. He said, ‘You know what a factory is like; the place is filled with lads. I’ll go in on a Monday morning and they’ll say, “Have you prayed for me this week?”, making a joke of it. But now I can say in all seriousness, “Yes, I have.” ’ He goes on, ‘I struggle with my boss and sometimes I feel like throwing the towel in or not giving 100% as a Christian. But since this teaching, it’s made me realize I’ve got to do my bit and I just think, “You might not appreciate me, and I sometimes don’t like you, but I’m going to give it my 100% anyway because this is where God has called me to be.” ’

What gave Peter this confidence and such a renewed focus?

One of the significant realities in this church is that everyone was challenged to change – leaders and people. The leaders needed to think about what their fundamental task was and how their work could most help and support the ongoing life of the church when they were scattered through the week. Church members had to think about their motivation for coming to church and building relationships with one another in the light of their responsibilities to the wider world. The results were that people began to see their everyday lives very differently. They began to see that their lives could be used in God’s mission.

This was not the end of the journey for that church. It was just the beginning. The challenge for the church was for it to continue to envision people for their ongoing lives – wherever they find themselves. The leaders of the church had to guard against the default setting of the church: to see the ‘church sponsored activities’ as being of primary importance, rather than the mission potential carried by each individual member.

Two years later, I had the chance to reflect with the church leader on how things had developed further. The past few months had seen a number of mature Christians moving into the area and connecting with the church, including a dietician, a police inspector and a university lecturer. They came with much experience of involvement in church activities and were keen to offer this experience to their new church family. It was one of the housegroup leaders who articulated the church’s response well: ‘Yes, that’s really going to be helpful to us, but there’s time for all that; the bigger question is what’s God already doing around you and how can we help?’

The dietician, police inspector and university lecturer and the others paused. They’d been presented with a new question, an unexpected question, but a question that marked the new culture they were involving themselves in.

Building something new

All that follows is about change. It’s about working towards a new understanding of the ministry of the church. It’s not about adding a new programme into a crowded church schedule, or tweaking existing activities; it is about a much more fundamental change of perspective which will lead to different actions and different outcomes from the ones with which most of us have lived. Put simply, it is a call to see the whole of the people of God live out the whole of their lives under the Lordship of Christ for the sake of the wholeness of God’s mission for the whole world.

It involves everyone looking at their lives differently. Church leaders need to be willing to be challenged about their fundamental role in the church community. This may mean unlearning some things as well as practising new skills. Church members need to be willing to accept a calling to live as whole-life missionary disciples. For many, this will mean accepting new challenges, finding new confidence and learning to approach life differently. This too will mean they have to undergo a similar process of unlearning old practices and acquiring new skills. This is no small task.

There are five guiding assumptions and two fundamental truths that need to be wrestled with and accepted if this new vision is to become a reality. They have been vital for our work with churches, enabling us and them to stay motivated and hopeful in our work. Let’s deal with the assumptions first.

Five important assumptions

1. Churches can change

Introducing change within any organization is hard work, and a church is no different. Sometimes it’s tempting to believe that rather than trying to change an existing church culture, it’d be simpler to start again. Start again with a fresh set of people who don’t have all the expectations of what church should be about. Start again with younger people, or smarter people, or more spiritually aware people. It might be easier; it might not. The fact is, most of us don’t have the luxury of starting from scratch. We are where we are. We are with the people that we are with. The big question is: is God still here? If he is, there is hope. If he isn’t, then we need to lock the doors and get on with something else.

We have worked on the basis that God is committed by his Spirit to local congregations, and that therefore there is always hope. Though congregations may fear that they are too weak to see anything significant happen, we believe that the only attitude that kills hope is a dogged resistance to change.

2. Most churches are tired of being criticized

Most churches are only too aware of their weaknesses, and often feel guilty about the gap between their best intentions and their actual practices. Therefore, rather than simply outlining the problems, we want to help churches discern creative ways to help nurture, equip and sustain whole-life missionary disciples.

If you’re sick and in the doctor’s surgery, there is a time for diagnosis of your ills. But if all you go away with is regret and guilt about how you allowed yourself to get into this state, then you’re in a worse situation than you were when you went in. Then you were just sick. Now you’re sick and full of regret.

So instead of endless diagnosis and criticism of existing practice, we need practical steps to move forward and true stories of hope to encourage us on the journey.

3. Changing church communities isn’t easy

We are all limited by our situations. There are challenges that may not have any easy solutions, or indeed any solutions. Often our desire overreaches our abilities. But this does not daunt us; we simply begin the journey realistically. The last thing the church needs is more unrealistic solutions.

We need to start where we are, not where we would like to be. And we start with the people who want to have an integrated life: one where faith and the rest of life connect. It may be you can only find one other person like this. It doesn’t matter: begin the conversation with them.

4. Churches only have so much energy to address issues

There is an endless list of possible issues that you may feel you need to be involved in. Therefore, choices have to be made. We suggest that establishing disciples of Jesus who understand the implications of this for their whole lives is the crucial task at this time. If you are going to be involved in this work, you need to be abl...

Table of contents

• From churches involved in the Imagine Project
• Imagine Church
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Beginnings and the bigger picture
• 1 God’s people out there: in place – ready to go?
• 2 The whole-life church: a renewed vision
• 3 Changing from the inside out: values before actions
• 4 How to become a whole-life disciple-making church
• 5 All learning together: redefining the church contract
• 6 How the whole-life DNA changes things: three examples
• 7 As you begin...
• Moving onwards – guidelines and resources
• The next steps: a reflection guide
• Fuel for the journey: resources and links
• A reminder of the big picture
• Notes