Stepwise 4 – Where do I fit in my community? – reflection

Session 4 was certainly thought-provoking when it came to thinking about being church away from our church buildings and taking church to where the community is. It reminded me a little of the way in which Covid forced us to think outside the box and realise that church was not a building but was a community. This cartoon from CartoonChurch.com sums it up beautifully for me:

Here are the questions to reflect on following session 4:

1) What does ‘hearing God’s cry’ mean to you?

‘Hearing God’s cry’ to me means slowing down, becoming more conscious of God’s promptings and nudgings and more aware of the ways that God is calling me to be his hands and feet in the world around me.

2) What new things about your neighbourhood did you notice as a result of the mapping exercise you did with your group?

One thing that was mentioned within this exercise was the boat community: those living on houseboats on the canal. Although I’ve often walked past the boats on the canal, I’d never really thought much about the people who live on the boats.

Overall, the mapping exercise has made me more conscious of the people I pass in the town centre and when out and about in the local area. The town centre is so busy, it is hard to stop and smile and say hello to people, but I’m making more of an effort to do so when out on a walk in quieter areas.

Interestingly, a similar exercise came up last week in our Lent course, which is also exploring discipleship and how our church can be more active in our local community.

3) How useful is the idea of incarnational church for your community?

I’m beginning to come more and more to the conclusion that we need to go out into our community and engage with it, with people where they are rather than expecting people to come to us at our church. That we need to become more aware of the needs within our community and how we can meet them. Not aiming for ‘bums on seats on a Sunday’ but to genuinely serve others and demonstrate the love of God in practical ways, building a relationship with the local community.

Again, this is being reinforced by the discussions taking place during our Lent course. I’m sensing that God is trying to nudge me at the moment.

The Sunday lunches that our church used to provide have been on my mind a lot recently. I am often asked whether/when they’ll restart when I’m at our church café or coffee mornings. We don’t have the resources or volunteers to start them again as they were run pre-Covid but I do feel there is a need to be met here. I’m just not sure yet how to meet it. Open to your nudges here, Lord…

Following on from session four, we’ve been asked to commit to one action for getting to know our neighbours better and to report back next time. I’m trying to talk more to the people I encounter day-to-day, at the school gate, at church or at activities I do during the week. Small talk has never come naturally to me but I am finding it easier to talk to people the more I have to do so.

Here’s my updated spiderweb after session 4:

Where have I seen God lately?

• In the singing of the birds, the warmth of the sun and the robin that keeps hopping over to say hello while sitting outside in the spring sunshine writing this.

• In the ways people are trying to help the refugees from Ukraine.

• In the words of Matthew 6:25-34 that keep popping into my head when the news makes me anxious:

“²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

²⁸ “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. ²⁹ Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ³⁰ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹ So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”