|
|
The Anglican Church in Tasmania Search |
|
a healthy church...transformingLIFE |
|
|
|
|
|
June 2005 |
|||
|
|
||||
Can it happen?Talk to a mission-hearted Christian about church
and Tasmanian culture and the response is often a mixture of
godly passion and missional ideas but also some doubt and
anxiety. 'Can it happen? Is it possible for an Anglican
Church to live?' At the new '10:15' congregation at Somerset in the Parish of Burnie we have had to face these things as we seek a closer engagement with the people of the North-West coast. Since we began in September 2004, the task we have embraced is simply try to get the basics right in our context. The first 'basic' is community. The new congregation began as a 'seed team' of five couples. The emphasis this team put on eating, sharing, and praying together remains at the heart of who we are now. Despite being based in a 'church hall', the aim was never to simply 'start a new service' but to 'plant a congregation' - i.e. a community of believers sharing their lives. The second 'basic' is prayerful growth. We have more than doubled in number. Much of this growth is an explicit answer to prayer as we have needed extra energy and gifted people. God has brought people who can teach, build, pray, laugh, rebuke, care, and sing. Each person adds something to us. All this strengthens us for the third 'basic', which is to look outwards. We are currently transitioning from a time of consolidation to a place where we hope to specialise and diversify and to release people in all sorts of ways - to run a playgroup, to meet people for drinks, others to lead a Bible study, others to pray. Our desire is to be a part of the forming of genuine relationships through which it can be evident that God works in real ways with real people. As a foundation, we embrace a scriptural spirituality, engaging our lives with God's Word. We want preaching, teaching, and conversation to build people up for life and so we gather in ways that are active and participatory. It is with Scripture, prayer and the mature exercise of gifts that we set our course. In our short time together we have had successes and failures. There are always challenges - like what to do now that we have outgrown our meeting space. But these challenges are the means of growth, the substance of the exciting dynamic of what it means to follow God. This healthy uncertainty is only going to become more apparent as we are challenged and changed by those we meet. We hope that others can be encouraged by our experience. It has taken prayer, the gift of a parish willing to try something unproven, and a group of flexible, mature Christians who are committed and willing to speak the truth with love. We simply pray that we stay close to the heart and action of God amongst the people of this place.
Will Briggs is Missioner in the Parish of Burnie and is married to Gill. They have four children: Anna, Samuel, Ethan and Miriam. |
|
|||
