Sermon 128
Sermon by John Metcalfe Wonersh on Sunday
Evening 27th April 2008
Stewardship
As we sit,
let’s pray… "Loving Lord, as we sit and listen to your Word, may we fully
appreciate the bounteous gifts that you have given us and especially be aware
that Jesus died that we might live.
Amen"
I’m sure you know by now
that we’re spending 2 weeks focussing on our church finances, and more
importantly on what we’re being called to do as a church. We’re each one of us on a journey, and the
church is also on a journey as well, and it’s a good time for us to take stock
of where we are on that journey, and where we believe God wants us to be. Why is that?
Because at the moment we’re living beyond our means, and we have to
decide whether we’re going to increase our Regular Giving, or whether we cut
back on what we do to match our income.
That’s the choice we have. Ian
laid his thoughts out in an excellent talk last Sunday, and if you missed it,
can I urge you to order a tape copy, or use the website to read it, or print
off a copy, or even listen to it on your computer.
But
the Church, as well as each of us individually, are caught between what we’re
called to be and what we actually are.
Paul emphasised this better than anyone, and nowhere is it spelled out
more clearly than in those verses from Philippians – verses 10-12 (p. 1180): “I want to
know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in
his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to
the resurrection from the dead. Not that
I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which
Christ Jesus took hold of me”. We’re all at different stages on our journey,
but let’s remember that “Christ Jesus
took hold of me”, and you, for a purpose, and we haven’t yet achieved that
purpose – we haven’t arrived at our destination. We’ve got more to do to capture the prize for
which Christ took hold of us.
I
think myself lucky to have moved to Wonersh in the early 1980’s, just as God
was creating change here. This church
had a small Sunday School and a regular but small church attendance – but the
fire was missing. Then God brought a man
of vision to Wonersh and started to change things, and that change has
continued over the past quarter-century in leaps and bounds – and the
occasional set-back. And now we’re where
we are, still considering where we want to be.
We now have a new man of vision, and I believe we’re at the start of
another exciting stage in the journey of Wonersh church. We already do lots of really great things –
work with the children and youth, with the older folk, we hold successful Alpha
courses, we have lots of young families in church, and so the list goes
on. We could just sit back on our heels,
complacently, and glorify in a job well done.
But is there more we could do? I hope that we all want to “press on to take hold of that for which
Christ Jesus took hold of” us.
This
wasn’t just a concern of Paul – this church has been asking itself the same
question for the past 25 years, and before that, and it’s true for the whole
This
is our time of opportunity. We’re faced with a future in which the challenges
to, and opportunities for, the gospel are unprecedented. Our generation must use its own best
endeavours, our God-given gifts of imagination, skill, courage, committed
discipleship, financial resources to fulfil God’s mission here over the foreseeable
future.
Listen
again to what Paul says in verse 13. “One
thing I do: Forgetting what is behind
and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the
prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus”.
What
did Paul mean by “forget what is behind”? Was he suggesting we ignore the past? Surely not – Paul was a competent theologian
who clearly knew how God had instructed his people in the Old Testament:
“beware, lest you forget the Lord your God.
Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness.” And, of course, he knew that our central act
of worship is also a vital act of memory: “Do this in remembrance of me”. We mustn’t forget the past history of this
place with all the men and women of God who met the challenges of their day and
brought us to where we are. We rejoice
in their memory.
Paul
is saying something very important. He
carried two great burdens. One, the burden of failure – he’d persecuted the
Church of Jesus Christ and put Christians to death. And the burden of success – he’d had a
remarkable ministry as the apostle to the gentiles. I think he’s telling us that our pursuit of
Christ and his mission must not be paralysed by past failures nor impeded by
past achievements. This is a new day …
and we’re called for such a time as this.
There will always be those who complain and look backwards, but let’s
put all that behind us and, in Paul’s words, “strain towards what is ahead”.
Paul
uses the imagery of a runner in a race, and the words he uses – ‘straining
ahead’ is all about concentrating on what’s in front rather than the things
behind. The language is vivid, tense,
repetitious – “pressing, stretching, pushing, straining” – lungs burning,
muscles aching, heart pumping, perspiration pouring. Is that what we’re doing? I believe we need to follow Paul’s example
and fix our eyes on the goal at the end of our particular race, our particular
prize, our particular task. Let us
strain to grasp that for which Christ has called this particular Church family
and bring the dream to reality.
So
what is our dream? What are we straining
to achieve? I don’t know the answer to
that. We have a team who are agreeing
some short-term objectives for the church – what should we be reaching out to
achieve in the next year or two . . . Gordon Mylchreest is leading that team,
and in due course we’ll all receive the results of their wise
deliberations. If you want to add your
thoughts in this process, then please speak to Gordon or Eric. Last week, Ian identified 4 areas that are
important to him – worship, mission, youth work, and completing the
redecoration of this church. They sound
to me like a good place to start! But if
we stop still as a church, just as if we languish as individuals, then we start
to die.
It’s
easy to get sidetracked into things that seem important in our church life.
§
Is it a craving for great coffee? No, we can go to Starbuck’s.
§
Is it a yearning for friendly conversation? No, we can find that on the
golf course, or in The Grantley Arms.
§
Is it an opportunity to build relationships? No, we can join a social
club.
§
Is it the chance to do charitable deeds of service? No, we can join the Rotary or help out at the
YMCA.
§
Is it the desire to stand beside each other in the trials of life? No, we can join a 12 step program.
All
these things are important – but none of them are central to our vision
and purpose.
What
is it about our church that is “to die
for?” People in growing churches
have a deep, shared under-standing that something about their church
involvement is as important to them as eating, sleeping, and working. Something about their church involvement is
as essential for life as vitamins.
Something about their church experience leads them to prioritise it
among the top activities of their week.
It’s “to die for”. It’s essential. It’s the purpose of life. That
something should be that we want to
experience Jesus! Paul says: “I want to know Christ, and the power of his resurrection and the
fellowship of sharing in his sufferings.”
There’s a group out there that can meet every one of our most important
physical, emotional, intellectual, and, yes, even spiritual needs ..... except
one. Only Christ’s Church can help me
experience Jesus. That’s what we’re here
for.
But
one consequence of doing more, whether that’s expanding our youth work,
building up our capability, paying competitive salaries, is that our costs will
go up, it’s a function of life today. So
let me come back to our financial challenge.
For many years our income and outgoings were in reasonable balance. We also received a number of bequests so we
were able to focus on outward giving rather than worry about our own
needs. In the last 5-6 years, our costs
have increased significantly, partly due to increases in our salary costs – we
now have a paid staff of 6 people, and that doesn’t include the vicar! – and
there’s been some significant increases in the amount that we pay to the
diocese to cover the cost of the clergy and the services that the diocese provides. Between 2001 and 2007, our costs increased by
around 48% and our regular giving has increased by 41% - more tellingly, over
the last 4 years our regular giving has increased by just 3%.
We’ve
remained solvent – by having gift days and eating into our reserves. This church has always been very generous at
making donations, and that’s kept our head above water over the years. But it hides the fact that we’re routinely living
beyond our means. Our regular income
currently averages around £13,000/month and our outgoings are about £17,000 – a
shortfall of close to £4,000 each month.
If we’re going to maintain the current level of ministry, we have to
close this gap. Or we reduce our
spending.
One
consequence of this shortfall is that we don’t have the funds to complete the
church redecoration – the Lady Chapel has been done and it looks lovely, but if
we completely run down our reserves to complete the job, then we’ll jeopardise
the ongoing work of the church in the next few years. We need additional donations of around
£30,000 to complete the redecoration work, but we believe that the ongoing
ministry of the church should be a higher priority than beautifying this
building. What does that mean in practice? If, like me, you’re unsure whether to
increase your monthly giving or write a cheque towards painting the nave, then
we suggest that it’s more important that we provide resources to maintain our
ongoing ministry here in Wonersh. But if
you’re fortunate to be in a position to do both, then it’s also right and
proper that we should provide an attractive place in which to worship our Lord
and Saviour. It’s a question of
priority, and it requires a lot of prayer.
So,
do we want to “press on towards the goal
to win the prize for which God has called us”? We’re still part of God’s continuing story in
this Church and community. We’re charged
with the responsibility of telling God’s story with freshness, integrity, and
practical application by the way we live, by the values we share, the priorities
we set, the decisions we take and the vision we hold for our church and
community.
Paul’s
words describe a runner who’s stopped watching his feet. Paul had made little or no progress until the
day he met Jesus. Then his eyes were
lifted from his feet to the Christ of glory, and he was able to run with
purpose and finish the course that was set before him. We could spend our time watching our feet,
avoiding potholes and problems, or we can once more fix our eyes on Jesus and
run to reach the goal to obtain the prize.
We’re the resource that God will use to complete the task and realise
the vision. It will be sacrificially
costly in every sense, but that’s the route that Jesus took. May he give us the grace we need to follow in
his footsteps?
Let’s pray: “Loving Lord, we thank you for the Godly
people who have worked so hard over the years to make this church what it is
today. We thank you for calling us to be
part of your kingdom. We pray that we
will be inspired “to press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took
hold of me”. Please help each one of us
to decide how we might best support your work in this place, so that we might
press on towards the goal which you have set before us. Amen.