Growth

On Sunday we spent some time thinking about the vision for our church, which can I think be summarised in one word – Growth. Mark talked to us about growth in a number of contexts:

·         Growing in confidence in our faith

·         Growing our church culture

·         Growing in our outreach

·         Numerical growth

It seems to me that this is something we can all get on board with - growing in our Christian faith ourselves, and enabling others to grow in theirs.

However, I was listening to a podcast this week of a sermon by Guli Francis-Dehqani, the Bishop of Chelmsford as she was speaking about vision and strategy in the Church of England. Actually she was warning against the danger of vision and strategy, which is to elevate the efforts of humankind above the importance of the work of God and the transformation that God brings. She suggested that we can be so intent on strategizing, and working hard for growth in our churches, that we manage to exclude God, overlook the Holy Spirit and forget to see the changes that God is bringing.

I would love us to be a church that grows. A church that looks outward to our community, to serving others, to inviting people to know the love of God. I would also love us to grow in our own knowledge of God’s love for each one of us – as Mark said on Sunday, this makes such a difference to who we are and how we act. But it seems really important that we embrace this desire for growth in the context of God leading us, strengthening us with the Holy Spirit and inspiring us. As Paul intimated in 1 Corinthians we can sow seeds and water them, but it is God who makes them grow. So as we commit to a vision for growth at St Peter’s may we do so looking to God’s Holy Spirit to inspire, strengthen and enable us.