One of my responsibilities as
convenor of the South Wales District Pastoral Committee has been
to design a new program for a once-every-five-year visitation.
The practice of an every-five-year visitation is a holdover from
those days of Archbishop Laud in the seventeenth century. At the
local level, it still carries the cultural memory of an inspection
from on high. What we’ve done is to create a model of congregational
re-development that is driven locally (not by the district council),
as a nine-month program of self-study, goal-setting, and program
development. Our contribution is a set of guidelines, a resource
pack, and availability for consultation. The experience ought
to be discovery-oriented. It’s meant to foster renewal from
within, and overcome the ingrained antipathy many of our churches
feel for the process as it had been conducted in the past. The
process may not result in actual growth—most of our churches
are declining on about a thirty-degree slope—but it will
contribute to realistic self-understanding and encourage a stronger
sense of companionship across the district. That’s important.
Locally, I’ve been working hard at training elders in worship
leadership—preaching and leading prayers—and in pastoral
care. This is called “working myself out of a job.”
When I say “working myself out of a job” I mean working
to the agenda of a denomination that is experiencing an increasing
shortage of ministers, and facing a day when a body of capable,
experienced lay ministry is going to be a necessity, not a frill.
At a time when we are unable to fill several vacancies in South
Wales we are also being asked to cut back on our deployment figures.
Again, I don’t pretend that we will be able to reverse the
strong, tidal drift of church decline in this culture. But maybe
we can find new and unconventional ways of being church, and so
discover renewed vitality.
In the face of all this, I was amazed to see in City Church’s
annual report this year how much mission work we’ve been
doing. We sent Russell Davies to Zambia last August to sort out
computers in a school for deaf children there. Tembe Moyo has
formed a support organization for over 400 Zimbabwean refugees.
Beth Charles is a volunteer hospital chaplain for people experiencing
surgery for facial and neck cancers. Ann Nugent volunteers at
Cardiff Prison. Several members, including Marieke, work with
learning disabled adults. Hazel Morgan works with abused children.
Towela Munthalli works with HIV-positive African women. Joan Cooper
has organized a group assisting destitute asylum seekers. We’ve
recently sent over £900 to Christian Aid in response to
their Sudan Appeal, and we are a major supporter of The Amber
Project, supporting youth who self-harm. Then there is our Cardiff
Adult Christian Education Centre (CACEC) offering courses in everything
from biblical Greek and Ezekiel to pastoral care. We fund a full-time
administrator for this, provide the space and support it with
an annual grant, but it has an ecumenical management board. Perhaps
our major mission focus is to create a safe and welcoming space
for marginalised populations in the city, a commitment reflected
in the incredible diversity of people—of every style, size,
and color—coming into our fellowship in recent years. We
need to affirm this diversity. One of our three-year-olds, for
instance, is supposed to be a sheep in this year’s Christmas
play. He stubbornly wants to be Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Sometimes you just have to change the plot a bit to accommodate
where people are.
We as a family are all OK. The big news is the birth of a wonderful
new grandson in January, Joe. Thanks for all your support. And
peace be with you,
Tom and Marieke Arthur
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
174 |
