the cat's out of the bag

We published this note in our church news-sheet today:

Members of the Leadership Team have met on three occasions with leaders of Headington Baptist Church (HBC), to discuss possible forms of partnership between their church and ours.

We have been warmly received at these meetings, and we shared a common vision for strengthening our mission as a church in this part of Oxford. This could evolve over the next year or so to take several forms, from HBC people coming to help in or lead activities here, to some HBC members choosing to come and join us on a permanent basis.

As a next step, Headington Baptist will discuss this partnership initially at a members' meeting on 5th May, and we hope to explain some possibilities for developing a covenant relationship, at our church meeting on 7th June. In the meantime, please feel free to discuss these matters with members of the Leadership Team if you would like to.

Aside from being highly nuanced, and the subject of too much committee drafting, the central importance is to report a "Macedonian call" issued to a nearby church to come and help us. We've been 'in decline' on various measures for quite some time, and, as leaders discussed back before Christmas the prospect of the church passing a "point of no return". We decided that we needed to do something about it.

Admitting that you're in a hole and need some help takes some doing. It would be so much easier just to carry on. You can say that you will trust in God's providence. But we all know of fellowships which have declined to the point of non-existence. That's personally traumatic for those involved, but perhaps more importantly, we're most aware that there is a mission to be undertaken. People in our church's vicinity need the gospel of the kingdom. We might not be very good at being missional. But we do believe in it.

The future is certainly uncharted. We found that Headington Baptist has almost an opposite problem: too many people, too many gifts, not enough opportunities for service. The prospects for what we can do together are quite breathtaking: divine timing, in one way of telling it, is awesome.

And where does that leave me? I'm unsure. I have a responsibility to make this evolution happen. But I don't know where it leads. And I don't know to what extent I still share an evangelical perspective: perhaps the fellowship's perspective will move on, too. Time will tell.