Tuesday 23 February 2010

the gathered church....


It's the morning after the night before. Not what you might think, however. I went to two church meetings yesterday. Both were 'church meetings' as Baptists describe them of the gathered body of Christ in a particular community. Both were very small churches, although one had three times the membership of the other.
In one there was hope, in the other none that I could spot very easily (but it is the morning after).
In one there was a growing sense of vision for the future - if we did this, etc. In the other, I'm tempted to say 'no vision', but I don't think that is not actually true. Nearer the truth would be to say there were conflicting visions - past versus future, buildings versus people, you get the idea.
In one there was trust, in the other seemingly no trust - and I'm talking among themselves not including what they felt about my presence and input, but i guess success in one was not being thrown out! What would Jesus do? A good question, not sure many are asking it though.
Now obviously, this leads me to have all kinds of questions, but I think I'd best not voice those till I've had at least another night to sleep on it. I wonder what Van Gogh was thinking when he painted this one?

1 comment:

Mike Shaw said...

Nigel,

I wish that it was my church that had the vision and the hope!!

Michael