What members of St Patrick’s Church, Wallington, say about the global-local experience
As a result of the global-local process, we realised that we had a very old-fashioned view of mission. Ours was the traditional view that any mission worth its salt had to be done overseas by ‘professional missionaries’!
We realise now that, actually, everything we do has a global dimension to it and there’s no such thing as ‘overseas’ mission. We have had our eyes opened to the possibilities of receiving from (instead of just giving to) the global community, amid which we live, not just parts of it.
We are taking practical steps to implement global-local values. We are seeking to make our District Church Council (DCC) the mission hub of the church. Rather than a few dedicated people waving the mission flag periodically, our desire is for every decision made by the DCC to be made with the global-local dimensions in mind.
We are in the process of creating some questions/criteria that can be applied to every relevant decision to test the outcome. If it is not sufficiently ‘global-local’, we won’t embark on that project or take the decision further. This will, I’m sure, prove to be challenging for us.
At our DCC meetings we’re currently working through the Five Marks of Mission produced by the Anglican Consultative Committee and applying them to what we do at St Patrick’s. It is also an opportunity for us to ask the question, “What more could we do?” Hopefully, in time we should become a more missional church as a result.
In addition, we are going to be reviewing the way we currently support our 10 mission partners. We will probably arrange them into different tiers, indicating various levels of support. One step towards this, which is currently being worked on, is for every LIFE group (home bible-study group) to adopt a mission partner with a view to developing a relationship with them.
In 2007, we shall also be exploring the possibility of setting up a partnership, based on relationship and not on money, with another church in a different country. The hope is that we shall be able to receive people from that church, and go to visit them, in order for us to grow and develop together in our following of Jesus.
This global-local journey has certainly put mission back at the top of the church agenda, which can only be a good thing. We may have a long way to go, but it is better to be on an exciting journey to a destination than not having set out on foot at all. Watch this space!
As to ongoing issues, there are some regarding money: how we support our current mission partners financially and how we make use of the church tithe.
- What might a sustainable partnership with another church based on relationships look like?
- Can the DCC truly be the mission hub of the church?
- How can we enthuse our members to become passionate about mission?
These are just some of the issues with which we need to deal as we continue on our Global-Local journey.
If you believe your church or diocese would be interested in exploring going on a Global-Local journey with CMS, please e-mail Matt Freer or call 01865 787487.
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