Tonight we are continuing our evening series on refreshing our vision as we focus on Reaching out into the Community. We begin with a modern parable. He who has ears, let him hear. (Matt 13:9 ). In case that was too oblique, let's take the metaphor from the shore to the sea. Leonard Ravenhill, one of the great preachers of the second half of the last century said this:

The Church used to be a LIFEBOAT... now she is a CRUISE SHIP. We're not marching into Zion, we're sailing there with ease... In the Apostolic church it says they were all amazed and now in all our churches everybody wants to be amused. The Church began in the upper room despised, in the upper room with a bunch of men agonizing, and it's ended up in the supper room with a bunch of women organizing. We mistake rattle for revival and commotion for creation and action for unction.

• Are we a lifeboat church or a cruise ship church?
• To use the current buzzwords: are we a missional church or an attractional church?
• Or as Brother Ray put it – are we a saving church or a social church?

I fear we are the latter.

So when I started thinking seriously about the subject Gerald gave me is when the angst began. The trouble is I have trouble with almost every word in the title!

• I'm not sure we have such a vision
• If we do, I'm not sure I can refresh it.
• Even if I can refresh it I'm not sure I want to.

Make no mistake; I care deeply about the community in which I live. It's the reaching "out into" that bothers me. It speaks of "us and them", of growing church rather than expanding the Kingdom. Are we not already part of the community? Should we not be engaging with those around us in the community? Helping them find God where we meet them. I doubt Gerald was thinking that intentionally about the words. But language often reflects deeply ingrained attitudes in institutions and individuals.

So, as I stand here I'm wrestling. Wrestling with temptation to vent my frustration with the GFEC expression, our expression, of what it means to be church: to be the people of God – the body and bride of Christ. But I believe God is at work in our community preparing the soil and God is at work in local churches preparing people to sow, preparing people to nurture tender shoots, and preparing people to gather in a harvest. Not just people like us, but us. But to be part of it we need to recognise that we are called as individuals and as a church first and foremost to mission and to respond accordingly. Just like Abram – when God called Abram went.

I want to do three things this evening to encourage you:

1. I want to show that mission is central to God's story and our story.
2. I want to encourage you with some examples of community mission.
3. I want to inspire you to listen for God's call and find a tent to build.

If you have a Bible with you, please turn to Genesis chapter 12 where we are introduced to Abram, later to be called Abraham. Abraham appears out of nowhere – unlike Noah he's not found to be righteous by God. With Abraham the nature of the narrative changes entirely to being the story one man and his family on a mission for God. It's God's mission not Abraham's and it doesn't start with Abraham. It's a mission to bless mankind and the whole of creation that started with God's creative act in Genesis 1 . It's a mission he invited Adam to be part of:

And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." (Genesis 1:28 )

He saved Noah to be part of it. After the flood:

God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. (Genesis 9:1 )

But Noah, perhaps with survivor guilt, settled...

Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. (Genesis 9:20-21 )

And arguably too the real problem with Babel was that they settled when God had told them to fill the earth – they wanted security and perhaps even to worship God – but not in the way he wanted. And when we do that it's idolatry.

And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth."

(Genesis 11:2-4 )

So we find Abram in Haran, where his father Terah had settled with his household having left the land of Ur to go to the land of Canaan.

Let's read the scripture then we'll go back and look at what God is saying. Genesis 12:1-10 :

The LORD had said to Abram, "Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you.

"I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you;

I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

Abram travelled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev. Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe.

Note:

1. The LORD spoke to Abram – it was not a response to the call of man or church.
2. Abram had to leave:
   • a. Country – culture and familiarity and security.
   • b. People – culture and friends and fellowship.
   • c. Household – no turning back.
3. And God wasn't even promising the land just telling Abram to go to the land God would show him. No vision. No easy win.
4. Then the promise of blessing. But why? In order that all peoples might be blessed.
5. Age should not be a barrier.
6. He didn't go alone though.
7. When he had acted in faith God appeared, and gave him another promise. But not for him but his offspring!
8. He called on the name of the Lord – he prayed.
9. Even when famine struck he pressed on – not back to Haran.

Turn with me now if you will to Luke chapters 9 and 10 where Jesus sends out the disciples. Here we see echoes of Abram's story. The disciples are sent out in small groups, ill equipped, relying totally on God.

Luke 9

When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He told them: "Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra shirt. Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave that town. If people do not welcome you, leave their town and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them." So they set out and went from village to village, proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

Luke 10

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

"When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you ...

The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."

• Did they have a vision when they set out?
• Did they have questions?
• Were they ready?
• Would they have been better off staying gathered at Jesus feet?
• What about us?

There's a lot to be said for having an adventure – a shared experience. I was working in the IT department of Oxford GlycoSciences when because of an abortive merger attempt we were taken over and pretty much everybody in the company was to be made redundant. However most of the value of the company with in its intellectual property and the IT department needed to be kept on until the value could be safely extracted. IT took nearly a year and in that time friends became comrades – as we helped each other develop new skills, as we showed the enemy what a fine IT department they were dealing with, and as we persuaded the company to dispose of nearly 200 PCs to staff at bargain prices rather than scrap them.

Listen to what Alan Hisrch, doyen of the Missional Church movement has to say on the benefits of communitas (shared adventure) over community.

And now we come to the Bridge – the bridge to the New Testament church. It is clear from the Great Commission that the followers of Jesus are sent: sent to bring the love of the Father and the grace of the Son to all peoples everywhere.

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

(Matthew 28:18-20 )

If you need more convincing, Jesus prays to the Father just before the hour of his betrayal came....

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

(John 17:18-21 )

And now we come to another bridge. This is the Choluteca Bridge in Honduras. Obviously it wasn't built this way, but in 1998 hurricane Mitch struck and diverted the course of the river in a matter of days. The bridge stood useless; irrelevant. The question is of course: Is today's church like this? Is our church like this? Is it fit for purpose?

The answer of course depends:

• It depends on whether we see the purpose of the church as worship or mission.
• It depends on whether we see the nature of church as attractional or missional.
• It depends on whether we're building a temple or a tent.

If you think this is all dangerous, reactionary, emerging church hippy nonsense, check out what FIEC's director of mission Andy Paterson had to say at the 2011 Leaders Conference.

The New Testament church thought it was building a tent not a temple. A tent where the remnant of mankind and all the Gentiles may seek the Lord.

And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, "'After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.'

(Acts 15:15-18 quoting Amos 9:11 )

Maybe you don't see any difference between these approaches to church. Listen to one of my favorite evangelical preachers Tim Keller, author and Senior Pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC on the characteristics of a missional church and why it's not the same as an evangelistic church.

We in the evangelical churches often claim to be biblical churches. It's very easy to imagine the New Testament church was just like ours but without electricity: meeting together like we meet. But that's far from the truth.

• No scriptures as we know them.
• No church buildings as we know them - they met in the temple and in the market place and in private houses - probably many houses. How I wonder did the elders lead in that sort of environment?
• No legal status – and often persecution in varying degrees.
• No professional leadership
• No seeker sensitive services, youth groups, worship bands, Spring Harvest, commentaries, seminaries, mission agencies.
• They made it hard to join.

Yet Stark in The Rise of Christianity estimates that between AD100 and AD310 (when Constantine converted to Christianity) the number of believers grew from 25,000 to 20,000,000.

It's not just then and there. When Mao began the Cultural Revolution in China, aimed at purging among other things all religion, it's estimated there were 2 million Christians in China. A decade later when it was all over some 60 million Christians emerged into freedom – albeit somewhat limited.

Perhaps there's something we've lost, that we need to rediscover: something about the power of mission, about shared adventure, about common purpose; something about putting Jesus above all earthly powers and calls on us.

Where people respond to God's challenge, things happen. Take a look at just one of 26 short films made by Reading Christian Network about church based community projects in Reading. They believe prayer and unity were and are essential ingredients in these stories.

REinspired of which I am the project director is another such project. I'm convinced it works because it's been surrounded by prayer, because Christians were willing to put the call to mission before doctrinal differences, and because we've chosen to sow where it is appropriate to sow and leave others to harvest. Does it have an impact? Here's what Zoe Voisey, deputy head and year 6 teacher has to say. If nothing else the church has made some friends.

But it's not just in Reading, there are churches across the country uniting for mission. If it can be done authentically, drawing the unsaved closer to salvation, and if it can be done without confusing people about the gospel, why would we not do it? The Evangelical Alliance certainly sees the benefit and is behind the Gather Conference taking place at the end of this month. From the ministers and others I've talked to from other churches, mission is what the Wantage and Grove Church Partnership is all about.

But what about us? What about GFEC? What about the new development? What about Challow?

An Elderly Florida lady was doing her shopping, and on returning to her car found 4 males in the act of leaving with her vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at the top of her voice 'I have a Gun, and I know how to use it. Get out of the Car!' The 4 men didn't wait for a second invitation. They got out and ran like mad. The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and get into the driver's seat. She was so shaken that she could not get her key into the ignition. She tried and tried, and then it dawned on her why. A few minutes later she found her own car parked four or five spaces farther down. She loaded her bags into the car and then drove to the police station. The sergeant to whom she told the story doubled over on the floor with laughter. He pointed to the other end of the counter, where four pale men were reporting a car jacking by a mad, elderly woman described as white, less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and carrying a large handgun. No Charges were filed. The moral of this story - or at least one of the morals of this story - is, 'It's important to find the right vehicle'

In 1990, the Lavender family left Challow. (Thankfully - because otherwise I would be Ruthless. Boom, boom!). They (and I) returned in 1996, and with commitment and the vision of Pam and Ruth and the support of Eric, Eve and one other family the embers of a work were kindled back to life. The work was hard. I'd had enough by 2001, though the others hung in but called it a day in 2003. Eric and Eve have kept the door open for a new work. But if somebody doesn't take the initiative the door there will close – and that prime spot will be lost forever. It doesn't need a church transplant to take on Challow but -with the encouraging, enabling and equiping of a church - a few committed families following God's call to go and calling upon the Lord to give them a vision and provide all they need to see it become a reality.

And the LORD answered me: "Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end--it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.

(Habakkuk 2:2-3 )

Imagine a Sunday morning in June in 2020. There's a group in Cornerstone preparing lunch for those who feel isolated in the community. One member of the group is out in a church minibus picking people up. The other church minibus is being used by the Men Only for their weekend away in North Wales. Another group has just left Cornerstone – they had shared breakfast there after walking back from seeing the sun rise in Ardington on the longest day. The night before Cornerstone hosted a double bill of Saturday Night at the Movies – a family film and something for the over 15s – there was a meal in between and both films had an interval with a discussion about the film. Meanwhile in Costa, 8 people are gathered around a table playing puzzling questions. And in McDonalds on the Airfield, four spotty teens are meeting. They are Face-to-Faith and during the week they've been blogging and sharing and posting their spiritual thoughts about the news with their facebook friends and now they are praying with them and for them. Over in Mayfield Avenue a family is helping an elderly lady with her gardening, while next door there's a prayer meeting going on for the residents 8 houses up and 8 houses down.

Over in Challow, there are 8 adults and 26 kids taking part in a monthly Messy Church – craft, a short service and lunch together. In Wantage half a dozen people have just come out of the Framland service. Some are spending time with the residents – others are helping with some decorating. Others from that group have been leading a service at the care home in Mably Way.

On a Sunday morning the JAC van would normally be parked in the British Legion car park in East Hanney for the teens to hang out, play games on the PS8, listen to music, drink coffee and coke and chill. But it's laid up in the church car park so the Mechanics can give it a service. The Mechanics offer free servicing and repairs to church members and the vehicles of community groups. Elsewhere in the grounds the Funday Club are playing parachute games. Inside the building in one of the smaller roomer there's a parenting course running for their parents. There's a Freedom on Christ course running in another room. The Creative Arts group has just left the main hall having spent the morning finishing and hanging a new set of banners on the Fruit of the Spirit. Shortly the Worship Group and part of Wantage Silver Band will start praying and preparing for next week – when these and another half dozen groups come together for their monthly celebration when they'll share stories of how they have seen God's glory, graciousness, greatness and goodness and praise him together in song. Some of these groups meet on Sundays, some don't but they'll meet together several times as a whole or in smaller groups in a week. None of these groups is led by paid professionals, and all have one purpose – making disciples. There is one other group. It's the leadership group that's inspiring, resourcing, nurturing, coaching challenging and counseling the leaders of all groups who meet together regularly.

I wanted to do three things this evening to encourage you:

1. Show that mission is central to God's story and our story.
2. Encourage you with some examples of community mission.
3. Inspire you to listen for God's call and find a tent to build.

I want to do one more thing because I don't want you to be challenged - I want you to be moved. If you care about engaging with our community – let's talk about it. Maybe you've got a vision for reaching a particular part of the community – let's flesh it out so you can share it with others. Maybe you know what part of our community God has put on your heart but haven't a clue how to reach them – let's see if we can find some paths to try. Maybe you don't even know what part of the community you want to reach but you want to make a difference – let's look at the sorts of things people are doing elsewhere and see what resonates. Or maybe you want to tell me we just need to keep on inviting them in.

As Chairman Mao said, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I want to help you take a step of faith. I'm offering you an open invitation to come to dinner any or every Saturday evening in Lent. We'll eat, we'll break bread, we'll talk and we'll pray; maybe about many things but particularly about making a positive spiritual impact on the lives of people in our community.

There's a reading list at the end of the presentation that accompanies this talk. In particular I've drawn on material from Alan Hirsch's The Forgotten Ways - a book about missional communities; and Breakout by Mark Stibbe and Andrew Wood which tells the story of St Andrew's in Chorleywood.