Roadmap to Renewal, which was published by the General Board of Global Ministries in April of this year has nearly sold out its first printing and will go to a second printing. It will be featured in the “Forecast” curriculum catalogue published by Cokesbury in December. Thanks to those who are using the resource!
According to Jim Griffith, himself not a Methodist, The United Methodist Church is the only denomination that has an intentional, systematic plan to plant new churches among the mainline churches in the United States. It is heartening to see how this is being lived out in several Annual Conferences. Last night I met Mark Appleyard, an Australian. The Western North Carolina Annual Conference has recruited Mark to plant the third campus of one of their healthy, growing congregations. When churches and conferences begin to search far and wide to achieve the goal of planting new churches, we are on the right track. The movement for planting churches is gaining steam. It needs to. Jim Griffith also said that the decade between 2010-2020 will show a steep decline in attendance and giving in existing churches.
Six of us from the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference traveled southward to Richmond, Virginia, on Sunday, November 8th to participate in the New Church Planter Leadership Institute. This is a training event that attempts to answer the question, “Is new church planting for me?”
The training started this morning with worship led by the Rev. Matt Poole of the Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference. Matt preached on the 5 excuses of Moses (Exodus 3).
1. Why me? What makes you think I could ever go to Pharoah and the lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?
A. God answers: “I’ll be with you.”
2. What do I tell them? (I.e. I don’t know what to tell them).
A. Tell, “I am who I am.”
3. They won’t trust me. They won’t listen to me (4:1)
A. God asks him what he has in his hand (a shepherd’s staff), i.e. use the gifts you already have.
4. I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words. I stutter and stammer.
A. I’ll be there with you–in your mouth. I’ll be there to teach you what to say.
5. Please, send somebody else!
A. You’ve got brother Aaron who can help you.
What is our excuse?
The worship at Taizé on Friday and Saturday evenings is special. At the conclusion of the service on Friday the brothers surround the cross, kneeling. When they recess from the service, pilgrims come up to the cross and likewise, surround it. Some put their foreheads on the cross as they offer prayer. It was quite moving to see youth line up and to be so eager to touch the cross.
On Saturday evening each pilgrim is given a candle and as the service draws to a conclusion the candles are lit one from another throughout the church. The candles symbolize an Easter celebration as the sabbath draws closer.
One of the reasons, perhaps the principal one, which makes it so difficult to transplant Taizé to other contexts is that you cannot take the brothers with you. The sincerity and sacrifice of the brothers makes the entire experience of Taizé authentic.
I am so grateful for the privilege of being able to make this pilgrimage to Taizé. On Sunday, after morning Eucharist, we boarded our bus to make our way back to the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, Switzerland. The week went by so quickly. I am grateful for the worship, for the new friends I made from Germany and Portugal, for the friends from New Jersey that I got to know better and to the brothers of Taizé whose hospitality and love overflows onto those of us who make the pilgrimage.