Church Scattered Takes Initiative
As with everyone else, we continue to find ourselves restricted in what we can do – especially when it comes to central gatherings or events. Yet that certainly does not mean that the church has seized up, or our activity has stalled! At Countess Free Church we are learning to embrace what it means to be scattered, and to see opportunity in many diverse small ways.
It may be with just one nearby family, or a couple of colleagues at work, or one or two acquaintances … but in the small it is possible to do things together even in the midst of and abiding by the current pandemic restrictions. Albeit small, it may be just the place where we can point an individual to Jesus, opening the way for exploring faith together.
So we have members gathering a few online for a book club, or inviting neighbours out onto their street for a tiny (and distanced!) gathering with a theme appropriate for the times. We have others finding a way in which they can share a short video that stimulates thinking on a Christian topic, and then providing a way to explore it further together.
We are encouraging these, and calling them Micro-Initiatives. They are things we can do, perhaps with just a couple of others, in our different locations across the city. With our ears and eyes open, and prompted by the Spirit, it could be following a simple hunch and seeing how it develops.
This is the church scattered in action – it is us being a church in mission across the city. The Countess Free Church in Ely is the various members covenanted together – each following Jesus in covenant with each other to follow Jesus and be church together. That means that whenever one or a few members take initiative, we as Countess Free Church are automatically active!
None of this is new. The earliest followers of Jesus, whose exploits are recorded in the book of Acts in the Bible, found themselves scattered and taking initiative in many different ways. At Countess Free Church we are simply working out what it means to do the same.