 |
|||
|
|
Think of your congregation and community as networks of relationships. Where do the people gather? What goes on in your church building during the week? In most congregations people gather for various reasons all during the week. Choirs rehearse. The altar guild prepares for worship. Committees meet. Church school teachers prepare. The pastor's office hosts those who need comfort, guidance, counseling. Those in need knock on the door. Bible classes, youth groups, and other programs of the congregation gather at the church. The community gathers in AA groups, community organizations. Babies (or adults) are baptized, the dead are buried, couples are married, people are prepared for first communion, confirmation, church membership. And in the center is the presence of Jesus in Word and Sacraments at the public liturgies of the church. Make your own list. You will be surprised at the number of ways people gather in the life of a congregation. Now ask yourself a question. "Who's missing?" One answer would be that many of the congregation's members do not participate in these gatherings, including the weekly gathering around Word and Sacraments. One could also answer that the majority of our neighbors, those who have no relationship with any faith community, are also missing. A concern for the missing, can move us to a systematic and disciplined program of one to one mentoring as a way to live out the Great Commission. This program is an opportunity to renew spiritual lives, and the communal life of the church one by one--relationship by relationship. Religion literally means "to connect again." ("re"=again; "ligione"=ligament, connect). This pairing is Biblical. Witness God's plan of salvation unfold encounter by encounter, one on one: Moses and Joshua; Jesus and Nicodemus, the woman at the Samaritan well, at table with Zaccaeus, at the seashore with Peter; Philip and the Ethiopian huddled over Scripture together, the glistening water of baptism nearby; Saul and Annanias; Paul with Timothy and Titus plumbing the depths of ministry. Think about your own experience. You can recall those who have influenced you in the development of your own faith. A grandparent, a pastor, a friend, a spouse. Think of your day to day experience as a Christian. People at the job and neighborhood who know you are a Christian and active in a congregation may not make much of it (or may even be put off by it). But to whom do they turn when their lives are being torn apart? My sons in college relate many late night conversations with classmates living in an age bereft of spiritual guides, yet so hungry for such guidance and comfort. These conversations, these one on one exchanges, already exist. We keep talking about "getting the church in the world." It's there already, wherever you and your fellow members live your lives. An intentional mentoring program can help unfreeze the assets. "They said to each other, 'Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to
us on the road, while opened to us the scriptures?"'
|
||