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You may have heard it said that the United Reformed Church will close down by 2017. Looking at the age profile of our churches it is suggested that it will be difficult to find people to take on the posts that for years volunteers have done; local churches, if not closed, will also be struggling. The denomination, if it isn’t already, will be so small as to be insignificant as a denomination. If that is the case wouldn’t it be better to put us all out of our misery and close down the United Reformed Church now?
The fact that I am standing here in front of you means that my answer to that question is no. I maybe misguided, but I believe in the United Reformed Church. In my youth I was asked by an Anglican Vicar why I was a member of the URC. I said that I believed the United Reformed Church was the nearest denomination to the Kingdom of God on earth. I can’t remember his reply! I might not say it quite like that today, but I still see within our structures and theology something uniquely Christian when it comes to Church governance and vision. Our conciliar nature is not popular in a world dominated by personality and hierarchy. Our powerlessness as individuals is not attractive to a power-hungry world. Our incarnational theology is one that more churches seem to be taking up, in particular the emerging church. There are pearls in the United Reformed Church, something of the Kingdom that we can contribute to the wider church.
Now I guess most of us have gone home from meetings at one time or another, thinking “Why do I bother?” Conciliar church can be frustrating and the larger the council the worse it gets. If you haven’t felt that way consider yourself fortunate – or maybe you used those meetings to catch up some much-needed sleep! However, at its best it is fulfilling to seek God’s will together, to be inspired and challenged by each other, and to have a corporate sense of leadership and purpose.
Today, are we just doing the same old stuff? Is this Synod Area a new wine skin into which we are pouring old wine; are we saying we serve a God who makes all things new but not allowing God to act; are we sowing a new piece of cloth onto an old coat? I hope not, I hope that this structure of the United Reformed Church can do something different, if not totally new. Maybe we are like the owner of a house who takes new and old things out of his storeroom. There is still a need for old work to be done, pastoral care for the churches, deployment considerations, ministers’ inductions, lay training, buildings to manage and so on, things that we have been doing for years in one way or another as Synods. They are routine, but within our denomination we need a structure to manage these things.
With Synod Areas we have the opportunity to do something new to support each other, encourage each other, challenge each other in the most helpful way we can. We have the opportunity to seek the mind of Christ together. Synod Areas are synod which means that we can make decisions without having to refer to another council. We are all busy people, but I believe that this is worth putting some effort into, because I believe that God can use it and will use it for his purpose if we submit to him.
The United Reformed Church has declined, no question about that, but the apostle Paul tells us, when we are weak, God is strong. We are not a strong growing denomination that has great influence. In the world’s eyes we are probably nothing, seen as collapsing, but you know, in God’s eyes, we are the body of his son Jesus Christ, we are precious and valuable, and God uses what he has and his promise to us is “those who trust in the Lord for help will find their strength renewed. They will rise on wings like eagles; they will run and not get weary; they will walk and not grow weak.” That is a promise we need to take hold of today.
Who can say if as a denomination we have seven years or seventy years ahead? But, you know, the early Christians believed they were living in the last days, and that shaped their work. What difference would it make to our church life, to the life of this Synod, if we believed we were living in the last days, or were told that the URC would finish in seven years’ time? Such a thought could be incredibly freeing, enabling us to invest our money and our energy into the Kingdom of God. I believe that we can encourage each other to do that, I believe we can take hold of mission in exciting and new ways. And if we do that and have only seven years to live as a denomination or churches they will be great years; we will go out with a bang and not a whimper, and if God has more work for us to do after that so be it, he will show us how to do it and provide the resources to see it continue. The challenge before us today, is to seek God’s will and purpose for the Surrey and Sussex Synod area, for today, for the present, to share with each other in ways that brings encouragement and support to be the church God wants us to be NOW, today, at this point in time – and let God take care of tomorrow.
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