Relationally-Relevant St. Michael's

This morning, I'm trying to sort through lots of notes, bills, papers which seem to multiply like weeds. Came across a note I made on the back of a donation envelope from St. Michael Le Belfrey (Anglican Church of England) earlier this year. St. Michael's is situated in the centre of the ancient city of York, in the shadow of York Minister. It's an evangelical stronghold, thanks to the writings of the previous vicar, the late David Watson.

David's books on church life are respected worldwide, and for good reason. Did David's theology work in practice, however? For an answer, let's take a crash course on life today at St. Michael's, starting with the simple words on their offering envelope: "Bring in - Build up - Send out." Not very profound, perhaps. But when I checked out to see how they achieve this, I was pleasantly surprised. St. Michael's now has a prominent "cell" structure in place, meaning that much of the significant activity of the believers takes place in relationally-relevant small groups (my terminology) that meet at sundry times and places, including homes and workplace.

In explaining the concept of "cell life", up in St. Michael's nave is a massive display board - seemingly larger than the high altar itself. On it, written in letters plain, is the following acrostic, that I scribbled on the back of the said offering envelope:

Christ at the centre
Every member ministering
Learning and growing as a Christian
Loving one another - making good relationship
Seeking to multiply

Knowing a bit about St. Michael's, my guess is that this represents the uncompromised practice of the church, too. I'll have a lot more to say about relationally-relevant church in future days, partly because I think most of what we call "church" simply isn't. But that must wait for future posts.

One closing comment however, especially for my American friends. Those who think the Church of England is dead perhaps are right. But should that stop us, or give us reason to point the finger? I think not. After all, as Christians, our fundamental belief is in the resurrection, and surely that includes church congregations too. In my estimation, some of the most spiritually alive and vibrant expressions of local church life in the UK today are found in the Anglican and even (Roman) Catholic communions. I'm sure to draw flak for this, but I'm more than willing to take it.

Frankly, my considered observation from over 30 years of international ministry is that some of our most deadly tradition-bound churches are to be found among those who wouldn't be seen dead in any litergically-based church, especially if it bore the name of Catholic. Sadly, these tradition bound folks often include some who claim a "full" gospel of healing and deliverance. Call me a heritic, but sorry folks, we must break out of our old wineskins and allow the Holy Spirit to fill us with the new wine of a total gospel. I don't know about you, but I'm still on the journey, and I'm pleased to announce that it appears that I've got members from St. Michael's Le Belfrey along as fellow-travelers. That both humbles and blesses me!