Article in Stretton Focus, May 2016
A church is a fellowship but how often do we stop to consider what this means? As we approach the 150th birthday of the opening of our church, it struck me that we should take some time to reflect.
Scattered around our buildings are small plaques remembering those who gave loyal and often long service to the church. There are two windows with dedications, one quite recent and one going back into the 1950s. There is a sundial in our garden remembering a lady whose family worshipped in our church before the First World War. In recent years we have commemorated loved ones and friends when we dedicated new hymn books.
The fellowship has also been seen through the restructuring of the church entrance and interior ten years ago, a major project which bravely said we must think together in new ways about what we have inherited. There are other ways in which our fellowship shines.
Our regular groups allow time to be shared together, events planned, and support offered where needed. We share time as a congregation with chats over coffee and occasional Sunday lunches. As individuals we also reach out into our community.
Perhaps most importantly our fellowship is seen in our continuity of worship and the renewal of our shared statements of faith. We have had to examine ourselves as we enter a period without our own minister, Revd Donald Horsfield having retired. We have updated our ‘pastoral profile’ to reflect who we are now and what we do today. We had to look at our fellowship afresh.
It is a timely reminder with the anniversary looming that we are not only about the past and present but the future. Our mission statement, ‘we are open, inclusive and questioning’ is strong and simple: turning that into action when our fellowship is generally ageing needs particular care. It may be challenging but the strength of fellowship is that we work at it together. So here we are, almost 150 years on. We are continually refreshing ourselves. The doors are open; we welcome everyone to share our worship. We are inclusive. We recognise the bigness of our faith, we are questioning and easy answers are not for us.
In the next weeks we will celebrate our building’s 150th birthday, with respect for the fellowship past, love for the fellowship present and with hope for the fellowship’s future.
Roger Wilson
