Foreword
The missionary climbed into the pulpit – an unbearably romantic figure, weaving with his words a magic carpet of strange places, exciting and remote people, the story of Jesus reaching unreached children half way round the world. And I was hooked. With the other children, I collected my ship-ha’pennies in the kraal shaped collecting box on my Grandma’s mantel piece.
This was the relationship between mission and worship in my 1950s childhood – even then, about half a century out of date! Declining churches in Britain ignored the mission field on their front doorstep, preferring to maintain the romantic myth, which I and decreasing numbers of children grew up with.
Since then, there have been great advances in mission theology. The council for World Mission led the way in exploring mission as the province of local churches in global partnership. The gospel didn’t belong to the European churches. Indeed, the balance of numbers of Christians and growth in churches has shifted dramatically and unquestionably away from Europe, where the decline has proved to be largely irreversible and often fatal.
Alongside theological exploration, CWM seeks to encourage interaction between mission activities and the lives of local congregations. In particular, a working group was set up in the European Region to explore Worship and Mission. A group from England, Wales, Scotland and the Netherlands was given a three year brief to carry out the work.
Of a whole variety of possibilities, including publications and conferences, we felt that the most achievable and effective thing we could do, would be to produce a set of worksheets for use in local churches and/or larger gatherings, on specific practical worship topics. These would reach into the worshipping lives of congregations in the European Region and could draw on the experience and skills of a wide group of writers.
In the middle of the process, we were invited to form the ‘theme committee’ for the 2000 Window on the World conference in Swanwick. This was a new way of working for the European Regional Conference, which, in the past, had one organising committee working with a theme leader, an individual who worked on the theme and ran a series of sessions during the conference. We were invited to work with the organising committee, and develop the theme of Worship and Mission though suggestions for speakers and by running practical workshops.
For the Mission and Worship committee, this had the advantage of giving us the opportunity to try out some of our worksheets in a conference setting. I am delighted to recommend the use of these six worksheets in churches and local meetings. I hope that that they will encourage exploration wherever they used, and that they will help churches to see the link between mission and their worshipping life.
The gospel of Jesus has tremendous power to move, challenge and save. The towns and villages, in which our churches are set, need to know that Jesus is alive. People in churches need to know these things too, and maybe to follow the Spirit of God, already at work outside the church doors.
Revd Dr Janet Wootton
Contents of Exploring Worship and Mission:
Telling the Good News: Drama and Worship
Resources for Worship and Mission Packs
(c) European Region of Council for World Mission.
Material may be copied for use in church groups but must be acknowledged.
