C of E webinar hears of barriers to missionary discipleship

by Madeleine Davies, Church Times:

Theological training doesn’t prepare you, says participant.

BUILDINGS, fear, “dabbling” in different spiritualities, and the scandal of inappropriate training are among the barriers to creating a Church of missionary disciples, participants in a Church House webinar heard this week.

One of the three “strategic priorities” for the Church of England in the 2020s — first set out for the General Synod last November (News, 4 December 2020) — a Church of missionary disciples is one that reflects the fact that “we are sent out by Jesus to be his witnesses and ambassadors in the world”, an accompanying theological reflection says.

In the webinar, filmed on Tuesday, a panel of three discussed their experiences of seeking to help build such a Church. The Revd Hannah Patton, Priest-in-Charge of Goole, in Sheffield diocese, described arriving two years ago and working with a group of “very committed Sunday attenders” on “reimagining what it means to be a Christian . . . not only in our own lives, but for the life of the town”.

There were “spiritual barriers” to personal discipleship which needed to be laid aside, she said: “We have a lot of people who are quite happy to dabble in various different types of spirituality, and, actually, for us, it is naming those and saying, ‘If we are really going to say Jesus is Lord, all those other things can’t be Lord.’ Sometimes, I think we are not bold enough to name what needs to be named in order for Jesus to be made Lord in our churches and in our worshipping communities and therefore in our towns.”

A “huge amount of work” was needed to support clergy in the work being discussed, she said: “Any amount of training at theological college doesn’t prepare you for the amount of hard work that it is to raise up disciples. . .

“It’s so easy to dream as a vicar that one day those doors will open and a group of people will come in who are mature leaders, who will just come in and suddenly be able to lead your new family service. . . And it just doesn’t work like that. You’ve got what you’ve got; so you have to invest in who you’ve got, love them, and raise them up — and a lot of us just don’t know how to do it.”