Christian Community in Conversation Recovering the art of spiritual conversation

Background Courage to experiment Changed missional language MSI/MSM Introduced us to context for mission in 21st century, Post-Christendom etc. Courage to experiment Changed missional language Enabled evangelism to happen…….but Background

When it comes to evangelism….we seem to be struggling

A story

We are afraid of evangelism and when we do have a go, we struggle The reality is

WHY? Top reasons for avoiding evangelism The model we have isn’t working WHY? Fear of getting the answer wrong Passive recipients of a product Somebody else’s job Private faith Fear of rejection Guilt….been told to do it Language barrier

A particular model of evangelism Makes assumptions Those with faith share with those who don’t have any Implications: 1. Faith= a clearly defined commodity which a person either does or doesn’t possess and we, the informed, have all the answers 2. Faith-sharing happens only in one direction….we are missing out on hearing A particular model of evangelism

In my experience Difficult to make distinctions between those who do and don’t have faith….church congregations Everybody possesses a rich and unique collection of experiences about human living through which, at times, they had begun to notice the silent, loving voice of God

Personal Relationship ‘To start talking to people about God can court sterility from the outset. To do justice to the theme, you need a previous exchange on the human level, marked by honesty and depth about how people really live, and what they have experienced in the past’ (Marcel Legaut)

Faith is not something which can be imposed Faith can’t be imposed on somebody else Gift from God Let go and let God……! Best evangelism when I’m not trying to conform It can’t be imposed, but it can be encouraged or repressed by the environment in which it emerges Non-consensual evangelism…..not likely to show interest, will go too far

Time to consider a different approach

Why we need to try something different Speaking about personal faith is difficult within our communities. Our own formation is hampered by this - as is our readiness, desire and ability to share life and faith with others. The development of the local Church will require increased lay participation. Their success will depend on the quality of relationships – and the establishment of a graceful way of communicating. Why we need to try something different

God is alive and active in the lives of ordinary people, they have treasures to share, but nowhere to share them, they need to be shared for the enrichment of all People are keen to talk about spiritual things Our own members need to have space to share spiritual conversation Need to un-learn being the teacher and instead be a facilitator, providing not answers, but places where spiritual conversation can take place

Therefore, my call today is as the Conference, as the Connexion, as a local church and circuit as districts, is 'let's change the culture.' Knowing that the word culture means how we do things around here. Let's take some risky decisions, just as those first disciples did thousands of years ago and change as they did. Let us commit to talk of God, to make new disciples. Let us achieve this by being hospitable, generous and loving our people, and encouraging our people to talk of God Loraine Mellor Conference speech 2017

Research project into evangelism and Methodism which has the profound conclusions that we don’t really know what we are doing, but when we actually deliberately do stuff it can work, but there is no particular way of faith sharing that is more effective than any other within Methodism.  Stephen Skuce, Director of Scholarship, Research and Innovation, Cliff College

So, what are we going to do? We need to recover spiritual conversation among Christians not only for ourselves but as a service to wider community Spiritual conversation has much to offer as a way of sharing the Good News, other more proclamatory ways have their place, but society has rejected institutional religion….humbler faith- sharing experience and openness to views of others So, what are we going to do?

To become a District which is known for the quality of its conversation To become churches which are known as places of Christian community in conversation The plan

Working with Mark Davis of Shoreline Conversations and Rev.Jon Doble To change the culture of evangelism, so that nobody is afraid anymore To increase confidence in faith and conversation about faith To address some of the issues of language in evangelism

To create Christian Communities in Conversation… To create Christian Communities in Conversation….so that the community around knows that this is a safe church to explore faith without agenda Equip an initial group of facilitators whose primary task would be to help other people converse about faith and life To help churches create environments where people can freely converse about faith and life To roll this out over a five year period, so that everybody will have the opportunity of being involved in a facilitated evangelism group, to experience it and feel confident to speak of their faith both within and without group setting