Happy New Year!
As we begin a new year I want to share with you over the next few weeks videos I made during a discussion with Andy Cottingham. Andy has been in church leadership both in the UK and South Africa for many years. Churches in which he has been based have always had significant ministries to reach out to those who are poor or in need. In these discussions I asked him to share wisdom from his experience which may help other church leaders, though his responses will be of interest to anyone involved in ministering with the poor since they address underlying values.
In this first interview (there will be three more) he addresses some matters to help make the practices of the church more accessible to ‘outsiders’.
Change
If we believe that the gospel is for all people we must recognise the importance of making our church services and practice accessible to all, not just those who are on the ‘inside’ who know the culture and jargon. What does this imply?
Change may be needed if we are to welcome those who are unchurched, particularly those who are poor and may have little education. Worship needs explanation. Preaching needs to use terminology that is meaningful for the hearers. Perhaps the sermon needs to be shorter or broken into shorter units – sitting listening to someone speak for 45 minutes may be totally foreign to today’s culture of ‘instant’. Listen to what Andy has to say on this subject.
In his interview Andy refers to a talk by Simon Pettit given at the Newfrontiers Leadership Conference at the Brighton Conference Centre in 1998. This may be viewed here.