Pastoral Letter from
The new Chairman of the District
Greetings in the
name of Jesus Christ and of the Methodist Church of the Bolton and Rochdale
District!
The
Autumn Synod met in the Rossendale Circuit on September 8th, following a week
when there had been much debate about the future of Christianity in Britain.
This had been initiated by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor’s statement to the
National Conference of Priests in Leeds—‘It does seem in our Countries in
Britain today, especially in England and Wales, that Christianity, as a sort
of back-drop to people’s lives and moral decisions—and to the Government, the
social life of the country—has now almost been vanquished.’ The Archbishop of
Canterbury responded and referred to the ‘exhilarating opportunity’ of these
days.
As
I write these words, we live in the aftermath of the most horrific terrorist
attacks upon New York and Washington—and indeed upon the values of the Free
World. In the light of such tragic statements and tragic events, I am
conscious of the importance for us to face the challenge of being the Church
in the twenty-first century. There are no easy or simple answers, but one
response must be to dream dreams in our circuits and churches. In a closing
challenge to Synod, I gave what I hope were directions and pointers for the
future. I have asked to share them with the wider district.
·
Let
us be a Church that practices the skill of double listening, both to God and
to our communities.
·
We
need to share models of good practice and note where things work well.
·
Give
spirituality and worship a priority in all we do.
·
Develop
leadership skills and share pastoral care.
·
Explore
effective programmes for worship, discipleship, service and reconciliation.
·
Be a
Connexion—this provides a framework of support.
·
Make
bold decisions where possible . . . and see God at work. Find ways of best
ordering our work to meet the opportunities of the present day.
·
challenge
injustice . . . be involved in the struggle for what is right.
·
Have
a wholesome attitude to mission and community. Develop ministry and witness
that enables us to offer hope to people.
·
Increasingly
to operate as a team . . . to serve our generation and enjoy doing so.
·
Become
people who delight in ‘Serendipity,’ that is, learning through surprise. As
we do God’s will, so we discover the many things that God has to teach us.
‘Our Calling’ is an ideal model of
practice:—
1. Worship—increase
our awareness of God’s presence and celebrate God’s love. Worship can be
enhanced by the Arts and we should explore the many ways in which we can make
our worship more accessible and meaningful.
2. Learning and Caring—What
do we expect from our ministers? What kind of ministries do we have? What
about the folks we have lost? When David Watson went to York in the late
1960s, there were 55 activities in one church, and he asked that all events
cease for a year! I am not suggesting that we do that, but we do need to
question the effectiveness of our teaching programme. How pastorally
sensitive are our structures for care at all levels of the church?
3. Service—This
is the community focus or the ‘flipside’ of the inner life. This means asking
questions about property, finance and personnel in terms of the community.
How does the community impact upon the life of the church?
4. Evangelism—There
was a time when the use of this word had a restricted theological base. I
would encourage you to have a vision for evangelism. It is to do with our
attitude to others, the message we declare, cross-cultural issues, ecumenical
challenge and church planting. Let us redeem the word ‘evangelism’ and find
effective ways of reaching others.
I would commend to you an
approach—that every congregation, some time in the next year, tries at least
one fresh idea. Next Autumn, when we meet at Synod, there will be an open
time for sharing something new that God is doing through your circuit and
church. The only proviso would be that these initiatives are for the glory of
God and for the benefit of those outside the Church, as well as ourselves.
Keith V Garner September 2001
The formula on how to double our circuit in a
year!
Dear friends,
grace, peace and mercy from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to you all.
Welcome to the New Methodist year 2001/2.
How times flies! I
can hardly believe that I have completed a year in this circuit. We look back
with a bit of satisfaction of what has happened in a year. At the circuit
meeting we looked at WHERE WE ARE AT IN OUR CIRCUIT and we observed some
positive achievements in the last 12 months that we need to be grateful to
God. Just to name a few:
1. Circuit office—fully equipped
with modern technology.
2. Circuit web site—www.domini.org/littleborough, to help us take our place in the
electronic world and eventually use it for outreach. The compiler tells me
that we are getting about 5 ‘hits’ per day and that 12 pages are being read
daily.
3. Circuit Magazine to enable
easy communication.
4. A Leadership Team has been
set up.
5. Circuit Bible Study to
enable those who want to deepen their knowledge of the Word of God.
6. Circuit Seminar on Sharing
our faith run by Evangelism Explosion.
7. Purchase of new site—(formerly
J A Mills) for future church development, to cater for the wonderful
potential in the area of Smithy Bridge and Hollingworth Lake.
8. New P.A System at
Greenhill.
9. New overhead projector (OHP)
at Greenhill.
10. New Circuit Digital photocopier—a
state of the art machine to enable communication and enhance church services.
11. Circuit Resource: a CD for the New
Worship Book, printed excerpts of services from it, 100 Songs of Fellowship
etc.
12. New Document Safe at Smallbridge.
13. New OHP at Smallbridge.
14. Circuit Children Outreach through the
Australian Evangelist—After-School Club and
15. Newly reconstituted Youth Work at Dearnley,
receiving wide support across the Circuit, not to forget two new Bible Study
groups at Dearnley.
In my first sermon of the New
Connexional Year, at Dearnley, we explored the principle of sowing and
reaping, based on Galatians 6:7. We discovered a formula that can help us
double our church within a year. The formula is simply this ‘think one,
be-friend one, bring one double the Church’! What this means is that if
every member of our church focused their prayers, and befriended one person,
who is outside the church and brought one to Christ, the church will be
doubled in a year. When I made the ‘Alter Call,’ which I rarely do, nearly
all of us (me included) who were present stood up re-dedicated and committed
ourselves to the Lord to use this formula to counter decline. I
enthusiastically, commend this formula to the whole Circuit, ‘think one,
pray for one, befriend one, bring one, and double our circuit.’ What in
effect I am asking is that we sow our lives as seeds to produce others for
Christ.
As
the Bible says, we will always reap what we sow. This formula is not
only for numerical growth it is also for personal growth. The prophet Hosea
beautifully sums it up as follows: ‘sow for yourselves righteousness, reap
the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unploughed ground; for it is
time to seek the Lord until He comes and showers righteousness on you’ (Hos
10:12).
Sincerely
Daniel
Christianity is Vanquished
It was a bright
sunny day in Cartmel as Norma and I left the caravan to go to the village
shop. The sun hat I had decided to wear was a little on the large side and
perhaps a touch eccentric, but it did the job.
Whilst
in the shop I made some flippant remark about something or other, but then
added that I wasn’t being entirely serious. The shop-keeper looked at me and
said ‘surely you don’t think anyone’s going to take you seriously wearing a
hat like that.’ Everyone in the shop had a good laugh and we went on our way.
I
thought no more about it until recently when I saw a report on TV about an
archbishop who claimed that ‘Christianity is vanquished.’ We were then shown
a picture of a man in a voluminous gold and white robe and wearing an
enormous pointed hat that made mine seem totally sensible. Others around him
were dressed in a similar manner, and he seemed to be saying that people were
not taking them seriously, and that Christian values were being ignored.
Certainly
there was no way that I could have taken him seriously, and I was also at a
loss to remember the last time I had heard the word ‘vanquished’ come up in
normal conversation. For me the picture I received was a complete turn-off;
it was for a different kind of person, and maybe that was all it was.
I’m
not suggesting that we become paranoid about our image, and there’s no harm
in being a little eccentric from time to time. Nevertheless, if we have
something to sell, then we do need to be aware of how others see us, and whom
we think we may attract. It seems to me that compromise is the key. There’s
no harm in being true to ourselves if we allow others the same freedom, for
whatever hats we wear they will seem strange to some people. The greater our
variety, then the more people we will reach. If ever the world needed a
picture of different people getting on together it is now.
Whatever
else Jesus may have done, he did not conform, and if we are to effectively
spread the Gospel, then neither should we. We actually need to fight against
saying that something is ridiculous just because it doesn’t suit us, and be
people who encourage rather than discourage. I think it was the uniformity of
‘funny hats’ that really put me off.
I
was pleased to hear recently of the refusal to conform to someone’s idea of
dress code at the Methodist Conference. Maybe there is hope for us yet. Rod
Stokes
Sign outside a Church in
Leeds:
It's hard to stumble
when you're down on your knees
Did You Know?
The Temple in
Jerusalem was the place where the Jews met with God, so they had a problem
After the destruction of the Temple by the Babylonians in 590 bc. The rabbis eventually
taught that God was present whenever ‘two or three devout Jews prayed
together.’ Conversely, Jesus taught that he was present whenever two or three
gathered in his name (Matthew 18:20). By citing but mis-quoting the rabbis in
the is way, Jesus was clearly saying that he was God.
Whenever St Paul
spoke out against slander and gossip, the Greek word used was ‘diabalos’ .
Examples include 2 Corinthians 12:20 or Titus 3:2. Diablo was a common Greek
name for the devil, and diabalos was a name given to one of his most common
temptations.
Where charity and love
are, there is God.
The love of Christ has
joined us into one.
Let us rejoice and be glad
in him.
Let us fear and let us love
the living God.
And in sincerity of heart, let
us love one another.
Adapted from The
Sisters of the Love of God, Oxford
Notes Quotes Anecdotes
The world says:— You’ve made
your bed: You must lie on it.
Jesus said:— Take
up your bed and walk: Your
sins are forgiven you
I used to think that if He would come and help me,
Then I asked God if I might come and help Him;
Then I ended by asking God to do His own work through me.
(Hudson
Taylor)
Cameo Character
Corner
B E Z A L E L . . .
God called him by
name
God filled him with
His Spirit
God filled him with Wisdom
of Heart.
God gave him
practical talents (Exodus
35:30)
Bezalel then:—
Used these talents in God’s
sanctuary
Taught others these God-given
skills Florence
Circuit
Children’s Missions
David Young is an
Australian Evangelist, and spends about three months of each year in Britain
leading missions to children. He was invited to lead two mission in our
circuit, with three days spent in Wardle and then three days in Greenhill.
Each
day had the same format, starting with games, songs and stories. The stories were based on Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s
Progress. There
was also opportunities for a prayer or two. The culmination of each afternoon
was handicraft, making airplanes, various ships and a doll in a swing. The games
ranged from hide and seek to a treasure hunt. All of the kids seemed to have
a truly great time.
In
total, about 120 children came to the Wardle mission and about 60 to that at
Greenhill. Furthermore, quite a few children who had come to the Wardle mission
subsequently attended Wardle’s Sunday School.
Greenhill
will soon start a craft club based on the mission’s format, on a Sunday
Afternoons, starting mid October and lead by Colin Wass and Sylvia Wild.
There
were helpers from virtually all the Churches in the Circuit, so a big ‘Thank
You’ to each!
Sign outside a Church in London:
God answers knee-mail
Answering: The Freemasons
Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia
of Freemasonry by Albert G. Mackey is recognised as authoritative by many
Masonic Lodges. It describes Masonry as a non-sectarian ‘religious
institution’, which ‘admits men of every creed within its hospitable bosom,
rejecting none and approving none for his peculiar faith . . . it is not
Christianity, but there is nothing in it repugnant to the faith of a
Christian. Its religion is that general one of nature and primitive
revelation handed down to us from some ancient and patriarchal priesthood—in
which all men may agree and in which no men can differ.’ (p. 847–48).
So is Freemasonry
compatible with the Christian faith?
Firstly,
the above definition of Freemasonry (from a book Freemasons regard as
authoritative, remember) conflicts with the Bible, which says: ‘There is no
other name under heaven by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12) The Masonic Lodge
says it is acceptable to worship God outside Christianity. Jesus disagrees, and
said, ‘I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me' (John 14:6).
The
Masonic Lodge teaches that all men, including Christians, live in spiritual
darkness until they enter (become members) of the Lodge. When people enter
the First Degree of Masonry, the Senior Steward says of the new candidate:
Mr
X, who has long been in darkness, and now seeks to be brought to light, and
to receive a part in the rights and benefits of this Worshipful Lodge . . .
Is
it really true that Christians are still in darkness and the only way they
can enter the light is to join the Masonic Lodge? The Bible says that when we
become Christians, we come into the light: Jesus says, ‘I have come into the
world as light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness’
(John 12:46 NIV), and ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk
in darkness, but will have the light of life’ (John 8:12). The Bible teaches
that believing in Jesus removes spiritual darkness, not some Masonic Ritual.
Masons
teach and believe in a universal Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. Is
this biblical? The Lodge teaches that God accepts all men as ‘one family,’
regardless of race, religion or creed. (Roberts, The Craft and its Symbols,
p. 21). This is not biblical: the Bible does not teach that all man can be
saved when they follow different religions. Scripture clearly teaches that sinful
men can only become children of God when they place their faith in Jesus
Christ as their Saviour (See John 1:12, ‘But as many as received Him,
to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who
believe in His name.’ Those who undergo any sort of Masonic ritual but do not
have faith in Christ are not accepted by God, because the Bible says, ‘Anyone
who does not have the Spirit of Christ, does not belong to him’ (Romans 8:9)
and ‘Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the
Son will not see life’ (John 3:36). So the Bible teaches that our creed DOES
matter.
Secondly,
the God of the Bible is not the God of the Masonic Lodge. The Lodge insists
that God must remain undefined and unknowable, that everyone’s idea of God is
acceptable, and no one has the whole truth. Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia
states that, ‘Monotheism . . . violates Masonic principles, for it requires
belief in a specific kind of Supreme Deity’, rather than a ‘boundless, eternal,
universal, undenominational and international Divine Spirit’, which is what
the Lodge teaches God is. But the whole idea of Christianity is that we CAN
know God because He has revealed Himself to us, principally through the life,
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
In
one of the degrees of Masonry, called the Royal Arch degree, Masons are
taught that God’s true name is ‘Jahbulon.’ The Masonic manual teaches that
this name is a composite of the names Jehovah (Jah), Baal and ‘On,’ possibly
a reference to the Egyptian god Osiris. How can a Christian equate Jehovah,
the God of the Old Testament and of Jesus Christ, with Baal—a god so evil
that he led the Israelites into human sacrifice and other terrible vices? This
is sheer blasphemy. (Look at 2 Kings 17:16,17; Jeremiah 32:35; Jeremiah 23:13
for some examples of what the Bible thinks of Baal.)
Thirdly,
the Masonic Lodge teaches that God is a mixture of gods, ‘The Mason may name
God as he will think of Him as he pleases; make Him impersonal law or
personal and anthropomorphic; Freemasonry cares not . . . God, Great
Architect of the Universe, Grand Artificer, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge
above, Jehovah, Allah, Buddha, Brahma . . . ’ (Carl; H. Claudy
Introduction to Freemasonry, Volume 2 p.110). The Bible teaches that the
Christian God alone is the true God, see 2 Chronicles 6:14, Isaiah 42:8,
Deut. 4:39.
Fourthly, Masonry teaches that Jesus was a man and not God:
the Masonic Ritual called ‘The Maundy Thursday Ritual’ states officially
that, ‘We meet this day to commemorate the death [of Jesus], not as inspired
or divine, for this is not for us to decide’ (Clausen, Practice & Procedure, pp. 75–77). A Christian says that Jesus Christ is God (see John
1:1 or Titus 2:13).
Fifth,
Freemasonry teaches that the Bible is merely a symbol of the will of God, but
is not God’s Word. Coil’s Masonic Encyclopedia states, ‘The prevailing
Masonic opinion is that the Bible is only a symbol of Divine Will . . . no
responsible authority has held that a Freemason must believe the Bible or any
part of it’ (p. 520). Freemasonry regards the sacred books of other faiths as
equally valid. Mackey’s Revised Encyclopedia of Freemasonry states that any
book considered sacred by the Masons in a particular Lodge can be used as
their symbol of the Divine Will, ‘. . . Whether it be the Gospels to the Christian, the
Pentateuch to the Israelite, the Koran to the Muslim or the Vedas to the
Brahman, it everywhere Masonically reveal the same idea—that of the symbolism
of the Divine Will revealed to man.’ (Vol. 1 p. 133). By contrast, see Jesus’
words in Jn 12:48–50 or Paul’s words in 2 Tim 3:16,17. Finally, the
Masonic Lodge teaches that salvation and residence in the ‘Celestial Lodge
Above’ may be gained doing good works. There can be no doubt that many Masons
do ‘good works,’ so many people think this makes it all right for a Christian
to be a Mason. But this idea is not biblical. The Bible teaches that nobody
can be saved by their good works (see Eph 2:8,9). Jesus would not have needed
to die to obtain the forgiveness of sins if we could get to Heaven by doing
good works.
The
Good News is that God forgives: if a Christian has become a Mason and later
realises it is against the Christian faith, all he needs to do is resign from
the Lodge, repent before God, and receive Jesus Christ as his only Lord and
Saviour. You cannot have both Christ and Masonry: it’s one or the other (Matt
6:24).
Principal source of
information: Cult Watch, by John Ankerberg and John Weldon
Sign outside a Church in the West Country:
Come early for a good back-seat
Pakistan
Population: 141 million people (UK = 58 million)
Pakistan is often
in the news at present, as it struggles to cope with the influx of huge numbers
of refugees from war-torn Afghanistan on its North West Frontier Province (above). There have also
been riots in Pakistan concerning the Government’s  policy toward the USA.
Religion: Not for nothing is this country
called ‘The Islamic Republic of Pakistan.’ It’s 97% Muslim and 1.5% Hindu.
The Christian presence is officially 1.7%, but the actual figure may be as high as 3%. (The official figure is artificially low to appease
militant Muslims.) The numbers of Buddhist and primitive (‘animist’) followers
are minimal.
Background Information: Pakistan was created in 1947 when it gained
independence from Britain at the partition of India, to meet the demands of
Indian Muslims for their  own homeland. It has enjoyed little
stability since: there have been numerous wars with India, and a civil war
with Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan, before it split away). There have
been alternating military and civilian governments. The fall of Benezir
Bhutto’s government, followed by rigged elections in the 1980s, gave considerable power to Islamic extremists.
General
Musharraf came to power in a coup in 1999, and recently declared himself
President.
Owing
to war in neighbouring Afghanistan since 1979, the influx of refugees and the
growth of armed Muslim guerrilla groups have destabilised the country,
causing economic chaos. At the moment, political indecision before the might
of the USA concerning terrorists threatens to cause further strife.
Prayer Points:
·
For
peace in Pakistan following the terrorist activities in America
·
Give
thanks that mission agencies are relatively free to work in Pakistan,
(although explicit evangelism is outlawed)
·
Pray
for the Christian minority as it
suffers persecution¾ which is sometimes severe
- Pray for the Afghan refugees in Pakistan living in
indescribable squalor
·
For
the repeal of the so-called ‘blasphemy laws’ (in effect, anyone holding a
grudge has only to accuse his enemy of saying something against the Muslim
prophet Mohammed, and his opponent can be sentenced to death). Many
Christians and members of other religious minorities have been harmed by
these unjust laws
·
And
please pray for the Pakistani community in the UK, who feel torn by the
conflict between the West and Muslim countries
Dearnley Greenhill Smallbridge
Smithy Bridge Wardle
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