RESOURCING THE CHURCH FOR ECUMENICAL MINISTRy A ...
RESOURCING THE CHURCH FOR ECUMENICAL MINISTRy A ...
RESOURCING THE CHURCH FOR ECUMENICAL MINISTRy A ...
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ogists would call this the bonding of the community.<br />
And most churches, on most Sundays, provide a<br />
gathering place for worship and fellowship that<br />
meets the needs of those who gather. And during<br />
these past two decades there has been an increasing<br />
demand for attention to be paid to the church as a<br />
bonding place, or what I call a center for the<br />
community, to gather for worship and fellowship<br />
with the growing tide of family and children<br />
ministries, and corresponding, maybe even resultant,<br />
decline in outreach ministries.<br />
The second way that the church is the center<br />
for the community is through hosting<br />
opportunities for people from the broader<br />
community to gather.<br />
The second way that the church is the center for the<br />
community is through hosting opportunities for<br />
people from the broader community to gather.<br />
What sociologists would call bridging. Think back in<br />
church history to the time when the congregation<br />
25<br />
was the gathering place for the community—that<br />
time when there were no televisions, no soccer<br />
matches, no Quiz Bowl. With the gifts of unity and<br />
dialogue, let’s reclaim that center for the broader<br />
community where people can come to realize that<br />
the church is a place where it is safe to express their<br />
thoughts, and that diversity is appreciated inside the<br />
gift of unity—a place where people can experience a<br />
deep listening to others, while being able to clearly,<br />
or not so clearly, proclaim their convictions.<br />
Dr. Silkworth was a world renowned therapist who<br />
worked with alcoholics in a hospital in New York,<br />
and was a very good friend to Alcoholics Anonymous.<br />
At the end of his introductory letter for the<br />
Third Edition of the Big Book of Alcoholics<br />
Anonymous, Dr. Silkworth wrote, “though he came<br />
to scoff, he may remain to pray.” It is my hope that<br />
as we reclaim God’s gifts of unity and dialogue, and<br />
spread the good news in our local communities, that<br />
the skeptics will remain long afterwards and join us<br />
in living into God’s desire for us to be united.<br />
Morton • Contextual and Local Ecumenism