Change is not always easy

As the gospel takes root in our lives it brings about change; it teaches us to say no to ungodliness and yes to growing in godliness (Titus 2.11-13). Or as Paul puts it in Colossians 3 we are called to put off the old self and to put on the new self ‘which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of the creator’ (Colossians 3.10).

As a church we have gone through a lot of change in recent years, and we are experiencing more changes too. Last Sunday, St Matt’s Ashbury met for the last time as a church family.

From next Sunday both 9.30 am and 5.00 pm will look and feel a little bigger as we are joined by members of St Matt’s Ashbury.

It’s worth being realistic about how that will challenge us in different ways.

Biological families grow together slowly and experience the ‘slow burn’ of sharing life together. They have time to build memories and develop a shared history. And for the most part, church families grow in that way too - slowly and in a way that allows time for history to be shared and memories to be built together. There’s something unusual about having a church family that grows by 20-30 adults in a week. It’s not a bad thing in any way, it’s just a different kind of thing from what we’re used to and so it’s worth being realistic how change may effect us in different ways.

For some of us we’re excited at what’s going on at church and we’re excited to be a part of a bigger family. For others there’s a sense of loss that comes with that. In the short term, some of us may feel a little disoriented as we find ourselves in a familiar space with unfamiliar faces.

I want to encourage you to take some time to process how you’re faring with that and reach out to me, Mel or Luke, your small group leader, or a friend to help process these things.

There are three things I’d love to commend us all to be a part of.

1. Shared fellowship

Families grow together by spending time with one another and understanding each other better.

One way we can do this in the next few weeks is to commit to coming along to our March 20 connection lunch.

This will be a chance to share food together and get to know one another in a fun way (more on that to come…but it may involve a round of Kahoot!).

It will also be a chance for us to hear from some members from St Matt’s about what has happened and how they got to this point as a church. There will also be a time where some of our members from St Paul’s share a little about what church means to them and how they’ve seen God at work in our church.

I hope that will be a helpful moment for each of us to understand one another better and to welcome these brothers and sisters into our church family.

2. Language that reflects we’re one family

One of the challenges in a church family is making sure you use language that reflects your sense of belonging. It takes some getting used to, but the moment you choose to join a church you are one with those people. It follows that our language needs to reflect that. There’s no ‘us’ and ‘them’ in a church family.

From next Sunday we need to be mindful that our language reflects the reality that we are one church family, not two. There’s not ‘us’ from St Paul’s and ‘them’ from St Matt’s, and there’s not ‘us’ from St Matt’s and ‘them’ from St Paul’s. We’re one family, St Paul’s Canterbury.

3. Prayer

I’ve said this a bunch of times, but it’s important to get that while this isn’t something St Matt’s, or St Paul’s would’ve chosen, it’s something we can (and should) pray that God will use for his good and the furthering of the kingdom of Jesus. Hold dearly onto Jesus’ promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against God’s church. And pray boldly that our church will continue to bear witness to him so that the lost may be found and find a home with us at St Paul’s.