Monday, around 11:45AM: Prior to this week’s events, the Methodist Church of Great Britain had sent out three ‘Missiological Questions’ to everyone who was due to attend the All Partners’ Consultation – questions such as “How is the Good News impacting on finance, politics and development where you are?” and “Where do you expect your church to be in the next five to 10 years?”
Diane Clutterbuck has just been talking us through some of the responses received. Some great examples of the Church’s commitment to justice have arisen from the questions, many of them from Latin America. We heard of the Dominican Republic, where more and more Protestant and Evangelical Christians are getting involved in government, legislation and politics.
Christians in Benin and Hong Kong were also commended, as were the ‘Street Pastors’ who patrol Britain’s streets on a Saturday night, offering a helping hand to worse-for-wear nightclubbers.
On the question of where the Church will be a few years from now, a number of challenges to the Church were listed. These included: the persecution of Christians, declining church membership, elitism, limited resources, and the rise of Islam.
Asked what their vision for a future Church would be, Methodist and United churches from around the world said, “A uniting, joyous and prayerful church; a forgiving church; a spiritual church; a witnessing church, and a transforming church.”
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