ddress by Rev Norman Hamilton on 28/9/98
First of all may I say how privileged I feel to have been asked to share something of my own pilgrimage into the relationship between the local church and the local community to such a gathering as this. The situation in the Protestant community is both diffuse and complex. I will try to give an overview from both my own perspective and experience of at least some of the major Issues we face... to give some Belfast perspective. I am acutely aware that these are not the only things that could - even should - be said, but within the limited time available to me, I hope that they will give an adequate flavour of the issues involved.
Let me start with some background as to where I am coming from. I work in North Belfast -an area, which has seen about 800 of the killings in NI over these years of political unrest. It contains 6 of the 50 most deprived electoral wards in the whole of the province. This is not always immediately obvious. for example, the often high quality of the housing has come from the need to rebuild as a result of the troubles. Good housing can mask multiple deprivations in many other ways.
My own pilgrimage began about 5 years ago when a leading community activist and academic was speaking to a gathering of about 100 'church' people in N Belfast. He suggested to us that there was a significant group of people who had done well out of the years of the troubles. The glaziers; the builders and repair men; the private security firms and their whole industry; the many solicitors and barristers who have processed many thousands of claims.., to name but a few. He pointed out that people such as these could not really be expected to be at the forefront of healing our community.
Then there were the people at the bottom of the pile - those who had suffered and were suffering and would continue to suffer in a thousand ways. They often had no voice in the public arena, and were often hope-less Then he Identified a third group - people who were usually educated and usually articulate; living close to the ground in the midst of local communities... ministers; pastors; church leaders of all kinds. And he asked this question 'Are YOU prepared to make a difference? That was almost like a word from the Lord to me, for I couldn't bear to say No to that question.
And so my still ongoing pilgrimage into church and its proper relationship with the local community started.
In the very limited time available to me, I want to share with you some of the things that I have learned; perceived and agonised over...
As I have looked around Belfast, I have seen protestant churches closing or under very serious pressure all over the place. For whatever reason the faithful, and often-costly ministry of many people over the years has and still is - coming to an end. No protestant denomination is exempt, and the larger denominations have appeared especially vulnerable. That pattern of closure and decline is still taking place. Is this what the Lord wants? Does the Lord actually want this witness to shut down? As a thoroughly committed, and I trust thoroughly Biblical evangelical, I could see that there were Increasing thousands of increasingly godless people In our city... people who need the Lord, and people with whom we have less and less contact. If I may put it starkly like this -increasing thousands of people facing a godless eternity, and we seem unable to reach them or connect with them.
The words of Christ himself in Matthew 28 took on a new pointed ness... 'All authority has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations - baptising them and teaching them to obey...' I will come back to this scripture shortly....
I want to try and link some of the factors affecting our urban church scene in Belfast with some central Biblical teaching, and to try to do so In a way that sets out something of the current relationship between the main protestant churches and local communities. The picture is not as simple as it is often made out to be - especially by local communities themselves. And church leaders too are often hazy about the nature of the relationship.
But let me insert at this point a caveat of great importance. I do see some great weaknesses in how our churches are facing ministry in our urban situation, but, and It is a very important 'BUT, please do not be too hard on us. 30 years of often obscene violence on a vast scale has absorbed so much of our pastoral and ministry energy and capacity, that it only recently that we have been able to find the space and give the time to developing new patterns of urban ministry. We have so much to learn from so many of you folks, so please don't be too hard on us!
It seems self-evident to me that our churches, (at least on the Protestant side), find themselves increasingly disconnected from the very communities in which they are placed, and in which God has called them to minister. BUT, and it is a very important caveat indeed.... the on-the-ground work of many local churches is of crucial importance to many local communities. One senior local councillor said to me - if we were to strip out the contribution of local churches to the life of the community, there would be large areas where almost nothing would be left.
For example - if youth work were to be stripped out of many local Protestant communities, how much youth work would be left? Often very little. And with the advent of the 1995 Children Order, one youth leader within the Belfast Education and Library Board suggested to me that It could well sound the death knell of virtually all community based youth work, as local people simply won't volunteer to take the responsibilities - and the risks - involved. This leaves the churches as probably the biggest single provider of youth work in many local Protestant communities.
A similar story could be told about Mother and Toddler clubs or about work with senior citizens. The fact is that a very high proportion of the people with whom we are in contact have little or no meaningful connection with the church, apart from their attendance at a particular organisation or group.
Yet there is almost no general recognition within local communities of the contribution which has been made over many years, and which has been made though some very troubled times and 30 years of violence. Yet community groups are springing up like mushrooms all over the place, and the local church often finds Itself Ignored or shunned by such groupings. In this area of North Belfast alone, there were almost 300 community groups, not including the churches. At the last count in 1996. This figure alone highlights the scale of fragmentation. When we talk about the local community, as perhaps in many multi-racial areas of the UK, we are not talking about some vaguely homogenous unit ... we are often talking about micro-communities, and about internal rivalries, competition and mutual fear. So I would argue that in this complex climate, good work has been done, often is being done, and yet goes unrecognised within the very communities who are benefiting from it. Why? Why have we lost the intimate contact, relationship with, and trust of so many local people? Let me try and grope towards an answer... You will, I am sure, have already noticed my reference to Catholic and Protestant. That was deliberate and leads me into my first point.
1. Each community has largely ignored the pain of the other. Omagh has been different in many ways - but the general pattern still holds. The protestant and Unionist communities have not really shared the pain and the fears and heard the cries of the catholic / nationalist / republican people, and that is equally true the other way round.
It is also true for the churches. The Protestant churches have singularly failed to help their people understand the hopes, fears, pain, hurt and aspirations of Catholic people, and the Catholic church has singularly failed to help its people understand the hopes, fears, pain, hurt and aspirations of Protestant people.
I detect a widespread and serious loss of the Biblical teaching on compassion towards those who are not we.
Jesus is regularly described in the NT as having compassion on both individuals and groups of people... eg in the NIV we read... Luke 7.13 the widow of Nain 'his heart went out to her' Mark 1.41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out and touched the hand of the man with leprosy Perhaps the best known example lies in the story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10.30-37) where in commenting on the statement in v33 that the Samaritan had pity on the wounded man - one writer describes the good Samaritan's compassion as the attitude of 'complete willingness to use all means, time, strength and life for saving at the crucial moment. ft contrasts with the passing by on the other side (v31-32).
Dare I suggest that far too few Christian people - clergy included - are marked out by having this quality. It seems to me that the recovery of compassion, without conditions attached to it, or Implied by, Is central to any attempt to re-connect with the missing thousands of Individuals and the wider community in general. Unless we can recapture the Lord's heart for people as they are, and in the circumstances In which they find themselves, I cannot see how any re-connection can or will take place.
If compassion for those who are not us is not being modelled by church leadership; if such compassion is not being actively promoted and developed within the life of the local church, there seems no possibility whatsoever of developing compassion towards those outside the church, and I or on the other side. Christ modelled compassion both at the macro level of leaving the glory of heaven to come to earth to save sinners in deep need, and at the micro level in showing practical compassion to very ordinary people such as the widow of Nain.
1. I suspect that many of us rarely weep with others... its not the done thing - and so we have started on the road to a compassion - free ministry
2. The growth of paramilitary influence in many Protestant communities has left local churches with a serious problem as to how to relate properly to those communities, their Paramilitary leaders and the issues that is important to them. On the whole, local churches have tended to distance themselves from paramilitary influences and leaders. This is understandable, for no Biblical God honouring Christian community would want to jump into bed with such influences. However, the downside of this is that threatened local Protestant communities feel that the church does not care about the issues that concern them. The average local church does not relate at all well to paramilitary prisoners; to victims of the paramilitary war, to the young volunteers who are often regarded as hoods and thugs; to those who are intimidated and forced to live in fear. Thus there is a perception that that the church does not care about the crucial local issues and people.
Why?
I want to suggest that our seriously defective understanding of fellowship in the church means that we do not know how to stand side by side with other people who legitimately expect us to do so.
We all know the importance of 'kolnonia' in Scripture. Yet I believe that we have largely stripped it of any meaning, which requires us to engage in a costly way even with other believers. Thus we have real difficulty in providing models for connecting with people generally. I was very struck recently by the translation in the NIV of Heb 10.33 'At other times you stood side by side with those who were being insulted and persecuted'.
My limited understanding of the Greek word kolnonia has been greatly enriched by the wealth of translation again in the NIV - fellowship; partnership; sharing; participation in the divine nature - and this vivid expression 'standing side by side'. We struggle to see such Biblical richness worked out in the average congregation, never mind in the average denominational structures.
It seems to me that we simply have not grasped the horizontal, the person to person dimension of Biblical teaching - in a word, Christian community. Within many, if not most of our congregations and denominations, it is at best a hazy idea. We believed Margaret Thatcher when she said in a famous phrase - There is no such thing as society'
We need to do a great deal more working out of what the Bible's teaching on community I fellowship I sharing means in practice within our churches and denominations. We would do well to ask ourselves in what way our congregations actually model the Bible's teaching on community. In what ways is the church's view and practice of community visibly different from and more attractive than other models around us? For there are other models up and working. For example, the paramilitaries do offer an alternative model of community - some of it worthwhile. much of it highly questionable. The explosion of community development initiatives is another model based on empowerment and shared concerns.
Could it be that the church's difficulty in connecting with local communities is at least partly due to the offer within those local communities of alternative means of friendship, help, support, identity In ways that local people Identify with easily. I am greatly challenged, yet ill at ease with the growth of community groups at the same time and in the same places as there are churches claiming to offer a radically different and deeply satisfying way of life, if the church was being the church as the Bible teaches, then there would be less need for community groups to spring up and take on board much of the work in victim support; In dealing with trauma; in tackling issues of Injustice and exploitation; in the abuse of children -to name but a few...
3. A major factor affecting Protestant urban churches is that so many people have moved away.
This is quite common in many cities - those who can move out and leave those who cannot move to make the most of it. Many of you will be familiar with this. In Belfast the population moves become major sources of sectarian tension and have become highly significant politically. A local issue can become of enormous national importance... as for example in Drumcree during each of the past few years... not In Belfast, but unfortunately rather well known. The areas where people have moved out are often NOT left empty. Quite the reverse. The population of urban Belfast is actually growing. The people who have moved out are often replaced with other people.... and here is a crux issue --- Catholic people often replace Protestant people. The area changes socially, religiously ~ politically. Whole areas change from Protestant to Catholic, from orange to green; from Unionist to nationalist or even republican. Other cities see similar patterns as black and coloured people move in to areas where whites have moved out.
And this brings us to the crucial disconnection I mentioned earlier, since there are not enough Anglicans to sustain the congregations, it closes down. Because there are not enough Presbyterians to sustain their premises, they close it down. The witness shuts down, yet the area is still full of people who need the Lord I suggest that this shows our seriously defective and unbiblical view of mission. I referred a few minutes ago to Matt 28.19-20 and the great commission given by Christ to his disciples... All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptising them and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you'
For our purposes this morning, I simply want to highlight the command of Christ to GO. John places the great commission within the framework of his own commissioning by the father... 'As the father has sent me, I am sending you'. (John 20.21) Going and sending - and dare I add connecting - are at the heart of what Christ wants us - indeed commands us to do on the basis of the authority given to him and resting in him. Mission is about getting out there - in and for Christ's name.
I fear that we have tried to rewrite the Biblical mandate of GO TO PEOPLE with an emasculated theology of COME AND JOIN US - IF YOU ARE INTERESTED. The command from a loving Saviour to GO is replaced by the plea of a threatened club to COME - and of course In an Increasingly secular and post modernist world, fewer and fewer are. So we shut down our witness and go elsewhere.
Thus, my basic analysis of our failure in recent years to connect with people generally, and thus engage with the wider community flows from a seriously defective view of some of the central balances of scripture... In particular... - Our loss of deep compassion for those in need who are not one of us - Our loss of much understanding of what community, partnership and solidarity mean -even in the church - Our upside down view of mission in a locality - based more on come rather than go
Thus we have been stripped not only of credibility, but also of much opportunity. So people in need of compassion go to the doctor for valium and counsel So people without community go to the club, the pub, the disco, connect with paramilitaries and form community groups to help find some identity. Thus people in need of the Lord never hear about him in terms they can understand, because we have not gone to them and made points of connection.
In my current judgement. We will only be able to begin to reconnect with our local communities it we recapture these crucial balances of Scripture. And apply that scripture to the ever-changing scene around us.
Perhaps I can add one or two other comments from the Belfast experience and end with a note of excitement, challenge and hope.
In Northern Ireland generally, and in the Belfast urban area in particular, there are other factors, which are rarely recognised. For example, when working - class people (if I may be allowed to use that non politically correct description) in our loyalist and strongly Protestant housing estates come to faith in Christ, they come under intense pressure to attend a church 'where the gospel is preached". Almost by definition that means a church I denomination which is NOT part of or allied to ecumenical activity. Because ecumenical activity is widely perceived as diluting or even betraying Protestant faith, heritage and culture, it is to be avoided at all costs. Thus the ecumenical coming together of leading and very public church leaders can actually damage the credibility of a local church to connect with its local community. We need a great deal of help to work our way through the myriad of issues. Biblical. Ethical and practical facing our churches as we seek to find a God honouring and proper relationships with local communities - which themselves are often hugely fragmented and unsure of their own identity.
I started with a brief outline of my own pilgrimage and have tried to share with you something of my own understanding at this point In time. I want to end with a note of personal encouragement.
I have NOT found it difficult to engage with a wide range of people and organisations as we seek to develop our urban ministry. I put this down to 2 or 3 main reasons... In a post modem society with no value systems that bring coherence, there is still enormous scope for thinking Christians to speak wisdom and bring God honouring values and standards to the debates in the wider community. I am a member of several community groupings, and have often felt that what I was able to bring was not only heard but also appreciated and acted upon. Others have found the same. Secondly, and this is a very pragmatic comment... As public expenditure contracts or is at least held very tightly, churches are possibly the biggest and best source of skill, motivation and experience in many communities, It seems self evident to me that state support for community development activists will disappear as quickly as It arose. The churches will get a second chance to become focal points in local communities. Finally, as long as can get our theology of mission clearly sorted out there is enormous opportunity to redeem both individuals, communities and even the nation from a headlong rush nowhere When Christ calls us to GO - where else is there to go but to where the spiritual battle is - the world around us. It seems to me almost a truism that evangelism and mission will, by definition, mean that we confront evil and sin in the world around us, as well as lead people to the Lord. Thus there is a positive role to take in the wider community to oppose evil and seek to minimise Satan's influence.
There is also a positive role to encourage, support and defend what is good, is of God, and is compatible with Biblical standards and values. I love Frances Schaeffer's suggestion of co belligerence. there are people and movements out there which may not be explicitly Christian, but with which we can line up to achieve a God honouring outcome.
My Belfast experience is such that I want this city to be delivered from all ungodliness and its people to be helped in every way possible to find the Lord's ways of living together and with local churches modelling relationships, compassion, action and compelling evangelism. Thank you for coming here to encourage us and sharing with us your Insights into this God given task. Even as recently as last night as some of you visited us in North Belfast, my people were encouraged, challenged. One of my teenagers said to me after meeting some of you last night - That was the best evening I ever remember in our church.