by experience David Thompson, PCI’s Secretary of Congregational Life and Witness, introduces some lessons that can be learnt by the pandemic.
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he Covid-19 pandemic and the interruption it has brought to the normal patterns of the life and witness of the church has gone on much longer than anyone could have imagined. While so many things remain uncertain, it is still too early to come to definite conclusions about what the church has learned through the experience. However, as stories converge from across a whole variety of congregations, patterns emerge that help us begin to discern some sense of God’s refining, leading and guiding for our future. So, what have we begun to learn about a variety of areas of church life and how might we find ourselves refined by the experience?
Discipleship refined – from spiritual dependency to sparking daily devotion Rick Hill (PCI Discipleship and Leadership Development Officer) Over the last year, most of my mornings have involved trying to shovel porridge into the mouth of a three-year-old.
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Herald Autumn 2021
It’s clear he isn’t the biggest fan of the Quaker Oats on offer, so without our guidance, encouragement or literally forcing the spoon to his lips, he wouldn’t receive the sustenance he needs each morning. He needs us to feed him. It can’t go on like this forever, but to help his development, we have begun to encourage him to feed himself.
…let’s make sure we aren’t replicating systems of spiritual dependency, but instead equipping people to feed themselves.
Currently this looks like all kinds of wonderful techniques, from countdowns to mild forms of bribery to make the process more attractive. Next to him each morning is an eight-year-old who feeds himself. While he still needs our encouragement to speed up, or reminders to talk less and eat more, it would be ridiculous if he needed us beside him all the time to prompt him to eat. He has had to learn to feed himself. Something I found fascinating in March 2020 was the sudden explosion of daily devotional online content from congregations. Now please understand, I think it can be healthy for a congregation to guide people in their devotional life. In some ways, I wish we did it more. But I wonder if we panicked that with a lack of opportunities for teaching and fellowship, people wouldn’t know what to do on their own. Were we sparking devotional habits or depositing content? Did we jump to telling people the answers rather than ensuring we were equipping them to read the Bible for themselves? When it comes to discipleship, perhaps our greatest need isn’t highly polished content but a mix of genuine Christian
