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Park
Avenue Methodist Church, Park Avenue North, Northampton, NN3 2HT
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01604 720624
Administrator - Alan Brett ::
Senior Stewards - Denise Turner, Liz Hale
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Vision or Heresy?
01 Mar 2010 by Phil Taylor
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 Dear Friends,
Vision or Heresy?
That was the question that Glayne posed in the final paragraph of her letter last month.
Have you decided your response yet?
I ask that question because about an hour and half ago we sat down as a family to eat our dinner together and as we did so it became very clear that it had produced a response in Jon, our son. They had been discussing the questions that Glayne had raised in Junior Church the day before and it had clearly provoked a thoughtful response that he had been thinking about since then.
He engaged me in conversation about it almost as soon as he got home from College and it continued as we sat down to eat and for the next half hour or so. At the end of it I knew that what I had to write in this letter had been altered and Jon has agreed that I share some of his thoughts with you...
His verdict? Definitely Vision, though probably a little limited! (I’ll explain the limited bit later).
But let’s start with his genuine excitement about the possibility of the Methodist Church in Northampton meeting together in one central, modern, purpose built building. To begin with the idea of more people of his own age (he’s heading towards 17) or indeed of any age meeting together for worship and getting to know one another was immediately attractive. He posed the question, how can you expect to either attract or keep within the Church, people say aged 20, if when they go there are no other people around their age who they can relate to? Now he understands that people can relate across the generations and he has had plenty of experience of that happening at Towcester Road but he recognises the strength that comes from people meeting together in larger numbers.
Then he was talking about the need to have a Methodist church that was sustainable into the future. He thought that those who had belonged to the different churches all their lives would want that. To give to generations to come the possibility of being part of a church with a future, a church that wasn’t slowly dying out. It is what we would all want, isn’t it? He was actually very generous in his analysis of the future – he thought if nothing were done the Methodist Church in Northampton would die out in 3 or 4 generations. I don’t think that I am that optimistic.
He was also excited by the possibility of different styles of worship taking place at the same time that would give people an opportunity to worship in the way that helped them. He was thinking at least 3 styles of worship – so the Park Avenue model plus - its part of that bigger vision thing! He was aware that many people who come to church do so by car and so there shouldn’t be a problem with people getting to a new central location. But for those who are used to walking he recognised there would be a need to provide transport to get them to a new place. “There shouldn’t be a problem paying for that if we are not spending lots of money on keeping all these buildings going!” As to the question will people be happy to go somewhere new to worship, his response: “If people are serious about their faith and worshipping God that won’t bother them – if they are not they will make up their own mind what they will do”. I guess he’s right and he challenges us all to consider our response to what we would do if the building we are used to worshipping in is no longer there.
I have already mentioned that Jon attends Towcester Road, where he has worshipped regularly for the last seven years or so. One of the reasons that he chose Towcester Road was because of the number of other young people around his age but it has also been a place we has found a sense of welcome and belonging. The building and the people there are special to him and have played an important part in his life. I therefore think that it is significant that he is saying that he is ready to see that church building close in order to have a bigger vision of what the Methodist Church can be in Northampton. So, you see Glayne, just suggesting bringing three churches together in the centre of Northampton is too limited a vision, for someone like Jon. He can see the value of the village churches maintaining their life and presence in their local communities but why all these Methodist churches in Northampton itself?
So for my son, definitely Vision not heresy and one that calls us to make a response. Had we not had the conversation at dinner time the letter I would have written would have almost certainly been more nuanced and less direct and would have been the worse for that. The great thing about teenagers however is that they are often more direct in their thinking and their responses to situations and they can ask us questions that perhaps we would rather not hear and face up to. So Jon has made his response to Glayne’s letter, he has posed the questions and I, and I hope you, will want to take them seriously. I also know, given that Critical Thinking is one of the A Levels he is studying, that he will quickly see through any answers and responses that are not properly thought through. So you and I have been warned!
As someone for whom the call to ministry part came through a colleague at work asking me the direct question “Phil, when are you going to become a Methodist minister, because I think you ought to?” I have always recognised that God can speak to us through the voice of others so possibly, just possibly the Word of God was being spoken at the dinner table this evening challenging us to a new and very different future for the Methodist Church in Northampton. It is certainly a possibility that I cannot avoid considering.
God bless,
Phil Taylor |
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