Reflections From the Summit Part 2

In a previous post I mentioned seven areas of society that the church needs to recover in order to effectively reach our culture.

Here is how I see that we are doing in Narrabri. In the current environment it's unlikely that any single congregation will have all the bases covered, but perhaps the church overall may.

Religion-- the church is "allowed" to operate in this area, but is increasingly having to make way for Islam, New Age etc. Like many small towns we still have the corner on the "market", but I've noticed over the years that the church is seen as increasingly irrelevant to most people. Even funerals and weddings are becoming more likely to be conducted by non-religious celebrants. We need to get a handle on the belief systems of ordinary people in order to know how to share the Good News with them.

Family- Most people admit that the church has something positive to offer families. We have playgroup, as do the Anglicans. Many churches offer children's programmes and some offer marriage and family education courses.

Education- High School ministry, Christian teachers, Community Centre. I think this is one area where the church is doping well.

Business- there are a few christian business men out there, making a difference in the area of commerce. Richard Orr from the Baptist church is President of the Chamber of Commerce and sees this as his specific mission field.

Government- lots of christians talk about running for Council but few do. The Ministers' Fellowship has a standing invitation to open each Council meeting with prayer. This is another area where christians need to do more.

Media- Vision FM. I confess ignorance as to the involvement of Christians in the community radio and local newspaper.

Arts: Lots of Christians involved in dance and music. I'm not sure about other areas of the arts. There is a fairly big influence of Christians in the Eisteddfod which would be the biggest arts event here. The Crossing Theatre has been very difficult to deal with lately in terms of co-operation for Christian movies being screened.

I guess it looks quite patchy doesn't it?

There are obvious areas where we all need to be praying.

We need to pray for Christians to infiltrate these various areas