HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO THE CHURCHES

Towards Missionary Congregations in Europe

Edited by Gerhard Linn

This book can be seen as the ecumenical equivalent of the earlier MARC series on Growing, Sending, and Worshipping congregations. Theologically it is broader, though it still includes charismatics and evangelicals. The key point about books like these is not agreement but ideas. New Zealand churches can learn from European congregations facing social upheaval, unfamiliar manifestations of interest in religion, the cultural confusions of migration, and even possibilities of partnership into Eastern Europe. Their struggles, joys and failures have something to say quite apart from their or our denominational or theological identity.

The World Council of Churches feels acutely the awareness that Europe is a mission field. Gerhard Linn has gathered stories of some 25 churches in Germany, Russia, Wales, Portugal, England, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Norway, France, Sweden, Hungary, Finland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Poland. It includes an African perspective and a contribution from the Japanese theologian, Kosuke Koyama.

Churches cope with refugees of uncertain legal status and very real human needs. Inner city congregations face the loss of middle-class worshippers, and the presence of the poor, addicted and transient. People deal with the reality of the mission God sends them into even when it is not really what they wanted. A number of situations refer to Catholics making themselves at home in Protestant churches.

The idea that mission is the responsibility of congregations may be a wake up call to Christian responsibility, but it can create difficulties. Whatever the theory, mission gets left to the few and it is difficult to sustain the excitement of the many. Guilt, command, permission, and even a shuffling of responsibility, can all make mission a bit more likely to happen, but they do not create a people who want it happen. The miracle is that there are people who discover faith in doing, as well those whose faith leads them to action.

The WCC does not always get credit for dealing creatively with issues of evangelism, but there is more in their activity and publications than many realize. This four year project began with an attempt to provide a framework for self-analysis by congregations. This was found to be too prescriptive, and instead gatherings of people from the churches met to share experiences and clarify how best to tell their stories. This book is intended to encourage others who also see themselves “trying to hear what the Spirit is saying to them.” Though I found the framework of theological and social analysis less satisfying, the stories are great. Provided we look for encouragement and ideas more than blueprints, it succeeds better than programmes which promise more in the way of success, but whose portability is dubious and whose sense of reality is less than can be discovered here.

Hear What The Spirit Says To The Churches. Towards Missionary Congregations in Europe, Edited by Gerhard Linn, 139 pages, is published by WCC, Geneva, 1994.

-John Roxborogh