The Very Rev Albert Bogle explains why the core message of the Church is the way ahead.

AN email dropped in my mailbox. It was from a fellow minister.

One of his elders had given up on how we in the Church of Scotland do church. In the email he explained that the elder had found great help and encouragement from Sanctuary First. He was asking me if Sanctuary First had a Kirk Session she could transfer into and join?

The point is if we did have a Kirk Session, I’m sure the elder would not have accepted the invitation. Too many of us in the church are still bickering with a broken machine. Our Lord has told us we can’t put new wine into old wine skins. I sincerely believe the call is out to all of us in leadership within the Church to recognise we are in the midst of a great technical, cultural and spiritual tsunami.

The ground has shifted but the good news is that our message is still sticky and relevant. We never need to be afraid of the future because our Lord has promised his guiding presence. Did he not say: ‘take heart I will journey with you even to the end of the age’? However we should not think that business should continue as usual it can’t.

I met up with the elder. She explained to me how her life was exceedingly busy, but not too busy that she could not serve Christ.

However the standard of discussion in the Kirk Session she attended was such that she felt she could use her time more creatively to serve God in her daily calling and employment. However she still wanted in some way to be part of the Church of Scotland.

Sanctuary First for her was a resting place, a holding place where she could draw breath and begin to reflect on what it means for her to be an elder in a church where in the words of the Very Rev Dr John Chalmers, the Church’s former Principal Clerk: “The rubber is not hitting the road and the traditional patterns of church life (with which I have been so comfortable) are not going to change that.”

John goes on to suggest in last December’s Life and Work that “only a faith which speaks to the deepest needs of human life will be transformative for both individuals and the communities they belong to.”

What I’m detecting among our church members and others as I move around various communities, is a holy unease. There is a restlessness in the Church of Scotland. Many are looking for more, but not more of the same. In truth they are unsure how to articulate their feelings. I believe it may be a longing and searching for the transformative power of the Spirit to speak into our deepest needs as a Christian community.

This means we need to make more space in our lives for prayer. Perhaps Sunday mornings could contain more spaces for silence, to listen, to wait upon God. We need more effective and imaginative ways to inspire the whole church into being people of grace.

Further we shouldn’t remove from ourselves, in our daily lives, the signs and the symbols of our faith. The cross still speaks to the heart in ways words cannot. I was touched by the gentle manner our current Moderator, the Rt Rev Dr Derek Browning passed a cross into the hands of another at the ‘Sleep in the Park’. It was a sign and symbol of the transformative power of the cross. We should not underestimate the power of personal encounters.

“ The power of the church lives in its message of the gospel which is able to inspire and renew a nation.”

Earlier this year I was in a hotel for a meeting, I was wearing my clerical collar – another symbol of discipleship. A man came over and interrupted me. He asked to speak with me for a moment. As he drew me to the side he confided in me that he had a brain tumour. He asked if I would pray with him. After a short prayer, I gave him the Sanctuary First card and he has continued to be in touch with me for the rest of year. For him Sanctuary First has become a touching place for him on a 24/7 cycle.

I could continue to share more of these stories. What is important is that we begin to recognise that the transforming power of the church is not to be found in changing committee structures or more effective programmes, or new and exciting pioneering ministries.

The power of the church lives in its message of the gospel which is able to inspire and renew a nation. In Sanctuary First we’re always interested to make connections.

The Very Rev Albert Bogle is a Pioneer Minister of Sanctuary First Church Online at www.sanctuaryfirst.org.uk