The Very Rev Albert Bogle reflects on the month of November.

NOVEMBER brings back childhood memories of damp mornings, winter coats, icicles on the windows, no central heating, black cars, poppies, medals and hot chocolate.

Don’t ask me ‘why?’

If you do, I’ll have to write a diflerent article. It’s just that November is one of those months that has an importance of its own. It starts with All Saints’ Day, continues with Remembrance Sunday and concludes with St Andrew’s Day. It’s something about the sound of the month that invites you to remember to keep warm, because stormy days lie ahead, but all will be well for we start and end with the communion of the saints, which reminds us of the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection to eternal life.

I’m sure this November will be no diflerent, it will certainly be a month to remember. A month we’ll need the communion of the saints. So much will happen. At home we have a government under the cosh, struggling to conclude a Brexit deal while seeking to address issues of mass unemployment and the possibilities of civil unrest. In the USA a presidential election will take place while the world continues in turmoil trying to make sense of a virus that cannot be controlled by a vaccine that has still to be approved. So the tables have turned. Instead of relying on the science, we require to fall back on human actions that require a great amount of discipline, trust and integrity from us all, in order to contain its spread. Yes, you might say November 2020 will be a month to remember.

So where do we as the church fit into all of this? Should we simply concentrate on the poppies, the medals and the hot chocolate? In other words the symbols of comfort or 14are we being called to become a prophetic community? People who no longer inhabit buildings at the end of the street but people who are building and inhabiting relationships with every member in the street even with those who are not ‘up our street’. Can we as a church and individuals become more prophetic, in reading the signs of the times, especially when it comes to developing our spiritual lives and those of our neighbours? During this time of social distancing can we enable spiritual encounters, closer encounters with the Almighty?

Many church fellowships have been experimenting with technology developing and modelling various patterns of online worship all of which are good and should be encouraged but we need to do more. Going further by starting to build online cell groups should be the radical new thing we all start promoting. We should start planning to reorganise church NOW in such a way that we are investing in the future. Building in the now for the future must be our greatest prophetic challenge, bearing in mind it could be 2022 before we return to larger gatherings of worshippers.

It seems to me this is an opportune moment for congregations and even individuals to experiment in developing local infrastructures, to create a more dynamic and eflective church community based on cell groups. This would starting a creative move using the time of separation from the larger group to nurture deep and lasting friendships within the security of a spiritual cell group.

The Church Without Walls report, way back in 2001 quoted research from the German Institute of Church Development highlighting statistics from 1,000 growing churches across the globe. These statistics showed that the multiplication of small groups had a profound eflect on developing and deepening relationships within the churches. The small group creates a feeling of belonging to each other and the body of Christ. The report sums this up in the following sentence: “Human nature seems to require diflerent dimensions of belonging: the small group for support and intimacy, the medium sized group to share in tasks and the larger gatherings for inspiration and celebration.”

The Sanctuary First team are oflering an opportunity for individuals and congregations to experiment with the concept of cell church. Each week we publish bible study material based around ideas and questions that arise out of our weekly readings which follow the church lectionary. We would be delighted to help and encourage individuals and congregations to consider setting up cell groups in their areas, or to consider setting up an online bible study bringing together friends who live in diflerent parts.

During this period of local lockdowns and national restrictions the opportunity to meet in small study groups over the internet for many will be a spiritual life saver this winter. It’s also another way to banish the memories of winter coats and the poor central heating from bygone days. November at home is always much cosier especially with a hot chocolate.

If you would like to know more about how to get organised or join a cell group please get in touch with us at contact@sanctuaryfirst.org.uk