There is a sense that we are a strong fellowship of believers. Strong in that our numbers are not dwindling away and in that through many different ministries the Lord blesses us at Rehoboth. There is a sense that we are strong because we have continued for some years now without a Pastor although it is clear that we continue to be strengthened through the teaching and pastoral care we experienced during Steve’s time as our pastor which built many of us up to serve in the ways we do today.
Yet although strong we are also very alike in that while we come from diverse backgrounds, we share a common nationality and ethnicity, and speaking a common language save some regional differences. We have no church members from the Asian or Afro
Caribbean community, none from Eastern Europe or Mainland Europe or South America yet it appears to me that the Lord has begun to direct at least a trickle of people from other countries across our doorstep. It has been good to welcome them in for worship yet I wonder how difficult they find it to settle with us and perhaps in time to join us in membership which would bring them fully into the life and support we have for each other in the fellowship. How long might it be before we can say we have a racially diverse membership?
It also strikes me that of recent applications for a pastoral elder we have had enquiries from a South African, a Burmese, a man from Northern Ireland who had studied in the US and a man from the US but who is living in Finland. With these things in mind perhaps we need to truly take on board the words of the
Apostle Paul writing to the believers Rome ‘Accept one another just as Christ accepted you in order to bring praise to God’ . (Romans 15:7)
For many of the Jews at that time it was an uncomfortable truth to see God’s kingdom offered to the Gentiles and to this day many of them reject the Lord Jesus because of it. How does our church appear to outsiders looking in, how can we reach out to any of
the diverse groups of people living here in Horsham and how do we respond when we have applicants for membership or ministry positions not coming from the same ethnic and cultural background as we do?
Let’s keep our minds open to the Lord’s leading, pray hard for his guidance and be prepared to accept that our future direction should allow for the opportunity to try new ways so that we might become more effective at bringing God’s word to a wider cross
section of our community. We are called to take the gospel to all nations and whilst some would see that as a call to travel overseas, the nations are now surrounding us – they are on our doorstep. Whilst we might feel it is difficult to overcome language or
cultural barriers we know that with God all things are possible (Mk 10:27). How can we be the instruments, the facilitators of God’s gospel of good news so that we might be the Gentiles who glorify God to all peoples here in New Street, in the roads around and
across Horsham.
Stuart Beadle
November 2014
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