New Connections
It has become my conviction that as a Church, however well we do what we currently do, we are not connecting with many parts of our population. Today we will be focusing on our youth work at Ascension – and how we connect with different parts of the teenage generations. But the young people may be just one group of people we don’t always connect with! It’s a bit like someone redesigned the electric plug – the electricity is just the same, it’s just the plug won’t go in the socket! This is not new – we’ll hear of 2 young men from the Bible, Jeremiah and Timothy who were both called to connect, sometimes with difficult things to say! Jesus himself spoke of new wine skins, as well as old ones, saying we can’t just patch the old, sometimes we need new. He himself brought new wine. Jesus’ own hearers found this difficult to hear, many rejected Him. You’ll hear St Paul stress to Timothy that the message itself isn’t new, it’s how we say it. The good old Church of England, at ordinations, has for centuries publicly declared, ‘The Church is called to proclaim the faith afresh in each generation’. The ordination service goes on to explain to new ministers that they cannot do this without the power of the Holy Spirit and to pray earnestly for it! As we stretch forward with fresh vision, let us ask the Lord, the Spirit, to guide us, give us courage, and help us to love through all we do. Love puts others first!