The Lausanne Global Conversation is on the World Wide Open Network
المؤلف: Peter Houston
التاريخ: 14.11.2011
Category: الشهادة الشخصية
One thing that fascinates me about the story of my ancestor, William Carleton, going down with the Hirano Maru at the end of the First World War was a reference to a Welsh church called St Mary the Virgin in Angle near Pembroke. The church was located near the coast, which gave rise to a unique ministry. Bodies that washed up on the shore would be prepared and buried from the church.
In fact a special chapel was built in the 15th century (1447) by Edward de Shirburn, close to the church, and dedicated to St Anthony, the patron saint of lost things. The crypt beneath the chapel was used to store the many anonymous seamen’s bodies that were found on the coastline until they could be readied for burial. This continued until the early twentieth century. Hence the church graveyard contains the bodies of some of those unknown persons that perished with the sinking of the Hirano Maru at the end of the First World War.
It struck me that the church of St Mary the Virgin in Angle just “happened” to be the place closest to where bodies were washed up. (An accident of the coastal tides?) I imagine for the deceased persons that could be identified, the church was a place of comfort and care for the families coming to attend a funeral, or to claim the body. And for those that remained unknown, maybe solace was gained elsewhere by family that they got a decent burial at a place like St Mary the Virgin.
Makes me wonder what is unique about the placement of my church and the ministry that should flow from it? I’m almost certain that all churches everywhere shouldn’t look and be the same. Different tides conspire to create different circumstances. There is a specific God-ordained reason why there is a local church in a down-town city or a rural village or sub-urban coastal region or a wealthy suburb. What God expects from each will differ, although every local church has the same mandate to bring the light and hope of Christ into their midst.
كلمات مفتاحية: Local Church, Context, Purpose
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تعليقات: 2
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محاورة نشر تعليق
الولايات المتحدة
The church is always a very unique organism that God established to meet the needs of others. It is always so amazing to me how each church has specific ministries in place to be an asset to the community that it is a part of. We must remember that when this is not taking place then the ’’church’’ is not the church it is only the meeting place that is not meeting the needs of others. God has given all of us an assignment to reach out to others not just because how good that we think we are but because God is good.
05.06.2012
الولايات المتحدة
Wow! I think you are on to something! God is so great and bigger than we can ever imagine! The more I learn about the world and the people in it, the more I realize how diverse we are. But then again, we are the same; and God is God of all of us whether we choose to recognize it or not. The Good News of Jesus Christ applies to everyone and God meets us where we are and brings us closer to Him through the Gospel. I believe that God places different people and churches around the world to perform different ministries all for the common goal of bringing people to God through Jesus Christ. One model of a church that works in America for instance will not be nearly as successful in China, Russia, etc. Churches in different countries will be around people with different needs. Churches need to be as diverse as the people, so that God’s love is communicated to them and people are reached. Then like how people are diverse but uniform, churches need to be diverse but united in love and purpose of developing disciples of Jesus Christ.
31.05.2012
يتوجب عليك تسجيل الدخول أولاً لكي تتمكن من نشر تعليق. إذا لم يكن لديك حساب، يمكن التسجيل الآن (إنه مجاني وسهل!)