Reception rather than Broadcast Mode

 

I recently read the idea that we in The Church might do well to shift our focus from time to time from Broadcast to Reception mode.  Perhaps that needs a bit of unpacking!

It is, of course, true that we continue to believe the message from Jesus about the love of God is always worth sharing.  The question is often: how?

If we stick to Broadcast mode our prime activity would be one of proclamation.  Yet in a day and age when there is an abundance of religious and spiritual ideas around, we might also recognise that we need to earn the right to speak into that arena.  We do that by travelling alongside folk in Reception mode. Being someone’s friend and listening to them is just as much ‘ministry’ and ‘service’ as me standing up in a pulpit and proclaiming week by week.  We need both modes of communication in the Church.

I hope we did a bit of that in welcoming the COVD Testing Centre to our building over recent months.  We discovered our community had a need, we listened to their request and offered to help as much as we could.

The Baptist Church at Little Kingshill, just down the road, has been involved in a similar project.  Their minister, Martin, explains in a recent edition of Central News, the regular Central Baptist Association newsletter:

Your church hall is empty, my coffee shops are closed due to Covid, and our village needs a hub; want to partner up and have a go at bringing a pop-up village shop with excellent coffee to Little Kingshill?  So went a phone call from coffee shop owner Silvio – a Kingshill resident with a chain of coffee shops in London.

Giving up our church hall to this new venture has opened the eyes of many.  It has opened the eyes of some in the village to the existence of our small church.  It has opened the eyes of others in the village to our genuine desire to serve Little Kingshill by providing what it needs most.  And it has opened the eyes of our fellowship to just how differently church might need to operate.

Well, some of our members have visited the Kingshill Kitchen and have sung its praises to me, even saying they provide dog ice cream!

Just one example, and I good one I think, of a church that has embraced both Broadcast and Reception modes.  Getting alongside the community and working together is surely one manifestation of the Kingdom of God.