You may have seen the disastrous end to the community sculpture we put up in Chelmsley Wood in June. Working with church people and random passersby, we put up a sculpture (modern art!) which expressed the life of the community. It took about 3 days to build, and about 5 hours before it was destroyed. All that work, all that effort, all that fun, and then people spit in our face.

Any church that has been involved in outreach will know that whilst some people respond and others will politely ignore, there do seem to be forces that would seek to destroy our efforts. Things happen that leave a bad taste in our mouth and we think, ‘what’s the point’. This is usually the time when Christians, perhaps subconsciously, decide that evangelism is not for them. The hurt and the embarrassment are too much; from now on they will stick with the church people, who (of course) are nicer, and their type. To live within the church bubble where we all share similar values is much easier.

But what about The Mission? Well, we can redefine our terms; the mission is to spot those who aren’t quite up to scratch, to put them right. People inside the church are a far easier target than someone who never comes to church and maybe doesn’t want to. To ‘evangelise’ our sisters and brothers, to make sure they are believing correctly, is far more comfortable.

But whilst it’s scary to look beyond our own walls and explore ways of introducing people to Jesus, the alternative of becoming some kind of internally fixated club is even scarier.

And whilst I would not dispute the importance of right doctrine, ongoing discipleship and all those other disciplines of an intelligent and growing follower of Jesus, they are not things that necessarily draw people to Christ. Our call is to show Christ, to be Christ. And if we do that, not only are they drawn to Christ but we find that we are drawn to them.

So we’re going to try, in a small way, just as God tried when he sent his son. We know we’re not a perfect church, but it is more important that we show his love and grace to our community and the people we know, than put our energies into the club that is the church.

It’s important because we know that the destructive forces in our community, although powerful, are small and we know that life will conquer death, light will turn the darkness, love will conquer hatred.

So, back in Chelmsley Wood, we’re starting again, a different kind of sculpture, more an ‘interactive art piece’. This time we’ve put up a sign post that simply says ‘hope’. And when it gets pulled down, or broken, we’ll put it back up. And when it gets stolen, we’ll make another sign of hope, and we’ll keep doing it to show those who would destroy, that they will not win, and to show the wider community that although forces have gathered who would destroy, hope will win, even if sometimes we ourselves find it hard to believe.

And we will take the opportunities we can to talk with our community about the One who is the source of our hope.

Revd Neil Roberts, Chelmsley Wood Baptist Church.