People of the Way #GA2016

Some of the congregations involved in Path of Renewal have been reflecting on this year's General Assembly and Heart and Soul theme: People of the Way.

This from Carol Anne Parker, minister at Alloa: Ludgate

How does the Path of Renewal allow you to explore your calling as 'People of the Way'?

It's not just buildings that make us static, it's minds too. We get used to doing things a certain way, and in the end don't think too much about them. And if we're honest perhaps we can admit that most of what we think of as innovation or doing differently is really just playing around with the edges. The Path of Renewal is at the very least about encouraging us to ask questions about all of that. And to ponder the frightening but ultimately freeing question, is there a more faithful way for us to be together as People of the Way? 

What excites you about the Path of Renewal?

You know, I don't want to get to retirement and find all I have to show is a tally of how many funerals I shared in or how many times I preached through the lectionary cycle or whatever. I want to laugh into older age, I want to chuckle at stories of daring, of risks taken, of helping each other up when things went wrong. I want to marvel at how folk who never thought of bringing their light to the church's door found faith for life simply because we were willing to be with them, really be with them, where they were. That's God's work. But the Path of Renewal might just help us along that way. That's what excites me. 

What challenges is the Path of Renewal helping you overcome?

The Path of Renewal is giving us a language to speak about why things are the way they are for mainline denominations in the West. This is by and large a time of decline for the church but that is not to say that people do not feel an itch to explore faith's questions. The fact remains, though, that people are not generally looking to the church to explore those questions. The Path of Renewal is helping us to understand the reasons this might be so. And to find ways to share our faith that resonate with people here and now.