The Crieff Fellowship gathered in large numbers this January against the backdrop of crisis in the Church in Scotland.
The Fellowship is meant to strengthen evangelical ministries in Scotland. In the light of the problems caused by the adoption of gay ministers within the national church, the addresses delivered by Ajith Fernando were balm to the soul.
All of grace
He had taken the theme of ‘Secrets of long term freshness in ministry’ and broke that down into four areas. From the depth of his own great experience of ministry in Youth for Christ and across many cultures, he shared gems of wisdom and practical application from the Scriptures. Ministry is all of grace was the predominant thread and from that came three strands: call to ministry is rooted in grace; grace brings joy and thanksgiving; grace and pain in ministry. He spoke of the spiritual and emotional battles in ministry where personal integrity is core, believing in the grace of God as the greatest gift in our lives is prime and where we always see service as nobility.
There was much to challenge the complacent. Our call remains the same, rooted in grace, but our delivery will surely change over time, in step with culture. We must stand down from leadership the moment our hearts cease to burn with passion for Christ, but that passion must be linked to kindness. Passion for the gospel includes being willing to pay the price of change, while never being diverted from the core message of the glorious gospel we deliver. The hurts we receive in ministry are inevitable and painful, suffering is normal, and we must, for ourselves and in our churches, deal with unhealed wounds. Maturity is the ability to combine joy with a broken heart (Romans 9).
The place of meditation
Maintaining freshness relies on meditating on grace, personal prayer and devotional Bible engagement. Feeding on the Word connects us to a communicating Father God, Scripture heals our wounds and truth is delightfully therapeutic. As evangelicals we need to rediscover the value and joy of absolute truth.
These sessions of wisdom were in addition to an address from the current chairman of Crieff, Jerry Middleton, who spoke of ‘Sustaining grace in collapsing times’. Dealing with Acts 11.19-26 he unpacked the ministry of Barnabas and emphasised the supreme need for loving fellowship around biblical truth and gospel partnership, whatever our personal circumstances or church affiliation.
Hugely challenging
Mez McConnell shared his testimony with us, as did one of the converts of his ministry in the housing scheme of Niddrie, Edinburgh. Mez has launched 20/20, his vision to establish gospel churches in 20 housing schemes in Scotland where the urban poor are completely deprived of gospel witness. He was hugely challenging to our middle-class, intellectual, comfortable ministry and culture, very engaging and funny, but demanding a response of supportive prayer and investment where real people are suffering and in great need. His challenge to us was to get back on the front line, if we really are the Calvinists we say we are.
The evenings, given over to prayer, were sombre with the weight of the needs as reported from Wales, from Ireland and from many in Scotland. There was urgency, a longing for God’s power to be revealed once more across our blighted land and a longing for renewal.The Lord was with us and we left with much to give thanks for.
