All is safely gathered in

On the fourteenth of this month Overton Methodists celebrate Harvest, the time when we remember the fruitfulness of the land and God’s provision for our daily welfare.  The word harvest comes from an old English word meaning autumn and is associated with the gathering in of the crops to provide for the hardships of winter. If the ‘harvests’ were poor then survival through the winter was in jeopardy. The Bible also reminds us of the harvest of souls. Jesus connected the bringing in of the Kingdom with the harvest and the sending of labourers into the field as the work of mission.
This year’s  Methodist Conference debated the Statistics for Mission report. The debate made clear that there is indeed much life and health across the Connexion, but also that the trend of British Methodism is clearly downward overall. It is right to celebrate the considerable and varied growth found in some churches, but that does not excuse us from facing head on the challenges identified in that report of ageing and decreasing congregations.
The response that Conference endorsed was to renew the emphasis on apt and appropriate evangelism as “the main thing.” This was not to confuse engaging in evangelism because of falling numbers  with the gospel imperative to share the love of God with all. There is a connection between our health and our passion to share Good News, and, flourish or perish, we should refocus on and reimagine evangelism for our time: as one person put it recently, put the ‘E’ back in mission! Quentin Letts produced an interesting reflection on the current situation facing Methodism in his Radio 4 programme What's the point of..... You can listen to it here
As we enjoy the comfort of the familiar harvest rituals let us also be disturbed by the need both physical and spiritual that there is all around us.
The picture above shows the Badham’s sheep ‘safely gathered in’ at their new home in Devon.
(Some text adapted from Martyn Atkins’ pastoral letter) 

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