Dog-Collar Worker
Here's the folk wisdom: a pastor can't help their people make a difference in the secular marketplace unless they have worked in the secular marketplace. But folk wisdom ain't always right. Chris Ramsay has never done anything but church-paid work, but as a young curate he was influenced by Bishop Graham Dow who launched a 'Faith in Work' year in the Willesden Diocese. The Bishop made a point of visiting people at work, so Chris and his Vicar made an offer to their congregation that some of them, at least, couldn't refuse:
"If you'd like us to visit you, come and tell us."
Around a dozen did. So Chris shadowed a librarian for a day, sat alongside a tube driver - got to say "Mind the Gap" - spent time with a local authority social work manager, and helped an orange juice supplier to haul cases of the good stuff from truck to hotel kitchen. He learnt much about their work and their response to it - just how lonely a job it was, just how bored the tube driver was, just how much he would rather have been doing something else, just how trapped he felt in his mid-40s with no other track to pursue. What was the grand divine design in work like that?
He learnt just how physically tiring it is to lug cases of orange juice all day, and it gave him a new appreciation for people who worked all day and then still hauled themselves out to serve in the church in the evening.
He learned just how affirming it was to the people he had visited that he had shown the interest, taken the time. It didn't, he thinks, make much difference to his preaching, but it made a significant difference to his relationships. And to his attitude to his own job. He might not have been driving a Ferrari, but being a curate gave him a huge amount of flexibility and personal freedom.
Now that he is in Southall, he is still not driving a Ferrari, but finds himself in the unusual situation for a vicar of being better paid than most of his congregation. And as a white man of being the ethnic minority in an area that's 96% non-white. Indeed, one of his parishioners never has to speak English at work at all. Chris' predecessor turned the church around. With 70 adults and 20 children on a Sunday morning, it's now somewhat larger than most Anglican congregations. Chris sees his role as taking the people on to the next stage. Indeed, this year the church adopted a new mission statement: "Following Jesus Christ 24/7." It reflects their overall ethos:
* an emphasis on discipleship
* a clear commitment to Christ (as opposed to God which could easily be misinterpreted in a Hindu-Muslim context)
* a conscious desire to see faith to affect all of life.
Most people who'd been coming to St George's were devoted to Jesus, but had not seen how following Christ should or could make a difference, Monday to Saturday. This is what Chris is focusing on.
"When I arrived here, I soon realised that I needed to emphasise what holiness is. Holiness is a way of life not just for Sundays," he says. "I don't see Sunday worship as the pinnacle of our spiritual experience, but rather the fire in the boiler for the rest of our lives."
Chris knows the workplace is vital and a context for ministry - his wife, a former research scientist, and now a secondary school teacher, is a gifted workplace evangelist. But he is yet to deal with work directly and comprehensively in his teaching - the people are not yet ready and need first to understand the big picture. He has certainly seen that understanding growing as a number of his congregation no longer limit their church-related activities to Sunday, but have joined home-groups, begun to talk about their work in spiritual terms, and to ask for prayer for it.
All this may not seem spectacular to the external eye, but it represents a significant and vital shift in the church culture. Indeed, I wonder what might happen to our country if more churches were focused on envisioning and empowering their people to follow Jesus 24/7. It would be nice to find out.
Mark Greene
Comments
There are currently no comments for this article.
