I have always liked that line. It’s from one of my favourite songs of Dylans off one of my favourite albums. I remember as a youth that it was the tag line to one of those athena posters that used to be everywhere, this one had an image of a dandelion.
It came to mind after a conversation with our new soon-to-be-minister last night. Anne and I went round to their house to enjoy a very pleasant evening of beer, curry and chat. They seem to be a very nice family and I am sure we will be friends for many years to come (just as long as he doesn’t read this:-)
We were talking about the future a bit and moving up to the Meths buildings and he said something like “we have to make sure we keep BCLC when we move”. I know exactly what he meant by this, BCLC is a very positive part of our church and as such needs to be nurtured, cherished and enjoyed. BUT anyone who has read this site extensively will also realise that BCLC works because it is of it’s time and place. Remove the place or the time and it potentially becomes something else.
This led me on to think more generally about how churches (and this is not exclusively their problem) still persist in judging the success or failure of something by either numbers or longevity. A church group or event is successful if they geta ‘large’ number of people there or it lasts for a billion years (if it does the latter then the numbers can go down to single figures, you only need to satisfy one set of success criteria). We did the holiday club last week and the first thing I was asked was how many people came.
If, as is inevitable one day, BCLC ceases to be when we move churches then so be it. There is no shame in it. It will have served it’s useful purpose and died allowing something else to be born in it’s place (or another place).