2 F R OM T H E P R I NCI PAL MOOR E M AT T E R S S P R I NG 2 0 2 0
CONTENTS After the deluge ������������������������������������������������ 2-3 Building for the future ������������������������������� 4-5 Preparing for the future ������������������������������������������������������������������ 6-7
Around the world in many contexts ���������������������������������������������������������8-9
The joys and challenges of community under lockdown ��������12-13
Why not theological education? ������������������������������������������������������������ 10-11
Our lives are in God’s hands – Please Pray ������������������������������14-15 Events ������������������������������������������������������back cover
After the deluge Mark Thompson / Principal
2020 HAS SEEN US FACE ALMOST UNPRECEDENTED DISRUPTION AND DISLOCATION IN THE WAKE OF COVID-19.
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he world looks very different, just at the moment, from the way it looked even a year ago. What is more, we know that we are yet to feel the full weight of the consequences of what has happened and our response to it. The level of government intervention to enable us to survive from moment to moment has been huge, and there is already considerable anxiety about what will be left when that support is removed. What will the world look like in 2021 or 2022 when the pandemic is behind us? How will we survive the crippling debt we have incurred? What jobs will have gone forever? What will our churches look like? Will this new awareness of our vulnerability open a wide door for ministry or provide another reason for hardness of heart? One thing seems sure, we won’t just be carrying on from where we were before. Some things will have changed, perhaps forever. Change ought not to frighten us though, for two reasons. First and foremost, because we know what has not changed, and cannot change. We know that God’s declared and determination unchanging purpose is a God’s to rescue a people for sure anchor in the tumult himself has not changed of a changing world. and cannot change. Whatever happens around us, he is bringing all things forward towards that day when a multitude from every tribe, nation and language will be gathered around the throne, rejoicing in the salvation he has effected for them. God’s declared and unchanging purpose is a sure anchor in the tumult of a changing world. That is because God himself does not change and his character is constant.
Secondly, change ought not to frighten us because change is such a regular feature of the Christian life. The Christian life begins with change—a monumental, totally reorienting change. ‘God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.’ (Col 1:13) Our life in that kingdom continues to be characterised by change. Most often we speak about that aspect as ‘repentance’: turning our back on aspects of our old life and turning towards God and the new life he offers us. ‘Putting off’ and ‘putting on’, as the apostle Paul calls it. Indeed, we welcome change, since we are being conformed to the image of God’s son (Rom 8:29) and are being transformed ‘from one degree of glory to another’ (2 Cor 3:18). So we can look to the future with confidence, even though we know it will involve change, and even if some of those changes are things we would not choose for ourselves. We know that God is good, he has not abandoned us, and his wonderful and generous purpose will prevail in the end. We know that change is something God uses to further that purpose in us, through us and for us.
