Winter Newsletter 2018: Article

Dear Friends

St Andrew’s Mission Statement

 

St Andrew's aims to be a loving and inclusive Christian community that encourages everyone to follow Christ as disciples through being obedient to his Word and Spirit, and as a result taking God's love to the local community, to the poor, the needy and the world.

 

Why a mission statement? Most of us have a vague recollection that St Andrew’s has one, and on the rare occasion we refer to it we may remember that it sits on the front of each and every Sunday’s Pewleaflet. Most of us would probably be hard-pressed to recite it from memory. Aware, remembered, forgotten, ignored, this statement continues to speak to what is important to us, to how we see ourselves, and to whom we seek to be for God in our world.

Recently we agreed to a small, but deeply significant, change to this statement. This change is the addition of the word inclusive, and it has its roots in our Parish conversation at Volmoed in 2017. While this conversation acknowledged that on many levels we are both an inwardly and outwardly caring community at St Andrew’s, there is a need for us to become more conscious of the manner in which we are, and are not. It doesn’t matter how caring, diverse, or homogenous we perceive ourselves to be as a Christian community if we are not truly welcoming of each other, of the visitor, of the stranger in our midst.

A mission statement is normally written in the present tense, not because we think we’re “there”, but because we hear what we are called to be and we commit to changing our attitudes and actions in the now. Vernā Myers, a diversity consultant with a degree from Harvard Law, says, “Diversity speaks to who is represented in the [community], whereas inclusion speaks to who is respected, expected and integrated into [a community]”. This distinction is useful, as too often we fail to apply our minds to what it truly means to be either diverse or inclusive. There are a variety of Scripture verses in both Testaments that speak to an inclusive belonging: in the Old Testament it is often about the importance of welcoming the foreigner and treating them as native-born (Ezekiel 47:22); in the New Testament it is the renewing activity of God’s Holy Spirit at work, “In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all in all!” (Colossians 3:11 NRSV), and “… there is no male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28b NRSV). Some of the differences we deal with today are particular to our time, but we can extrapolate from and build on these principles that we find in the Biblical record.

While our Mzansi-mind often takes us to gender and race issues when we hear the words diversity and inclusivity, it is also about different generations, different personalities, different ability, different strengths and weakness, different opinion: difference on a variety of levels. The word inclusive is a dare to consider our unconscious bias towards difference, to become aware of and walk towards these biases, and not pretend that we are bias-free. To be inclusive is to see the attributes that define our differences and consciously embrace these, and in doing so deeply and fully welcome each other.

The decision to add the word inclusivity to our Mission Statement is the recognition that we can’t leave belonging to chance. We need to consciously foster belonging by creating opportunities for all who belong to – and visit – St Andrew’s to both know and experience that they are part of the whole.

And while we are a caring community, let us not take this for granted, realising that while it may be my experience it may not be yours; or while it may be our experience it may not be the visitor’s experience. Are we open to becoming more conscious of exploring how we create an environment where anyone, regardless of their differences, can be proud to belong and participate?

A recent Sunday collect, based on Ephesians 3:15, says,

Our Father, from whom every family on earth takes its name: help us to do your will that, as sisters and brothers of Christ, we may love  and serve you and one another; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God in glory everlasting. Amen

 

“… every family on earth …” is such a beautifully inclusive phrase, and the desire to “… love and serve you and one another …” speaks powerfully to the nature of our call as people of God.

So who do you respect, expect and include in your circle at St Andrew’s?

Blessings

Mark 

Sources:

Jude Foulston (24 April 2018), Tuesday Tip: Creating a Culture that Retains Diverse Talent www.tomorrowtodayglobal.com

Vernā Myers, How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly towards them;TEDx, Beacon Street