Les Henson
The church today faces many difficulties both within and beyond the confines of the believing community. These are exciting and challenging times to be the people of God, for we live in a world where people are devoid of meaning, searching for spirituality and craving for love and compassion. The church’s loss of power and prestige is not an obstacle to its witness to the world but an advantage. Because a humbler, more human and less hierarchical church is better placed to incarnate itself into the new world in which we now live. It is also better positioned to witness the values and significance of the gospel of the kingdom, provided it does so with a greater sense of humility and less arrogance than it has done in the past. In re-engaging the world, we must rediscover the importance of dialogue and the primacy of love while recognising that there are no easy answers nor a quick fix. We must discover the questions and problems that people are struggling with and become both so excited and willing to spend our lives, as the people of God, in endeavouring to respond to them. Not as those who have all the answers or solutions. Instead, as those prepared to walk and journey with them on the road of discovery and healing.