Fortunately, all of us have survived the risks of childhood, and most of us have the hope that we are growing old gracefully. Grace is the undeserved love of God. In truth, we have to acknowledge that those precious moments when we experience the love of God in our lives must be through Grace. For, notwithstanding our commitment to the church, we have done very little for God.

Society strives to protect us. We need our old age pension and our free health care. We have spent our lives contributing to society and we will go on doing so, so we deserve the protection of society. Yet society has also surrounded us with a cocoon of false confidence. Wealth has given us the education of schools, and the protection of housing and hospitals; yet society is no longer interested in being educated by God's Word or protected by His love. The successes of Western democracies have created a strange paradox. We can afford things that are forefathers would never have dreamed of, but although many have done so, we really cannot afford to let go of God.

September 11th has revealed our vulnerability to a form of terrorism that is hard to understand and even harder to grapple with. Our experience of the wars in Afghanistan, Kosovo and against Saddam Hussein have shown us that the military strength of America has enabled us to bring each war to an end without much impact on our personal lives. But this time there is greater unease. We sense that the forces afoot that are trying to stir up Arab hatred will succeed even if a war with Iraq has a swift conclusion. It matters little that the majority of Christians and Muslims have no taste for either terrorism or war. The aim of the terrorists is to deepen the divide between Islam and Christianity and if a war achieves this, they will be succeeding in their aim.

The cocoon of false confidence that society creates within us will make us think that it will all pass us by. But it won't! and where will we stand when the growing divide between Islam and Christianity becomes apparent? Will we remain neutral? Or will we join in with the increasing number of Christians who are striving to deepen their relationship with Jesus and their understanding of Islam? Both are essentially missionary faiths, but currently Islam is the fastest growing faith in the world.

We are prepared to give our time to the church but we are reluctant to be involved in mission, because we tend to have a false perception of it. We think it is for specialists who have to take on full time training and often have to learn a foreign language. This is not so! Jesus chose ordinary people who used a local dialect to communicate their understanding of Jesus' message.

When we consider Jesus' explanation of the parable of the Sower, it becomes clear why Jesus instructed his disciples to take no goods or money with them when he sent them on their first mission. Jesus isn't saying that mission cannot be done with money. What he is saying is that mission must be done through charity, and worries about money and material things will hamper mission.

Our church has just come through a period where worries about funding our second stage of development have been resolved. It is to the church credit that it was prepared to continue with stage 2 even if no money was forthcoming from the lottery fund. The money is in, and the alterations are underway. What next? Will the world's attraction with material things provide a distraction for us? Or will you accept the challenge of mission, which, led by Islam, is the world's new agenda.

You may still feel that this is not right for someone of your age or personality, but it is not as difficult as you imagine, and the cost of avoiding it may be incalculable.

I said at the beginning "I would like you all to feel that you belong to a body that tells you what you can do, and you like doing it." This body that you belong to is our church and its future role is mission. While not forgetting the past, please help to create a new future and join in the efforts our ministers are making to provide courses designed to make us more effective in mission and outreach. And do not forget that the Amos Scripture Care Trust is also involved in mission. Its volunteers really enjoy their work and we are always looking for new volunteers.

Bruce Crerar, September 2002