The call to share in God’s mission has been a key challenge in churches across the denominations over recent years. National and regional initiatives have been promoted. People have been appointed and tasked with making churches more missional. However, for many small rural congregations this often feels uncomfortable, if not threatening. Given some appropriate support, it can become a joy.

A former colleague of mine, the late Revd Canon Marion Mort, said these words at a conference called Making Christ Known. I have never forgotten them:

‘Mission is one and it is God’s mission. We are invited to share in his work of reconciliation, and that reconciliation was achieved by the blood of the cross. We come therefore as Christ’s Ambassadors, delivering the message of the King in the language of those to whom we are sent. It is therefore about moving on from where we are, or even sometimes going back to the community from which we came.’

In his inaugural address as President of the Methodist Conference in Southport in 2015, Revd Steve Wild challenged each Methodist church in Britain to aim to bring just one person to faith in the coming year, saying:

‘Let’s take God seriously. I want to help us in the task of evangelism, to put mission on the agenda and give our churches an aim to win a person for Christ.’

Almost every day we are likely to find ourselves asking someone how they are. In many situations this is little more than a polite greeting, but sometimes the question is asked sincerely. I was brought up to understand that ‘How do you do?‘ was not an invitation to pour out a list of all that is wrong in our lives. However, between friends it can be a genuine invitation to share personal information. In such circumstances I sometimes feel prompted to offer to pray for that person; I am no longer surprised that the offer is often well received.