On the 25th of May, 1961, President Kennedy stood in front of the US Congress and made a hugely significant announcement. He proposed the Apollo Program, a national goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to earth by the end of the 1960s. This aim wasn’t realised until July 1969, many years after President Kennedy himself had died. There were problems and setbacks, including the loss of the entire crew of Apollo 1 following a cabin fire during a pre-launch test. When Neil Armstrong eventually took the first step of a human being on the surface of another world, an estimated five hundred million people were watching on TV 384,000 miles away.

This Mission began as just a big dream. At the time, only one American had even flown into space, and NASA had not yet sent an astronaut to orbit the earth. Even some NASA employees doubted that the ambitious goal could be met. But nevertheless, plans were made, strategies formulated, and schemes drawn up. New technologies not dreamt of when Kennedy made his original announcement had to be brought into existence before success could happen.

Even dreams that might seem impossible can inspire. When they capture the imagination of a group of people there is a common purpose that not only draws them together, but also drives them on.

As the church, as the people of God, we often don’t think big enough. The Church of England has as its strap-line ‘A Christian Presence in every community’. It’s a great phrase, but can sometimes seem a little static. Yes, it is about being Christians in the places we live and work, but there’s more to it than that. If we are going to see our towns and villages, our cities counties and our country challenged by God, then we need to be a people of action as well.

It may need fresh ways of being church and new ways telling our friends and families the good news of Jesus Christ, but I believe that God encourages us to think big. To dream his dreams. As we move into 2015, my prayer for us is that we would see big dreams realised and a nation won for Christ our Saviour.

(January 2015)