Mike's Study Journal

Whoever Believes

2012-01-23T14:51:00.001Z

Over the weekend I read two articles (both in the same magazine supplement) both saying the same thing "we tried organised religion and we didn't like it - so we gave up" one was Paul McKenna (hypnotist and self-improvement guru) and the other was Anne Rice (Author). Both had different reasons, but the train of thought was the same. Both in many ways were seekers, both engaged, and then retreated (and in Anne's case, came back and retreated again).

Anne Rice was the longer interview, and the thing that stuck from her was that she loved Jesus, but did not like the way the church was so biased. In fact it seems that for her there are more people the church excludes, for more info see her wiki entry. Now we could easily state that she is wrong and that her criticisms are unfair, but we also need to look at ourselves and ask ourselves the question, is there any truth in this?

When Jesus turfed out the money lenders, he was doing more than overturning the financial system, he was overturning a temple court system that qualified people by race, gender and age. The temple court where a series of courts, leading to the Holy of Hollies at the centre. The closer you were the more exclusive the entry requirements. So the money lenders stood between those courts, and they were like modern day bouncers and if you were not on the list you were not getting in. They prevented non-Jews, they prevented women, they prevented the sick and the unclean and they prevented children. Only clean Jewish men got through. Yet after the he had over turned the tables, he healed the sick (unclean), meanwhile children came and sang to him!! Later Paul would express it theologically - there is no Greek nor Jew, Slave nor free, man nor woman all are one in Christ Jesus.

Jesus came so that all whoever believes in him may have eternal life. If there is any hint of exclusivity, if anyone feels through gender, sexuality, race etc that Jesus is not for them, then we have got the whole Gospel wrong.

The grass withers and the flowers fall

2012-01-10T16:24:00.001Z

So David Cameron has made it clear that the 50% tax rate for the highest earners is temporary, it is very much his intention that his friends in the city will get their way. This of course is to promote growth in the economy.

It is strange that in a time of tightening belts, in a time when the Government is reviewing how it pays Disability Living Allowance, so that the most vulnerable have to worry whether they will still have an income, the Government is intent on ensuring that the richest are kept happy.

Those rich friends of Cameron include Sir Philip Green, who advices him on how to be more financially efficient, a man who just a few years ago paid himself a £1.2billion dividend, who has consistently avoided paying the correct amount of tax, while paying his workers the smallest amount possible and utilising sweatshops with dubious practises to ensure the goods he sells get the maximum profit.

Or maybe it is his friends at RBS, a bank that was bailed out just a few years back, and where they are about to announce 5,000 job losses but a the same time John Hourican, the head of the investment bank will receive a nice £4.5 million bonus, nice!

On Sunday I am preaching on James 1:9-18, although we may think that the rich have it all their own way, James tells us something different:

⁹ Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. ¹⁰ But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. ¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

They may think they have it all their own way, but it is the humble who will rejoice, it is the poor who will take their high position. The simple fact is that the Rich may have it their own way, but it will not always be so. But for now, we must congratulate movements such as the occupy movements, that challenge such aspects of greed and injustice, and ask ourselves some important questions as to why the church has not taken the lead, and why like in Bristol, the church is actively trying to remove the protesters?

Here goes...: A Big Christianity - beyond Cameron and Chaos

2011-12-23T13:38:00.000Z

Here goes...: A Big Christianity - beyond Cameron and Chaos: It’s taken me a while, but I’ve been thinking a bit about David Cameron’s recent foray into religion. It received a bit of a mixed reaction ...

Chessels Small Group: Churchland Community Carols Photos

2011-12-22T15:53:00.000Z

Chessels Small Group: Churchland Community Carols Photos

Refusing to let the world corrupt you

2011-12-20T16:53:00.000Z

My morning reading yesterday included this quote:

Desmond Tutu, a South African bishop and leader in the movement to end apartheid, said, “I don’t preach a social gospel; I preach the gospel, period. The gospel of our Lord -Jesus Christ is concerned for the whole person. When -people were hungry, -Jesus didn’t say, ‘Now is that political or social?’ He said, ‘I feed you.’ Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.”

I really like this quote, so often we limit the good news to just salvation, but the good news is so much more, it is so much deeper and bigger. But we have limited it and privatised it, and the result is that we have reduced it. I read today that some people think the church is in decline because we have not taken seriously the role of the nation of Israel, but I think that the church is in decline in the west because we have not taken seriously the whole Gospel.

One of the verses that I think reflects where we have gone so badly wrong is James 1:27

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. (NLT)

We have become very good at the avoiding being corrupted, but we are very poor at the first part. The passage is about engaging with the world around us, while remaining somehow uncorrupted, but often we have focused on avoiding corruption by avoiding engaging with people.

There was a recent challenge by Fusion was this "Being a Christian when 99% of your friends don't know Jesus is tough. Does it lead to compromise?", while the challenge is correct, my problem is that I don't know many church going Christians, whatever age, who have 99% non-christian friends. We avoid corruption by avoiding engaging.

But the verse in James is clear we have a responsibility to engage with the weakest in our society, it is part of our role as gospel people. Last week there was an article in the church times based in research by the Church Urban Fund that showed that the clergy and the laity had differing views on the causes and the effects of poverty. Tim Bisset the CEO of CUF said this of the findings

“Our hope and vision is that every church, in every community, will get involved in tackling poverty in this country, but for this to happen there needs to be much greater awareness of what it means to be poor.”

In a week where the Prime Minister has come out and said that the church needs to find it's voice and show that faith has a place, maybe it is time to remember what the true religion talked about in James 1:27 actually is

Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world (The message)

The first Evangelist

2011-12-12T13:35:00.001Z

If you think that Jesus was an uncontroversial character, if the only image of Jesus is the meek and mild Jesus, then John chapter 4 turns this image on its head.

The early part of this passage is controversial in itself, Jesus meeting a woman, on his own, in public, a woman who has such a bad reputation that she had to go get water during the hottest part of the day, a woman who had admitted she had slept around a bit. Yet Jesus meets her, spends time with her and ultimately allows her to know exactly who he is (John 4:25-26)

But it does not end there Jesus sends her off, and bearing in mind how little she knows, she goes to tell the people of her village who Jesus was, and they come, meet with him and they too seem to enter into a relationship with him. Meanwhile, those that have followed Jesus for awhile Jesus seems to rebuke, as they seem to preoccupied with other things, rather than getting on with the important work of harvesting.

This seems to ring all sorts of bells with me. I have spent the morning with a group of homeless guys, on several occasions they had conversations about Jesus. One of them is having some problems, but the answer according to a number of the others was for him to turn to Jesus, and to pray. In fact their simplicity is at odds with so many established church goers, who would of course suggest prayer, but they may not have been sold bold, and in some cases so rude in the way they said it.

Sometimes we build up evangelism into something it isn't, we make it into an activity, we design programmes, we rehearse what we are going to say, we make "strategic friendships" none of which actually do any good. We also make it into something that we need to be expert in, we need to know all the scriptures, we need to have every answer, we need read complicated books on apologetics, we need to win the argument. In many cases we give up and like the disciples, we allow our focus to shift into other areas.

But the woman at the well just met Jesus, and told people, she then introduced people to him, and they met him for themselves. That is all we need to do, to tell people about the Jesus we know.

So where is the controversy in the last bit, Jesus spokesperson was a woman, an adulterous woman, he revealed to her a truth about himself that would get him crucified. The people she went to were the Samaritans, Jews would rather take a detour miles out there way than go through Samaria, they came to Jesus and became his followers, Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, the Jewish Saviour, being followed by a group hated by the Jews. Wow!!

The full passage is here - John 4:25-42 why not spend sometime reading and ask the question "who am I in this story?"

Καὶ ὁ Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν

2011-12-08T11:51:00.001Z

Do you have a favourite Bible verse? John 1:14 is mine. If I was to get a tattoo, this would be the verse I would choose.

The question is why do I like it so much? It is simple, I love what it says about God. It marks the Christian understanding of God as radically different from any other religion. It gives us insight into the Mission Dei. It allows God to respond to our suffering? It demonstrates who Jesus was and is. I love it!

It is the kind of verse that I can read and read and read and still be overawed by. The idea that God's spoken word becomes flesh and lives as a man, dwells with us. Genesis tells us that God "said" and it happens. Here again God speaks and his word becomes flesh. It becomes Jesus, and what does Jesus do, what does Immanuel, God with us do, he dwells.

I love the word dwell, it is more than just a passing moment, it is deep rooted connection. My experience is that many Christians see this world as momentary, not something to dwell in, but to get through, and to get do it with as little scars as possible. I do look forward to the day when Jesus comes again, but my main concern is doing what Jesus did and dwelling in it, being salt and light wherever I can.

When we think of Advent we think of the God that comes, the Word becoming flesh, when we think of Christmas we think of the God with us, the Incarnated God, dwelling with us. This is why this verse sums up this time of year for me. Our response should be to be better followers of the God that dwells.

The Almighty God

2011-11-10T08:07:00.000Z

I have had to do a few funerals during my time at college. The hardest part for me is the Eulogy. If you don't know the person at all, as in three cases, trying to capture the essence of the person through a few brief facts can be quite hard. I must admit that in my first funeral, where the widow was very un-forthcoming I struggled to paint a picture of the man.

Sometimes we can know all the facts about people, be absolutely on the money in terms of the details, but somehow miss something inherent and vital. On Sunday morning I was forced, by circumstances out of my control, to not be at home, and opted to go to a church I have not been to for awhile. There were some familiar faces and it was nice.

But I had a problem with the worship, every song was about the might of God, the power of God, all the prayers started with "almighty God", as if that was his only title. During one song, a new one, I gave up. I turned to the person next to me and said I am struggling with this. He said, but all the words are Biblical, what is the problem?

He was right all the words were Biblical, there was nothing wrong, but it was like watching a film in black and white, which you had previously seen in colour.

There was nothing wrong in seeing God as "almighty", but the problem was his power his might left him looking very distant, very other. Now again God is distant, God is other, but God deliberately chose to become weak, in order for us to become no longer strangers but children.

The other problem is that God was co-opted into our understanding of power, the theology of God here was that the only thing we need to know about God was his power, and the way he acted mightly. God did win a victory, God did destroy the chords of sin, he made a path through death, but not by fighting power with power, but by subverting power. He used the path not of war but of the cross.

In my last post of the feminisation of the church I said:

Poor understanding of what worship is and means. All those who want to be worship song writers should study theology as much as they study music.

This is another area where we need to be careful, yes our worship acknowledges the greatness of God, but if this is all we see of him, then he becomes distant, he becomes other, we lose the fullness of God and he become one-dimensional, like an idol. Taken to an extreme (which this incident was not), it is not the worship of God, but worship of an idol we have created.

Feminisation of Church Debate...

2011-11-03T13:44:00.002Z

A few days ago Lee and Baz on twitter posted this comment :-

Listening to a worship song that is unbelievably feminine! 'kiss me with your mouth God, romance me' +we wonder why no blokes r in church :(

This has sparked a debate that I feel has been rumbling on for a long time. The "Jesus is my boyfriend" style of worship is one we have become very familiar with, romantic love songs offered up to Jesus. Michael Frost in his book Exiles (published in 2007) said this

Is it appropriate to express our devotion to God in such romanticized, sexualized, and I dare to say it, feminized ways

I have also heard, and talked with Carl Beech on this very issue. There is nothing new here. So I read Vicky Beeching's blog post on the subject with interest. She is a female worship leader, and it was interesting to see her point of view, and I agree with much of what she says. I am not a man who like hunting and fishing. I would not be happy singing songs that reflected a more "manly" approach. We see in the Bible David who wept, Jesus who wept; Song of songs written by a man. It is all there. Do we have to pander to a distorted view on manhood, I would not like that either. Men throughout history have been artists, poets, writers, musicians, all of which I would hate to be called unmanly.

I recently read of Jamaican boys who were dropping out of school, or not doing as well as they should, because to do well academically was seen as feminine. This may even explain why young Afro-Caribbean boys are often failing in British schools. Gangs, violence and money are more manly pursuit, apparently.

I also wonder whether women enjoy singing the songs that we are talking about. The Bible encourages fidelity, but it is okay to have a love-affair with Jesus. I have been a big fan of CVM over the years, and love the fact that taps into something so very needed. But why do men have breakfasts and go on boys events, while Christian women still have Bible studies? As my wife asked me recently, am I allowed to enjoy breakfast too?

As noted many Christian "love" songs are written by men and led by men. So to criticise the church as being feminised is ridiculous (especially when in many churches women are still not allowed to preach in mixed sex congregations). The problem is not feminisation, but poor theology. Poor understanding of what worship is and means. All those who want to be worship song writers should study theology as much as they study music.

I think we need to consider that Paul in Galatians told us that we are all one under Christ and that somehow are worship needs to reflect this. We do not need to swing the other way and have songs about hammering and DIY (my wife does the DIY in our house as it is) but we also need to weed out songs that in my opinion are both theologically weak, and musically bland.

However, people are not going to start coming just because we start to get the worship right. Only when our worship inspires us to see the world as God sees it, where sharing our food with the hungry is perceived as worship, where fighting against injustice is seen as worship, where seeing the beauty in and through our care for the environment is seen as worship, eating a breakfast with some friends in a local cafe is worship, playing a sport to the very best of our ability is worship, where telling a friend about a loving saviour is seen as worship, then the church might actually change the world through worship.

Spare the Rod

2011-11-03T12:31:00.003Z

Don't often blog on here about Cricket, but recent events have forced me to consider some things. Three Test match cricketers are currently serving sentences in prison for spot fixing (or rather conspiracy to cheat and conspiracy to obtain and accept corrupt payments).

It is easy for the spotlight to fall on the clean cut captain or the young and impressionable Amir. But I would like to consider the case of Asif. I have followed his career for a number of years. He is one of the most talented players of his generation. Never a "fast" bowler, he used guile to induce false shots, he was a highly intelligent bowler, but sadly not so intelligent off the field.

Always a subject of controversy because of his off field antics. He tested positive for steroids twice, was caught with recreational drugs in Dubai. But was never fully punished. The PCB seemed to find ways of banning him, and then as quickly reversing those bans. He led a a charmed life, and probably felt he could get away with anything. No wonder he was central to the spot fixing saga. He should have found himself punished severely for drug related offences, but instead walked away scott free on each occasion. Now he finds his career is in tatters, and he faces the next six months of his life in an English prison.

Whoever spares the rod hates their children,
but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them

I recently read that Richard Dawkins interpreted the passage to say that the Bible agrees with corporal punishment. I don't think it does, I think that it can be interpreted culturally, to mean any form of punishment, the principle is more important than the practice and that is that love sometimes means discipline, because without it worse things can follow.

This applies to Asif, from what I can see, he kept getting reprieved, but had he received full punishment early, then maybe he would not be in this situation now. We can all learn from this story. Discipline is good for us, it is loving, it does not mean a physical rod, but it can mean some for of punishment that hurts and makes people think.

Become an answer to prayer

2011-11-02T20:49:00.000Z

At a meeting a few weeks back we were talking about releasing some money to answer a request from a group that needed some help financially. We talked about it for a bit, and although it was possible for us to help, it was decided not to proceed. One member summed up the next step when she said "let us pray for them to get the money they need"

The problem is that I can guarantee that lots of people are probably praying, but how many have decided that maybe it is there role to be the answer to those prayers.

It is easy to be the person to pray, but sometime real faith means not praying but becoming the answer to a prayer. In many ways those answers are little miracles, they are little moments when God is doing something, when Heaven touches Earth. What a privilege!

Sometimes it can be a little gesture, a phone call out of the blue, a cheque in the post, a meal cooked and delivered. Sometimes it can be so small we think about and think again. But maybe it is God's prompt, maybe you are the answer to someones prayer.

We often think they we are not making a huge difference, we have not solved world poverty, seen revival in our local area, but maybe we are aiming to high. Jesus described the Kingdom as like a mustard seed, or yeast, or salt, maybe it is the small thing that may make a big difference.

So what are you waiting for, why not resolve to do the next crazy idea that comes into your head, why don't you become the answer to someones prayer?

How can we meet Jesus today?

2011-10-06T10:39:00.001+01:00

Some people might say you meet him in a church service, or a big conference; some might say that you meet him through the Bible. Many argue that we should be preparing for his bodily return at any moment. I read a quote yesterday "if you want to meet Jesus, you will find him in the urban poor".

It made me think, we strive to meet Jesus, we strive to hear him, to obey him, however we have so often missed his words which tells us how we will get to meet him, daily if we want. But only if we are prepared to step out of our comfort zones.

In Jim Wallis' book "God's politics" Jim talks about how many of the Americans Church goers he meets, when asked about the poor, will quote John 12:8, Mark 14:7, Matt 26:11 that the poor will always be with you. We assume that this means that there will always be poor people. However, Wallis argues that this was not about the status of the poor, one we should just accept, but it was about the proximity of the disciples to the poor. If you read the context, Jesus was talking about his presence amongst them physically, he was talking about the disciples remaining close to the poor, physically close.

I love Matt 25:32-46 because Jesus, just before he heads to Calvary, explains to his disciples exactly how they can continue to meet with him, by feeding the hungry, giving water to thirst, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked and visiting the prisoners. This is how we can meet Jesus.

But so often we do this by proxy, a direct debit covers the hungry and thirsty, strangers are welcomed if they step through a church building, charity shops are donated to and we can write letters in support of people who are imprisoned unjustly. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, and I do all of them. But they lack the personal, sacrifice element.

Proximity to the poor, "the poor will always be among you" as John is also translated. Are they among us, do we share our food with them, do they sit at our table, do we search our cupboards to clothe someone with our best, not our cast off, have we ever visited a prison? I am not saying I do all these things, but next time we want to meet Jesus, maybe it is time to think differently about where we look.

No such thing as a free lunch...

2011-10-03T10:27:00.000+01:00

Channel 4 have a new comedy drama about the lives of students living together for the first time called "Fresh Meat". In the first episode Joe Thomas' character Kingsley meets a girl in a pub, and thinks that things are leading somewhere. But it turns out that she is part of a weird religious group, and only interested in saving him, rather than anything else.

As Students head off to Universities, many will be enticed by the offers of free lunches that churches are laying on. Many will enjoy the free lunch and move on. These serve two purposes though the first is to enable students of all backgrounds to come into the church and perhaps come to know Jesus though it, but crucially the second is to find those existing students who may be looking for a church and get them to come along to that church rather than another church.

It could be said to be a very cynical ploy to get students both Christian and not-yet Christian to become part of that particular church.However it is labelled there is an agenda.

I have just spent the morning doing a free breakfast for the homeless in Bedminster. Food is offered and prayer and counselling is always available, but there is not an intention to get people into church. The idea is simply that through the provision of food people may have their "daily bread", go away full and warm, if they talk about faith (which they often do) then we will listen and engage, but the primary aim is not to make converts.

Is there a difference I wonder, is an agenda free lunch better than one that comes with an agenda? Can a free meal ever be truly free of an agenda?

In Matthew 25 we are told that the sheep and the goats are divided and the basis of that division is how they treated the poor, because that is how they have treated Jesus. So Jesus says "when you saw me hungry and fed me". Students for all their needs are not hungry, certainly not in the first few weeks of term, they may think they are, but they will at that point have enough money for a meal. I wonder if, and this is me wondering aloud, more energy should be spent feeding those who are truly hungry? Whether all the food purchased and passed out among students to entice them into the church should be better spent on feeding those who may not eat at all today?

What do we teach our young people about the church, if we say that the offer of free meals come with an agenda? You may say that they are spiritually hungry, and could argue that physical food is the path to spiritual food, but I don't see that in Matthew 25.

Would it not be better if we encouraged students rather than to take free food that is on offer, but to give food, to share food with those who really do not have enough food for the day? I do not have the answer to this, as I said I am wondering aloud, all comments welcome.

God the economist

2011-09-29T09:22:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I was involved in a conversation on facebook. It was about how wecan encourage Student Mission. But a few people posted and things shifted alittle. One of the contributors said that we should hire Youth and Studentworkers not based upon age, but on ability, referring to the fact that mostYouth Workers are probably not much older than the youths they are serving. Which I could not disagree with.

Then he said that Pastors should take a pay cut, so that better wages couldbe offered to Youth Workers, which would mean you get better qualitycandidates. I have two objections to this, one which I felt I should counteract in the discussion. I pointed out that I was a pastor and that my £9k a yearplus housing would not leave much more room for a pay cut, and that if thechurch wanted to pay people better then they need to be as generous withsupporting mission activities at home, as we often are with activities acrossthe world (please notice the use of the word "as" rather than"instead").

But the other aspect bothered me more and has troubled me. Why do wecontinue to think that business practice should work in every context of churchlife? So if you want the best MD/CEO you have to be prepared to pay the bigfigures ergo if you want the best youth workers you pay them more, if you wanta better quality of minister - you pay them more. This is business practiceentering a world of calling.

Now I would not object to better pay, but the pay packet is not the reason Ido what I do. There is a burning sense of call, it sits in me, and I cannotignore it. Like Jonah I ignored it for awhile, because the sacrifices were sogreat, but I could not continue like that. The reality is that better moneywould not encourage the best, those that are committed to doing it despite thesacrifices, those that want to do it even when you look at your pay slip andwonder how the bills are going to get paid. Better pay would encourage thosewho looked at it as an easy option.

People going into Ministry - pastoral, missionary, youth, student etc notbecause of they pay, but despite it.

The funny thing is that we still trust in business to solve all ourproblems. So despite the fact that reckless businessmen (bankers) caused therecession we entered in 2008, we still trust them to bail us out. The future isgrowth; apparently, during the political conferences all the parties seemobsessed on ways to stimulate growth. Business economics is based continualunstoppable growth, leading to greater profits, leading higher dividends,leading to happy shareholders. Big businesses do not care about the customers,they care about their stakeholders, they care about the faceless investors,they multitude of shareholders. They swallow up the opposition, in order to becomebigger and bigger fish in their pool, their employees are just a resource(Human resources is a disturbing phrase), they will switch and squeeze suppliers, transfer local jobsto where the can manufacture cheaper, force people at the bottom of the chainto work for long hours, for as low a pay as possible. I just don't get why thechurch is so keen to follow the model.

As I said it would be nice to be paid more, but I don't think that modelwill work. But the model the Bible gives us is much better but so much harder:

²³ When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. ²⁴ Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵ Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
²⁶ Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?”
²⁷ Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
²⁸ Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!”
²⁹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God ³⁰ will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.” (emphasis added)

"it has been found difficult and left untried"

2011-09-23T09:33:00.001+01:00

I was fascinated this week by an article on the Baptist News sweep (an email that comes from the Baptist Union summarising the news and linking to articles) one of the stories was from the Daily Express, not my usual reading, about the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2, Jeremy is a practicing Christian and wanted to to play a Hymn on the radio as part of a phone in on favourite Hymns. He decided it would be best to get permission, in case he offended anyone. (full story here)

This of course created some controversy and the paper turned to that bastion of common sense, Anne Widdicombe, a Daily Express Columnist, to make a statement, and this was what she said:

This is a Christian country. I don’t see why he would need to seek special permission to play a hymn on the radio. Jeremy Vine is an experienced presenter and if he thought it was appropriate to play a hymn on the radio, then it was almost certainly appropriate

Now I fully agree with the last part, but I would like to challenge the first thing she said; "This is a Christian country", but simply asking - is it, and has it ever been one? You may argue that we have a state church and that is Christian, the majority of people would still consider themselves to be nominal Christian, and all of that is true. But I want to ask whether this nation has ever been truly a Christian country.

This week I preached on the Beatitudes in Matthew. The essence of my sermon was "there must be more than this", and I looked at the upside down Kingdom of Heaven. I talked about this as not a postponed reality, but one we pray into being every time we say the Lords Prayer and "on Earth as in Heaven". The Beatitudes with it's good news for the poor, meek, mourning etc. is what the Kingdom looks like. A truly Christian country would reflect this.

The problem is that the established church has been handicapped by its role within the institution. They became the enforcers of a morale code that kept people in order. But at no point did the church adequately challenge the nature and structure of society. The fact the people at the bottom of society remained there, and those at the top remained there. Nothing changed, and the church maintained that change by being complicit.

Thanks to Post-Christendom the church is no longer perceived to have that role (and in many ways the formal nature needs to cease ASAP), consequently we are now free to do what we were meant to do, challenge the order of society, and question why things remain as they are. Why the poor in spirit remain poor, why mourners are not comforted, why the meek inherit nothing, why the merciful are ignored and the peacemakers are seen as trouble makers? The fact is that we are not a Christian country, and although we may have been in name, we were never one in any other way.

To quote G.K.Chesterton:

The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried

£490 Million

2011-09-04T09:55:00.002+01:00

The football transfer deadline passed this week, with a total of £490million changing hands; in the process a number of footballers, agents and hangers-on got a lot richer.

Now I love sport, I spent Wednesday at New Road in Worcester watching a county game, I go to as many Quins games as I possibly can, and can get quite obsessed by big events like the Olympics, Wimbledon and the Ryder Cup. But Football has got me down for years.

To be honest I find watching many games dull, because most teams seem fearful to attack. But other aspects come into the game that I hate. The haranguing of referees every time they can, diving, faking injury. Then there is the off field behaviour which the tabloids love, and I just find upsetting.

But the money side is even more appalling. The fact is that most Premiership clubs run at a loss, yet players wages go up and up. The players complain that they are only getting in one week, what most fans would earn in five years. Meanwhile the average fan has to take out a loan each season just to cover the cost of the season ticket, free games on TV are rare and people have to pay through the nose to get to see the games on TV, or venture down the pub. Yet we continue to pay, we continue to buy the red tops papers that have all the gossip, we continue to put players on a pedestal, that in many cases they do not deserve. They latest SKY advert has a man crying as his team win or lose, I have watched many Cricket/Rugby games, played a lot of Cricket games, but it has never meant that much that I would cry over it!

Football is no longer a local game, a game of the people. Clubs are owned by multi-million pound investors who either see them as toys, or financial cash cows. Fans chant owners names, as if they were players, but what loyalty do any of the big name owners, or players have to the fans? The other week I saw an Arsenal recruitment van in Bristol city centre, as if Bristol does not have two big local clubs that need local support.

The problem is the footballers are living in a different world from the rest of us, they live in bubbles, they are offered up as role models, and people young men/women can aspire to be. They are all part of the fame culture, but unlike many of the X-factor wannabes Footballers do have talent.Young girls are encouraged rather than to find their own path in life, to marry one and get all the stuff they would ever need (as long as they are prepared to take them back when they "stray").

The £490 million spent is in contrast to many people who will have to choose this winter between heating and eating. We as Christians are told to stand up at injustice, yet I very rarely hear comment on this from the Church. We are complicit, we too support our teams, banter about football at Men's breakfasts, wear the t-shirts, is it time we stopped and started to say no?

Daniel 1 and the implications for student mission

2011-08-26T20:21:00.001+01:00

With many students becoming more certain of where they are going to University, and more students going this year than ever (thanks to tuition fees), I thought it would be good to do an exegesis of Daniel 1, which has so much to say to people travelling to University for the first time.

Israel has been taken into Exile by the Babylonian empire. Daniel is picked out among the people as being of good character, on merit (v4) as is given the opportunity to study the language and the literature of the Babylonians, the period of training will last three years (v5). Daniel is not alone and has a community of people around him, for who this is a similar experience (v6). During this process his very identity is challenged, by the change of is name to a Babylonian name (v7), there is also some who argue that he would have also had to become a Eunuch, which is interesting if you read Deuteronomy 23:1, so he would have be made ritually unclean if this was the case.

But although Daniel was able to accept some things, he drew the line with regards to others (v8) and refused to eat food and drink he considered to be ritually unclean. However, through testing, his faith allows him to overcome the obstacles, and remain clean (vs 9-16). The blessing for his obedience is amazing giftings (v17) and ultimately Daniel and his friends exceed in their studies (vs18-21) and become better than some of the locals.

When students go off to university for the first time there are going to be tests of the character, they are going to have to learn wisdom to know where to draw the line. They are going to have challenges to focus on all the other things that are going on around them, which may mean that their studies suffer. They are going to have to find friends who will help and support them.

Why am I so passionate about students, the answer is simple, I believe that for me the three years I spent in Huddersfield formed me in a unique way. I developed in so many ways, in terms of my character and it turned me from a boy into a man. Some might call it a liminal experience. But also there are things I did that I regret, I wish I had been more like Daniel in terms of knowing where to draw the line, and staying faithful to my beliefs. It was an experience that made me, but it is also one filled with deep regret.

I believe passionately that students have a unique opportunity while at University, but these times are easily wasted in two ways. The first is the road I took, not to get plugged into a church, not to develop good healthy Christian relationships that would get me through the tough times, like Daniel did. The other is to go the other way, to become so afraid of what the world has to offer that the line is drawn way to easily, the result was that witness is impossible because no relationships outside of CU/church ones are formed.

Now I am a big fan of student churches, my fear though is that in some cities (Bristol is a good example) many students all go to the same churches, these churches can become like safety bubbles, they become mono-chrome experiences, bland and unexciting. It would be great if students in cities could see themselves as servants of the church, not consumers. To go outside of the big student churches and engage and bless the variety of different churches (and communities) there are in any city. Why, because life as a Christian in post-Christendom is not going to be a molly-coddled experience. We need people who are prepared to step out into the world, and not get wrapped in cotton wool away from the reality of the world.

I have recently sent out a whole load of emails talking about the church plant I am part of to students coming to Bristol. I have made it clear that this is not an easy path, that it will not be a cosy church experience. I have sent out close to 50 emails, I have had just one response (in previous years I have no responses at all). Now if that one person came I would be happy, but why do so many take the easy road and not the hard?

It is my belief that Daniel chose the hard road, he chose to make life more uncomfortable than he could have done. It made him, and by Chapter 6 we read that he would become one of the most important men in the Empire, effectively the Prime Minister. It is important that students get involved in church first and foremost (and I know what will happen if they don't) but it is also vital that they allow themselves to be challenged and stretched.

Symbols

2011-08-24T10:30:00.000+01:00

As a result of the riots a few weeks back several people got together to start cleaning up the streets, one of these groups started using twitter to co-ordinate where people should go. In one of their tweets they said, if you are coming along, bring your broom, it is symbolic. We live in a society that is full of symbols, but these days we call them brands.

One of the first of these was the Bass logo, which became the first trademark, but since then we have had many, I only have to mention a big yellow "M" or a white tick, and you will immediately recognise what I am talking about, these are symbols that cross cultures and languages.

But are we in the church afraid of symbols. I have a confession, I once had a car with a fish on the back, but I don't now. Somehow it is a symbol that does not represent what I believe. I never had a WWJD wrist band as I never felt it was something I should wear. I have only one piece of jewelery I regularly wear and that is my wedding ring, a symbol of one of the most precious things in my life, my love for my wife. I have though been considering having a tattoo, but I can't seem to find the right image.

Reading Tom Wright's commentary on 1 Corinthians 11, one of the things that struck me was that for the early church the Lord's Supper was symbolic, and throughout the history of the church, and in most mainline denominations it has remained the case, despite having different names and interpretations. The simple act of sharing in the feast remains the major statement of what Christ did. In Ian Stackhouse's book "The Gospel Driven Church" he talks about how we often take Holy Communion out of of guest services in case we make people feel awkward, but he says that it is one of our distinctives, it sets us apart. The power of symbol, maybe we need to be more prominent, not less.

I was wandering down the high street, when I saw the local vicar walking the other side, but I did not recognise him till after he had passed me. The reason, he was in his normal gear - jeans and a t-shirt. I am not one for dog collars, but I am beginning to wonder whether I should be, but probably not in church. Maybe when I get ordained I should wear it when I am walking the streets with the dog, maybe it will mean I will engage with people, as it is a symbol that people recognise and relate to?

all who live by the sword die by the sword

2011-08-09T11:07:00.003+01:00

This afternoon I have to do a thought for the day at a Holiday at Home club, the violent scenes on the streets of London, and closer to home in Bristol, are on my mind and these are my thoughts:

It is difficult to think of anything further today then that fact that last night there were riots across the uk, including the streets of Bristol.

You hear of lots of calls for action – water cannon, send in the army – and in many ways you can fully understand it. But all of these things are just short term answers. Long term we need to consider why so many young people feel the need to go out and express their feelings in this way.

We live in a society where youth services have been slashed, budgets cut because they are an easy target. Then when young, disadvantaged people act in this way we start to ask why? However, other people take advantage of this situation, and many of the scenes of looting are nothing more than opportunist grabbing what they can while the opportunity is there.

But then we see people waking up the next day, going out into the streets and cleaning up. These stories don’t get covered, the stories of people giving up their time to clean up their neighbourhoods, or going across the city to clear up other people's streets. TV news does not always like this.

In Matthew 5:9 Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God”

So how do we respond?

“all who live by the sword die by the sword” – "Robust response" that is called for will not work

We need to encourage people to look for the causes

Reject the violence that has broken out

We need to work for peace

We need to model peace

We need to pray for peace

“Sovereign Lord, forgive us for choosing violence instead of grace. Give us the courage to trust that the cross is more powerful than the sword. We thank you for the assurance that, in the end, love wins. Help us to live without fear in the light of your promise. Amen.”

Of God's and Men - a review

2011-08-07T14:15:00.001+01:00

Finally had the opportunity to watch "Of God's and Men" and although it was a very hard film to watch, and probably not to everyone's taste, I have to say I enjoyed the film.

The pace of the film was slow, but then that emphasised the simple lives that the monks lead. The scene that summed this up the most was a scene where they took simple pleasure out of a glass of wine and some music. We live in a world of instant pleasure, where nothing is satisfactory, and nothing is savoured, and yet their simple pleasure was beautiful to watch.

As a Baptist I particularly enjoyed the meeting scenes, the way they could not make a decision, and choose to go away and pray, and the next meeting they were all of a mind to do the same thing, by humbly listening and talking with each other and allowing God to speak. If only Baptist church meetings were more like this.

We also go a glimpse into their spirituality, the music they sang together was powerful, if only some of our modern day worship leaders could write words as deep and meaningful, instead of some of the "Jesus loves you so everything is going to be great" drivel that modern songs often (but not always) fall into. The depth of spirituality, the understanding of the human condition, the love of Christ that led to suffering. The great thing was that as it was subtitled you can read all the words and drink them in.

Finally, we got a glimpse of the monks, not as naval gazing outsiders, but their service and love towards their community which they were part of. They were invited to local parties, counselled young people, sold honey in the market place and offered medical assistance to all who had need. No wonder so many Christians want to uncover the spirituality of Monasticism. The monks described themselves as birds on a branch, but the villages corrected them and said they were not the birds they were the branch.

It does have a gloomy end, it is not an easy story to watch, and a although they are killed by a group of fanatical Islamists, the portrayal of ordinary Muslims is not done in a negative way. To me it was a film about life and faith; it did have a positive message, but not an easy one. Too often we want our films to be like our fairy stories "it all ends happily ever after", and although this does not end that way, it does tell us something about the fact that all Christians have a cross to bear, and that is not always the message the church likes to give. All in all I would recommend this film.

Repentance

2011-08-05T09:06:00.001+01:00

We have started reading Krish Kandia's book "dysciples" in our missional group. The first chapter was on the subject of Dissatisfaction. The focus of the chapter was how we have sold Christianity short, and in the process have sidelined Repentance. Repentance is an old word, and in many ways is unfashionable, but the concept of repentance is one we are becoming more aware of.

As we discussed it last night, we were thinking about our society, and realised that in many ways over the last few years we have seen a number of high profile acts of repentance. With the failure of the banks, the exposure of MP's expenses and the press revelations of phone hacking, each group has been brought to a position where people are saying "never again". But you could argue that had they not been exposed, nothing would ever have changed. You could also argue as bonuses start to become an issue in the banks again, that the repentance waslimited to while there was a fuss.

However, as pointed out last night we cannot just blame the institutions, after all we were happy to accept the loan offers, voted for the MP's and bought the papers. Our society cannot just pass the buck and say it was all the bankers fault etc. We need to all repent.

There are people who have turned their lives around without Christ. There are millions of them. Drug addicts who one day wake up and says enough is enough, prisoners who do not want to end up with another sentence. But none of these turn arounds are easy.

We read in Matthew that Jesus started his ministry with the words "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is near". Repentance is more than just saying sorry, it is stating that from that moment I am starting on a different path, one that leads away from destruction and into life. As a Christian I believe that full life can only be found in relationship with the creator. One of things I became acutely aware of as we spoke was the words of one of my old pastors the late Stanley Voke, who would end each sermon with "repentance, repentance, repentance". When was the last time I preached on what repentance really means, called people to repent, called people to realign themselves with Christ.

Last week I went walking in the lakes, we had a few hills to get up, and although my friend knew the area well, we would just occasionally check the map to see if we were heading in the right direction. Repentance is for the new convert, not the seasoned believer you could argue. But I believe that repentance is a daily event, like the map check in the Lakes, we need to continually checking that we are on the right road, and if we have drifted off, turn around and start again. It is something that I need to do, and something I need to preach. My next preach was supposed to be on grace, it still will be, but repentance and grace go hand in hand, so I am sure I will get an opportunity to call for repentance

Profit, Profit, Profit

2011-07-28T09:09:00.008+01:00

This morning we heard the news that Centrica, the owner of British Gas has made half year profits of only £1.3billion, with British Gas sadly only contributing £270million to that. This of course comes in the wake of the announcement that they would be putting their Gas and Electricity prices up by 18% and 16% in the Autumn, just in time for the colder winter season.

The sad thing is that rather than competition driving prices down, this will give all of their competitors licence to follow suit. No doubt this will lead to a greater number of people being forced to choose whether to eat, or turn on the heating. Up till now fuel poverty (when 10% or more of a households outgoings is spent on fuel) was confined to a small percentage of pensioners, but these price rises will mean that more and more people are faced with the decision as to whether they can afford to turn the heating on.

The problem Centrica have stated is because of the rise in wholesale prices, and they are not to blame for this. The people that are to blame for our reliance on wholesale gas are the Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher. They made a huge decision during those years with regards to energy policy. Rather than invest in a long term energy strategy, they instead opted to build cheap gas fired power stations. Both quick to construct and cheap to run, they opted for these rather than the other options on the table. When North Sea Gas was discovered, we had enough to supply the population of a over a hundred years with domestic gas, but the move to use the gas in power stations shortened the supply to just 40 years. Now we have to rely upon imports.

But even so, this does not excuse Centrica, they are making huge profits, and it is not as if British Gas is not profitable, it is still on course to make half a Billion in profit! It is profit many have a problem with, I do not, because without profit, then business will struggle in leaner years, stocks and shares are the basis of most pension funds. Profits are good, however, when companies have an eye more on their share price than they do on their customers, then we have a problem, and obscene profits coupled with huge price rise are not justified.

The Bible says that the love of Money is the root of all kinds of evil (those that don't like this bit change it to mammon but the Greek word philarguria means "love of money") and what we have in this situation is where money and profit have been put before everything else. But we can do something, we can say to these companies, I am not going to stand for this anymore, through the web it takes 15-20 mins to find a new supplier and switch. Voting with our feet is the power we have, British Gas still has 9million customers, imagine if 10% of those customers left, they would start to notice, but what if 20% did, or 50%. Then they would have to do something. You cannot make a profit if you have no customers, so in the interests of Justice, for the poorest who feel trapped and are maybe fearful of switching, if you are a British Gas customer, why don't you do yourself, and fellow customers a favour and hit British Gas where it hurts the most and switch suppliers - and why not try a not for profit one when you do https://www.ebico.org.uk/

Dead History or Live Legacy

2011-07-17T09:49:00.002+01:00

Wandering round Bristols newly refurbished Mshed, my attention was drawn to the Exhibition on the Slave Trade. In the middle of the exhibition was a table with a collection of items under the title "Dead History or Live Legacy" one of the items was Baptist Praise and Worship. I wondered if this was significant.

There has been a great challenge recently to plant more churches and be more creative in our church planting with a video of Stuart Murray Williams on the Incarnate website, where he states that Baptist have not yet reached the critical point that some denominations have reached, and consequently have not yet started to tackle with some of the issues that have lead to more creative ways of being church. However, I get the feeling that this will not be long in coming.

I was at a comedy night last night, and religion was the topic of both comedians. The first comedian was a little more complimentary, but the second was just rudely dismissive. Sometimes when you are in the church bubble, it can feel that things are okay, but when you leave you can see the reality is that church has become a joke in our society.

One of the things I find difficult is that we do still have resources in the Baptist denomination, and although many are released for some projects, resources for church planting are harder to come by. I am not just taking finance here, but people. One of the things I found most difficult while at re:Source Bristol was the lack of people who were prepared to step out of their church comfort zones to make an impact. Unless we create a culture of creativity and boldness among the people in our churches, rather than comfort and stability, then the Baptist Church will one day be the subject of more and more museums.

lets get the bad news over with first shall we?

2011-07-10T09:41:00.002+01:00

Ever since the whole Rob Bell thing opened up a huge can of worms, one thing has been on my mind as I read blogs and articles about it, "Why do we like to ensure that the bad news is really bad". One blog I really struggled with started with the sub-title "How the Trinity helps us say 'no' to Bell and 'yes' to hell"

I remember a few years ago I was at a university mission week which had very little impact into anyone’s lives. The speaker was superb, focusing upon how new life in Christ can make a difference, but I noticed that at each event there were little or no non-Christians there, due to the simple fact that the CU members seemed to have very few friends outside of the CU, and seemed to hope that mass flyering was the key to getting people in, rather than actually making friends. At the end of the week the Committee got together to decide why they had made so little impact, the conclusion, at no point had the speaker talked about Hell!

One of the other debates I have had, is do people have to know the bad news before they can truly know the good news? We all know the classic Evangelism talk when the speaker challenges you, if you leave this meeting and get hit by a bus, where will you go, heaven or hell. It simply does not work! Because people are not as concerned with their eternal fate as we seem to be.

The other factor that gets me, having just read Tom Wright's "Surprised by Hope", is how have we got our emphasis in on life after death so skewed? Wright is convinced that the promise of eternal life, which we have boiled the gospel down to, is simply not enough, that the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so much bigger and greater than we can possibly imagine:

The resurrection is neither an isolated and out-of-character divine 'miracle', nor simply the promise of eternal life beyond the grave. It is, rather, the decisive start of the world-wide rule of the Jewish Messiah in which sins are already forgiven and the promise of the eventual new world of justice and incorruptible life are assured

That when we take the good news seriously it is about committing ourselves to living lives that make a difference in the here and now, and not just sitting back and waiting for our eternal destiny or as Wright says:

Jesus' resurrection summons us to dangerous and difficult tasks on earth

In many ways a similar theme is echoed by Shane Claiborne in his book The Irresistible Revolution when he challenges Youth Leaders to be bolder in how they present the Christian life on earth

God forgive us for all those who we have lost because we made the gospel boring. I am convinced that if we lose kids to the culture of drugs and materialism, of violence and war, it's because we don't dare them, not because we don't entertain them. It's because we make the gospel to easy, not because we make it too difficult. Kids want to do something heroic with their lives, which is why they play video games and join the army. But what are they to do with a church that teaches them to tiptoe through life so they can arrive safely at death.

I am convinced that the reason we feel the need to tell them bad news first, and to make it bad, is that we have not grasped the good news. Because we have lost the sense of adventure that the first disciples felt when Jesus called them into new lives, we are left with a Gospel that seems dull, and so we focus on the bad news, because the Gospel seems better than it in comparison. I over heard a conversation recently, this is what one of the people said "But of course if there was no Hell, why would anyone want to become a Christian?", is that really all we have, is the good news so weak that people cannot even consider it until they know "the consequences"? I will leave with this quote, again from Tom Wright’s book:

The power of the gospel lies, not in the offer of a new spirituality or religious experience, not in the threat of hellfire (certainly not in the threat of being 'left behind') which can be removed only if the hearer ticks this box, says this prayer, raises a hand, or whatever... but in the powerful announcement that God is God, that Jesus is Lord, that the powers of evil have been defeated, that God's new world has begun.

WEBA making a difference blog: Come to us or go to them (from Church from Scratch...

2011-07-08T13:49:00.000+01:00

WEBA making a difference blog: Come to us or go to them (from Church from Scratch...: "They come or we go? from Incarnate Network on Vimeo ."

My little dream

2011-07-05T12:51:00.001+01:00

I have a little dream and that is to somehow acquire a huge house, enough for several people to live in comfortably and share resources. These are my bullet pointed dream for the house – in no particular order.

People would sign up for a minimum of a year. They would commit to the house ethos and values.
Food, there would be enough space in the grounds to make the community self sufficient in terms of vegetables, maybe also with enough room for chickens for eggs. Members of the community will be encouraged to take part in taking care of the food in terms of growth and also meal preparation.
People will be encouraged to work outside of the community but will be asked to make a contribution to the rent and running costs of the house.
We will share at least three meals a week together, one will be social, one will be open to friends and family and one will be a lunch at the weekend (Sunday lunch/Saturday summer BBQ etc).
There will be two daily acts of prayer/worship which will be open to anyone in the community.
One room will not be permanently occupied; this room will be open to anyone who has need on a temporary basis.
Each member will be encouraged to get involved in something in the local community, this may be a local society, sports group campaign
The house will be as close to carbon neutral as possible, with an encouragement to source local food, use public transport, recycle etc
Guests will be always welcome with hospitality and generosity as key values. Food will be always available for guests.
There will be no rules as such, but members will be asked to live according to Biblical values – in particular those highlighted in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

It is a bit of a pipe dream, it may never come about but I would love it to happen one day.

We're better together

2011-06-28T14:39:00.000+01:00

I have just been to a first leaders lunch amongst Bedminster church leaders. It was something I suggested as I feel that it was something that was lacking. The other meetings have either been prayer or business meetings (24 point agenda yawn!!). There have been a number of events that have got to the planning stage, but nothing more, and churches have preferred to do their own small thing in their little patch, rather than work together to do something with a greater impact and so when I met with the new chairman of the group I suggested that the way forward had to be relational.

When I look at how Jesus built the church it was not through a series of strategic planning meetings, but through hanging out with disciples, followers, non-followers, bad people, good people, religious people, and in the process developed the relationships that the church was based upon. But how many turned up to just have lunch together, out of 20+ churches just 4 people. How have we come so far that we have read so much of what Jesus taught, and yet missed the very thing that was crucial?

In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus' followers are separated from those who did not follow him by whether Jesus "knew" them or not, relationship with Jesus is the crucial part. If you know Jesus you will instinctively know what to do and how to treat people. Relationship is the key, and in a time when the church is struggling to make an impact churches in the same area have to find ways of working together. The first part of this is developing trusting relationships. This takes time, it takes effort and some have have got into very bad habits. But if we are to start seeing areas like Bedminster turned around it is relationships amongst leaders, youth volunteers and across churches were things will start to happen.

Jesus is coming, look busy!

2011-06-26T09:44:00.002+01:00

I got a flyer through the post yesterday from a local Evangelical church, on the front was a picture of an erupted volcano and the question "where will it all end?" it informed me that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the earthquake in Japan along with volcanic eruptions can only lead to one thing - Jesus' return. Quite rightly they do state that world leaders seem clueless to how to resolve the financial crisis, and that the answer was to be found somewhere else - in the Bible.

lt was full of Biblical references informing me of various prophecies that I need to be aware of, and closed with a question of whether I am saved and my destiny is either Heaven or Hell. In the middle of the flyer was an invite to see a talk on why they believed Jesus was coming soon entitled "The truth about the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, as foretold in the bible" which would include "Charts".

I don't want to knock their zeal, or their enthusiasm, or even the fact they are actually trying to reach people, my problem is not with any of that at this time. My problem is with the fact that they have got both the question wrong and the answer wrong. How do I mean by this?

It is very important to ask the right questions, get the question wrong and you will not get the answer right either. Although the big question on the front is "where will it all end?" the question posed at the end and in the pamphlet is "are you saved?", now in many ways that is a good question. But it is not one that the average member of the UK population cares about. They are not constantly pondering whether they need to be saved, most probably do not think the need to be saved, and if they did their salvation would be from economic debt, family illness or a stressful job. In the 1st century that was an important question, it is simply not one that many people ask today. We need to start to uncover the questions better, and the fact is that people are asking many different questions. One size no longer fits all.

So how do we discover the questions, that is the hard part! We cannot assume that we know them, and in the post-modern world we cannot assume that there is one big question with one big answer. This is why living the gospel in community is so vital, it means getting to know people for who they are, finding their question (s), it involves listening, but sadly it it does not involve providing the killer answer either! The problem is that many questions they will have will there will not be a simple answer "why did my beloved Grannie die so suddenly of cancer?", "why does my child get so bullied at school?", "Why did I lose my job?" and sometimes we simply do not know why that happened or is happening.

So my problem with the flyer is not the effort, or the zeal, but the fact that is starts off with some bad questions and then provides an answer that many people are not that interested in. The lesson for mission is simple, our first task is not to be better talkers, but better listeners.

Widows and the orphans

2011-06-09T14:56:00.001+01:00

I recently visited one of my house bound church members, a lovely lady who is very sick, and sadly is no longer able to attend church. She is often in quite a lot of pain, but I have never heard speak like I did on this visit. She said that she wondered whether people who go to church are really Christians at all. Aside from myself, my wife and one of the deacons, none of the church visit her, or ask after her. She said that one of the people who lives in the flats above who has no faith at all pops in each morning to see how she is, while the church members, many of whom she had known for years, drive/walk past her flat every Sunday, and never visit. Although I have to defend many in my church, as many of them are older and less able than she imagines, but the fact is that it is people like her that should be the priority of the church, not the forgotten.

When Jesus was on the cross, he turned to the disciple John and told him to look after his Mother, Mary, likewise Mary was to treat John like a son. Why was this important, Widows where the lowest in that society. No husband to look after them, it was the duty of their children to help, and if like Jesus her son was dead who would look after her? The church was a new community, where the whole community would take responsibility for the weakest members. So when in Acts the Apostles found themselves unable to deal with the needs of the widows and the orphans, they entrusted that work to the deacons. This was not because the work they were doing was more important, but to ensure that the work with the poorest was a priority.

So we like to think that we are good at community, but we are only that way if we prioritise the weakest. If you have never been to visit one of the older members of the church, one who is housebound or too sick to attend, maybe it would be a good day to book in a visit? It will bless them and it will bless you?

Bus Stop in Bedminster

2011-05-27T13:41:00.005+01:00

This is a picture of a bus stop near the Tobacco Factory in Bedminster; it is just like any normal bus stop. It has a seat, plastic screen, a small bin nearby. In fact if you didn't know you would just assume it was a working bus stop. But it isn't.

It used to serve the 24/25 bus route through Bristol from Ashton Vale to the Muller Road bus depot. But is September 2010 they changed the route so that the bus no longer goes along Raleigh Road. The Bus stop has become redundant.

So it may look like a bus stop, you could even think that it was a bus stop, but it is not. While looking at it I could not help feel this summarises the state of many of our churches. They look like churches from the outside, you can go in, and they feel like churches, but the something has happened, the community has moved. The churches may still meet, they may still do the things that churches do, but they do not do what they were created for.

I have just completed an essay on the Servant passages in Isaiah, and in particular the second song in Isaiah 49:1-6, this was a rallying cry from God and the Prophet, that the nation Israel needed to be restored, and then to focus on its task to take the light of God into the world, and allow salvation to reach the ends of the earth. But the nation was and continued to remain insular, and in Acts 13:46-48 Paul and Barnabus use the passage as a rallying call for the new people of God, the nascent Church, that there task was to preach the good news of salvation to the ends of the earth.

How many churches are more worried about whether the programme will be delivered, the rota filled, the flowers ready, the pews are in the right place, the worship band is not too loud, and yet are unworried by the fact that they have not had a Baptism in three years, or that their are homeless people living on their doorstep, or that the local factory has just been closed. Jesus proclaimed that he was bringing good news to the poor, the blind and the prisoners, we need to follow suit, and if we do not then our churches may look like churches, but they, like the bus stop have become redundant.

May the 21st and and all that

2011-05-23T09:55:00.002+01:00

There is nothing like a religious nutter story to get the papers interested (unless it is a footballer doing the dirty or a royal faux pas) and so the idea that all the faithful would be taken up on Saturday got more media coverage than average. It was amazing to see how many people on Twitter I followed were happy to mention the "event", most with a very cynical slant, but it included comedians, writers, sports people!

Now I have to say that I am not convinced by the Rapture, and I do not believe it is any way shape or form Biblical, any understanding of Middle Eastern culture would render the idea Paul is suggesting in 1 Thess 4 that we will all get taken up with Jesus utterly ridiculous, or as Tom Wright says

When Paul speaks of "meeting" the Lord "in the air", the point is precisely not - as in popular rapture theology - that the saved believers would then stay up in the air somewhere, away from earth. The point is that , having gone out to meet their returning Lord, they will escort him royally into his domain, that is back to the place where they came from.

The fact is that when a royal dignitary arrived the party would be sent out to meet them, and then they would be welcomed back. It is even more explicit in Matt 25, where do the five virgins go when they welcome the bridegroom, with him to the feast, which is where the came from! But even if you can accept the idea of the Rapture, the idea of predicting the date is even more flawed from any reading of Matt 24:36.

It is frustrating that someone like Harold Camping gets so much attention. In the same way that the views of "pastor" Terry Jones gets attention, or Wetsboro Baptist Church. It also frustrates me when Stephen Green of the self titled "Christian Voice" is called along as an expert, and somehow given the platform to express his both bizarre and hurtful views, as if they somehow represent the normal Christian view (we all know that he is loved by the media precisely because he is going to say something extreme).

It is these mavericks that make me realise why I am a Baptist and a Congregationalist. While Christ speaks through the gathered body, it means that the ego of the leader can hopefully be tempered and Christ is worshipped rather than the leader, and secondly in a denomination you have a wider group of believers who can support and direct you. As a Baptist, my call is thoroughly tested, Bible college forms and strengths my proper doctrinal understanding. Spending three years at Bible college was probably not my ideal, but it has moved me forward, it has humbled me, it has corrected me, it has given me some great friends, and it has stopped me from allowing my ego to rule me. I am so glad I decided not to short cut that process. Jesus left a community of believers, our faith needs to be worked out, at all times within community and when we start to go it alone, when you become self-elected, self-taught, then the problems begin.

Peru - The video

2011-05-16T15:07:00.002+01:00

Still needs a bit of work, but here is the trip to Peru in Video form!

Ten tips for incarnational mission

2011-05-16T12:05:00.005+01:00

I was in Oxford to meet friends on Saturday. As we wandered around the city centre it was amazing how many buskers, street artists and chuggers there were, amongst all this was a church outreach event, complete with free burgers, terrible Christian music and an American giving his testimony, there was a group offering healing and then more randomly a table with tracts on and no explanation. I have no problems with any of this, but as a former Marketeer one of my tasks was to make my product stand out from the crowd, but these just blended in, they were just another voice crying for my attention, and it did not get it.

How can we make a difference? The problem with all of these things, is they seem to lack relationship, it seems to just hope that the right person will listen at the right time, and not be drowned out by all the others things calling for that persons attention.

This is why I believe we all have a role in incarnating the gospel. I thought I would come up with my top ten ideas for taking the gospel into the places we live:

Shop local - wherever possible use the local newsagent, the local green grocers, butchers etc. rather than travelling to the big out of town Supermarket, it is greener, it enables you to experience what other locals use, and maybe get to know the people behind the counter.
Walk locally - you will be surprised by how many people you see and can say hello to. Do it at different times (of course be safe if you are doing it late at night) and walk different routes. You will get a feel for how people live. The area can look and feel very different between day and night.
Use local pubs and cafes - write a sermon, do a Bible study in a local pub or cafe, use it as a place for prayer, take a book with you; use it to observe and also as a method of inspiring intercessory prayer.
Spend a month going to local churches - if you travel to church, why not take a month to go to some local ones. You could go to different ones each week, or you could stick to one, but it is good to see what is happening spiritually in your area.
Use public transport for a week - how easy is it for people to get in and out of an area if they don't have access to a car? Who are the regulars? What emotions does it bring out in you?
Read the local paper - when you buy a national paper, get a local one as well. Cut out all the news that is local to you and use it for prayer in your small groups.
Get to know your local councillors - you may not agree with their politics, but they are important, what local campaigns can you help them with, what issues can they help you with, they normally have an email or a twitter account, so get in touch.
Join a local society or club - we all have things that interest us, whether it be a sport, or art or a skill or a hobby. Why not join a local group, it will increase your enjoyment, your social life and it could be great fun, it may also give you opportunities to share your faith, but that may take time.
Go out for meal locally once a week - if you are married it could be your date night, if you are single it might be a good way to catch up with friends. You don't have to go to the same place, but it is about helping local business and also getting to know the local scene. It is very easy to spend our evenings in church meetings or stuck in front of the TV, get out there and do something more relational!
Up to you - would welcome your suggestions/comments - what do you do that makes a difference locally?

Helplessnes Blues

2011-03-29T11:04:00.003+01:00

I was raised up believing
I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes
Unique in each way you can see

And now after some thinking
I'd say I'd rather be
A functioning cog in some great machinery
Serving something beyond me

These are the words from the Fleet Floxes latest single "Helplessness Blues", I love them as they seem so wonderfully relevant, but at the same time so counter cultural. Since the enlightenment we have progressively become more obsessed with ourselves, and the outworking of this has been out of control capitalism and rampant consumerism. It is all about me!

In the 80's Margaret Thatcher summed this up well when she said "There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families.". It is funny then that the latest Conservative leader talks about the Big Society.

So what do I mean by the song being both relevant and counter cultural. I think what I mean by that is that there is something about people realising that they are part of the bigger picture, but at the same time the individual reigns supreme. Programmes like the X-factor or Big Brother make people feel like the only thing to be is famous, a celebrity, and yet at the same time people are seeing that there is a hollowness in that, and it means that people are beginning to want something more. So locally there are many groups who are trying to work together, not because it benefits them, but because it benefits all. A group like the local Churchlands Road garden group (http://greenchurchlands.blogspot.com/), who are desperate to make a small change, that will bring joy to others around them, or the manager of the local cafe, Tasty Stop, who puts on non-profit events for local people, and arranges visits when they are sick.

I like the fact that people are waking up and asking questions about what life really means, challenging the selfishness and self-centredness of society. In the meantime the church needs to respond to this, I overheard a conversation the other day about Universalism, and read a recent article on the subject that can be summarise in these words "if there is no hell, why would anyone want to become a Christian?", is that all we have to offer, salvation from Hell, there has to be more than that! Is that all Jesus meant when he came procaliming the Kingdom of God as good news for the poor and the prisoner? So we need to look at groups that clear up their living space, just because it is a good thing to do, or a cafe owner who runs a bingo night, because he wants to put something back, and ask ourselves the question, why is the church not doing the same?

"Farewell Rob Bell"

2011-02-28T16:05:00.002Z

with one tweet, John Piper dismissed Rob Bell, as if he was dead. Now I do not want to get too much into the controversy, I will probably find myself firmly in the Rob Bell camp, and other people are better equipped to look at the issues than me (http://blog.beliefnet.com/omeoflittlefaith/2011/02/thoughts-rob-bell.html) but I want to consider how badly this whole issue looks.

The dismissal of Bell as a Universalist, and therefore a heretic and a false prophet, is childish and sad. In many ways the reaction is akin to the other brother in the parable of the prodigal son.

But the Rob Bell camp is not faring much better, as Gabriel Smy Tweeted today "Rob Bell. Good Marketing", and that is exactly what it is, they have hinted at what is going to be said in "Love Wins" , they have lead people to believe that this book will be controversial and allowed some key opponents to see a few pre-released pages, and then when the hungry dog has gone for the food, they have reaped the rewards, namely a tonne of pre-sale orders and viral publicity, more than they would ever have got if they had stuck a few posters up.

But is this the kind of behaviour that we should expect? Great marketing, but are we just following culture here or leading. In this case the cheap route has been taken, and it is sad that what could be a very interesting, but actually probably not that radical (those that are in the know seem to think that it is fairly theologically normal stuff, in line with the work of NT Wright) book is used in this way.

As a marketer in my previous life, I remember being asked a question in a job interview about how far I would be prepared to go to sell the product, i.e. would i be prepared to lie, my answer was, if the product is as good as you told me, than I won't need to. In many ways the method of selling this book has breached a few boundaries that I would not have been prepared to have crossed.

The behaviour on both sides has been shameful, the hurt it has the capacity to cause is huge, the healing that will be needed will be costly and the mission of Jesus, who came to love his enemies, and die for them, and on the cross with his last breath plead for their forgiveness, is damaged immeasurably.

Luke 8:26-39

2011-02-28T09:47:00.002Z

Not often that I type out my sermons in full, but I went down the narrative sermon route this week, and so opted to write it all out.

Let me know what you think:-

I was born on the South Eastern side of the Lake in Galilee, my Father was a merchant, and he sold the fish that the fishermen would catch in the local market, while my mother would sow the nets of the fishermen to earn some extra money. We were proud Jews, but all around us were Samaritans and Gentiles. I was never allowed to play with the other children, unless, like me they were Jews.

Each Friday as the youngest I would ask my Dad to tell the story of the exodus, and my family would share a meal together. Saturdays would be spent at the synagogue; my childhood was uneventful but happy.

In my teens I got so bored. I started getting into trouble; many times a Roman soldier would have to bring me home as I had got into a fight with a gentile. My Dad would look so disappointed; my Mum would be so upset. But I didn’t care, it was all about me. One day I was thrown into prison for breaking a Samaritans arm, I was so proud of what I did, but when I got home my Father was so angry, he lectured me about how I was off the rail, he wanted me to come into business with him, but I refused. My Mum cried all night. The next day, fed up with my Dad’s lectures, I left. I vowed never to return.

I spent more time with my friends from the streets, we were all proud Jews, and wanted to over throw Roman rule and kick out Samaritans from our lands, but we also liked a drink. We would drink wine by day, and seek out people to fight at night. It was fun, but more fighting led to more and more nights in prison. I thought about changing my ways, but it was fun, why would I want to?

But all the time my mind was troubled, I kept getting these thoughts, angry thoughts. I remember one night me dreams were troubled, each hour I would wake up covered in sweat. The next day I woke and drank wine all day, but could not find any peace.

That night as I sat down by the road I heard a voice as clear as someone speaking to me “Everybody hates you, because you are a failure”. I drank more to forget it, but it would not stop. The voice in my head was interspersed with my Dad’s last words to me “you are a waste of space”.

I would get so angry with people around me. I would shout and swear, I could not control what I said. My mind felt like it had been taken over. One day I woke up determined to change, but I did not know how,

Anger would overcome me; the voices became more and would not stop. Some days would be clear days, but then I would have no memory for days and weeks, they were bleak days. My friends tell me that I would bang my head against the wall, rip my clothes, smash up market stalls, and shout at people, they tried to chain me up, but I would break free. I found a home in the caves where the dead would be buried. Each day I would go to the gentile fields and eat the food from the pig troughs.

Imagine that, me a proud Jew eating the food of pigs. I felt so ashamed. I needed help. I needed a saviour.

Then he came. As soon as he walked past I felt something deep within. There was a burning anger from inside me; I felt a deep fear and the voices within me started rising. But I knew that he was good, he was a man of peace. Why did I fear him?

I found myself shouting at him, saying I knew him, but I didn’t I had never met him before. I heard my voice telling him to go away, but I was not saying it. My whole body convulsed, I realised I was chained up; there were guards all around me. I broke free and ran towards this man, he stayed calm and simply said what is your name. “Many, Legion, Cohort, Mob are my names” I said, but they were not my names, there were now so many voices going through me head, I felt myself pleading with this man, pleading for leniency, my heart was beating so loudly I could feel it in my throat, I was panicking, what would this man do to me, why was I so frightened by him.

Then suddenly there was peace, peace like I had not felt for years, like when I was back with by the lake as a boy, watching my mother mending her nets, while my father bartered with the fishermen for the catch of the day. My head was clear, my heart had slowed, and there was no anger, no hate, no fear, just peace.

It did not last long, it was broken by the sound of pigs squealing and they ran towards the water and drowned, while their gentile owners panicked and fled.

Jesus’ followers clothed me; they gave me clean water to drink. I felt so good, I sat at Jesus’ feet while he spoke, they gave me a meal, the first proper food I had had in so long. Then I saw people come from the town, Jews and Gentiles. They did not like what Jesus was doing, they did not like change, and they wanted things to stay as they are. But if I had stayed the same, what would have happened to me? Jesus, my saviour was rejected by the people he came to save.

They drove him away, but I followed him. I asked him so many questions, and asked if I too could follow him, but Jesus said he had a different purpose for me. He told me to go back to my village, and to tell those that through him out about the God that had saved me.

So that is what I did, and that is what I have spent my life doing. I tell people about my life, what a mess I was, how much trouble I was in, how I was heading for death. I tell them about Jesus who is my saviour, what he did for me. In my youth I hated Gentiles, both Samaritans and Romans, they were my enemy, but not now. I tell them all about Jesus, how he saved me and that he can do the same for them.

What would my life be like if I had not met Jesus? I would have been dead, but Jesus changed that. The people around me disliked the change that Jesus brought, but when you were on the path I was on, then change is all I desired. Jesus did that for me; he can do that for you, whatever state you are in.

Allotment Church

2011-02-23T11:55:00.001Z

Have been writing an essay on climate change, and we also had Chris Sunderland lead a session on climate change at college. Chris is a firm believer that growing interest in the environment is a movement of the "Spirit of God" and it is worth reading his book, the dream the inspired the Bible to find out more.

Some of the stuff I have read is very frightening, 50% of the worlds population susceptible to floods by the middle of the century etc. You start to wonder what you can actually do. It also doesn't help that there are plenty of climate skeptics in and around the church who dismiss the idea that climate care is something the church should be involved in. But I passionately believe that we have been made stewards of the Earth for a reason, that God will not just bail us out, that we need to act, and if we do not it will be the poorest and weakest in the world who will suffer the most. But I come back to the point, what can we actually do?

I am struck by the protests in North Africa, faced with large, potentially violent Governments, small protests have captured the imagination of the world, and we have seen powerful world leaders left with no option but to flee.

Maybe I am very British, and maybe I watched too many episodes of the "good life", or maybe I have read my Bible correctly about a young man who changed the world by living differently, and young man who talked not about armies and revolutions, but a Kingdom that comes in the shape of a mustard seed. And so I wonder maybe we can make a difference in our world making small, but significant choices about the way we choose to live?

One of the greatest causes of CO2 is the movement of food, and yet food in the UK is very easy to grow, but we ship it from half-way round the world. What if we could make a small difference to our planet by just owning an allotment? Sounds the least radical thing you could so but think on.

One of the students at the college made the point that she does not know many Christians who own one. It made me think, what could we do if we did.

Firstly, we would reduce food miles, make locally sourced food more available, we could share what we have left over with the elderly or the weak in our community Leviticus 23:22

Secondly, Parables like the sower become made alive as we can see what Jesus meant when the seeds are not planted in good soil. The Bible is based in agricultural society, with so many images coming from that culture, sometime we try to translate them, maybe rather than moving the stories to us, we need to move closer to the story?

Thirdly, what if we could use it as a way of engaging with "normal" people. So many Christians I know have a lack of non-church going friends, getting out there, chatting and talking with people as they share the passion for growing, through these new relationships we can share the love of Jesus.

Fourthly, nature reveals the glory of God, we read that in the Psalms. Why do we limit our worship to the songs that we sing or the liturgies we say. Surely we can worship God by sharing in his bounty. It would make harvest festivals a lot more interesting than a few shop bought baked beans rescued from the back of the cupboard each year.

Finally, even if the environmental movement is not from the Spirit of God, it is certainly our Zeitgeist, even if the politicians are more concerned with economic systems and stabilising the economy, while we are reliant on Petrol, we will continue to see prices rise and more wars happen. I believe the church with its belief that creation was creation by Jesus, for Jesus, sustained by him and will redeemed back to him (Colossians 1) can take the lead.

Maybe it is time to move out of our buildings and get into an allotment?

The problem with mission weeks

2011-02-09T08:59:00.007Z

It is that time of year when University CU’s break out of their holy huddles tucked away in c50009 and attempt to convert the University in a week. Now I have no problem with their enthusiasm or motivation. I have a problem with the concept.

I have been involved in many ways with Mission Weeks, whilst at University as part of the CU, as an assistant missioner and also as a church representative, through all my experiences I can say that I never saw or met one person who became a Christian through one!

There are a number of things I feel are wrong, I could write a list but I will try to summarise a few of my thoughts and feelings about why I feel they are no longer fit for purpose.

Firstly, they are an outdated premise. All the mission books I read talk about holistic, incarnational and integral models of mission, they talk about moving away from attractional models to engagement models. They suggest that mission has to engage with all parts of both our lives and the lives of those we are trying to reach, and they say that within post-modern cultures this is ever more important. Although my generation still has some aspects of modern thinking that will not be so much the case with current 18-21 year olds. They are distinctly post-modern, yet the mission week has at its core attractional and unrelational methods of drawing people to Christ, based around the lunchtime talk.

Secondly, the lunch time talk. If you go to University these days you will be bombarded with different ways of learning, seminars, discussions, multi-media learning, the lecture is still king, but in that there will be videos, breakout groups etc. The expert talking at a group for an hour is no longer the primary model, and yet go to a mission week at any university and it reigns supreme. Get a few flyers advertising the talk in some room that nobody has ever heard of, entice them with the promise of some crap sandwiches and some packets of crisp, get them listening to a man (I have opted very specifically not to use the word “person”) talking at them for 30 mins on a subject with a hint of controversy (“Did Jesus really die on a cross”, “why was Darwin right?”), and bingo they will all fall on their knees and confess, only they don’t. The majority if the times the room is full of members of the CU. By the end of the week the CU members have had a lunch each day and listened attentively, but nobody else has.

Thirdly, we all know that 70% of people become Christians because of the witness of a close friend. The problem is that many Christians on campus are so ill equipped to deal with normal relationships they hide in Christian cliques, for fear of being corrupted by the dark and horrible world around them. They live with Christians, socialise with Christians, spend the lunchtimes in the Chaplaincy hanging out with their comfortable Christian friends. Then during mission week they are required to go out and speak to real people, they just don’t really know how! So flyers or posters become the chief vehicle for drawing people in, the focus on a mission week, when for one week you can feel you are “reaching out” to alleviate any sense of guilt that for the fact that the other 51 weeks of the year you do not have to touch, see or smell people who’s lifestyles may offend, unless you are forced to i.e. a lecture.

I remember when I was at Uni, the mission week was on. So I pottered over to the lunchtime “discussion”, I was surprised it was in the refectory, rather than the union, so went to join in. Couldn’t find any sign of them on the first floor where everyone was eating their lunch, or the second floor where the food was served, but they were on the third floor. I had never been to the third floor of the refectory before. The lunchtime discussion was underway, I looked around for new faces, but there were none. It was devoid of any. I asked why we were meeting here rather than the union, I was told that the union sold beer, and some of the committee felt that it would put some of the Christians off. A mission week designed around not offending the Christians, saw one person “converted” but it turned out that he was already a Christian, just had not until that point found the CU.

My final objection (there are others) it is not a sustainable model to take away into the rest of life. You are not going to be able to gather together a group of fellow employees and a have a mission week in your office. Hiring out a venue, getting a speaker along and flyering an area of an inner city asking people to come to a talk on "science versus religion" is not a model for urban mission. University is a place were we learn so much, to look after yourself, to cook, to develop a network of friends, a skill, a degree, surely it has to be place where young adults learn how to share their faith relationally, a place where they are discipled and learn to disciple. By continuing the model of mission that focuses all attention on a series of events over a set period of time, we are not supplying a model that can be maintained beyond the context of university. Students should be given and have put into practice the skills that will enable them to be salt and light wherever they go after the graduation ceremony has finished.

The truth

2011-02-01T11:31:00.001Z

When I was working with students I was involved in a number of student mission weeks. Often the theme was "the truth", there was a huge desire to prove that what we believed was true. Now, do not get more wrong, I believe that it is, but is the aim of evangelism to demonstrate that we are the ones who are right and everyone else is wrong, or is it to demonstrate that Jesus lived, died and was raised in order that we may have the relationship with God that we were created for?

In a recent article in the Guardian on "faith for the simple" Nick Spencer argues that Christianity baffles the intellectual because it was always intended to be a simple faith. I have recently been working through Luke, and preached a few weeks ago on Simon the Pharisee and the sinful woman. Simon, as a Pharisee would have been educated, would have been a mover and shaker, yet he just did not get Jesus, while the ill-educated and socially inept woman did.

There is no doubt in my mind that Paul was able to speak to the Greek intellectuals and argue a great case, and people who are into apologetics will always quote that fact. But Paul spoke people in the language that they would best understand. But he also acknowledges that the Gospel is a mystery to those that think themselves to be wise, in 1 Corinthians 1:27 " but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong"; the Gospel is a reversal of what the world thinks.

The result is that our efforts to win the intellectual battle can lead to us claiming victories, but that may not lead to peoples lives being transformed. I will leave this entry with a quote it was written on one of the forms we give to some of the homeless we help feed. The question asked was "is there anyone helping you at the momentt" the response was "yes, Jesus through his people on earth". There is the truth of the Gospel, a life transformed by the help of those who follow in Christs footsteps.

Arguing people into the Kingdom

2010-12-13T12:25:00.000Z

I do have an admiration for people who stand on the streets preaching. It is not something I would be brave enough to do, and in many ways I feel challenged by the fact that I am not doing enough.

But I have a fundamental problem with it. I don't think it works. I don't feel it brings people any closer to knowing a loving caring God by being shouted at.

On Saturday while shopping I saw a street preacher having an argument with a few teenagers, and also a long haired student type. A crowd had gathered round, and it just looked like a slanging match. I wondered why the preacher hadn't stopped the argument, taken the boys off to the mulled wine stand just across from them, and started asking some questions, and listened to them, rather than trying to win a pointless argument.

I wonder whether anyone has ever been argued into the kingdom?

This morning two things wound me up, firstly one of the homeless people we feed breakfasts to came in, he said he can't ever find peace, and would that mean he would go to hell. Apparently a born-again Christian he knew told him that if he could not achieve peace then he was probably condemned to hell. Nice!!

Then three people came in, all Christians, two of whom have just returned from a time out with a international mission agency. Despite us being a member of staff down, they ordered breakfast, sat down and complained when their porridge was slow. They got their bibles out and started arguing with some of the service users.

I have had some amazing conversations with some of the guys at the breakfasts, often they instigate the conversations, these are often natural and enjoyable. Some have become believers, some now come to church, some have been baptised. We have never had the need to argue with any of them!

The three Christians had to be asked to leave, we were closing up, and they were holding us up. They asked if they could come along to the Christmas lunch the next week, we said sure - "what would you like to help us with", their answer - "oh we just wanted to come for the lunch". Keep in mind that this lunch was for the most needy in our society, not well fed, well dressed Christians. Eventually one of them realised what we were trying to say and said "ok, I would be happy to serve" (in a tone that made me more irritated) but only if she could have some Christmas Pudding at the end.

Advent reflection

2010-12-02T21:57:00.001Z

I am beginning to love advent, last year I was an advent virgin in many ways (not the same way as Mary though!) in that although I had been around church for many years, Advent had passed me by.

But this year I am into it, I love the idea of the waiting and the expectation. It is so counter-cultural, we just want things to happen. If you need something you go to the shops, don't have the money, then put it on the credit card and payback later.

In some ways Advent harks back to something that we have lost, it offers us something that the world does not have anymore. If Christmas has been consumed, Advent has remained untouched. Yes, you still get the Advent calendar, and there is some commercialism in that, but it is not even close to the same level as Christmas.

Maybe that is why I have learnt to love Advent, it offers something uniquely Christian, but it has not yet been tainted/corrupted by the world, and it probably won't be. So I am going to enjoy Advent, looking forward to the God who comes, the Immanuel who will soon appear.

Unreached People Groups

2010-10-27T09:17:00.005+01:00

I have often heard of Overseas Mission agencies talking about "unreached people groups", which means simply people who have not heard, understood, or taken on board the gospel. These groups are generally countries where the proclamation of any religion other than the state religion are barred, so this could include Muslim countries like Somalia or atheist countries like North Korea.

However, as we look towards these nations, there are areas in our own country that are becoming unreached. These areas are white-working class estates, or the inner city. These are areas of multiple gods, such as consumerism, alcohol, drugs, image, gang membership are rife. Temples such a Bright House - feed their belief that they too can aspire to what they only see on rich houses. We see their narratives every day in programmes like Jeremy Kyle or Shameless (which the rich use to mock and laugh at them), and the "successful" move from their homes in the inner city through Football, Porn and Celebrity status.

So what do the churches do to respond? They sit in their big temples, geographically distant from these areas they are shut off, they are detached. Each week they are obsessed with how well their service went, how good the music was, how inspiring the teaching was. They are fuelled by programmes to make them bigger and bigger and more attractive to the rich that will enable them to do more and more. They get annoyed that the preacher wore the wrong tie, or that the drummer was a bit loud.

What doe the bible have to say about this - http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Amos%205:18-27&version=NIV

Off-setting carbon

2010-10-18T13:17:00.001+01:00

Over the weekend Katie and I went to visit a good friend. We went with her to church on Sunday. Unlike the church I lead, this was a big church, four services on a Sunday. Big building which is full to bursting.

The service was excellent, a very good sermon delivered by their lay preacher.Excellent spot focusing on praying for people in the work place.Video projection and good sound all the way through, with two people manning the desk. Tea and Coffee offered after the service. All good.

But the final comment struck me "please feel free to hang around, but not for too long as the car park is needed for the 11.15 service". This made me think. Most of these people probably drove (we walked) where did the drive from, how many churches did they pass on the way, how much petrol did they use to get here?

Yes, it was good, but was it worth the journey. How do we stop people getting in their cars to travel to church, and do we want to? One thing I wondered about was, whether people should be encouraged to work out how many miles their journey to and from church is, how many times roughly a year they make that journey, and off-set their emissions for the whole year. I wonder if this would get some people thinking about why they travel so far to and from church, and the impact that has upon the mission of God where they live and also the impact it has on the environment?

Radical Baptists - where are they now?

2010-10-15T13:54:00.001+01:00

The history geek in me is loving the Baptist History and Principles course we are doing at college. I am having a great time reading and absorbing the stories of some of our great Baptist forefathers. This week we looked at persecution, and it is amazing to think that Baptists were imprisoned and killed for their faith, and for religious liberty in the UK!

So although stories like John Bunyans (locked up in Prison for many years) or Elizabth Gaunt (the last woman burnt at the stake in the UK) or the fellowship at Broadmead (escaping cross the river at Conham and preaching in the woods in Kingswood)are incredibly sad and distressing, they do stir the heart. These people were prepared to sacrifice their comforts and their lives to stand up for their faith.

It then makes me wonder what happened, for many, not all, Baptist churches in the UK? There seems very little hints at radical living in a modern Baptist fellowship, where the most controversial event is often whether someone has not published the date for the next meeting in the right way, or whether the constitution has been strictly adhered to or not!

Some of the most radical aspects of church over the last twenty years - Soul Survivor, Alpha, Fresh Expressions - have all come out of the Anglican church; meanwhile network churches and house churches are planting and growing while some Baptists seem to have lost their way.

Now I am not saying this to depress or condone anyone, but to encourage. Where can we start to find radical ways of doing church that are both tapping into the needs of our communities while remaining distinctly Baptist?

I have no answers at present but one I have started to think about was issues of local justice. It is easy to see justice as a worldwide issue and Tearfund and Christian Aid do that so well. But how can we find ways of fighting for local, often very specific, aspects of justice? In the process we may have to take on the authorities who impose the laws, we may have to face the threat of prison in order to make our case. Maybe it is time for Baptist church members to have one hand on a bible and one hand on the local paper?

Those in debt, in distress and the discontent

2010-10-04T14:54:00.001+01:00

For chapel this week I have to do 1 Sam 22. When I first read the chapter I thought it would be a good way to pray for the persecuted church, as it ends with the slaughter of 85 priests. That is going to be my main focus. But on re-reading one verse stood out, verse 2.

All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader. About four hundred men were with him

When thinking about the type of people you would want to lead I don't think that the characteristic of those in debt, distress or discontent would be those you would choose. But God does do some strange things.

Jesus when he chose his disciples chose an odd bunch, a couple of fisher men, a levi, a zealot and a thief. Yet it worked!! God's ways are not our ways, and sometimes we need to run with it no matter how weird it sometimes may seem.

So today I am going to pray that God brings me people who are in debt, in distress or discontent, and I will let God receive the glory when it all comes together!

Does bigger equal better?

2010-09-07T16:01:00.001+01:00

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, it is like yeast, what do both of these have in common - small. While contacting a number of freshers about coming along to the church plant I am part of, most have not replied, but one of the early replies was that I was "hoping to go to a bigger church". There is nothing wrong with that. If you are a student you probably do want to hang around with lots of people. Bigger churches will have "soul survivor" style worship, possibly a very good biblical exposition every week. There will probably be a dedicated Student worker, who can ensure a good level of pastoral care. I can understand the attraction.

But I wonder about whether because it is big it automatically better. When Jesus was on earth he preferred the company of a small group of people, within that was an inner circle of those who he was closest too. Then we read of the Kingdom of God, we read of small innocuous things that God can do great things with.

So although I understand fully the attraction, I do not see why it is better. Smaller churches offer opportunities for ministry that bigger churches can't, if you are one of 5 or 6 guitarists, when you will you lead worship, when there is a team of pastors, when will you be able to preach? In a small church the opportunities come quicker, you learn on the job, rather than through training weekends.

Sometime you can sit at the back of a big church wondering - when is God going to use my gifts? Maybe the answer is not in that church but in the smaller church down the road?

Moving

2010-09-06T11:24:00.002+01:00

So after almost a year our stuff is being wrapped in bubble wrap, placed in boxes and sealed with tape. We are finally moving!

I approach the situation with lots of excitement but also trepidation. For all the problems we have had Easton has been fun. We will not have so many friends so close, and we are going to an area we do not know as well. I am not very good with change.

But this is the life we have chosen, we move with the job. We get called by God to an area, and we move to it, we cannot do this at arms length. We have been commuting to church for over a year, and every journey reminds me of why I need to be in the area. How can we possible expect to understand the people in the area when we don't walk the same streets, use the same shops and breath the same air.

In the song "common people" by Pulp, the ability to get up and leave is stressed

Rent a flat above a shop,
cut your hair and get a job.
Smoke some fags and play some pool,
pretend you never went to school.
But still you'll never get it right,
cos when you're laid in bed at night,
watching roaches climb the wall,
if you call your Dad he could stop it all.

At present we can experience so much, but each day we leave and go back to Easton, from next week that is no longer an option. We are there for good, living the lives that the people of Bedminster live.

John describes the incarnation as "the word becomes flesh", Jesus did mission from the point of view of the people who he was trying to reach, in order to understand the human condition God became flesh.

I am excited about moving because for the first time in a year we can really understand the people we are trying to reach. Only by going and being can we fulfill the purpose that God has for us with the church. Incarnation is not an option for Christians it is the model of mission we have been given by God himself.

Next time you get in your car (if you do) and drive to a church, count how many churches you pass. How could the area (you live in) and the church (and the environment) benefit if you simply walked to the first one that you came across each week?

Lectio Divina

2010-08-25T15:57:00.005+01:00

I was introduced to this practice at college. Lectio Divina means in Latin, "Holy Reading", what it means in practice is allowing the words to read you rather than you read them.

When doing a traditional Bible study we tend to try to understand the passage intellectually, we answer questions and debate the meaning. We come up with some form of action at the end. Now I am not saying there is anything wrong with that, and I have written many Bible studies along those lines, but Lectio Divina is away of going very deep spiritually in the text, work with the text allowing it to speak and to shape the way you read the text. It is like a dance rather than a study. Words fly from the page, that speak in different ways than you would expect.

We did a Lectio Divina last night and at the end 4 of the 5 of us were in tears. The presence of God in the prayers at the end was amazing, like nothing I had ever experienced in a small group before.

The practice comes out of the Catholic tradition and can be done as a group or as an individual. I have started to use it in my daily prayer life, and some of the times of prayer have been so powerful. It is easy to think as protestant evangelicals we have got it all correct, but sometimes there is a gem that is hidden in other traditions, which we just need to rediscover, Lectino Divina is one of those gems.

Why not have a go yourself now with this simple one from Engage Worship's Sam Hargreaves - http://prezi.com/nslwizrwxzsh/lectio-divina/

Ramadan

2010-08-23T14:18:00.004+01:00

Playing cricket with and against Muslims and then living in the area of Bristol in which I live (Easton), you cannot help noticing that it is Ramadan. Several of the guys I play with are fasting and they will not eat or drink until the sun goes down. They will not even take water during a drinks break, until the official time of sundown has come. It is an amazing commitment, and something that Christians could learn from.

There is something else that struck me, during the game, one of the opposition players took himself away from his team to pray. Not only was I struck by his willingness to pray without any form of embarrassment (ever prayed in a public place and felt a little uncomfortable?), I was also in awe of the way he prayed. He prayed with his whole body, he started by standing up, his hands carefully positioned, then knelt down, placing his head on the floor, got up and continued the process again.

There was so much to admire in the way he prayed, his lack of self awareness while in prayer, use of his whole body not just his lips (Romans 12:1-2); it is something that Christians can learn from every time we mumble a few words and hope that God will answer.

Interview with Stuart Murray, author of The Naked Anabaptist

2010-08-18T16:49:00.001+01:00

"we would love to have more young people"

2010-08-18T14:23:00.002+01:00

One of my reflections from my time at Keynsham Baptist Church was two conversations I had very early on. The first was with a member of the church, who said they were "very traditional" while another member said that they would love more young people. I wondered whether these two statements will one day bring about conflict? Will they have to lose some of their traditional aspects to become more open to younger people?

The key thing in Keynsham's favour, is that they are a very welcoming church, and went out of their way to make us, and other visitors welcome. But I have to say that the service was traditional in many ways.

Another story told me a different side. The minister told me of a time of when a young couple visited the church (early twenties), they had just moved into the area and were looking for a church. They came into the church and were overheard to say "this must be the old peoples church we were told about", they stayed for the service but never came back.

It is easy to blame the church for not making themselves more attractive to young people. However, there is also an onus on young adults to become more than just consumers of church. Local church is more than just a Sunday morning worship service, it is about a commitment to a group of believers who live in a similar geographical area. In many ways we have pandered too much to a generation of young people, making church services that are so geared towards them, it misses out on other generations.

The church should be multi-generational, and yes some church traditions may need to be lost to attract more young people. But young people (20's and 30's ) need also to take some responsibility, and that means becoming part of communities for the long term, and that means not leaving after just one taste, because the people in the congregation are not the same age as them or the church style is not what they are used to.

The fact is that if you can get one small group of younger people who can stay, it will mean the next visitors are more likely to stay, it also means that overtime, their presence can alter the style of service the church has (where appropriate), which may also lead to growth at a later date.

So when you have churches with a lack of younger people, is it just the fault of the older ones, I would argue not. It is time for the 20's and 30's generation to stop being consumers of church, and start to take the responsibility of church decline, in some areas, as something they can be responsible for changing.

wherever two or three are gathered part two

2010-08-03T17:21:00.002+01:00

I was trying to work out why last Thursday worked so well, and the only thing that I could conclude was that as a group we get on. In fact more than that, although we have been together just a few weeks, I can sense that we genuinely care we each other. We love each other.

Not in the wishy-washy pop song kind of way, but in the way that we enjoy each others company (trying to leave is a nightmare) and we are concerned for each others well being; not just in an on the surface kind of way.

Maybe when Jesus said that when two or three are gathered he wanted us to be more than just united in the room, but in the Spirit. A God who is love, needs that bond of love in order to break in, and when that is not present he is somehow unable to act?

wherever two or three are gathered

2010-07-30T15:05:00.000+01:00

Last night, while praying, Jesus turned up, not literally, as I think I would be too busy to type a blog entry, but you could almost feel his presence. We had our missional small group and we had had a great evening chatting through Chapters 5 & 6 of Brian McLarens "a new kind of Christian", then we started to pray.

Now I have done a lot of preaching and leading worship in church recently, and and also lead a few prayer meetings, a deacons retreat. I have also spent time alone waiting for God to speak, and feeling a little bit flat, but yesterday when I did not have any great expectations, I could feel his presence clearly, and so did Katie. We commented to each other about it afterwards. It was so good to be in the room, you almost didn't want it to stop.

It is funny how you can go into things with almost no expectations, and Jesus can surprise you, excite you and fire you up.

Prayer for Trust in Jesus

2010-07-21T16:34:00.000+01:00

O Christ Jesus,
when all is darkness
and we feel our weakness and helplessness,
give us the sense of Your presence,
Your love, and Your strength.
Help us to have perfect trust
in Your protecting love
and strengthening power,
so that nothing may frighten or worry us,
for, living close to You,
we shall see Your hand,
Your purpose, Your will through all things.

By Saint Ignatius of Loyol, taken from God on Mute by Pete Greig

Rich Christians part two

2010-07-20T10:42:00.005+01:00

One of the stories I love, from the Bible, is the story of the Rich Ruler (Luke 18:18-30) who approaches Jesus. It is a story that is well known, but often remains a story. The application of Jesus' words are often minimised.

When Jesus tells the man to sell all he has and follow him, it means that there are some great excuses as to why we should not also do the same. I have used them in the past - of course he was talking to this man in particular, it is not a general commandment, or Jesus knew where the rich ruler most struggled, so he decided to challenge that - however, Jesus then goes on to to tell everyone that it is easier for camel to go through the eye of the needle, than a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Another big co-out is of course that the "love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Tim 6:10), and we can all sit back and say, well as long as we don't actually love the money, it is okay to have it. But when we put our trust in anything but God, then we are in trouble. When our bank account is full, and we can pay for whatever we might need, do we need to trust God? (Luke 12:13-21)

Jesus also said that the poor will always be with us (John 12:8), but I wonder if Jesus was actually happy with it? I wonder if he said it with a sense of burning injustice? I wonder if he looked forward to a day when Justice would flow like a river, and the poor would be set free from their poverty. I have read many recent attacks on Jim Wallis, and in particular his stand a wealth distribution, many saying that wealth distribution is not the Gospel. I am stunned, do they not read the same texts I do? Do they think a God of justice is happy with a world where each day 30,000 children die due to a lack of food EACH DAY!

The amazing thing at the end of the story of the rich ruler is that Jesus says that all things are possible with God (18:27). So how can a rich man enter the Kingdom? Just a few verses later we see the impossible happen when Jesus meets Zacchaeus, we know that he was wealthy (19:2) but on hearing Jesus' offer to come and eat with him, he repents and gives half of his possessions away, and pays back the money that he has cheated.

What is Jesus' response "Today salvation has come to this house" a rich man has entered the Kingdom of Heaven. To do it, he had to love God more than he loved his wealth, he had to trust God more than he trusted his wealth.

Rich Christians in an age of hunger

2010-07-15T13:41:00.002+01:00

I was asked via a friends facebook page (discussing this Dave Bish's blog post on hospitality) this question:-

"although the purpose of hospitality is to adorn the gospel and to focus on the materially poor at the exclusion of the materially rich i believe is as wrong as the other way around.
dont know what you think... "

This was my reply :-

The fundamental mistake we make is thinking that Jesus spoke about, spoke with or spoke to the poor, Jesus was the poor.

Born in a stable (Luke 2:7) his parents could only afford a pigeon (Luke 2:24;Lev 12:8) had nowhere to live (Matt 8:20) buried in a borrowed grave (Matt 27:60). When we serve the poor we are doing more than just proclaiming the gospel, we are serving Christ (Matt 25:31-46).

William Booth said "But what is the use of preaching the Gospel to men whose whole attention is concentrated upon a mad, desperate struggle to keep themselves alive?”" We must first meet the needs of the poor, and through that we proclaim the gospel.

For 1,700 years (since the reign of Constantine) the church has spoken to the margins from the centre, as Christendom comes to an end the church must start to speak to the centre from the margins, which is exactly what Jesus did, and why they crucified him!!

Couple of things you can read - the Magnificat (Luke 1:46ff) and ask the question of what it says about the rich, the powerful and the proud. Then read the Beatitudes (Matt 5:1ff), and consider that this is not as an ideal, but what the Kingdom of God, ushered in by Christ, should look like.

Finally, read Ronald Sider's classic book "Rich Christians in an age of hunger" .

God on Mute

2010-07-14T15:29:00.002+01:00

"If your deepest, most desperate prayers aren't being answered, if life sometimes hurts so much that you secretly wonder whether God exists, and if He does whether He cares, and if He cares why on earth He doesn't just do something to help, then you are not alone"

These are the opening words of Pete Greig's book "God on Mute", which I have just started to read. I do not think the opening words of any book have ever summarised so well, what I am going through and how I feel.

In August Katie and I will have been trying for a baby for three years. We know what the problems are, we believe fully that God will provide us with a baby, but we do not know when. All we can do is hope and pray, hope that he will answer our prayers and provide. But until that point we go through periods just like Pete describes, and it is never easy.

The Healing of the Paralytic Man

2010-07-05T11:39:00.001+01:00

Luke 5:17-26 tells the story of the Paralytic man brought before Jesus by his friends. This is such a famous story, but there is so much to learn from it. I often when read it focus upon the obvious, namely the intercession of the man's friends, what it means for Jesus to forgive sins, the proclamation that he is the "son of man" and has been given authority, power and glory (Daniel 7:14), the annoyance of the Pharisees, the miracle. But something struck me about this passage that had never struck me before.

We never hear the voice of the Paralysed man. He never asks for his sins to be forgiven, we are not told that Jesus heals in response to his faith (maybe the faith of his friends but not him), he remains silent.

I wonder if this is trying to tell us something about the nature of our redemption. The fact is that we associate forgiveness with repentance. But does this man repent? Yet he is forgiven, and his body healed as a sign of that forgiveness.

What do we learn from this, that forgiveness is not there when we ask, but it has already happened. By asking for forgiveness from God we are asking for something that is already available, not a response to our demand, we have no power of it. Repentance is an act of acceptance, not a request. The other key factor is that this happens before the events at Calvary. The Son of Man is incarnated and has already been given power to forgive sins.

This leaves me with a number of questions about salvation and atonement, what place does the incarnation of Jesus have in both salvation and atonement? I would welcome any feedback and thoughts you may have on this.

So what about this Anabaptist thing?

2010-06-30T14:16:00.001+01:00

In my last post I talked about my realisation that I was a Baptist-Anabaptist. But what does it mean to be an Anabaptist - and why do I agree?

I thought what I would do would be to look at the 7 core convictions outlined by Stuart Murray's book the "Naked Anabaptis t" and say why I agree with them.

Core Conviction No1 - Jesus our example, teacher, friend and lord, this is not a specifically Anabaptist thing, but there are implications beyond the obvious. Growing up as an Evangelical, although following Jesus was our goal, salvation was to do with his death. For many years I have moved to the conclusion that there was a reason Jesus lived, and it was more than just so that he could die. Jesus whole life is an example to live by. It is in his incarnation, his death and his Resurrection that I believe we are saved. It is through following him completely that our lives will be the full one he promised.

Core Conviction No2 - Jesus is the focal point of God's revelation, not many would disagree. Recently reading through the letter of Hebrews, I was struck by how the Old Testament was used to explain the incarnation of Jesus. Or another example would be Philip meeting the Eunuch. Put it simply without Christ, the Old Testament is incomplete. There is no point trying to interpret the Bible without understanding Christ as the lens through which we can see the meaning.

Core Conviction No3 - Christendom is over. I have never believed that the adoption of Christianity by the Roman state was a fully positive move for the church. Suddenly, whether you believed or not you were Christian. This caused huge problems for the church, more than it solved. Firstly, The church became the power, yet Jesus talked from the point of view of one from the margins. This meant that the church had to adapt, issues of war, money and political influence became central the church. When Jesus died on the cross as the perfect example of non-violent resistance, who would have believed that a thousand years later that cross would have been the symbol of the armies that marched upon Jerusalem to slaughter the infidel. Christendom also had effects on Baptism, evangelism, mission, tithing and membership, all of which were more detrimental to the church than positive.

Core Conviction No4 - church association with status, wealth and force is inappropriate for the followers of Jesus. Some of this encroaches into my comments on Conviction 3. But the fact is that Jesus called on his followers to "love your enemy" so how can his church be actively engaging in activities that are wholly self seeking. The Church of England is one of the richest institutions in the country it did not get to that position by accident! In my opinion the church was never meant to be at the centre, but at the margins. Post-Christendom gives us the opportunity to move from the establishment to the subversive. To speak up for the poor, the weak and the marginalised, rather than speak with the wealthy, the powerful and the rich.

Core Conviction No5 - Churches are called to be committed communities of discipleship and mission. On the surface not a lot to disagree with here. But look deeper - how committed are most fellowships to each other and to mission. The sermon on the mount is central to Anabaptist understanding of discipleship. Discipleship is one of the key themes most churches realise that are lacking in, and there are plenty of books telling you how to do it. But it is simple, and obvious when you read Matthew, the sermon needs to move from the status of "a nice idea but not practical" to the goal of our discipleship. Within that community is central, and to be honest with you most churches (not all) are not really communities but clubs. It is time to move to genuine communities of believers, and this is also the key to mission. When I read the early part of Acts, and read that people were added to their number "daily" what kind of community creates this. It is one that cares for each deeply, that sacrifices for each other, that is committed to each other, that loves each other, that wants to be with each other even when they don't have to be, that eats together, where the Lords supper is central and more than just ritual. This is an attractive community, and it is one that most churches don't even get close to.

Core Conviction No6 - Spirituality and economics are interconnected. We know what God wants from us - to Act Justly, Love Mercy and Walk Humbly and we know that God desires these things more from us than great services, good church programmes etc. We need to see that this world remains unbalanced. The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer, and yes Jesus did say that the poor would be always with us, but he never said that it was the way he wanted it to be!! Yet the church is caught up in the same issues, we are consumers like everyone else, and when we see the greed of the bankers we can all tut and get angry, but then we head off to the shops and purchase the latest HD tv, get excited by a new iPhone and covet our neighbours brand new car!! We need to be radically different. This means we need to think differently, and that means we need to reject the consumer society that surrounds us, we should not be allowed to feel comfortable while there are people without enough food to eat, while the earth gets slowly destroyed by climate change, and while wars are waged over oil.

Core Conviction No 7 - Peace is at the heart of the Gospel. On September 11th 2001 I thought war was the best course of action. I was wrong, I have repented. What has either of the wars in the middle east actually achieved, apart from the creation of more and more widows and orphans. What will war ever achieve? If you look at the causes of the second world war, they are directly attributed to first world war, and the failure to bring about reconciliation over retaliation. Time to rethink, and it is time for the church to take the lead. Why are so many American mega-church pastors so vocal about Abortion, but so silent about a war for Oil? There may be some out there, I have not heard them. We need to start putting love for enemy as the central theme of the church, if we did that, then things would dramatically change. It is time for the church to stop being complicit and start to become critical.

These are my views on the core convictions, and it is why I am attracted to them, if you share them then great please do explore them further, if you don't then I would love to hear from you. To find out more and with a lot more depth, understanding and insight, I would recommend Stuarts book.

Baptist -Anabaptist

2010-06-28T16:14:00.001+01:00

In so many ways, I am still recovering from the fact that I am a Baptist, for many years I considered myself a Evangelical Christian, with a leaning towards the Charismatic, who just happened to attend a baptist church, and one that was only loosely affiliated to the Baptist Union at that.

But then went I went forward for Baptist ministry, I was surprised by how much I actually agreed with, I had never really considered that as a non-conformist, I was reaching back to hundreds of years of Baptist history, along with my preference for believers baptism, the belief in the priesthood of all believers, and consequently the central role of the members meeting in seeking the mind of Christ and the need to affiliate beyond the local church to something wider (i.e. BUGB), I was indeed a fully fledged baptist.

Imagine then my surprise when I begun the realise that it did not end there, and I may indeed be an Anabaptist as well!!

My first introduction to Anabaptism was subliminal, about ten years ago I read Tony Campolo's book "following Jesus without embarrassing God" I was struck by his mention on the Amish is America. I wanted to know more about who they were and what the believed in. I read a few things, and found their culture fascinating. But I did not know they were Anabaptists. It was only when I came to Bristol that I started to find out more.

I remember one day asking my then Minister, Var "what is an Anabaptist" after reading some stuff about them on Wikipedia. He mentioned their strong belief in the Sermon on the Mount being a practical guide for today. I have always admired that section in Matthew, a few months later Var did a series of preaches on the Sermon, which only reinforced by belief that there was something in this.

Doing Church history, Anabaptism was mentioned once - that of course was a focus upon Munster, which painted a very negative picture of what anabaptism was about.

This year at College we were challenged about our own personal Spirituality, one of the things we were encouraged to do was use a prayer book. The one that immediately drew my attention was the Anabaptist one "take our moments and our days" I bought it, and read it almost everyday, each day I am refreshed by it.

It was then that I mentioned to my mentor Stuart Murray Williams that I was interested in Anabaptism, he heads up the Anabaptist Network in the UK. I was at the time reading his book "Post-Christendom", which talked a lot about the Anabaptist's. This lead me to reading his latest book the "Naked Anabaptis t".

I struggled to find anything that I disagreed with in the whole book, and the more I read the more I realised that Anabaptism resonated with where I am theologically, missiologically and spiritually. However, I don't think I am ready to be classed as a neo-anabaptist, but I think I am very happy to take on the term a Baptist-Anabaptist. This is where I am now, but I do not know where God is going to take me in the future!!

Word becomes Flesh

2010-06-16T10:50:00.002+01:00

John 1:14 "the word became flesh and dwelt among them"

After almost a year it looks like I will be moving within walking distance of the church I am part of and into the community I am hoping to be part of. This has given me time to reflect on why I am so committed to incarnation and becoming part of a local body of Christ, rather than travelling. So I have come up with three reasons why becoming part of the local church is vital.

However, I will start with a caveat. Becoming part of the local, is just one way of being church . In many ways if you see your mission field as a workplace, social club or educational establishment, a geographically local body may not be best. It may be that a local body is not based on geography, but on something else.

Second caveat, how do I define church. What I am talking about is an ecclesiological minimum based up Worship (including the sacraments), Fellowship and Mission. If those aspects are all present, then we looking at a church.

Finally, I am looking at what I see are the benefits to being local, these you may chose to ignore, if you wish.

Mission - Jesus became flesh and his mission is linked to his incarnation. Therefore mission is linked to presence and dwelling. What I have missed by travelling is a sense of knowing what is going on, on the ground. Mission has always been a process of "being sent", so presence is vital. It is in the small things, the same faces you see, the newsagent you meet, the postman that smiles at you and the pub landlord that you know by name. It is this that I have missed, and it is through these connections that the church becomes real. It is much easier to invite somebody to something happening on their doorstep, then something they have to drive to.
Environment - what BP has shown us, is that we cannot rely upon oil. We were given a task to look after the world. Driving 10-15 mins to get to church is not good for the environment, especially when you pass 5 or 6 churches on the way. Jesus never travelled (in his whole life) more then the length of Wales, why do we think it is ok to travel miles to get to church, when there are expressions of God's kingdom on our door step, within walking distance?
Opportunity - "what if our local church is not as good as the big church down the road". Is church something we consume or something we serve? If it is something we consume, then the big church down the road is where we should be. But if it is something we serve, then service takes personal sacrifice. The great thing is that there is a reward. Are you a gifted worship leader, musician, preacher, Sunday teacher etc. but do not get a look in, because there is always someone else who is already on the rota, or more experience than you. Since being part of a small local church I found opportunities to serve much easier to come by. The local church might not be as good, as slick, as professional, but it might be a great opportunity to serve.

So what have I learned - I am desperate to become part of the local, because I miss what it offers compared with having to travel.

London Mick

2010-06-14T12:51:00.001+01:00

I meet some odd guys at the free breakfast I help out with, there is Mike with his dogs, David the smart dressed German, Paul the collector, Bob the man on the road, Gill who is addicted to coffee (it's her only vice) and Alfie who can consume an immense amount of porridge. But today I met London Mick.

He was drunk (well it was 9 in the morning) and immediately told me that he had no money, which I said was fine, "as it was free!!" He said I didn't mind what I got him, so I brought the lot.

But he wouldn't eat it, he said it looked too nice, and as he only ate out of bins, we had to put it in plastic bag, all messed up, so he could take it away with him. As I spoke to Mick, I realised he was a very intelligent man, he was a bit odd at times, which I blamed on the can of special brew in his pocket. But he was proud to call himself an alcoholic. I wondered what had lead him to end up drinking on the streets and eating out of bins?

When you see pictures of binge drinkers, you wonder how many of them realise how dangerous and destructive drug that are consuming. Now I am no saint and like a drink, but when you see the state of some of the people on the streets, you wonder how they allowed a liquid to become the centre of their lives.

Now I know that speaking to some of them, not all are like Mick. Some have just had an unlucky break, and ended up stuck on the streets, some are desperate to get off the streets, and find a way to live normal lives.

However, there are a couple of younger guys who clearly look up to Mick; you wonder how many will end up like him in 40 years time, if they make it that long.

My Psalm

2010-06-01T10:15:00.002+01:00

My God, you are the provider,
You have provided for my needs,
I need not worry about anything.

But I am still troubled,
Why are my prayers not answered?
When I call, why do you not listen?
When I cry, why do you not comfort?
When I what to hear from you, why are you silent?

One thing troubles me, and it is destroying me,
But you remain silent,
You do not answer.
You have sent few people to help,
Few to assist, few to listen.

Every month the pain increases,
It is like a death, like we are in mourning.
We feel so alone, so helpless,
Why do you remain silent?

But we know you are the answer.
We know that our hope must be placed in you.
We know the world has no answers.
So we put our trust and our hope you in you.

Thank you Lord, that you see our faith,
Thank you, that we know you will answer,
Thank you that you do listen,
Thank you that will provide!

Twenty20 World Cup

2010-05-17T14:12:00.003+01:00

Well England have finally won a major ICC trophy title, after five attempts. Much will be made of the presence of three South African born players, and an Irishman. But for me the cup was won by five English bowlers, none with exceptional pace, but a lot of intelligence, who outwitted most of the teams they came up against. They say Twenty20 is batsman's game, but only if it is played on pitches that overly-favour bat against ball, i.e. the IPL.

The World Cup has put a lot of question marks over the IPL, in my opinion, for a cup lauded for its innovation, the fact is that it is in so many ways a very conservative institution. It only came about in response to the ICL, and India's World Cup win, and there are a huge amount of journeymen filling up the four overseas players births (four Australians I can name - Warne, Gilchrist, Hayden and Symonds).

The World Cup has made a mockery of their bidding system where no Pakistani players were selected (despite their presence again in the later stages of the tournament) while many England players did not get through, meanwhile a player of the proven quality of Morgan found himself dropped, and KP even spent time on the bench in favour of playing three South Africans.

However, where the ECB have got it so wrong is now becoming obvious. In June England will be competing in some meaningless ODI's against Australia while the Twenty20 cup gets underway. The result, many of England's World Cup winners will be unavailable for their counties (KP, Collingwood, Swann and Bresnan will be among them) . Surely it is time to learn from India, and create a window where all the best players can play, this may mean losing a few ODI's but frankly, who cares about that?

The weak and the strong

2010-05-14T20:11:00.004+01:00

I am doing an essay on Romans 15:1-9. It is basically and exegesis and a paraphrase. The Strong are (generally) Gentile Christians who reject the food laws etc of Judaism. While the Weak are the Jewish Christians who still consider these things to be vital.

The general consensus of many I have read about is that we need to be firm on the essentials, but more relaxed on the non-essentials. With the emergent church movement I have often read of criticism of their questioning of what the essentials actually are?

It seems to me that the weak are hard line fundamentalists, while the more liberal are the strong. How does that sit with many conservative Christians, who no doubt would consider themselves more in line with the thinking of Paul? (especially if you make by atonement and righteousness by faith alone, the central doctrine). When the issue of women priests is debated, who are the weak and who are the strong, when we look at the place of the charismatic Spiritual gifts, who are the weak and who are the strong?

The next issue is how you treat each other. Paul looks at the teaching and actions of Jesus and says that love should be our yardstick. It is more than just tolerating, it is a desire for unity above all else, and in offering love, the hope is a movement for change. Which makes me wonder, when Steve Chalke was hounded, for questioning the centrality of Atonement. When UCCF split with Spring Harvest, when leaders from around the world questioned whether he was still a Christian, where they acting in love? I don't think so.

The problem is that this is within the church itself, it is even worse when a lack of love spreads beyond the church, and we read of Christians who cannot allow a homo-sexual couple to stay at their B&B (I wonder if they are so harsh on cohabiting couples, or a man on a weekend away with his mistress?), you have to wonder whether they are being loving?

But then that all comes back to our essentials, and what are the non-essentials. Many modern day Jews would still consider the food laws to be beyond question. But we do not. So where does that leave us with regards to homosexuality?

Thoughts from Trinity and Community week

2010-03-17T13:27:00.001Z

Day One – 8/3/10

I remember coming home from a church activities week, aged just 7. My parents are not Christian, and I was sent to get me out of the house during the long summer break. On the final day I answered the call from the front to “become a Christian”. When I got home I told my mum, in the presence of her friend. I was asked by my mum’s friend if I believed in God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Which I replied that I did, she told me that I was one already, and I did not need to go back to that church. The problem was I did have an idea of God, and was confused about Jesus, but the Holy Ghost completely lost me!

One of the first questions of the week was how we had encountered the Trinity. Christine Powell had said how it had been a gradual encounter, first with God, then with Jesus and finally once she had become a Christian, then the Holy Spirit had become more real. In many ways that is my testimony. I had always been taught to believe in God as a father, when I became a Christian I met with Jesus and the Holy Spirit has been gradually revealed to me over the years.

Day Two – 9/3/10
Since doing a course on Christian Doctrine last year I have been fascinated by the use of the creeds. I often listen to a Rich Mullins song called Creed, and have been thinking of a way to use that in a service. Also whenever I visit my wife’s Anglican church I am amazed that they play such a central role in the service.

In my many years in Baptist churches, I cannot remember the creeds ever being used, or even spoken about. But Stephen Finamore was very keen that the creeds could help us not repeat the mistakes made in the past. It made me think that my ideas of using them in a service, or even doing a series of evening talks on the creeds might not be such a weird idea, and may bring a deeper understanding to people of what we mean when we talk about the Trinity.

Day Three – 10/3/10
Today I spent the day at Stapleton Baptist church. The idea was to put some meat on the bones of what we had been learning. I couldn’t help being cynical. I could not see how helping a church could possibly help in that respect. Probably, like many others, I thought if we were to go out and learn about working in community, surely we should get out of the church and meet some normal people .

As per usual my understanding of what we were doing took awhile to sink in. It was only at the meal in the evening, where fellow students served the food, did I get it. The Trinity’s relationship with each other is a model for all relationships. As they love, work with and enjoy each other, so we can learn to do the same. Integral to this is us demonstrating love to all. I do hope that our day inspires Stapleton Baptist Church, and in turn they can love their community better because of us. Far from being a pointless exercise, it was in fact a very clever way of getting us to engage with what it means to love our communities.

Day Four – 11/3/10
One of the aspects we focused upon today was worship of the Trinity. I am not a great fan of modern worship songs, and it is very easy to knock the simplicity of many of the songs, musically, lyrically and theologically. There was a danger that we could have slipped into that today. The problem seems to be that it is almost too easy to write a song to Jesus. In so many ways he is the most like us, understands and intercedes for us. But it is different with God the father and the Holy Spirit.

I don’t feel that the session really helped as much as I would have liked. There were some good songs and liturgies that were introduced to us, but I wonder whether many of them would need very in depth reading and mediation on what the trinity is, before the congregation can read them and speak or sing them. As good as they are theologically, I wonder how many in a congregation will really grasp the meaning or the significance of the words. I wondered if this is why modern songs stick to the much easier to comprehend aspects of God?

Day Five – 12/3/10
One of the aspects of the last days I am keen to take with me is that human beings are “priests” of creation. That they were made in the image of God for a purpose, and it sets them apart from all the animals. Through the fall we have allowed creation to drift away from God. But it is through Salvation that the fullness of God is revealed, that all parts of the Trinity are understood. It saddens me that we have reduced salvation to personal revelation. Colossians 1 reveals that the salvation act was much grander than that, and it is Gods plan to draw all creation back to himself. In a world that is gradually waking up to the global effects of climate change we have a very powerful message.

Conclusion
On Sunday I am set to preach on the Baptism of Jesus in Luke. The image of Jesus coming out of the water, the heavens opening, the dove descending and the voice booming out “This is my son” is one I am very familiar with. But this week has certainly helped as I approach preaching it. The problem I have is maybe having too much to say. How do you condense a week’s worth of learning into twenty minutes!

vibrant community

2010-03-05T14:36:00.002Z

I went to two meetings last night (no, I am not an addict!!) but I was amazed by the contrast between the two:

The first was a disconnected group of people, who came together (mostly reluctantly) they shared, because they had to. They were so obsessed with their own problems that they did not really understand the problems of the people beyond their walls. There was no welcome, no drink, no food, it was all very morbid. Very little laughter and a very quick disappearance once the "official" meeting was over.

The other was a seemingly disconnected group of people, of all ages. Thrown together by a common mission, one that drew them together. They were looking out for others, for those beyond their own four walls, trying find a positive where there seemed only negatives. There was laughter, wine, beer, snacks, which were brought by various members of the group, it was abundant and so much more was left over at the end. When the official meeting had ended, people continued to hang around to chat and talk.

One of those meetings was the church prayer meeting, the other was the start of a neighbour watch sceme following a recent spate of bugalries. Which one do you think was which?

The Old Forge: the gathered church....

2010-02-26T16:12:00.000Z

The Old Forge: the gathered church....

Gathered Church

2010-02-26T16:11:00.003Z

There are several things that make me a baptist. I am committed to believers baptism, I am a non-conformist, I love the connectedness of being part of something bigger (i.e. the Baptist Union) and I love the history that comes with the denomination. But aspect which has always stood out for me is the idea that the search gathers together to seek the mind of God.

To be honest my first Baptist church modelled this badly. At no point was the key principle of why we meet expressed. The result, as very tedious, poorly attended meeting once every other month.

It was at my next Church St Marks where the meetings were allowed to come alive. People would arrive with entrenched views, but these would be softened, and broken and you could feel the mood of the meeting shift. It was dynamic.

This is not the case at my current church, which feels more like a boxing match, once you get the niceties out of the way (a short bible study), then the gloves are off and people swing from the hip at each other. There is no sense of Gods gentle (but firm) hand, no sense that people are prepared to shift, no humility and very little love. Then when the bell goes, and the meeting is adjourned, they all act as if nothing has happened.

It can be, and it has to be more than that.

Crematorium Visit

2010-02-11T16:53:00.003Z

"Always bear in mind funerals are for the living", these were Brendan's' last words before I left after my first official visit to a crematorium. I have of course been to crematoriums before, but this was my first as a minister in training, my first when I did not know the deceased, (or any members of the family), my first visit downstairs where the bodies are placed into industrial sized ovens.

This may some naive, but when I applied for ministry, when I was thinking about my calling and even when I spent my first year at college, funerals were not something I had thought about doing. It really struck me when I was in the first week of Ministerial training and we had a session on first aid in ministry, or the more appropriately "panic, I have a funeral!!". It was then that I realised that I would end up having to do them as part of my job.

Up until that point Ministry involved mission, evangelism, hanging out in coffee shops, preaching and leading worship. The ordinances had always seemed too formal for me. But the fact is that I will have to do them, and I will have to learn to do them well, not for my sake, but for the sake of the families that need me at that time.

Before the funeral Brendan had taken me downstairs and introduced me to the guys who run the crematorium, he asked if it was OK for them to show me around afterwards. So after the funeral I went downstairs and watched as the body was placed in one of the ovens, as if it was a large pizza. It was so surreal, yet so normal for the two guys doing it. The body would be fully burnt in one and half hours. I spoke with the funeral director a few moments later, "puts it all into perspective" he said. It was a very odd process.

But the service was mostly dignified, and the deceased was clearly well loved. One thing I will have to get used to is the choice of songs that people make. I was prepared for "My Way", as I understand it is very popular at funerals. What I wasn't prepared for was the abysmal Westlife song, which probably meant a great deal to the family, but seemed lacking in so much from my point of view, I wonder if the 77 year old deceased had chosen the song, somehow I doubt it.

Which comes back to my first point, funerals are for the living. I chatted with Brendan afterwards, he chooses not to use the words "sure and certain hope of the resurrection" for those outside the church context. He still offers hope to the family, hope in the cross. But ultimately we cannot know the fate of anyone, so we cannot predict or assume. It is not up to us, and it is not our place to judge, but to point people to the one who does know, and the one who is able to judge justly and fairly. Which is what Brendan hopes to do. It is not hard sell evangelism, but gentle and loving ministry that leads people out of the mourning to the source of all hope.

I have come away from the morning changed. My fears, cares and worries seem a little less important today. The faces of those who are unable to fully understand their grief are etched in my mind. For so many the lack of certainty, the depth of loss is so hard. I can only hope that through Brendan's simple message that the people can attempt to uncover the real meaning of life.

Isaiah 26:19

But your dead will live;
       their bodies will rise.
       You who dwell in the dust,
       wake up and shout for joy.
       Your dew is like the dew of the morning;
       the earth will give birth to her dead.

Mary - the story

2010-02-01T15:35:00.001Z

This week I decided to do something different. Inspired by college (a day on story telling) and also by some other stuff I had been reading (a chapter in re-emerging church by Roger Standing) I decided that I would attempt a narrative sermon!!

Does not sound much really, but for so long I have formed a pattern in how I think about, prepare for and then do sermons. This shook all of that up.
I have been preaching on the Gospel of Luke, and had come to the last section of Luke 2, where the young Jesus gets lost in the Temple. I felt this was a great place to reflect on where we have been, and look forward to where we would be going.

I took Mary as my lead character and simply told about three of her visits to Jerusalem (she would of course have visited many times) but I focused upon the Temple blessing, losing Jesus in the Temple and of course the death and resurrection of Jesus. Through it I told the story of Mary seeing this special child's life. Looking back on what we had covered so far in the Gospel, but also hinting towards what we would learn. How Jesus broke the rules, upset the authorities and turned the world upset down and how she is a mother saw all of this, and how it may have made her feel.

The danger of course is reading too much into that, and trying to keep it based on what we know, rather than spending too much time in speculation. I finished by challenging the congregation on what their image of Jesus was, and how like Mary, we need to see many aspects of Jesus, a baby, a boy, a rebel, a teacher, a miracle work, a man who was punished an died, a man who rose again.

At the end, I was very emotional. I sensed that others in the congregation where to, it was probably a very different sermon for them. The great thing was that although it had stretched me, it had also stretched them. I would definitely do another sermon like that, but only if it felt right (as it had done this time).

Vision part two

2010-01-27T15:21:00.002Z

I have always thought that vision was something that went beyond what is in front of you. It was something for the future, I bigger goal or a higher aim. It was there to stretch you and take you out of your comfort zone. I have also spent much of the time with the parable "where there is no vision people perish" hanging over my head, like a sword of Damocles. As the leader of the church, do I have to provide the vision? What is my vision is just a bit too small? What if my vision is wrong? Or more important in my current situation, if I am the one who has to provide the vision, why are my thoughts so blurry?

So it was with great relief that Steve's talk on vision released so many of those burdens from me. The first element is that it is not my vision, but God's. This means that we as followers do not have to come up with the vision, but discern what God's vision is.

So how do we do that, and this is crucial, because it is not down to me. It is corporate; it is not for the leader to have all the answers, but for the leader to start the process of where to look. The vision then is not held by one individual, but by the whole church. We seek God together, we discern together and we enact the vision together. Wow!!

Finally, in terms of size, we are following God's lead. Vision changes and reflects both the context and the season. So the vision for the church could be to create a better working community. No pressure to perform, or to achieve, but just to enjoy each others company. How attractive is a community that enjoys each others company, well you only have to look at Acts 2 to see how a community that works together can grow.

Consequently, I am a relived man. I am not wholly responsible to be a visionary leader; instead my role is more of a shepherd, gently guiding the flock into the best part of the field where they can find nourishment.

doing rather than being

2010-01-20T16:24:00.001Z

In his opening of the book "a purpose driven life" Rick Warren starts with the phrase "it's not about you". The point of this is that he wants the reader to realise that it is not about what we do, but who we are. Character is much more important in God's plan than anything else.

In a recent conversation with a local minister his advice was to not get too worried about success and failure. It is something that I know in my head, but it is something that I find so difficult to apply. I want to see results, I want to do things!! But at the same time I know that God is not interested in what I do, but who I am.

In the same way God does not want me to be stagnant, the parable of the Talons tells me that God wants us to be risk takers, not those who bury the talons for the smallest gain. However, God will not judge us on the results, the success or failure, but on the desire to try.

My problem at the moment is where I should be directing my energy. I have some very frustrating days when I would like things to happen, but they just don't. There are things where I want God to reveal things to me, but all I get is silence.

Am I doing things wrong, or am I missing the point? I don't know, and I find the whole process of following God very very hard.

advent

2009-12-03T11:42:00.000Z

I have been in two Baptist Churches where the church seasons seem to be ignored. Yes, we do Christmas and Easter (obviously) but all the other seasons seemed to have passed both churches by.

So it was brilliant that on the Tuesday before Advent I was handed a life line, by thinking about advent. For me advent mainly meant a calendar, some chocolate and a lot of faffing about till the main event. But we were asked to think about what advent was about. Inspired I prepared my next worship service with advent in mind, had a bit of a panic as to where you buy an advent candle but had a back-up plan.When I arrived at the church what did I see - advent candles all ready and a congregation expecting to sing "O Come, O come Immanuel" (which I had of course included!!). After the service I went onto my old church, no mention of advent, no candle (although it was a baptism!) but the sermon lacked something, and I think it missed that sense of something about to happen!

Looking at Advent, the coming of the king, the expectation and the patience in waiting, I was suprised that I has never really seen any significance in it before.It is amazing how you can miss the things, but they are a bit like a hidden gem, when you find them you are amazed.

Holidays with a Heart

2009-11-20T16:22:00.000Z

I often make mistakes, but one of my biggest was describing short term overseas mission trips as "Holidays with a heart", completley forgetting, that just before I met my wife Katie she had just returned from a short term trip to India, and had previously been to Kenya. Big mistake, one I have not repeated.

My problem with overseas trips was probably due to ignorance, I had always been called to the UK and had never felt the need to go abroad. I was probably slightly bitter that young people would rush off on this trips during gap years, and get to see the world, while mission at home struggled to get enough willing volunteers. I was jealous that an overseas mission agency could be over subscribed, while the year out programme I ran was failing to get anywhere enough people.

So in my mind they were the great enemy. As per usual, I have felt the need to repent.

I spent Thursday at the home of BMS in Didcot, as part of my training, in one of the meetings, one of the people voiced the same concerns as me, and I saw in many ways how sad that attitude was. I saw him, angry and confused, and I realised that, like him, my attitude was wrong. Mission is vital, be it at home or overseas, people have to follow their call, and for some that means to people groups across the globe. Others will catch the vision for the UK, and they need to be supported and encouraged, but that does not mean that everyone will.

Awarness Walk

2009-11-11T09:57:00.004Z

I was on an walk with college to enable me to think about life around me. I saw this old bench. It was slowly rotting, slowly being reclaimed back to the environment around it. It was once a tree like so many around it, but man had chopped it down, shaped it and formed it into something else, but now it was being taken back into the environment from where it came.

I was reminded of a prayer by Saint Teresa of Avila, it tells us that we should not allow these things to disturb us.

Let nothing disturb thee,
Nothing affright thee;
All things are passing;
God never changeth;
Patient endurance
Attaineth to all things;
Who God possesseth
In nothing is wanting;
Alone God sufficeth

God alone provides - which reminds me of Matthew 6:25-34. Why do we allow ourselves to get caught up in worry, we just need to accept that God is in control, we need to seek after his Kingdom and his righteousness and allow him to provide for all we need.

Remembrance

2009-11-10T14:34:00.000Z

On Sunday I did my first Remembrance service, I felt it went well on the day. But as I have reflected upon it, particularly in the light of today's lecture from Geraldine Latty, I felt that maybe I missed out on an opportunity to do something better.

The problem for me was, how much do you make the service about Remembrance? In the Baptist Times this week(November 5th edition) the Deputy Chaplain General - Revd John Woodhouse - said he would dedicate either the whole service or at least 20 mins. Think I did about 10, and then carried on with the service I had planned. Was that a mistake, could I have made more about it?

My main fear is that maybe the songs we sung were not right for the occasion, where maybe tool light in terms of tone and content. Maybe I could have binned my sermon series and addressed the concept of war, loss, rememberance and reconcilliation? Maybe the whole service, on reflection could have focused more on the need for people to remember. Having never had to lead one before, I did not quite know what the expectation might have been, particularly amongst the older members, many of whom lived through the second world war.

As per usual college is stretching me to think about the finer detail of a church service, and I am again left realising my inadequacies in this area, however, determined that next year I will approach the service very differently.

Good Teaching

2009-11-06T15:03:00.001Z

In one of my earlier posts, I reflected upon a recent survey by the EA, which looked at what young people wanted from church, and left me with the impression that their primary requirement was passive reception. The key element they required was good teaching.

Now I have nothing against good teaching, but what I would like to challenge is what good teaching actually is. If it is pure intellectual stimulation, with no challenge and no action required, then I wonder if it is actually good teaching. One of the problems, as a Bible student, is that we do a lot of "up in the air thinking" reflecting upon what X thinks about a particular aspect of theology, and why Y thinks differently. This is all good, however, if I was to base my sermon on this intellectual discussion, would that then be considered good teaching?

When you consider that the majority of the population have not tertiary level education, you do have to ensure that your sermon is fully grounded, and scratching where the people are itching. For me then, the process of writing a sermon, will have to include an understanding of the theological argument, but that is not necessarily going to be the bones of my sermon.

Jesus was considered to be a "good teacher" (a description he immediately questioned (Mark 10:16-18) and in the process confirmed his own divinity) yet his style was so often about telling stories that would point to theological truth, from the context of the familiar surroundings of the time, it was accessible to all, multi-levelled and incredibly practical; for me that is the goal of good teaching. Our job should be to demystify the gospel, to allow its inherent simplicity to be heard by all.

Out of my depth

2009-10-26T16:11:00.002Z

As usual I went along to help out at the homeless breakfast at the Salvation Army. I have been helping out there for while. It is amazing how many of them have some form of belief. You get some great moments, like today when one of the guys said he had brought someone along with him to show them what a "real Christian looked like".There is a real spiritual dimension to many of their lives, with conversations often being about faith, the Bible and why we are here.

Many of the guys (and they are mostly men) have issues, but only today did I really see the deep problems one or two of them have. Today I met a guy who I will call N, he asked me to pray about his anger. A few of the guys have anger issues, so this was not a problem. I took him aside and prayed for him. A few minutes later he told me some other things, that he had "lustful and murderous" thoughts, he said the only thing that could help him was Jesus. Whilst I agreed, I also realised I was woefully out of my depth. While talking with one of the other helpers, I was told further what some of those thoughts were (he had opened up to him a few weeks previously) and I do not wish to state what they were, but it made me realise more and more how much I have to learn, how out of my depth I was in that situation.

I like to feel I have most things sorted, that I will cope in most situations, that I have all the answers, but in this case I didn't, I do not feel I was any use to N. I feel he went away no closer to the answer he needed, maybe it is because one quick prayer was not enough, I don't know. But I will pray for him this week, and hope that what I could not provide God can.

Laying it down

2009-10-19T18:07:00.005+01:00

I have had a passion to see students engaged in urban mission since I came to Bristol three years ago. I feel that if they were to get involoved in an urban church, it would give them a brilliant view of the city, an opportunity to serve God in the most difficult situations, and the possibility of exploring gifting, that could be ignored, or swallowed up, in a larger church.

So I found myself outside the University Student Union on Thursday night, ready to attend a CU church fair. The idea was that I could meet some students, and maybe convince some of them to come along to the church I am part of. It was then that I felt very uneasy, what would I actually say, do I have anything to actually get them excited. I just felt that this was not the right way to go about the whole process.

So I went home...

This does not mean that I do not want students to come on board, but that I needed to lay it down, and allow God to be the provider, rather than by my efforts. If God wants students to get involoved, then he will bring the connections, rather than me make them.

I did pray with Brendan that people will come along with giftings, and will continue to pray, but for the time being I will allow God to do the work, while I do the prayer.

Frustration

2009-10-16T15:28:00.003+01:00

We had a church meeting on Monday night where a decision was made which frankly I am baffled by. The decision was that, rather than using the money the church has in the bank to make a statement of their commitment to their area by buying, they would choose to rent. The reason, they had owned a house before and they are not willing to be lumbered with one again when we leave.

Now in many ways I understand their decision, they had been burnt before, and that might happen again, and they had lost money before and they were not willing to do that again, so I fully understand why they reached the decision they did. The thing that troubled me most was the lack of vision.

They could in no way comprehend that things might be different in two-three years time. They were fixed on the fact that I would go and they would be in the same place they are now. The problem is that, if they have no sense the God is about to do something, and I get frustrated by their attitude I probably will go, and they will be "proved right".

I spoke with my regional minister on Tuesday, and he gave me some great advice, this is the time to demonstrate to them what the kingdom of God is like, and that will mean acting graciously and lovingly even when they are unable to.

The conclusion I have reached is that it is going to be much harder than I thought. The odd thing is that the church part of my role, maybe a much harder proposition than the missional part of my role.

Planning Prayer

2009-10-10T11:46:00.004+01:00

In the summer I attended a number of weddings, one of which I was asked to do the prayers at. I asked what they would like prayer for, and felt that I could just use the themes given, and pray what I felt at the time. Big mistake, half-way through I got flustered, and ended up saying something that I really wish I hadn't. Looking back I wished that I had written it down.

But coming from a charismatic background, and feeling that writing them down is not really the thing to do, but allow the Spirit to move was much better I went down that route.

On Tuesday in Free Church worship and preaching, my tutor Sian, told us that it was okay, and in fact good to craft a prayer, and have at least one prayer already written. Thinking about it, why do I prepare so hard for a sermon, get some thoughts together for the Worship structure, but pay hardly any attention to the prayers that will be said? Surely the prayers are as vital, and need to be thought about and worked at, rather than just made up every time. I think from now on, I will prepare properly for them, and if I am asked to do a wedding prayer again, I will not make the same mistake again.

Luke - an Introduction

2009-10-02T17:12:00.005+01:00

My first big book preach, in the sense that it is the first book I will preach from, beginning to the end. To tell you the truth I am excited by really getting into one book. It will take a long time at this rate (preaching just twice a month) but I really hope that the church will gain from it.

One of the themes in Luke is poverty and riches (which coincides with my NT essay at college) as I feel that we are a wealthy church (in terms of bank account) but also a poor church (in terms of numbers and able bodied people). So it will be an interesting journey.

I started off by explaining how the book of Luke is an accurate account, according to the Author and played a game based upon Chinese Whispers. Hopefully they saw the connection!! How Luke is not a Biography, but theology, how it is meant to be an accurate account of the story, so that people may come to know Jesus (and God) through it.

Leading Worship

2009-10-01T18:05:00.006+01:00

If you had asked me to list the things that I would struggle at in my new post, I think pastoral visits would have been top of the list. But the reality is that they seem to have gone okay.

The problem area, from what I can see, is leading worship. I have lead worship in small churches before, but I have never been this dissatisfied with how it has gone. It just seems very flat; I need some inspiration. The worst bit on Sunday was the communion, where I just felt that I was putting the effort in and nothing was coming back.

The question for me is, how do I get the worship to relate to the membership. At present it seems that I am doing okay (no actual complaints) but I just get the feeling it is missing something, and I don't know what.

Maybe it is my expectations, or maybe I am just not doing enough preparation (and that includes time on my knees), but even so I am trying to find a way to break through. It may be that it just needs a little patience, or maybe it just needs one thing to click into place and the whole thing will come together. But at present I am not sure, which is my major frustration (churchwise).

Breaking the mold

2009-09-21T15:39:00.007+01:00

I met up with the first Head Teacher today, in my quest to get to know the area through the local schools. I knew he was a Christian, so it was not surprise at all that he started asking me about my job, and we very quickly moved on to how he expresses his faith while at work, whilst ensuring that he did not over step the mark.

One of the questions I asked him was about where he went to church, and this lead on to a very interesting story about how 15 years ago, whilst a student who was struggling with his faith, rather than go to the big student churches in the city, he went to a small Bretheren Church. At that time he was the only student in a small and elderly congregation, but he got involved, and soon there were 4 students. They have all now grown up, and he is a now one of the leaders in the church which has grown massively in size.

What a story!! I then read this story from the EA http://www.eauk.org/media/evangelicals-challenged.cfm the quote that really struck me was this:

"According to the survey, young adults are most attracted to a church by the resources it provides to support their own personal faith. Relevant preaching was ranked as the characteristic that would most attract them to church, followed by excellent worship and with people they can relate to coming third. The least attractive characteristics were the church being mission-orientated or a safe place to invite friends.

Only one-third of the under 30s said they see themselves as leaders in their church."

The story of the head teacher demonstrates what happens when just one individual breaks the mold, and does something different. It would be great to hear more stories of people doing the same.

Lords Prayer Part Two

2009-09-17T17:02:00.005+01:00

This week we focused on two aspects of the Lords Prayer - Give us our Daily Bread and Save us from Trial. Both these aspects of the prayer can be quite selfish. But we looked beyond that.

We considered how every day 30,000 people die of starvation, and that 85% of those are under 5. How unfair that is, and we looked at the gleaning law in Leviticus. When we looked at trial we considered those who have waited patiently to see God's provision -they thirst for it. We looked at the story of the Widow who's son had died in Luke, how she must have sought God, and only when Jesus turned up (probably a bit late as far as she was concerned) touched him and brought him back to life.

It was a communion Sunday, and I asked us to think of two things as we took communion, aside from the normal, they were:

1. As we eat – think of those who will have nothing to eat today
2. As we drink – think about those who thirst for God to act

Hopefully it was not too difficult for them to see the connection. Next week we finish of the Lord's Prayer by looking at forgiveness.

First Week

2009-09-10T18:15:00.003+01:00

So what have I learnt so far in my first week? The thing that has come across most strongly is how history effects to present. Years ago East Street merged with another church "The Tabernacle", by all accounts it was not an easy merger, and although there is no obvious difference between the two groups, people still affiliate with their original church. In fact, there is clearly some resentment and hurt because eventually the Tabernacle building had to be sold, and the Tabernacle people are quick to say that it was wrong, while East Street people say the opposite.

As it is, neither group now has a building and so it does make you wonder why there it is still an issue. I am going to start on the next stage of the Lords prayer, and then going to focus on forgiveness, it seems to me that people need to be reconciled to each other as quickly as possible. I do not want to open old wounds, but this is a wound that has never been dealt with and is still causing problems. This is not going to be easy, and is going to take time, but it seems fundamental in getting this church heading in the right direction, so that the past remains in the past, and no longer has an impact in the present or the future.

Lords Prayer Part One

2009-09-08T16:33:00.004+01:00

So my first sermon at East Street, and felt it would be good to summarise what I feel God was saying through each sermon, after the event.

I preached on the first half of the prayer, (from Matthew 6) and looked at three key areas:

1. God as Father
2. What is means for God to be Holy
3. on Earth as it is in heaven

For me the big thing was, whilst talking about God as father, to explain to the church our desire to be parents and the problems we have had in that.

Think the key thing for the church was to hear that the Kingdom of God is here, that although we will one day go to heaven, we have a job to do at the moment.

So no complaints so far, I hope!!

Vision

2009-09-04T09:59:00.005+01:00

I was reminded by someone last night that you have to keep your eyes fixed on the bigger picture. He did not use those words, but that is the message that came across to me. You see the thing is sometimes you can get so caught up in what you need to do now, you forget about the bigger picture.

Jesus could easily have spent his time healing the sick, and preaching the good news, but he knew that there was a bigger picture. The great thing is that the bigger picture would enable others to heal the sick, and have good news to preach; hence the culmination of Jesus' ministry was ultimately his death and resurrection.

We too can get lost in the day to day, and forget the bigger picture. I have to remind myself that over the next three years I have three jobs to do (aside from being a good husband, and hopefully father - which are my most important roles) they are to look after the current church, plant something alongside and complete my studies. The problem is that the first and last elements could easily take me away from the middle one, what is wrong with that? Well the problem is long term that is my primary task, to develop something new that will start impacting the lives of others.

What is my vision for that, well it is simple I would like a few young(ish) people to get on board with me, to live intentionally and incarnationally, to share our lives together; for them to learn off me and me to learn off them. To grow together and create something that starts attracting others to it. Some churches like to have a big core and a small fringe, well I am keen to have a small core but a massive fringe. My only problem at present is finding the few people.

The fact is that I do not know these people yet. But I am certain God does. So my prayer today is that I ensure that I complete my day-to-day tasks, however that I never lose sight of the big vision, while in the process God brings the people into my radar who will become that core team

Sense of uncertainty

2009-09-01T16:38:00.003+01:00

We live in uncertain times. The credit crunch has effected almost everything, how long will the recession last, is my job safe, will things ever return to the way they were, will we want them to?

Today I started my new job, uncertainty fills the air. We still don't know where we will live, how we will survive financially, where the fees for the course will come from, whether the church we have joined will last, whether a new form will emerge, will we continue to struggle to conceive?

On Sunday I preached on Luke 9:57-62, two things struck me, which spoke directly to me.

1. Jesus had nowhere to lay his head. His life was uncertain and uncomfortable. We live in a culture that likes comfort; to have a good home, a good family and a good job are what we strive for. Yet Jesus did not even have a bed! Have we let the world dictate our expectations, rather than God?

2. Jesus asks us not to look back, because it will stop us from concentrating on what we are doing. It is so easy to look back to a time when things were certain, to yearn for them. But Jesus tells us to keep looking forward, and to live in the present. I know some of my fears will be resolved. But when you are not sure how this will happen it is so tempting to look back.

Somehow I have to learn to enjoy this uncertainty, even if it is uncomfortable and hard, and hope and trust that Jesus does in fact have a better plan.

Impatience is a virtue

2009-08-21T14:06:00.004+01:00

There is an advert on television which tells us that impatience is a virtue. It says that human advance has been caused been human impatience. It is something that creeps into our minds everyday. When we get stuck in traffic, when a train is delayed, when the postman doesn't deliver that letter, when a text is not answered.

When we want milk, we pop to the shop it is there. If it is not we complain. We have created a world around us that is designed to give things to us now!!

But the world was not designed like that. As someone who likes to grow things, I have learnt to be patient. When I plant some seed potatoes, I am not expecting to have a harvest the next day or week, but maybe in a few months. That is the wonder of the world we are in.

When we read the Bible we can sometimes get fooled by time lines. Joseph went from young man with a dream, to Prime Minister in Egypt in a matter of chapters of a book. But when we realise that he was 17 when he had the dream, and in his forties when it happened, then we start to see God's provision can take years.

So I have to learn to be more patient, and also to understand that it is a counter cultural attitude. I need to fight it everyday, and keep trusting in God that provision will happen, but not in my time but his.

Communitas

2009-08-08T12:19:00.004+01:00

I am getting the opportunity to catch up on a few books, one of the books is the "forgotten ways" by Alan Hirsch. I have heard Alan speak at a ministers conference, so am familiar with the concepts of communitas and liminality, but was struck by how biblical they are.

If you look at many of the major characters in the Bible they all seem to be in the state of limbo. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Paul, Peter. They did not really have a home, they were on the move, reliant upon faith. In our current situation we are unsure about where we are going to live and our in limbo, in so many was. This has been hard, but I get the feeling that God can use Katie and me in that uncertainty.

The problem for the church seems to be comfort, we like to be comfortable, but in our comfort do we become ineffective. We become too comfortable, to safe and the result is that we become stale. So there is a tension, I don't want to be ineffective for God, but in my heart of hearts, I like the comfort, and am happy in the stability of western life. So maybe God is forcing a little instability into my life, but the fruits of that will hopefully be bountiful?

Setting my stall out

2009-07-24T15:27:00.006+01:00

Sometime you need to set your stall out. Jesus did it in Luke 14:17-20 where he read from Isaiah clearly stating who he was and what he was there to do, he wasn't particularly popular for saying it, but that was not the point.

Having been in marketing for a few years I am not longer a great fan of mission/vision statements of tag lines, as all to often practice and reality are very different from the marketing spin. So I am going to state would I would like to do, and if I don't meet that, I would like people to get on my case and remind me of what I stated here.

I have now accepted the call from East Street Baptist Church to be their Assistant Missional Pastor, with that in mind I would like to state what I would like to do.

I would like to support and encourage the current congregation, I have no intention of seeing them left behind by any changes, and would love to see them grow!
I would like our home to be as open as possible.
I would like to strike up good local relationships and develop strong local networks.
I would like to ensure I spend as much time as as I can with the poorest in Bedminster.
I would like to see people come alongside Katie and I and work with us.
I would like to develop a team of people who are being discipled as followers of Christ.
I would love to see younger adults developed and opportunities given for preaching, teaching, worship leading etc.
I would like to ensure that non-believers are part of everything we do, and that mission is not sidelined.
I would like to see us meet in cafes and bars, rather than just church buildings.
I would like to see an emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit as central to all we do and are.

You can agree or disagree with these things, but that is my aim.

Before I move on I would like to explain one thing and points 5, 6 and 7, one thing I have lacked while in Bristol has been someone to mentor. I have had a good number of mentors, but I have not had people who I am working with. I would love this to change.

One of the things that I would love to see if 4-5 young adults/students become part of what we are doing, who I can help develop. I would love to see them hang out with me, so I can learn off them and them off me, and I can hopefully see them do greater things than I can. This has always been my heart, and I would love to see it.

The problem is that I am going to lead an unfashionable church in an unfashionable area, I therefore worry that those people might be very hard to find, but I would love to see them coming along, getting engaged and being equipped. I can only pray that God will lead me to the right people and they are keen to get involoved in a hard and difficult church environment.

The Ashes

2009-07-17T14:36:00.004+01:00

So the Ashes are upon us. For the England and Australian players it is something they have been thinking about, preparing for and dreaming about for the last four years. For Footballers is might be the World Cup, Athletes the Olympics. It is what you plan and prepare for and when it finally arrives you really don't know what will happen, and how you will cope when you hear the starting gun, when the first ball is kicked or bowled.

Now I am not saying this weekend is my Ashes, because that would be an over statement. But I have been through my church vote, gone through the Min Rec process, got accepted into the college, and as of Tuesday 7th I was unanimously accepted as the Student Minister of East Street Baptist Church. On Sunday I preach, we then have a fellowship meal and a members meeting, at the end of which I will know whether this is church will be my home for the next three years.

As the blog is all about where I go and discover where God has been leading me, then this is in many ways could be the conclusion of my blog. So if you are the type of person who prays, then please do raise a prayer up for me. Pray that God speaks, that he shouts and he reveals his heart to the church, to Katie and to me.

As it is, I still plan to carry on blogging, but with a whole different emphasis, because no matter what happens I will still be journeying, and will definatley be learning and I am very keen to share and my thoughts and receive feedback as to whether I am heading in the right direction, or heading down a big cul-de-sac.

Fear

2009-06-23T11:06:00.004+01:00

My wife is currently on a course run by ladies in the church, for ladies in the church. The theme on Thursday was fear, and the fact that fear is a sin. I was interested, but felt that maybe that was something that she had to tackle not me. I have faith, what fears do I have?

Over the weekend I was in the peak district with some guys on a men's weekend away. The aim was to do some climbing and some walking. I told the guys that I could not do the climbing because of my knees, and I have a bit of a dodgy shoulder. But the fact was I was frightened of the height. As the guys got into their equipment, I said I would pass, but one of the guys got me into the harness and encouraged me to do a bit of the rope work down the bottom. Then he said "it's your turn"! This came as a bit of a shock, but I knew I had to do it, so I did, I climbed halfway up, (wearing the wrong type of shoes, so I could not go any further) but I was really exhilarated when I got down. About 45 mins later I was leaning over the edge of a much larger cliff, about to abseil down it. I still had fear, but I knew that unless I faced it, then I would probably regret not taking the opportunity.

Last night I was reading Genesis 3, I have read this so many times, yet it is always surprising when God talks through a familiar passage in a new way. The bit that struck me, was the fact that not only did Adam and Eve realise they were naked, but they also "afraid". Before they ate from the Tree that had no fear. Fear is not just a sin, but a consequence of sin.

One of my favourite passages is from John's first letter, where he defines "God as love" and states that we as followers need to be people of love, within that passage is also says that we must not fear because "perfect love casts out fear".

So I am going to list the things that I fear, and that I am praying for God to cast out from my life. Jesus is sovereign and is in control(Colossians 1:15-20) , I need to trust him more and fear less.

These are my fears :-

That Katie and I will never have a child of our own
That Katie will stop loving me
That the church placement will fall through
That I will not have enough money
That I am not good enough to get a degree
That people will see me as a fraud
That we will be homeless

I am praying that Jesus, who is the king of kings, will overcome these things

Interview

2009-06-03T13:30:00.005+01:00

Well after spending several months trying to get a date for an interview at East Street, I have finally been give one, and it is the 19th June. So I am hoping that it goes well.

I have been spending a lot of time in Bedminster over the last year doing lots of research, and each time I go there I get more excited. I was fascinated to read this on Wikipedia:-

"The town's origins seem to be Roman, centred around the present East Street and West Street. The Malago river, which runs through Bedminster to join the Avon, was an early Christian place for baptisms - the old word for which, beyddbeydd may be the origin of Bedminster’s name"

The amazing thing about the area is it's distinct lack of churches. Bristol is a city of churches, you don't have to walk far to see either a existing church, or an old chapel that has been converted, but not in Bedminster. The area is not too different from many areas in Bristol, except that it does not have any large churches, which is rather odd.

It is also an area of contrast, the traditional East Street end, with it's parade of shops, looks very different from the gentrified Tobacco Factory end. While walking through the area yesterday the contrast hits you so quickly. Rich and poor in very close proximity. The question is, who do you target, who do you reach out to. The easy group would be the middle class, but what does that say about a gospel that is first and foremost for the poor?

The big thing for me is, whether God is in this. I have had a few years of frustration, and wondered whether I had gone the wrong way (Jonah style), I had followed what I thought God had been telling me, but I know, when I am serving God, then things tend to happen. But the last three years things just seem to have goner wrong. Things that should be easy to do have been hard. But my few ventures into Bedminster have been really good, in fact I am very positive about the move being from God.

So as I go for the interview I am hopeful that this is where God has been leading me and that this may provide a fruitful area of ministry.

Sometimes I wonder

2009-05-13T11:48:00.002+01:00

"Biblically sound. (What in the world is emerging church down in the interest list for?!?!? Are you insane?). Please focus on being biblically sound and doing what God wants and letting him bring people in, rather than on having worldy appeal, which in the end doesn't work. There are far too many churches who have compromised and gone into error already."

This is a quote from a survey I am currently working on. It is from a Christian Graduating student at a local university. The question asked was "what attracts you to a church" and he/she ticked other. The interest question he/she is referring to is a simple question on whether they are interested in church planting, emerging church and mission in the uk/abroad.

The quote saddens me. I don't blame the student, but the comments that emerging church is not biblically based because it has "worldly appeal" saddens me.

I struggle to find in the Bible where the current model of church is refereed to. I do not see any passages saying that when you gather you should sing a bunch of "cold play" inspired "Jesus is my girlfriend" style songs, shake a few peoples hands, listen to someone for twenty minutes "unpacking" what was meant in the original Greek text, eat a dryer wafer, followed by some dodgy non-alcholic "wine", have a cup of coffee and leave to get on with your life!!

What I see is a church modelled on community, modelled around the meal table, accountable to each other and learning with each other. So where has an Emerging Church that takes this model to heart "gone into error"?

Puzzled

2009-04-17T09:44:00.006+01:00

Sometimes I struggle to work out what God is doing? Like Job I sit there thinking I haven't done anything wrong, so why are things happening the way they are?

As a Christian I struggle to workout how people can get through life without a belief in God. The possibility that life is just a chemical process, which dies and ends all feels a little harsh. I have to believe in something more. I am certainly not a deist and so cannot see God as a disinterested creator. I firmly believe that Jesus was sent to restore the original creation plan, God and man in perfect relationship.

Which is why I am so confused by what God sometimes becomes silent, and does not appear to act. This is how the fertility stuff feels for me. We had a first consultation at the fertility clinic on Tuesday, and it was a horrific affair where our hopes were raised and smashed in the space of 15 mins. I would not mind if I could see where God is going with this, but I can't, and I fear that this is going to be a hard, long and emotional process.

If God is trying to teach me to be patient, then it is a lesson that I have had before, and I hoped would be over now. However, we are not alone in this process, and we have met some good friends through it, maybe that is what God is trying to teach me, but I am not sure.

My faith gets tested every time I think about it, and also when I think of others who I know are going through the same process. I hear the stories of "miracle babies", but just can't seem to think why should it happen for us? But I have seen Gods provision in the past, and so somehow must summon up the faith that it will happen, I suppose I just wish it could be a little bit easier.

Poppadum and lager

2009-03-31T13:16:00.005+01:00

I am continuing to read about the Eucharist, currently reading Dom Gregory Dix's book "the shape of liturgy" and he talks about the original chaburah meal, which Jesus shared with his disciples and would have done on several occasions. But before the passover meal, he would have shared it one last time.

What he did during the meal, was to change the meaning of the meal, the command to "do this in remembrance" was based on the fact that he knew they would share the meal again, only next time they did it would have this new meaning.

During the chaburah bread was taken, broken, blessed, and distributed, then after the meal "the Cup" (which was a communal cup) was taken, blessed, and distributed. It got me thinking, if this was the case, what food and drink do we have in our culture that we could do the same. The image of a poppadum being broken and shared while beer is served came to mind, or a bacon sarnie and a cup of tea. It made me reflect on what I wrote last week, "how can we make this meal relevant?", by taking the imagery we already have and, like Jesus, give it a new meaning.

Any other combinations you can think of do let me know?

Interview Day

2009-03-27T11:59:00.005Z

So the big day is this coming Wednesday. I have my interview with the College is on the 1st April. I am not nervous yet, but probably will be by Wednesday morning.

As far as I am concerned this whole process is an exploration, and if at any point God says no, then I will just have to accept it and move on. I am certainly not taking it for granted, and hope that I can do my best. But will have to see how it all goes.