One of those 'deja vu' moments: non-Christian friends

Life, it seems, is |a funny circuitous old thing and this has been brought home to me as, oddly, I have had a 'repeat conversation' with someone along the same lines as one I had some twenty-five years ago - and, being brutally honest,  it was all a bit surreal and just a little unsettling!

The conversation at the tail-end of the last century was taken up by the fact that the person on the other side of the conversation didn't have any non-Christian friends; they'd been to a conference and had been challenged as to how many 'unsaved' people they counted as friends. "Well, errr,you see, well, I don't actually have any," was the reply, "All  my friends are Christians you see!"

This response brought gasps of shock and derision  accompanied by tutting, head shaking and general acts of disapproval from those around the room. The speaker, a real 'soul winner' who is still going strong (and using the same jokes and stories they'd lifted from others then) today asked how they thought their ministry, "Could ever be valid when they lived in a Christian ghetto!"

Lunch saved the poor soul from further accusation (although not from the withering gazes of many of the obviously 'much more Christian' delegates around them) and, me being me, I decided to befriend them - something that proved a little difficult because they'd been on the wrong end of the many zealous soul-winners and were just a little wary (mind you, that might just have been because it was me) - and soon had them laughing (much to the disgust of some around us).

The bloke started telling me of the work they were engaged in and how when he started he was the only Christian in his group of friends. Then, one by one, they got saved and now, with a dozen or so in the fellowship he was helping to pastor, there were none left. The fellowship now numbered around sixty people and they were looking for inspiration as to how they might disciple those who came and spread the net further.

Seeing one of the assembled delegates looking at my new best friend with what can only charitably be called sneering contempt I decided to emulate the Mars Hill model as best I could and moved off to engage with them; and immediately it was obvious that I had picked a winner. My companion was part of the leadership team of a church plant from one of the names in 'being Church' and those standing with them were all on first name terms with many of the great and good in the Ghetto that can sometimes be called 'Church'. 

We chatted about how many new believers they'd seen during the first few months ("None, but we're hopeful!")

We chatted about how many friends they'd seen come to faith ("None, but a prophet is always without honour in their own land aren't they?)

The conversations continued and it soon became obvious that this little team were not only a team, but they were all friends too. In fact it soon became obvious that this little group were in fact the ONLY friends they really had (well them and the some of the others involved in the 'plant') every one else they referred to as friends were in fact acquaintances of the most cursory kind - but that's how friendships start so well done them (and I mean that in the best sense).

The bell rang and in true Pavlovian sense we rushed back in to be further enlightened as to how we might best build Church and then, sufficiently enabled we were asked what was the most exciting or enabling thing we'd learnt during the day. There were a few people who stood up and said nothing much about nothing much and then it sort of trailed off and one of the people on the team, knowing me, looked straight at me and said, "No one with anything more to add?"

And that's where it all went a bit downhill for some I guess as I stood up and told how I'd learnt how it was more apparently acceptable to have loads of non-Christian friends rather than loads of friends who had become Christian! I went on to point out that a bloke who'd been quite sorely treated over having no non-Christian friends needed in fact to be applauded for having introduced them to a new way of life. Not only that but the 'successful' among us were apparently not seeing the very growth that we had come to learn about (and to be honest I wondered whether the 'experts' really knew about it themselves - after all they were generally people who came, spoke, 'saw that hand', prayed and moved on!).

So the conversation I've just had with someone who has seen neighbours, friends and others come to faith through relationship (anyone else remember 'Friendship Evangelism' and Leonard Albert - a great chap?) and yet feels 'got at' because they've no non-Christian friends left!

Now that demands a pat on the back, a free meal and a reminder that it's about 'one telling another' and lives on the premise that unless we make real relationships with people and tell them then how will they know and where is authenticity in the Church.

A great conversation that left me praising God for people who bring growth and one that rekindled the passion for the lost in a more direct and dirty manner - a real wake-up call that made me hearken back to a time when I was an evangelist first and foremost and not a peddler of ersatz cobblers and shuffler of meaningless paperwork - anyone out there fancy having a new friend (or two)?

Use Words

This Pentecost the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are calling on the Church to pray for those who have not yet encountered the love of God in Jesus Christ. They are calling on us to:

USE WORDS           (click on link)

It's a great initiative because so many people tell me how concerned they are about new people coming and yet they are rarely seen acting upon this concern. Some will tell me how they just can't share their faith and get all wound up with self-condemnation and guilt. The response to this is always that the most important thing is the desire to see people come to faith and see this combined with intelligent, persistent prayer.

So I can't tell you just how pleased and excited I am that the 'Use Words' initiative has hit my screen especially because (and I quote):


The word ‘evangelism’ means sharing good news.

For Christians, it means sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ – what he has done for us, and what he continues to do in our lives.

What does that mean in practice? 

It means introducing the people around us to Jesus. We do this by how we live our lives and how we relate to one another. But we can also do it by how we express our faith in conversation.

Jesus did all of this so well, and he invites us to share the gospel not just in actions but in words too.

The website (http://www.usewords.org/) has been created to help Christians find those words.  It’s being launched with a call to prayer for evangelism by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York – please find out more and think about joining us.

But this is not a one-off, or a campaign, or a PR stunt.

It’s about praying continually that more and more people will become followers of Jesus Christ – and asking God to work among us to bring about this transformation in other people’s lives. If you’ve never prayed for evangelism before, there are so many ways you can.

Whether you’re praying alone, with a small group of friends, or with your whole church, you’ll find prayers for asking God to bring the knowledge and reality of Jesus Christ to all kinds of people.

How amazingly cool is this?

According to many* around me, St Francis' of Assisi told us to go and evangelise - using words if necessary, and whilst I have tried to live by this principle words I am aware that many around me have taken them to be an excuse for silence rather than as a spur for less words and more action. Hopefully and actively engaged AND praying Church will come out of this exciting move from the blokes at the top of the tree.

Pax

* he never did by the way!

Mission Shaped Ministry Course - Tamworth

Last Call for anyone who wants to be involved with the course which starts this Saturday (16th November) at 09:30;

A course for every church member

Not just those for those who are leaders,
Wanna be leaders
'Evangelists'

It's not too late - we can fit you in (honest)!

We'd love to fit you in

Come and put six Saturdays and five Thursdays where your mouth is (OK and a bit of money too)

And Get Passionate about Building Church and Doing Mission!

And if cost is the issue - talk to us, we have ways of making it available to you.

What makes church valid? (post the second)

When engaged in the discussion topic 'what makes church (and church services) valid' I often find that once we've got the numbers thing out of the way the conversation turns to location.

'Look at the Roman Catholics,' they cry, 'They've got it right because they only have a few church buildings, in fact there's only one in our town and they expect those who come to travel! That's what we should do - reduce the number of church buildings and let them travel!'

As true as this might be for the faithful in our town where there is one in the centre and another which serves the towns and communities to the North. There are indeed but two for a large number of Catholic church members. Now take another place I know of where there were once seven RC church buildings and some they will have reduced this to but two!

C Peter Wagner used to say that the ideal was a flourishing Christian community (which for the sake of this consideration we will call 'church') in every community and many street corners. This idea that we need to rationalise the number of church buildings based upon proximity might be persuasive to and for some BUT  there are further considerations - spiritual, missional, sociological, practical  and human.

LOCATION
A large conurbation near to us has many church buildings and these are obviously near to one another - some only streets away from the next. The thinking is that closing one building merely results in believers having to walk a further five or ten minutes to the next and there is a logic to this But once we move on from this as a paper exercise and bring people into the equation we also need to factor in the pain too. Other parameters like churchmanship and membership, for not all churches are community churches, increase the factors that need to be considered and satisfied.

PEOPLE & CHURCHMANSHIP
As much as I can understand the location argument and 'short additional distance' caveat the reality is that those who are high church may not find the nearest church building as a venue for their style of church. The same goes for those orthodoxy versus liberal church and the choirs and central church versus worship bands and a more charismatic style.

People will gather with those who are similar to them, this is the reality (and attraction) of homogenous church. So to decide that St Blog's can close with the members moving to St Dingbat's is great on paper but will serve to lose some members from the losing church. Some will cease churchgoing completely whilst others will travel to a similar expression of church and the others, who do go to St Dingbat's will either settle or make it feel more like their own home and this in turn will cause St Dingbat's to lose members too!

Closing churches means the end of churchgoing for many and yet, as one higher placed person told me, 'This is a price that needs to be paid for sustainability!'

SOCIOLOGICAL & MISSIONAL
Now we have a real issue before us. We talk of Church as being light in dark places and yet it is in some of the very darkest places that the presence of the Church is in greatest danger of being extinguished. The mission of the Church is to take Christ into the difficult places and if doing this is costly to the whole body, then so be it.

This does not mean that a church, plant or congregation should not seek to 'pay its way' but it does mean that the sending church needs to accept the responsibility of funding (spiritually and financially) the presence of a church in the community. That said, with some of the building, perhaps the time has come to knock the blessed thing down and replace it with a modern community facility in which the Church resides alongside others (more later).

In response to the first post on this issue, Jante responded with a question relating to a small rural community with small numbers residing and 10% of that population coming to church. This is sure to be an unsustainable church in terms of finance but is quite like to be both sociologically and missionally valid. The problem is that we appear to be placing too much emphasis on money and not enough on mission and yet, as ever, bill have to be paid and we cannot be naive enough to think that money doesn't matter.

THE BUILDING
Working in West London we wanted to do some stuff to the church building we were in. The reason for this was to make it a more inviting and useful building and to render it 'fit for purpose' for the Church of today.

The result was that the Victorian Society - a bunch of people who had no interest in Church as the Bride of Christ and saw it as merely a pretty building with links to some Victorian hero of mine - pointed their toes and conservation and preservation won the day and the building remains useless to this very day! My response was to offer them the building and let them face the costs of roof repairs, masonry renovation and preservation and the like. 'Let them have the Blessed thing,' I cried, 'It's no use to us and since they want it so much, let them pay for it!' But of course whilst they wanted to dictate about the inside, they neither wanted to come into the place nor take responsibility for it.

We need to have some courage and offer what we have to the community (for along with cure of souls comes curator of the community history) and let them pay for the much loved building they want to fight for if we speak of closure. That landmarks will vanish is a sadness but those who want them most appear to also be least willing to pay for their continued existence.

SPIRITUAL (oh yeah)
Truth is that the Church is a spiritual body and the church building is merely a meeting place for it. The number of times I hear someone say, 'We don't need buildings, they're an encumbrance - let's close them and do our services in the local school, sport's hall or whatever - bin the building!" and there is something of merit in what they say. Mind you they've never planted a church or run services from building other than a proper church building have they?

They can't have for having done the school and hall church stuff I know that arriving ninety minutes before a service and lugging stuff up six flights of stairs and setting up and doing the service and then packing up and carrying everything back down six flights of stairs and loading it back in the vehicles and taking it home and unloading and storing the stuff and everything else that goes with not having your own building -IS A PAIN!

The Church is the spiritual body and it should be in a place, in a building that is the (or one of THE) focal point of the community. The doors should be open and the reason for its presence clear because of the spiritual: The calling to be Church in that place; the desire to be Church in that place; the commitment of the membership to be Church in that place and it that isn't obvious then the people need to be grounded in the Gospel and mobilised or the doors shut.

Sound harsh?

Church is not a hobby, neither it is part-time or something for us.

Church is about populating heaven and Kingdom thinking and it we don't want to live in the reality of that then we need to live in the reality that we don't need, no we can't afford, to keep lights on and buildings open.

Church is more than bank balances - it is about transforming lives.

Church is more than two hours on a Sunday -  it's about coming and talking about what Christ has done in, and for, and through us during the other one hundred and sixty-six hours of the week.

So here we are - twelve minutes of mad splurge onto the screen in front of me. The telephone rang whilst typing and I was asked if I was looking for a move as a friend had a vacancy coming up near to them. Nice to know someone wants me but until God say otherwise here I stand, for I can do no more ;-)

Happy Saturday

ps. No one else's agendas here though - just my madness. Discuss it here or at cavedwellers.co.uk