When they ask, "What can I give God?"

This question was asked to me by someone who, over the past few weeks, has come to know the joy of knowing God and has seen their life transformed by it all. Telling me how everything had changed for the better since that first day they'd finally made the step into the church building they wanted to know what God might need them to do for Him as their response.

My answer was not, "Quick, fill out this standing order form," (the experience a new convert was subjected to) but to tell them the answer was, "Everything!" I then went on to explain that the words of Deuteronomy 6 we use at the Eucharist: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength," summed it up perfectly.

So often when we find people coming to Jesus and experiencing changes for the better we (or so it seems to me with my limited experience) push for the wrong things. We talk about being a committed member - but the last thing we need is for them to be committed (I've worked in mental health, believe me I know!) - we need them to be discipled!

We need to take our newbie on the journey which flows from meeting God to experiencing His love and life-changing power through to a committed and contemplative fullness of life in everything we are and do.

The challenge is that so many of us want to take our new folk off and fill them with knowledge. This something we've wrongly taken up as the norm thanks to the enlightenment project (Reformation) where the mantra, "If we understand it we can control it," rules the show. The reality is that rather than teach our people all the facts we need to teach them 'all the faith' and get them to experience all the feeling.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying, "Leave your brains at the door," that's something the world does and accuses the Church us of doing! We need to experience God in all His fullness and provide explanations which cause us to join the dots and to grow. We need to explain the basics and then explain as they find a question - and we need to encourage questions (for how else will they learn?).

I love the Acts story of the Ethiopian Eunuch coming to faith. Phillip asks him, "Do you understand what you are reading?" To which the Eunuch replies, "How can I, unless someone guides me?". This is the model of discipleship I love most:

1. Encourage them to meet God through the Gospel of Jesus, the Christ,

2. Ask they experience things, explain them and show them how to make the experience theirs,

3. Challenge their thinking so they develop a sound theology,

4. Wait for them to bring someone into Church and with the new person at step 1 repeat the process until the church building is full - then create another service or do Church in more than one place - repeat until the Church is full and the world is brought into relationship with God.

Enough writing - let's get out there and plunder hell (the place where humanity and God are forever separated).

Four candles

Well actually there were fifty-four candles hanging from the ceiling as we reached 'candles by candlelight' and the places felt full! The readings that take us from prophecy to fulfilment and the smell of a real tree and mulled wine all conspire to make an imminent Christmasce just a little more real. As much as I enjoy the carols, the joy is to be found in the people around us and the conversations had.

The early service was a joy as I shared the run-in to Christmas with familiar faces: Long-standing and faithful church goers I've now known for fourteen years now. The old have got older, many have left the building, and the reality is that the shelves have not been replenished as well as I'd have liked. But the key is to preach the word and to enjoy the people and trust God to care for the Church. The potential to try and do it in our own strength, like Ahaz, rather than accept God's word, submit, and remain under His wings is massive. Mary submitted and obeyed - seems to be a good way forward.

Next service (soundsing like Wimbledon) was very different and found us still in the building an hour after we'd finished - and I like that - being Church and making family a reality. This is where the engagement and opportunities to be involved with each other comes home. This is where I need to be most I reckon.

Then the mulled carols and minced wine all conspire to close the day on a gentle high. There is something about singing the words of the Bible - images of miners down a pit singing and exiles singling Psalms appear - and yet we turn more to man's words rather than God's. I need to look at my liturgy and the way that I, and those I minister to, worship.

But as I embark on a week filled with promise and pastoral I find myself to be just a little excited. with four more services and  few more funerals line up to make the procession into Christmas even more special. Lord, help me to listen for your voice this week and to have my eyes and ears open more than my gob. Show me the places I should be rather than the places others will draw me away to. Make reading the word and singing songs of deliverance over the people a priority in this last week before the arrival in Bethlehem - and the real Christmas presence is found - and strengthen my wear knees and feeble heart.

Help me to go joyfully, not screaming and kicking :-)

You only had to do one job!

It's Wednesday morning and outside it's a balmy three degrees below zero: The world is a cold place indeed and yet where there is an absence of something, however small, where that missing thing is to found, that little being made real makes a difference.

I am increasing finding myself hearing the phrase, "You only had one job . . ."
Which continues by pointing out the missed opportunity to do that 'one job'.
Perhaps it was merely done inefficiently, or it could be that the task before was missed completely.

Depending on who it is using the phrase and the context, this is one of the funniest or most damning comments I know. It can be a response to a messed up attempt to do something and raises a smile in speaker and recipient of the words - it can also bring pain as are reminded of the fact that the one task we had we failed to do! I often struggle with the image of standing before Jesus and having Him use it with regard to His Church, but don't think I am creating harsh and critical Jesus here because that's neither the intention of the reality, but I am sure He will be having a 'bit of a chat' with some of us when the whistle blows :-(

Everywhere I go these days I'm encountering Christian who tell me how kind, loving and affirming Jesus is - and that is so very true - but they then continue and try to take me to a place where Jesus applauds and affirms us all in our inactivity and in the botched, half-hearted, attempts at that 'one job' He has left us to do.

But what is this 'one job'?

When asked what the greatest commandment was (Matt 22 // Mk 12 // Lk10) Jesus responds with the words:
" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
 This is the first and greatest commandment.
 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Perhaps this is the 'one job'; but if it is then how are we doing with it and what does it look like to have us loving God with all that we are?
How are we loving our neighbours 'as ourselves?'
What And what would the world look like if we were doing this 'one job' to the best of our abilities?

In conversation recently I discovered that the same person who gave a token gift (because giving is something we have to do) each week as their offering had recently bought themselves a massive gift to support their hobby. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking them; how can I when I am as guilty as the next person when faced with the choice of sticking all my money on the plate or buying something I want. We don't stop and think, "Ooh, I want that but the Church needs the money more!"
Do we?

Consider these questions:
Have you ever seen someone who has a need and chosen to go a different route rather than engage with them and it?
Have you ever avoided bumping in to someone rather than be called upon to offer a helping hand or a lift or something that draws upon your time and effort?

I bet you have because I have have; it is part of our fallen and flawed human condition!
The problem is that we think about where we need to be or what we want to be doing and don't think, "There's a neighbour, what would I want someone to do for me if I was them?"

Do we?

Perhaps the 'one job' is to be found in the 'Great Commission' as found in Matthew 28 (// Lk 16):\\: "Then Jesus came to them and said,
'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
  baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.' ”

What if this is the 'one job'?
How are we, as individuals doing? How as we, collectively, as Church, getting on with this? Are we standing in the authority we have in Christ and making a difference; Are we making disciples or merely looking to boost our Sunday attendance numbers and by so doing increase the money in the plate?

I can only ask these questions and seek to answer them for myself.
I'm not trying to put you on the spot, merely asking you to stand next to me!

Are we seeking to make obedient disciples or merely recruit committed members of a club which affirms all that we do and tells us that all will be well?

Do we speak of giving in the model Jesus, the Christ, gave us (that means sacrificial) or are we happy to leave it at paying our parish share and the other bills?

One last contestant for the position of being that 'one job' comes in the shape of the 'misseo dei'; the 'mission of God'

God has acted to reconcile us to Himself through the coming of Jesus (fully man, fully God) and His death on a cross for us. There He paid the price of our sins that we might be in relationship with God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and, being born again - that is 'made a new creation' - might live new lives here on earth and spend eternity with Him.

What if this 'one job' is to be in step with Jesus and to be out there blessing what He is doing in our cities, towns and villages?

How are we doing this 'one job'?

To do this we need to be praying and using our spiritual eyes to see where God is doing stuff and get in step with Him.

Here we are, the first week of Advent and preparing ourselves for His first Advent whilst looking for His second. What is that 'one job' we need to be doing to ensure that when He returns (and I am convinced that He will, aren't you?) he fist words from His lips won't be, "You only had one job . . .

pax

'It's like you were born again!

It's an odd reality that in life there are times when the only way to progress comes through finding the ability to stand still! So often we find ourselves talking about great advances made in some area or the other. Today the news has been filled with the news that a man whose spinal cord was severed has had it repaired and is walking and driving again. Darek Fidyka, speaking of his feelings towards the treatment he had received said, "When you can't feel almost half your body, you are helpless, but when it starts coming back it's like you were born again."

Darek's words struck me because for many of us we can remember a time when we were living lives in which we were out of touch with our feelings, unable to control our bodies or regulate our thinking, and it was the coming into relationship with God, the Father, through the actions of Jesus, the Christ, that caused us also to be able to say, "We were helpless and were out of touch with ourselves and the surroundings around us until we met Jesus and, regaining our senses and right mind, it was like being born again!"

Today as we celebrate the first steps of a man for whom medicine has made so much difference I wonder how many of us can remember what it was like when were were were out of control and distant from God? Much more so I wonder how many of us have stopped to check that we're still in touch with 'all of ourselves' because I meet so many Christians who are obviously not living as believers in all departments; so many who limbs, brains and tongues most definitely function wrongly and over which they too apparently have no control!

My prayer is that those who claim to be 'Christian' (beginning with me) will take the time to see which part of their body, and their lives, they are out of touch with in terms of Christian living. How many of us are not standing tall, walking straight or thinking rightly because the connections between them and God - their intentions and realities - are severed or severely limited?

I leave us all with the words of Paul (Romans 7) where he says:

Now, which finger do you choose to use?

"I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate."
As we celebrate medical advances I pray that we will, by examining ourselves, make advances in our own lives and the way that we have control of our whole body and mind.

Pax

The Sinner's Prayer - It's not enough!

Talking with someone about their experiences I began to realise that the same old thing that troubled me many years ago regarding people being converted still runs rampant through any parts of the Church here and in the mission field.

My issue is with the (mis)use of the 'Sinner's Prayer'; that little prayer which talks of repentance and turning away from sin, sorrow for keeping God out of our lives and a commitment toward right living from that point onwards.

'I see that hand ... let's pray!'

I have been in many services over the years where I have seen someone up the front ask those who have been convicted by what they have heard to stand up and commit themselves to Jesus. I have watched as friends and family praise God for the loved one (or at least the person they brought to the service) as they stood and repeated the prayer that was said, line by line, by the person at the front. I too have been grateful for the lives that have been committed to God and felt a sense of joy . . .

As time went on I found that joy turn, slowly at first, before it became, contractionlike, increasing in intensity and pain until I really struggled at the sight before me. Struggling because I knew that the reality was that for many who were saying the words of the prayer would progress no further in their journey of faith; what was before me was the pinnacle and conclusion of their Christian walk. We were celebrating scalps and not the beginning of a faith journey of exploration, growth and deepening discipleship. In fact, to put it rather graphically, we were effectively spawning (in the right sense of the word) 'bastard children' - for they, generally, would be left alone, untended, uncared for and undisciplined the very next day after their 'new birth'; left alone to continue as they had under the impression that they were Christians. No one would be assigned them as mentor and guide - they would just be left to their own devices and unless brought to church (any church) the following Sunday (or to a midweek service) then they'd be effectively lost and the window for effective discipleship was soon gone too!

Speaking with one from the missions fields in distant places I learnt that some might have prayed the sinner's prayer a dozen time in their lives but never been discipled. A situation that I've personally witnessed in the UK on a number of occasions.

So here's a simple plea:
If you're not willing to invest the time into help people become disciples of Christ then don't deny them the joy of a real relationship with Him because you want to win a scalp - encourage them and pass them on to a church (or person) who takes conversion and those who come to Christ seriously!

Leading someone in the sinner's prayer means that you are committing to:

Disciple them (or making sure that they are introduced to someone who will)

Be available for them (and that means being contactable and willing to spend time with them)

Pray for (and with) them (and this means teaching them to pray and to discern God's voice)

The sinner's prayer is the first step into a new way of thinking and living. You wouldn't leave a newborn to fend for itself so why on earth would you leave a spiritual newborn to do exactly that?

I have to admit that during my journey I have been part of churches who 'saw that hand' and led people n the sinner's prayer and yet never discipled those who stood and said it. I am grateful for the journey and sad for those who have passed by and fallen in their walk because of my unwillingness to make more noise about the situation or have remained silent through fear of attack from the leadership (says something about those who were leading I guess)!

There is a great temptation for us all to want to score a scalp but we must put that temptation aside and look to making disciples - anything else denies the love of God and acts detrimentally towards the life of the Kingdom.

Pax

The Eleventh Day of Christmas - Christian Big Brother

Yes indeedy - here we are on the penultimate day of Christmas and it's time to see who we are going to evict from the Big Bible House - and it's ........

Judas!

And so what we have today is a roll call of the eleven who remain as the 'Faithful Disciples' who are of course (always good to remember in case there's a Bible Pharisee of the year competition in your church):

1. Simon Peter
2. Andrew
3. James
4. John
5. Philip
6. Thomas
7. Matthew
8. James (Alpheus' Son)
9. Thaddeus
10. Simon
11. Bartholomew

And in case you'e forgotten who was sitting on the substitute's bench - It is, of course, Matthias who replaces Judas in Acts 1.26

Here's a handy little chart:

Faith: 'Not as clear cut as you might think!'

had a most interesting conversation this morning, the pinnacle of which was the statement: 'Christianity is not as clear cut as you might think!' which provided me with plenty of food for thought. After all, I've always known that, as has any thinking and open Christian, so why the surprise? Probably because the issue under discussion was one that actually I considered to be pretty clear cut!

The conversation centred along the lines that the defining Bible passage for everything was the 'golden rule' - that we treat others as you'd we'd to be treated and this was the basis upon which every attitude and act was judged. That we just loved our neighbour as ourselves and
made real the words of Matthew Chapter seven's account of the sermon on the mount as we refrained from judging and accepted whatever others did, approving and affirming rather than rebuking or denying.

Apparently the key to removing what some consider to be 'sin' is to remove the label sin from it. What we need to do is accept that people are different and the 'one size fits all' approach of Christianity is flawed and doomed to fail from the start. Better to accept that we're all different and concentrate on the things we can agree on and agree to accept the things (perhaps ignore is a better term) we can't.

The Church is an evolving body of people and they are realising that what we believed in centuries past is no longer relevant or valid. People are apparently realising that these days 'we are not called to live and act' as they did before and 'happiness' is the universal indicator of the rectitude of such thinking.

Having heard what they had to say, I have to be honest and say that I thought their views to be flawed and not merely self-indulgent and approving but actually, if Christian is what we are as a breed, a terminal disease!

There are many good things to be found in this world and many that are obviously bad - or are they? After all, I hear more and more people proposing that we should act illegally to deal with people who act wrongly - so the old statement 'two wrongs don't make a right' has now obviously itself become wrong.

One of the joys of being Christian is that we have, or at least should have, doors, arms and hearts that are open to everybody - for Church is an 'inclusive' entity. The problem for many comes with the reality that it is not a 'permissive' entity.

So this morning, whilst I heard what was said I really couldn't agree with it because what was being demanded was that I put aside my views in favour of theirs in the name of some misplaced understanding of love. I was being told that the only way to be loving was to ignore those things I considered wrong in the name of unity and 'being kind'.

The stumbling block for me came with the parting shot in that the other party considered that what they were asking for was exactly what Jesus would have done.

Obviously not only a different theology on display here but a different Jesus too!

The poor have names

I love it when one of those throwaway quotes that occur in a conversations suddenly develop talons which pierce you with the immensity of their apparent simplicity and seek to drown you in the depths of what would be, from many, a shallowness.

This was my experience this morning as I chatted to Justin's new advisor on evangelism and witness (a through nice bloke called Chris) and as he chatted about his role and reasons for being, family and stuff, I, once more, got the feeling that I'm looking forward to becoming a Justinian :-)

But that aside, let's get back to that thought: 'The poor have names.'

I struggle that the Church often appears to see 'the poor' in much that same way as it sees mission - namely as something we need to address in other places and different cultures. When they are considered, they are often considered as a class of folk rather than as individuals and whilst there are times when this is necessary, for we can't call for justice for John, Bob, Mary, Betty and All the poor by name - because we would surely miss some and there's not enough time left to right wrongs by the time we a done. BUT when we are on the streets in the communities we are called to serve, there is no excuse for us not to know their names. When we pass through the streets of our town and see the Big Issue seller or the chap who sits in the same place begging, we have no excuse not to know their names and to engage with them in an effort to serve and support them as Christ would have us do.

One of the (many) things I am known for 'going on about' (I prefer 'having a passion for') is that when we see someone begging we give them something perhaps more costly than money in our society - time! We stop and engage with the person and find out who they are and why they are there and what they really need. We give them the dignity of personhood and being worthy of our precious time - for money is the cheap and easy option.

Money says, 'I will pay you to away! I'm not really interested in who you are and why you're here - just stop bothering me!' Money turns the poor before us into potential kidnappers as we pay the ransom to have us set free from their company; but what, we mus ask ourselves, would Jesus do?

The poor have names and needs and hopes and hurts and pain and a need of the overwhelming love of God, and this is found in the hearts of those who call themselves Christian. Unless the Church can bring itself to learn the names of 'the poor' we condemn them to the marginalisation of poverty and share with them a poverty of Spirit that condemns us both (and denies the image of Jesus, the Christ, in us).

Pax

Restoring the wrong

Today's readings bring the SS Sermon into port to tie up against what is one of the hallmark passages of the Bible for me and the life and ministry I seek to live. The Passage (Galatians chapter six) tells me that those of us who are 'spiritual' are to 'restore' those who are doing wrong stuff; the brilliant thing about this being that rather than give some a 'corrector's charter' it actually grounds and perhaps even restricts those who would go out seeking to correct (and there's enough of them in the world isn't there?).

The big thing about going out to put others right is that we need to be right ourselves (well that's me sitting down and not taking part I guess). Not only that but we need to be right in the way that we offer the correction as the potential for us sinning and doing it wrong is immense!

Let me explain (my paraphrase), for God says:

"Guys, if you see someone doing something wrong, those of you who know me should restore them gently; but take care in the way that you do it so that you don't end up being wrong too!"

When I see something that I think is wrong (and I gauge 'wrong' by using my Bible, the example of Christ and an innate sense of justice and fair play) I approach the person who I consider to be doing that wrong and offer a corrective along the lines of, 'Let me show you a better way!' I don't (despite the comments of some here :-) ) condemn or bully, browbeat or harangue but I do point out what is the better path as I understand it.

The potential for being wrong when doing this is to engage in 'righteous anger' (always angry and rarely righteous) or to issue an ad hominem and assault the focus of my correction verbally. Such actions causes the person who is wrong to become entrenched in that wrongness and leaves me looking nothing like Jesus (who simply and gently wrote in the dust and told the wrongdoer the truth in love).

Today is an invitation to the Church (well the Church what uses the lectionary anyway) to get engaged with the world and help those outside of the Church to see a better way to think, act and live - I pray to God that we take it up and make it ours.

And for those who act awfully towards others in the name of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) - STOP IT!

And to those who are not Church yet like to portray things as they are not, engage in flawed self-serving logic and seek to condemn those who act in love and faith - YOU CAN STOP IT TOO :-)

The Lord grants me a Sleepless Night!

This is a real struggle to write, and post, for many reasons. Those I trust will agree with the words and yet will tell me that they will, 'Put people off,' but to remain silent is to be complicit in the wrong that I see before me.

 Reminiscent of the days when the children were small I often find myself woken during the night - but not by a child who wants a drink, had a nightmare or merely 'can't sleep' (yet in seconds they do!); no, the cause of my disturbed sleep rests in the actions of others. Or perhaps I should say 'inactions'!

I find myself drawn to conversations, averted gazes and empty seats; to those I meet who have never heard the Gospel (and worse still, never seen it lived out before them by those who otherwise have described themselves as 'Christian'). I find myself challenged by those who appear to be comfortable with a self-serving church or those who are resigned to 'manage decline' rather than be enthused to 'grow the kingdom'.

Sharing my angst with a colleague recently, I have to be honest and say that their response: A shrug, rolled eyes and the words, 'I know, but what can you do?', didn't really do much to ease the pain.

So here I am wondering what people hear when I share the words:

'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.' 

(Matt 16.24//Mk 8.34//LK 9.23). 

I wonder how the words, '... And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple,' manage to slip past unheeded, without the slightest sense of remorse or even a hint of desire and a (never to be met) vow to change.

This is tough to say but I don't think the devil needs to prowl around looking for whosoever he might devour. There's no need for humanists or new atheists to jump up and down and plot the demise of the mentally-ill folk formerly known as 'Church'. The reality is that Church can deny Christ more effectively than them, after all, we know they don't believe in God so they would say that, wouldn't they?'

If we want to really destroy the Church it's better to engage in 'green on green' encounters rather than engage the enemy (red on green). An even more effective way to undermine our engagement with those who oppose us is by being indisciplined and using the most effective tactic of all: Practising the art of 'not turning up'!

So, I suggested that we might take up the challenge and seek to 'train the troops' and was told that to do this would, 'Turn people off!' So here I am wondering what I need to do to to, 'Turn them on!'

What I'm learning from my discussions is the bitter truth that if you do stuff the people watch. The reality for so many is that the thought, 'If you build it - they will come,' was wrong. Generally they don't come to do it with you; those who do come, come to watch!).

So here I am wondering how to add to those who are doing the stuff and 'denying themselves' are growing in faith and becoming true disciples and how those tepid believers can be warmed up so the they are not spewed out like a similarly heated cup of pale insipid tea.

For those who are engaged and walking toward the cross of Christ, denying themselves and working on becoming salt and light to the world - thank you for the encouragement and the faithful life you lead.

Those who are happy to come to the show and sing the happy songs and have their ears tickled - the day is coming when the battle will be engaged and you will find yourself 'not fit for purpose' - time to 'man up Church.' 

Time to become disciples and if not ...

Time to realise that the Christian life is costly - not just the price paid by Jesus, the Christ, on the cross but by the price we are called to pay in our own lives.

We need to be faithful and continue in the calling God has given us, to resist the urge to chase popularist methods and means and to stay consistent - our eyes fixed firmly on the cross - step by step and inch by inch. This is the way the Kingdom is won. Who will join us?

And so I continue to pray and do and be - for here I stand (walking) for I can do nothing less . .

Pax

So many ideas - So few to take them up

Last night past conversations crowded in. One upon another they crashed together causing sparks and yet, despite the highly flammable material of life, there was not even a hint of smouldering!

I woke with a start as the memories of so many opportunities for engagement were identified, acknowledged and . . . Passed by!

People issued the cry, 'Why doesn't someone do something about [insert any need you might have identified]?' That done, they look at me to provide an endorsement of their perspicacity and well-honed Christian missional skills and agree that, 'There must be someone!' And of course there is. But who?

So far this year I've worked with people in various settings and circumstances and, between us, we have tried:

+ sign up' sheets - but no one signed them!

+ vision meetings - but myopia appeared to rule!

+ training courses - but Downturn Abbey provided a greater attraction!

Many years ago I read a book by Richard Bach (illusions) which contained the words, 'Argue for your limitations and, surely, they are yours!'

I have found this year to contain more people who have told me why they can't do anything (it wasn't even 'more'); more people who have bemoaned the lack of engagement from 'the church' and complained about those who, 'Need to do more!'

I have engaged with people who are full of promise and ability who have promised much and delivered so much less than nothing as their inactivity (always accompanied by a reason and often an accusation) also debilitated others and rendered them, and us, impotent and defeated too!

There are eight months left to us in this current year:

+ eight months to make the case for all-member engagement (collaborative church)

+ eight months to motivate and mobilise members (courses, sermons, vision meetings) with no quarter given

+ eight months to get the message across that being Christian is not a hobby

Those who come to church, those on PCC or DCC, Volunteers, Pew Warmers, Lay Ministers, Clergy (for no one is exempt) - the gauntlet has to be laid down (and taken up).

It's so hard to smile and nod when people tell you that they can see the needs but don't care (they don't use those words, they merely absent themselves or tell you about their hobby, family, whatever; that takes them away to other things).

It's galling when people tell you that they've been challenged by something they heard so went somewhere else to avoid the feeling again!

So here is a plea to all who read this:

Get involved, get praying, get engaging or get the estate agent in and get ready to close our doors. We can no longer exist as museums showing where 'God used to live'; architecturally magnificent holy shrines to a former age; holy huddles who exist to meet for themselves, not their communities and certainly not God.

So here’s another line drawn - another challenge issued.

Please hear it, pass it on and respond to the call.


Pax

Church - Arrivals and Departures

This week I was blessed by some people who were keen to see their church grow and one of the issues that caused some pain was the comings and goings, and oddly despite the pain of caused by loss, it was the gain that brought forth challenges and questions.

'How do we get new people in? . . . How do we get them to stay?' . . . How do we get them to become disciples? . . . How we make it so they don't feel uncomfortable when we stand, sit, kneel or do other stuff? . . . what does this mean for those who want to maintain a traditional church rather than all these 'seeker friendly' things?''

And on the questions went on, and the pain, frustration, fear and feelings of pressure was obvious and, to be honest, rather challenging (for me too!). Here are a few thoughts on the question which may (or perhaps not) be helpful:

Bringing them in
One of the problems is that so many churches, congregations and fellowships have this amazing idea that people will just come in because they are there. If only this was true; but at least some of those asking the questions were under the impression that they needed 'bringing in'.

Roll up, roll us, come and see the show
Another problem is that some put on 'Seeker Services' which have the very best in preaching, welcome, music, refreshments and the like; then having hooked them (or so they think) abysmal service is restored. Do this and you'll not only lose them the next week but you will have an almost impossible task to bring them back again (once bitten - twice shy). And regardless of the 'God will bring them in' words, God might but we can chase them away too!

Keep it honest
If your services are pants then change them! If you make them attractive, efficient, enjoyable, then the current members will be happier (well I know I would have been in some churches I have been in had they done this) and what's on offer will be winsome and appealing too (just don't ditch liturgy, theology or practice to do it ;-)  ).

Getting them to stay
Simple really, make them feel at home and engaged with. If you are someone who wants choir, organ and the like then you're probably not going to stay in a heavy metal church and vv. But, if you can endure the music and the preaching and service and people are not off-putting then you're 40% of the way in! (10% knowing of the church, 10% being invited to a service, 10% for finding you liked the people and what went on another 10% and the final 10% for not feeling:
i. pressured
ii. ignored
iii. conned

How do they becomes disciples
Here's a tough one (for many) because the answer is that we become disciples and model it for the new people. The real sadness is that so many want newcomers to become what the existing members aren't (and if by some chance they do, they often get jealous of the 'zealots') without being committed themselves. Well they often are committed, but to their roles, positions, opportunities and the like - and guard them fiercely. Bring them in - work with them - encourage them - show them what being part of the body is by being it!

But we're traditional
And that's not a problem, after all, that's what the church was for years. In fact some have a problem with the worship band, happy clappy, exuberant styles and feel more comfortable with 'proper church'. That said, King James Version and too much of the Thees, Thous and God knowest stuff and you'll queer the pitch somewhat!

And we're Rad man!
Great, you can bleed the air our of our radiators (you do have a rad' key don't you?).

Seriously - bleeding edge church can be great but dumbing down, amplifying up and the like doesn't make it  relevant, and that's the key. Meeting people where they are not where you want them to be. Contemporary worship and an end to liturgy isn't the answer, because at the end of the day there's still the sacred and sacramental to be dealt with (isn't there?)

Stand, Sit, Kneel (fetch?)
Not a problem - you say, 'We stand to . . .' or, 'We sit (or kneel) to  . . .'
If you tell people what you're doing then, generally, they do it.

This is something that clergy encounter all the time when they arrive at the crematorium or church for funerals, weddings and baptisms. Even if the rest of Christendom thinks it's weird, as long as the people in service are happy and know what they are doing (why helps as well!) - crack on and enjoy relaxed and informed people.

The key to it all is for us to put ourselves in the newcomer's place and engage in some critical questioning narrative  - here's a few for starters:

How would I feel about what's happening if I were a newcomer?
Why should I come in?
Why should I come back?
How do I fit in to the place, people and stuff?
What does it all mean?
Where do I sit?
When do I do stuff (and why)?
Who's here to help me?

(Make up your own)

Work - Life - Church: balancing the numbers

Following on from the  'Church without Straw' entry a couple of days back I thought it might be useful to consider some of the ways of looking at life that exist. The first of these is 10/110.

At a conference last week, LICC's*  Neil Hudson suggested that maximum number of hours a person spends each week splits into 10 doing Church and 110 living (the remainder spent sleeping) life. This 10/110 state begets more than a few questions but here's two of them to get us thinking (and I'll deal with the first today):

Neil's question: "How does the 10 equip us for the 110?" collided with the question on the lips of others which went, "How do we get our members to do ten hours?"

Some merely said (out loud): "How comes so little? Just ten hours a week!" whilst others thought (for these are words that point the fingers at both members and leaders): "I'd be happy if our members did five (or even four) a week - I can't get them past a couple of hours!"

Neil was extremely challenging in that he spoke of discipleship (not just attending and paying the share) as something that took up the whole of our existence. The reality being that discipleship is 'holistic' (and I know how some out there hate that word) for it relates to the whole person: Body, mind, spirit, leisure and work!

The problem is that church leaders do seem to think that the work of evangelism is primarily that of bringing people in to pay the Parish Share and to supply new workers for the day-to-day activities, evangelistic, social programmes and all the other projects in the church. Neil put this into a more concise form (hope my notes are correct):

“The mission of many churches is to recruit the people of God to use some of their leisure time to join the missionary initiatives of church paid workers”

A pretty fair representation of the situation and something that indicates something deeper regarding our take on discipleship in that we ask people to use their 'leisure' time to do church and this, perhaps, is one of the main reasons that 'church' is regarded as one of many leisure activities rather than a lifestyle.


POINT ONE
We ask those who come to make church ONE of their hobbies and not the WHOLE of their existence!

I have friends who have a multitude of hobbies and interests and there's no thought that these might transfer into, enable/modify/or have an impact upon, their working or family life. They also happen to have on their list of 'interests' - Christianity! It's something that they do not something that they are!

ACTION
If I believe God is everywhere and if I believe that Jesus, the Christ, died for me to restore the relationship with this 'everywhere' God - why do I seek to engage with Him only in certain places and at certain times? If He's always with me then how comes I'm not always with Him?

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. (PS 139)


POINT TWO
When people come to church we tell them stuff that sits within the box marked 'Christian time' stuff and rarely tell them how to make that 'all the time' stuff.

We don't need to major on esoteric faith life but an inductive and grounded in 'life outside the box' (the box here being the church building) Christian living. 

ACTION
The way to make disciples is to be a disciple and just like flying (and every other hobby I have been engaged in) it is in the gathering together that one learns the craft, honing skills and extending knowledge. What we do in the clubhouse is learn to do that which we do outside of it better.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. (Matt 28 // Mk 16)


POINT THREE
The world runs along at 168 hours a week, every week for as long as we are in it and yet we (The Church) focusses only on that bit which is important - the service and the extremely small (and increasingly diminishing and marginalised) world of 'Church' and the ways we can keep the rules and be 'good'.

When people come into contact with the Church it should do so in the world not in the ghetto. Christians must live in this world, but they are not of this world. 


ACTION
As the Father sent Christ into this world to minister, so he sends believers to be ministers in the world (Jn 17; Titus 3) 

This is a pretty messy blog in that I've written in off the top of my head (as always) as the dialogue formed. I hope that this will shape and influence your thinking on the was we live as Christians.

As we draw to a close (tea drunk, office done and All Saint's communion forty minutes away) I have come to a rather painful realisation:

The thought that when I flew I was a pilot. I didn't do flying, but being a pilot was what I was. It translated into everything I did and formed my identity and influenced my conversations. When people introduced me they said, "This is Vic, he's a pilot."

How sad that I don't ever recall being introduced as, "This is Vic, he's a Christian!"

Every hour - Every day

LICC - London Institute for Contemporary Christianity