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

Why, and how, do we evangelise?

Thanks to yesterday's post about 'converting them' I have had a few emails from people wanting to discuss evangelism (pity they don't do it on the blog, but hey ho - it's the engagement and dialogue that helps me grow, know or let go). Some have asked what I think evangelism is and who, how and why we do it - and here's my response and definitions (not complete or comprehensive, merely what comes off the top of the deck as I deal the cards):

Evangelism - the spreading of the 'Good News' that is the Gospel (for that is what it means - Good News) about humanity and the Creator being reconciled (meaning 'brought together' or 'made one') by the at-one-ing (atoning) act of Jesus (who's job title is 'The Christ' meaning 'the anointed one of God')). It is all about explaining who He is and who we are, and can be by means of what I (and many others - not my word by the way) a kerygma (a word coming from the root that means herald or messenger like a town crier).

The kerygma is cool because it is something we deliver as historic (man, God and sin) current (in that it is our story) and physically present (because of how we think, act and engage with people and situations).

So I would talk about sin coming into the world, Jesus coming in to the world to remove the separation from me and God (which means the cross), my acceptance and growth and development and experiences and the reasons I think it is so amazing that I want to share it (just as I share good eating places and the like).

And that's the 'What' of evangelism and much of the 'Why' - which has alongside my wanting to share something good that I have found the fact that I am also told to do it by Jesus. This being told bit goes like this: 'Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to do what God tells us to do.'

Simple really - we have to get off our bottoms and get out there, not sit behind closed doors with out little closed minds looking to keep our hands clean, and share the Good News of Jesus looking to bring people to a place where what they see is so good they want it too.

We don't frighten them into heaven ('If you don't become a Christian you'll burn in hell') and we don't bribe them ('Become a Christian and you can have job/home/education/hospital' - delete as applicable) like we have seen across the globe as part of the benefit of missions work!

We bring them to a place where they want to join the club and when they do, we engage with them in the membership service - Baptism.

To be baptised they have to:

i. Want to be baptised, and

ii. Understand what they're joining and what benefits AND demands it places upon them.

BUT

Should have been baptised before (and if they have then to do it again is quite wrong as I understand the Bible - hint being: There is but one baptism and this is done in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit) then a warm handshake and prayer suffices! The wet bit has been done (and if it was Anglican then there's oil and candles involved too).

And when this has been done we nurture and teach them to read, pray and understand (challenging, questioning and bringing forth dialogue) to become fully engaged, brain switched on and intelligent Christians.

Of course to do this we need to be out there where the need is and this is one of the reasons why finding Christians out there being engaged and working with people where the needs are is so important. If we do Church expecting people to come to the place we have prepared for them (our place) then we can close our doors now because people cannot 'Come Back' to a place they have never been. We need to go out into their places (because EVERYWHERE is God's) and bless what God is going outside of our church buildings.

We need to bee seen to be normal people who are fun to be around and as people realise that this is indeed the case they also realise that there's something we have that they'd like (or having met some Christians, they merely realise their assumptions about us were totally right and we are indeed a bunch of Blinking loonies!).

So there we are Jane, John, Tom and Dave - some answers for you. I look forward to your assessment (and long for you to post it on the blog instead :-) )

Pax

Mission - getting them in isn't enough!

This has been one of those weeks that just has lasted for ever and yet gone by in a flash; one of those where you have done much and still managed to leave undone the things that you wanted to do! (an experience I'm sure we all share from time to time).

There have been so many highlights ranging from ALPHA course through to doing school assemblies through to engagement with people at the other end of the age range; mingling, and celebrating, with fellow believers and giving thanks for them to wondering whether, despite their labels, they are even saved!

I cannot believe that anyone who is in the Christian family can fail to be 'missional'; that ability and desire to see others come into knowledge of Jesus, the Christ, and through that knowledge to come into relationship with the Father through Him - and yet I do. For truly the, 'I'm not an evangelistic,' cries of some to the 'maintenance and parochially-minded' lack of real endeavour others I bump into almost cause my fingers to crack and my chest to tighten. 'How can we not be 'mission-minded'?

How can we ignore the calls of Jesus as written in Matthew 28:

'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.'

How can we fail to see that people coming into the building is great, but it's not salvation, for salvation is this:

‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, 
‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ 
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?
And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? 
And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?
As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’

I mentioned this passage (Romans 10) to someone last week as I tried to explain that increasing the church's 'footfall' (the number of feet on the ground: visitors) is great but 'getting them in' is only part of the job, we need to engage with the people who come in and be there for them when they come with needs.

How can they believe unless they hear and how can they hear unless we tell them?

And of course, we're not all sent, are we? We're not all called to look like Jesus, to love those caught in error, to bind up the brokenhearted, comfort those who mourn, heal the afflicted and all that stuff are we?

Oh no, it appears that we are - so what are we going to do?

The Vicar as Sole Trader

As I sit at my desk (01:53Z) the thought comes to me that when one is 'collared' and released into the cure of souls in a place that one becomes in one and the same moment both a sole trader in both spellings of the word.

I am a soul trader because that is the focus of my calling and yet am also a sole trader in that, just like the many shopkeepers and small businesses around me, I have to balance my books and pay my suppliers. It seems to me that the knotty issue of sustainability, the ability to pay my parish share and keep the lights, heating and comestibles in place means that in running the business I am no different from those around me. The 'higher calling' can, at times, be lost in the stresses of making ends meet and the spectre of 'being shut down' (should we fail to generate enough income - a real issue regardless of where the church is and a fearsome one to boot when you bear the label 'Urban Priority Area') causes some to give up and become impotent. Vision goes and all that is left is to await the day when it all ends!

But that's not for me because I am also a soul trader and the faces and changed lives of those whom our church has touched over the years gives me a hope, not a vain hope but one realised in the fact that we have a God who owns the kettle on a thousand hills (which show's how English God is, after all - what can be wrong if there's tea on offer?), became man and triumphed over the powers that separated us from the father. Hallelujah?

Tonight the Wardens took the church council on a vision evening as a follow-up to a church-wide meeting held a couple of weeks back and I'm sure that although there might be some who mutter 'curse God and die' (remember Mrs Job in chapter two?) I'm also sure that some will not stop to count the cost and will rush to be missional. I'll let you know when I hear what happened with it all!

The Church (universal) is charged with going into all the world and making disciples of people, teaching them to keep all that Jesus commands us to be and do and baptise them in the name of the father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is our 'core business' and when I think of the people who have given their lives to Christ in the place in which I am blessed enough to belong I realise just how good God is at saving souls when we take the time to cast out the nets.

So a word of hope to those who despair - we are winning. A word of caution to those who would seek to mock the work of the Church - we are winning. And to those who worry about the money - Bills do have to be paid but when you can accurately put a price tag on a soul come and let me know what it is and you'll not find any missional church that is in debt. Whose books are you looking at?

Praise the Lord!

What is 'Being Church' all about?

It's 23:30 here and the house is (at last) beginning to settle after all the usual havoc and chaos that Friday with its Kid's Club, piano lessons, ministry and everything that having a house full of children entails. Time for a bit of a reflection as I unwind and get ready for some zzz's.

The problem is that I have questions buzzing around in my head regarding what 'being Church' is all about because for me it means working together with all the other Christian believers in the place in which I find myself to build the Church. Immediately a conversation where I am berated because, "We don't build Church, that's God's job!" leaps into my mind. Apparently we only have to tell others, it is God's job to win them! Well, whilst I understand what the speaker meant, I have to say that this isn't what I'm thinking!

As I see it 'being Church' is about building the whole body of Christ, not just the expression of it that has our name above the door as Vicar / Minister / Pastor. As I see it "being Church' is about making disciples of those who do not know Christ and so have a separation from God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit - are you listening UCC?). In fact this is the commandment that we corporately possess as Church (universal not local!) as given in Matthew 28:18-20:

"“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."

We go - and we tell - and they come - and they repent - and we baptise - and we teach - and they learn - and they become disciples - then they go - and they tell - et seq.

The problem is that when we find it hard to 'be' Church and 'be' with each other and pray and enjoy each other's company, some bright spark comes up with the idea that we should 'do a mission' because when we work together the task brings us together. And then the task is complete and we can drift apart until we can think of another artificial way of making us 'one' again!

Surely Church is about seeing the image of the unseen God made visible by God incarnate, Jesus, in one another and celebrating that. How can we fail to see the image of God made flesh in those who are flesh made God (as part of His body) unless we fail to look?

I'm so very tired of having to 'do' to 'be' Church. I want to 'be' and from that 'being' let the things that come out of it, come out of it. I'm fed up with Protestant work ethics that drive us to perform (like Martha) when Christ is calling us into relationship (like Mary?).

I'm fed up with numbers being the yardstick by which success is measured. Number of BOPs (Bums on Pews), the numbers with pound signs attached associated with the offering, the numbers relating to Parish Share payments and all those other indicators of quantity that convey nothing of the true meaning of Church (yes, I know we have to pay our way!).

When are we going to see the worth of those in a missionary context where lives changed and professions of faith in a man whose name was once merely an expletive and the measure of the ministry?

Where the ability to greet those from other fellowships as family and mean it is the reality rather than what is demanded?

This is what 'being Church' is all about, but:

"If serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . . . But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Josh 24

Pax