Connections

Let me introduce you to a couple of my friends, Debs and Angela*. Debs lives in Perth, Australia and Angela lives in Sheffield, UK.

Debs is someone I have known for nearly 3 years. I coach her, over skype, in planting Missional Communities (which she has done a great job of!) as part of her Church in Perth. Their vision is to welcome newcomers to Perth and there are many internationals who move to the city through various business links. They also look to be good news in their neighbourhoods, create authentic community and support each other in sharing their faith across the city. We've had a couple of stories from Connect Perth on our website before.

I met Angela about 2 years ago when I re-located from my office to be out in my local community every Wednesday. She owns the coffee shop in Hillsborough that I work from each week - having space to read my bible, pray and reflect; doing emails; having meetings and chatting & getting to know the regular customers. Over the past few years the coffee shop has hosted missional community gatherings and also a Christmas carol service!!

This week Angela told me she is emigrating – to Perth, Australia!!!

I will be able to connect a person of peace from my local community with someone on the other side of the world, who I am coaching and who has a vision to welcome newcomers - it’s a small world and God is good!!

Written by Rich Robinson
*Name changed for privacy

Uniquely Salty

"You are the salt of the earth." Matthew 5:13

I've been using a book of meditations recently* and came across one about salt. We are probably

well used to thinking about mission in terms of being salt and light to the world, but this particular meditation made me think about what being salt means more deeply.

What do you think of when you hear the phrase 'You are salt'?

I usually think of the traditional uses for salt - preserving & flavouring, and apply them to mission by looking for ways to add to or enhance what God is already doing. Or by thinking about ways I can preserve the Gospel in the mission context I'm in. If I'm really honest I usually think that being salt = being an evangelist. Apparently however, less than 5% of the world's salt production is used in flavouring and, most astoundingly, there are an estimated 14,000 uses for salt.

14,000! I don't think I could think of 14! This book listed a few other uses for salt, such as being used in solution to administer medicines, as an antiseptic, as a water softener, making soap and glass, making paper whiter, melting ice from roads, and a host of other historical and cultural uses, including being used as a symbol of honor, hospitality, friendship and purity.

All this got me thinking about how individual we are. Jesus says "You are the salt of the earth", and I don't think He was trying to make us conform into one of a very few ways of expressing that, or trying to make us feel guilty that we're not 'being salt' in the traditional ways we might think of or feel a pressure to be.

Knowing that there are so many uses for salt releases us from having to conform or be like anyone else in the ways we express our 'saltiness'. We are each free to express and live our calling uniquely, in the ways that God creates us to be. We may function in one or more of the Ephesians 4 roles of pastor, teacher, apostle, evangelist and prophet, but we are completely free to express those in a vast multitude of ways.

Salt has many distinct purposes and effects. Likewise the ways God has so uniquely created, equipped, called and em-passioned us are beyond counting. Jesus says we already ARE salt - there's no point in trying to be salt, we already are this way; the question is simply one of HOW.

"Salt does not exist for itself. Its purpose is to penetrate and affect that with which it comes in contact." *

So...

• How are you made to be salt? How are you affecting that with which you come into contact? In whatever way?

• How are the people in your Missional Community being freed to be salt in their own unique ways? Are you releasing and acknowledging all the multitude of ways in which this can happen?

• How is your Missional Community as a whole being salt to your chosen mission context? What are the unique things your community can do and be to the people around you, as distinct or complimentary to other MCs?

* "Named by God - 50 Meditations. Discovering the power of God's names for you." Mary Foxwell Loeks

A new covenant

Last week, I spent time at a big church planting conference in Germany. Bishop Steven Croft of Sheffield and Bishop Graham Cray, who leads the Fresh Expressions team, were there and gave excellent and inspiring talks. (You can watch them here.)

Something Bishop Graham said and which was echoed by others stuck with me:
Christology before Missiology before Ecclesiology.

We're often very good at remembering that mission should shape church and not the other way round - we call them missional communities, after all. But sometimes we forget that actually it all starts with encountering Jesus.

When we encounter Jesus, when we really spend time getting to know him, when we delve deep into who he is, then we begin to know what he's inviting us into.

Jesus is inviting us into covenant with the living and eternal God. It happened with Noah, Abraham, Isaac, with the whole people of Israel. These stories give us a wonderful picture of what it means to be in covenant with God. But it's a new covenant in his blood that we're part of. This new covenant means that we are made one with Christ - we are hidden with him in God.

Being hidden in God means we are called into relationship with him. The three-in-one God is relationship and communion and he draws us into that. We need to spend time there, nurturing and developing the relationship.

We need to know God the Father - the Father who lovingly knit us together before we were born and who loves us tenderly and fiercely. The Father who does not wait until we fall on our knees before him but gathers up his robes and runs to meet us on the road. The Father who throws a lavish party and delights in our faltering steps towards him, even when we are still covered in the muck and stink of the pig-sty.

We need to know God the Son - the Son who holds nothing back of his inheritance but generously shares it with us. The Son who laid aside his riches and became God made flesh - who came and dwelt amongst us and was fully human and knows what it is to be tempted and to suffer and to be scorned and to be abandoned and to die. The Son who fought and fights to overcome the power of death and sin and who gives this victory to us as a gift.

We need to know God the Spirit - the Spirit who is ruach or pneuma - breath. We are in the Spirit and the Spirit is in us, like breath, like air. We cannot escape him and we cannot live without him because the Spirit is the very embodiment of God-with-us today, given to be our constant companion once Christ had left the earth. The Spirit living in us shows us that God is always there and opens our eyes and ears to see him and hear his voice, drawing us ever deeper into relationship.

Before we discover our mission call to join in God's kingdom work, before we explore what it means to be the body and bride of Christ, we must first know Him and know that we are of Him and in Him.

To finish with paraphrased words of Paul:

"May the amazing grace of Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of the Father and the intimate fellowship of the Spirit be with you all."

In opposition

Remember the main point I tried to make last time? It went like this:
If you want to experience the joy and depth of community, you’ve gotta work on unity.
One of the questions I asked specifically was
Where can I make a start pursuing unity?

Let’s start talking about some of the hindrances I’ve encountered on that pursuit and also some hopefully useful suggestions for overcoming them.

When hitting against things like jealousy or prejudice the question I’ve asked myself was: how can I tackle this “in the opposite spirit”…Now, is that another one of those nice little Christian phrases? Maybe, but so much more than that, as I've come to believe. I think it’s at the heart of the message of the cross as Jesus has lived it out for us to learn from. And that it’s to do with living the life of the Spirit rather than giving in to our foolish appetites. I also think that it’s a really good way of learning to become mature children of God, who, whether we like it or not, does discipline us for that purpose.

And all time favourite apostle Paul sums it up nicely when trying to persuade us to “live in accordance with the Spirit” and have our “minds set on what the Spirit desires as the mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace”, This is in Romans 8, verses 5 and 6.

Let me illustrate what it might look like practically – bearing in mind the context we’re focusing on is to do with building unity into our relationships.

Hindrance No 1: being deceived by jealousy
Have you ever found it hard when someone you’re beginning to form meaningful relationship with is seeing success in an area you’ve so far only experienced failure in? Maybe thought they don’t really deserve it? Or contemplated backing off the relationship because it’s just too painful?

A massive killer, isn’t it, to living in unity with them, cause what’s happening is that you’re bound to interpret at least part of your relationship through that lens of feeling jealous. Worse even, you might look at them through it, too. Essentially, what you’ve got is a crack in your relationship, even though you may not be in outright conflict with them.

Well, here’s for some opposite spirit remedy if this is something you’ve ever felt your soul has suffered from:
No 1: Remember, remember, remember and speak out thanks for
all the good things God has invested in you, like your family, your job, your creativity, your athletic ability, your health, your language skills, whatever it may be.
No 2: Invest what’s been invested in you, go out there, be a giver. I promise it’s a soul saver that, as it’s living out of the faith that comes from recognizing God’s blessing and turning that into action. Plus, there’s always the bonus of a double whopper promise made by God (look up Luke 19 or Matthew 25 for the rather fascinating context); that “whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance”.

Apart from that, my strong assumption is this; you’ll start being able to not have to focus on that which your brother or sister (cause that’s what they are!) has or does, but on how you can bless them with what God’s given you.

If jealousy is something you have long tackled in your life, be looking forward to the strategies for hindrances no 2 and 3 ☺

Rest

We all know we sometimes need to stop.  We know that we're created to work from rest, rather than rest from work.  Its good to remember that rest is for communities as well as individuals.

The time we spend as community,  doing nothing particularly purposeful,  is very important.  The BBQs, trips, parties and movie nights,  are often the times when really significant conversations happen.  Sometimes these are the events people bring their friends to.  Other times they just get to know each other more deeply.  Such times may not help your group achieve your vision,  but your community will certainly be better and closer for it.

When I look back at our missional community of 4 1/2 years,  it's often the rest time that I remember most fondly,  like the times it'd be getting close to 10pm and we still hadn't got properly started because everyone was chatting.  Or the picnics at a local stately home we took in the summer.  Or the long conversations as relationships were formed over amazing puddings.  Our community was better because we rested and had fun together.


I know this is simple,  but we often miss the obvious things.  My advice would be to make sure there's some rest or fun time in every thing you do as a community (don't meet unless you eat used to be one of our community's mottoes) and then every now and again make sure you devote a good chunk of time to doing nothing in particular,  together.

How do you make time to rest as a community?

The picture is by downthewaterfall on flickr

Stories

King's Church, Warrington and Kairos, Harrogate are two of the churches connecting with us.



Fresh Expressions has written an article on the Kairos story - read it here.

Taster Day events this week

This week there are two Taster Day events at St. Thomas' Church, Philadelphia. On Wednesday one for churches interested in joining a Learning Community and on Thursday one for people interested in Missional Communities.

There will be people from all over the UK and even Germany coming to Sheffield and we're excited to see what God does. We'll post some stories here from the churches that are connecting with us.

Be Thou My Vision

We live within a Christian culture where vision is very important. For passionate followers of Jesus having vision has become paramount to life. I encounter so many people who are frustrated and disillusioned with life because they’re lacking this thing called ‘vision’. And I’ve been there myself, wishing that God would show me something, anything (!) to give me purpose and security for what my life is about.

But how often does this notion of ‘vision’ become debilitating rather than defining? Do we allow vision, or lack of it, to dictate whether we have purpose, meaning, validation? What is our frustration and what is the fear that instigates this desperation for the big V-word?

In the Bible the word ‘vision’ is used to describe ‘visions’ that come to people through dreams, what we might call a vivid experience or prophetic image. These visions were clear messages from God – He spoke His direct word to unveil His love for nations, direction and discipline, prophecies for the future. And all these things are available to us today, as we have access to the covenant relationship, which includes hearing His voice. Yet the idea of ‘vision’ in the context of knowing our calling is not so clear. The visions experienced by some of the Old Testament characters and Prophets, as well as Paul in the New Testament, enabled them to confidently pursue what God had put before them. But Jesus never once mentions the word vision in the Gospels. Could it be that the man with the greatest calling the world has ever known didn’t seem to have ‘vision’ so high up on his agenda?

We are called and we are given vision, just not always in the way that we expect it. The Great Commission so clearly set out the notion that we are called to something which gives us a goal, a purpose, an earth-effected eternal destiny. So how do we define what our big V is all about?

Whilst Jesus doesn’t talk about vision or calling in the way we do, He does offer an invitation, by literally ‘calling’ the disciples to Him. The call on their lives is to come and be discipled by Him, to journey with Him, learn from Him, be friends with Him. And He offers us a vision: the vision of Himself and the vision of His future glory. It’s a life-giving vision in that, as we look on Him, we ourselves are transformed into His likeness. The things He has created and embedded within us, become fully alive in His Kingdom.

It’s easy to feel like somehow ‘Jesus’ is just not enough. We want to know what our personal calling is, our purpose, how we are going to change the world. But how often is the need for vision about our security in what we’re doing and our fear of sharing our true dreams with those around us?

Relationship with Jesus is the most exciting calling that’s ever been offered to the world. Living out our calling is about responding to His call, to relationship with Him. The vision is having a vision of Him and through that knowing Him and ourselves more. One of the verses I’ve been meditating on recently is from Psalm 37: ‘Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.’ We must first delight in Him, have a vision of Him and know Him more intimately and He will then show us our true desires that He has placed within us and that He partners with us in bringing about.

So when we question whether we’ve got vision, our starting place is looking at Him. Do I have a clear vision of Jesus; do I pursue the call to having greater relationship with Him; is His purpose the call I am truly pursuing?

As Paul put so well to the Ephesians:

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…” (Ephesians 1 NIV)

The engagement between Prince William and Kate Middleton has hit the headlines recently, and

I’ve been wondering what it will feel like for Kate to become part of the royal family, with all their joys and imperfections...which in turn raises an interesting question:

Are we living in the reality of the fact that we have already been made a part of something far greater than anything Kate will experience?!

1 Peter 2:9 says “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God...”

These four wonderful descriptions of our identity as the people of God each warrant an article/sermon in their own right, never mind Paul’s description of us as the (royal) bride of Christ. But I’d like to share a few thoughts on what it means to be part of THE ROYAL FAMILY OF GOD as this is something the Lord has been specifically speaking to me about recently. (For more on this topic I recommend reading “The Supernatural Ways of Royalty” by Kris Vallotton & Bill Johnson).

I’d really not fully appreciated how important the royal part of my identity in Jesus is until recently. I’d also not appreciated just how important growing up in Pharaoh’s palace was for Moses, or how significant the royal training Daniel received was, or the preparation Esther underwent in the royal courts. All these people influenced nations and changed the course of history because they came to understand this was their God-given destiny. They learned the ways and the expectations of royalty. Let’s take Moses as an example – how significant was the fact that Moses was brought up as the King’s son rather than a Hebrew slave?

When Moses was in Pharaoh’s household he did not relate to others with a slave mentality – he knew he had the rights and influence of a royal prince and would have expected people to respond to him accordingly. He also had the compassion (a quality found in all Godly leaders) for his Hebrew brothers, but hadn’t learned how to channel his anger over injustice in an appropriate, God –honouring way. Although the lessons in humility and Godly character Moses learned in his wilderness years were hugely important, the fact that Moses did not have a slave mentality himself but knew where he had come from (and to Whom he truly belonged) were just as important in enabling him to fulfil his destiny of setting a nation free - a person who is in slavery internally cannot free those who are in slavery externally.

It’s interesting to ponder – if you actually were Prince William (or Kate Middleton), and had grown up being constantly told you were destined, yes for a life of service to your king and country but also for a life of great influence – how would this affect the way you thought and lived?

The fact is, whatever our previous experience may be, and however insignificant we may have felt in the past, Jesus has made us a part of His royal family and has called us to greatness! As Princes and Princesses we have the authority of the King of all Kings! And ours is no dysfunctional royal family with its relational distance, politics and protocols – we are invited to share with The King the same intimacy of relationship that a bride shares with her husband – INCREDIBLE! We can live in the permanent presence, grace and favour of our King.

As we think about our identity in Jesus this term, my prayer is that any shreds of a slave’s mentality in our minds would be broken, and that we would be able to see afresh the royal robes in which we are clothed! Those robes are not just a reminder that we are loved, accepted & adopted, and that righteousness and not sin is now our master, they also signify our royal authority to rule and extend the reign & the Kingdom of The King.

It would be an honour to find myself in Kate Middleton’s position. But it can’t possibly compare to the honour I already feel as Princess in The King’s Palace!

Lindsay Lonchar

Rhythms of Prayer in the Workplace

Jeremiah Lanphier (Taken from revival-library.org)

In 1857 a Dutch missionary called Jeremiah Lanphier was employed by Fulton Street Church to minister to the unchurched in the city of New York, USA.  After spending a time going from door to door of people's homes delivering tracts and inviting people to church meetings, and running boys clubs and Sunday School classes, he felt discouraged as he felt that for many nothing seemed to be changing.

Jeremiah looked around him and watched the people who worked in the city as they went about their work, and he became distressed by their weariness and sense of indifference to life.  He conceived the idea of starting a lunchtime prayer meeting for businessmen, to provide some mid-day spiriturual refreshment.  He put together a simple invitation which he left in shops, hotels and factories as well as to the homes he had visited, where he invited anyone who wanted to come together to pray for 5 minutes or upto an hour, whatever people could manage:

"A day of Prayer-Meeting is held every Wednesday from 12 to 1 o'clock in the Consistory building in the rear of the North Dutch Church, corner of Fulton and William Streets. This meeting is intended to give merchants, mechanics, clerks, strangers and businessmen generally an opportunity to stop and call on God amid the perplexities incident to their respective avocations. It will continue for one hour; but it is also designed for those who find it inconvenient to remain more than 5 or 10 minutes, as well as for those who can spare a whole hour. Necessary interruption will be slight, because anticipated. Those in haste often expediate their business engagements by halting to lift their voices to the throne of grace in humble, grateful prayer. Mr. Lanphier set the very first meeting for noon September 23rd 1857 in the lecture room on the third floor of the Consistory Building of the North Reformed Protestant Dutch Church."

On the first Wednesday 6 men had joined Jeremiah.  Week 2 became twenty, and by Week 3 it had become forty, and the meeting moved to daily.  The structure of the gathering was led like a business meeting, it was simple and was easily reproduced when the prayer meetings spread to multiple locations across the city:

1. The meeting started promptly
2. Scripture was read out loud
3. There was some sung worship
4. The meeting was then opened up and everyone present were invited to say prayers of thanksgiving or intercession. (Anyone who attempted to start giving a talk or a long prayer (more than 5 minutes!), or debate theological issues etc was simply interrupted and reminded it was just a prayer meeting
5. The meeting lasted maximum one hour long.

The meetings and fervency in prayer grew, the Holy Spirit moved powerfully amongst the meetings, people from all classes and denominations began to gather together, and people started giving their lives to the Lord.  Soon other churches were hosting meetings and gatherings across the city in department stores, police departments, music halls and theatres.  Within 6 months the prayer meetings were having such an impact that businesses began shutting down over an extended lunch.  It has been estimated that at it's height there were 50,000 conversions a week throughout the city.  Even the secular press recognised this extra-ordinary move of the Holy Spirit, and has become known as the beginning of the Third Great Awakening in the history of USA revivals.  Within 2 years, the churches involved had seen an extra 1 million new believers.  You can read more about it here

Whilst of course revivals are unique moves of the Holy Spirit, there are some distinctive features about this move of the Holy Spirit which I wonder could be insightful for missional communities seeking to see God move amongst our workplaces.

Firstly, it started with one guy looking around him and asking himself: how can I connect all these people with the reality of God's presence, without requiring them to come to one of our church meetings?  He then set about establishing a rhythm of gathered prayer and the communal reading of scripture at a time and a place for which the people it was designed to be available to could easily take some time out of their busy to day to come along.

• What would a lunchtime gathering centred around prayer look like in your workplace, town or city centre?
• Where and when could you meet and how could people know they were invited?
• How could you keep the structure simple, the space open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and the centrality of God's Word being read speaking into peoples lives?

Working abundantly

Last week at a team planning day we spent the first part of the morning reflecting on Psalm 23 together. We were asked to pick out a phrase from the Psalm that stood out to us, and as it was read I was drawn to a short phrase from verse 5, "...my cup overflows", and God began to speak to me.

Recently I've been getting frustrated by the amount of time I have to do everything I want to in. I'm a mum mostly at home with the kids all week but I also work 1 day a week (plus extra volunteer time) for the church. I love the work I do and there are many exciting things I could get involved with and would dearly love to make happen but I feel like my constant limitation is TIME (sound familiar?) I get frustrated that I can't put more time into the work I do with young adults and missional communities. I'm a pioneer and can see possibilities and potential laid out in front of me which I get excited about, then find I just can't commit to being part of making them come into being because I don't have the time! And at home too, I'm always imagining what I could enjoy doing with more time - I would bake more, sew more, clean more(!), play the piano more. So it goes on.

Now I don't think I'm just being hard on myself, or feel inadequate compared to those around me - I know I work hard and that I'm not superwoman! I just see the amount I am able to do in these different spheres as less than I would like to be able to do. I would love to have the capacity to mentor more people, to see community leaders more often, to have more time thinking, reading and praying - to be able to 'achieve' more in any given week. I feel like I make very slow progress sometimes!

When I was reflecting on this phrase from Psalm 23 God started to change my perspective. He says "my cup overflows". This also reminded me of 2 Corinthians 9:8 which says "God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." I will abound in every good work.

He doesn't see what I do the way I see it! He doesn't feel frustrated and wish I would achieve more. He says I abound in every good work. Which means that whilst I look at what I do and see the lack, he looks at me and sees the abundance. Where I see frustration and limits, He sees an overflowing cup. That is an altogether different perspective!

So I am going to try and think differently about the things I put my hands to in the time I have to do them. God sees what I do and sees an abundance and I need to learn to be more content with achieving what I do instead of wishing I could get involved more, do more, see more, get more done.

What about you? Do you feel frustrated, or guilty, or pressured by self or others to achieve more? Do you feel inadequate? Maybe it's time to stop being hard on yourself and get God's perspective on the things you do - He sees what you do, He is well pleased and His word is that He makes you abound in every good work.

A reason not to give up

Like a few in this missional movement,  I'm part of The Order of Mission.  TOM is a covenant community  of people committed to living as missionaries and disciples for Jesus.  We are a global family with members all over the world.  Helen and I are permanent members,  which means we've made some scary life-long promises.  If you want to find out more about The Order then leave a comment here or check out the website.

Anyway, this Advent TOM members are reading a chapter of Luke a day,  it conveniently has 24 chapters so fits well.  This has been really good as a way of contextualising the usual Advent/Christmas story within the wider life of Jesus and his disciples.   Each day a member posts a reflection on the chapter for that day.  I got day 13 and was asked to reproduce my post here. Before you read any further you might want to stop and look Luke 13.

My original TOM post follows.

I'll be honest. If I were one of the disciples, following round after Jesus, then Luke 13 may well have been the place I gave up and headed back to the fishing nets or tax desk.

The doom and gloom just seem relentless. First he's asked to comment on recent local disasters. His response? Something worse could happen to you.

Then there's the matter of the authorities. Why won't he just lay off them for a bit? They've obviously got it in for him, and he's really not helping. First the Pharisees, then Herod, who else is he going to take a pop at?

And to make it all worse, even those who do follow him in the street and listen to his teaching may not make it through the narrow door. The first will be last, and those who thought they'd made it may be in for a nasty surprise.

Come on Jesus, enough gnashing of teeth, can't you tell us something nice? Something encouraging? Yes, if I were one of the disciples, I may well be packing my bags right now. Except for two little things he says.

The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed. It's small, looks pretty insignificant, but when it's planted it grows. The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast. It's tiny, but only a very little works through the whole dough. It reproduces.

I think (I hope) that would have kept me. I hope I would have wanted to be part of this thing: The Kingdom. The place where the tiny and the insignificant grow. The place where the last are first. I hope that would have encouraged me to stay, to go with him even through the hardness.

When life is hard for you, when the One you are following just doesn't seem to give up or he becomes almost too challenging, may you know that you are part of a Kingdom where the small things grow and the hard things become beautiful. May you remember that the last people you'd expect, the weak and the struggling, get to go first.

(The photo is by cardoso on flickr.  It is a reference to the very funny film Dogma which I'd recommend only if you don't mind being offended.)

Laugh-out-loud perspective

I had a moment on my own the other day and found myself laughing out loud. I was reflecting on a situation I was finding difficult which basically centred around 2 things: i) how important or not I might be perceived by others ii) how difficult it can be to let others reap some of the seeds I have planted in people's lives.

And then I had a little glimpse of meeting Jesus face-to-face in heaven. And all of a sudden I realised how wrong my perspective was. It caused me to laugh-out-loud at how ridiculous and self-centred my thoughts had become!

How important (or not) I am, how much I appear to be advancing God's kingdom, whether I'm the one who reaps or sows... it's not what Jesus is looking at. There are two things that Jesus tells us to be concerned about. In Mark's gospel when one of the religious teachers asks Jesus which is the most important commandment Jesus replies "The most important commandment is this: 'Listen, O Israel!" The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength' The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these." (Mark 12: 29-31)

Paul says in 1 Corinthians "We are only God's servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It's not important who does the planting or who does the watering. What's important is that God makes the seed grow. The one who plants and the one who waters work together for the same purpose." (1 Corinthians 3:5-8)

I wonder how much time, effort and emotions we waste by having the wrong perspective? How much of our time is spent worrying, striving, engineering, self-promoting...? We are simply God's servants. He's the one who makes the seed grow. We just need to focus on doing the work the Lord gives us (v5), and doing it with a heart of love for Him and for our neighbour.

We need to keep an eternal perspective and remember who Jesus calls us to be and how he calls us to live. I wonder how different our lives and our communities would look if we really lived this out.

Written by Anna R

Give me strength!

As a church we’ve recently been looking at the issue of identity. Our identity in our relationship with Jesus, in the way we relate to each other as the church and in the way we live life with the people we meet in everyday contexts.

Two themes that I’ve been considering in relation to identity have been the characteristics of strength and weakness. As Christians the attributes of strength and weakness play a big part in our thinking, language and culture. We talk about being ‘spiritual warriors’, with the ‘armour of God’, being ‘over-comers’ and persevering as we ‘run’ towards the prize before us. In contrast, weakness is a hugely negative attribute. It evokes notions of insecurity, failure and sin. Our response to weakness, in both ourselves and others, is often disdain, pity and judgement. We don’t like it, we don’t want it and we particularly don’t want any one else to notice it!

These opposing concepts of strength and weakness are similarly obvious in Western culture. You only have to look at product marketing to see the overt message that ‘strength is good’ and ‘weakness is bad’. For instance, take a look at male toiletry adverts. According to them, using products like face cream after you shave makes you athletic, muscular and means sharing your over-sized bathroom with an attractive woman. Men’s advertising often tells us that success in life is predominantly about being physically strong whilst successful women should be able to handle a career, run the perfect family and ultimately manage life without their male counter-parts.

It’s easy for us to perceive some of these world views as extreme and ineffective. However, as Christians a lot of the subliminal messages about strength and weakness impact us in the way we view our own identity. We also have a church culture that at times has a topsy-turvy view on the two issues…

We desire to grow in our relationship with God, yet this easily slips into judging our worth by it. We seek to develop our gifts, serve the church and follow our calling, but when what we ‘do’ is stripped away, we feel lost, despondent and insignificant. When our inability is exposed, we would prefer to cover it up, blame someone else or over-sell our strengths to those around us. When we really get down to it, we’d love nothing more than to be the pin-up of Christian strength, with our weaknesses only giving us a ‘humble’ edge.

As I’ve read 2 Corinthians 12 I’ve felt really challenged about my desire to be strong and my disdain for weakness. In The Message version, Eugene Peterson has used words like ‘humiliations’, ‘looking ridiculous’ and ‘fool’. These aren’t things I’d be excited about seeing in my life! Paul goes on in the passage to talk about the ‘thorn in his flesh’ which eventually brings him to his knees in weakness. Despite inconclusive theological debate on what Paul’s ‘thorn’ might be, it’s interesting that, whatever it was, Paul is brought to a place of utter humility. He finally begs God to remove the thorn he is suffering with. How many times do we respond to our failures, inability, utter brokenness with a prayer for God to take it away? It seems, in its simplest form, we are asking God to return us to a position of strength. Yet, if weakness was good enough for Paul, then surely we’re missing something?

God’s response is not always to fix things in the way we might want Him to. He doesn’t show Paul how to get better and, with a lot of hard work, get himself out of his pain. Instead, He simply reminds Paul of His grace:
“My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.”

There is this amazing transaction as we are made weak before God. We come to Him with all of our wanting and a realisation that we are incapable of doing anything about it. In return, God’s grace is the gift that’s on offer. If I’m honest, it is the times when I have felt at my weakest that I have understood God’s grace the most. In times of failure, loneliness, vulnerability, it’s hit home again just how much Jesus loves me, even when I am so unlovely. When captivated again by God’s grace, I’m surprised that we don’t all get a bit more excited at the prospect of laying our weaknesses bare before God!

The reality is weakness doesn’t somehow feel nicer just because it’s an opportunity to grow closer to God. It’s still painful, exposing and frustrating. But if His strength comes into its own through us, then it seems like something worth going through. We only have to look at Jesus’ physical weakness, as he submitted to the cross, to see how God’s amazing power can work through weaknesses.

So during this Advent time, as we contemplate Jesus coming in the world as a weak and vulnerable child, perhaps have a think about your own response to the weakness in your life. How can we allow God’s grace to impact us in the face of our failings? When do we need to submit to Him in our weakness, rather than trying to fix it ourselves? Where can we encounter Him and be empowered by Him knowing that, despite our unloveliness, we are truly loved by The King?

Creativity

For me, variety is the spice of life. I love that God is infinitely creative and has made such an amazingly varied world. As humans, we are all unique - some of us are introverts and some of us are extroverts; some of us like noise and some of us prefer silence; some of us learn best by reading and some of us learn best by hearing; some of us enjoy making a mess and some of us enjoy bringing order; some of us like to use our voices to worship and some of us like to dance; some of us love to paint and some of us love to write ... I could go on and on because we are infinitely different. Our communities should be places to live out this creativity.

Loads of people say, "Oh, I'm not creative at all" - and it's complete rubbish! We are ALL made in the image of a creative God who lives in us and we are therefore ALL creative. But creativity is so much broader than we think. It's about knowing who we are and being released to live that out. There are so many ways in which we differ from one another and bring a different perspective or gift. We need to realise that creativity is not just about painting! And it shouldn't just be limited to the prayer/worship slot either - we need to be creative in where we make space for creativity! For example, there may be people in our communities who have new and exciting ideas for a social activity we could do together.

Having space for creativity in our communities releases us to be who God has made us to be and can also be a great opportunity for people to step up into leadership. Community members can take responsibility for a particular aspect of our community life (worship, prayer, food, a social activity, Bible study ...) but with the freedom to lead it in a way they're comfortable with. This releases them from the pressure of doing things the way they 'should' be done and feels a lot less daunting. Communities are a great place for this as they are a smaller group of people who already know us and support us. Our communities are safe and secure (hopefully!) and we can be who we are and have the confidence to try something new in them. They allow us freedom to risk and fail as well as a place to learn from our failures.

Releasing creativity in our communities brings freedom as we learn to be comfortable with who God has made us to be. It can be incredibly powerful and even lead to freedom in other areas. As we risk and experiment in one aspect of our faith (with the support of a community) it can empower us to be adventurous in other ways. (See Ben's post about The Ordinary Adventure.)

This isn't to say that things should be different just for the sake of it. Creativity comes from knowing who we are - it's a way to live out our uniqueness, not a case of doing something new just because it's different. It is also important to have a framework based on our vision and values and the balance of Up-In-Out (the Triangle lifeshape). But the framework provides a support for freedom and creativity which allows our communities to stay flexible and open to God's leading. Instead of being tied into a set way of doing things and building an unchanging structure, our communities can be innovative and experimental and organic. They become more multipliable because they are not limited to the small number of people who lead in the same way. If nothing else, a community where creativity is released is interesting!

And because we are all different and our own communities are different, I'm sure that the way you release creativity in yours is different to how I would in mine! We need to learn from each other - How have you given room for creativity in your community? How have you encouraged your community members to know who they are and live it out? Which ideas have worked well and which haven't? Let's encourage each other to live creatively - knowing who we are and living it out freely.

Picture by Francesco Marino from www.freedigitalphotos.net

The Gift of the Kingdom

It's just under 6 weeks to Christmas, or according to days-until-christmas.co.uk exactly 38 days 6 hours and 37 minutes (as I write this blog) to the day we celebrate God's greatest gift to us.  If already you can feel fear and panic rising up in you at the prospect of all the parties, services, shopping, wrapping, mince-pie gatherings and relative visiting you normally have to successfully navigate before reaching the 25th December, then read on...

Just take a few moments to imagine that you're just five years old.  How does it feel to know that Christmas is coming?

I wonder whether the anticipation of something like Christmas through the eyes of a child could be a profound way in which we as grown ups can understand how God gives us his kingdom: it's intended as a gift!

Jesus tells us in Luke 12 that the Father is pleased to give us the kingdom.  The father is pleased to give us the realm of possibilities where the reality of heaven becomes a reality in the here and now: in us, through us, and around us.

Jesus is talking about being free to live in the gift of each day.  Being free to live in the moment that God gives us each day as we wake up.  Being free to be available to receive the Kingdom without being distracted or compromised by our own fears or worries about what the future might hold, or put it another way: what we might need to do today in order to secure a safer tomorrow...

Jesus demonstrated a life that was free to be both fully focused on his future purpose and yet fully available in the present of what the Father was doing.

Later on in Luke 18 Jesus said that unless we learn to receive the Kingdom as a child, we will never be able to enter it.  Unless we learn to receive the Kingdom as a child looks to, anticipates and enjoys the gift of Christmas it's quite possible we will miss the moment, the joy, and the ease in which the kingdom is offered and received.

The kingdom is a possibility that always within our reach.  Yes there's a future kingdom that awaits us and we eagerly await it.  But the real question is: how available are we to live in the present moment of receiving the kingdom that the Father wants to give us today?  Or are we too distracted by the affairs of tomorrow to enjoy living in today?

So enjoy getting ready for Christmas.  Learn to enjoy the parties, enjoy the mince pies, enjoy the nights getting darker and the music in the shopping centres.  Learn to live in the here and now and ask yourself: where is God's rule and reign wanting to come close to me, and how can I receive it today?

Outworking this in missional communities...

• Are you as a community so focused about the future possibilities that you might be missing out on enjoying being together with God in the here and now?
• Are you living in response to fear or worry about the future which is limiting your ability to recieve what God is wanting to give you today?
• What does celebrating and embracing the preparation for receiving God's gift to us in Christmas look like with my community?

If you've got any comments, suggestions or examples of learning to be fully present and receiving the kingdom in each day please post below...

Grand Designs

'No-one can lay any other foundation than the one we already have -Jesus Christ. Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials -gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on judgement day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person's work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames'. 1 Corinthians 3: 11-15

What is the foundation we build our lives upon? It's Jesus -his grace to us in relationship, in freedom and in securing our identity with our Father. God is very concerned that we build on the right foundations. Sometimes our foundations are a bit shaky, sometimes we’re not on solid ground and maybe we haven’t realized. Fear, insecurity, wrong identity, misunderstanding the character of God, striving for acceptance, achievement and status in places other than our Father – all of these things need to be dug out and rebuilt on truth to make sure our foundations are strong, secure and will stand the test of time.

But God is also bothered about how we then build on that foundation.

This little passage from 1 Corinthians makes it clear that He puts value on how and what we build our lives with. Gold, silver and jewels indicate that there are things worth building that are of great value in the Kingdom. But it also suggests that there are things we can build that are of no eternal value and which will be burned up. The Bible is absolutely clear in this passage and in other places that what we do cannot earn us salvation -that is only possible through grace - but it seems that God does have an agenda for how we live our lives once we are in relationship with Him. So my question is, what are you building with?

How are you building the things of God and His Kingdom in your life, your family, your community, your workplace?

I'm not sure there is a list anywhere of what activities God does or does not consider valuable. I do think that the Bible makes it clear of one thing that is important, and that is LOVE. 'The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love' (Galatians 5:6); 'These three things will last forever -faith, hope, and love -and the greatest of these is love.' (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Love. Does your community, your ministry, your daily interaction with people ooze love? How is our motivation? Are we motivated by wanting success, by wanting influence or power, by wanting to look good in other people’s eyes, even wanting to achieve great things for the Kingdom? Or is our primary motivation to love the last, the least and the lost? In everything we do? It’s tough! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you examine your motives today in what you’re building.

Whatever you do, however you build, build it with love and I reckon you can't go far wrong.

Are we ashamed of the gospel?

I've been reflecting recently on the responsibility we all have to make disciples of people who are not currently in relationship with Jesus. I know that in my embracing of post modern values some years ago, (many of them good), I essentially threw out my responsibility to proclaim the Gospel in favour of just living and demonstrating it. The problem has been – that decision has not proved very fruitful in terms of seeing people come to faith!

God has been taking me through a process of repentance – changing my wrong thinking, and challenging me to step out in faith in accordance with the truth of His Word.

Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go & make disciples..." (Matt 18 & 19)

It's easy to miss this vital part of the great commission Jesus has given us to make disciples - the fact that the absolute authority given to Jesus has, in turn, been given to us! Therefore, we should not be apologetic in our proclamation (and demonstration) of the Gospel. We speak with the full weight of authority of the King of the Universe, and it's reassuring to know the command also comes with a promise; He is with us always.

Paul says in Roms 1:16, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation…"

And in vs 15, "I am so eager to preach to Gospel to you…"

Is this something we can say is true of us?

It's interesting to reflect on where shame and fear re; proclaiming the Gospel have paralysed us...Our own culture can intimidate us....many of us have worked so hard at being perceived as "normal" because we've thought people would receive our message better that way, but in the process have neglected the fact we still have a truth to tell. And this truth will get us into trouble – the early church were never in trouble for feeding the poor and rarely in trouble for healing people – the opposition came when they "spoke in His name"! The need for "Courage under Fire" springs to mind!

Satan does not want us to speak up because he knows the Gospel message IS the power of God for salvation! Jesus didn't say,

"Go into all the world and befriend people."

He said,

"Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation." (Mark 16:15)

Signs and wonders accompanied and confirmed this spoken Word. (See Mark 16:20)

I'm convinced our confidence in the power of the spoken Gospel (not just the Gospel demonstrated through loving actions or even healings) needs to be refreshed. As does our confidence in the simplicity of the Gospel – Paul did not use clever arguments designed to impress people, on the contrary he preached the simple message that God justifies the ungodly by faith. - That's it!

It's true that timing is important and this takes discernment - we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us recognise the times to sow and the times to reap. We don't want to fall into the trap on the other side of the pendulum swing of pushing people to pray prayers before they are ready or declaring them Christians when they haven't yet understood or responded to the invitation to discipleship. But this is not the challenge for the majority of us.

For most of us, the challenge is more likely to include repenting of being ashamed of the Gospel message & stepping out in renewed faith & confidence in it's (Jesus') power to save.

If this resonates with you, I'd encourage to engage with this process, both personally and in your communities. My prayer is that we will all do business with God on this, and ask Him to replace our fear and shame with His love, faith & courage! Amen.

written by Linz

Kuh-myoo-ni-tee

The English language has a marvellous repertoire of word play options. I like word play. And deciphering its meaning.

I think thinking about the words and phrases we use and what they actually say can create surprising insights, funny recognition, and astonishing revelation about ourselves and how we talk. I wonder whether we always know and mean what we say...Want an illustration?

• Well, it applies to whole expressions: “I don’t suppose you could possibly spare a second to assist me with this?” means “Please, I need some help.”

• With single words you might think it’s a bit easier. In church we have:
• marriage = you get married, then you age - or
• holiness = sacred monster - and
• leadership = Paul Maconochie’s new yacht

But it does get trickier with some of our other lingo:

Say, we want to decipher the meaning of the word ‘community’.

• Let’s base this on the assumption that most of us refer to community as a place of belonging and a form of togetherness.
• If you look at the term’s components from its Latin origins, you see it consists of the terms ‘com’ and ‘unity’.Com translates simply into ‘with’, or more profoundly into ‘by means of’. Unity translates into ‘being one’ or ‘one-ness’.
• Putting those two together, you could read the term community as ‘by means of one-ness’ and realize that the word some of us use about a hundred times a week stands for a whole concept of togetherness: community as a place of belonging by way of one-ness.
• Or: We’re community, because we’re one. That sounds kind of nice, doesn’t it? After all, it’s not that difficult to agree that in Jesus we’ve come to be one with the rest of his body, the church, our community (Rom 12).

• Something slightly more interesting happens when we turn this round: If community means ‘with one-ness’, then it must also be true that where there’s no one-ness, there’s no community. Now, I personally find that this hits a little harder than my friendly agreement to some abstract, metaphysical one-ness I share with the rest of you all.
• It hits, because it confirms the sneaky suspicion that the absence of unity might be a painfully real part of my life. One that hinders me from entering into the sense of fellowship and relationship I desire so much. So, from a purely selfish point of view: I think it’s about time I work out the essence and meaning of unity! After all, it might get me better community.

Now, you might think that we can’t just base our understanding of unity on a little word play. That’s right: Let’s come up with some scripture to back up the newly found project pursuit.

Why unity? And...what is it actually?

Here’s for a starter:

• Jesus thought it would help his recognition in the world if his people figured out how to be one like him and his Father (John 17).

To me that sounds like some proper incentive, if effective mission is something we’re after. Besides, doesn’t it just seem clever to put it on our wish list if even Jesus asked for it?

• Then we’ve got Paul who says it would make him happy if the Philippians were like-minded, having the same love and being one in spirit and purpose (Philippians 2).

Now, while making Paul happy might not be the prime motivator of our lives, my guess is, he may just have had a point.

So, I can see this unity theme crop up in our very bible and it confirms that I want to ask a few more questions about it. Hopefully, next time I get to write on here, we’re a bit further on in our appreciation of what? why? and even how? Yeah, that’s right, I do mean we, cause after all, I can’t do unity by myself, can I?

I’d like to ask for some help, then, in asking these questions:

1) What is unity in our contexts? (and is it achieved by drinking tea at uni?)

2) What is its potential?

3) And where in my life can I make a start pursuing it - as of today

Let’s get cracking – by way of asking the Father, I’d say.