Game on for God!

Friends, Football & Faith

Yesterday was a very busy day for the whole family, especially for my wife who left the house even before me yesterday which is unheard of in our house on a Saturday.  She had an enjoyable day being involved in planning for the next 5 years at the church she works at.  I went off to football and the younger kids went to their Nana's, second eldest girl went out with her friends and the oldest girl went to Glasgow to pick up free stuff at Freshers week?

Football yesterday was great we won again and are sitting 5th in the league.  Still room for improvement though but we have the basis of a very good team.  We have lost a player due to him leaving but I have for a long while thought that we would as there are seasons for people and things.  I think there will also be a couple more players leaving soon as well but it obviously isn't their season for meeting with God and they will have their chance again.  We won 4 v 3 but made hard work of it on a very difficult day weather wise.  Next week we play Mure Memorial away not sure where yet.

Last night we met with our friends as we do every fortnight.  2 of them have just come back from Thailand and are thinking of going for a whole year to do ministry.  They were there a while ago for about 5 years working on different projects - last night they were telling us that they may go back for a year to run a project.  I hate the thought of not being able to pick up the phone and get wise council from them even if it is just for a year, I would miss not being able to drop into their house for a chat and a coffee and also just being able to meet and pray with them.  This is the second of my friends that is going away to work.  Our friends  are off to work with a major overseas mission agency doing different things in  places like Iraq, Afghanistan etc.  Their first port of call is Afghanistan in January.  Exciting times and something they feel called to do.  I admire them and although we don't see them as much as we would like we will miss them although they will be back every 5/6 weeks.   The thing that I find quite difficult is that they have to raise their own finances!?!  Where else in working situations would people have to raise their own money?  Can you imagine IBM wanting to employ a computer whizz kid and saying to him you need to be self funding?  I find it hard to fathom in some sense, but I suppose it shows the level of commitment and calling of those taking up the position.  It's as Paul did by tent making to pay his own way.

On that note they are looking for sponsorship and so if you drop me a comment with regard to this I will pass on the details to them and they can give you more information on what they will be doing and what they need in terms of support not only financially but also spiritually.

I have just started reading Bill Hybel's book 'ax i om powerful LEADERSHIP proverbs' it is a very interesting book and admire Hybel's honesty especially towards things that are done badly.  I will comment more on it when I have read some more.

It was my birthday today and I have reached the ripe old age of 43 oh! how time has flown by.  It was a good day after church I spent time with my wife, the boy and my good friends Margaret (from the Drum) and Russell and then home to the rest of the kids and time with them.

Busy week ahead with college lectures starting tomorrow and then meetings on Tuesday and from 9.00am on Wednesday through to 10pm I will be in meetings.

An Agenda for Change

I have been reading this book for about 2 days now and am really beginning to enjoy it.  I have heard Joel Edwards speak before and really enjoyed him.  This book however, I am finding very challenging and very appropriate for this time, both on the poor Anglican's argument about homosexuality and the slating from some quarters of the 'Florida Outpouring'.

I have just read some profound stuff that I have never really thought of before and yet it is so obvious once you get thinking about it.  What Joel Edwards talks about in his book is that Christ, whether we like it or not, did not say too much on the homosexual thing and never really spoke much about sex at all.  Yes both liberals and conservatives can point to the passages that justify their arguments and argue that in the new testament it was a cultural thing and didn't take in 'loving relationships' between the same sexes.  Probably the simple answer (to me) is look in Genesis and see what the Creator created before sin took hold.  A quote from the book that I think briefly sums up what Jesus was about is this, "What he really wanted to talk about is best summarised in his very powerful manifesto:  Freedom of captives, the opening of blind eyes, and liberty for the oppressed."  Now I am sure we have all been captive to something, blinded by something and oppressed, so if this is the case then, for me personally, knowing Jesus has meant that I have accomplished what his manifesto set out to do.  Praise God!

What Edwards intimates is that God is limited to sex talk and that he has not been allowed to speak out against corruption and religious hypocrisy, which was a big thing for Jesus when he walked the earth.  Edwards says, "Our sin, it seems, is that we have clothed him so heavily in our likeness that he has become discredited in our culture.  Few people have an opportunity to say 'no' to the real Jesus.  The one they have rejected is the bad immitation we have offered."  So what is it that the world is being offered by our many forms of religion and with that many forms of Jesus?  Why are our churches emptying or just hanging on to who they have and in order to do that have to look at new ways to do worship or conduct a service that suits the pew sitters?  Where are the churches that are involved in peoples lives and communities?  Christ was a story teller so where are the stories in the church of how God has transformed, healed and freed?  There are many Christ followers and many churches or Christian movements in the world who are actively 'involved'.  There are many stories of transformation to be told that point to Jesus and even when we are sceptical we surely owe it to one another to listen.

Bathtime Reading

Bathtime is my reading time at the moment - it is one of the few places in our house where you are able to concentrate on anything without one of the kids coming in and asking for money, a lift or to tell you about a problem.  The worst culprit at the moment is The Wee Fella, he is fascinated by the bath.  Apart from that the family are all fantastic with 2 of them finishing school for the summer and the second youngest starting nursery sometime soon.  In the very near future aprox 26 days I will be able to spend more time with them as well.

St. Silas football team is starting training next Wednesday over at Bellahouston park.  Should be interesting to see who turns up and what shape we are in for the start of the season.

I have been reading a book called War and Grace by Don Stephens it is a collection of short biographies from World War II.  There are some fascinating stories like the guy who led the raid on Pearl Harbour, the guy who led the Doolittle Raid,  the Governor of Malta when it was under siege plus the guy who was the pastor to 16 Nazi war criminals.  Some really fascinating stories of Christian faith in operation - none of these people were overly religious but had tremendous faith in God.  One Pastor, a German who stood up against the Nazi party, decided that before he could minister to people he would have to go and work with ordinary folk so he worked in a foundry.  I think this is fantastic.  Too many ministers have no life experience and so when it comes to pastoring to ordinary folk with real problems they flounder and try and rely on their religious experiences or what they think they know about God.  It is a major bug bear of mine listening to people who's life experience is not very much, they have never struggled with issues such as poverty, relationship breakdown, redundancy etc.  That is probably why I enjoy people such as Paul Scanlon, Simon Foster, Rick Godwin and some others.  They tell their story it meets with mine and together I can see God in it all.  Their opinion is their opinion and it doesn't change simply because they have seen it or done it.  They don't get caught up in their own self importance, God is their importance and reaching OUT to people for him is what they are about.  I would highly recommend this book I am going to lend it to my non Christian work mate who will hopefully read it over the next couple of weeks in order for us to have some more dialogue.

Mission Shaped Questions?

I have been reading the above book written by numerous members of the Church of England and the Methodist Church.  It is a collection of essays written in response to a paper produced for the C of E.

The book basically looks at Fresh Expressions of Church and a way forward for the Church.  It talks about the Church being mission and being derived from God.  The Missio Dei which is what all churches should be involved in.  It speaks of the church being like a ring donut collecting people in and not sending them out but having nothing in the middle.  The idea is that as we gather people in we should be like Jesus and train them and send them back out.

The couple of chapters that I have read talk about Church being developed around non believers and offering them something they want.  Difference 'something they want' rather than something we want for them.  Importance switches from what is being said to what is being done and how we join in and interact with different people.  I like that idea.  It talks about the true essence of God and the Church being Mission which I am sure is what we all believe?

I have had an absolutely fantastic week at work not through being really busy but by taking the time to spend it listening and helping my colleagues through some difficult situations - Mainly to do with work but also to do with crisis within what they believe?  I have had to do so much pastoring this week outside of the normal football stuff and I have to say I really enjoy it and get a real buzz out of it.  God is so good!  Hopefully I have been able to help with some practical advice and prayer for these people?

Worship & Work

Another couple of quotes from You're An Angel -

This one comes from a section which is talking with regard to prayer for the children's minister (Part time) -

"Thank you for the prayers you offer regularly for the work I do as a Sunday School teacher for one hour every week.  But do you know, no-one has ever prayed for me for the work I do as a primary school teacher for fourty hours every week?!"

Another one that has got me thinking all the time, is this gem -

'Instead of training people to 'do church' , let's train and release people to 'be church' where they are, through friendship and mentoring.  That way, we help people to live the gospel as 'whole life' disciples - the church beyond the congregation.'

This is some thought provoking stuff and makes you want to take the time to think what is the more important church or work?  Put another way where is the mission field?  Is it far off Africa or is it our everyday work place, the town we live in or the circle of friends that don't know Jesus?

Mission-Shaped Questions

This is a new book has just been launched and follows a nationwide tour of England by the Fresh Expressions team, a joint initiative between the Church of England and the Methodist Church, raising common but complex questions about the nature of mission in 21st century Britain.  The various chapters reflect lectures given by a wide range of academics, professionals, priests and educators, from just about every tradition within Anglicanism. Mission-shaped Questions follows on from the book Mission-shaped Church, published in 2004, that presented a challenge to church leaders, and this new book addresses the big theological and practical issues that have arisen such as:

• What exactly is church?
• Can we develop churches that can transform culture?
• Can we be mission-shaped and kingdom-focused too?

I don't belive the Church can be anything but mission-shaped so I'm keen to read the book and fairly sure that I will be encouraged and supportive of the findings and challenges made.

You're An Angel

Having just finished the above book I thought I would blog about some more about it.  The book is written by 2 Church of Scotland ministers and having read it from cover to cover I think there is hope for the Church of Scotland beyond the 20 years that is readily quoted as the lifespan of the national church.

These two guys draw upon their personal experiences and those of people they know.  They are not afraid to try different things and are more than willing to pass on this advice to anybody that wants to be open to it.  The book is full of encouragement and words of wisdom.  It talks of emerging church in terms that everyone can understand.  It talks about telling your story, Gods story and how the two intertwine and the person/people you are talking to can intertwine their story with yours and God's.

Steve Sjogren  has written a book with regard to 'servant evangelism' - here are his " five discoveries that empower Evangelism"

1. People listen when I treat them like friends

2. When I serve, hearts are touched.

3. As I serve, I redefine the perception of a Christian.

4. Doing the message precedes telling the message.

5. Focus on planting not harvesting.

I am personally experiencing that more people want to 'know' Jesus rather than 'know about' Him.  In order to introduce them to Him we need to know Him well ourselves - as His followers we need to behave in a Christ-like way to testify of His power at work in us.  How can we even begin to talk of the living God or of Jesus who died on a cross, when people have a limited or no understanding of what that meant?  In this day and age of self-centredness and individualism it is difficult to comprehend the level of self sacrifice.  It is difficult for people to understand the Church as the news coverage about the church sems to focus on it's negative aspects like disagreements and threats of splits etc.  Best way to gain some positive publicity is to be Jesus to those around us, become a public Christian and find our motivation in God's motivation 'Love'!  When the Church speaks out against something, i.e. homosexuality, then make sure we speak out against 'adultery' in the same breath - God will.  When we complain about the problems surrounding people with addiction problems, i.e. drug users, alcoholics, we need to ask whether we have tried to meet them where they are at.  Have we done everything in our power to be Jesus to them, hung out with them - God has.  Lets make sure as the church we accept people for who they are - God does.  It is God who will change people not the Church - the Church is the planter - God is the harvester.

Great quotes

On coming to the end of the book 'You're an Angel', here are some classic quotes from Christians well worth remembering:

• "If I join your church Davey I don't want to be pew fodder, I want to be used!"
• "Don't worry if you're trying to get accepted by that church hen, Jesus has been trying to get in there for years!"
• "The ground at the foot of the cross is level - there's no high heid yins!"
• In recalling a story about Geordie Aitken, a man who's vision and faith was instrumental in setting up the loaves and fishes charity:  After being heckled and harrased for ages by some clown in a meeting, Geordie pinned the guy by the throat to the wall and said; "You want proof there's a God?  The fact that you're still alive is proof!  If I wisnae a Christian, I'd have taken yer heid right aff yer body, ya bampot!"

'You're an Angel'

I've almost finished this book, written by two Church of Scotland Ministers, Rev Peter Neilson and Rev David Currie, and I have to say that if I was writing a book on evangelism then this is pretty much what I'd write.  It's about 'being yourself' and 'sharing your faith', and shares the very simple idea that I think we can all too quickly forget about meaningful evangelism - that God can and does use us (Christ-followers) in the ordinary everyday situations of our lives to share the message of the gospel.  Read it and be encouraged by it!

The Ragamuffin Gospel

I was bought the above book for Christmas by a very good friend.  It is an excellent book and at the same time has some challenging things written in it especially about children.  Anyway in our house the only time to really get a chance to read anything properly is in the bath and so that is where I keep the book I am reading - sharing a house with 5 females can be testing at times.

Anyway I have just had a look at a few pages and came across this quote from archbishop Joe Reia - "A sad Christian is a phony Christian and a guilty Christian is no Christian at all."   The main issue the book talks about in this passage is how Christian men's and women's sin is not only forgiven but also forgotten by God; it is covered by the blood of the lamb.  I have found that in my life when I say sorry I mean it and move on.  I know so many people who hold onto hurts and even feel guilty when they have done something wrong or wronged somebody even after repenting!?!  The problem with this is that it doesn't effect the person who has accepted the apology - it effects you.  It is time to move on and be who you are and as God has created you to be.  If I strive for anything this is what it is, I no longer want to be changed by people or situations, I want to be transformed by God as he created me and knows me better than anyone else.

One of the tasks of the church is to build, train and equip an army for God.  The army is being prepared for war.  War is a messy business but it still needs to happen and in war there can be no draws only a winner or a loser - harsh but it is reality.  We need to be constantly on our toes, backing one another up and preparing to fight in the battle for our families, schools, communities and the world.  Its not a battle for the feint hearted, for those that want to fight nicely or those that just want to look after themselves.  It is a battle for those who are tough, want to win, don't accept no for an answer, those that have that will to win.  As someone once said 'if you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen.'  It won't always be 'nice' but it will always be worth it to see so many lives transformed!!!