I don't know if this story has reached beyond the Evening Standard, but last week there was article about an ex-missionary who is suing the BU over loss of earnings-"Church ruined my chance to play for Man Utd" Evening Standard 5th March.
Apparently the said missionary believes he could have played for Manchester United had it not been for the church and the union persuading him to become a missionary. So he's suing for loss of earnings. If he were to win his case, then the current £1 million defect would have a further £10 million is compensation to be added to it. I hope we're well insured!
The implications of such a case are enormous. We might think it foolish to make such a claim and we might hope that the courts will agree that no matter how he feels now, at the time it was his choice to become an evangelist and engage in mission as he did. On the other hand, how do we help people hear God's call and respond to it? And what do we do when things turn sour and once faithful followers become disillusioned antagonists?
I ask these questions for several reasons. First because I know first hand how it feels to find yourself wondering if you have ever truly heard God's call, and secondly because if the people I knew at college and from elsewhere who find themselves no longer serving God or sharing the faith we once shared. Once they were passionate about the gospel, now they are no longer even in fellowship. How do we care for them, if we do, if we can?
I have no solutions just a few prayers.
Monday, March 05, 2012
How do we reach them?
So I guess the first question is: Who are they? Who are the "them" in the title question?
Well they could be anyone. Anyone we are trying to reach and influence. Anyone who falls into the category of missing from the kingdom of God. But let me narrow it down a little. They are the people who we end up condemning or speaking out against. Not always knowingly, but sometimes in our desperate desire to promote a Christian ethos, we inadvertently say things that are counter-productive in mission.
So what's got me thinking about this today? Have a guess?
Did you guess that it was some of the comments made over the weekend about gay marriage? Well that's what it was. I struggle with what to say about the issue. On the one hand I understand and agree with those who want to maintain the traditional definition of marriage. I wonder what's wrong with marriage being between a man and a woman and a civil partnership being used to describe the relationship between two people of the same sex entering a solemnised union.
I will hold my hand up and say that I think it only proper that homosexual couples have the same rights in our society as heterosexual couples. It doesn't mean that I think that a homosexual relationship honours God. That's not the issue when it comes to civil rights and liberties.
The thing that bothers me most is that when we speak out as Christians against such proposals as the inclusion of civil partnerships under the banner of marriage, we need to do so in a way that doesn't further remove this people group from the influence of the Gospel, and the love of the God who created them in his image. We may consider that image flawed and inappropriately expressed, but it's in there somewhere and it's redeemable unless I've misread the gospel. And tell me please, which one of us does not present a flawed representation of God's image?
So maybe it's time we stepped back and took a long look at what is really under threat here. I'm not so sure that it's our faith as much as it might be our prejudice. Could this actually be an opportunity for us to honour and respect our fellow human beings who are different to us yet still worthy of honour and respect and more than that, still worthy of the opportunity to engage with the story of God's passionate love for them?
Okay, so we want to draw the lines to defend and define what our faith has to say and what we believe God expects of us. But can we not do that without condemnation?
Well they could be anyone. Anyone we are trying to reach and influence. Anyone who falls into the category of missing from the kingdom of God. But let me narrow it down a little. They are the people who we end up condemning or speaking out against. Not always knowingly, but sometimes in our desperate desire to promote a Christian ethos, we inadvertently say things that are counter-productive in mission.
So what's got me thinking about this today? Have a guess?
Did you guess that it was some of the comments made over the weekend about gay marriage? Well that's what it was. I struggle with what to say about the issue. On the one hand I understand and agree with those who want to maintain the traditional definition of marriage. I wonder what's wrong with marriage being between a man and a woman and a civil partnership being used to describe the relationship between two people of the same sex entering a solemnised union.
I will hold my hand up and say that I think it only proper that homosexual couples have the same rights in our society as heterosexual couples. It doesn't mean that I think that a homosexual relationship honours God. That's not the issue when it comes to civil rights and liberties.
The thing that bothers me most is that when we speak out as Christians against such proposals as the inclusion of civil partnerships under the banner of marriage, we need to do so in a way that doesn't further remove this people group from the influence of the Gospel, and the love of the God who created them in his image. We may consider that image flawed and inappropriately expressed, but it's in there somewhere and it's redeemable unless I've misread the gospel. And tell me please, which one of us does not present a flawed representation of God's image?
So maybe it's time we stepped back and took a long look at what is really under threat here. I'm not so sure that it's our faith as much as it might be our prejudice. Could this actually be an opportunity for us to honour and respect our fellow human beings who are different to us yet still worthy of honour and respect and more than that, still worthy of the opportunity to engage with the story of God's passionate love for them?
Okay, so we want to draw the lines to defend and define what our faith has to say and what we believe God expects of us. But can we not do that without condemnation?
Friday, March 02, 2012
Boosting the economy by reducing tax
Now where have we heard that before? It's an old argument and one I'm sure someone more involved in economics can explain better than I can, but once again we're being told that taxing wealthy people hold the economy back. Okay, I can understand the argument to some degree, but are we really to believe that removing the 50% tax rate for a very small percentage of the population will actually right all that's ailing our flagging fiscal situation? I don't buy it.
There have been a significant number of voices from the very people who fall into that particular tax bracket who have been speaking out against both low tax rates for the very rich (how do you define "very" by the way?) and rates of pay in the boardroom. Somehow the two don't seem to sit together that comfortably.
If I'm honest, the call to abandon the highest rate of tax sounds like the greedy of a selfish generation who prioritise self. I wonder what the different in cost would be between Nick Clegg's proposed £10,000 personal allowance and removing the 50% rate?
Trickle down economics didn't seem to work in the 80's, maybe it's time to try trickle up instead!
There have been a significant number of voices from the very people who fall into that particular tax bracket who have been speaking out against both low tax rates for the very rich (how do you define "very" by the way?) and rates of pay in the boardroom. Somehow the two don't seem to sit together that comfortably.
If I'm honest, the call to abandon the highest rate of tax sounds like the greedy of a selfish generation who prioritise self. I wonder what the different in cost would be between Nick Clegg's proposed £10,000 personal allowance and removing the 50% rate?
Trickle down economics didn't seem to work in the 80's, maybe it's time to try trickle up instead!
Thursday, March 01, 2012
Premature rejoicing over marriage?
I don't want to put a dampener on the celebrations surrounding the rise in weddings after a 40 year decline, but is this really a pointer to a revival in marriage, or is it just an increase in weddings?
I've long held the view that the Christian fixation with marriage when it is not allied with a determination to build strong and healthy relationships is just another game with statistics. Call me cynical, but a wedding doesn't make a marriage. I remember working with someone who had been in a long-term relationship with their partner and together they decided to get married. Within a pretty short space of time they had separated and gone their own ways. Now maybe the relationship was already in trouble, but the bottom line is that getting married didn't fix anything that might have been wrong.
A few years ago there was an interview with a couple who were both what you might call serial "marriers". I think they were on their 4th or 5th marriage at the time of the interview. They were talking about how much they had to offer in terms of counsel for those getting married because they had been married so many times. It seemed to me that what they actually had to offer was lots of advice on how to marry but not necessarily on how to build a long lasting relationship.
This, to me, is the key. Not how many marriages there are in a given year, but how many deep and healthy relationships are being built and sustained over the long haul. If all we are doing as the church is encouraging people to get married, then we are failing them spectacularly.
It's great that people are getting married, but let's get over the the idea that this somehow suggests that marriage is coming back into fashion. We live in a highly disposable society and relationships are just one of the casualties of such a society.
The real hope lies in the statistics that marriage provides a strong foundation for a long relationship, that people who are married are more likely to put in the effort to resolve their issues and this in turn has a knock on effect of teaching children and young people about working at our relationships.
If there is evidence that this is happening then it really would be a cause for rejoicing.
I've long held the view that the Christian fixation with marriage when it is not allied with a determination to build strong and healthy relationships is just another game with statistics. Call me cynical, but a wedding doesn't make a marriage. I remember working with someone who had been in a long-term relationship with their partner and together they decided to get married. Within a pretty short space of time they had separated and gone their own ways. Now maybe the relationship was already in trouble, but the bottom line is that getting married didn't fix anything that might have been wrong.
A few years ago there was an interview with a couple who were both what you might call serial "marriers". I think they were on their 4th or 5th marriage at the time of the interview. They were talking about how much they had to offer in terms of counsel for those getting married because they had been married so many times. It seemed to me that what they actually had to offer was lots of advice on how to marry but not necessarily on how to build a long lasting relationship.
This, to me, is the key. Not how many marriages there are in a given year, but how many deep and healthy relationships are being built and sustained over the long haul. If all we are doing as the church is encouraging people to get married, then we are failing them spectacularly.
It's great that people are getting married, but let's get over the the idea that this somehow suggests that marriage is coming back into fashion. We live in a highly disposable society and relationships are just one of the casualties of such a society.
The real hope lies in the statistics that marriage provides a strong foundation for a long relationship, that people who are married are more likely to put in the effort to resolve their issues and this in turn has a knock on effect of teaching children and young people about working at our relationships.
If there is evidence that this is happening then it really would be a cause for rejoicing.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Faith is easy.... sometimes!
“You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”
Malachi 3:14-15
Faith is really easy when everything is going for you rather than appearing to go against you. It's easy to praise God when you feel blessed and secure and certain about the future. It's not so easy when you don't. I wouldn't say that we're in the difficult phase, neither of us feel any great sense of turmoil or distance from God. On the other hand, we would like a few answers to a few questions like what is happening with the house purchase, will it be done in time to get the necessary work completed on the house before we have to move out of our current home, what will I do for a job in May?
Somehow we have to learn to live in the in-between space of uncertainty without falling into the trap that Israel seems to have fallen into at the time of Malachi. It's so easy, when things are not going according to our grand plan, to wonder why we continue to serve God when he doesn't appear to be working for us. Maybe that's the problem. Maybe too often we set things in a context of my dreams, my aspirations, my ideal scenario, and not in the bigger picture of God's eternal plans and purposes. Of course it would be so much easier to that if we actually knew the details of the said eternal plan, but we don't. And we won't.
So how do we live in the in-between space? Honestly, I don't have a definitive answer for that one. I think it's a mixture of faith, realism, asking questions where they need to be asked and finding a balance between being proactive (for example, pestering the solicitor to find out what's happening) and some sort of prayerful reaction as we wait and trust.
But it's certainly not easy and I wish I could see the future and tell the story of the amazing things that God did when we stepped out in faith on our new adventure. Maybe next year I will a story to tell, or maybe I will still be waiting. I just keep reminding myself that it is always worth serving God not matter what the evidence might suggest. Maybe I need a poster that says: "Keep calm and stay faithful"!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Got an old bike?
I used to cycle a lot. Well around 120 miles a week, but that is a long time ago. I actually came to cycling quite late, never having a bike when I was a kid. At university I learned the skills to ride by buying a bike and getting back on it every time I fell off until I stopped falling off!
Sadly my cycling days are long gone, mainly due to a knee that reacts rather painfully to the stop and start routine. Oddly I can ride a bike at the gym without problems, but on the road eventually my knee complains and I have to stop. So my bike sits in the shed along with Anne's and two of Ally's bikes.
We're moving soon and I have been thinking that painful as it would be, it's time to get rid of these bikes and clear some space. But I didn't really want to throw them in a skip. Today, while I was looking at something else I came across an organisation that takes old bikes and reuses them in Africa. The main collection point is on Colchester, just an hour away from me. I think I've found a new home for my precious Raleigh tourer!
Bicycle Aid for Africa sounds like a great idea, and they don't want your old bike, they are interested in bike tools and general workshop tools. If I'm honest I could probably supply a complete small workshop if I took the time to sort out all the tools I've inherited and bought over the years. So maybe a few spanners and hammers might find their way out of my garage and into a more regular place of use.
If you have an old bike, don't throw it away, consider instead donating it. The website has a list of UK-based bike recycling charities if you're not close enough to one of their own collection points.
Sadly my cycling days are long gone, mainly due to a knee that reacts rather painfully to the stop and start routine. Oddly I can ride a bike at the gym without problems, but on the road eventually my knee complains and I have to stop. So my bike sits in the shed along with Anne's and two of Ally's bikes.
We're moving soon and I have been thinking that painful as it would be, it's time to get rid of these bikes and clear some space. But I didn't really want to throw them in a skip. Today, while I was looking at something else I came across an organisation that takes old bikes and reuses them in Africa. The main collection point is on Colchester, just an hour away from me. I think I've found a new home for my precious Raleigh tourer!
If you have an old bike, don't throw it away, consider instead donating it. The website has a list of UK-based bike recycling charities if you're not close enough to one of their own collection points.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Massage Course Blog
You can find it at TwelveBW.
Friday, February 24, 2012
Why I hesitate to talk about Church Planting
I read a quote this morning that popped up in my RSS feed:
his [Jesus] disciples were to establish beachheads of his Person, word, and power in the midst of a failing and futile humanity. They were to bring the presence of the kingdom and its King into every corner of human life by fully living in the kingdom with him.
This comes from Dallas Willard and it is part of a longer quote. (You can read the whole quote here.) In the original blog post the question asked is a simple one: Is this just about semantics? To which my response is mostly no it's not, it's deeper than that. As you know, I'm concerned about the way we do church, the way we've turned church into an institution based largely around gathering a suitably sized group of likeminded individuals together on a week-by-week basis to sing songs and learn three things they already know about a text with which they are often over familiar but with which they are under engaged.
Okay, that's overstating it a bit, but you get my point. Church has become a refuge for the insider more than for the outsider. You have to know the language, know the songs, know the form and fit in on order to access what we do. At some point every institution or even group or tribe has it's now language and practices. In order to be part of that group you have to learn these things. So it's not just about clearing away those elements, as if building something without those limits will magically work a different outcome.
So why the problem with church planting? Well I guess it's because when you say you're setting off into the unknown then you need a label so people can identify with what you're doing and church planting seems to be the label that most closely fits what we are about to do. But on the other hand it doesn't fit at all because everyone seems to know what church planting is, and it doesn't look like the thing that I see happening! Yes, Im;' awkward and different and all those things, but the point is that I'm not that interested in filling the local village hall with a group of already believers who have become disenchanted with their current experience of local church life.
Perhaps I can't avoid the label, perhaps it's not important to avoid the label, perhaps it doesn't matter what it's called as long as God is honoured. I'm sure though that when some Christians get to hear about it they will make their own assumptions about what we should be doing. I just hope we are open enough to listen and strong enough to resist and wise enough to do both at the right time!
his [Jesus] disciples were to establish beachheads of his Person, word, and power in the midst of a failing and futile humanity. They were to bring the presence of the kingdom and its King into every corner of human life by fully living in the kingdom with him.
This comes from Dallas Willard and it is part of a longer quote. (You can read the whole quote here.) In the original blog post the question asked is a simple one: Is this just about semantics? To which my response is mostly no it's not, it's deeper than that. As you know, I'm concerned about the way we do church, the way we've turned church into an institution based largely around gathering a suitably sized group of likeminded individuals together on a week-by-week basis to sing songs and learn three things they already know about a text with which they are often over familiar but with which they are under engaged.
Okay, that's overstating it a bit, but you get my point. Church has become a refuge for the insider more than for the outsider. You have to know the language, know the songs, know the form and fit in on order to access what we do. At some point every institution or even group or tribe has it's now language and practices. In order to be part of that group you have to learn these things. So it's not just about clearing away those elements, as if building something without those limits will magically work a different outcome.
So why the problem with church planting? Well I guess it's because when you say you're setting off into the unknown then you need a label so people can identify with what you're doing and church planting seems to be the label that most closely fits what we are about to do. But on the other hand it doesn't fit at all because everyone seems to know what church planting is, and it doesn't look like the thing that I see happening! Yes, Im;' awkward and different and all those things, but the point is that I'm not that interested in filling the local village hall with a group of already believers who have become disenchanted with their current experience of local church life.
Perhaps I can't avoid the label, perhaps it's not important to avoid the label, perhaps it doesn't matter what it's called as long as God is honoured. I'm sure though that when some Christians get to hear about it they will make their own assumptions about what we should be doing. I just hope we are open enough to listen and strong enough to resist and wise enough to do both at the right time!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)