Spring Harvest 2009 (5)

I remember at one time there was a suggestion that Paul tried a different evangelistic strategy in Athens that failed. The preferred, and more effective strategy, called power evangelism, was the strategy to which Paul returned after the failure of Athens.

Today, in our final Bible Reading, we heard a different story. We heard the story of a Pharisee who found himself stranded in Athens while he waited for his travelling companions. During his stay he walked around the city with a sense of disgust at what he saw. Idolatry was everywhere. But something changes.

By the time Paul addresses the areopagus he has begun to see things differently. The people that once disgusted him now matter to him because he’d found the key to unlocking their culture and knew that they mattered to God. “Men of Athens,” says Paul, “I can see that you are very religious.” He doesn’t say, “I see that you are very idolatrous.” Paul doesn’t judge them, he recognises God at work among them. It would be equivalent to you and I going to a psychic fair and saying, “I can see that you are very spiritual.” Not a thing I think we’d find easy to do.

Now that doesn’t mean he doesn’t challenge them, it doesn’t mean that we dilute the challenge or message of the cross. But it does mean that we draw back from judgement and move towards grace.

Paul listened to the culture and was probably amazed at what he heard. I wonder what we might hear if we listened more carefully to the cultures around us.

By the end of his speech, Paul has shared their story, he’s shared the story of Jesus and he’s shared the hope that comes through the message.

I've found the Bible Readings challenging and interesting once again. They are, for me, the highlight of the week.

Was it me he was talking about?

I've taken to using my MacBook as a notebook in seminars and talks. The only problem is that it does get noticed. I can't believe that David and I were the only two people in the whole of the Big Top taking notes directly to our computers, but apparently we might have been. Perhaps it's the glowing Apple motif that gives us away. At any rate there was a reference to those folks over there (pointing in our direction!) who are Googling away. And today we had our own bit of fun with Ally, David and I sitting in a row with Macs open and ready!

To give you an idea of how useful using the MacBook can be, I was in a seminar the other day and wanted to add a copy of a small (A6) handout to my notes. Quickly I used the built-in camera to take a picture, which I then edited in iPhoto and flipped the right way around and then dragged it into my notebook application. All very neat, all very easy.

So it has to be said that whilst I could just take hand written notes, and I do take notes like that, the MacBook is a really great tool.

Spring Harvest is about at an end. One last celebration evening and then the final morning. We'll pack up and get off after breakfast. There will be a pile of post to deal with and Easter Sunday is just around the corner.

Spring Harvest is not as significant an event for me as the Global Leadership Summit, but it's still a valuable time and I'm sure it continues to inspire many Christians to continue to live out their lives for the glory of God.

Spring Harvest 2009 (4)

This morning's Bible Reading was probably the best so far. A really interesting exploration of Acts 15. We explored the 3 principle characters, Paul, Peter and James and how they all responded to the changing boundaries that the gospel introduced to their worlds.

The church, we were told, is called to faithful improvisation, most easily understood as doing something new in the context of what has already been done, or out of what God has already done. In other words we are faithful to the past but not so locked into it that we cannot move out of the context it creates.

The challenge is expressed in a simple prayer: Holy Spirit show us what may change, what must change and what must not change.

Acts 15 is all about how the early church responded to a moment of significant change. What do you do with Gentiles who have no experience of Jewish spirituality? Do you make them Jews or not. The early church's solution was to look to the past (why burden them with a yoke we couldn't manage), look to the present (what is God doing now) and look to the future (what does the gospel ask of us). The decision they made, a decision that swept away hundreds of rules and regulations, opened the door to major expansion of the kingdom.

The gospel both affirms and challenges every culture. What the early church's response to the Gentile conversions shows us how they handled this in their day. So how should we handle it in our day? What are the distinctive marks of a Christian community in the 21st century? That's a question worth considering. If the Early Church decided that circumcision was no longer a necessary distinctive of the emerging church, what might the 21st century church need to set aside in order not to exclude or hinder people coming to faith?

Much to consider.

Spring Harvest 2009 (3)

An interesting quote form Day Three at Spring Harvest: Peter's capacity to lead is directly related to his capacity to hear the voice of God.

We were looking at the story of Cornelius, or more specifically Peter's account of what happened. As Peter retells the story we get to see how he responded to what God was doing. God takes Peter out of his comfort zone but not out of God's comfort zone. And of course God, who gave the Law in the first place, is the one who now tells Peter to step out beyond that same Law.

In the afternoon I went to the second seminar on discipleship. Lots more to think about, many things that we've done in church but that we need to recapture and do again and again. The challenge is to help people to understand that their daily routine is important to God and to help them live both incarnationally and missionally in those situations.

So two good sessions and at the moment as I type, I'm watching the evening celebration on TV.

I also did a bit of work on an idea for a leaflet to give out on Sundays about what's happening. Not a reworking of the notices but something different. Ally and David helped me with some ideas last night and we'll work on it a lot more before we use it. Our goal is to use it for the 19th April when we have a dedication.

Tomorrow I need to give myself some time to work on the Easter to Pentecost series and maybe to do a bit of people watching in Skyline. I'm not being cynical, but I do wonder what difference all the book and t-shirt sales make to the ongoing daily expression of God at work in the individual. We're back at Peter's point that we have all we need for godliness, it's just that someone needs to tell the publishing houses and also remind the Christian that thinks that a new Bible will make all the difference.

Spring Harvest, Butlins and wi-fi

Without wanting to sound like a truly grumpy old man, it has to be said that Butlins has once again disappointed me in the area of wireless connectivity. I checked the websites and once again a free wi-fi connection was there the see, but alas nothing of a working nature seems to be available. There is something, but the signal in the two places I've tried so far is so poor that nothing works.

Still at least I have my trusty modem and that means some connection can be made. 

It's not that I need desperately to be connected constantly to the outside world, it's just frustrating when it's supposed to be here but can't be found!

Never mind. Maybe I just haven't found the right place yet. I'll try the Front Room Coffee shop next.

Spring Harvest 2009 (2)

So, Day Two began with a walk around the perimeter of the Butlins site. Saw a lot of runners, don't expect to see so many tomorrow! I don't run anymore, the knees can't take it.

We watched the Big Start in the chalet together and then set off to the Bible Reading. They have a different title these days, but it's an extended bible Study and usually it's a good place to start. This year the readings are from Acts and we began today with Acts 2.

Apart from being taken by surprise by the speaker's authoritative assertion that Luke was a Jew who knew the family of Jesus, it all went pretty much to type. Clearly I'd missed something in the world of New Testament studies, but a quick internet search found a number of articles exploring Luke's Jewishness. I thin I'm still of the opinion that he was a Gentile who travelled with Paul and wrote his gospel after careful research rather than first hand knowledge. But that's not terribly important.

In talking about Acts 2, we were pointed back to Acts 1 and a nice 3 point outline:

• Trust God
  
• Receive the Spirit
  
• Tell the story of Jesus.
  

In the afternoon I went to a seminar about whole-life discipleship in the church which was very interesting. Some good ideas and thoughts.

We talked about the sacred/secular divide and about how we do church tends to reinforce this concept. And it's not just the fault of pastors (hurray) but the way people see their spiritual lives as separate from their everyday lives. There were some useful ideas about how to begin to break down this divide and I'll be giving it some thought when we get home.

We ended the day by going to the Cafe Church event. I think they struggled with the number of people who turned up and it didn't really work for me, but I think that might have been the setting, the distance between where we were sitting and the focus of the "stage", plus a few other factors. it did give me and idea for the dedication that's coming up in a couple of weeks time.

Day Five

The key thought that I’m taking away from Spring Harvest is the need to encourage and teach the church how to live in the big picture of what God is doing. I’m aware that for many folk the pressing needs of the present can hinder them from seeing the bigger picture and the bigger opportunity and the bigger urgency of need that has to be addressed.

The big challenge, you might say, is making the choice about how much of your life you are willing to invest in God’s big picture or as we explored last year in church, God’s Big Plan. Many of the things that we’ve heard this year are things we’ve been talking about in church for some time. I’m not claiming to be ahead of the game, just simply in line with it.

Day Four

This morning’s Big Picture Bible reading was going along nicely when two things happened. First, two black birds began chasing each other around the Big Top, much to the consternation of many of the members of the audience. Second, the speaker spoke about some of the profound changes we are experiencing in our society. Changes like moving from consequences to options. There were others, but I can’t recall them at the moment, I may buy the CD.

The point is this, our society is changing and the church needs to change in response. As evangelicals, change often scares us. We fear that change means altering the fundamental truths we hold dear, but some of those truths are the very things that have got in the way of engaging with our communities. 

I’m not suggesting here that it’s time to change the message. The Gospel will always be the Gospel, any change to the fundamental message of the cross would be a dangerous strategy. But some of the “thing we hold dear” are less gospel than we think they are. 

As the morning speaker unfolded the message of Isaiah 42-43, I heard echoes of something I’ve been saying for years. I believe that the best question we can ask as a church is this: Lord, what are you doing and how can we help?

How different might church be if we only did what we saw the Father already doing? I fear there is a real chance we'd do nothing because we are too often unaware of what God is actually doing in our communities.

Day Three

Best quote of the day:

Holiness is not something to be defended, it’s something to be unleashed in the world.

Day Two

They always say that you should pace yourself through the programme, and over the years I’ve become quite selective about what I go to and what I don’t attend. Usually we go to the Bible exposition in the morning and then spend the rest of the day doing other things, dipping into the occasional seminar if we want. In truth, there’s little that is new about the programme, so it becomes easier to pick and choose.  

This morning’s Bible reading was thorough and thoughtful. There was one massive assumption made about the authorship of Isaiah that probably passed unnoticed by many, and to be honest didn’t alter the importance of what was being said. Is it wrong to have my theological head on? I don’t think so. And I’m not criticising the speaker, you can’t cover every stream of theological thinking every time.

I’ve now moved into an open area to do a little work rather than sit in the chalet. I have yet to decide whether I’ll go into the Big Top again tonight or not.

The odd thing about Spring Harvest is the diversity of people. It’s a nice reminder that not everyone in church is “middle-class”. It’s probably a more realistic expression of what the church should look like. To one side, there’s a family sitting eating lunch, to the other a young woman rolling her own cigarettes (I trust she will go outside to smoke it). In the background there are competing worship CD’s playing.

At times my view of church can become so sanitised. I get myself surrounded by nice people who do nice things and behaviour nicely. It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that this is normal, but it isn’t. The cigarette rolling twenty-something may have a more vibrant spiritual life than the man with the pleasant smile holding the door open for the lady with the pushchair. Thank goodness Jesus loved all sinners.

First night

In the end end I decided to go to the first night celebration in the Big Top. For those who’ve never experienced Spring Harvest, the Big Top celebration is, for most people, the key event of the day. Years ago this was true for me, but not so much these days. 

When we first came to SH it was the place where we would learn all the new songs that would be added to our worship portfolio that year. Unlike some people, we didn’t ditch the previous year in favour of the new stuff, we just added them together to build a wider worship base. Nowadays we find we know many if not all the new songs that are introduced. That’s probably because there is a much wider availability of new worship.

The disappointing thing about the music is that each year new songs are added to the book, but you never get to hear or explore them. I’m waiting for the day when they will issue a simple CD with the melody line for every new song in the book so that I can hear the tune and read the words and then make a decision about whether I want to learn the song and use it. There must be a whole mass of really good worship material that we never get to explore because we don’t have the skills to learn directly from the music. Maybe it’s something I need to commit to learning how to do.

Anyway, the first night went well and the worship was positive, well lead, in my opinion, and quite refreshing.

Adjusting to being at Spring Harvest

The odd thing about a large Christian conference is that you never quite adjust to being around so many people that you think share your point of view! I find the whole thing a slightly strange experience. Do you think Christians behave differently when they are at an event like Spring Harvest? They must do, they buy books like they’re going out of fashion for one thing. I wonder how much of Wesley Owen’s annual turnover comes through Spring Harvest?

Events like this have their flaws, but they have good points too. For a smaller church like ours, mixing with such a large group of fellow believers is a bit of a release. 

From where I am currently sitting I can watch people as they wander through the main centre-point of the site. Some look lost, others look distinctly found, if you know what I mean. You get the feeling that this may be the only place in the whole world where it’s actually more cool to be a Christian than it is to not be one.

Day One

So, we’ve arrived at Spring Harvest 2008 and I’m off later in search of a Wi-Fi connection. Having checked with BT Openzone and The Cloud, I’m sure there is one but sadly the man in the internet cafe didn’t even know what wi-fi meant let alone whether it exists on the site. Not a promising start!

The problem is that you can check the internet to find a hotspot, but there is no guarantee you will find one when you get there! I guess as time goes on, wi-fi will become more and more available but it doesn’t look promising here.