Who votes for whom?

Every four years we get to watch the American Presidential elections from afar and wonder at the processes involved and the apparent polarisation of voting patterns focused on single issues. I suspect that politics is neither more nor less complicated in America than it is here at home in the UK.

There's no doubting that among many Britons, Barack Obama is seen as the man for the job. In fact he's the most popular candidate across Europe. In a recent survey of British attitudes towards the candidates Obama would win the election by a landslide if Britons voted. (I'm sure there is some relief in the States that we don't get to vote!) Why might this be?

Well, according to the same research, Britons are more liberal in their voting strategies than Americans. Here are some figures:

In other areas there are big differences. 7% of Britons would not vote for a divorced person (compared with 30% in the States), 23% would not vote for a gay or lesbian leader (compared with 43% in the States), and 20% of the British public would not vote for a political leader who was an atheist (compared with 53% in the States).

There's some encouragement for me in these numbers, albeit possibly a little odd for me to say so. I'm encouraged because the statistics about British voters suggest that we are less likely to focus on a single issue than I thought we might be. On the other hand the survey does not discriminate between how Christians (evangelical Christians particularly) compare to the general population. Having sat in various political pre-election meetings and listened to the questions Christians ask, I suspect that there's a lot of single issue focus to many an evangelical vote. And that bothers me.

It bothers me because I'm concerned that some of those single issues are not the issues that matter to God. He's probably a little miffed that many people don't give him the recognition he deserves for his creative work in establishing the universe, but I suspect he doesn't see the teaching of creation in the classroom as a truly important political issue. I may be wrong.

On the other hand he does care about the poor and those who suffer injustice. Micah 6:8 ring any bells? Or what about Luke 4?

So I just wonder how different our elections would be if we sought to discover who had the policies that we believe would best fulfil God's heart for justice for the oppressed, the poor, the alienated and marginalised. I wonder how different foreign policy might be if we asked, "How can we help you?" rather than, "Why can't you be just like us?"

My prayer for all American voters is that they will take their responsibility seriously and vote with their hearts and minds engaged with those things that matter most to God. I know no single candidate will ever have the monopoly on these things and, dare I say, just because they express faith doesn't mean they will have it right by default either.

And when our election comes around, I hope that we too will look with fresh eyes at the choices we will have before us.

When boys ask the wrong questions

You hear the strangest things in the supermarket sometimes. Strange and sometimes truly funny. I remember the day Anne and I had completed the shopping and were proceeding through the checkout when an item failed to scan. Holding up the multi-pack of 20 denier black tights Anne had bought, our checkout assistant called to her friend, "Tracey, what do you put these on?" Without thinking I responded, "I know I'm only a man but I think the answer is 'legs'."

Flushed with embarrassment, our assistant sank into her chair and entered the code Tracey had now helpfully supplied. I smiled, we paid and left.

You'd have thought by now I'd have learnt my lesson, but I still find all sorts of things amusing. When informed by a waitress one evening that the special tonight was corn-fed chicken breast, I had to ask how you get a chicken breast to eat the corn. I blame Gary Larson and the Far Side cartoons. 

Anyway, there we were, Ally and me, in Tescos looking at shower gel. All of a sudden I heard a voice behind me declare, "If they haven't got wings, I don't want them!" Knowing which aisle we were in, I intuitively understood the nature of the product in question, but it still made me laugh a little. But more was to come. Clearly the "winged only" shopper was not alone. Apart from the younger female member of the shopping party there was a younger boy, a brother probably, brothers are always trouble, ask my sister. 

Intrigued by the wings/no wings debate, he wanted to know what was under scrutiny. "They're not for boys", he was told in no uncertain tones but his curiosity was now well and truly piqued. He persisted with his questions and his mother, as I suspect she was, persisted in trying to side-step the issue. 

At this point Ally and I had made our considered evaluation of the shower gel and with said product in our basket we headed for another part of the store. As we went, I wondered to myself if the mystery shopper in the body wash and other items aisle had successfully negotiated a conclusion to the conversation, or had opted for the simpler solution of a trip to MacDonanlds!

One day that young boy will grow to be a man and know not to enquire about such delicate matters. But until then may he bring joy and laughter into many lives, even if it's not his mother's when in Tescos!

Faith in the Future

A couple of weeks ago an interesting monograph landed on my doormat courtesy of the postal service. It had come from my MP, Alistair Burt, who had been involved in a cross-party  committee studying life in the UK. The resultant document is just under 60 pages long and entitled Faith in the Future.

The paper caused some flapping of coat-tails in wonderment that Christians, more precisely Christian politicians, might have ideas and views that were influenced by their faith. Apparently, if some of the articles are to be believed, we are supposed to operate in some sort of faith-vacuum where what we believe about matters theological are not supposed to affect what we believe about matters political.

The report itself is rather interesting. Firstly there are some interesting observations about life in the UK. Based not upon their faith but upon the work of others in the field of social analysis, the writers observe that as a nation we are simply not happy, or at least not as happy as we think we should be (Introduction p10). Furthermore:

For all our material and social progress, as a nation we are still radically dissatisfied.

Again based on survey data, the report observes that:

Although vaunted as the solution to all our problems, and despite having clearly revolutionised the way we interact with our homes and our world, the societal evidence demonstrates that ownership of more 'things'... is not the route to emotional or physical well-being

.

The conclusion would seem to be that rampant consumerism and selfish accruing of personal wealth have not made us a happy society. In fact one could argue that it's made happiness less achievable than ever because it has pushed society towards independence rather than interdependence.

So, what's the solution? Well our authors don't provide new policy ideas to be enacted on our behalf (hooray!) but they do offer a series of defining questions that, if taken seriously, present quite a challenge to our current way of doing society. Here are their five questions:

• Does my action encourage people to develop positive relationships in their families and communities?
  
• Is my action socially and globally responsible?
  
• Does my action promote a climate of trust and hope?
  
• Does my action promote self-esteem and respect for others?
  
• Does my action encourage people to fulfil their God-given potential?
  

How interesting that only one of these questions mentions God directly, yet for some people that is once too often. This does not strike me as a bunch of fanatical Christians trying to foist their personal beliefs on the nation as some newspaper article may have suggested.

I find these questions fascinating. I'm not sure they are the questions I would have chosen as defining questions for our age, but I've never really given it much thought more's the pity.

What I do wonder is what shape the ministry and mission of the church should take if these questions truly are the questions we need to answer in order to build a society of hope and optimism. They certainly raise the bar for personal responsibility both for our actions and for the potential for change. 

I am certain that society will only change for the better with both a large scale move of God and a realigning of our lives away from selfish gain and towards generous living. But that doesn't mean that we give up and stop trying. And I wonder too if these are the questions of a missional church?

If you want to read the report, then follow the link of this webpage.

Preach the word of God

Yesterday's Bible reading was 2Tim. 4 as I continue to make my way through the Pastoral Letters of Paul. The first 5 verses consist of Paul's solemn charge to Timothy. 

Paul tells the young leader to Preach the word of God, whether the time is favourable or not, a phrase that makes me wonder what constitutes "favourable". Is it about the general climate of society or is it about the local church's readiness to hear what needs to be said? Given that this sits in the context of the rejection of sound teaching in favour of that which soothes itching ears, it would seem that the context is clearly the church.

Whatever the context, Paul says that Timothy is to teach with patience, encouragement and faithfulness (i.e. not in a way that soothes those ears). 

In order to fulfil this call, Timothy will need to be: clear minded, not anxious about suffering as a result of his commitment to preach the truth, and evangelistically active. He is  to carry out fully the ministry God has given him.

This is quite a charge. As I read that yesterday I wondered aloud what made me worthy of such a call. I've long since stopped wondering why God called me, and I've just accepted that he has. On the other hand, this is still a serious call and needs to be taken seriously.

So as I read those words I wondered about how encouraging the ministry , my ministry, is within the context of the local church I serve. I wondered how committed I am personally to doing the work of evangelism. And I wondered too how clear my own mind is in all situations.

As ever, there is work to be done!

Are you an ipod?

Apparently the Yuppie has been replaced by the ipod.

Insecure

Pressurised

Over-taxed

Debt-ridden

Probably a good idea, but mock with caution

Christians welcome Atheist London bus campaign

So reads the banner headline for an article on Christiantoday's website. 

Whilst it's good to see Christians taking a positive and dare one say humorous view of the proposed campaign, I fear that we are in danger of going over the top. The more we ridicule atheism, and who doesn't find humour in the proposed wording that  there "probably" isn't a God as if even the atheist can't be sure, the more likely we are to alienate them from meaningful discussion.

Personally it looks to me like a great opportunity, in the right circumstances, to actually ask people what they think. I just hope we don't add fuel to the fire by getting drawn into some great debate and, heaven forbid, a series of special prayer meetings to pray against the campaign. Some of us remember the calls for prayer about the EU and the beast!

Simon Barrow suggests that the campaign slogan: "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life" is the unbelievers equivalent of "God may very well exist. Now have a nice day" in case anyone is short of an idea for an answer or an alternative publicity campaign.

Popego

Once again Jeff Noble (now possibly famous in Poland!) has stumbled on another life stream application on the internet. Popego looks quite interesting and I've set up an account to see what it's like. 

At first look it's quite a nice application. It grabs feeds just like Swurl, but it has the edge insofar as it doesn't seem to mind that I'm in the UK. Swurl does seem to have some problems, but, having played with Popego, I may now have more of a clue as to what might be happening at Swurl.

In the end the whole idea is to have one place that folks can visit if they want to see what's happening in my world beyond my blog. Not that I'm necessarily sure that anyone wants to do that, but it's a fascinating next step in the development of a life on the web.

I guess there are ways to use this kind of thing to keep in touch with one's wider family who are spread about all over the place.

Anyway, it's on the sidebar if you want to chck it out or you can just follow this link.

The Gospel and happiness

Here's an interesting article by Jon Ortberg on the question of happiness.

But if the gospel really is the announcement of the availability, through Jesus, of the "with-God life," then things begin to fall into place. Grace is not just the forgiveness of sin, it is the power to live the with-God life from one moment to the next. Heaven is not a pleasure factory that an angry God chooses to shut some people out of because they don't pass a theology test; it is a community of servanthood that can only be enjoyed by a certain kind of character.

Live video stream from St Louis

I just got notification of a conference in St Louis run by the Acts29 network. It's going to be streamed live on the internet today, Tuesday, and you can watch it here.

The schedule looks like it has some interesting topics and the it's quite accessible to a UK audience, at least I hope it is because one or two of the topics are things I'd like to hear about. 

Here's a schedule.

Tuesday, October 21
9:15 am - Session #1: Gospel-Centered Repentance - Darrin Patrick (3:15BST)
10:30am - Session #2: Hybrid Leaders - Eric Mason (4:30BST)
1:45pm - Session #3: Christ-Centered Preaching - Dr. Bryan Chapell (7:45BST)

Wednesday, October 22
9:15am - Session #4: City Leaders - Randy Nabors
1:45pm - Session #5: Broken Leaders - Matt Carter
4:45pm - Session #6: Reluctant Leaders - Darrin Patrick (10:45BST)

These are Central times for the US, which as far as I remember means that things will start at 3:15pm BST. I've added BST times in red to the schedule.

What the 16-29 age group thinks about Christianity

Came across these statistics on the churchrelevance blog.

Non-Christians aged 16-29 years old were asked, “What is your current perception of Christianity?”

91% said antihomosexual
87% said judgmental
85% said hypocritical
78% said old-fashioned
75% said too involved in politics
72% said out of touch with reality
70% said insensitive to others
68% said boring
64% said not accepting of other faiths
61% said confusing

Very interesting I thought, certainly something to think about.

Worship First

Noticed the new badge in the sidebar? A recent comment on my post on worship and character prompted a comment from a fellow churchman in New Zealand, one Bosco Peters. He has a blog and website about worship at Liturgy.

Clearly Anglican in its emphasis, that doesn't mean it has nothing to say to those of us who follow a different tradition. In fact I found his piece about the Collect really interesting. In a Baptist tradition we often include an opportunity to pray extempore or silent prayers that are drawn to a close by some one at the front "closing" the time of prayer. It would serve us well to think a little more about both the opening and closing of such times of prayers. The form of the Collect may just help us do that.

Worship and character

I'm dipping into a daily devotional book by Henry Blackaby at the moment and today's devotion was about worship. This is what Blackaby says:

The quality of our worship is not based on our activities but on our character. Churches can mistakenly assume that the better the music, the more impressive the building, and the more eloquent the preaching, the more worshipful the experience will be. Genuine worship, however, originates from within our hearts. If our relationship with God is not healthy, all these things are nothing more than religious pageantry.

If you are not satisfied with the quality of your worship, don't be too quick to blame your environment. Look first to your own heart.

Church Health

After reflecting on yesterday at church, I began to think about what to do to address it. I began by having a quick look over various notes and things I've collected in notebooks and online. This, I have to say, is where a bit of software like Notebook or Together or Yojimbo on the Mac or Surfulater or Evernote on PC's comes in handy. 

I often capture something I read online through one of these tools and it makes a quick look for ideas easier than trying to wade through lots of stored bookmarks.

Anyway it all made me think about the issue of church health, about how we measure that and how we develop it. 

I did come across some Purpose Driven notes and I know that I have some more notes on questions to ask elsewhere. There was also a helpful article I downloaded from somewhere but my indexing system has let me down (I forgot to record the website!). I'm sure I can track it down if necessary.

Anyway, suffice it to say, I think it's time for some serious thinking about church health. Any suggestions? As I research my database of ideas (a posh term for all the accumulated papers and notes and bookmarks) I'll try and put a list together on the blog. If there's something you've found helpful, I'd like to hear about it.

Personally speaking

Still, after all these years, I'm baffled by preaching. When I think I've planned and prepared something that will work, it doesn't. And when I think I've got it wrong, sometimes it comes out right. Yesterday was one of those days when I thought I'd got something right and it came out so flat I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep!

Why was that? Was it because I wasn't prepared, spiritually prepared? Was it because I was concerned about other things and therefore not focused on the right things? I don't know. The previous week was so very different and I'm not aware of having done anything particularly different.

Maybe I'm just being too hard, too critical, too selfish. I want us not only to experience God's presence when we meet together, but also to engage our brains. To be thinking as well as experiencing.

Yesterday, personally speaking, I think we missed that goal. Whatever "IT" is, I don't think we had it yesterday. This leaves me disappointed for sure, but I'm not about to throw in the towel and give up on the pursuit of more of God's presence and power in our church life and ministry. Hopefully I'm not the only one who wants that.

Christ-centred following

As I continue to process my thoughts from this year's GLS, one thing that has been going through my mind is the description Bill Hybels gave us of the church in terms of explorers, beginners, growing Christians and Christ-centred Christians.  It is the Christ-Centred group who are going to be most effective in mission and service we were told and I have no reason to doubt that assertion.

So here's my question: What do we have to do to help people move towards and into Christ-centred living? It would seem that to build an effective church we must find the right questions to ask to make this movement possible.

It's obvious when you think about it. If you want a Christ-centred worship event, you need a Christ-centred congregation. You can't generate it all from the front, although you can help it grow. A non-Christ-centred worship leader cannot lead people into a Christ-centred experience can they?

A question to be answered then is this: What experiences do we need in order to become the Christ-centred followers Jesus wants us to be? Is it more teaching, more discipline, more opportunities to serve? What are some of the keys that will help us all take even a small step forward in our walk with God?

And of course there is the intensely personal question: How Christ-centred is my life at this present moment? When did you last ask yourself that?

Revealing Answers

 I finally bought, and have now almost read, Willow Creek's penetrating analysis of the effectiveness of the local church against its mission. Many people have blogged disparagingly about this survey, it's approach and outcomes. Some have criticised Willow heavily just because they can.

Personally I stand by my comments some time ago that this was not only one of the bravest things a local church has ever done in terms of discovering facts about its effectiveness, but further it reveals many things I've long suspected.

One conclusion that did surprise me was that they discovered that Christ-centred followers of Jesus are more effective or engaged in evangelism than new believers. Like the good folk at Willow, I'd always assumed that new believers were more enthusiastic about their faith than older believers, and that this enthusiasm is what leads them into more evangelistic involvement. That and having some non-Christian friends left! But Reveal suggests otherwise. This begs an uncomfortable question: Why aren't the mature Christians I know, myself included, more engaged in reaching the missing? Could it be we are simply not Christ-centred or motivated to do it.

It's certainly makes me think about the structure and purpose of church and whether we're really doing what we think we're doing. Or more importantly, doing what we should be doing.

I'm going to have to revisit the book a few times I think to really get the picture straight in my head, but thank you Willow for being brave enough to ask the questions we all should have asked, and for offering some ways forward now we know some of the answers.

At last he swims!

Okay, so I've been swimming for two years now, but until recently I didn't think I was doing particularly well. Last week however I seemed to turn a corner. As with many things it was down to practice, and after a lot of practice I seemed finally to get it right when it came to getting air and not water into my lungs. 

It's odd, but the harder I tried the more difficult it was. My brain was trying to control too many things and I was inevitably over-thinking the whole process. I decided to slow down and focus on one thing, a steady rhythmic breathing pattern. Now I know that you are supposed to take a breath on every stroke in breaststroke, but I find that leaves me breathless, so every other stroke works for me at the moment. Nice steady stretch, pull, kick, glide and breath giving my head the single job of monitoring my inhale as my face clears the water. And I'm away, up and down the pool.

I wondered if this was a one-off last week. A bit like having your best ever round of golf, but this week I feel as if I've improved. I've been swimming every day so far and covered almost 3Km in four days. And, although I'm tired from doing it, I must admit that in the water I feel as though I could keep going for longer than I do. Today, for example, I swam alternate lengths of backstroke and breaststroke, my current pattern, and did 50 lengths of the 13m pool I use. 

Okay so it would be very different I guess in a 25m pool, but the confidence is building and maybe one day I'll go to a bigger pool and put it to test. Until then, I'm still pretty impressed that after two years of effort it looks like it's paying off. I never thought I'd say this, but I truly love being in the water.

Did we have "it" on Sunday?

By now you may have guessed that the most personally significant session from the Global Leadership Summit was lead by Craig Groeschel. His talk, entitled, IT: How  Leaders Can Get IT and Keep IT, touched on many things that were both inspiring and challenging. 

As Craig pointed out, the truth is no one really knows what "IT" is, but it most definitely has something to do with the Holy Spirit working through God's people in a special way.

On Sunday I think we had "IT" or at least a little taste of "IT". It's hard to tell. I certainly felt there was a sense of God meeting with us on a deeper level. Maybe it was just me. Maybe it wasn't "IT" after all.

In the end it raises the question: If that was "IT" then what are we going to do, what am I going to do, to make sure we keep "IT", and if it wasn't  "IT", then what are going to do to get "IT"? Because, if Sunday was a taste, then I certainly want more of whatever it is that God wants to give to us.

Handling Criticism

In the most recent edition of The Pastor's Coach newsletter, Dan Reiland makes the following observations about handling criticism.

Absorb criticism with grace: Taking criticism comes with the territory of leadership, how you receive it is a choice you make. He says: "... it takes less energy to absorb it than it does to fight it."

Learn from criticism and take action when you can: First listen for the obvious, second look for patterns to see if an urgent or slower reponse is necessary.

Ignore criticism when you need to: It's important to discern if it's a productive criticism or not. If not, ignore it. There is one proviso here, if the criticism is ongoing you will need to address the one doing the criticising.

Teach those who criticise when you have the opportunity: If you handle criticism well you can teach others.

The nature of criticism can be extremely draining, but if you receive it with grace, stay focused on the productive criticism, and ignore the rest, criticism can be a good thing and a blessing in disguise.

You can subscribe to the newsletter at the Injoy website.

In it for the long haul

I came across this simple expression of the commitment of a church leader through the Church Matters (9Marks) Blog:

Preach and pray, love and stay.

As I walked around the village where we live and minister the other day I was struck by the number of connections I have. I walked and prayed as I walked. As I passed house after house I thought about the weddings and funerals, the visits and conversations I've been privileged to share with this community. 

We may not have seen large scale growth at church, but we've built some important relationships, relationships that would be lost if I treated my ministry like a career to be furthered by moving on when it suited me. I remember Don Carson describing in one of his books how his father had spent his ministry life serving small churches. I've spent nearly 20 years of my life in ministry and almost all have been in smaller churches. Only three years were in a larger church.

I don't worry that I haven't moved up into a larger church. In fact I rather hope that if God wants me to lead a bigger church, he will grow one with me! And if he doesn't, well that's okay because I'm not in this for the money or the prospects.

So if God calls me into something else, I'll follow, but until then I'll preach and pray, I'll love and stay.