Tag Archives: mission

Church Growth – Anglican Perspectives

10 Monday Feb 2014

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A couple of interesting happenings recently connected with the ever present navel-gazing of some people as regards the subject of ‘church growth’.

Here‘s a report just published by the C of E: the title says it all, and there are lots of colours and graphs to make reading it less turgid than church texts are usually presented.

The Church Times has also been commenting on the state of the C of E, according to this blog that I occasionally read.   I recommend reading that blog post, and this link from it, too.

No doubt the usual armchair bishops (including some on this blog?) will have their instant appraisals with lots of snide remarks and sniping: “why don’t they just do…”, and all the rest of it.*

However, I’d be interested to know what similar formal research has been conducted by those from other church backgrounds – and other countries.

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I’m not yet ready to post about India, but will soon once photos are all collated…here are a few though, for tasters:

Kerala Graffiti 1 Kerala Graffiti 2 Elephant 1 Elephant 2

A couple of elephants, one carrying foliage inside a Hindu temple, and the other on a Hindu procession that we happened to be passing (quite a common occurrence, so it seems).

And a couple of examples of graffiti in Kerala – if only the louts of England would be the same.

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* if you feel the urge and you’re a RC, then read this first.

Freedom of Speech?

30 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Bible, Church/State, Faith

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(PHOTO: SCREENGRAB/YOUTUBE.COM)

(PHOTO: SCREENGRAB/YOUTUBE.COM)

I am obviously going to have to be very careful. We have written before here about the police arresting street preachers and the way the UK police seem to believe that quoting the Bible in the street is an arrestable offence. Well, in the land of John Knox, it has happened again.  Tony Miano, a former policeman turned evangelist has once more been arrested and may be charged. As he was preaching about sin, he, and those with him were yelled at by a woman who then approached the police to complain she was annoyed – so the boys in blue arrested him. Garry Selfridge, a spokesman for Christian Concern said that the court (in Dundee) “is being a little pathetic and backward” in allowing the proceedings to move forward.

Perhaps, as was the case with Dr Clifford (who was not, as Neo reminds me actually preaching, and whose case here covered here) and with Mr Miano the last time he had his collar felt, the law will decide not to take further action, but what climate is being stoked up here?  This seems to me to amount to intimidation. If one person complaining about my preaching is enough to have the police arrest me, then the freedom for which my father fought in the last war is gone. Remember, we are not, here, talking about someone standing up and urging folk to commit acts of violence against sodomites, but a preacher telling us we are sinners and quoting the Bible. Can we look forward to the police trying to arrest the Lord when He comes again in Glory?

In this case, as in that of Dr Clifford, there was no public disorder, but, according to the police, they feared there might be. This places an extraordinary amount of discretion to the police. If a bobby on the beat thinks there might be a disorder he can just arrest you can he?  That amounts to arbitrary arrest. I suppose that if someone manages to sue the police for a large enough sum, it might put an end to this practice, as it appears that, in our society, common sense is not enough – nothing short of a large fine will do to deter folk in authority behaving like mini-dictators.

For me this is a very live issue. For most of the last thirty-five years I have preached, or been part of a preaching team locally, and on Saturdays we tour the area, preaching in the open air and calling for repentance and handing our tracts to folk, asking whether they’s like to come to Jesus. We’ve already had to apply for permits to do this, and we can no longer, as we used, just turn up and preach. We’ve good relations with a number of shopping centres, and we always clear things with the managers of near-by shops. But I can see that if this goes on, some of those in authority will be looking again and wondering if this is too big a risk for them to take. All it would take was for one protestor to write to the managing director of a supermarket chain, and no doubt we’d be asked to move on – ‘just in case’.

Now I know, when I’ve written on this before, some folk think I’m making too much of a fuss, but then they are not the ones at risk of arrest.  There’s no point pretending that thick wedges don’t have thin ends, and that slippery slopes don’t exist. There is, in this country, a growing intolerance. Our mission team discussed all this last night, and we have agreed that we will carry on, although I am sad to report that at least one of our number says he thinks it better if we do it without him. I understand, he’s a teacher, and if he gets arrested, his career could be at risk Another reason I am glad to be retired. If they arrest me, if will save on our heating and food bill.

3rd Sunday in OT: Gospel

26 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by in Bible, End times, Faith

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Mark 1:14-20

Origen and Eusebius both make the point that Jesus did not turn to the educated and the powerful, but went to ordinary men – thus underlining that this was a work of Divine Grace. Eusebius points out how this confounds the expectations of the world, that the Lord should take those with little education to educate the nations. St Jerome thought that there must have been something compelling about the Lord which made men leave all they had known to follow him, and St Basil says that they could no longer be attracted by this earthly life; all things of this world were to be left behind. Jerome points out that for them, the joy of faith compensated for any bitterness which accompanied repentance.

St Augustine asks us to follow suit, and to give up all things for Jesus. In leaving their earthly father, the sons of Zebedee found a Heavenly Father. St Basil tells us that a beginning to the spiritual life is made by detaching oneself from external goods such as property, social class and useless desires, and that here, the disciples set us a good example. James and John leave the boat on which their livelihood depends, whilst Matthew does the same when he abandons his tax-booth. Paul speaks of being crucified to the world (Gal.6:14). Those who are seized with the desire to follow Christ can no longer be concerned with the things of this world where they run counter to the love of the Lord.

We see that against the violence which has silenced John, Jesus sets the Good News that the kingdom of God is at hand. We have in Scripture a record of what we need to know, but not one of all the things which Jesus did. So, we do not see Jesus baptising anyone, neither do we see the disciples doing so until after Pentecost, and we are told baldly that the ‘kingdom of God is near’. We know that some of the early Christians interpreted that as some modern ones do, as a sign that the end times are near, but the kingdom of God is here among us, in our hearts, and we enter it by receiving Him.  We do not have to wait for the end of time, nor until the Resurrection to receive Him. He is, as He told us, with us forever, even unto the end of time.

The British New Church Movement

26 Thursday Dec 2013

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Rob

During a previous discussion S: wrote: “However, I see the ‘new church movement’ as missing out a key component of what is means to be church” …  “I like your idealist approach – I am somewhat inclined that way myself. Yet I think structure has a role. Those outside of structures will come up with 1001 reasons why they are outside, rather than inside some form of structure of visible church unity”.

Our communication often suffers in that we come from communities tracing their concepts in long histories and see things quite differently. I think I have the general shape and context of what we might call institutional churches relatively clear, while S: is launching towards our charismatic planet to search out new worlds exciting or otherwise? (I’m a Sc-Fi fan).

The observations by S: prompted me to briefly outline the history and structures of various streams of the ‘British New Church Movement’ and its concepts – so here we go.

Origins of the British New Church Movement

The Charismatic movement of the early/mid 1960’s led to the expulsion or exclusion by distancing of many, often unsought, from former generally non-conformist churches. These people met in house churches, leaders emerged and networks/streams with trans-local leaders developed. Alternatively the leadership of a local church accepted the charismatic renewal grew, planted sister churches and attracted a network of churches that associated with them or a gifted teacher/evangelist was asked by a few believers to form a team and lead them in evangelizing and church planting with similar end results. Most of these streams are now international with full time workers and short term missions in many nations.

Sadly some of these movements early leaders were not up to the spiritual challenges; there was the development of what became called ‘the shepherding movement’ with restrictive dictatorial attitudes and in a few cases abuses use of power. The result of which was a quick return to institutionalism and the hierarchical power recently left behind. All streams did not fall into this problem and these matters have generally worked themselves out amongst those who did or the stream in question broke up with churches finding new alliances.

These churches have a high view of the corporate nature of the church. Generally the greater problem in the ‘British New Church Movement’ was this over emphasis on authority and the consequent structures rather that the lack of them.

These churches in some cases bridge divides that evangelicals traditionally preferred left as they were. This resulted from the effects of the charismatic renewal across the denominational spectrum from RC to Salvation Army or Plymouth Brethren.

Local Church

The definition of ‘Local Church’ in many ‘New Church Streams’ can be expressed as “All those in the locality gathered around Christ – whatever their denomination or none”. The visible unity of this church can only be built amongst true disciples through relationships of mutual respect and love. The basis of such relationships is the shared life of Christ rather than any particular denominational ‘light or perceived lack of it by one or the other’. The future hope is to see the visibility of this type of church unity to continue to increase and for churches to be mutually supportive and concerned for fruitfulness in each other’s participation in Christ mission.

Church Leadership

Amongst these ‘British New Church Streams’ there is generally two structures of charismatic team leadership that serve and lead the churches the ‘trans local’ and the ‘local’. Leadership is relational, ideally servant orientated, inspirational, charismatic in the sense its base on proven spiritual gift and calling, it is plural.

Trans Local Church Leadership

Trans local leadership might openly be understood as an apostolic team or function in that manner and carrying a sense of responsibility for the churches established or associating with the team. If I were to use a Latin term and say the UK is in desperate need of a vast number of ‘Missionaries’ to re-establish the Christian faith in darkest Britain few would disagree.  However if I were to use the Greek term ‘Apostles’ for these companies that we need the Lord to raise up and send out eyebrows will rise in many quarters.

The apostolic gifting to the church illustrates the first consideration for inspirational/charismatic churches which is that every ministry can only be ordained/commissioned/sent by the Lord Himself. The church simply recognizes and acknowledges them rather than ordains them.

Local Church Leadership

Local congregations will generally have a plurality of elders (Biblically synonymous with overseers or bishops), of which one may be a first among equals but not always recognized as such in an official manner – all local leadership is recognized by the local church and in some cases officially acknowledged by the trans-local leadership such recognition in both cases will be a function of relationship and discernment.

Models of Church Gatherings

Church may have a two or three tier model of gathering

a) i) House churches with responsible individuals and ii) periodic gathering of the whole church or

b) i) House churches, ii) gathering in area congregations, with a main emphasis to organize evangelism into their area and iii) periodic gatherings of the whole church.

Ministry

The church may receive ministry from gifted Ephesians 4:8-12 type servants who may or may not carry responsibility as elders in the church – whether they be home grown leaders or visiting from other churches within the same church stream or from another stream or institutional denomination. A church I was in of this type for 20 yrs frequently received ministry from a charismatic high Anglican Priest and a church my wife and I were instrumental in initiation had the benefit of an evangelical Anglican prison chaplain as a church member following our calling on him the day he moved into our city.

Frequently within the house church setting the ministry is from the body of believers which may also be so at times in larger gatherings.

The Emergent Church and Deconstructionism of the Church

This is another phenomena being advocated – while some meet in house churches their ideas are dissimilar in relation to structure from the movement I have described.

Further Information

‘Robes or Overalls and Servant Leadership by Roger T Forster & Marian Marticek – available at http://www.ichthus.org.uk/’ This small concise booklet provide an understanding of the church leadership of those churches that reject the concept of ecclesiastical ordination.

‘Restoring the Kingdom by Orthodox priest Dr. Andrew Walker’.

Walker was born into a Pentecostal family his book is an examination of the ‘British New Church Movement’.

‘The Normal Christian Church Life by Watchman Nee’ Watchman Nee – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nee To-sheng of Fuzhou 1903 – 1972 initiated local churches throughout China during his thirty years of ministry, founding one of the largest Christian groups in Chinese history. Following the communist revolution Nee was persecuted and imprisoned for his faith and spent the last twenty years of his life in a Chinese labour camp until his death in 1972. The numbers of Christians in underground Chinese churches tracing their faith to the movement is probably in its millions see Watchman Nee and the Little Flock Movement in Maoist China.

Nee’s numerous books were generally produces from lecture notes and transcribed messages to his students. Many English titles resulted from translations by Angus Kinnear a member of Ichthus Christian Fellowship London.  Nee met T. Austin-Sparks in the 1930’s at the church later attended by Roger Forster the founder of the Ichthus movement with which I am associated http://www.ichthus.org.uk/,   Austin Sparks was still in ministry and so influenced both Nee and Forster. ‘The Normal Christian Church Life’ presents a view of ecclesiology held by many in the ‘British New Church Movement’.

Christmas – God Promises Kept!

25 Wednesday Dec 2013

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The promise of a deliver a Messiah who would reverse the effects of the fall was first made to Eve – Gen. 3:15. This was the first of a multitude of promised made with the purpose of identifying the Messiah when He finally arrived. A useful analogy is to consider them as ‘The Messiah’s Address’.

The postal service narrows down your location and identity reading your address backwards for mail to reach you i.e. country – city – area – street- house – particular occupant.

The identity of the coming Messiah is similarly narrowed down from the more general to a specific individual i.e. male – descendant of Abraham – of Isaac (i.e. Jew not Arab) – of Jacob’s son Judah (one out of 12) – of Jesse – of David – place of birth Bethlehem – place of residence Nazareth – manner, time and facts of death and many more identifying facts are supplied.

At this time of year TV documentaries frequently try to reinterpret Christ and His mission, presenting the rise of the Christian religion over the next few centuries as a response to the failure of the coming of God’s kingdom and Israel’s national deliverance from Roman domination. The Jesus of faith or of Paul is contrasted with the Jesus of history.

However if we simply read the Messiah’s address carefully and follow the apostles identification of Him and of His agenda, that they came to understand we answer these objections.

The principle in Biblical understanding of the first mention of a matter is important and if the Jews at the time of Christ and today’s re-interpreters of Christ were to follow the principle they would see clearly that the deliverance was to be primarily one of universal deliverance from the effects of sin Gen. 3:15, a far more radical prospect than a national or political deliverance.

This concept should then be born in mind when interpreting further prophecies of the Messiah’s coming. In Isaiah 9:7 we read:

“There will be no end to the increase of His government of peace … from then on and for evermore”.

Jesus taught that His government/kingdom must be understood as ‘not of this world’ or its worldly kings and their ways Christ’s mission and its continuation through humble servant disciples entering His kingdom by a new and spiritual birth from above requires no reinterpretation when Christ’s words are taken at face value. At the first Christmas this kingdom was inaugurated and its increase has been never ending.

One commentator on this year’s CNN presentation of Jesus and Christianity stated “Jesus did not come to found a new religion but to establish a kingdom”. I have previously heard the same from several ‘Charismatic Evangelical’ church leaders and embrace it as an important guideline. Another person I know was impressed at the start of his ministry with the thought – “Bill (not his real name) you seek My kingdom and I will build My church”. The kingdom was constantly on Christ’s lips but never once did he mention founding a new religion.

On this site it is generally not Christ or matters of His Kingdom that divide us but interpretations of His church. For the sake of that kingdom John the Baptist decreased, became less visible and is commended for doing so while for some the visibility of the church is oh so important!

The church is no more than the totality of those who should decrease in their own self obsession and importance while displaying the good works, power and wonders of Christ’s ever increasing government/ kingdom, that the Father might be glorified.

As kingdom living and demonstration becomes the priority of those who follow Christ they find themselves united with one another in a living active organism while their various organizational units simply provide the minimum necessary skeleton. It seems illogical to me to advocate ‘small government’ for nations and great bureaucracy and hierarchy for churches.

‘The government is on His shoulders’ and passed to Him at His incarnation. There is a fascinating prophesy of the Messiah’s kingdom/government in Jacob’s blessing of his son Judah.

“THE SCEPTER SHALL NOT DEPART FROM JUDAH, NOR THE RULER’S STAFF FROM BETWEEN HIS FEET, UNTIL SHILOH COMES AND TO HIM SHALL BE THE OBEDIENCE OF THE PEOPLES GEN. 49:10.”

The Jewish sources Targum Jonathan 8/331 and Targum Pseudo Jonathan 2/278 identify Gen. 49:10 & 11 as Messianic prophecies.

According to this scripture and the Jews of the time the suppression of Israel’s national judicial power would take place following the appearance of the Messiah to Israel. The event that the Jews took to mark this was their loss of the supreme judicial power the ‘jus gladii’ i.e. the right to pass the death sentence.

There is some debate in Jewish sources about when this took place as being either: –

a) As one source gives the date as 7AD. or

b) According to Josephus Ant. Book 17 Ch 13, 1.5 it took place in 11 AD. or

b) Talmud, Jerusalem, Sanhedrin, fol. 24 recto – states that it took place “A little more than forty years before the destruction of the temple”

Placing the birth of Jesus at 6BC this would give the age of Jesus, at the time, in each case as 1yr, 5yrs or 24yrs respectively.

The amazing thing is that the Jews knew the implications of this themselves – Talmud, Bab, Sanhedrin, Chap. 4, fol. 37, recto states

“Woe unto us for the scepter has been taken away from Judah and the Messiah has not yet appeared.”  Another Jewish source says that “When the members of the Sanhedrin found themselves deprived of their right over life and death … they covered their heads with ashes and their bodies with sackcloth” and made the same declaration as above. These facts are referenced in “Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell”.

They Jewish authorities were mistaken the young Messiah was still in preparation in Nazareth and upon His appearance they unknowingly acknowledged Him as Messiah by calling Him Jesus of Nazareth. Here we have another part for Joseph in the events; an angel appears again to Joseph, which resulted in the family residing in Nazareth “So that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘HE SHALL BE CALLED A NAZARENE’ Matt. 2:19 & 23”.

However there is somewhat of a mystery, in any study Bible when the OT is quoted cross references to the OT text are given in the margin and the words quoted may be printed in capitals. In the case of Matt. 2:23 there are no cross references given in any Bible I have checked.

The answer lies in the reference to prophets (plural) and the meaning of the name Nazareth i.e. sprig, shoot or branch. Each of these terms are Messianic titles for the Messiah e.g. “the shoot out of Jesse (King David’s father)” Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5, Zechariah 3:8; 6:12-13.

Note in this last text “His name is ‘The Branch’” and how for Jesus His place of birth became His designated name ‘Jesus of Nazareth”. On a trip to Israel our secular Jewish guide, confirmed the meaning of ‘Nazareth’ as we looked around the town and found my discussion with him on this point interesting.

The apostles did not get it wrong because they referenced the prophets as they had been shown and as they were interpreted to them by the resurrected Jesus as He commissioned them to continue His mission John Luke 24:44-48.

There is no cause for re-interpretation from the Gen.3:15 promises to the ‘Great Commission’ the Messiah’s mission has been clear to those whose eyes He has opened.

Saturday Jess

23 Saturday Nov 2013

Posted by in Anglicanism, Faith

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Another busy week on AATW, and as we got more deeply into the question which always bothers me most – ‘by what authority do you say these things’ – I was more intrigued by the range of answers, as well as by Nicholas’ list of the obstacles to unity. Through out the latter the word ‘pride’ kept coming to me; pride of different kinds, in our church, in our endurance, in our intellect, but of whatever sort, it seemed to me it is there in all our obstacles.

We are, none of us, responsible for the divisions in Christianity; we can, however, be responsible for perpetuating them.  I almost used the word ‘Church’ in place of ‘Christianity’ in that last sentence, but knew it would simply provoke the response that the Church is not divided, which would then provoke an argument about what the Church is?  As greater minds and souls than mine have fallen through that chasm, it seemed a path of wisdom not to go there.

Stuans and Geoffrey have pointed out the four marks of Catholicity, and others have joined in to discuss what that means in terms of the Church as we see it here on earth. It seemed to be a good discussion conducted with the kind of Christian forbearance which promotes understanding. It is always good when discussion generates more light than heat. I do not doubt that everyone who posts here does so in good faith, and across the last eighteen months AATW has gathered together a scattered community to provide a place in which we can explore what unites us, as well as what divides us.

All read the Bible, all seek to follow Jesus, and all do so according to the Grace with which they have been gifted; can any of us do more? Does any of us even do enough on those fronts?  There is, for sure, much to be done.

The former archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, has written this week that the Church of England is one generation away from extinction. This has prompted discussion about whether it is the fault of the ‘progressives’ or the ‘conservatives’, with predictable answers being given. But our Faith is always one generation from extinction. If we do not pass it on to the younger generation, then it will not survive.  For the past few weeks I have been spending an evening and an afternoon helping with catechetical classes, and in both cases I am dealing with adults. These are mostly people who, as children, were not much exposed to Christianity, and yet they find themselves in a draughty Church hall on a Wednesday evening listening to a proper catechist and his assistant (me) talking with them about the essentials of our faith.

That doesn’t sound to me like the Church here is going to die out very soon.  I think (as it is Saturday morning when I write this) of Geoffrey out there with his pastor, preaching the word on the streets of the town, bearing a witness to the Christian presence. I’m not sure I could do that, I think it takes something I do not have, but of course that is cowardly of me. I take a little comfort in my embarrassment at the fact I am doing something to help foster the flame.  If we all do our bit, then Lord Carey’s prophesy will have served its purpose – it will have alerted us to danger and prompted us to action.

You can be a Christian without going to Church

22 Friday Nov 2013

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prophet-jeremiahOne of the many intriguing points arising in Struans’ series of posts on the theology course he’s taking was this one:

Some people say:

“You can be a good Christian without going through all that ritual or following those traditions.”

This statement would be quite inaccurate, because in our rituals something happens. This is no triviality, it is concerned intimately with our relationship with God. A dialogue between the natural and supernatural. It is through the living history of the Christian community that the full breadth, scope, implication and depth of Scripture has been realised.

Seven areas were listed:

i)        Sacramental

ii)       Liturgical

iii)      Creeds

iv)      Doctrines                                               The Ongoing Life of  

v)      Ritual                                                     Spirit Filled Community

vi)      Organisation and Authority

vii)     Shared Life

viii)    Ministry

The renewal of our Church involves fresh application, explanation and defining of our rituals. It needs us to sort out those traditions of lasting meaning and those we can safely discard with no loss.

Now, in my title, I have slightly and deliberately skewed the focus, although I think, in my broad-brush stroke sort of way that it is part of the same issue. Folk often say they don’t need to go to Church to be a Christian; but can you be a member of that living Christian community without going to a Church? For at least one of our regular commentators, Jock (whom I have not congratulated on his new name yet) this is an active issue, and I’d very much like his take on this one.

My own view, to put cards on the table, would be you can, and many are, Christians and unchurched, but I think that both the individual, and a Christian community somewhere, are missing out on some of the things which Struans’ notes list. Not Creeds and doctrines, because they, although part of the living tradition, can be read, studied, and accepted and followed in private, and as they are crucial parts of being a Christian, I think it is possible to be one and never darken the doorstep of a church.

But I think it is a pity, although I fully understand the difficulty some folk have finding a church where Christians behave in a fashion which invites others to share in the Spirit-filled fellowship; but no shared Christian life seems to be a shame – and the shame lies with those who cannot find a way to accommodate the stranger in their gate.

Creeds, doctrine, liturgical practice and ritual are all part of a shared life, as is ministry, but perhaps we have trouble with point vi above – authority and organisation. All human societies develop their own hierarchies, and if we are not very careful in church, we can develop the worst sort – one where those in power feel their position is hedge about by Divine approval and that they are speaking for God when they pronounce; anyone who supposes that’s just a problem in a Church like the Catholic one hasn’t been about much.

As Christian elders it is certainly the responsibility of myself and my fellows to make sure everything works, and to keep our building in good repair, but if we are to keep our community in the same way, we have to remember that our office os one of service as well as guarding the gate. Yes, if the Pastor starts spouting heresy, our job would be to raise it with him in private and see what he says, and hopefully settle the matter; the same goes if any of us starts throwing around strange ideas. But that’s not the daily weft and warp of life. No, our real job is to be of service to the people of God, welcome those who come without our doors and see why God has sent them, and what we can do by way of making them welcome for as long or as short a time as they want to be with us. And by welcome, sometime I mean let them be; if that’s what they want, then that too, is what we should deliver.

On the front line

22 Tuesday Oct 2013

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prophet-jeremiahSaturday was a reminder that after the unexpected blessings of a long summer with excellent weather, we are back into more typical Yorkshire weather; we arrived back at the Pastor’s house distinctly soggy and in need of a strong cup of tea and the bacon sandwiches his wife had ready for us. As we sat there, thawing out, I found myself wondering whether I am not getting too old for this aspect of mission – and then thought of all those souls out there to whom the Word is unknown, shook myself, and had another cup of tea; truly it has been said that there’s not much which troubles the Englishman that a good cuppa can’t put right.

But the day is coming, not now, I pray, but it can’t be far off, when a man in his early seventies isn’t going to be able to be out there in all weathers, and I don’t really see myself as a fair-weather Christian, so I’d better make my plans for the point at which I stay back at base and concentrate on the evening classes with inquirers. I’ll be interested in hearing from Jessica how she’s getting on with the ‘Pilgrim’ course currently being promoted by the Church of England. On her recommendation, I got hold of the first part of the course, and must say that I like it. It is a good deal more historically based than I had feared, and it seems to me not a bad grounding for those who want to know more about the Faith.

We are, as I’ve commented before here, working in a society which is effectively unchurched. Few of those we speak to on Saturdays know anything about Christianity, and those who stop to jeer – mainly younger men, are easily calmed down with the question “what is it you object to about a faith which preaches love and forgiveness?” The answer is usually that is not what they know of it, and when pressed, what they know of it tends to be confounded with what they know of radical Islam, and their minds seem to fuse the two into a toxic mix of ‘fundamentalism’. That’s a good way into a conversation, and putting them into contact with our young people often opens the door to at least a more informed opposition, although, in most cases, it defuses the anger – on that score.

But there is a greater and a deeper anger among some of them. They feel that the sort of lives their parents have had will not be open to them, and some of those who we talk even wonder what the point of getting an education is – they will, they claim, be ‘on the dole’, so why bother? Well, at the least, they’ll be able to entertain themselves better in their leisure time. But how sad that there is this hopelessness and the anger that comes with it. When I do a bit of work with them, it is often the case that even after 12 years or so of compulsory education, their reading skills are not up to much, and as for mental arithmetic, well they’ve calculators for that – although ask them to count their change in a shop and they’re lost.

It is sad that in one of the richest countries in the world, we should be rearing young men whose horizons are so limited, and whose abilities so get on should be so poor. The State may, just, provide something for their physical needs, but for the other yearnings they feel, well as we try to show them, for that there’s one answer only  – Jesus Christ. There’s an opportunity here for the churches – if we will seize it.

Jesus on-the-job Mission Advice:

05 Saturday Oct 2013

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RobReading ‘From Mount Nebo to the Soup Kitchen’ I thought of Jesus’ advice for those engaging. Only short snippets of no doubt longer discourse and follow up dialogue are recorded in the gospels. I suggest this is because Jesus approach is on-the-job training and His advice only has relevance and development as we engage.

“I send you out as lambs among wolves”

Starting venturing out how Jesus sees us should determine how we consider ourselves in the task. Lambs are vulnerable so this is a caution and sheep are fairly dumb but the eastern sheep had an advantage over our woolly type (puns intended) – they knew the shepherd’s voice and were capable of following his lead. The lessons here are: some caution, humility, reliance on Christ and not our self estimation.

My mum continually said “two heads are better than one even if they are only sheep’s.  Evidently Jesus and she agreed on this point as he usually sent out workers in pairs. In the Acts we see some of these apostolic pairs were married couples, as has been the way with my wife and I. I’ll leave you to work out where that leaves your view on women in the church ministry, particularly as the wife is often mentioned first among these couples. We should remember the implication is that Acts is the continuation of Jesus work and no secondary authority to His gospel words. Acts1:1. . Sorry I’m getting on a hobby-horse again.

“Be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves”.

This is not so much a lesson in techniques, it’s one in gentle respectful care, and actually it’s about love expressed.

Doves are easily scared off by a lot of noise, while a lot of listening is of great value in itself and also guides us when we come to speak as Jessica displays at the soup kitchen. One young man brought along to a church picnic later said it was my listening to him that led him to commit to Christ, not naturally my strong suit but that day I remember the Spirit constantly restraining me from speaking. The guy’s later mission trips to Africa were very productive. What If I had blundered on without listening?

“The Children of darkness are wiser in their generations than the children of light”,

Jesus taught this in relation to money we may keep this in mind and retain a certain caution. The Lord imparts a spiritual wisdom ‘serpent like’ combined with harmlessness ‘dove-like’. However there’s a natural ‘street wise’ craft that we may be naive to. Street-wise wisdom is frequently a con for money but unholy gain hardly ever does the recipient any good. I don’t mean to discourage charity but encourage caution, those dependant on alcohol or drugs are often particularly manipulative. An alternative is to buy the homeless a meal. Local churches in South Africa set up a token system, an idea some may be in a position to initiate in their area. Tokens could be bought in local stores for distribution to those in need. Tokens were only exchangeable for suitable goods, avoiding charity being used for alcohol or drugs. It’s not foolproof, one time we experienced the goods being sold cheap and the cash being turned into a few bottles of cheap wine.

A number of homeless people and government staff became members of small churches we set up in UK they all had a story to tell that saddened but often enhanced our own life.

Lilly and old alcoholic slept on the street, her family unable to cope with her constant manipulation and theft rejected her. For a short period she lived with us and did well for a while even getting a job but it did not last.

A girl we took in so spaced out we never got one word out of her, occupied one of our kids bedrooms and stubbed he fag ends out all over our furniture – our doctor enhanced our wisdom “there are some people beyond your ability” and found her suitable help.

Gerry built like a giant (an exaggeration fixed in my mind) moved to attack me one evening. He also told a heartbreaking story of his daughter’s car accident, she was on life support in a local hospital. I was completely taken in fortunately we had some ‘former ‘ex wide-boy street-wise’ converts who were not so gullible. On checking out the hospitals Gerry’s daughter was in none of them. We never did find out the aim of this ruse but his landlady started attending one of the churches.

John and Dave, not previously Christians, both had Government jobs working with the homeless and joined the church. John fought in the Falklands crisis it unsettled his nerves and may have been part of his journey which having met us led him to Christ. He had recently played backing drums for a group with a couple of hits that seemed to disappear off the music scene. His parent worried about him and were glad to learn of his relationship with us. When younger Dave had been the driver on a couple of bank jobs, you understand not officially at least paid by the banks!

Jesus’ lesson is one of comparative wisdom it seems I frequently have more ‘dove’ and not enough ‘serpent’. It also addresses our capacity to help, going beyond our ability or getting conned can be damaging to one’s soul and ability to trust. Most of us can take time to give a few kind words and listen a while to someone living on the street and we may endeavour to stretch ourselves at times while being cautious in going beyond our capacity or the sphere we sense a call to.

“Say peace be to this house (Man) … your peace will rest upon him but if not it will return to you” (or) “shake the dust off your feet  …”

There’s a lesson of consistency here as Jesus tells us to stay with “the man of peace” and work where there’s a response, such work is likely to be multiplied by respondents but be slow to judge if responsiveness is not immediately forthcoming.

However I would like to emphasise the blessing the disciples were commanded to leave wherever they went. All disciples, not just clergy, are capable of imparting blessing and communicating the Lord’s peace if it is in their own possession. This can be accomplished by an unspoken prayer in your spirit. If appropriate you may ask permission and pray audibly or lay hands upon those you pray for without causing embarrassment. Do these things in faith and love expecting that the Lord to communicate something directly to the senses of recipients, this will raise their faith level. The text makes it clear that the blessing you impart is something real and experiential as if the recipient is unworthy it will return to you. If you persist you will probably be surprised at the results. Don’t lay hands on people if there is unrepentant sin in your own life, negative effects may occur.

“No one puts new wine into old wineskins otherwise the wineskin is burst and the wine is lost”

This text has been used to cause division in the ‘Body of Christ’ but The Lord desires your work to be effective, productive and lasting. While serving natural needs the spiritual growth of those we reach to is the greatest good we can assist, it’s achieved as they follow Christ. Try to link those desiring spiritual development with those able to assist them whether it’s your own church/denomination or not. There’s no value introducing them to your own chosen fellowship or brand if you are aware it’s not what they or your church is ready for. This involves partnership with local churches which as a by-product aids unity among them and local believers, so your work becomes a visible expression of church unity where you live as we see again at the ‘soup kitchen.

“The harvest is great the labours few”

After 2,000 years it remains the same so I hope this encouraged you in your own engagement in His mission.