Backyardmissionary is a Driscoll Free Zone

I don’t know Mark Driscoll and have never had anything to do with him, but lately my Facebook news feed has been buzzing with people’s assessments of his failures in ministry and the possible out-workings of it all.

I confess I have read many of these out of curiosity, but honestly I feel pretty dirty afterwards. I think the feeling is a reminder that I have nothing to contribute other than my voyeurism and while it may be entertaining and somewhat smugly satisfying to watch a high profile, heavy hitter take a fall, it is hardly worthy of the time that is currently being spent analysing and critiquing. It could even be wrong…

So while I understand (and support) the arguments for transparency and accountability and how in the absence of social media Driscoll may never have been ‘outed’ and challenged, I am not seeing a campaign to ‘stop the hurt’ and ‘get Driscoll help’, but rather just a whole heap of angry tirades that aren’t helping anyone.

So – you won’t read anything here. Not because I don’t think its a juicy, salacious issue and the demise of a celebrity pastor isn’t interesting to speculate about, but just because it has been making me ill. And I don’t mean the issue so much as the way it has lured so many into unhelpful and destructive criticism.

And I should probably stop there.

They Listen…

Today I began the teaching at church with the question ‘If I were a Muslim evangelist and my mission was to convert you to Islam what would I need to do to get some traction?’

My intention was simply to show that it is a huge ask to shift someone from one deeply entrenched world view to another completely different one. The answers were interesting, but what was of more interest to me than the answers themselves was who was giving them.

Of the 6 or 7 responses we had, 3 came from our 12-13 year olds, the crew just out of Sunday School and with no option but to sit in church and listen to us. (I think that’s a good thing by the way.) What I liked was firstly that they felt confident enough to engage and like they had permission, but also that they offered some excellent observations. They were thinking.

I have been very aware over the last 6 weeks that my 13 year old daughter Ellie has been in for the teaching and she has made a few comments about what I have been teaching, comments that show she is engaging with at least some of what I am saying.

What today has prompted me to consider is how to intentionally engage with these guys more – how to communicate in such a way that adults learn, but the younger ones follow and are able to learn also. I think it was Billy Graham who said he preached his messages to an imaginary 12 year old as if they could comprehend then anyone could. So I am thinking that in the next few months when preparing teaching I will be running it thru the grid of ‘how does this connect with a 13 year old?’

As a kid who sat thru church at that age it didn’t kill me, but I remember regularly counting the number of boards in the roof at Maylands Baptist. I was often bored to tears but with no way of escape. Sunday morning teaching is typically pitched at adults – often thinking adults – but what if it was pitched at ‘thinking kids’? I wonder if we wouldn’t pick up all the adults as well?

Its just an observation, but its one that has sparked my thinking as to how we engage the young ones rather than just expecting them to sit quietly until the boring bit is over. What today showed me is that they are willing – if we are willing…

Punchy

This week we began a new teaching series at QBC looking at the letters in the New Testament. It won’t be an indepth verse/word study type of deal, but more of a ‘flyover’, a big picture look at the different types of letters and how they served the church in that time. (More here if you want to know…)

I decided to kick off with the letter from Jude. You know the one?… The little one just before Revelation that no one ever reads?… Except for the end bit which makes a really cool ‘benediction’ in a church service

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—  to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Those are well known and inspiring words, but reality is most people have very little clue what this little letter is about – or just how punchy it is.

Jude is just a page long, but its a grenade. It addresses people who had slipped into the church community and were living immorally and denying Jesus as Lord. He is speaking of those who knowingly, wilfully say ‘I don’t care. I will do as I please and ensure my own advantage is taken care of’

And his conclusion is that they ‘do not have the spirit’. Jude puts them outside the family of faith. Big call hey?…

His message is a hard one, but its one we need to get a hold of from time to time. If you think you can call yourself a disciple of Jesus, but can live a life that doesn’t hold to the things he calls you to then you are kidding yourself. Chances are you aren’t a disciple and you are going to be facing some pretty heavy judgement.

Ouch…

Not really the tone of this blog to get all direct and hard edged is it?

But what if there are still people around in the church today who fit the bill – people who slip in secretly, use others for their advantage and who live as they please while denying the authority of Christ, or more likely re-framing it suit their own ends.

The middle section of Jude’s letter is a series of warnings from Israel’s history describing those who had gone this way before and their fate. If we follow his thinking then what he is saying is ‘if you think you can act the part and fool God (you might fool people) then you are headed for disaster’.

Reality is the letters matter for us today because not much changes.

So Jude is a warning, a teaching and a challenge to the church today as it was back then. We have a strong tendency towards grace (perhaps a corrective to many years of legalism?) but in that we can see flagrant, repeated sin as ‘slip ups’ rather than as raw rebellion and evil. Knowing when to forgive and restore and when to call someone out is certainly a challenge, but one thing Jude reminds us of is that we can’t turn a blind eye.

Just a Story for Monday Morning

I cam across this wonderful, yet disturbing story a few years back via an online ezine. As I was fossicking in some old files I found it again today.

If you want an inspirational story of how the Spirit of God works in spite of any of us then read this. If you want a challenge to consider how we can interact with what God is doing then this oughta spark some questons!

“The ‘E’ at the heart of emerging”
Paul Thomson

About 40 of us in late 70’s (all teens) found Christ IN our housing estate in Aberdeen, Scotland – we grew up in – this was completely outside known perameters of ‘mission’ at the time… BEFORE we ever came near a CHURCH.

No one ever told us about this incredible strange figure in that strange big book… WE stumbled on to him- it was OUR delicious secret – like finding ET in your kitchen, at the backside of the world -the estate was a terrifying place – many of us were beaten every week – day in day out by bullies at school or came through kids homes. Some of our chums – both boys and girls -were currently being abused by dads uncles. We were too young and scared to speak out (Aberdeen -70’s nuff said!) as we know now! no one would have listened to us – or believed us – anyway.

What did it look like … (church?) We would get together every day – we’d pack out our ma’s place – when she was at ‘yoga’ – 40 of us – some on ‘glue’ – bringing ghetto-blasters, biscuits, pocket money – to put in bowls to share we’d fill every room – kitchen, bedrooms, sitting room , hallway – outside in the back yard… when one of us said – they’re startin tae speak te God in the sitting room… everybody would squeeze in or join in thru the hatch (opens from kitchen)… sitting round – spikkin tae Goad … min… the heat in that room – I can still feel it (as well as the smell of glue and kids prefume and biscuits… the smell of God. I remeber that it gave us ‘guys’ permission to talk – really talk to each other… we even had a game – we would give each other all our wages – part time jobs – at the end of the week – or lay hands on our dog to see what would happen.

The words we used – our conversation with God – shocking even here among more refined – ’emerging church and mission’ sensibilities – (I count myself in here too now – so I’m not joshin you’all) the word ‘christian‘ – i don’t think – we…used or understood the word – yet – or church… NO ONE knew we even existed.. at this point – this is difficult to imagine, perhaps, but ‘I’ even wondered if any other of these ‘disciple’ types we read about to each other – in the gospels…existed in aberdeen??? until eventually I found a christian bookshop – I stammered – words to the guy behind the counter – ‘are yooz like in the bible… ‘ (I don’t think I even knew of the word: christian at this point – wasn’t in the gospels)

Now here is the really freaky bit.. I suddenly began to become ‘aware’ of ‘church buildings’ – It’s wierd but It was odd to me how I never noticed before.. their ‘existence’…. I’ve explained this to many people before – its like they were there – you kicked a ball against the wall of the thing – it made bell noises every sunday… but it WASN’T HERE…. it was an alien patch of ground from another place… where people had cars and came every week – (I was usually in my bed so I never saw them) and inside lived a mannie… with a funny soft voice… It’s odd but I had the distinct impression… that he looked so fragile – like he would break…something.. a sad soft posh person… I didn’t like him much… but thats all I remember. .

One day a man heard about us.. visited us and was blown away – he started using words like ‘revival’ etc… he was awfully happy … we were too… finally we made contact with the ‘outside’ and a real adult too to boot… he advised us to start ‘going to ‘church’ – very soon though… it died! They didn’t mean for it to… it just did. I now understand that – whatever lived in that soil or environment – was too fragile to be moved into an alien landscape – I remember watching it… the uprooted crew ….at church… slowly they got quieter less animated… less free and – ‘themselves’ … our language made people wince… our route into Christ completely alien… I was treated like a hero… they had me preach every 2 weeks – and got to ‘lead worship’ – with our own written stuff… that we had composed in the estate… It was all wrong – I felt it – but I was too young and scared – and we were all wowed by these al these bright talkative kind posh people with big faces, who knew better about church and God and a that! Now after being thru the – wimber alt worship/NOS to clubchurch now.. to the possibility of a wide luscious multicoloured valley – of tribes… linking out to the edges and beyond of the alternative and even – the anglosphere… altogether (O God i hope so)…. we come to Emerging church…. (with Big J nothing is lost and the best comes with us – NOS too).

without the E…. however, there is no E-merging anything … just good ol’ MERGING…. so here is my 2p (or whatever your currency is) worth …

E in E merging stands for (in the Uk anyway…) stands for ESTATES……

this time – for the first time, perhaps in 1500 years… i our aristocratic obsessed Country …the poor might just get back in…. from the cold…. the experience of the ‘absence of Christ’ – remarked by many in Europe since the before the world wars… is for a purpose… it induces the song of solomon phenomena – the search for him… in the wackiest places… but its, if you notice a story about the ‘king/prince’ choosing to hang out with the poorest… (dark)

….. if you miss the presence… spend a few years with/among/the outcasts…. be baptised among the religious poor… like the Jeruslamites and temple goers – immersing themselves among the cackling and rough tones and raw emotions of those at the jordan with John-the immerser…

if you are poor – for goodness sake don’t be ashamed of it – help the middle classes … let go.. their obsessive need to help you… and ‘communicate chunkily’ – with each other and God… from their heart… they’re so nervous of losing their ‘cool’ … of catching ‘ poverty’ and ‘neediness’ … oof protecting their masks… they are in great pain because of it.. help them let go a bit… aybe they can then go from letting God move their heart – to letting God move their butts! and dance…. something the poorest have always done….

can you imagine ‘NEDS’ leading … the emerging church… into her future …and heritage and promised land… why not? the benjaminites… (the smallest tribe) were asked to lead Israel across the jordan… I bet they were surprised….that must have been a sight…

or rough Galileans cluelessly leading the church into her future in Europe and Africa Century 1

ending up as stories from Egyptian traders among the tatoo’ed unwashed natives of Scotland and Ireland…

put ESTATES at the heart of the emrging church in the UK and enjoy the presence of Christ ….sup to yooz (ooh I’m gettin ma voice back min)

Do You Want to Get Well?

I read a great book a couple of weeks back – Renovation of the Church – the story of a church that hit the ‘seeker church’ line very hard and then (as they say) took a ‘jackhammer to their foundations’  as they realised they were creating a monster rather than leading people to Jesus.

Having been down that track (a long time ago now) I remember well the challenge of spinning all the plates and keeping everything running yet feeling like we weren’t necessarily seeing people becoming more like Jesus. They were busy – no question – but many were ending up as religious consumers rather than disciples.

One of the central themes of their book is taken from the story of Jesus approaching the lame man at Bethesda and asking him if he wanted to get well.

It isn’t a ‘given’.

He asks because the truth is that the man may not want to get well. His ‘sick’ life may be working for him and he may prefer to stay there. People carry him around… he doesn’t have to work… and to ‘get well’ could be a whole conundrum of expectatons. Likewise when it comes to discipleship. To ‘get well’ – to become like Christ – comes at a cost. We choose to forgo our immediate pleasures and sources of contentment and pursue Christ.

To get well costs but it is where life is found.

CS Lewis puts it like this:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

We settle for sensual pleasures and temporal desires when God calls us to recalibrate our thinking and living so that we want what he wants and we seek him.

To ‘get well’ means believing that the rule of God is a better way than the pursuit of our own desires. We don’t always believe that…

Which is why so man of us remain sick for a long time

 

A Vicarious Spirituality?

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I don’t talk to many people who are content in their spirituality.

I don’t talk to too many who say they are enjoying their relationship with God and feeling good about it.

It seems we are in constant struggle to grow and develop our own spirituality. Perhaps that’s why we are attracted to apparently successful images of church. I say ‘apparent’, because some genuinely are ‘successful’ and others are just apparent.

By being part of a happening church, where the worship is intense and the preaching is powerful I can feel like I am in a healthy place. I can feel like I am a powerful, victorious go ahead type of Christian. I think there are many who do actually develop vicarious spirituality – where their own faith is lived through the vibe of the church or the charisma of the leader, but it doesn’t actually take root in their own heart.

That’s a scary place to be, because all you have to do is ask the ‘what if?’ questions.

What if the church splits?
What if the preacher leaves?
What if you get a new job in another city?

More to the point…

What if you wake up one day and realise your spirituality is a thin veneer covering a vacuous space? What if you were to face reality and say that there is no ‘me and God’ there is only me and the ‘Sunday gathering’ and thru this event I meet God?…

What if you find yourself in a place where church fails to cut it for you?

I am all for inspiration, all for creating a vibe that engages people, but I am concerned that there are people living off the fumes of a ‘rockin church’. I am concerned that people have outsourced their own spiritual development to either a pastor or a ‘church’. And church is in inverted commas because I don’t think this really is church anyway.

Sometimes our structures tap into the dark places in our hearts and work against genuine spiriutal formation.

The solution? I don’t think we should seek to be less inspiring, less engaging. But somehow we need to create a space where people are both challenged and encouraged to ask the hard questions of themselves and then to take personal responsibility for their own discipleship – to form a faith that isn’t dependent on the competence of the worship leader, the charisma of the speaker or the vibe of gathering.

When we centre our efforts on creating an event that wows people we can only expect this kind of response. If we were to centre our efforts on helping people get to know Jesus then we probably won’t need to create such events. They may exist and may serve a purpose, but chances are they won’t undermine what we actually hope to do – to help people stand on their own two feet and know who they are in Christ.

 

 

 

What God Put in Your Heart

One of the things I am really enjoying about the experience of leading a church community at the moment is the opportunity to learn and experiment myself.

Today was our ‘prayer and planning’ day, where we set aside time to listen to God, listen to each other and hear where God may be taking us in the coming year. We have been doing it for a couple of years now and each time has been a little different. I think that’s good because it hasn’t become a formulaic process with predetermined outcomes.

I am very conscious of who we invite to these days. For us its an ‘opt in’ day where anyone who sees this church as their local expression of faith is welcome to come and participate. It isn’t for leaders, ‘members’ or those who have been around for a certain length of time. By making it purely ‘opt in’ you end up with those who really want to be there – and who are keen to be part of the process. I’m sure some would have liked to be there today, but couldn’t, but for the most part, these days reflect who the key players are in the life of a church.

One of the things I find perplexing about church planning days is the sense of need to arrive at concrete outcomes that we can action for the next year. Personally I don’t think we have to do this, but I am concious that some feel the day hasn’t been time well spent if we haven’t decided on ‘new stuff to do’. By the same token I am very much for concrete outcomes if they are stuff that God is leading us towards (atlhough I think that in the absence of genuinely hearing God we tend to invent stuff so that we can justufy our existence). Easy to do with our evangelical heritage.

I wonder, what if God said ‘I don’t want you to do anything new’? What if God said ‘all good – just keep rolling’? I think we tend to find that scenario a little hard to imagine. I certainly have in the past. But maybe he does that some days.

As I was reflecting on the process we would use for today I felt it would be valuable to :

– reflect on our history – to tell the story of where we have been – where we have come from to be here today (a very biblical process actually) and in doing so observe the fingerprints of God over our community. I always find this valuable and we enjoy sharing the story together.

– give thanks for what we have – because acknowledging how good things are, helps us kick off with gratitude and an awareness of God’s goodness to us. There was plenty to be grateful for and that is healthy.

– listen for what God has put in our hearts. I am convinced that our future flows out of our passions more than out of cold, formal planning. We reflected on the story of Nehemiah and how he felt compelled to do ‘what God had put in his heart.‘ I don’t want to try and put stuff in people’s hearts and I don’t want to simply push people into stuff that isn’t in their hearts, but I have a strong sense that if we listen to what God has already put in our hearts then we will likely find the next steps come easily. We split into smaller groups to answer the question:  “Where do I feel energy and where do I feel the stirring of God in me for the greater good of the church and his kingdom?” In other words what is firing in YOU?

– listen to one another and listen to God – from this smaller group discussion we came back together to hear what God is stirring in us. For some it was easy to articulate, while for others it was a little less obvious and that is fine. As we talked we heard what God was firing up in people, we heard what was important… And from there we took time to listen to God to see what he may have been saying.

– break for coffee – I don’t think you can ever underestimate the value of the ‘break’ in these kinds of gatherings. People can only focus for so long, but in the break what has been discussed often percolates and brews ready for the next interaction.

– distill – we came back to distill what we were hearing and interestingly it was less about  things to ‘action’ and more about the priority of keeping Jesus central in all we do. I guess you say that’s stupidly obvious… and it is. Except that I sensed what God was saying to us was that we are to find contentment and purpose in simply this and we are to hold this as our top priority. I reckon that’s a little piece of gold.

– consider practical actions – as we agreed not to actually choose any specific actions a discussion began around how we are gathering in smaller communities and what flowed was an awareness that we need to create some different spaces for people to connect and experience church. Before the day had ended one family had said ‘we want to do this – this is what God has put in our heart’. Another person wanted to gather our worship crew to help them focus and reflect on how we worship together – yet another practical outcome that flowed from what was in a person’s heart rather than from cold strategic planning. I am sure more will flow as people listen to what God has put in their hearts and as they respond to him. And that’s how I’d like it to be…

The day finished with lunch and then flowed on into coffee for a few of us as sat by the beach and enjoyed the beauty of being the church together.

It was another day to give thanks for the community we are part of and to observe again that if we pay attention to Jesus and listen for his voice, then he can do a pretty good job of leading his church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It Matters

I updated my facebook status this morning along these lines:

“In Australia there are so many reasons not to go to church… in summer its too hot, in winter its too cold and wet, in autumn and spring its too beautiful a day to spend inside… and then there’s today where its just too butt ugly out there to want to go anywhere… looking forward to being with the crew on this squally Perth morning.”

Its a very ugly day here in Perth, blowing  a gale, hailing and raining. (The first day of the abalone season and as I write a search is underway just 400m from home for an Asian guy who went in the water this morning and didn’t come out.  Last I saw they were sending scuba divers in so its not looking pretty. Tragic to lose life over a shellfish.)

But back to church…

As I sat with the QBC crew today I had one of those profound moments of realisation that what we do by turning up every week matters. It really matters. Not in an attendance register / taking the roll kind of way, but in a committed to one another kind of way, in a lifestyle forming kind of way, in a countercultural choosing kind of way.

My facebook status alludes to the fact that its a choice that is easy not to make in our culture, because there are many reasons to choose things other than being together. And to be honest at times I have found the framing of this choice a bit difficult to swallow. When framed legalistically / dutifully I begin to zone out and lose interest, but when we speak in terms of forming our corporate identity and of practicing disciplines that form us into Christlikeness then I am all ears.

I’m not overly worried whether its Sunday, Monday or Thursday evening that we gather, but rather that we choose to do it and that we enter it in our mental diaries as a non-negotiable. That’s a harder line than I have taken in the past, but in the last few years I’ve increasingly seen ‘turning up’ as the first step in becoming a community. If we can’t ‘turn up’ then we are seriously screwed before we even leave first base.

We live in an era where regular church attendance (a crappy term I know…)  is probably considered to be 1 week in 3, or if you’re really committed, then fortnightly. As a result we have lost some of the positive energy that goes with being a church community. Fragmentation in wider society is reflected in church culture where we no longer have the same bonds.

I also see the weekly discipline (because it is just that some weeks) as something that informs and forms my children. They see us practice things that matter to us and in their heads they will inevitably conclude that commitment to a Christian community as a non-negotiable in our week is a priority. While there are no guarantees with kids, my hunch is that if they don’t see that in us then I imagine it will be less likely to form in them.

There have been plenty of mornings I have woken up and not felt at all like joining the crew at church. I have felt more like sleeping late, hitting the beach and simply doing ‘what I want’. Its not that I can’t do any of those things at other times, but sometimes I just don’t like the sense of commitment that goes with… well… ‘commitment’…

I wonder how we would go as the church if were able to have both a strong commitment to mission and a strong commitment to Christian community? I see one as shaping and sparking the other and vice versa. We can pick up the ‘mission ball’ at the expense of the ‘community’ ball, but when we begin to choose either/or I think we slowly amble into a world of our own preferences.

Some stuff is hard and we just need to do it.

That said, every morning when I woke up and thought ‘church… blech…’ and chosen to be there I have found myself encouraged and reminded that this is stuff that matters.

I’ve started running again and its the same feeling. Sometimes you just can’t be bothered. Its cold, wet and much nicer in front of the telly, but no one becomes the person they hope to be making the easy choices all the time.

(I just noticed that this post links back to a post I made earlier this year here, where David Fitch gave some excellent insights.)

 

Two Reasons to Go to Church

David Fitch is back blogging. I always enjoy his perspective on the church and mission and this piece nailed a similar thought I have been processing lately.

Sometimes I find myself wondering why people either come to church or don’t come. It is a beautiful spring day in Perth and church numbers were a little down today. Some sick, some busy, some probably just doing something else… the beach… a picnic… whatever…

Like David writes in this post, I am not a fan of ‘going to church’, but I am absolutely convinced we need to be deeply knitted into a regular (probably weekly) corporate expression of faith – otherwise we simply aren’t ‘getting’ one very significant aspect of discipleship.

Those who know me well enough would know I am not just referring to attending a church service, but if you aren’t going to do that as a baseline activity, then the question I would raise (to anyone claiming to be a Jesus follower) is just who are you connecting with at a significant level and who is sharing the road with you?

There is no solitary discipleship and if we choose to move that way then we are kidding ourselves. Ultimately it is going to see us come unstuck.

David offers two reasons to go to church:

a) to get something

b) to submit to something

The first is possibly the primary reason many people go – to ‘meet their needs’ – and that is not all bad, but it does revolve around the self and can easily end up in the consumer approach to faith. We end up as those who evaluate and ask ‘what did I get out of today?’ We do have needs, but this one so easily veers into selfishness. Not a good reason to do so.

The second really struck a chord, as what David is essentially arguing for is ‘going to church’ as a spiritual discipline – something we do even when we don’t feel like it because we know that the outcome is going to be valuable at some point and because others will benefit rather than just me.

Its a mature approach to church – while the first is an immature one.

I think we can easily poo poo people who attend church religiously – no pun intended (and maybe some do need a bit of poking) – but perhaps they are also establishing a discipline and a rhythm that will both serve them and others well.

The act of ‘going to church’ is not the end in itself. You can do that and still be a spiritual infant. But when ‘going to church’ is done consciously to submit to a needed discipline and to bless others then our own health can only flourish

We live in a country where regular church attendance has been in steep decline for a long time – and I would suggest that the rigour of discipleship has paralleled that decline. It used to be that those who were ‘committed’ would go to church at least once on a Sunday – but more likely twice if it were possible. (The big negative to this was that life then revolved around ‘church’ and we lost contact with the world.)

We then went to regular weekly attendance, but more recently we see people attending fortnightly or maybe 1 in 3 and still seeing themselves as committed to the community.

Really?…

I hope we never veer back into the legalism that saw people judged for not being in the building each time the doors were open, but perhaps we need a course correction that sees people choosing to do what is now considered unusual and making their weekly gathering a top priority rather than something they will get to if there is nothing in the way.

Whether you meet in a school, a dedicated building, a home, a cafe or on a beach if we see our weekly gathering as a spiritual discipline and as an act of service to others then we will start to point the ship in the right direction.

Changing the World and Doing the Dishes

The next slab of teaching we’re going to do at QBC revolves around the whole theme of spiritual gifts and people finding their place in the body. I haven’t done this one for a while and want to consider how we approach it – because its always easy to click back to the ‘defaults’.

These days I approach it with two equal, and to some degree opposite, thoughts in mind. Firstly and primarily we want to inspire people to use whatever God given talents they have to make a difference in this world, but I reckon its also important to communicate that we also want people to ‘do their share’ in the family. Its a blend of inspiration and responsibility. I’ve been known to say ‘if you want to be in the family then you need to do the dishes’ – sometimes quite literally. But I seriously hope that when people express who God has made them to be it becomes a whole heap more than that.

Spiritual gifts is another one of those subjects that has been done to death and may lack some punch for those who have been around churches for the last 10 years, so we won’t be taking longer than 5 or 6 weeks on it. But for a community in early stages of formation its helpful groundwork and perhaps more importantly its helpful to frame how we see spiritual gifts operating in our church.

So it will involve some big picture ‘framing’ of the idea of gifting and considering the different ways it is looked at as well as some more informal times of hearing from people who are gifted in different ways and seeing how they express their gift.

As I consider the two statements above though, my sense is that its going to be very difficult to ever change the world if you can’t just do the dishes.