Today I met with the guys from our Baptist Youth Ministries exec team to discuss the possibility of part time work next year as a youth ministry coach. It looks like it’ll be a goer. Sensational! I get to do something I enjoy, can do well and even get paid for it.
It will start in January and be a day and a half a week of simple coaching of youth pastor/workers with the odd country trip included.
Should be a lot of fun.
I loathe Christmas carols!
But I love it when I discover a song that captures some of what the Christmas period really is about. Bruce Cockburn has done a sensational job here.
Thanks John for the tip off!
Mary grows a child without the help of a man
Joseph get upset because he doesn’t understand
Angel comes to Joseph in a powerful dream
Says "God did this and you’re part of his scheme"
Joseph comes to Mary with his hat in his hand
Says "forgive me I thought you’d been with some other man"
She says "what if I had been – but I wasn’t anyway and guess what
I felt the baby kick today"
Like a stone on the surface of a still river
Driving the ripples on forever
Redemption rips through the surface of timeIn the cry of a tiny babe
The child is born in the fullness of time
Three wise astrologers take note of the signs
Come to pay their respects to the fragile little king
Get pretty close to wrecking everything
‘Cause the governing body of the whole land
Is that of Herod, a paranoid man
Who when he hears there’s a baby born King of the Jews
Sends death squads to kill all male children under two
But that same bright angel warns the parents in a dream
And they head out for the border and get away clean
Like a stone on the surface of a still river
Driving the ripples on forever
Redemption rips through the surface of time
In the cry of a tiny babe
There are others who know about this miracle birth
The humblest of people catch a glimpse of their worth
For it isn’t to the palace that the Christ child comes
But to shepherds and street people, hookers and bums
And the message is clear if you’ve got ears to hear
That forgiveness is given for your guilt and your fear
It’s a Christmas gift you don’t have to buy
There’s a future shining in a baby’s eyes
Like a stone on the surface of a still river
Driving the ripples on forever
Redemption rips through the surface of time
In the cry of a tiny babe
I have been invited to speak at a church that is doing the ’40 days of Purpose’ and my job is to speak about evangelism, using Rick’s outline and sticking pretty closely to his stuff.
I have been sent a 12 page sermon which I am to work off.
I have never worked off someone else’s notes before so it’ll be interesting to use it and tailor it to what I sense God is wanting to say. ted bundy online
BTW – what Rick had to say was for the most part really good stuff and well presented. But its just not me, so I’l need to do some shaping!
Given that Steve is a kiwi and I am an Aussie this post
really lends itself to a bit of cross tasman stirring…
But its full of great insights into one of my favourite passages of scripture, so I’ll simply suggest you have a read!
The whole John Safran exorcism episode sure has got people hunting for explanations.
This normally quiet blog with a fairly select readership (yes that’s you!) has been off its nut the last week as people have been googling for Safran.
Last year I made the mistake of posting about A-strali-an Id-l and every man and his dog rolled up to hear my completely uninformed observations. (I have left blanks so I don’t pull another crowd!)
I’m not sure how google works things, but every now and then I seem to land at the top of the google pile for better or worse.
The Safran one was interesting because i think it is something we ought to be able to speak to. The range of reponses indicates a readership beyond those I normally target.
BTW – those I normally target are highly intelligent, discerning, open minded, articulate thinking adults… but people like Gareth also read it. 🙂
Actually if I were to describe a target audience it would be those who are doing the same kind of stuff we are in planting churches, re-imagining church and mission, and exploring spirituality in a post-christian world.
The blogs I normally read are:
First – local – usually people who live in my own city – I guess I’m just a nosey bugger and like to know what’s going on around me.
Second – for want of a better term, those who are also in the ’emerging church’ scene both here and overseas.
Third – Nope… there isn’t a third category!…
I actually read much more than I comment on, which I imagine is the way for most people. Comments are made when I am inspired, angry or suitably motivated.
Anyway if you’re read all this then you are obviously bored today because I have been rambling inanely!
Its not that hard to know what we are called to do. Its in the book and spelt out a number of times.
asks Willard’s question:
‘Can your church group put a sign out the front, or an advertisement in the paper saying, “We teach people who have chosen to follow Jesus how to do all He commanded them to do?” ‘
Its just not that hard is it?…
Recently I have been reading Alan Jamieson’s thesis from which he wrote ‘A Churchless Faith’, a book in which he explores why normal, clear thinking, unembittered people have given up on church but not on God.
I am only half way thru but here’s where I sense he is heading”
He has unpacked Fowler’s six stages of faith alongside Keniston’s modal development levels and seems to be suggesting that most evangelical Pentecostal churches rarely move people beyond a stage 3 level faith – that they draw strong black and white lines, have fairly clear behaviour codes and rarely challenge people to really grapple with faith.
They are predictable self perpetuating environments.
As such when people move to the higher stages of faith development, church as they know it can be an inhibiting factor. It can seem to be a ‘been there done that’ kind of experience.
While it is a significant generalisation I think there is some merit in his thesis. Maybe those with a churchless faith would belong to a church if ‘church’ engaged with them in meaningful ways.
This is a fascinating presentation where Tony Campolo and his wife Peggy speak about the issue of gay relationships and their completely different perspectives on same sex relationships.
This is the blurb that precedes the talks:
Dr. Campolo’s position on homosexuality is conservative: he believes that the Bible forbids all homosexual activity. However, he does not support attempts to “convert” gays into straights; rather, he advises gay people to pursue celibacy. His position is what some refer to as “Side B.”
Peggy Campolo, Dr. Campolo’s wife, takes a different view. She supports monogamous, same-sex relationships, and believes that marriages should be recognized in the church for both heterosexual and homosexual couples. Peggy’s position is what some refer to as “Side A.”
Two committed Christians with two different views – yet they are able to share the same bed each night and respect each other’s faith. How do they do it?
I am about half way thru listening to them speak and finding their grace, reasoning and humour very engaging and compelling.
If you thought Tony was a good communicator then you should hear Peggy. He definitely doesn’t upstage her.
I don’t talk to many people at all who are content in their spirituality.
I don’t talk to 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 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 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.
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 discover your spirituality is a thin veneer covering a vacuous empty space? What if you were to face reality and say that there is no ‘me and God’ there is only ‘me and church’ and thru this I meet God?…
What if you have been faking it?
I am all for inspiration, all for creating a vibe that engages people, but I am concerned that there are many people living off the fumes of a ‘rockin church’. I am concerned that people have outsourced their own spiritual development to a pastor or a ‘church’.
Yes – we do this stuff in community, but if we don’t do our own bit in private then we actually abuse the community by being always takers rather than givers.
Part of my real concern for the church is that we grow disciples who aren’t dependent on a weekly church fix to pump them up, but who are solidly earthed in their own identity in Christ.
Sometimes our own structures tap into the dark places in our hearts and work against this end…