Church So Simple Even You Could Do It

Church doesn't have to be complicated. Mostly when people think of church, they think of the more complicated versions. Weekly Sunday services - with musicians and singers, a minister who prepares and preaches a sermon, pews and notices and morning tea and children's programs - then of course youth groups, women's groups, charity programs, small group networks.... and when you've done it one week you start organising the next one. Imagine starting a church like this! I know some people who have and it's a huge process that requires a lot of time, vision, planning and clever people, not to mention a pastor with serious credentials (ministry qualifications, years of experience etc). Most of us would never imagine that we could do something like this. Even many pastors, like myself.

But church doesn't have to be that complicated. Church is not the programs and preaching and preparation of all this stuff. Church is people. If you boil it down to its simplest ingredients, church is a group of people who are following Jesus together, looking after each other and making a difference in the world. This might involve weekly sermons, services and staff, or it could just be a handful of people who catch up in a park every couple of weeks to chat, eat food and encourage each other. That's what our church looks like. Maybe you could start one like this too.

It's called a simple church, and there are more and more of these popping up all over the place. One of the advantages of keeping church simple like this (and there are many!) is that many more people can actually do it. Like running a mobile coffee van instead of a 3-Star Restaurant. If you can get people together and find some content that helps you centre around Jesus, you can probably lead a simple church. And there's a huge amount of great content out there. Through my organisation, OurPathway, I can even plug you into some great support for simple church leaders. Information, resources, stories, a network of people with a range of different simple churches.

How good would it be if there was one of these simple churches on every street? People who are living out Jesus' way of life, bringing heaven into their local communities, and sharing countless stories of what God is doing in all those different places. If you've wondered about something like this before, don't let that idea go! If you don't fit in with the more complicated versions of church, or if you are frustrated with it for some reason, then do something about it! Keep praying, and check out www.OurPathway.com, and start some conversations with your friends about it. And if you want to chat more about it all, let me know and we can have a coffee together.

Right throughout the history of the church, it has been simple groups of Jesus followers who have changed the world. From Jesus' own handful of disciples to the house churches in Acts to the early fathers, small groups of nuns, and wild Celtic monks who transformed whole nations. God has always used simple, unsensational, behind-the-scenes, slowly-growing groups for his powerful, life-changing work. Like yeast in dough, or a tiny seed in the ground. Maybe you could be one of those seeds. And even if that's still not you, please pray for more people who will do it!

How to Change the World With Fruit Punch

I have some interesting conversations in my work as a highschool chaplain. Yesterday I had a good one with one of the teachers at school about cultural differences. It came about because she wanted to support the chaplaincy program by putting on a morning tea and inviting the other teachers. For me that would have meant buying some bikkies and cordial and cracking out the plastic cups; for her it meant treating us all to a feast, with home-baked cakes and Anzac bikkies, exotic fruit platters, lamingtons, secret-family-recipe fruit punch, and so on.... My one job was to provide a table, and my contribution gradually looked more and more pitiful the more food she brought out.

"This is amazing!" I said, as she thinly sliced some limes to place in each glass. "You've done this before."
"Oh, you obviously didn't know that I'm married to a Samoan," she explained. "This is every Sunday for me." And she went on to tell me about some of the other differences between our cultures.

One part of the conversation that particularly stood out to me was when she talked about how they do funerals. In Samoan culture - or at least where her family is from - family and close friends come from all over to stay with the bereaved family, to be with them, help them grieve, support them, cook for them, look after kids, help them talk through the pain and share stories of life shared and lost. Not just for a week though. This could go on for months, she said. And there's no polite avoidance of the painful topics. In her family, people will doggedly persist with the hard questions until they're honestly answered and then can be worked through together. By the time everyone has gone home, the bereaved family is well-and-truly working through their grief and learning to live again despite their loss. It's the responsibility of the oldest in the family to be there until everyone else has gone, however long that takes.

This comes as quite a contrast when compared with how the western world typically operates. Yes it's messier, yes it's more complicated (imagine 20 people living in your house for a month!), yes it's in-your-face, bare-your-soul honest - but as this teacher talked all I could think was "This sounds a lot like Jesus." When I read the gospel stories, I feel that Jesus' home culture seems more like Samoa than America or England.

If you were to use only a few words to describe the way of life that Jesus showed to his disciples, "hospitality" would have to be one of those words. Take Easter for example. On Easter Sunday Jesus beat death for all time, forever altered history by guaranteeing the awesome hope of the gospel, and became the king of the universe. And then he returned to spend a little more time with his followers. Everything had changed, and Jesus now had all the power in the universe at his disposal. What would he do? What would he show his disciples? What would he tell them to do? If you read the stories, it's a little underwhelming how it played out. Jesus had a meal with his disciples. He walked along a road chatting with some confused friends, then joined them for dinner at their place. He went fishing with his mates, and cooked breakfast for them on the beach. Ordinary, everyday things, simple things, hospitality things - the kinds of things he'd been doing with them all along.

Everything had changed on a cosmic, eternity level. But on the practical, everyday, human level the plan was still the same. God was communicating to us "These simple things really are important. Just keep doing what I showed you!" Share life together, eat together, walk together, laugh together, grieve together, learn together, and help more people to do the same.

It's not rocket science. But Jesus knew that simple things like this really do have the power to change the world. So may we take some cues from our Samoan friends, and from Jesus himself, and learn to live our lives with more and more depth and generosity, honesty and compassion... and more lime-garnished glasses of secret-family-recipe fruit punch.

The World Vision Decision

Recently Richard Stearns, CEO of World Vision, announced that they would not make a theological statement over same-sex marriage, but that they would continue employing people in same-sex marriages. And then apparently all hell broke loose.

Many "Christians" announced that they would be pulling their support from World Vision as a result, and some other high-profile "Christians" then blamed the gay community for causing hunger and suffering to the children WV works with.

I am so angry with this that I'm going to pass you over to a more calm person for a response. Take a moment today to read this brilliantly perceptive and gracious article by Rachel Held Evans on the situation.

http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/world-vision

What does a school chaplain do?

Here's a simple sign I put in my room and display for teachers as well. This is adapted from the SU role description. I've simplified the language enough for teachers. Still working on making it even simpler for my high school students. I'll post it here when I've got it.

What does a chaplain do?
1. Support students exploring their spiritual beliefs and worldviews.
2. Provide pastoral care for students and be a role model to them.
3. Participate in general activities in the life of the school.
4. Engage with local churches and community groups.
5. Participate with students in outside school events/programs.

Women and the Church

I recently had the pleasure of being the guest speaker at another church, and in conversation with one of the elders afterwards (while sipping the usual Nescafé Blend 43 and eating an iced vovo) I discovered that they don't allow women to preach. Now before I go any further, it's worth making a very strong note that I am not going to lay out what I think on the matter in this very short article, nor give a theological treatise on the topic. My intention is just to open up the topic, so that you intelligent readers can have the conversations, because I believe it's an important conversation to have.

Now a few observations. First, without going into any of the details, it needs to be said that the culture in first century Palestine where the church first started is not the same as the culture of 21st Century Australia. With that in mind, the answers the New Testament church came up with to various questions (including this one) may not always fit as snugly in our world today. Whatever answers we come up with today (to any of the "how to" questions) need to reflect both the way of Jesus and the needs of our own culture. I'll leave you to nut that one out.

Secondly, it might be worth pointing out that women feature much more in the New Testament than people usually suppose. Jesus' official twelve disciples may have been men, but there were also at least a handful of key women who seem to have been very supportive of Jesus - some scholars even suggest they may have been providing financial support to his missions.

Now look at the conversations. Through the gospels on almost every occasion the general impression is that most people - including the twelve - basically had no idea of what Jesus was on about. Yet there are at least two significant recorded occasions where Jesus seems to be impressed that someone actually got what he was saying... both times with women (John 4, Mark 7).

Fast-forward to Good Friday, where all of his followers have run away in fear. Wait, all? No, not all.

"Some women were there, watching from a distance, including Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joseph), and Salome. They had been followers of Jesus and had cared for him while he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come with him to Jerusalem were also there." (Mark 15:40-41)

And they stayed with him, following when his body was taken down from the cross, to see where it would be placed. Then as soon as the sabbath ended and shops opened they purchased spices to prepare his body. Everyone knows the rest of the story. Sunday morning the women were there at the crack of dawn and were the first to discover that Jesus was alive - and not only that, but it seems they believed it before any of the men. They rushed back to tell the disciples (and where were the disciples? Hiding in a room). In the meantime, the resurrected Jesus thought it important to make a short stop off on his way back to the Father to have his first conversation, with who? Mary Magdalene. Read it again and notice how much women feature in this the climax of the story. In a male-dominated culture, what do you think this said?

It doesn't end with the gospels. In a culture filled with male leaders, the early church features a significant number of key women as well. At the end of his letter to the believers in Colossae, Paul writes, "Please give my greetings to our brothers and sisters at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church that meets in her house." At the end of Romans: "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deacon in the church in Cenchrea. Welcome her in the Lord as one who is worthy of honor among God’s people. Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me. Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.... Give my greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for your benefit." Women play significant roles and feature in prominent places right through the New Testament. It seems that the early church had no problems with women in influential roles.

What about your church? Does it show the significance of both genders in its organisation and leadership? Are there any "rules" in place (even unspoken ones) that might need to be reconsidered? Could your church benefit from some more feminine creativity?

Recently I've been hearing a fair bit about how previously male-dominated fields - such as science and technology - are discovering just how much women can add to the conversation. Personally I would like to see the church leading this charge, and benefitting just as much from the new and fresh ways of thinking that women can bring.

Over to you.

Swearing

I had an interesting little conversation the other day with a couple of students in my chaplaincy room.

I overheard one of the students telling his friend, "Ben's not allowed to swear because he's a chaplain. That's like a pastor."

I've heard this kind of thing quite a bit in my life. When I was in high school myself, one of my mates picked up that I was a Christian, and from that point on whenever he swore and I was anywhere nearby he always apologised to me straightaway. "Oh sorry Ben." No matter how many times I told him it didn't bother me.

Thankfully the people at my school now don't feel the need to protect me from nasty words.

So anyway, when the student in my room told his mate that I wasn't allowed to swear, I piped up, "Actually the Bible doesn't say we're not allowed to swear," I said.

"Doesn't it?" He was surprised.

"Nope, there's nothing in there at all about swearing."

I let him think about it for a few seconds, then said "It does say that we should be kind to others though, and a lot of people find swearing offensive. So if you're around people who find it offensive, Jesus would say don't do it."

"Oh yeah." He got it I think. I wanted him to think about the why, not just the what. Following Jesus is not a set of rules - a point that even a lot of Christians don't get.

This is one of the key differences between high school and primary school chaplaincy. Younger kids respond best to rules - bite-sized bits of information: don't swear, clean up your room, be kind to others, look out for the kids who don't have any friends, listen to the teacher, stay in line etc. With teenagers we're helping them to become adults, so they need to start thinking through these things. Eg. "Some people find swearing offensive so make sure you think about the people you're around." Or someone mucking up in class, "Understand that your teachers are trying to help you learn - they're not against you. They're doing all this because they care about you. Do you want to get smarter? Do you want to pass the test? Do you think there might be a way for you to help some of the other kids?"

With teenagers (and young adults), questions are more important than answers, and it's good to throw a spanner in the works if it gets them to think about something they've heard instead of just accepting it. This is even more important when it comes to their own faith.

THINK

I stole this from another chaplain's room and thought it was worth sharing.

Facebook Makes You Sad

According to this Sydney Morning Herald article. It's worth checking out. I posted it on Facebook too, but sadly no one liked it.

How to Evangelise Without Evangelising

One of the electives at conference today was on how to be a spiritual support in your school. There are so many questions around this topic that I get the feeling we could have talked all day. What are we allowed to do? What are we not allowed to do? What's in our job description? What does the government say is in our job description? And it gets even trickier when you start bringing up specific situations.

As far as the government is concerned, chaplains are in schools to be a spiritual support to the students. However we have our hands tied a bit. There's a long list of things we can't do, like evangelising or proselytising (what is that again?). It's a topic that's been drilled in so often that you can start to feel a bit like a chef who's not allowed in the kitchen. Or like a black knight with no arms or legs. It's fair enough too. We want non-Christian people to be comfortable with us in schools. I have an atheist mate who has some very strong reservations about school chaplaincy and I completely understand why.

But there's also a lot we CAN do, and it's brilliant that we have the opportunity. Here's how I look at it, and I hope you find this helpful as well....

A few years ago some friends of mine in a simple home church decided to go through the four gospels and try to find out what Jesus actually wants us to do. If we're meant to be living Jesus' way, they asked - following Jesus, trying to be "little Christs," - well what actually is that way? What did Jesus actually tell people to do?

So this group went through all the things Jesus said (all the red letter passages) and took note every time Jesus told his followers to do something. It was quite a long list when they finished, but as they started to take out the repetitions and collate the similar phrases, in the end it all boiled down to seven ideas. Seven things that Jesus wants us to do. This is the way of Jesus right here. Ready? Here they are.

Love your neighbour.

Love your enemies.

Trust God (eg "don't worry about tomorrow").

Follow the Spirit (or "receive the spirit").

Hold your possessions loosely.

Reform yourself, not others ("take the plank out of your own eye...").

Be humble.

If people are doing those seven things then they are living Jesus' way. This is what it means to be a Christian.

And here's the helpful bit for chaplaincy. As I look at that list there are really only two that I can't push much in schools: trust God and follow the Spirit. The other five I can preach everywhere, to anyone, as much as I like. I can tell students that they should love their neighbour and no one will stop me. I can speak strongly about how important it is to be generous, and everyone will agree. At the moment there is a lot of discussion about refugees in Australia. I can have significant conversations with students about how we should treat all people with dignity and compassion wherever they're from - and what I'm actually doing without anyone knowing is echoing Jesus' words to love your enemies.

Five out of seven's pretty fantastic if you ask me. We can essentially help people to become quite a bit like Jesus without them even knowing it. These five ideas are well-respected in our culture (and most others) even if they're not lived out by many people. We just have to affirm them and demonstrate how to do it. And that's all before saying anything about God.

So don't feel that you can't say anything. You can actually say quite a lot of Jesus' message AND help people to start living it. There's of course a lot more to the good news than that, but I think it's a pretty huge head start.

Hope you find that helpful!

The Four Spaces of Belonging

Here's something I've found helpful for thinking about mission, networks, relationships and community: The Four Spaces of Belonging. The ideas come from Joseph Myers' book "The Search to Belong," about the ways that people connect. And here they are....

First there is the Public Space. This is a large-scale shared experience, where you feel you are part of a great number of people on the same wavelength, but you are still free to remain anonymous if you choose. E.g. A shared worship experience in a big church, a footy game, a movie theatre, a forum for Commodore or Mac owners, St Paddy's Day...

Next is Social Space. This is where we cluster around a common interest or focus (e.g. a BBQ, local pub, workplace, school event, party or function). Here you connect on a superficial level, sharing snapshots of yourself - who I am, what I enjoy, where I live, where I work... This is a natural space to be introduced to new people, ideas, invites - a great springboard to the other spaces.

A little more intimate is our Personal Space. This is a smaller group of our friends and family, close work colleagues, mums group, etc. Here we know each other well and share more privately, reflect together on faith, share our lives, pray for one another, care for one another. Jesus had this connection with his twelve disciples.

And finally there is our Intimate Space. This is only shared with a few people - our spouse and one or two close friends. These people know us as we really are - the good and the ugly. In this space we feel safe and secure to share the naked truth about ourselves, what we think, what we struggle with - the deepest parts of ourselves. Jesus shared some things only with his closest friends - Peter, James and John.

The idea is that healthy community is a combination of all of these spaces, not just the deep, intimate ones. So you're in danger if you're connecting in the public space but not anywhere more personal. And you're also missing out if you connect in deep intimate relationships but avoid larger settings where you might run in to new people.

Churches have tended to view the deep, personal settings (like accountability groups, one-to-one discipleship and mentoring) as the places where spiritual growth happens and so have worked to push people towards the inner spaces. Myers calls us to value each of the four spaces equally and recognise that God is active in shaping us at every level.

What about you? Which spaces do you feel most comfortable? Are there any that you're missing out on? What changes could you make so you can find a sense of belonging at every level?