No mission without names
The second thing we care about (and these are in no particular order) is "No mission without names." We're working with actual people, not hypothetical ones.
Our church and mission adapts to suit the actual people we connect with. Our church changes depending on who is in it, because each person brings something different - ideas, gifts, interests, life situation, outside connections, life story etc.
For example, we don't have a children's ministry. We just try to help Lily become more like Jesus, and Isla, and Abby etc – the same as we do for each of us in the church. There are some things we do specifically with all the kids together, but overall it's different for each of them, they're all at different stages, and we acknowledge that parents are the most important spiritual influence in their children's lives. We don't officially have a children's ministry as such. We try to support the parents in whatever ways we can.
Saturday, 24 November 2012
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Marriage and Choice
Covenant relationships are an uncommon thing in our culture - many people don't even know what the word means. It sounds so old-fashioned. We're used to contracts - relationships that benefit me, usually without a real person on the other end, that I can get out of if I find a better offer. And we've heard the phrase "friends with benefits" frequently, which is a kind of anti-marriage - the sex without the commitment, which gives me freedom to use the "friendship" however I want, or until it doesn't benefit me anymore. No wonder marriages are breaking so frequently. We've been set up for it.
Jesus' view on marriage is a little different. If you marry a divorced woman, Jesus says, you're committing adultery with them. If you divorce your wife, you're causing them to commit adultery. Yes it's that strong. According to the Bible, the basic rule is "One person for life."
There's an escape clause if your spouse has been unfaithful, and I would add abuse to that too. Sadly this happens. But for most people it's not some kind of tragic event that drives them apart. I would argue that at the heart it's just selfishness. Because in our culture, selfishness is seen as a good thing. Keep your options open, our culture says. Something better might come along, or you might need to back out. Just do it now while it benefits you. You're worth it. Stay free.
One person for life? You can hear the objections already. What if I stop loving them? What if they get boring? What if an opportunity comes up and I'm tied down? What if they've got issues? What if their personality starts to annoy me? What if it stops me doing the things I like? "For life" is such a long time - who can really promise something that far in advance? Life happens, you know. Things change. And on and on....
We've heard them all so many times that we've started to believe them. It sounds like truth.
It's not.
Covenant relationships acknowledge that things won't always be good, that different life pathways will present themselves, that better things might come up, that the romance will go up and down and sometimes I won't be able to stand being in the same room as you, that at times you'll be boring, angry, depressed, anxious, annoying, obnoxious, irritating, unattractive, exasperating. But even if all of that happens in the same week, I am still committed to you and I will be for the rest of our lives.
I'm yours for life, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, til death do us part. Those words were written before covenant relationships faded out of our culture.
I want to bring them back. I hope you'll join me. For marriages, and also for friendships. Long-term, unselfish commitment, whatever happens. It's things like this that will change the world.
(Read Mark Sayers' book, "The Road Trip that Changed the World," for some more in-depth thoughts on these subjects, and a more intensive perspective on our culture.)
Jesus' view on marriage is a little different. If you marry a divorced woman, Jesus says, you're committing adultery with them. If you divorce your wife, you're causing them to commit adultery. Yes it's that strong. According to the Bible, the basic rule is "One person for life."
There's an escape clause if your spouse has been unfaithful, and I would add abuse to that too. Sadly this happens. But for most people it's not some kind of tragic event that drives them apart. I would argue that at the heart it's just selfishness. Because in our culture, selfishness is seen as a good thing. Keep your options open, our culture says. Something better might come along, or you might need to back out. Just do it now while it benefits you. You're worth it. Stay free.
One person for life? You can hear the objections already. What if I stop loving them? What if they get boring? What if an opportunity comes up and I'm tied down? What if they've got issues? What if their personality starts to annoy me? What if it stops me doing the things I like? "For life" is such a long time - who can really promise something that far in advance? Life happens, you know. Things change. And on and on....
We've heard them all so many times that we've started to believe them. It sounds like truth.
It's not.
Covenant relationships acknowledge that things won't always be good, that different life pathways will present themselves, that better things might come up, that the romance will go up and down and sometimes I won't be able to stand being in the same room as you, that at times you'll be boring, angry, depressed, anxious, annoying, obnoxious, irritating, unattractive, exasperating. But even if all of that happens in the same week, I am still committed to you and I will be for the rest of our lives.
I'm yours for life, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, til death do us part. Those words were written before covenant relationships faded out of our culture.
I want to bring them back. I hope you'll join me. For marriages, and also for friendships. Long-term, unselfish commitment, whatever happens. It's things like this that will change the world.
(Read Mark Sayers' book, "The Road Trip that Changed the World," for some more in-depth thoughts on these subjects, and a more intensive perspective on our culture.)
Friday, 9 November 2012
The Normality of the Bible
"When you compare the Bible to the scriptures of other religions, what is striking is the normality of the Bible. There are not gods or spiritual entities under every rock, or exhaustive descriptions of heavenly battles. Abraham is not taken away from the earth to another spiritual realm. God does speak to him, but the arena for his discipleship is the everyday. His relationship with the spiritual does not drive him away from everyday life, but instead pushes him deeper into it. The transcendent is to be found in the midst of the ordinary."
- from "The Road Trip that Changed the World," by Mark Sayers
- from "The Road Trip that Changed the World," by Mark Sayers
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
Our Church: Monks, Cheerleaders and Activists
1. Monks, Cheerleaders and Activists
We are committed to helping each individual – adults and children – to be a monk, cheerleader and activist in their life.
Monks. Learning about who God is, his words, his way, his story, what he cares about, and who we are in relation to him. This means worship, prayer, reading the Bible, living like Jesus, etc.
Cheerleaders. Encouraging, supporting, praying, looking out for each other and the people we're connected to – in the bad and the good times.
Activists. Figuring out where each of us can make a positive difference in the world, to help bring Jesus' kingdom of heaven to earth.
More to come!
Thursday, 25 October 2012
The Bible Story in Pictures
I did these for my high school chaplaincy students. It's amazingly difficult to tell the Bible story in a lunch break!
Sunday, 21 October 2012
Sunday Morning Evangelism
It's worth posting this one again...
"Sunday morning in church is the one place where evangelism cannot take place in our generation because the lost are not there..." - from "Everyday Church," by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Review: Why Men Hate Going to Church
David Murrow begins this book with the harsh reality that most churches have fewer men than women, and because of this and various other reasons, church has gradually grown to reflect this. Church has largely become a place where women are comfortable and men are not. And thus begins a downward spiral. Church becomes slowly more feminine in its style because of the higher proportion of women, and as it does, men become less comfortable and men's numbers dwindle, which makes the church more feminine, which makes....
Although the descriptions of men/women seem a little exaggerated (not every man likes baseball and chainsaws) there are lots of helpful insights, advice on how to do church with men in mind, ways we are unintentionally marginalising men, and other practical tips.
I learnt a lot from this book. I'd really recommend it to any church leader. Church needs men. Especially now. It was Jesus' simplest strategy, and as Murrow points out: where there are men, the women, children and young people will want to be there too.
An interesting tidbit from the book to finish on (there's loads of research to back it all up)...
• When Mom is a regular churchgoer but Dad attends infrequently (or never), just 2 to 3 percent of their kids go on to become regular churchgoers.
• When both Mom and Dad attend church regularly, 33 percent of kids grow up as regular attendees.
• Here’s the shocker: when Dad is faithful but Mom never attends, 44 percent of the kids end up as regular churchgoers. This is the highest outcome of any scenario.
Read that again.
Although the descriptions of men/women seem a little exaggerated (not every man likes baseball and chainsaws) there are lots of helpful insights, advice on how to do church with men in mind, ways we are unintentionally marginalising men, and other practical tips.
I learnt a lot from this book. I'd really recommend it to any church leader. Church needs men. Especially now. It was Jesus' simplest strategy, and as Murrow points out: where there are men, the women, children and young people will want to be there too.
An interesting tidbit from the book to finish on (there's loads of research to back it all up)...
• When Mom is a regular churchgoer but Dad attends infrequently (or never), just 2 to 3 percent of their kids go on to become regular churchgoers.
• When both Mom and Dad attend church regularly, 33 percent of kids grow up as regular attendees.
• Here’s the shocker: when Dad is faithful but Mom never attends, 44 percent of the kids end up as regular churchgoers. This is the highest outcome of any scenario.
Read that again.
Monday, 15 October 2012
Jesus' Dream Now on Amazon
Quick update. Pretty self-explanatory if you read the post title. The short course/discussion series on Jesus that I've written this year is now available on Amazon, for any Kindle devices.
Check it out here...
Jesus' Dream: an intro to Jesus in six sessions
Love to hear your thoughts! Thanks.
Ben
Check it out here...
Jesus' Dream: an intro to Jesus in six sessions
Love to hear your thoughts! Thanks.
Ben
Monday, 8 October 2012
Jesus Dream Short Course
Why is Jesus so important? What on earth was he on about?
Last year I became friends with a guy who wanted to know more about Jesus. I didn't want to just give him a book about it, and I thought the best thing would be for us to lock in a time each week, have a coffee, and go through one of those new-Christian discussion guides. But when I looked at what was available, I didn't find any that I thought would work well for an everyday Aussie guy - especially someone who hasn't grown up in a church (which is most Aussies now).
The ones I found were either too long (who will commit to a 10week religious course?), too impractical (watching a 40min sermon is not a normal thing for non-church people), too advanced (using theological concepts that are only familiar to people who've grown up in church) or misrepresented Jesus or the gospel. Some I felt just started in entirely the wrong place for non- church people (like calling for a commitment in the first session or starting with "you're a sinner" - which Jesus never did).
In the end I thought I'd just start the conversations myself and see where it went. In the process, through the conversations, questions and inevitable extra research by me, I ended up discovering a lot more about Aussie culture and about Jesus and his way of life. Most of all, I've discovered that Jesus and his way of life fits our culture to a T. He's the kind of guy that Aussies - even Aussie males - really respect.
So this year I've put together my own short course on Jesus that aims to fit Aussie non-church culture better. It starts where Jesus himself started, by calling people to dream with him about a new world. A better world of beauty and colour, free of pain and disaster, full of hope and light, creativity and passion, food and fun. It was a brilliant place to start, by a brilliant, visionary, revolutionary leader. So I figured I couldn't do better than start there myself. Jesus' dream is something we can all relate to.
This short course looks at Jesus' dream, his inspiring way of life and his amazing story. It's in six sessions for small groups or individuals.
After months of writing, editing and formatting, it's finally available on the iTunes iBookstore. Here's the link to the ePub version (which will work on most devices). And there's also a version specially designed for iPads.
http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/jesus-dream/id565908659?mt=11
Please go and check it out! I'd love to hear your thoughts. There's even a sample chapter there for free. And if you're using it somewhere other than Australia, I'd be especially interested to know how it goes. Thanks!
The ones I found were either too long (who will commit to a 10week religious course?), too impractical (watching a 40min sermon is not a normal thing for non-church people), too advanced (using theological concepts that are only familiar to people who've grown up in church) or misrepresented Jesus or the gospel. Some I felt just started in entirely the wrong place for non- church people (like calling for a commitment in the first session or starting with "you're a sinner" - which Jesus never did).
In the end I thought I'd just start the conversations myself and see where it went. In the process, through the conversations, questions and inevitable extra research by me, I ended up discovering a lot more about Aussie culture and about Jesus and his way of life. Most of all, I've discovered that Jesus and his way of life fits our culture to a T. He's the kind of guy that Aussies - even Aussie males - really respect.
So this year I've put together my own short course on Jesus that aims to fit Aussie non-church culture better. It starts where Jesus himself started, by calling people to dream with him about a new world. A better world of beauty and colour, free of pain and disaster, full of hope and light, creativity and passion, food and fun. It was a brilliant place to start, by a brilliant, visionary, revolutionary leader. So I figured I couldn't do better than start there myself. Jesus' dream is something we can all relate to.
This short course looks at Jesus' dream, his inspiring way of life and his amazing story. It's in six sessions for small groups or individuals.
After months of writing, editing and formatting, it's finally available on the iTunes iBookstore. Here's the link to the ePub version (which will work on most devices). And there's also a version specially designed for iPads.
http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/jesus-dream/id565908659?mt=11
Please go and check it out! I'd love to hear your thoughts. There's even a sample chapter there for free. And if you're using it somewhere other than Australia, I'd be especially interested to know how it goes. Thanks!
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Church Size
From Lloyd Pietersen's "Reading the Bible After Christendom"....
"I am privileged to belong to Bristol Peace Church, a small group of currently six people, who meet every Sunday at 5.00pm... At the heart of the liturgy is Bible study and this is followed by a period of prayer informed by that Bible study; we then conclude with a meal together... As eating is central to our ecclesiology, we are committed not to grow beyond a number that can fit round the meal table. Further growth would result in breaking into two groups...."
Ha! My church is twice the size of yours Pietersen.
"I am privileged to belong to Bristol Peace Church, a small group of currently six people, who meet every Sunday at 5.00pm... At the heart of the liturgy is Bible study and this is followed by a period of prayer informed by that Bible study; we then conclude with a meal together... As eating is central to our ecclesiology, we are committed not to grow beyond a number that can fit round the meal table. Further growth would result in breaking into two groups...."
Ha! My church is twice the size of yours Pietersen.
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