Jesus Manifesto

Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola wrote Jesus Manifesto in order to correct the "Jesus Deficit Disorder" they see in many Christians and churches today. There seem to be many Christians for whom Jesus is really not the centre of their lives, as he should be.

As Paul writes in Colossians,

"[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together...."

Contemplate that for a bit! Jesus is our life, the only truth, and the only way to live, but too often he's just brought in as an interesting side-point. So when I saw this book, I thought, "Brilliant. This will be a great book to recommend. That's exactly what people need to hear."

But as it turned out, that message was exactly what I needed to hear as well. The writing is wonderfully simple, honest and direct, and the point was clearly driven home again and again. I actually started to get a little annoyed at the book, as it seemed like it was saying the same thing over and over. "Ok I've got it already," I thought. "Give me some new insights."

But I hadn't got it. As I read more and more about Jesus, it slowly started to get under my skin, and it was weeks before I even noticed the change. I started to feel more uncomfortable with where Jesus was in my own life. I began to realise that Jesus was too often just a side-point even for me, a pastor - like the interesting analogy that illustrates the real point (or even worse: a footnote).

So here I am in one of those infrequent moments of greater clarity, and I hope and pray this fragile seedling of faith continues to grow.

I would love for my life to be more centred around Jesus, but more than that, I would love for Jesus to live more in me. Not my life but his. Not my ways but his. Not my thoughts, insights, or perspectives, but his.... Christ in me, the hope of glory.

Lily's World

While we were praying together last night....

Lily: God... can you make me whistle?

Why start a church? Pt III

It took a fair amount of convincing for me to even consider the prospect of planting a church.

But convincing people to do things seems to be a task God enjoys. There was only the smallest thought in my head about church planting (which I hadn't shared with anyone), but the idea started to come up in conversation more and more often. Everywhere I turned, the idea of church planting kept buzzing at me, like an annoying mosquito when you're trying to go to sleep at night.

Someone (who again didn't know any of this) recommended listening to a series of talks by Michael Frost, given at a mission conference in the US. And suddenly he starts talking about church planting, and how church planting is the most effective way to grow the Kingdom of Jesus....

I picked up a book called Total Church, by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis (not unusual for me - I'm interested in anything about church), and as I'm reading away, they suddenly start talking about church planting. Turns out they organise a church planting network in the UK....


I share with friends about how there doesn't seem to be a church for us and they say, "Well maybe you should start one...."

So the annoying mozzie kept buzzing away. More and more often church planting came up, and each time it was attached to the idea of "simple" church: that we don't need more churches with amazing programs, brilliant worship music, unbelievable pastors and big ministry teams. We need more simple churches - house churches, cafe churches, basic churches that meet in parks, pubs and living rooms - the kinds of churches that non-church people might feel comfortable in. Different expressions of church, for the people who don't feel like they fit in to the normal way of doing it.

And more and more I found myself thinking, "Maybe we could do that?"

World Cup

We're all sad the World Cup is over.

Lily's World - The Election

Me: Who do you think I should vote for in the election, Lily? Tony Abbot or Julia Gillard?
Lily: Julia Gillard.
Me: Yeah? Why do you think she'd be a good prime minister?
Lily: Because I like her, so I think she would be veeeery good and helpful.

Lily's World

Me: Come on Lily, it's time to pack up all the toys.
Lily: I'm feeling sick now, Daddy. I need to sit down.
Me: Oh, you're feeling sick now that it's time to pack up?
Lily: Yes, I'm going to womit.
Me: Well womit in the bucket if you do.
Lily: No, I'm not going to womit. I just still feel sick from when I was sick last night.
Me: Oh ok. Well you'd better go to your room and lie down if you're feeling sick.
Lily: No, I don't need to go to my room. I just need some honey toast.

Only three and already trying to con me. At least I can spot it when she's this age. I'm in serious trouble when she gets older though. She'll be running circles around me in a couple of years!

Why start a church? Pt II

Tam and I had known for months that my role as youth and families pastor in our previous congregation was going to be finishing up, so we had plenty of time to pray and search around for the next position. We expected that we would have our final Sunday service at the church, say an emotional goodbye to everyone, and then Monday morning I'd walk into my new position in another church. We knew that God had it all worked out - wherever it would be - so we were expecting he would organise everything to the right timing (our timing).

But the months went by, different positions came and went (none of which were right), our final Sunday came and went, Monday arrived, and we still had no idea what I was meant to be doing.

An unemployed pastor.

One week passed. No job.

Two weeks passed. Still no job.

And at the risk of being overly poetic, three weeks passed. Still no job.

And then a mate of mine who's a gardener and landscaper mentioned he had a couple days work for me if I wanted it. Not something I'd ever really done before, but I ended up enjoying working outside and helping make people's yards look good, like the team on Domestic Blitz. My friend generously kept giving me more work, a few days each week, and it's still going months later.

But this also created a small conundrum: why was God setting me up with work outside of a church? Why wasn't there a church that was right for us?

And then the church planting suggestions started coming....

The River

- From Between Two Kingdoms, a brilliant story by Joe Boyd....

   "So we just jump right in, Pops?" asked Bobby.

   "Pretty much. We just jump in and away we go! Come over here by me and hold hands. Mary, you stand in the middle. It's easier if you all go in together."

   "But what about our clothes?" asked Tommy.

   "You go in just like you are," Pops said. "That's the only way to do it." He stepped behind them and Tommy felt a strong hand on his back. "Ready to jump?"

   "Not quite yet," said Mary.

   "Sure you are!"

   One forceful jolt from Pops and Tommy flew into the River, pulling Mary and Bobby along with him. Pops jumped in like a cannonball right behind them.

   Cool water rushed all over Tommy’s face and pulled him downstream. In a minute, he understood what Pops had meant about the River being a person with a mind of her own. She pulled him under her waters, then threw him up high in the air when he needed a breath. If he grew scared, the River calmed him down and let him float. Whenever he grew bored, the River sped up and dropped him with a force that made his stomach jump into his throat. At one point, the River pushed Tommy into Mary and the two of them, arms linked, shot way up in the air. They hit her waters again, giggling all the way. Tommy yelled, “Do that again!” and it happened! Every time Tommy asked, the River shot them skyward and caught them when they came back down.

Who You Gonna Call?

Why start a church? Pt I

So we're planting a church. How did that come about? It's not the kind of decision you make on a whim, when you're bored on a Saturday afternoon ("So, pizzas are in the oven - what should we do while we wait?".. "Why not start a church?".. "Sweet.").

No, it wasn't a whim. Tam and I have been wanting to be involved in church planting for years now. We just thought it would be five or ten years down the track, when another "experienced" pastor started something we could help with. It certainly wasn't something I felt I could do myself.

I was under the impression that you had to be some kind of super-pastor to plant a church - an incredibly charismatic personality, who can instantly draw thousands of people, while at the same time caring personally for each one of them. Someone who God speaks audibly to on a daily basis, who prays for 5 hours every morning, and wherever their shadow falls, sick people are healed....

Of course that sounds ridiculous now that I've written it down - but to be honest, that is probably fairly close to how I felt. I didn't feel I was at all capable of planting a church. So how did that change?

It didn't. I still don't feel capable. But now I'm ok with that. Much of the first part of this journey was God explaining to me that I don't have to be all of that. The weaker and less capable I am, the more God gets to do himself. "Just do it," God was saying. "I'll work out the rest." And if I get to the end of my skills five minutes into the journey, then from that point on everything will be God. Tam and I don't know how it's all going to turn out - how it's going to grow, whether anyone at all will show up, what it's going to be like when we do gather together as a church, or what kinds of struggles we're going to have along the way. But we're ok now just to start walking, and trust that God will organise what we can't.

As Frank Viola says, birthing a church is a divine work. A church is a living organism, and God is the one who grows it and gives it life, just like he does with humans. All God needed was for Tam and I to say yes - despite all the doubts, confusion and unanswered questions.

So we did. Tick step one.