Mission21 final reflections

If you have been following this blog you will know that the organisers of a Church Planting Conference this week invited us to blog or twitter on the event. Here's my overall reflection.

I met some wonderful people for the first time and met up with other wonderful people I haven't seen for some time. The four main sessions were very well prepared (apart from one where someone had to stand in at the last moment). All gave us much to think about as well as being challenging and inspiring.

I was part of a small group looking at Cross Cultural Church Planting. After the first session I wasn't sure how much value these would prove to be but by the end of the conference I think that these highly interactive sessions stimulated helpful thinking. For me there was little that was new (after all I have been relating to church planting since 1966!) but it helped me focus on some important issues.

The one hour given for specialist topics, where I led a session on rural church planting, was rather frustrating as far as I am concerned. I could have used the time more effectively I think. However, most of those attending commented that it was helpful But it could have been more helpful if I had not felt so limited in time.

I was very glad to be there. They worked us hard - days started at 9.00 and ended twelve hours later. It was well planned (apart from the one hour only specialist time) and deserving of twice the number attending. Would I do it again? YOU BET!

Mission21 Day 2 Rural Focus

We discovered something very interesting today. I was leading a specialist session on church planting in rural areas. As part of this I spoke of a project where a small church plant in Cumbria has inspired the whole village to engage in a mission project in Congo. Now they have more people wanting to go to Congo - despite danger and hardship - than they have room for. They are busy fundraising as a community and have recently had a special day that was featured on regional TV!!!

As soon as I mentioned this I discovered two others in our small gathering at the conference group who were also running with similar schemes.

I believe that this could be a process by which people can find their way to a personal relationship with Christ. I think that this is a "programme" worth exploring.
Any comments?

Church Planting Conference - Unconditional acts of service

Here's an interesting argument we had today in our "stream". It related to the debate on social action. I stated that I could not recall a single time when Jesus responded to a need conditionally.

Our stream leader seemed to think that if Jesus never made a condition before he always made one afterwards! Of course I think I'm right! The question is whether we engage in good works ONLY if we offer our service with a slice of gospel proclamation. I'm all for passing on the gospel message but I am unhappy about insisting that acts of genuine love must only be undertaken on condition that we can share the story.

Any comments?

Church Planting Conference Day 1

I'm attending the Mission21 Conference in Bath for three days this week and have just finished day 1 (running 14.00 to 21.00 with a 2 hour break for evening meal). Its a mixed bunch of people drawn from all kinds of churches and I hope I will be able to learn from those from other traditions and those who are working in other contexts that "rural" (my area of expertise).

As part of this programme we are spending much of the time in "Streams" and I opted for "Cross Cultural Church Planting". My thinking was that most villages are microcosms of multi culturalism, but I suspect we will steadily see people from ethnic minorities moving into British villages in increasing numbers so we need the debate.

Much time in our evening session revolved around how we might measure "success" and that led to a debate on churches that are genuinely agencies for transformation because of social action engagement. The group leader placed his emphasis on numerical growth through conversions. I found myself sitting in the middle but I'd be grateful for some comments on the following please:

In 1Peter 3:15 we read "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect," and it was suggested that if we live Christian lives marked by appropriate good deeds people will ask us about our faith. My concern about this is that most rural Christians do live lives of loving service to others, but I am yet to hear of a single instance in a rural context where this has led to anyone asking "for the reason for the hope". It seems to me that people expect us to be nice and helpful but I'm not sure how often this leads to anyone then asking us to explain the gospel.

So if any reader can enlighten me otherwise - and remember it has to be a rural context - I would be delighted to hear from you. Meanhile, I'm off to bed!

The Al-Megrahi Controversy

I want to start this post by stating that I applaud the decision taken by Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary for Scotland. Of course the welcome back to Libya was wholly inappropriate and distasteful but that should not influence our view of the stand taken. When we act in a morally appropriate way we can have no control over how someone else might respond but that should never be a determining factor. When we are asked to turn the other cheek it is with the expectation of an inappropriate response. But that is how we are asked to act.

When we put someone into prison we do it for a number of reasons. Let's consider these.

We do so in order to keep safe those who might otherwise come to harm if the person was not incarcerated. Mr Al-Megrahi no longer poses a threat so that criteria is now irrelevant.

We do so to make a statement to the public that crime does not pay. He remains a guilty and sentenced man, but as has been pointed out a now higher sentence has been passed and that is irrevocable. So that criteria continues and is inescapable.

We do so as a punishment imposed upon the criminal. The immediately previous sentence addresses the core issue. The sentence he now awaits supersedes anything prison would do to him.

Finally, we do so in the hope of rehabilitation and remedial influence. Well, it's far too late in his case. So that too is irrelevant.

On all moral grounds for incarcerating anyone for a crime there is now clearly no justification for his spending the relatively last few days in a Scottish prison. Long ago we exercised the "lock them up and throw away the key" or the "leave them to rot" attitude. But we have grown up a little since then. No matter how great our anger or bitterness might be regarding what happened in the skies above Lockerbie, and the ongoing suffering of those who lost so much, that is no justification for acting inhumanly.

The prophet Micah asked a question, "What does the Lord require of us?" The answer is to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with God.

The commendable thing about the proper outcome of the legal situation in Scotland is that the compassion and mercy reflects the values of the Kingdom of God. He is not excused for what he has done. The tragedy is that other nations, less influenced by the values that come from faith, might well have taken a different view.

If you share my opinion then I hope that you will take opportunity to explain to others why. Where would we all stand if the righteous judgement of ourselves was not tempered with mercy?

Is the Bible less significant

A friend of mine lent me a book he has written lamenting what he sees as a loss of respect for and personal use of the Bible in the lives of Christians today. He is writing, of course from an English perspective. I found myself largely in sympathy with much that he had written. The following comes from mt letter on returning the book.

Recently I heard it suggested that the emphasis on “professional ministry” had led to the decline in scripture knowledge and I think that might be partly true but it is far from the whole truth. I would blame the emphasis on professional ministry for disabling Christians generally but that is another matter.

Like many my age I grew up with the benefit of a structured Sunday School where the Bible was taught. In that hall there was a slogan left by a visiting missionary. It stated “Find a time and a place to pray, and read your Bible every day”. I was also made to take the annual Sunday School Union Scripture Examination and we were drilled on this for several weeks. Consequently before I became a committed Christian I had a good knowledge of what the Bible was about, how it was compiled, the main characters etc. It was like having been to Bible College!

Today we have what I consider generally the benefit of having various versions of the scriptures. The aim has been to make the Bible more accessible. While to some extent that aim has succeeded it has not obviously led to a general increase in personal Bible study, which is where I would like to see greater emphasis. There are some great exceptions and I am always delighted when I see teenagers carrying Bibles to church – often where the adults do not do so.

I feel that there are probably three areas of weakness:

The first of these is the loss of the “family alter”. There is nothing like being introduced to the great stories of scripture from an early age.

The second is a weakness within many theological and Bible colleges, where, it seems, the values of scripture reading (public and private) seems not to have a high profile. If students learned how to engage with the scriptures in a dynamic way during the time of their training they would bring that into their ministry.

The third is in the area of public worship. Here I would place the blame not so much on the absence or limits of scripture reading, but more on the way that it is done. In most churches that I go to it sounds boring. Saying either before or afterwards anything about hearing the Word of God will do little if it is not then communicated appropriately. Even in evangelical churches I have heard the Bible read as if reading from a text book or a car manual. Boring!

Much that is in the Bible is drama but that is so often lost. So I would urge having sessions where people learn to read the scriptures with more expression, with pauses, and appropriate emphasis. A ministry colleague of mine always ensures that when she reads the Bible she makes it live. She has sometimes done this by creating a dialogue, or by allowing someone (prepared) to make interjections or ask questions. It really makes people sit up and listen.

Other good ideas include ensuring that other elements in a service complement the scripture readings, or by providing some way of “spotlighting” the scripture reading to aid that focus to what it actually said. Reading the gospel from within the congregation and having everyone stand to listen can be useful, but not so much when done every Sunday, as it then becomes too familiar. I rather like the custom of a URC minister known to me who concludes the Bible reading by holding the book aloft and towards the congregation and saying, “The Word of God for the People of God”, to which the congregation is expected to respond, “Thanks be to God”.

In conclusion I return to the issue of personal Bible reading through the week. I think we could come up with more creative ways of encouraging this. On a purely personal level I have found using hymns and worship songs and scripture together to be helpful. Sometimes I sit and read through a hymn carefully and thoughtfully and then turn to the scriptures it brings to mind. Sometimes the scriptures then bring another hymn to mind, and so we go on. This is very much akin to Brethren and earlier Pentecostal morning meetings.

And a PS would be to remind myself that if I expect others to be inspired to read God’s Word and be blessed by it then I must ensure that my own experience is a good one and that my life is being informed and excited by reading God’s precious word.

Any one of them could have done it

Any one of them could have done it. It needed to be done and the resources were all there. It wasn’t as if it called for special skills. It wasn’t as if the task was especially difficult. And it wasn’t as if any of them had anything more important to do just at that moment.

Of course, that phrase, “Anything more important” is an interesting one. What is it that makes one task more important than another? What determines “importance”? Surely it has to do with what is needed rather than those tasks that draw attention to the person undertaking them, or those tasks that can only be done by a few with special ability or experience.

Take, for instance, that time in Jerusalem when they had walked through the area surrounding the pool where all the sick and infirmed lay hoping to be the first to get into the water when it was mysteriously stirred, and hoping that by doing so they would find their healing. What was important there was getting into that pool as quickly as you could. And the words of that man that day had been pitiful: “Sir, I have no one to help me”. For 38 years he had been crippled and for much of that time he had waited in hope that he might manage to get into the pool in time. All he needed was a friend.

Yes, what is important depends on what is actually needed at the time. It might not seem that important to others, of course. It might not bring any status or fame. But if there’s a need to be met, and especially if it a matter of urgency….

38 years waiting for a friend to turn up!

Anyone could have done it. All the resources were there just waiting for someone to take advantage of them. Everything that was needed was right there all the time staring them in the face. And no one had taken them up.

Of course if someone had been specifically asked to do it then he might have been willing to do it, but no one was actually asked. It just needed to be done and any one of them could have done it.

One way of dealing with it might have been to have introduced more organisation into the situation. To have planned things better. To have had a rota for such tasks. That way the work could have been shared between them. They could have worked out their different strengths and weaknesses, explored their skill portfolios and worked out who would be the most appropriate for the task. After all that’s the way to get things done isn’t it?

But on this occasion it was something that any of them could have done. The resources were there. All that was needed was someone to get up and do it. And, frankly, it wasn’t as if they had anything more important to do just at that time. There’s that word “important” again. They had been discussing that subject – “Who was the most important?”

That was when he got up. They did not notice at first. Then they saw him take off his outer garment. As he wrapped the towel around his waist they all fell silent. And in that silence the sound of water being poured into the basin seemed amplified. And one by one he lifted the dusty feet of the others that were there and gently – washed them.

Any one of them could have done it – but HE did it. It wasn’t his task but he did it. Unasked, he saw the need and did something about it. Wasn’t that always the way with him? But this – washing feet – that was a task for a servant not a leader.

And one by one as they felt his gentle hands apply the water and the towel they knew. They knew that any one of them COULD have done it.

And after that evening - and after the events of the following days - they began to understand what it meant and what it would mean to “follow him”. What he meant when he said once, “whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Any one of them could have done it.