Personal Challenge and Change

Recently I was reading Mark Driscoll's blog. He is the pastor of Mars Hill - a large church in Seattle, USA. He recommends regularly reviewing ministries we might be involved in. It made me think:

• What is the vision of your ministry\area of service?
• Is the ministry meeting your objectives?
• Are people being changed?
• What are the measurable outcomes of the ministry?
• Are you and your gift mix best suited to this ministry?
• Are you praying about your area of ministry\service?
• How can you improve?
• What changes need to be made?
• What support do you need?

We should not keep doing things the way we do just because we keep doing them. If we always do what we have always done we will always have what we've always had!
Let's take some time to review our life, ministry, direction. What needs to change?

Singing in the rain

A disadvantage of meeting in a sports hall on Sunday mornings is that when it pours with rain it makes a noise! 1,000s of droplets of water falling on a corrugated roof means we were singing in the rain. That said we had a terrific Sunday morning as 4 very different people told their story and were baptised (2 teenagers - one who had been a Christian 6 months and another who had recovered from a eating disorder plus a delightful young married couple). We were pleased to also host Judah Church Camberley who joined us for the morning. A very special time.

On being a mid-wife.

On Sunday I was invited to speak at a great church in Southampton. They meet in a cinema by the harbour. A lovely setting. The church is predominantly students and recent graduates. I felt a bit old! At the end of the meeting I invited anyone who wanted to decide to follow Christ for the first time to indicate. I was humbled when a young, emotional blind woman came forward lead by her black Labrador, Gus. She said she had not been to church before but that something "deep and profound" had happened to her that morning and that "it must be the Man upstairs". We prayed together. I felt a bit like a mid-wife - watching the wonder and fragility and miracle of a New Birth.

Too busy?

Recently I went with the other church leaders from the town for a Retreat. We wanted to spend some time together, pray, talk about Mission and plan some things for an extended, unhurried time. We went to St. Katherine's Convent near Marlow in Buckinghamshire - an excellent venue for time away on your own, as a group or as a church.
During the course of our time one of the guys suggested we went away and quietly sought the Lord on our own. Sounds simple doesn't it? Needless to say we did and God spoke to us - not about what we were expecting. It got me thinking ... how often do we do just that - draw aside and seek God or draw aside to listen to Him?
Thomas a Kempis wrote in The Imitation of Christ: "leave vain things to the vain. Shut thy door upon thee and call to thee Jusu thy love; dwell with Him in thy cell for thou shalt not find elsewhere so great peace".

Spirtual Disciplines

Recently I listened to a interview with Bill Hybels (who leads Willow Creek Church) and Dallas Willard. I was very struck by the spiritual depth of Mr Willard and what he described as the Great Omission - our keenness to evangelise without a commitment for discipleship. I resolved to find one of his books to read. I knew it would do me good. Soon after I found a copy of The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard. Sure enough it makes for a very challenging read. No quick-fix-latest-method-for-success paperback this - rather a call to be like Jesus in prayer, fasting, solitude, silence, study and service. Not popular but powerful.

Rejoice in new birth

I had a great conversation with a friend last week. She has been coming on the Alpha course and was very struck by the picture of Jesus Light of the World by Holman Hunt that was held up by the speaker at the last evening (the one where Jesus is knocking on the door - see opposite). We spent some time talking about what it might mean to invite Jesus into your life. One morning last week on her own she did just that - invited Jesus into her life. Wonderful. The subsequent answers to pray and closeness she feels to God are amazing.
I am left wondering - what other unbelieving friends do I have? Who can I invite on the next Alpha course?

The End of the World?

2012 is a new film coming out in November from the makers of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. 2012 also tells of global catastrophe and the end of the world. It also has a modern day ark to save some humans and some animal and plant species. Add this to some TV series with a distinctive prophetic edge (Flash Forward, House ...) and a picture forms from the film studios of our interest in what might be and how would we live our lives knowing what might be.
The prophet Daniel in the Old Testament is probably best known for the lion's den or the fiery furnace. He was also a prophet. He saw things. He saw with incredible accuracy historical events unfolding - the rise and fall of Kings, the Greco Persians empires, the ascendancy of Alexander the Great and subsequent division of his vast kingdom amongst other events. Towards the end of the book of Daniel he makes comments of an altogether closer-to-home picture: "In the last days there will be much toing and froing and an increase in knowledge"!
Jesus also expressed clear prophetic warnings and statements (Mat 24), often giving us hints about what is to come -impending judgement amidst cataclysmic and cosmic events.
Our great advantage and privilege as Christians is knowing much of what is to come. My question however is this:
in the light of Biblical prophecy and revelation regarding judgement and the end times what difference is that knowledge making as to how we live our lives now?