Unexpected threats

On the 1st May 1991 I started following Jesus. I was 20 and I had been brought up an atheist. Up to that point I lived for myself essentially. But at the moment I humbled myself before Jesus and asked him to forgive me and lead me, everything changed. That moment was the game changer to end all game changers. Huge things happened. Over-night I stopped swearing, and no longer needed all the crutches I was using up to that point like alcohol.

As time ticks by, and you grow as a Christian you begin to appreciate a whole host of other things that have happened. As we follow Christ, other things that ruled our lives are deposed. One I’ve come to appreciate more and more is the idol of consumerism. Now an idol is a false god, something that takes the place of God in our life, that you bow down to, consciously or unconsciously. Consumerism is a massive driving force of western culture and its power is growing around the world.

One of my children was doing some homework recently on the food chain and at the top was humans who consumed what other animals/plants produced. It’s a good summary of us as a race. We consumer what others produce. And in the last 3 years with the proliferation of smart phones and screens everywhere (cafes, pubs, doctors surgeries, hospitals, tube stations, corner shops etc) that bombard our brains with subtle messages that in effect say: “You need me, can’t survive without me, must have me”. Of course I understand in our complex urbanised society there is a relationship with consumerism we can’t do without, but we don’t have to worship at its altar.

High Halter and Matt Smay in their brilliant book, The Tangible Kingdom, explain that consumerism is a major barrier to the church moving out of a strong relationship with God into mission. I can see that in the church in the west today it is  powerful force that infiltrates the best churches too. Recently Carl Beech from Christian Vision for Men was recounting a conversation with a Christian leader in Cambodia who said the greatest threat to the Cambodian church at present was consumerism, and that if it wasn't reversed it would destroy them in a generation. Wow.

You hear phrases like “I want better/deeper teaching, I don’t like the worship, there’s not enough X, it’s not meeting my needs” instead of “how do I best follow Jesus and become like him or how can I serve?”

So why’s it a problem? Consumerism puts “me” at the centre, and asks “what’s in it for me, what do I get?” whereas Christianity puts Christ at the centre, and after that comes everybody else, and then finally comes “me”. There can only be 1 person on the throne of someone’s life, and that should be Jesus, but if consumerism is there, Jesus and his values of giving up our lives for others get knocked down a few places.  

I don’t have all the answers, and i include myself in the challenge, but I know a problem when I see one. Some of the greatest challenges to us we are often blind to, because they are ingrained in our culture. Sociologists call it cultural blindness. Shall we help each other overcome the challenge of consumerism in the church? Or would you rather shop elsewhere? (joke! haha) 

Sky's the Limit!

Happy New Year to the Blogosphere

One of my Christmas presents was a cycling book: Inside Team Sky by David Walsh. Some things have struck me that I'd like to share. But first maybe some background on the book for the poor people who don't much about the world of professional cycling.

Most will probably know that the American rider Lance Armstrong who won the Tour de France 7 times, was stripped of the titles because he was finally found to have used performance enhancing drugs. Team Sky is a very new British cycling team with a zero tolerance for doping, but because they are backed by a massive sponsor have the best equipment, and have produced champions in the last 2 years after only been together for 4 years, rumors spread and animosity grew. Team Sky's boss Sir Dave Brailsford was at his wits end as to how to prove to everyone they were clean. So he invited the Times journalist

David Walsh - Sunday Times Journalist

David Walsh to come and spend a year with team with absolutely free access to everything and anyone at any time he wanted. Walsh was the fist journalist to suggest Armstrong was doping (and Armstrong sued him and the Sunday Times for what he wrote - who's laughing now?).

It was a fascinating read as the skeptical journalist tries everywhere to find evidence of drugs. His final conclusion is that Team Sky is clean. Hurray. One very poignant part of the book was describing in the Tour de France when Britain's Chris Froome was leading the tour and climbing on those narrow mountain roads, and many in the crowds were shouting abuse and accusations at Sky and Froome.
The journalist reflected how bizarre it was when the crowd were ignoring another rider, Alberto Contador, who had just come back into the race after a 2 year suspension for drugs! They left him alone, but persecuted the clean team Sky. Walsh described this as the Barrabus factor: a crowd wanting to punish the innocent and exonerate the guilty. Not willing to believe the winner got there by sheer good training and good science.

I really felt for Sir Dave Brailsford - what else can he do?

Froome battling up Mont Ventoux amidst the crowds

It's a lesson in prejudice and gossip and the behavior of crowds. He did the right thing in inviting the most skeptical journalist to see how they lived. There are so many parallels: inviting atheists to come and see how live our lives, to see our authenticity, to see how our faith works; to forget what people think of us and only value what God thinks of us; to remember that you can never please the crowds, but focus on the people around you, and do the things you were sent to do, and everything else will take care of itself or its not worth the energy. People will have prejudices (within and without the church), but if we do what we are supposed to do (seek the kingdom), with honesty openness and integrity, God will take care of the rest (isn't that what Matt 6:33 means?).

Sir Dave Brailsford answering a barage of accusations

One more lesson: I really admire Sir Dave Brailsford and his leadership of Team Sky and British Cycling too. He's made mistakes for sure. At the end of the book, Walsh describes Team Sky's approach to failure: embrace it and learn from it; use it to become better next year. Now that is what we in the west need in our churches: courage to try new things in the knowledge that we'll fail along the way, but that's part of the journey of discovering the best way to do things and to getting better at what we do. Let's not be afraid of failure, for such fear kills off any innovative, adventurous and faith-filled spirit, and the Church of the west needs those things in bucket loads if it is to halt the decline its in the middle of.

Fully Reliant or Just Playing at Faith?

Just a few quick thoughts this week ...
When do we really rely on the power and strength of God?

Thinking / praying / mulling this week flash bulb moment happened: i/we are totally reliant on the power of God to grow the church. I heard myself say something like "You don't say?" in a very sarcastic tone! But then the thoughts flowed too about how so much in the past i / we have relied on lots of other things to grow the church first: a high street building bringing visitors, great children's and youth work, big worship band, great technology, a reasonable crowd already with a good age spread meaning anyone will see an age group they can identify with. I could go on. And of course (hear me out before you jump to the wrong conclusion) these things are good, not bad, but my mistake has been to trust in them first, and then hope and pray too that some day the kingdom will break out with signs and wonders.

Instead, with a more missional model, and smaller weekly congregation, we simply have to rely on the power of God coming and breaking out. Which raises my faith. I want to see that desperately. Everywhere: clusters, services, small groups, mid-week groups, everywhere. It reminded me of being in Zimbabwe this summer where everyone prays about absolutely everything,; where the first port of call is God, because there is no other place to go or person to go to. Why do African Christians see more healing? Because they don't have an NHS to go to first, they put all their faith into God and prayer. Car breaks down, pray, coz there aint no AA!

How good it is to be in this place. This place of desperation, of growing faith growing hunger, growing peace and growing delight. It's uncomfortable at times - but being totally reliant on God is the best place to be.
Know what I mean?

The Sheep Factor

Most images used for discipleship are of solitary
 plants. This is unhelpful. Discipleship is supposed
to be  done in community

What’s in a word? Discipleship. This is THE  word for the church – the most important thing – yes, I am going to say it and you know how much I love mission – discipleship is more important than mission! I was with 15 other church leaders the other day and all of us were wrestling with the issue of how we make disciples and how we make help disciples make other disciples. Discipleship is the practice of following Jesus – so what we’re saying is how do we make followers of Jesus that make more followers of Jesus? How do we create churches where Christians have it built into them to pass it on?

More and more thinkers and church leaders are waking up to the staggering realisation that most don’t know how to do this. Wow! That’s what has been behind the huge challenges we have faced these past 4 years as we've tried to be faithful to the teachings of Jesus (as opposed to the traditions of the church). We had some great old friends to stay a few weeks ago, Geoff and Caroline Shave. We know them from our church in Newcastle 20 years ago, and now they’re with Agape, doing a student ministry in Namibia. They spoke brilliantly at our church a couple of years ago about the difference between growth by addition and growth by multiplication. We too had the same conversation about making disciples that make disciples, and realised God had been teaching us both about the same thing. We had so much to learn from them and they were really interested in what we were trying to do and very supportive too.

What we’re going through – is the beginning of something wonderful. It has to be  - because we’re rediscovering the essential beauty and simplicity of Jesus’ ways. Whatever we do in 2014, it has to be about discipleship and nothing else: being better disciples and making better disciples. Following Jesus with everything we have and are, and passing that on to others. What has Jesus taught you this year? What are you better at in following Him? Who have you discipled this year? I ask this to myself too, and receive the challenge to myself first. I pledge myself to helping others be better disciples and make better disciples. It may get me into trouble. It may upset the apple cart a bit. It may offend some – if it does then it’s only because the gospel of Jesus tends to do that.

Spotted in TFL Tube window!

Speaking of following, have you seen the sheep around Morden? Messy Church’s brilliant sheep hunt is going on – 40 woolen sheep placed in different shops and businesses around Morden for the children to spot and write down and then post through our sheep letter box. Love it. Well done Messy Church for creating loads of opportunity for discussion. They've even been seen on Twitter!

One last tip. If you’re feeling the pressure of the month and feeling down, try skipping. I found out by accident last week that if you skip along (not with a rope, just the walk/skip thing) it’s very hard to do it and not grin. Have a go. Does it work for you?

Street Cred!

A couple of weeks ago I joined the Street Pastors team in Wimbledon from 10pm to 2am on a Friday night, and had a brilliant time. Yes, it was cold, yes it was late, but yes, people were open and receptive to us, and people needed helping. If you've forgotten what goes on in town centres at night go and sit in a cafe to be reminded of the dynamics: people in search of fun can get into hairy situations and need help – and so the church is there to help. In fact I learned that Wimbledon town centre has a pop up men’s urinal! Yep, just outside of Tesco by the bus stops there is a urinal that disappears into the ground in the day – how bizarre. I did pose for a photo but it has to be said, it was only a pose!

What amazed me (although I am getting used to this phenomena even though I will never tire of it) is the warmth and respect of people towards the church (street pastors in this case), especially the door men and staff at the various pubs and clubs. This is a huge credit to the street pastors who are out week in and week out, befriending and helping, being and sharing God’s love where it’s needed and received. When non-Christians see the church out on the streets serving the community and helping they are very receptive to their message. Obviously when they see preachers proclaiming judgement they are instantly turned off and abrasive. I’m so thankful for movements like Street {Pastors that can turn that image around and build up an excellent reputation that Jesus I know is proud of and pleased with. Well done to our own Ruwani (who led the team that night), Colette, Jim and Sidi who do this regularly. It’s a tough job; we should be proud of them.

My kind of wreath: chocolate!!

... It’s now a week later since I started this blog! Advent is here and I’m excited about encountering Jesus afresh through the Advent process for myself and who might encounter Him of the first time. In the last 6 weeks we've seen a rise in spiritual temperature: a few people choosing to follow Jesus, half a dozen healings at least, and many miraculous answers to prayer in challenging circumstances. What’s God teaching us? Pray more. Seek him out more, and do it more in community. Pray together and for each other – standing together ... 'if 2 of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven', (Matt 18:19). Please email us in your testimonies or leave a comment about them below. Let’s be encouraged by this.

In the busyness that December brings, may you truly meet the Christ of Christmas!

Learning to Learn

When i was 13, i went on a cycling holiday (one of many as a kid) for 4 days in North Wales. Big deal you say. I had a great time, and have some abiding memories of that trip: triple bunk beds in Maeshafn Youth

This is an old photo but it's not me!

Hostel! But if i was to say i went with my mate Jem without an adult you might think differently. This was early 1980s (it wasn't pre-war), but I'm sure many now could not believe what my parents let me do then. I wouldn't let me do what i did then! What were my parents thinking?

Well i know what they were thinking: Gav knows how to handle himself, he's been on dozens of cycling trips, he knows his bike, he can map read, cook and he's sensible (at least that's what they thought! I managed to keep that illusion going for quite a while!) and he has a good friend with him, and he's not far away (we lived on the Wirral, 20 miles north of Chester). In other words i had spent countless hours with my mum and dad, not just watching but helping them do all the things needed to go on a cycling holiday, from cleaning to fixing a bike, to solving a map reading problem, and planning shopping and cooking over a 2 week period. In short, they apprenticed me in the art of a cycling youth hostelling holiday, and they knew i was ready to fly solo. The next year we went to the Lake District and the year after that to Inverness and the Highlands with another lad.

What we're trying to do for our faith is a similar thing. We're trying to shift to a more apprentice based model of learning for both adults and children. This doesn't mean you do away with conventional teaching, learning information, or class-room style learning but that you also create environments and culture whereby people can practice and apply what they're learning. The most challenging area for this is that of children and young people. Our culture (and many parents) expects to see children in a Sunday school setting, and that's not wrong, but why do we only see that as an appropriate way of leaning? Can there be alternatives? Can we learn from Jesus' rabbinical background which a group of people physically followed him around, learning by listening, watching and practicing with him, and ultimately then flying solo?

This month we've seen some amazing scenes. At our monthly celebration on the 3rd Nov., the theme was the empowerment of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2). So when the children and young people went out to their groups, they were trained in how to pray for people. While that was going on I was preaching with the adults, and then began our normal period of 'prayer ministry': inviting people to the front to receive prayer for various things. So our team of volunteers brought the children and young people back, and they formed the prayer ministry team, praying for the adults in 2s and 3s with an adult helping them. Seeing adults humble themselves and receive ministry from children, seeing the children step up, lay hands on and pray for the adults, was truly memorable and moving.

This wasn't our actual scene but it was like it

It was the gloriously messy but humbling and godly situation you often find when the kingdom of God is revealed. More mess please!

Yesterday, the 10th, in our clusters, i know of at least 2 gatherings where the children laid hands on and prayed for anyone who wanted to prayer! Thing is, those gatherings were in a coffee shop and the bar area of a sports clubhouse. I'm proud of MBC, I'm proud of the children who are brave to try, the adults who'll humble themselves to receive from children, and I'm proud of the leaders who enable that to happen. Well done everyone. I'm glad my kids are growing up and experiencing church in this way. I'm glad they're being equipped from a young age to minister in the power of the Spirit, both in church settings but also in public spaces too. I think we're beginning to grasp what apprenticing looks like. It's been a tough journey, and many can't understand it, but we're getting there. Let's keep on keeping on, learning Jesus' way, and bearing the fruit he wants us to.
Keep laughing, keep loving keep learning.

What's in a Name? Understanding Mission.

Thought i posted this 2 weeks ago but it stayed in draft - doh!

Whilst in Zimbabwe in the summer, my fmaily and I had a lot of fun joking about the myriad of wonderful names in Zimbabwean culture. IN fact we collected all teh names which were English language words (there were plenty in Shona too). These are some: Perfect, Pride, Precious, Princess, Blessed, Blessing, Nomore, Norest, Evernice. Some are beautiful, some have tough stories behind them. If we adopted the tradition of naming in England we'd have people called things like "Nosleep", Biglungs, Bruiser, Porker etc. If you have a nice name it brings  a new dimension to introducing yourself; on my first visit to fill up our truck with diesel (in Zim you stay in your car and an attendant does it for you) a young pretty lady strolled up to my window and said "Hi I'm Princess, how can i help you today"? I did not know what to do with myself. I thought she was coming on to me! In my dreams! But imagine introducing yourself as "Blessed" or beautiful, Strong or Handsome? If you have a good name, it's empowering. If not, it's disabling. In cultures like this, when people come to faith in Jesus, they are often given a new name - one which instead of cursing them speaks a blessing into their life.

Names are important. As a faith community we are trying to be 'missional' and describe ourselves as a 'missional church'. What do we mean by that? What does being missional mean? And is it important?

Quite simply it means to go on God's behalf and share his love with others. We are called to join God in the Missio Dei (The mission of God) which is to bring his love to all people. He didn't wait around in heaven for u to come to him, he left heaven and was born a baby so he could communicate with us. So if we become missional we begin a journey of moving towards those who don't know him yet.

It's important to understand these words as they define some key things for us as followers of Jesus. We can be evangelistic, i.e. sharing the love of God, without being truly missional because we haven't GONE anywhere to do that. Its not wrong. When people come to us, because of their hunger and searching, of course we share God's love with them too. Brilliant. But if we want to fully reflect the character of God, we need to also GO to those who will never, off their own back, have the courage to come to us. Being missional and 'going' id commonly associated with going to the other side of the world, but it can just as easily mean crossing to the other side of the room at a party, or walking across the road to a neighbour's house. How far you go is not important - who takes the initiative and the intention behind it is the key.

It's important on so many levels. If we only wait for people to come to us, we tend to only attract people like us, and so large chunks of society are untouched by the gospel, simply because 'they're different' to us. And in the process of going we are changed more deeply into God's character because going means sacrificing, risking, having more faith and more courage to venture into unknown territory. As we go, we listen more to the culture around us, hearing its hurts and cries of pain; we see more, seeing its 'needs' and 'gaps'. And by going we can demonstrate more of the love that we're trying to communicate. It is, after all, all about that; it's all about love; learning to love better.
Gav