Kidz Aloud

This afternoon I went with Callie to try out Kidz Aloud a children’s club which runs once a month at Carr’s Lane Christian Centre. They alternate between Godly Play which is fairly quiet and other creative activities which tend to be noisier. We’ve been to Godly Play at Greenbelt before and enjoyed it.

Today they retold the story of Jesus healing the paralysed man by stuffing some old clothes and putting them on a cardboard stretcher and lowering them from the balcony. It was a noisy one! Callie enjoyed it and is looking forward to going again. I'm keen to see some of the Godly Play. But next month they have a family fun day and then they’re not on again until September.

Three Favourite Spring Harvest Talks

Talks from this year’s Spring Harvest and are available on CD from Essential Christian. This year we went there as a family. Of the talks that I heard these are my three favourites.

Paul in Athens - Russ Parker
Russ Parker author of Healing Dreams and Healing Wounded History talks about the importance of contextualising the Gospel. He shows from Paul’s awareness of the culture in Athens that evangelism does not begin with proclamation but with listening. Russ also tells stories of how God has spoken to him and how he has been prompted by the Holy Spirit to make public apologies both to Muslims for the Crusades and to Catholics in Northern Ireland. Interesting stuff.

Growing - Mark Knight and Russell Rook
Practicing spiritual disciplines is what enables us to grow in God. These are not just Bible reading and prayer – there is a long list. But resolving to improve all of them by next week is impractical. Mark Knight and Russell Rook point out that different churches have different emphases and there is a tendency to judge others, and ourselves, on progress in the disciplines that are popular in our own church. Instead we are encouraged to find out about other disciplines from different Christian traditions. We can then, starting with what suits us best, take one discipline, work on it until it becomes part of our life’s rhythm and then move on to the next. They make it sound so simple.

Go - Phil Wall
Just before Jesus gives the Great Commission in Matthew 28 we read that some doubted. Phil Wall points out the difference between this doubt and what James talks about as 'being pushed around with every idea'. Phil talks about how we can still have plenty to discuss about our faith even we are unsure about some things. In evangelism we should not pretend that we have it all sorted. We need to be able admit that we have not quite got some things yet. People will respect these honest authentic questions. So even with our doubts let us go and talk to people about Jesus.

Swine Flu Hype

The recent deaths by Swine Flu are of course tragic. Let us not forget to pray for the families affected. The World Health Organisation is still saying that we cannot be complacent. But there doesn’t seem to be the sustained spread of this flu throughout the world as we feared. And the cost of preparing to combat this pandemic, in a time of economic recession, is still not fully appreciated.

If you’ve been following stories you may have found yourself being drawn into a media distortion that has spread panic across the world. The media focus on this disease is way out of proportion to the actual threat. When you begin to look at the statistics you find that the risk of fatalities is comparable with ordinary flu but you may have got the impression it was closer to the risk of say the Black Death in medieval Europe.

Also the risk of death through many other diseases in the Third World is much greater. But when a highly contagious disease threatens Westerners, even in the midst of the worst recession for 80 years, we pour our resources into protecting ourselves. I wonder how this compares with aid we are sending to countries to combat disease and poor living conditions there. Why not see what the Church Times has to say on this?

And by the way, you don't need to get a mask!

Worship Star

I think this song just one of the signs of a growing restlessness about contemporary worship. It satirises the temptation for Christian musicians to make money by writing new worship songs with the same old clichés.

Recently, Mike Rimmer wrote an hard hitting article, on the Cross Rhythms site, lamenting the demise of music ministry and trying to inspire people to something better. Mike had just posted a link to Worship Star on his facebook status - saying that the song summed up how he was feeling about this topic - when co-incidentally I was looking at a post on Jonny Baker’s blog that pointed to a couple of articles on a site called Music Academy. In a similar vain, Jonny was struck by an article about being bored with contemporary worship and one by Brian McLaren that made some positive suggestions about worship songs.

Anyway, I commented to Jonny about this video. He thought it was hilarious and reposted the link. I hope you enjoy it.

Related post: The Future Direction of Worship

RedBubble

I've just been playing with RedBubble. It's a site that enables you to upload artwork and sell it. You can now buy one of my photos as a card. If you would like to buy any other of my photos please let me know and I'll pop them on RedBubble.

Spring Harvest

For a few days over the Easter weekend we went to Spring Harvest at Butlins in Minehead. We were pleased that there was plenty for our little daughter Callie. We could drop her off in her own sessions for three hours each morning. The Butlin’s activities were also open to us such as a fairground, swimming pool, climbing frames, etc. So it was just as much a holiday as a conference. But still I was hoping for a little more than just 'lively' worship and 'inspiring' sermons in the meetings.

In the mornings we chose the Encounter Bible Studies. Russ Parker who is part of the Northumbria Community had some interesting stories to tell about how God had spoken to him and used him in various settings. I was glad that the preaching was accompanied by PowerPoint and short videos often featuring Christian music and compilations of scenes from movies or slides. Russ also had a couple of violinists who played for us and led us in songs and hymns. And there was a short time for group work and feedback.

After a break there was a choice of sessions that unpacked the study guide on the theme of being an apprentice of Jesus. I went to a couple of these sessions and found that it was good to have the talks broken up with activities again. But I found all these teaching sessions a bit too much really. So one morning I went to the chapel to be quiet, read the Bible and pray in the first session. I also found the Prayer House, which for me was the best find of the week. For a couple of the second sessions I was in there praying at the various prayer stations, writing on the prayer wall and relaxing in God’s presence.

In the afternoons I went to the art workshops and spend some time with Callie taking her on the dodgems, adventure golf and soft play area as well as taking her to a multi-sensory worship workshop. My niece Hannah had also found the Prayer House and recommended going to one of their meditations while Nettes watched Callie. I discovered that this was really an alternative worship service – with video, prayers and responses and a worship activity. If I was to go to Spring Harvest again I would do one of these every day.

We went half board so we had dinner and breakfast at the Butlins' diner. They were excellent for your traditional British meat and two veg. But there was not so much choice on the veggie options, healthy options or international cuisine all of which I tend to prefer. So I usually joined the queue for the salad bar. But the 'all you can eat' policy meant that we always had plenty.

In the evenings I took turns with Nettes to be with Callie in her session and put her to bed - I found it very special to take the bread and wine with Callie one evening. But this meant that I only got a couple of full evenings out as the first day we were just settling in. One evening I spent in the Encounter Café that ran as an alternative to the main celebration. There was music, audience interaction, chat, games and a five minute preach as well as making these plasticine models! The other evening I went to the Readings and Reflections - another service with Russ Parker. I also went to see Sue Rinaldi and comedian Joe Fisher. But these gigs didn’t start until 10:30 so this gave me a couple of hours in the Sun and Moon where I could quietly read my study guide with a pint.

All this meant there was one venue we had not gone to when it came to the last day – the Big Top. I did see something of it the night before on our chalet TV. During the meeting two artists who I knew from the art workshops were painting a huge picture at the back of the stage. And anyone could come up and do some art beside the stage. So on the last morning it was the Big Top. I looked around the artwork that was there. But apart from the art I was not as impressed with this venue as much as the others I had seen - especially the Prayer House. There were some familiar contemporary worship songs. And finally we were aptly sent off with a sermon on ‘Go!’

Spring Harvest this year was probably a one off for us - although next year’s does look interesting. The title is ‘Different Eyes - Living Distinctly in a Time of Uncertainty’. We were grabbed by the themes of social justice and ethical issues such as fair trade that are going to be covered. Perhaps we should have waited a year?

Notes on Spiritual Direction from Larry Crabb Conference

Recently I saw Larry Crabb at the annual conference with the British Association of Christians in Psychology. Here are some notes that I jotted down at the conference. I hope that I caught the gist of what he was saying and apologies if I have misrepresented him in any way.

Spiritual Direction is an ancient and profound practice within the Christian Church. Larry Crabb has brought this together with counselling and with and an understanding of community. After spearheading the integration of psychology and Christianity he found his journey moving away from psychotherapy and counselling towards Spiritual Direction. He now would say that he doesn’t think anyone can be an expert on relationships. Rather than scientifically trying to develop expert technique he is looking at the art of providing relationship. Trying to provide and engage in conversions that matter to God.

People need direction in their lives. Psychotherapy tries to provide that - but without God. There are many different approaches. Each approach gives different answers each theorist is defensive of and persuasively advocates their view. But practitioners often become eclectic welding together fundamentally incompatible theories. Sometimes it is good to acknowledge these contractions as there is an element of mystery to the human soul. What can you count on a therapist knowing? Ultimately all they can agree on is that when it hurts it helps to talk to someone you trust.

Larry pointed to the Bible as our starting point for understanding psychology. And we should approach the Bible as 66 love-letters written to answer seven questions of spiritual theology. Spiritual theology understands the story God is telling in a way that affects your life.

1. Who is God? A community of three persons

2. What is up to? Glorifying himself by beautifying us

3. Who are we? The image of God

4. What’s gone wrong? Here Larry asked the question ‘are psychological disorders really spiritual disorders?’ i.e. the result of sin, but he acknowledged that this does also raise the question ‘what about hurt’?

5. What has he done about it? The new covenant

6. What’s the Spirit doing now? Forming us into little Christs – into the image of God

7. How do we join him? How can we co-operate as God’s people and learn to relate? Larry discussed the doctrine of perichoresis which means “to dance around” and one image is that of the Trinity dancing and inviting us to join that dance. This was beautifully conveyed in our worship time on Saturday night where we meditated on one such portrayal of this image.

Larry would now see a lot of the help given by counsellors or therapists could be gained from non-professional relationships. He has learnt a lot about these relationships from medieval Christian writings that discuss Spiritual Direction. A tradition originated from the desert fathers and mothers. When Christianity became acceptable some Christians went into the desert to recapture the radical faith of the earlier martyrs. They needed communities to direct them in discerning what we really of God and what was just wacky.

Spiritual Direction is about developing good conversations. These begin with us honestly sharing ‘where we are at’. There is an epidemic of a lack of sacred curiosity – we don’t ask question of each other enough. Do we communicate ‘shut up while I speak’ or do we intrigue people to ask us more? We often talk to prevent us from feeling inadequate. Instead of thinking of ten good things and saying eleven let us think of ten good things and occasionally mention one.

This addresses the seventh question of spiritual theology, ‘How can we participate in what God is doing?’ By relating to people in conversations that really matter.

Reach Out Network: Prayer and Awareness Day

Last Saturday I went to a prayer and awareness day run my Reach Out Network – name for the activities run by my friends Paul & Jackie Atkin. The aim of the ministry is to reach out to those on the fringe of society, in particularly the homeless helping them to overcome addictions and other issues as well as talking about Jesus with them.

Paul began by telling his own story. I was stuck by how an important part of his conversion involved facing his own mortality. He realised that not everyone in his local graveyard had died at an old age. In fact there was quite a spread of ages. Later He had known members of his own family die. And over the years he had known eighteen rough sleepers who had died.

During the day there were a number of presentations by organisations that are working together in this ministry to the homeless. Steve, our church elder, introduced Church Alive commenting that we all have different styles and that we are all learning to work together and to see each others ways of doing things is just as 'right' as our own. We heard the amazing story Sally Livingstone of Livingstone House whom God had told to “pick diamonds out of excrement”. We also heard from Betel – a rehabilitation community based in Birmingham. They described themselves as 'contemporary monastic' and explained how they enable their members – many of which have been rough sleepers – to work in the community's businesses.

Paul then interviewed a shy chap who was sitting next to me who turned out to be someone who was currently homeless. Paul asked him how the church could best serve the homeless. This chap explained that friendship and acceptance is what people want, as well as an opportunity for a change of life. He pointed out just how unsafe sleeping on the streets is especially if it is not with some others that you trust. And at the end of the day he and a couple of others, who we have known for sometime, indicated that they wanted to become Christians.

Understanding Human Behaviour in Relationships

I'm on another course at this very moment. This time Fircroft College for three day residential on Understanding Human Behaviour in Relationships.

I am enjoyed getting to know the other students. We are doing lots of group work but there is some stretching formal input too. The course is coming from a comes psychodynamic perspective and is giving us some brief tasters of NLP, Transactional Analysis – not just parent, child and adult but also the Drama Triangle.

Neuro-lingustic programming is completely new to me and it was fascinating looking at the four pillars:

1. rapport – building relationships with yourself and others,
2. sensory awareness – becoming more aware of the now,
3. outcome thinking – focussing on what you want to achieve
4. behavioural flexibility – trying out new things.

This morning we did some assertiveness training. I found this the most useful part of the course. I came away with a list of tips to practice and use in conversations. I will go through these with Nettes and use them.

Some Writing

Just in case you were wondering I am not the David Derbyshire who writes as a science correspondent for British newspapers such as the Mail and the Telegraph. People ask because he does sometimes write about psychology - the subject I teach.

But I do have a few writings out there, as well as on this blog. I have just submitting another review to Amazon for Stuart Murray’s Beyond Tithing.

Also I have four new music reviews published on the Cross Rhythms site. You can find links to all my music reviews on My Cross Rhythms page.

And, soon I might be writing some content on our church’s website.

Looking forward to seeing Larry Crabb

Next weekend (March 27-29) I am planning to go to see Larry Crabb at the annual conference with the British Association of Christians in Psychology.

Larry Crabb has been very influential in developing Christian counselling. But more recently he has changed tack to emphasise the importance of building relationships and he now appears to prefer the term spiritual direction. In his book Connecting he explains how he now sees connecting with others as the key to healing rather than just the specialist relationship with a therapist or counsellor. In the conference he will be speaking about his journey into this understanding.

This looks very interesting. I'll let you know how it goes.

A Multi-Sensory Time

Last night Nettes & I did an activity together from Sue Wallace’s book Multi-Sensory Scripture. This book contains some creative ways to interact with the Bible. We were looking at the story of the raising of Lazarus. Unlike some of the activities this one took minimal preparation. After doing some relaxation exercises we simply read a script that took us through the story a few times each time focusing on a different sense. A very relaxing and interesting way to meditate on this passage.

You can also read my review of Sue’s previous book Multi-Sensory Prayer on Amazon.

The Role of the Church in the Current Recession

Here are three Christian links I am looking at that are relevant to our current global economic crisis:

Are You Recession Ready? discusses how it time for the church to start thinking about getting ready for the recession. This might involve things like looking at how we handle our money and how we give to and serve the poor.

Bible on Money is a very good page of the Generous Giving website that points to a list of key Bible verses. Click on each verse for comments.

Mission and Recession is another good article on the way forward for the church at this time. Please note that this article has a second part.

I feel that handling money is something that our church has some practical wisdom on and teaches well. This together with the fact that we are involved in ministry to the homeless indicates to me that we are getting there. Reading these articles suddenly made what we do feel very relevant.

Thanks to Andrew Jones for pointing to these links on his blog.

Wisdom of the Swarm

On Saturday night, Hugh Thompson facilitated a discussion with a group of us in our church. After tucking into some chilli we were soon passing the microphone around unpacking some Bible verses together. We looked at, among other things, the ants from Proverbs.

Wisdom of the Swarm was just one his sub-headings. ‘Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;’ (Proverbs 30:25). Why do they do this when they ‘have no ruler’ (Proverbs 6:6)? Just like ‘the locusts that have no king yet advances together in ranks’ (Proverbs 30:27). How do these creatures work together in unity?



Hugh described a video like this one. He then explained that just as the individual synapses communicate chemically in the brain so ants communicate by pheromones and act like one collective mind. In the same way we corporately as the church have ‘the mind of Christ’ as we hear God together and operate as his body.

On the way home we were still discussing this principle of synergy - if we all work together we can achieve things that we could never achieve separately.

Hugh quoted the lyrics of RyanDan’s High:

If we all work together
We would be stronger
If we all open our eyes
We could see further
If we all stand tall enough no one can beat us
If we all hold our hands up high we can carry the world.

So this week I’ve been playing this song on Spotify - my new music streaming application - while watching videos, like the one above, full screen on YouTube. Why not try it? If you haven’t yet got Spotify just can now just click on the link to sign up for the free version.

Scrolls In The Desert

During the week our church meets in each others homes. As the groups are arranged at present Nettes & I are in a group with all the other parents. This gives us a chance to discuss parenting issues. Last Thursday we organised an evening that we called ‘Scrolls in the Desert’. We had a number of conversation starters partly buried on a tray of sand. The scrolls included a Bible study plan and a page from a parenting course and there were a few books too. We had a really good discussion to what extent our experience of parenting was like a desert or an oasis as people pulled items out of the sand. The dining table was our oasis for the evening where nibbles, cheese, wine, beer and juices were available for refreshment. Interestingly the juices were hardly touched!

Time With God

I have now added a set of photos on flickr for last weekend's Time With God. Please feel free to have a look and read some of the 'writing on the wall' and 'washing line' prayers.

For those that don't know, for a few years now our church has done a 24 hour stint - every 6 months or so - where our centre is open for people to spend some time with God. People have the option of candles, music and the chance to write on the wall – actually on flipchart paper that we blu-tack on the wall. Two or three years ago we started bringing in art materials too and on one occasion we had some prayer stations including last time the idea of writing or drawing your prayers and pegging them to a washing line. We have always said that how people spend the time is between them and God. But this time the feeling was that at least some of the time was to be spent in intercession for the world.

So last weekend we were busy bringing in more candles and throws and beanbags. We provided people with loads of suggestions for prayer including local items and information on international issues such as the current financial crisis. Helen made displays about Christians that we have relationship with including some in Zimbabwe. We used visual prompts such as a globe and maps. For example, Nettes & I laid out an activity to turn weapons fashioned out of tinfoil into ploughshares as people prayed for peace. We also placed some herbs in the kitchen to eat while people could read a meditation on slavery and a prayer for those enslaved today.

Steve Watts, our elder, was excited about finding a set of ‘soaking’ CDs that someone had loaned to us for the time. He soon began to meditate on God relaxing on a beanbag. Through the night we were praying, worshipping and producing pieces of abstract art. People came and went in the early hours of the morning. I had a good time praying with Jackie early in the morning about liberation and we were writing out things that we wanted to get rid of in our own lives as well as in the world - such as fear, insecurity and poverty - and throwing them in a waste bin. On Saturday, Nettes and Callie went and Callie took part by painting a picture of heaven and by praying for China. Callie is only five.

We received some really positive comments about the event and hope to do this again later in the year.

Don't be a shadow

We’ve just finished Time With God which I will blog about later this week. But I just wanted to say that at our church prayer meeting last week we had a good time of silently waiting on God. One phrase that came to my mind was inspired by one of Steve’s photos displayed in the room. (Unfortunately I don't think Steve is on flickr so I can’t link to it.) This phrase has stuck with me all this week: Don’t be a shadow that blocks the light – be transformed so that people can see God in your relationships. I thought it might be worth a mention.

Soup Run

A group of us were out last night in Birmingham with Paul and Jackie Atkin giving out soup and rolls as well as some blankets, from a van. We had a good time chatting and listening, building relationships with those we met - even though one homeless guy was drunk another a bit aggressive to his mates. Paul prayed with one man. I had a good conversation with another who asked about enlightenment! Soon we got onto exploring what Jesus meant when he said to love our enemies. And one chap was just walking around the van until we left because he felt it was a safe place.

Related posts:
Down and Out in Birmingham
Churches really are working together

Why I am so proud of my wife

I met my wife Nettes eight years ago through a Christian dating website – Christian Connection. I have so many reasons to be proud of her. I love her creativity. I love her artistic talent. The list could go on.

We have always tried to share the domestic chores and child care but I find that Nettes is often left doing more than her fair share. I know we’re not the only ones. But I think she is extremely patient with me.

I love her heart for doing mission here in the inner city of Birmingham. I love the way she reaches out to people. She just loves mixing with people in the neighbourhood. I love the way she has made friends with asylum seekers. And I love her enthusiasm to meet people through our church's Drop In.

This week she came home with a bundle of leaflets about social enterprise. A friend had set up a successful social enterprise called Sport4Life. "Here are some organisations we could contact to see if we could do something like that," she said. "Perhaps this could be the next step with the ministry to the homeless?" I just love the way she is always striving to move forward in God.

I love you Nettes. Happy Saint Valentine's Day!

Sea Parable

Sea Parable is a moving little three minute cartoon by Andi Mac that encapsulates all of Church history and the Church's reluctance to evangelise. It really packs a punch.

Thanks to Jonny Baker for this link.

Charismissional

Currently as a church we are discussing spiritual gifts. And recently on this blog I posted about missional living. So when I found a set of articles that link these two I was understandably excited. Charismissional is written by Robbymac, Brother Maynard and Emerging Grace (now Kingdom Grace). These three appear to have had similar experiences of being leaders in charismatic circles only to become disillusioned by extremes and abuses. But having left their positions they still find themselves passionate about the gifts of the Spirit. In their new settings they are now finding a new outlet for these gifts in missional living. Go on have a look.

Hope in the Snow

"Re-awakener of the earth…
your promise is there to be seen, this day…
be the care that creates the world and renews in apparent barrenness…
For I know that buds will burst from their hard shell,
and spring will follow winter,
and so may I know your unseen hand..."

from the celtic wheel of the year
by tess ward

I nipped out and took this photo of the Viburnum tinus 'Eve Price' in our garden. Flowering with red blossom it looked lovely covered in snow. I thought the photo went well with this prayer from the little book I use for my devotionals. So I put the two together in this post.

25 Things About Me

on facebook here

Is the Bible the Word of God?

There is an interesting discussion on this following this cartoon at ASBO Jesus. I would certainly say that no one version is more inspired than another.

I would also add that literal interpretations must give way to responsible hermeneutics. We must appreciate, for example, the symbolic nature of the book of Revelation and also think carefully about the style of the creation narrative. Too much energy has been wasted debating creationism - Indiana Jones like explorers are even trying to find Noah’s Ark!

I agree that God speaks to us today through the Bible and points us to Jesus who is the word of God. But should we call the Bible itself the word of God too?

On top of this the doctrine of inerrancy has been a big red herring for many Christians. I like David Matthew’s notes on the book Spiration of Scripture that show us we can reject inerrancy and still call the Bible the word of God.

So is the Bible the word of God? Even though I would call Jesus the word of God and I don't think we should always take the Bible literally and I wouldn't agree with inerrancy, I still think that ultimately my answer is... 'Yes! the Bible is the word of God'.

What would you say?

Related Post: Fear, Faith and Change: part of a series on the Awareness Course that compares how Islam interprets Quran with how Christians interpret the Bible.

Update: Here is a good article by Aaron Rathburn. Aaron is a blogger who is connected to the same network of churches that I am: Biblical Inerrancy From The Bible or Enlightenment?

Churches really are working together

Tomorrow and the following Friday I’m covering for Helen in our Drop-In while she and Steve go to Africa for a week. You may recall that I blogged about the Drop-In and our mission to the homeless just before Christmas. But what stuck me today was that fact that there will be other Christians there: Christians who are not part of our church or our network.

Christians from different churches working together is not new. But over the past few years we seem to have increasingly been involved in outworking this idea. For instance, just before Christmas we were involved in a massive food parcel programme with a couple of other churches in our neighbourhood through Hope 08.

It’s not just in one off projects that we are getting to work together. There are couple of people in our church that work for Karis Neighbour Scheme. This is a Christian based charity that works with a number of churches showing neighbourly acts of kindness. It was featured on Secret Millionaire last year. My wife also organises a crèche for the ESOL classes that Karis runs. Through this and Karis’s Welcome to Ladywood project we have had the privilege of meeting refugees and asylum seekers who have come to Birmingham.

We also know people through an organisation called Restore that encourages people in a number of churches to befriend asylum seekers.

And now we're involved in a Drop-In and ministry to the homeless that are also supported by Christians from other churches. Yes, we really are all working together to serve our community.


Update: I've now created a set for the Drop-In on flickr.

One Million Decide To Follow Jesus Through One Website

Seriously. This is no joke. Just over one million now have decided to follow Jesus by clicking through LookingforGod.com. Of course it’s more than a click. This website, which is already in many languages, leads people through a process that at the end invites them to pray a prayer of commitment. Over at GodRev.com you can watch the decisions in real time and Google Earth them you want to. Thanks to Andrew Jones for showing me this. Andrew has met Eric Celerier the author of this site and has heard some exciting stories.

In order to protect the responders the site only tells you to town or city where the person on the internet accessed the site from. Many of these decisions are coming from countries where Christians are persecuted and where the church is known to be growing. Locals could well respond with violence if they knew any more precise details. So I don’t think there is any provision to put people in contact with churches.

I would not blame people for being sceptical. The site admits that decisions don’t make disciples. And the gospel message comes over a bit too simplistic and sentimental for me. Perhaps I need to recapture a bit of naivety. One million is some claim but if only a tiny fraction of those are sincere it's still thousands swept into the kingdom. "By setting up this website", Andrew explains, "a transparent process has been created that tells its own story". Each person leaves their record behind. I have no problem believing a million people have confirmed that they have said the prayer on this site. I just wonder what exactly that means.

The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe

I’m enjoying re-discovering some Christian classics to read to Callie. This is an abridged version of C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe illustrated by Christian Birmingham. I have also recently read her a version of Pilgrim’s Progress. And at Christmas we brought her The Children's lllustrated Bible and have worked out a plan that takes her through all the Bible stories in a year. Callie loves books.

Zehnder

I have had a few new reviews of mine added to the Cross Rhythms site. This means that as well as my carols I’ve had a couple of good gospel albums to listen to over Christmas. But recently I’ve also been listening to the album Going Up? by Zehnder. Thanks to Mike Morrell of the Ooze for sending me a copy.

Zehnder is a Christian band from Los Angeles led by twins Tim and Tom Zehnder. Going Up? is mainly upbeat rootsy pop rock but with a range of instruments and styles mixed in. You may be surprised to here the touch of choral and the touch of world music in there. Zehnder are good but what makes the album for me are their lyrics rather than their voices. I’m not sure why the track that they are pushing is Spirit Born - based on John 3 – but you can get that on a free download from their site. Perhaps it’s just because it is so catchy but I can't help wondering if it's to ensure they get recognition by born again evangelicals.

Anyway for me, the more downbeat track I Believe is the stand out of this album. The lyrics show a degree of honesty about struggling with faith that is very rare in Christian music:

In times of war, in times of doubt,
In desperate times you scream about.
In times of pain and times of loss,
Those desperate times up on the cross.

I believe, help my unbelief. I believe, help my unbelief.

In times of joy and times of bliss,
On sunny days you never miss.
The times with you, together free,
Bring Heaven here with certainty.

I believe, help my unbelief. I believe, help my unbelief.

And oh the grief, to say goodbye,
Sing out wailing through labored sigh.
Swing white hot fury to black despair,
Dare you to find your God in there!

I believe, help my unbelief. I believe, help my unbelief.

You can buy the album from from CD Baby or from Zehnder themselves.

Noodles for Christmas Dinner

This Christmas we were invited to Christmas dinner by some friends of ours Yumi and Yenfu. Yumi cooked an amazing meal for us of noodles, rice, cucumber, sandwiches, chips, chicken, gammon... it just kept coming. When we had just about finished a pile of sausages appeared.

Nettes got me a camera for Christmas so of course I took it along to try it out. Here’s Callie just about to tuck into the feast. You can see a few more of my experiments on flickr.

Down and Out in Birmingham

On Thursday afternoon, I went round the city centre with Paul Atkin giving out some presents to some homeless guys. Between us we must have given away about a dozen packages, each containing a hat, a scarf, a pair of gloves, and a pair of socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and deodorant. Many of the guys shook our hands and one even gave us a big hug. He said that he had wanted some gloves for some time and that it was lovely to wear a new woollen hat. Many of us had donated the contents and Paul had already given out lots of these presents and has since packed some more. Paul knows these guys as he has been working with them for about ten years now.

Paul came to our church when he married Jackie this year. Our little daughter Callie was one of their bridesmaids. Since then our church has launched a ministry to the homeless headed up by Paul and Jackie. They spend their time talking to people and helping people in practical ways such as showing them the right forms to fill in to get a flat or distributing clothes, blankets and sleeping bags that have been donated.

On Fridays, we use our little church building as a Drop In Centre. People will come for a coffee & sandwiches, play pool or dominoes and to do some art. I have been dropping in myself for half an hour or so most weeks and mixing with the people. This Friday, Steve our church elder, made us all a glorious curry as a Christmas treat. There was about thirty of us there and we knew that several would be sleeping on the streets that night. We have seen a number of people from the Drop In join us in our Sunday church gatherings at the community centre. And not surprisingly last week there were many there for our church’s Christmas dinner. It is just great to be around these people.

There is a very good account of what we are doing ministering to the homeless in Birmingham, from the website for our network of churches – Lifelink International. It is worth watching the videos. They are not just people talking. There are some good shots of the Drop In and the work on the streets. It gives you the flavour of what we are doing.

Advent

'I got a bit confused about Advent yesterday. I thought it was about Christmas, a good friend tells me it's about when Jesus will return and then Wikipedia cleared the whole thing up by letting me know it's about both!' blogged Carla from 24-7 Prayer. I can identify with this as someone who has only discovered the Christian calendar in the past few years while I have been using the lectionary as a basis for my Bible readings. Anyway here I am again in Advent.

As I write this Nettes and our little daughter Callie are busy with our now traditional Jesse Tree. This year Nettes constructed a papier-mâché tree based on a South American Tree of Life. We just love searching for new ideas. Here are some that we recently found. If you want an alternative idea for a decoration – I think this one might be appropriate in our economic climate. Or if you want to see an art project in the community what about this for an advent calendar? There are loads more on this post by Jonny Baker. I’m sure there are many more ideas around?

The Church That Is Left Behind

My wife, Nettes, brought this book back from a leaders’ weekend with our network of churches. I was very interested as I’m in the process of reading Perriman’s the Coming of the Son of Man. Perriman’s book is such a tight argument that I can’t skim it without losing the plot. So I may be wrong, but from our conversations the two books appear to be converging on similar conclusions. Kobus’s book looks lighter and spends more time outlining and debunking pre-millennial theology especially extreme dispensationalism. The title is of course a reference to the best selling series of novels based on pre-millennial theology.

Having leaned towards an amillenial or postmillenial stance for many years, and more recently been interested in the transmillenial viewpoint, I tend to forget that many Christians either haven’t thought about this or, particularly in the States, have pretty much swallowed the whole pre-mill/dispensationalist argument. So I was amazed to see this hidden camera stunt on Aaron Rathburn’s blog back in September. You could only do this in America :)



I guess in some quarters these ideas are still going strong. Hopefully Kobus’s book will provide a much needed antidote to some in our circles who have picked up some of these thoughts from the God Channel or maybe from the Left Behind novels themselves.

God Bless Barack Obama

It sounds like euphoria in the States for many now that Obama has got in. The internet is full of OTT statements about this new president. It seems in Britain that many are pleased as, compared with Bush, he appears to have a very different approach to Afghanistan and Iraq. The general feeling is that we will be glad to see the back of Bush who pulled us into a war that we did not agree with. It is with these issues that I feel Obama could be a champion of righteousness and justice. Some Christians may disagree but personally I feel this is a greater issue than Obama’s stance on abortion or gay marriages.

All this talk about change for the better reminds me of when Blair became prime minister. I wonder how long it will last. I also wonder how much of his popularity is due to media hype, as we heard so much more about Obama than McCain in the lead up to the election. But if Obama can take America - and the rest of us - through the current financial crisis well and handle the Middle East and the War on Terror sensibly I think he has the potential to be one of American’s greatest presidents. I also hope that Obama’s election will be a step forward for racial equality in the States. But who knows? Only time will tell.

Thanks to Jack Thielepape and Kris Kros on flickr for the photo.

UPDATE: I've just seen this little book by a Christian publisher. It's a biography that emphasises Obama's faith in Jesus and is written for kids aged 9-12. It looks good.

Interfaith Dialogue

I’ve just got back from watching my little daughter Callie’s assembly on Diwali. Being such a multi-cultural school means that many different festivals are celebrated. When we were praying together Callie recently asked if I would pray that she will remember to talk to people about Jesus – which I did. But also I reminded her to listen to other people and ask them what they believe.

Interfaith dialogue is a major theme in the Awareness Course that a small group of us are still working through in our church. We would not identify with fundamentalist Christians who see evangelism as a monologue, yet we do believe that that our message is of vitally importance. Topics we have looked at recently - the incarnation, Christ’s mission to preach good news to the poor and the sending out of seventy in Luke 10 – all show that we do have a vital message.

An arrogant fundamentalism can be very dangerous and often gives a very wrong impression of religion. I’ve just been reading in Erling Thu’s blog about his visit to Orissa and accounts of the Christian’s being violently persecuted by fundemetalist Hindus. Yes, I heard about battles in the story of Rama and Sita this morning but I know that fighting is not what the Hindu faith stands for. These accounts need to be understood in their cultural context in the same way that the battles in the Old Testament do.

Surely true religion involves humble conversations about our faith without hurting one another, even though we are fervently convinced of its truth? Unfortunately, the term 'interfaith dialogue' has become associated with ideas such as 'all roads lead to God' and 'you tell me your truth and I'll tell you mine'. Is it possible to rescue this term and learn from it the idea of listening to others ideas and beliefs with interest as part of a more humble way of doing personal evangelism? What do you think?

Update: See this related post by Daniel Story on respecting those who don't believe.

Time With God 2008

Last weekend our church did our regular Time With God. This is a 24 hour period when our building is open for us to pray, read or however we want to spend some time with God in a similar way to 24-7 prayer. We have candles, music and plenty of paper for people to draw a picture on or write down prophecies, scriptures or prayers to hang around the building. This time as a family we contributed a few beanbags for the ‘comfort zones’. And there was some play-dough to work with as we prayed. During the night I made a model of the ‘body of Christ’ by making many small figures and molding them into one. I spent some praying with others, did a bit of reading but for a lot of the time I sat in God’s presence with the lights off and the candle burning. As we discussed the time on Sunday morning I was encouraged to hear that others had lit the candles and turned out the lights too. Some whom a few years ago would never have dreamt of doing so. And it was great to see the prayers that people had written pegged out on the 'washing line'.

Babylon Halt

My latest reviews for Cross Rhythms are now on the site - they’re the ones marked ‘New’ on My Cross Rhythms page. Among them is a review of Babylon Halt - an excellent new album from Secret Archives of the Vatican. If you go into the review you can see that Vince Millett of the band is offering a free copy of the CD to readers. I’ve got to give my review copy back so I’ve just gone into Broken Drum Records, emailed them from the contact page and asked for my free copy. Why don’t you do the same? Don't forget to mention that you read about it on my review.

Credit Crunch

What's the answer to today's financial crisis? Getting another credit card? I don't think so. Thanks to Mark Sayers for the link to this disturbing advert.

Over at Between Two Worlds, David Kotter has some thoughts about the current situation - also from an American perspective - that are worthy of note for Christians. I found this article via Tallskinnykiwi and then Christian Personal Finance. Thanks guys!

Everyday the news seems to indicate that we are moving into a recession and people fear that their livelihood is at risk. For those not eligible for housing benefit or a council house, privately renting can be very costly. Getting a mortgage is thought to be a prudent move by many. In some parts of the UK it may even be cheaper to buy than to rent. But then there is the risk of getting into debt. Of course, taking out a secured loan such as a mortgage isn't debt in itself but defaulting on the repayments is. With falling house prices and a stagnant market a home owner could end up with massive debts. People now need to be more careful than ever if they are not to end up losing their homes.

Our church has just started a mission initiative towards the homeless. There is an ever present need for this but, I was just thinking, with the ways things are going we might be seeing even more people in debt who could end up on the streets in the near future.

Perhaps it is time for Christians to start seriously praying for the economy? What do you think?

See also Credit Crunches by Cross Rhythms' Mal Fletcher.

UPDATE: There is a fascinating money programme article which is linked to an episode this BBC series screened in November. Property: The End of the Affair basically argued that renting could be a lot more prudent than buying. Many first time buyers today can’t get a mortgage and feel they are missing out while others are desperate to hold onto their property ownership. Yet economically it could make a lot more sense for people in the UK to rent, as is the norm in many other countries, rather than buy – especially in the current financial climate. They argued that buying property could be just as risky as borrowing money to buy shares – which as we all know may keep falling.

The Future Direction of Worship

On Thurday and Friday Jonny Baker took part in a symposium on worship at the London School of Theology. I know Jonny through CMS events and worship sessions at Greenbelt but mainly through his blog. He has been asked to be part on a panel of experts on worship that also includes among others Graham Kendrick and Joel Edwards. They are discussing the future direction of worship. To help Jonny out I left a couple of comments on this blog here - a long with a lot of other people - the gist of which Jonny tried to weave into his contributions.

Jonny has outlined some of the thoughts of his fellow panellists here, some of his own contributions here, and his summary of the arguments here. I am following this with great interest and commenting on it as it goes - sometimes with more than one comment on a post. There are some very open and honest thoughts in this discussion, some of which I think are pertinent to our worship experiences in Church Alive. Of course I am not denying that we have some good times of worship - I just want to go further.

Please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Greenbelt 08

Highlights for me at this year’s Greenbelt Festival included Molten Meditation - a fusion of charismatic and contemplative worship lead by Robin Vincent. As well as in his own session, I saw Robin Vincent in the Proost Lounge – a showcase of new talent from this label who were celebrating their first anniversary. But apart from this I didn’t get to much music. For one thing the Performance Café was always packed out. Does taking part in the hymn singing at the beer tent count? It was amazing.

So what did I get to?

Ikon led what was really an 18 point sermon on lessons they had learnt as a church. It lasted an hour and half but it was brilliant. Every point had a visual illustration and/or activity associated with it - pillows, balloons, video, discussions and lots of laughs.

This year I went to a couple of new venues:

1. St Ethelburga’s Tent where I did a little biblical meditation and heard a discussion on whether Eastern religions could give us any insights into Christianity and…

2, The Breathing Space Yurt where I took part into an insightful yet whimsical event called a Tea Ritual where we heard stories, quotes and demonstrations centred around the hospitality of drinking tea. Then we served each other a genteel cuppa.

Also I deliberately made Callie a priority, queuing to get her into the Children’s Festival and taking her to events such as an all-age service called Trinity Twister on Sunday morning, where we learnt about the trinity, played twister and took communion.

I’ve now downloaded a couple of excellent talks that I missed while I was with Callie: Jenny Baker on gender roles and Brian McLaren on post-colonialism. I might blog about them later and perhaps mention one or two more things.

As usual it was a great time.

When Christian Ministers Fall

As humans we are all fallible including those whose work is serving God. It is sad to hear news of Christian ministers stepping down from their work because of personal issues. It may need a lot of forgiveness if these people have taken a stand against the things that they have done. It may need even more forgiveness when we see that issues have been covered up for some time and that those close to them have either been complicit or naïve. But still they need our prayers more than ever. And let us pray that their behaviour doesn't shake the faith of others.

Recently we have heard rumours of revival in Florida linked to the ministry of Todd Bentley. After stepping down, it is now clear that Todd had a drink problem and an affair. He has now separated from his wife and at least some of the healings Todd claimed have failed to been verified by his associates. Also in the news, Australian youth leader and musician Michael Guglielmucci, whose song Healer appeared on a Hillsong album, has been exposed as faking his fight with cancer, perhaps hoping to claim a miracle in the future. These are just a couple of recent examples that I feel free to quote as they are so well known.

Just because the messenger is imperfect doesn’t necessarily invalidate their message. We need to go back to God to see how much we agree with what such people have taught and practiced. I have always been sceptical of the methods used in the recent ‘revival’ but I do believe that God heals today. If this revival does continue without Todd it may well give it more credibility. But let us not turn our back on what we have learnt from such people just because we hear about them behaving in ways we would not condone.

As reformer and martyr John Bradford once said, "There but by the grace of God go I."

Sharing God

Going to the Eid Mela celebrations on Sunday reminded me that in my banner it says that I am blogging about the Awareness Course this year. So I thought I'd better keep you informed about how it is going.

I am very impressed that this course gives the most positive portrayal of Islam that I have ever heard from a Christian perspective. We looked briefly at the origins of Islam and its early history in this module. It really emphasised the good things in Islam such as how it stands for justice and helps the poor.

Yes, our church is still running the Awareness Course. We are studying next two modules which now involves two or three of us getting together to work through the material once a week. More people in out church studied the first module which I discussed earlier this year.

In module two 'Sharing God' - which compares Judaism, Christianity and Islam - we have also had some interesting discussions about a number of topics such as…

We looked at how to understand the early accounts in Genesis as mythology. However the course wasn’t saying they were untrue. I think the main idea was not to be too worried about the scientific or historical accuracy of these accounts but to see that they teach spiritual lessons.

We couldn’t quite see the idea of Yahweh developing from being chief among the God’s early in the Old Testament, but it was interesting to see the influence of other religions - such as the Midianite God who was also called Yahweh.

At the moment we are on a break for the summer holidays and hope to start again in September.

Who will succeed Terry Virgo?

At the recent New Frontiers conference ‘Together on Mission’ Mark Driscoll brought a prophecy exhorting Terry Virgo to make a five year plan that involved seeking God about who should succeed Terry in the leadership of New Frontiers. In this clip of an interview with Adrian Warnock, Mark Driscoll talks about the prophecy and his time at the conference.



Any comments?

Christians and Blogging

I just found this brilliant quote from Mark Greene. You can read his article in full on the LICC site (London Institute for Contemporary Christianity).

"[Blogging] …raises important questions about how the Church chooses to communicate – and our need to combine personal conviction with openness to listen. This applies not only in the way we seek to talk to people who don’t know Jesus but also whether we genuinely seek to create space for open communication among those who already do. One of the common criticisms of church culture by Christians is that it is often extremely difficult to voice dissent, explore a contrary point of view, and, more significantly, find a context in which to be emotionally and intellectually honest. Can we create contexts for ‘good conversation’? Of course, at its worst, blogging, particularly pseudonymous blogging, can simply be a self-indulgent way to sound off. At its best, however, it can provide an authentic way to express our true humanity and begin a conversation with other like-hearted humans who are seeking truth, life and a way to live it in a distinctively personal, creative way. And it’s hard to be anything but enthusiastic about that."

Any thoughts?

Technorati Tag: christian blogging

Romans Disarmed

Last month I went to Birmingham Cathedral to hear Brian Walsh and Silvia Keesmaat on Romans. Sorry that I haven’t got round to blogging about this sooner, as it was really good. Having read their book on Colossians I was excited about what they would do with this epistle. The day was organised by CMS as part of their Blah series and also advertised in the Hope 08 newsletter. Richard Sudworth introduced them and you can read his comments on the day here. Walsh and Keesmaat’s site is also worth checking out.

I liked Walsh and Keesmaat’s teaching style; they were very good at getting interaction with us even though there were about fifty of us at a guess. They looked a lot at the context of the book and drew out some interesting parallels between the culture of the time and our culture today. Although there are very clear differences they looked at some points which are analogous. They used drama to great effect by acting out someone reading a section of Paul’s letter for the first time with someone heckling.

Their emphasis on the corporate life of the church rather than on personal salvation was something else that I liked but I wouldn't go as far as they did in saying that this is what Romans is all about. But I did like what they said about about not being ashamed of your difficulties from Romans 8. And they saw Paul’s words as subversive and so gave a very interesting interpretation of Romans 13 pointing out that the Roman authorities would not been pleased with what Paul was saying. Rather than making good citizens Paul was criticising the Roman authorities – who denied publicly that they ruled by the sword. Fascinating.

I found listening to this couple for a few hours that Tuesday was a real treat.

Prince Caspian

On Sunday, Nettes arranged a babysitter took me to see Prince Caspian for a belated birthday present. We originally planned to go in May for my birthday but that was the date it opened in the States not in Britain. At last the time came yesterday afternoon. We walked down to the cinema and dropped Callie off on the way. Lots of thanks to the Naylors for looking after her.

The movie? Well... some brilliant special effects. A lot more fighting than expected. It had the message that they should have listened to Lucy and waited for Aslan. In the Bible when Israel went to war without God or turned to false gods they didn’t win. They needed the prophets to seek the Lord. Similarly Prince Caspian and the children needed Lucy to seek out Aslan to bring them victory.

Of course they downplayed the spiritual message. Nevertheless a good film and a good present. Thank you Nettes.

Build a Bear

Saturday I took Callie to a party at the Build-a-Bear Workshop. After games and making wishes on little hearts to go in the bears our party host stuffed the bears and the children promised to look after them. No hard sell of the clothes you could purchase but perhaps that was because we went straight on to Pizza Hut. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Rumours of Revival

Recently I posted about the rumours of revival in The Florida Outpouring. Steve, elder of our church, went to one of the meetings Dudley that are an offshoot of this and I think it is fair to say was not impressed. But I know of one of my friends on facebook who has been over to Florida and is setting up his own meetings up north. Personally I think that it is a mixture: God is moving but people are getting in on the act and hyping it up. I joined a group on facebook to discuss this but found camps sadly divided between those who were saying ‘Oooh! Isn’t this great!’ and those who were saying ‘It’s all of the Devil’. When someone complained of receiving hate-mail I left the group.

I found a much more reasonable discussion on this cartoon on ASBO Jesus. And here are a few more interesting links that I have found as I have followed this discussion across the internet. There was an intelligent reply to criticism by revivalist John Crowther and a positive article by Pete Greig of 24/7 prayer on what is happening. But I found a more reserved approach from another part of 24/7 prayer network. Also Terry Virgo - head honcho of big charismatic house-church network New Frontiers - has plenty of reservations, yet he thinks there may be something in it, especially in the light of this testimony. And interestingly in this recent faithworks article Jim Wallis (author of Seven Ways to Change the World) does say that revival is coming but sees it as more related to Christians impacting social change... So the discussions carry on.

If anyone finds anymore links or thoughts feel free to post them in the comments section below.

Training Courses

As a college lecturer, it’s about this time of year that I get to go on training courses. Increasingly students need activities and support from new technology and can't cope with just lectures. But this requires skills and time. We do have staff development days at college every now and again. But it’s much better to get out and do something organised by others.

This time I’ve been to a training day at Manchester that was not just about teaching tips but also specific to my subject - psychology. I came away from Want To Be A Brilliant Psychology Teacher with a CD of presentations and resources for activities with lesson plans a bit like a cook book. Because they are all on disc I can modify them as I see fit. But if short of time there are some things that I can just use as they are. Wow!

And at the same time over the next few weeks I am doing an online course that is teaching me how to design online courses. Well, at least produce support material for my classes online using an application called Moodle. It actually produces an online environment where students can chat and discuss the material, access material and take online tests.

An increasing part of being a teacher is to update knowledge and skills. To this end all college lecturers are now part of the Institute For Learning and have been given a disc which among other things helps us to keep track of our continual professional development. So I better get working on that.

Blog Spring Clean

Yes, my blog spring cleaning is finally done. Not only have I added links to my most recent Cross Rhythms Reviews but also some extra links including some new blogs that I have found. You may notice that I have divided my blog links from my other links to make a proper blogroll at last. And I have added links to my other Web 2.0 profiles such as facebook and flickr under the heading Life Streaming. Also note that is where my crossrhythms reviews have put. Why not have a look down the side of my blog and explore some of the links?