Nehemiah's arrogance?

'So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?” '

That's what Nehemiah said, chapter 6 verse 3.

sounds fairly arrogant but it's pretty spot on.

How single minded are we about the task we've been called to by God? How far do we go in chasing after his things and how many other things take focus and time away? Are we confident enough in the fact that God has called us to a task or dream that we can stand with Nehemiah and tell all other distractions to leave us?

It's not very often any of us says stuff like Nehemiah, It's not very often people rebuild city wall in a couple of months. I've noticed a lot of great people are pretty single minded, not much time for niceties. yet most Christians have a lot of time for niceties and not much gets done.

Is this more of the Religious Spirit? I'm aware I'm no pointing a finger to avoid the core of this that bites me. How easy is it for a vicar like me to go to meetings, make noise via email and feel important doing good things, but never focus solely on the call of my life?

When was the last time someone invited me to something and I quoted Nehemiah?

Prayer request

Hey folks,

this one's a prayer request.

Ongoing at the moment we have a whole interesting situation which needs large amounts of prayer. There is a grievance ongoing between the PCC (centering on yours truly) and an employee which is causing massive amounts of stress to all involved.

The employee has been off for some months now with stress elated to the incident and there are times when i'd love to follow suit!

We're going to call a day of fasting and prayer for the peaceful reconciling work of God to break in. This isn't about us moaning about anyone, there have been failings on all sides.

We'd love folks to join with us in praying for wisdom, the right outcomes and a united church.

There is so much good stuff going on as I blogged yesterday, but this sucks time and energy away from all of us.

I'm calling a (food) fast day(though you could fast anything you like) on Monday 21st September.

If you would join us in prayer wherever you are that would be fantastic.

Thank You

Ok so after a great talk on thankfulness by our student, Louise, I’ve been looking back on our first year in post:

PCC now up for radical future (organic church)

1 house church planted

2 new congregations (one for kids, one for 60+) about to be planted.

At least 2 house churches in pipe line.

3 definite new believers (a few more on the journey)

home group moving into pub to meet and be outward focused

At least 10 healings

1 transforming deliverance

Halls transformed

Living in community

Congregation experiencing Holy Spirit in new ways

Individuals in congregation transformed

New Leaders

New Worker in place

Outgoings reduced, Giving up

New members

Joy in the place

Healing on the streets/treasure hunting planned.

Toddler group begun

One enquirers course about to start

Halls to be used for shelter for homeless for a month in the new year.

And I’ve been a bit lazy, a bit distracted and under it a bit.

Thanks Dad, Thanks Jesus and Thanks Holy Spirit!

Encouraging?

Watch/listen to the video.

So what do you think…

Good to hear Mr Moyles talking up church?

That’s the spin I’ve heard from most. But I see it a little differently.

Ok, some people may have heard it and feel a little more positive about Church, that Christians aren’t boring, but the overwhelming response seems to be from the team that it’s nice that Christians are having fun, like American Christians(!)

I guess I just get frustrated with us trying to make Jesus and Church “cool.”

I was 16 when I chose to follow Jesus and that was my first aim, to convince the world it was cool to follow Jesus and then they’d all join me in church and everything would be great, well everything would be easier for me.

Possibly someone might have heard Chris Moyles (who btw is a legend) and thought… I’ll give church a go, looking for, what? entertainment? Happiness? Singing? Food?

The whole idea of lets make church fun and hope people come and find Jesus is a farce, obviously we’ve not been reading our bibles, how often does Jesus say GO, GO OUT?

How often does he challenge non-believers (give all you have to the poor, you need to eat my flesh and drink my blood, you need to be born of the spirit, you have has 6 ‘husbands’ etc.)

The truth is that few might come to the big churches who can put on a great show, and preach the gospel in word and action, BUT 99% of the churches in the Uk are not capable of this and do a poor imitation. We’re content with status quo, content with one or two saved.

When will the church stand up and get what Jesus dies for? I’m happy that Moylesy is positive about church, for his souls sake. But lets not get excited, lets do something better.

fatalism

How often have you heard a believer say, “but it must be God’s will..?”

Often when a decision is made or an event happens which is sanctioned by authorities or the answer to a perfectly sane request in prayer is seemingly answered ‘no.’

Often with the appointment of workers, the decisions of a corporate church leadership, the actions of the state etc.

As if the sovereignty of God means every decision of import by leadership is the enforced will of God. I sure there’s a brand of hyper-Calvinism that subscribes to this view, but it makes no sense. I’m guessing that most followers of Jesus wouldn’t really stand up for this view. But functionally it is what happens.

If something happens which is a hard decision or hurts someone or prayer isn’t answered, it’s down to God, because He's big enough to take it, He can cope with blame or spite or the difficulty.

The possibility that every decision every Christian organisation and individual makes could not only be wrong but barking mad needs to be faced by all of us. But the key possibility is that I, We, may have got all, many or most of our decisions wrong is more important. The humility of this understanding, the acknowledgment that it is easy to step out of God’s will and even easier to step back into His plan.

This underpinned by a faith in a perfect loving Father who wants nothing but the best for us and the knowledge that He does work all things (our successes and failures, right and wrong decisions) for the good of those that love Him.

Canals and Rivers

Whilst away on a nice little break Caroline and I were walking along a canal bank.

It struck me that the British church is very much like a canal. There’s life in there, but you’re not always sure how it survives. It supports great boats that move swiftly and serenely held up it. In the past it supported massive heavy industry but now just the odd pleasure cruise.

It is immovable, fixed, easy to get into, very hard to get out of, you can easily drown in it.

Alongside the canal was a powerful, free flowing river, with a life of it’s own, running free and clear, cutting out a new path with every year and every generation. It’s shallower, but much more life giving, more fragile but more powerful, more dangerous and more productive, necessary to every generation,

As we walked we saw where the river could flow in to fill the canal and where the canal could overflow into the river. River water goes into the canal and stagnates, canal water went not the river and was cleaned and freed.

Rhythm

Ok, so I've not been blogging much, but thats because I'm limiting net time at the mo.
We've entered a rhythm of life that means we're taking time from 6-10am to pray and read as a couple and family, prayer walk and do an hour on the garden/outside of the place.
We've had 5000 cards made, business card size with the prayer you pray to get saved on it on the front and a website and mobile on the back. Pete Farmer has taken 2500, so I've only got 2500 to give away(!), the aim is to give them to people we pass on the street and hope that they identify the people of peace. It's a real aid to touching people when out, starting a conversation cold is so difficult. It's only £50ish for 5000 as well.

It's really good and though Dan's not been sleeping all that well so the nights have been hard, but he slept through last night which is great. Prayer appreciated for good sleep to continue.
We've invited all the church to come and pray in the almost finished prayer room (cellar conversion as in not very clear pictures after and before above!) at 7am Mon, Wed, Fri and 7pm Tues and Thurs.

We pray for a harvest and workers from the harvest (see organic church) at 1pm each day. If anyone wants to join us in that...

We've also had another great time with Tom and Steph, well that's a lie, it was great to be with them but the conversation was all about how we share our money in community. I wonder of the church in Acts had to discuss direct debits, insurance and mortgages? anyway, on we go... We're looking at them coming for a week to try things out and generally all systems are go. Even the diocese have said yes.

Feeling positive at the mo, planning a bonfire/confession service on Sunday night in the church car park, about to go and see a guy and see if wants to do a regular weekly meeting aimed at him being saved! Have committed to pray for healing for 4 people with no church/God connections by Monday, only done one so far, but have 1 more lined up today, praying for opportunities.

Dan turned 2 yesterday, full report with photo's tomorrow, he is so lovely, just a great little boy.

back to Tozer...

O God and Father
I repent of my sinful preoccupation with visible things.
This world has taken up too much of my head-space.
You have always been with me and I've ignored You.
I have been blind to your constant presence,
Open my eyes so that I can see you in everything that surrounds me,
for Jesus sake.

These Tozer prayers are hard-core!

So I'm now reading Punk Monk by Andy Freeman and Pete Greig.
Just awesome when we're thinking of starting a community based around prayer with the cellar as the new designated prayer room.
Please pray for wisdom in setting this up...
Also I have a dream of there being a separate entrance to the room so people can enter without coming into the house. There is space for this, but not the couple of £1000's!

I then have this thought that maybe, just maybe, people coming through the house is the best thing... open-ness, hospitality, hmm.

Anyway, lets be challenged by Tozer again.

O God, inspire me, take every power within me and quicken, enliven, increase it,
not for me, but so I can take hold of eternal, spiritual things.
Open the eyes of my heart so I can see;
give me acute spiritual perception;
Let me actually taste and see/know that You are good.
Make heaven more real to me than anything on earth has ever been.
Amen

part 3 Tom, Steph and Eve

Lord, your ways are excellent,
mine are dark, devious and messed up.
Show us how to die, in order to be raised to life to the full.
Lord rip apart the curtain over my self-life from the top down,
just like the curtain was ripped in the temple.
We want to draw near in certainty of faith.
We want our daily experience of life on earth to be so full of You
that we are prepared for Your glory when we're with You in heaven.
In Jesus name

Amen

So we've just said goodbye to Tom, Steph (and Eve.)

The chances are that we are going to live in community in this house.
Sharing life and mission and prayer. Real 'Acts' style communion.
They have some big decisions over their house and we have made a date to start talking about finance and putting our money together.
But despite all the detail to work through, it's so easy to be with them. We've now met them 4 times(!!!!) but i'm sure about this. I feel so relaxed around them, the heart thing is settled.
But this prayer today is so spot on. The veil is going to be removed, this family, who are becoming my family will see me as I am. I have so much selfishness and pride that will be assaulted by the whole challenge of community living.
It's exciting/scary.

Caroline had a great picture of us all holding hands and spinning in a circle in a really fun child-like way, and the circle moved faster and we all leaned back more and the speed increased until it became a tornado that had huge impact on the area around it.
I love that! I want that, I'd love prayers for that.

I really like the leaning back thing, the trust of each other to rely on each other holding us up and to rely on oneself to not let go... just great.

one for the anglicans

Tozer 2 + a request

Father, I want to know you,
but my messed up, selfish heart is scared to give up it's favourite toys.
I can't part with these things without the operation causing me pain
and I can't hide from You how much losing them scares me.
I come trembling, but I do come,
Please search out all the things in my heart that I have enjoyed for so long that they are now a part of my being. Clear them out so that You can come and live in my heart without any rival.
Then You can make the place your feet touch glorious,
Then my heart will have no need of the sun to shine in it,
for You will be the light and heat source,
and there will never be dark or cold again.
In Jesus Name Amen

2 prayer requests:
1. This Monday is our vision/planning day for kids church.
6 of us including a great consultant from Harrogate (pray for the lovely Rachel who is doing this for nothing) spending a day seeking God and pulling together a plan.

2. Generally as a church we're struggling money wise. We have decent reserves but don't cover our running costs with our giving. Yes, we need money, but more than that we need wisdom.
I ask for prayers for wisdom and blessing for our treasurer, Brillo and for the whole leadership whenever we discuss these issues.

Oscillating on the river

Thought I'd try out a long word!
Thanks to all who have recently started reading and emailng me to say you're there. (try commenting, it's safe and easy!)
muchos appreciated.

Had a good prayer time Sunday morning, normally Sunday morning around 7am is HEELLLPPP prayer time. God give me answers/inspiration/love/energy.

A mate had a word on Friday night... It's through INTIMACY that we INTIMIDATE the enemy.
just loved that, so Sunday morning I told God I didn't want to talk about the service I wanted Him.
Turns out that was a great idea.

We enjoyed each others company for a while and then I felt Him bring a book to mind (I'm in a reading season it seems, oh and try Land of Hope and Glory by Bruce Atkinson, v. inspiring) which is now on the panel to the left, Tozer ends each chapter with a prayer. I'm going to paraphrase each one as my own each day for as long as it takes to run out.
Join in! for me and you.


O God,
I have tasted and seen how good you are.
I am satisfied but I'm thirsty for more!
I'm in pain over my continuing need for your grace.
I'm ashamed of my lack of passion and desire.
God, Father, Jesus, Spirit,
I want to want you.
I long for longing to overcome me,
I thirst to be thirstier,
Show me your Glory so that I can see you more and know you more.
Be merciful to me and begin in me a new work of love in me.
I need to hear in my soul the words, "arise my fair one and come away."
Then I can rise from this misty wasteland where I have wasted too much time.
In Jesus name,
Amen

Prayer Needs

As I wrote yesterday a big, general list of prayer needs...

1. The fledgling Church plant, for Katie and Mary, Caroline and Marsha.
protection and support for new Christians and wisdom for leaders.

2. Protection
We're feeling safe here physically but the spiritual battle is fierce so protection over the house, church and all the work going on. Prayer for the destruction of the strongholds of Apathy, Fear and Addiction.

3. Community
We're praying with a couple who are looking at moving in with us and sharing life in community (Acts 2 style). They are praying and fasting on Saturday, so pray with them. We're almost finished on having the cellar transformed into a prayer room. We hope to fill the two houses on the site with other committed members of a mission team in a new monastic way sharing life and a rhythm of prayer, going out into the Meadows on mission together. In the distant future we'd love a to house a rehab place, a health centre, youth and kids hang outs etc etc... but thats a long way off!

4. Lindon and Marie
This couple lost there 5 week old baby before Christmas but there oldest daughter is a Christian and i'm praying and working for them to be saved. join in!

5.Kids Church
We're planning a kids church to start from Easter. Pray for the planning/vision team. For kids to come and meet Jesus. For our children's worker, Helen. We're hoping this will be a space for kids to become radical Spirit-filled missionaries!
5a. Kids Clubs, we have great clubs that attract loads of kids. Pray that they will be increasingly about Jesus and evangelism. Pray for our great leaders, for more kids and for their future and how that works with kids church.

6.Dan
Pray for our little man. He seems to be the one the enemy picks on most. protection, better parenting, strength, wisdom... all the good stuff. Bring it on!

7.Gap year project
Please pray for our partnership with St Nic's (in the city centre) and St Christopher's Sneinton, for Steve and Ruth their leaders. St Nic's is beginning a gap year program from September for over 21's and the boys will be housed here in the Meadows and the girls in Sneinton. They'll worship at St Nic's and work across the churches. pray that many and the right people will be called.

8. Provision of a fundraiser/admin person
The big one. I need admin support and gifted person to do fundraising. the combined job could be a reasonable wage.
pray for God's provision and wisdom to know who that is.
Also for funds for the admin bit!

9. A house for duty youth worker
we want one!

10. Wisdom, leadership ability, strength, motivation, more love, deeper relationship with God.
All the things you'd like your church leader to have, pray for me!

11. inspiration/transformation for members
Lastly and hugely.
Our wonderful church family, small, tired battered but standing firm.
Our hearts cry is to see them fully armed and dangerous, strong in the Lord, deep in prayer, full of the Spirit, steeped in confession, free from all that holds them back.
I want to see them all raised up as church planters.

Ok, thanks for praying, anything else? add it on.

May God add to you 100 fold all that you pray for us.

A Week's Fight

Ok, so I find I'm shattered.

Too early in the week to be shattered? Well, yes but the truth is that it's been a bit of a week.
last Sunday night Dan went off his food, we thought little of it, Monday morning he was sick, oh dear, never mind... he didn't keep food or drink down all day, Monday evening in A&E, Monday night, he's admitted to a 'short stay ward' (anyone else know they existed?) Tuesday aft, he and Caroline come home, got a bit better...

Then he got worse again, diarrhoea begins alongside, Thursday Caroline gets ill, Friday I get ill.
Saturday night I wake up itching from head to toe (since had two more episodes of strange brief all over rashes), Sunday back to emergency doctors, on way to pharmacy Caroline's traps her finger in the car door really badly...

Sunday night feel like the dark night of the soul! Dan still bad as ever, all in pain, weak, struggling... faith not exactly on top form!

Didn't get to do either service I wanted to on Sunday, all-age baptism and a really great plan I had for the evening around a bonfire and confession.

Only on Tuesday did I tentatively get back to work.

Sunday before this started we cast a demon out of a woman and her physical and emotional healing followed. Since we've arrived here in the Meadows the experience of spiritual battle has be seriously intense. (which is a good sign.)

BUT, I had lost my prayer intensity, my focus on fasting, my working out of relationship.
Caroline was toiling in prayer but without my leadership as church and home spiritual leader allied to that somehow we became vulnerable.

I've allowed my hope to be deferred in our work here, I've been missing time with God for increasing admin and this despite prophetic words brought to me.

I'm repenting and moving on... but there's some changes to make:

1) This blog is primarily now for prayer.
I'm hoping that I can get people to check it weekly and use it for prayer updates.

2) Return to working out of God's Presence.
prayer, first, last and foremost.

3) The enemy's running scared.
He was forced to reveal himself and be cast out.
He's doing all he can to hem us in, so we're dangerous!
Armour on, take some ground. I need to be on the streets, in homes, etc. more and more.

Please partner us in prayer, tomorrow morning I write the basic list of prayer requests.

Review

Ok so i feel like it's time to work out what we've done and where we're going...

In 5 months, we have 2 new Christians, 1 demon cast out, one (tiny) house church planted, one new home group. We've moved the Sunday meetings into a hall, dispensed with up front preaching led services and made them interactive and started the journey into questioning what church is. Our continuing monthly all age worship service is now averaging 50 attendees.

There's another potential hose church on the cards, with a couple who are extremely open if not actually there yet. Tonight we're having a meal with two couples to discuss living in community and sharing life. One of the guys is a potential house for duty youth worker. (But all that is totally hypothetical, could easily go belly up.)
We are looking as changing the youth&kids worker role(16 hours) into a children's minister/evangelist and planting a kids church some point around Easter.
Lots of church members are enthused by the journey's into the Spirit they're taking, listening to and hearing God is becoming more normal, one guy prays for healings in Homebase where he works and saw a witch's neck healed!

Things are moving on, chickens are on the way, veg and herbs in the pipeline, we're renovating the cottage and looking at getting some gap year workers, there's possible vicar college students to come...

I prayed for a random guy on the streets for healing yesterday (pray for Loveday) and am looking at how to make that more regular across the church. We have a prayer room under construction in our cellar by our wonderful churchwarden/handyman. This will be the hub for a shared rhythm of life and prayer for a community based round the vicarage/church and open to the whole of the church/meadows community.


This sounds like a lot but I feel like I could have worked harder and done more. Apathy is the big battle and this whole work feels like a huge spiritual battle at the mo. Battling fatigue and ill-health all over the church and in our family. (Dan has been in and out of hospital and is still sick with something gastrorental) Battling all kinds of weird events that hold us back. There's people unhappy iwth changes, there's annoyance that we've cut back youth work, there's much less involvement from me in committees, we're a bit worried about money, admin isn't being done the best... oh well...

We're still in huge need of a fund-raiser, an admin type person, a youth-worker... oh another few thousand saved, but 5 months in, God's at work.

Caroline is flying in faith, just going deeper and i'm loving that, she's out praying/on the streets every Tuesday with a mate, She's planning a pampering evening for single mums at ours and a toddlers group weekly in few weeks time... she only works for church 5 hours a week!


anyway, thats an update for all interested parties... PRAYER PLEASE!

Picking on my weakness

I've been getting back into cricket.
Bizarrely going to nets for a church team at the church where i applied for the vicar's job but didn't get it, which led to us finding the meadows, but anyway...

There's a lot God's teaching me there, but todays point is this:

In my first net the guys, who were all new to me commented on my ability to punish anything on the legside. In the bath afterwards I was reminded of a moment when only 14 or so when our coach at school took me out of the nets where i was batting and told me that i was missing every scoring opportunity that came my way. for the uninitiated, if the ball goes down your leg-side it is virtually impossible for you to out bowled or lbw so its a free hit. He then proceeded to through tennis balls at my leg-side for 10 minutes until i was hammering then round the sports hall. He then put me back in the net and told all the bowlers to bowl at my legs for 10 minutes. he repeated this for the next three practices. By the end of this time my strength was on my legs whereas before bowlers could bowl badly there without any punishment.

This really spoke to me as we've encountered a stronghold spirit of apathy in the meadows and one of my constant battles is over motivation and distraction. I could be inclined to moan and ask God why he brought me into a place where my area of weakness is allied to the local area of attack. Or i could see my loving Father as a great coach who wants me to overcome and be released.

I'm going with the latter.

Something to aspire to...

The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus is an early Christian Apologetic writing. I was just emailed, well worth copying!

The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus Chapter V.--The Manners of the Christians

For the Christians are distinguished from other men neither by country, nor language, nor the customs which they observe. For they neither inhabit cities of their own, nor employ a peculiar form of speech, nor lead a life which is marked out by any singularity. The course of conduct which they follow has not been devised by any speculation or deliberation of inquisitive men; nor do they, like some, proclaim themselves the advocates of any merely human doctrines. But, inhabiting Greek as well as barbarian cities, according as the lot of each of them has determined, and following the customs of the natives in respect to clothing, food, and the rest of their ordinary conduct, they display to us their wonderful and confessedly striking method of life. They dwell in their own countries, but simply as sojourners. As citizens, they share in all things with others, and yet endure all things as if foreigners. Every foreign land is to them as their native country, and every land of their birth as a land of strangers. They marry, as do all [others]; they beget children; but they do not destroy their offspring. They have a common table, but not a common bed. They are in the flesh, but they do not live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners, and are persecuted by the Greeks; yet those who hate them are unable to assign any reason for their hatred.

Here we're praying for the start of a community. A couple are looking at moving and and being the first to join and set up the the rhythm and rule, this was very timely.
Cheers Jason.

Books

I was encouraged by someone last night that my blog is read-worthy so here's some motivation!

I've also been reflecting on the lack of humility in blogging, the idea that we're so worthy of reading the seed of hope that says billions of people could read about me...
Anyway I've been thinking about humility, judgment, church, and sonship/adoption, if i don't blog some of it my head will start to combust.

In Swaziland my mate Jon gave me the 'Final Quest' to read after him, it's a prophetic vision given to Rick Joyner and as i was a little (lot) anti-charismatic i read a page or three and dropped it as wack-job.
Now older and ahem, wiser I find myself revisiting it at the same time as slowly reflecting through the jack frost on spiritual sonship book.

It's like being cuddled and disciplined at once! But i'm kinda finding out that's what this God relationship things about.
There is so much in Rick Joyner's prophecy its just great, I kept saying to Caroline: "I'm giving this book a rest it's too much" Then within two hours I was reading again. painfully beautiful, convicting and attracting. It's able to take you into the idea of God's judgment and the abject nature of human position in relation to God and yet not leave you in self-flagellating, work-driven, anti-grace heartache. There is a temptation whilst reading to go that way, but having Jack Frost on tap helps! It's not a Calvinist book, but its does give a sense of our total depravity, whilst leaving us with our choice of a life with or without God, in the measure we choose.

I'm just finishing the final quest before pressing straight into 'The Call.'

All this reading is not normal for me, don't worry! It's just that I've realised I've got sloppy . I've got to a place where i don't finish books ever. I got so tired of reading in 5 years of study that I've avoided th stimulation of good books and become laisez faire with the books i buy and read.
So many of my books have been sold or are being sold on Amazon and I'm endeavoring to read all i buy or to sell on or give away. I've borrowed some good books from a good mate too.

One of which is pagan christianity which I've already read many blogs about and chatted with Hannah J about in blogoshere. I'm only 35 pages in but I'm already forming an opinion.
It's a bit patronising, you say the early church met in homes not church buildings? really! Constantine wasn't the best Christian ever? Some/many of our church practices aren't in the Bible? It's like no expletive sherlock!

It's written like this is some amazing reality which will blow the church apart, but the truth is don't most of us know this? Church has evolved and we do need some form of reformation. But different ways of doing church exist for a reason.
I live in the shadow of the 1000 people strong Vineyard church that is only a decade old. I wouldn't do church their way for love nor money, but I'm not about pulling them apart.
They meet the need of the middle class church hoppers, the Christians and seekers of a particular section of society, their leaders must battle chronic busy-ness, affluenza, feed me don't lead spirit and all the other sicknesses of attractional church.
I know my church has other battles to fight, other groups to reach.

has no one told the writers that God looks at the heart, that He is bigger than his word or the first century church? I'm an Anglican, I believe in a mixed economy church. (not mixed theology just praxis.) I really honour the writers as Viola has planted churches and lived out his call before critiquing other and George Barna has been exploring and critiquing church for ages. The call is for building up not tearing down. But I'm with Alan Hirsch, the best way to critique something is to go and do it better.

Paradoxically, I do think that the British church needs to do some of the things their calling for, in some areas/places. The emerging church, the simple. organic church needs to flourish alongside the existing, then we will be ready for revival and be a missionary movement at the same time.

Anyway, I never got round to humility, it's too painful!

Crisis Junkie

I was remembering a moment on Leadership Training exercise form my first bible college.

It was my turn to lead the team (8-10 trainee church monkeys) through some random training exercise, It all went well, we got the thing done, all ok.
The couple running the thing did the review, I (on autopilot) reviewed my performance.
The lass then asked me a question that woke me up.
" why did you wait for things to get in a mess before sorting them out?"

She explained that after the initial planning chat, I'd sat back, let the team get to the point of failure and implosion and then expertly taken control, lead the team effectively and got the job done.

It's insignificant, but it;s one of those seminal moments of self revelation. I'm a bit lazy, well not lazy but easily distracted, I need a deadline, a motivator, an event, the clock etc...

Whilst doing a bit of navel-gazing i'm wondering how far this reflects a lot of Church leadership, the pastoral emergency, the big service, the festival, the event, the big meeting energise and enthuse, create the forum for activity. Otherwise a person who is so unaccountable in the moments of a day can easily do many things without actually achieving a great deal.

My new year challenge is to get things done so that the crises don't occur, however much miss them. Peace and job satisfaction, hope to find out what they feel like!

Oh and whilst i'm here a few goals for '09 three groups planted (new believers), get on the streets, get the church out in the miraculous, set up kids church and find some more workers to join us.

In factual news... we just stopped meeting on Sundays in the church to meet in a cosy hall next week and explore what being church really means till Easter. We'll go back into church for all age jamboree once a month.

This interestingly dovetails with Hannah J's blog about pagan buildings which I've commented on!