Loss of Power

I came across this quotation by Charles Ringma on the URBANarmy blog today:

"There is little point for Christians to pine for a return to the good old days when Christianity was more dominant in Western culture. Furthermore, there is little point in blaming the Enlightenment or science or technology or urbanization. The way forward is both to recognize that the church in the past has also failed and that the present difficulty may well be a blessing in disguise. There is a new opportunity for the church, stripped of a previous power and influence, to exercise the power of authentically living the gospel. A humbled church, like the humiliated Christ, may be able to be a greater witness in our world than the church as the guardian of Christendom."

The true power of the gospel is revealed in our weakness. When we are weak the Glory goes to God. When we are powerful we don't need God. When we have everything we need and when we are in control life is easy ... but it is also easy to drift away from the Father. When we are crying out to him and clinging to him and depending on him we are spiritually connected.

As members of the Church of England we inherit a history of social domination of the masses by the elite. Many of the wealthier elite, and many of the clergy in the past were from the landed gentry or from that sector of society. These people wielded their financial and social power in the name of God for generations. Over the past 200 years the working classes have gradually shaken off these shackles. Sadly they have thrown the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to Christianity.

I would like us to pray about this issue which afflicts our nation and our neighbourhood in particular. Maybe we need a healing of the land with some form of public repentance by the church?

Church Planners or Church Planters?

Three months ago I was challenged by reading a post on Guy Muse's blog about people who talk about church planting but fail to get on with doing it. see link : The M Blog: Church Planners or Church Planters?

As a visionary who likes to start new things I have been energised by the vision of seeing or rather being involved in the beginning of a church planting movement (CPM) here in England. The challenge to me comes from the fact that despite catching the vision most of my time and energy is still being taken up on other things .. and there is as yet no real plan in place to plant a church or recruit and train church planters.

I was looking at my archives from May to see whether I blogged about this when I first read Guy's challenge. To be honest, I think I have mainly been praying about it and processing what the Holy Spirit is saying to me.

Popping the Bubble

It has taken over three months for the Lord to work this one through in me, but I now realise that in March I just replaced one dream with another. The dream of becoming the leader of a significant large Charismatic (New Wine style) Church was the picture I had in my head when the Lord called me to be ordained. I finally let go of this around January this year when I realised that my gifting was more suited to an apostolic ministry.

Unfortunately, I have a "super-ego" that confuses my limited (but nevertheless still significant) calling with God's mega plans to save the world. My growing awareness of this megalomania has been the reason for my nagging doubts. I am pleased to say that this spiritual pride has now been nailed on the cross where it belongs. The bubble has been popped.

Doing the work that God calls me to do

So, here I am, back at work after an interesting summer. A by-product of my coming down to earth has been a growing confidence that my heavenly Father is with me in my daily work. This has led me to appreciate the good of what I have been able to do here as vicar of Bredbury (rather than always feeling disappointed that it is not like one of the bigger New Wine churches). I blogged about the early stages of this realignment in May. (click here to read)

Knowing who I am (the real me, not the super-ego) means I have also felt able to take a stand against one of the spiritual strongholds afflicting the church here in Bredbury. I feel that I am a rock that is firmly rooted on The Rock (psalm 18). The opposition is like the waves of the sea that break upon the rocks. Sadly this stand has upset a few of the more traditional church members and I have been spending quite a bit of time and spiritual energy on smoothing some ruffled feathers.

One of the verses that the Lord drew to my attention this summer was "Be sure you know the condition of your flocks" (Proverbs 27:23). In obedience to this I have been working to improve the quallity of pastoral care in the church and I am starting to mend some of the damage caused by my brokenness and frustration with the church over the past few years.

So what about the Gentiles?

I remain hopeful. I believe that God really does want the Good News to go out to the Gentiles of this land. I am carving out a bit of time here and there to meet with people who rarely darken the doors of the church. I am still hopeful that as St. Mark's settles down with their considerably more realistic vicar there will be opportunities to release some people into a Church Planting ministry. I believe I will play a part in my little corner of the world. I am a yeast cell amongst many that the Lord is energising at this time.

Part of my hope for the Gentiles is that as a church we will begin praying into the problem that was shown to us in April 2005. The problem is that many local working class people have experienced the church as snobby rich people disapproving of "the likes of them." This was more of an issue in earlier generations, but I suspect that this has resulted in a sub-conscious resistance to church being endemic in the local population. I suspect that this has become a spiritual power that needs to be prayed against. Watch this space for more on this subject.

Abiding and Fruitfulness

One of the lifeshapes is the semi-circle. This represents the arc of a pendulum swinging back and forth. Our lives are in a good rhythm if we work from rest, and if we have times of abiding in Christ (John 15). Abiding leads to fruitfulness.

I am in a time of abiding at the moment. I have had New Wine and holiday and a week of healing. I intend to keep abiding for the next few weeks as I plan the diary for the coming year and prepare for the busy time ahead when we will be starting up our huddles, Alpha, youth outreach, and the teaching programme for the Autumn.

This is one of the reasons why I am not in favour of holding an annual sale of second-hand goods in the last week of August. For the past 20 years this has been an institution at St.Mark's. For weeks during the summer all manner of unwanted stuff fills up our parish hall. This week people are going out all day and every evening to collect items in preparation for the big sale that starts on Bank holiday Monday. As you can imagine, those who take part are very tired by the end of it all. I will pop in and say hello, but I am not joining in.

Today has largely been a day of prayer and reflection during which I have received inspiration for the Autumn sermon series. We are going to look at the Good News as told by Luke, starting with the message of John the Baptist in Luke 3. God wants us to repent from our unfruitful lives. It is no good relying on our religious heritage ("we are children of Abraham").

True repentence is reflected in good deeds that make the world a better place (eg sharing your surplus goods with those in need). John the Baptist warns us that those trees that are not bearing fruit will be cut down (Luke 3:9). The good news is this - that those who want to be part of God's Kingdom can participate. All we need is repentence ie we need to agree with God's way of doing things rather than assuming that our old ways are correct.

The problem with preaching this is that not everyone likes to repent. Poor old John ended up in prison because Herod felt criticized.

Evil deeds in Cheadle

Jane is very upset today because she read in the Daily Telegraph this morning that three children from her school were found murdered. One of them was due to be in her class in September. The father of the children is missing and his car has been found abandoned at Heathrow airport. The murder has been on the news all day.

All Quiet on the Blogging Front

I am just back from a week's camping in Wales. Next I am going to Living Waters for a week of healing and teaching about healing.

Servanthood

Where have I been? Why is it so quiet on the blogging front?

New Wine North

From 21st-29th July I was at New Wine North in Newark working as a Steward. It was a humbling experience to be part of the team which was there to serve the other 5000 people who came to be spiritually recharged and refreshed.

As often happens in the New Wine week we experienced a heatwave. It was amazing that I managed to get through the week without getting heatstroke. It was really hard work, but very enjoyable.

As well as the fellowship of the team, I also enjoyed fellowship around the campfire with members of St.Mark's (including Tony and Lorna who are at theological college).

One of the highlights of the week was the free afternoon when I spent two hours answering questions about the Old Testament with three students from Leeds. I felt like a Rabbi sitting in the Temple colonades interacting with the people who had come up to the festival. I then spent a further hour or so with Craig looking at what the bible had to say about Abraham and Ishmael. I love teaching when people want to learn.