What an amazing week. I had the immense privilege this week of spending time with some of the leaders God is using to help turn his church inside out and make God’s light shine bright in this land.
Wednesday we had an event I organised called Replicate, where I gathered leaders together who are working to replicate their own successful model around the country. Basically just invited people whose ministries revolved around our 3 core values at CAP the poor, the lost and the church.
The first session was perhaps the best as each person shared what they were doing and the sheer energy and passion and God’s heart for broken people just completely filled the room. It was phenomenal, so inspiring. I’d kicked the whole thing off talking about how it’s so important we never see each other as competition. Instead we see ourselves as effectively one organisation but we all represent different departments.
We then had the exec team from Tearfund come to CAP. They came to learn from us – flip me! What a privilege, I think Tearfund is awesome and somehow in God’s grace we’ve got something that might be able to learn from us, and what’s more they did. As we shared how we’ve done what we’ve done, most of it we’ve learnt off others, and you just realise how much God has shown us that is good. To think that we impacted them, which we did is just so humbling.
Finally we finished off the week with a fundraising dinner, one lady shared her story of how her and her husband were so depressed they talked regularly of suicide and how her husband was in fear every time he came home from his night shift scared of what he would find!! But God and CAP have saved them in every way which is awesome. Oh and we raised £43K in the process.
God is good!
Monday, 26 April 2010
Sunday, 11 April 2010
This is church.....
Wow what a fantastic day today was. So much of what I think church should be happened in my life today. The Sunday morning was great, I particularly enjoyed not doing anything, apart from trying to make sure people hadn’t got missed, who need to get into Light Groups. Then after the meeting, we were lunch hosting. A really great thing we do as a church, where you cook for a certain number of people and then frantically go round inviting whoever you can find. So we ended up with a rather cosmopolitan dinner table to say the least. Not a single person who came was British! A Frenchman, a Brazilian, a German who grew up in Brazil and an asylum seeker from Eritrea. Man, I realised again why God calls us to hang out with the oppressed and the poor (which Marcos definitely was) – so that God can humble you and remind you just how flipping blessed your life is.
This guy Marcos from Eritrea was a full on refugee, having seen his parents murdered when he was just 15. He made it all the way to Calais and then got into the country under a truck. He now has full rights to stay. But man you hear a story like that and you just think, again, I don’t know I’m born. What an immense privilege to share a table with someone who has gone through that and to simply show him that he is of such value to God.
I don’t know what you think makes a good church, but for me I had the ultimate compliment today. Jacques, the French guy mentioned above, said he only comes to the Light because it is the sort of church he can bring the homeless and refugees he meets and knows they’ll get a great welcome. Whatever else we build in the Light, I can't think of any greater compliment.
This evening we had our Prayer and Ministry Night at church. It was awesome. Before Chris had started the first song, everyone was off praising God just naturally flowing out of them. An amazing night, the presence of God so tangible it was just brilliant. The highlight being a guy called Darren. Darren has been coming on a Sunday for a few months, and has been on our discipleship course. Tonight as we were praising God I looked over and he had tears running down his face with his hands in the air. I went to pray for him and just asked God to keep doing His stuff. I asked Darren, when he had given his heart to God, his response – I’ve just done it. Wow, he was just blown away by the power of God. It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone so overwhelmed by being forgiven and receiving a fresh start from God. It reminded me not to take my salvation for granted and just how precious it is to be born again!
What a Sunday!
This guy Marcos from Eritrea was a full on refugee, having seen his parents murdered when he was just 15. He made it all the way to Calais and then got into the country under a truck. He now has full rights to stay. But man you hear a story like that and you just think, again, I don’t know I’m born. What an immense privilege to share a table with someone who has gone through that and to simply show him that he is of such value to God.
I don’t know what you think makes a good church, but for me I had the ultimate compliment today. Jacques, the French guy mentioned above, said he only comes to the Light because it is the sort of church he can bring the homeless and refugees he meets and knows they’ll get a great welcome. Whatever else we build in the Light, I can't think of any greater compliment.
This evening we had our Prayer and Ministry Night at church. It was awesome. Before Chris had started the first song, everyone was off praising God just naturally flowing out of them. An amazing night, the presence of God so tangible it was just brilliant. The highlight being a guy called Darren. Darren has been coming on a Sunday for a few months, and has been on our discipleship course. Tonight as we were praising God I looked over and he had tears running down his face with his hands in the air. I went to pray for him and just asked God to keep doing His stuff. I asked Darren, when he had given his heart to God, his response – I’ve just done it. Wow, he was just blown away by the power of God. It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone so overwhelmed by being forgiven and receiving a fresh start from God. It reminded me not to take my salvation for granted and just how precious it is to be born again!
What a Sunday!
Monday, 5 April 2010
Church Unity
Last night I went to the Prayer for Bradford Easter Celebration at the Cathedral. It had all the hallmarks of churches together, PA that squealed right in the middle of an intimate worship time, songs that you haven’t sung for ten years, charismatics readjusting to Anglican liturgy. It was great! The messiness of coming together like that is just nothing compared to the joy of the church being one church. Putting aside our own organisation of church and just being one, united by what unites us and ignoring what makes us different, most of which is surface anyway.
I always used to think that the church that I was in was “the best”, whichever church I happened to be in must be the best, it’s a trap many Christians fall into. I’ve realised now, it was simply the best church “for me.” When we try and rank churches, when we try and decide which is the best, I believe we’re falling so far short of where God would want us to be. I used to call big churches great, and small churches crap. I have repented many times of that attitude, how worldly is that? “Big is beautiful, small is rubbish” is not a Kingdom value, it’s the values of corporate America that whilst they can be helpful surely cannot be the measurement we use for the Kingdom, it’s much more empire language than Kingdom language.
I’m glad that God has taught me about this stuff. Especially now I’m a leader of a growing church, that will no doubt get big. For me bigger does not mean better, bigger does not mean more successful. All I want is effectiveness, help people love God more and help people love people more so that the poor are helped and disciples (new and old) are made for God’s glory.
It is not our place to look down on any part of the body of Christ, to talk it down or put it down. Our job is to build up the body and going to a churches together service and enjoying the fun and games of worshipping together is all part of it.
I always used to think that the church that I was in was “the best”, whichever church I happened to be in must be the best, it’s a trap many Christians fall into. I’ve realised now, it was simply the best church “for me.” When we try and rank churches, when we try and decide which is the best, I believe we’re falling so far short of where God would want us to be. I used to call big churches great, and small churches crap. I have repented many times of that attitude, how worldly is that? “Big is beautiful, small is rubbish” is not a Kingdom value, it’s the values of corporate America that whilst they can be helpful surely cannot be the measurement we use for the Kingdom, it’s much more empire language than Kingdom language.
I’m glad that God has taught me about this stuff. Especially now I’m a leader of a growing church, that will no doubt get big. For me bigger does not mean better, bigger does not mean more successful. All I want is effectiveness, help people love God more and help people love people more so that the poor are helped and disciples (new and old) are made for God’s glory.
It is not our place to look down on any part of the body of Christ, to talk it down or put it down. Our job is to build up the body and going to a churches together service and enjoying the fun and games of worshipping together is all part of it.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Drinking
Drinking
Today is the day that I end a four week fast of alcohol. I basically did it, because I’m aware how much I love a beer or a glass of wine and just need to prove to myself from time to time that I can live without it. To make sure it’s in its rightful place. You know what, I think I’ve done quite well. The main impact – it’s just been a bit boring. Like having dinner with friends, no glass of wine - boring. Fancy going out for a drink, not if it’s coke I don’t – boring.
It’s a bizarre thing drinking and a challenge for a lot of Christians, how much is ok, how much is not ok? For a while I struggled with what is my limit and I felt God give me this measure – “if you were needed to pray at any point during the evening, would you feel ok about approaching God in that state of sobriety?” Would I feel cool and OK about approaching God after that many beers? That for me has been the measure and it’s a measure I’m cool with, don’t know what other people think.
I also take great encouragement by the fact that Jesus clearly liked a drink. Not only turning water into wine (a very cool miracle) but also he was accused of being a drunkard, which he so clearly won’t have been but you don’t get accused of that unless you have the odd drink or two. Clearly he enjoyed it and so I see no problem with me enjoying it.
The difficulty of course is being a leader, people look to you and they perhaps see you drinking and don’t understand the thought process you’ve applied to it. They see you packing away a few beers, and think it’s ok for them to do the same. But perhaps a few beers has a bigger impact on them? Perhaps they don’t have the same self control – I know I didn’t use to.
But, I think that whilst I have a responsibility as a leader, maybe my call is to model how to drink and do it in an ok way for a Christian, cos let’s face it plenty of Christians will drink, so if all we model is abstinence then that’s only going to be so helpful.
Anyway, I am so looking forward to a few beers – can’t quite believe today is the only day of the 4 weeks that I have a bit of a sore throat and don’t actually fancy one. I remember this happened last time I did this. Bizarre, random, annoying, but hey, I’ll just have to do one of my “I believe this beer can heal me” prayers and push past the pain barrier.
Today is the day that I end a four week fast of alcohol. I basically did it, because I’m aware how much I love a beer or a glass of wine and just need to prove to myself from time to time that I can live without it. To make sure it’s in its rightful place. You know what, I think I’ve done quite well. The main impact – it’s just been a bit boring. Like having dinner with friends, no glass of wine - boring. Fancy going out for a drink, not if it’s coke I don’t – boring.
It’s a bizarre thing drinking and a challenge for a lot of Christians, how much is ok, how much is not ok? For a while I struggled with what is my limit and I felt God give me this measure – “if you were needed to pray at any point during the evening, would you feel ok about approaching God in that state of sobriety?” Would I feel cool and OK about approaching God after that many beers? That for me has been the measure and it’s a measure I’m cool with, don’t know what other people think.
I also take great encouragement by the fact that Jesus clearly liked a drink. Not only turning water into wine (a very cool miracle) but also he was accused of being a drunkard, which he so clearly won’t have been but you don’t get accused of that unless you have the odd drink or two. Clearly he enjoyed it and so I see no problem with me enjoying it.
The difficulty of course is being a leader, people look to you and they perhaps see you drinking and don’t understand the thought process you’ve applied to it. They see you packing away a few beers, and think it’s ok for them to do the same. But perhaps a few beers has a bigger impact on them? Perhaps they don’t have the same self control – I know I didn’t use to.
But, I think that whilst I have a responsibility as a leader, maybe my call is to model how to drink and do it in an ok way for a Christian, cos let’s face it plenty of Christians will drink, so if all we model is abstinence then that’s only going to be so helpful.
Anyway, I am so looking forward to a few beers – can’t quite believe today is the only day of the 4 weeks that I have a bit of a sore throat and don’t actually fancy one. I remember this happened last time I did this. Bizarre, random, annoying, but hey, I’ll just have to do one of my “I believe this beer can heal me” prayers and push past the pain barrier.
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