I guess most of us struggle to build relationships. The work place is not really geared up for friendship but productivity and many of us seem to have lost that easy ability we had as children just to chat to someone.
So how can we go about building friendships? Mark Greene says "Find a way to bless people that opens up conversations - bring chocolate biscuits to work 1 day a week; pass on a press cutting about a topic you know they're interested in; think about the issues in their life and perhaps offer a good book on the topic; start a reading group; invite people to a party...; invite them to something you enjoy doing."
Some of those we may feel more comfortable with than others so why not find one that suits and do it. You never know where it may lead.
Friday, 21 September 2007
Thursday, 20 September 2007
Concentration
I am always reading in the news papers about peoples declining concentration span, people site evidence such as shorter adverts, shorter scenes in soap operas, fewer people reading as a pass time. My question is what does this mean for the church?
Does it mean the church should pander to the prevailing trend in culture? Or should it buck the trend and encourage people to "stop being so lazy and pay attention"?
The irony is that amidst all this talk of shorter concentration spans, films haven't got any shorter and my hunch is that actually today people watch more films. Yes the scenes chop and change but the storyline remains and we manage to concentrate on it. The challenge for churches and those leading and preaching is not to bemoan the culture or berate the people it is to innovate the service.
The Bible is the inspired word of God and is the thing which "equips his [God's] people for works of service..." (Eph 4:12). It must be the focus of our meeting together or we fail to do what church is designed to do. The issue is over how we do it. Does it have to be a 30 minute monologue? Could it not be interactive and involve congregation participation at least on easy observation questions? Could you break into groups to discuss personal application, either during the service or in groups over coffee? Could you use physical objects, sights, smells, pictures as effective school teachers do? Or use video clips or song lyrics - though do so with care? If we want people to be devoted to the word our job as preachers is to get them engaged with the word.
What about the service itself. Familiarity is great it makes people feel at easy, it makes them comfortable. But it can also make them lazy, they don't have to engage their brain because they know what is coming next, so why not freshen up the service, innovate, CHANGE. Why not introduce a slot about something cultural and the gospel, the latest TV sensation, or a internet phenomenon like Facebook, or break the gospel talk in 2 to do communion in the middle... It may shake a few people but if you explain that it is so that we engage with the Bible, so that we can better devote ourselves to it I don't think many would complain for too long.
Does it mean the church should pander to the prevailing trend in culture? Or should it buck the trend and encourage people to "stop being so lazy and pay attention"?
The irony is that amidst all this talk of shorter concentration spans, films haven't got any shorter and my hunch is that actually today people watch more films. Yes the scenes chop and change but the storyline remains and we manage to concentrate on it. The challenge for churches and those leading and preaching is not to bemoan the culture or berate the people it is to innovate the service.
The Bible is the inspired word of God and is the thing which "equips his [God's] people for works of service..." (Eph 4:12). It must be the focus of our meeting together or we fail to do what church is designed to do. The issue is over how we do it. Does it have to be a 30 minute monologue? Could it not be interactive and involve congregation participation at least on easy observation questions? Could you break into groups to discuss personal application, either during the service or in groups over coffee? Could you use physical objects, sights, smells, pictures as effective school teachers do? Or use video clips or song lyrics - though do so with care? If we want people to be devoted to the word our job as preachers is to get them engaged with the word.
What about the service itself. Familiarity is great it makes people feel at easy, it makes them comfortable. But it can also make them lazy, they don't have to engage their brain because they know what is coming next, so why not freshen up the service, innovate, CHANGE. Why not introduce a slot about something cultural and the gospel, the latest TV sensation, or a internet phenomenon like Facebook, or break the gospel talk in 2 to do communion in the middle... It may shake a few people but if you explain that it is so that we engage with the Bible, so that we can better devote ourselves to it I don't think many would complain for too long.
Monday, 17 September 2007
What no posts
Due to the hectic nature of life post church plant, haven't been able to do much posting. Hoping to return to blogging in next week or so.
Thursday, 6 September 2007
Facebook - a new community?
I have a Facebook page. But I have a shocking confession to make, I have never looked at it or used it since I set it up. That makes me quite unusual among Facebookers. But I have a nagging disquiet about such things - they are virtual community and they miss so many of the nuances and things we find so fulfilling about real community. Its like watching under 11s rugby instead of being at Twickenham seeing England play Scotland - it just can't measure up.
Josh Harris has recently been blogging on his experience with Facebook, here is what he had to say:
"For the past seven days I’ve really enjoyed Facebook. It is a lot fun and a great way to connect with people. I now understand why it’s so incredibly popular. But today I decided to bring my Facebook career to an abrupt end. I’m weird, huh? But here are some of the reasons I’m calling it quits.
First, I just don’t have enough self-control not to check my page constantly. In one week I saw what many of you warned me about: it’s addictive. I found myself tempted to update my “status” every five minutes. “Joshua Harris is walking across his office. Joshua Harris sitting in his office chair. Joshua Harris is wasting valuable time describing what he is doing” …
I don’t need another reason for staring at a computer screen. I’m constantly needing to evaluate how much time I spend emailing, browsing and blogging. Now obviously a lot of that activity is good, useful work. But sometimes it can be a time-waster. I think God’s been helping me improve at knowing when to unplug from cyberville and connect with the real, rich world of reality–playing with my kids, talking to my wife, taking a walk. Throwing Facebook in the mix of my online options is just a little too much for me right now.
The other reason I feel right about making my time with Facebook just a visit is a little harder to explain. How do I put this? I found that it encouraged me to think about me even more than I already do–which is admittedly already quite a bit. Does that make any sense? Without any help from the internet I’m inclined to give way too much time to evaluating myself, thinking about myself and wondering what other people think of me. If that egocentrism is a little flame, than Facebook for me is a gasoline IV feeding the fire. I need to grow in self-forgetfulness. I need to worry more about what God is thinking of me. I need to be preoccupied with what he’s written in his word, not what somebody just wrote on my “wall.”"
See the whole post here: http://www.joshharris.com/2007/08/my_one_and_only_week_on_facebo_1.php
We as Christians can make use of such a community for gospel purposes, indeed it is part of our being in the world but not of it, but only if we enter it with gospel intentions and be on our guard as the Bible constantly tells us to be.
Josh Harris has recently been blogging on his experience with Facebook, here is what he had to say:
"For the past seven days I’ve really enjoyed Facebook. It is a lot fun and a great way to connect with people. I now understand why it’s so incredibly popular. But today I decided to bring my Facebook career to an abrupt end. I’m weird, huh? But here are some of the reasons I’m calling it quits.
First, I just don’t have enough self-control not to check my page constantly. In one week I saw what many of you warned me about: it’s addictive. I found myself tempted to update my “status” every five minutes. “Joshua Harris is walking across his office. Joshua Harris sitting in his office chair. Joshua Harris is wasting valuable time describing what he is doing” …
I don’t need another reason for staring at a computer screen. I’m constantly needing to evaluate how much time I spend emailing, browsing and blogging. Now obviously a lot of that activity is good, useful work. But sometimes it can be a time-waster. I think God’s been helping me improve at knowing when to unplug from cyberville and connect with the real, rich world of reality–playing with my kids, talking to my wife, taking a walk. Throwing Facebook in the mix of my online options is just a little too much for me right now.
The other reason I feel right about making my time with Facebook just a visit is a little harder to explain. How do I put this? I found that it encouraged me to think about me even more than I already do–which is admittedly already quite a bit. Does that make any sense? Without any help from the internet I’m inclined to give way too much time to evaluating myself, thinking about myself and wondering what other people think of me. If that egocentrism is a little flame, than Facebook for me is a gasoline IV feeding the fire. I need to grow in self-forgetfulness. I need to worry more about what God is thinking of me. I need to be preoccupied with what he’s written in his word, not what somebody just wrote on my “wall.”"
See the whole post here: http://www.joshharris.com/2007/08/my_one_and_only_week_on_facebo_1.php
We as Christians can make use of such a community for gospel purposes, indeed it is part of our being in the world but not of it, but only if we enter it with gospel intentions and be on our guard as the Bible constantly tells us to be.
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
am I being equipped?
Am I being equipped? That's the question I'm asking today as I think about teaching the Bible. In Ephesians 4 Paul tells the Ephesians that they have been given, by Christ, apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers and pastors to equip them to do works of service or ministry. So it begs the question am I being trained, prepared, fitted to do those works of ministry, and if so am I getting on with doing them.
It also gives us pause for thought about the best way to equip people. It is a given that it is by teaching the Bible and continually introducing and reintroducing people to Jesus Christ the risen Son of God who died for us and now intercedes for us in the very throne room of the Father. But how exactly can I do it in a way that best equips people? Is that different for different people? How should that affect the way we do church?
It is by word ministry, but does it have to be in traditional forms and what results should we expect as people are equipped?
It also gives us pause for thought about the best way to equip people. It is a given that it is by teaching the Bible and continually introducing and reintroducing people to Jesus Christ the risen Son of God who died for us and now intercedes for us in the very throne room of the Father. But how exactly can I do it in a way that best equips people? Is that different for different people? How should that affect the way we do church?
It is by word ministry, but does it have to be in traditional forms and what results should we expect as people are equipped?
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Why do we do what we do?
A book and website recommendation. I've just bought "The Because Approach - innovating Church for all." by Andrew Baughan, it came highly recommended to me and having read the first couple of chapters it is well worth a read, the website http://www.becauseapproach.com/ is also well worth a browse. It challenges us as to why we do things the way we do them and to have a Biblical reason behind our answer - the 'because...' of the title. It comes complete with a study which makes this book a mine of potential material for homegroups or studies with church leaders or elders.It has some great questions to ask as a way of reviewing our evangelism and church life and encourages us to fulfil the great commission in a way that suits our church - something which is a refreshing change from the this is THE way to do it approach. It comes with a warning though - this is not an off the peg programme, there are no easy answers. But there are questions that lead us to examine our church, our gifts, our relevance and those we must reach with the gospel to save them from a lost eternity and grasp the love and grace of God made freely available in Christ!
Monday, 3 September 2007
The goodness of God
Well yesterday was the first service of South Doncaster Community Church and God has answered ours and everyone else's prayers. The school was great, everybody worked hard and the gospel was preached. We also had some visitors from our leaflet drop of the area and some friends came.
The cafe style area worked really well, with people chatting together and building community together. Whilst so much hard work has been done already and God has answered so faithfully our prayers now comes the hard part, sustaining what we have started. Church planting is not easy, there will be highs (such as Sunday) and lows but what we have to remember is that God is faithful and the gospel must be proclaimed.
If you look on the website you should now find new content in the form of MP3's and text of the Sunday morning every Monday.
The cafe style area worked really well, with people chatting together and building community together. Whilst so much hard work has been done already and God has answered so faithfully our prayers now comes the hard part, sustaining what we have started. Church planting is not easy, there will be highs (such as Sunday) and lows but what we have to remember is that God is faithful and the gospel must be proclaimed.
If you look on the website you should now find new content in the form of MP3's and text of the Sunday morning every Monday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)