We all contextualise. We do it everyday. It's in the way we present things, the words we use, the events we put on, prioritise and attend. It's in the way we dress appropriately to the occasion and situation. We do it often without thinking. And contextualisation is not an evil thing in and of itself. Contextualisation is a good thing when it enables us to make others comfortable, and welcome them appropriately. You contextualised this morning when you decided not to wear your swimming costume (be that bikini, costume, trunks, budgie smugglers or mankini) to the office or to take the kids to school, and the rest of us are so glad that you did! You stopped and thought 'What is appropriate'? We do it in our conversations trying to convey our ideas accurately to others by putting it into terms they understand.
And we naturally and rightly do it in our churches. Our churches inhabit a place in space and time and we need to adjust to that - not in terms of what we teach because God's word is eternally true, but in terms of how we present it. The presenting issues of our society change over time, from generation to generation and we need to answer those questions to remove the barriers to the gospel so we can show how the gospel addresses the questions and desires of everyone in every age because we are all united in being created for a common goal.
But we also contextualise in other ways. We contextualise in the way we order our service, in the welcome we give, in the songs we sing, the way we preach and teach, the nature of our midweek meetings, the other events we put on, and even in terms of the sins we address and how we address them. I'm not going to get into whether we have contextualised rightly or are a generation behind because that's a can of worms I don't want to open now. It is not necessarily wrong to contextualise, in fact it is absolutely necessary and why in the NT there is no one template for a church, but it can become so.
When our contextualisation becomes inflexible culture that is wrong. When it become exclusive, a barrier that is wrong. Think about Jonah, Jonah has an inflexible context in which he thinks God operates - God only operates among the Jews, or he should. And so Jonah will not go to Nineveh. Jonah has assumed the context and way in which he has seen God work is the only context and way in which God works.
Sometimes our churches are like Jonah - this is the way God works, this is the way church looks, discipleship is, evangelistic courses run, we do outreach etc... But in doing so we are spiritually abandoning our Nineveh's.
I've had this bought home to me recently. The area where we are based was, when we planted, a needy area in every term imaginable. And so we worked hard to contextualise - we listened to those in other situations with more experience than us and to the community, we learnt and we adapted what we did. But in God's providence what has happened? The area in which we're based has changed, a raft of 3-5 bedroom homes have been built. The people on the school run have changed. In a small area we now have all the classes and class divides you would normally expect in a small town.
Part of me, let me be honest and confess, thought well there are loads of network middle class churches who can reach them so we'll just keep doing what we're doing. But God has been clear that that isn't right. God's picture of his church is of people from every possible distinction united in the gospel declaring his glory. If I settle for multi-cultural church but not people from all classes I am doing God's glory a disservice. I am dishonouring God. The glory of our church is not in the numbers (there aren't many) but in the different backgrounds united in the gospel
And so again we begin learning, listening and thinking about reforming. What will it mean to be a church that reaches everyone from every background? How do we ensure we don't favour some? That we don't swing to extremes? That we don't over contextualise or settle for one form of contextualisation?
We don't have answers yet. We keep trying different things. But I am convinced only the gospel has to power to unite these people, to overcome the class prejudice, the snobbery, real, inverse and imagined, the chips on shoulders which everyone has, and the media facilitated prejudgements which all make. And so contextualisation can be the problem, it can be the cause, but it is also part of the solution provided we contextualise for all so that we might become all things to all people so that by all possible means we might see some come to saving faith in Jesus.
It begins by thinking about who the all are. Not who are the majority or just who are the minority but who are the all and then resolving to listen to and reach all.
Showing posts with label gospel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gospel. Show all posts
Thursday, 21 June 2018
Thursday, 3 May 2018
Discipleship = people not programmes
This is the last post of three about discipleship.
God provides the church as the framework around which discipleship grows. It’s like the trellis a plant grows up, it provides helpful structure, but just going to church isn’t discipleship. Nor is going to home group, or doing a course on discipleship, or a weekend thinking about it. They may be helpful, provide some helpful shape and structures, they provide programmes which can potentially facilitate discipleship. But discipleship is about people not programmes.
Discipleship is about teaching and applying the truth of the gospel in the context of a commitment to share real life.
It must never replace church. But sits alongside, or rather inside, church. There’s an African proverb 'It takes a village to raise a child'. In the same way it takes a church to makes disciples. We see it in the early church. In Acts 2v42-47we read of the Apostles are discipling a rapidly growing, increasingly transformed community. But notice the context in which it happens. It’s not an hour a week on Sunday. They are devoted to the teaching, one another, remembering Jesus and prayer. They share everything, and meet daily and are in and out of each others homes. They are enjoying the reality of a community created, formed and fed by the gospel day by day. The early church is a gospel greenhouse full of rapidly growing disciples being discipled by rapidly growing disciples in the midst of real life.
This is the disciples taking Jesus great commission to go and make disciples seriously. This is them putting it into practice. How do we set up church so that we maximise opportunities for discipleship? How can we both be discipled and disciple others?
Be there – How committed are you to your church family? How often do you miss them? Are they just an hour event on Sunday or interwoven into the fabric of your life? Do you make the most of every opportunity? How engaged are you when you’re there? Are you fully there or just physically there? I know some of you are introverts and church seems like something to psyche yourself up for and then have therapy to get over. But think people not programmes. Are you really there?
Let me give you a piece of advice. My observation is that phones are killing community. Not just outside the church but inside it. I watch people hide from conversation by using their phone like Captain America uses his shield be that on Sunday morning before or after the service or in people’s homes over meals. Being on your phone screams ‘Don’t get too close, I don’t want contact’. So here's a radical suggestion, take a deep breath, don’t take your phone to church, or to coin slogan ‘make the glove compartment the phone compartment’. Or here’s a radical discovery I’m trying to help our church to make. There is somewhere on your device a button that if you hold it for long enough will actually turn your phone off, and back on again later when you need it! And after a few minutes of hyperventilation you will, eventually, discover you can breath fine without it on if you persevere.
Parents, there is a danger of using our children to do the same thing. Don’t.
Take Risks – Apathy is cool. That’s not just true of teenagers is it? How often have you settled for talking about the football or work rather than talking to someone about how they are doing spiritually or sharing a problem with them and asking for prayer or sharing an encouragement? Why do we do that? Because we’re afraid of being thought too keen, too spiritual. Or we’re afraid to be vulnerable, maybe you’ve been hurt before, maybe someone has let you down, or gossiped a confidence. Can I gently ask you to risk it again?
Discipleship is deliberate. It’s intentional, it takes risks, it wants to know and be known, to pray and be prayed for, to encourage and be encouraged, to celebrate and mourn with others. It wants to take someone’s hand and run with them to the Father, to be led again to the cross. Maybe some of you need to begin first by putting that into practice in your marriage.
Discipleship and evangelism - But what about evangelism. How do I share the gospel with someone? Here’s the problem. We think about discipleship and evangelism as two totally separate things. But really they are two sides of the same coin. Discipleship is evangelizing Christians, and evangelism is discipling non-Christians. One explains and applies the gospel of Jesus to a life yet to realise his life changing power, the other explains and applies the gospel of Jesus to a life which is Spirit filled so that power produces change.
Evangelism isn’t hit and run. Think about Jesus calling Levi, it’s not a hit and run, Jesus seeks and then eats with him then invites him to follow him for 3 years seeing what he does. Think about Zacchaeus, the woman at the well, the demoniac. Jesus listens to them, learns about them, and in the context of their needs he shows them who he is and calls them to follow him, before teaching them more.
Paul evangelises by sharing his life with people as well as the gospel – lip and hip. Paul disciples by sharing his life with people as well as the gospel. Will we?
Let me end by giving you a few really practical helps:
1. Discipling happens best when the Bible is open – God knows, he speaks powerfully, and it takes the onus off my ability to discern someone’s needs. Why not read the Bible at the start of a meal as a family, or when friends come over? Or asking each other what you’ve been reading this week when you meet up for coffee? Or get to church 10 minutes earlier to do just that. Keep at it, it won’t feel natural the first few times – like any skill it takes time.
2. Sharing isn’t caring - Praying and acting is caring. Don’t be a talking shop get real. Read James and put the gospel into practise. That’s one of the biggest criticisms people from outside the church have of the church, it’s all talk.
3. Learn and apply the one anothers – it’s a God given how to of discipling and is always practical.
4. The church is not Las Vegas - What’s the phrase? What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What happens in the church shouldn’t stay in the church. It’s not a secret club it is a family entrusted with the gospel. It is something we should talk about. One of the young men in our church got a shock recently. He arrived at church one morning to see one of his colleagues had unexpectedly driven all the way from Hull to come to Grace because he couldn’t stop talking about his church, and she wanted to see if what he said was true. That shouldn’t be unusual.
A friend of ours came to faith in part because the church provided her and her family with meals for two weeks when they adopted their second child. She couldn’t get over how these people who didn’t know her loved her and she was so intrigued she came to church heard the gospel and trusted Jesus. The churches love should spill out and over into the community.
5. Disciple people in the gospel not middle class values with a gospel veneer - You know those tables you buy, that look like wood, but really there’s just a thin covering of wood like material over MDF. Well sometimes our gospel is like that and we mustn’t disciple people in that. It’s seen in the expectation that working class people will naturally become more middle class when they trust Jesus – just stop and think about that for a minute. Are middle class values really gospel values? No. We need to think really hard about a gospel attitude to money. To family. To education and our children. To literacy. To justice. To possessions. To technology. To conscience. To work. We mustn’t be confused about them because if we are we will disciple others in a tepid fusion of the gospel-lite and class values. When only the true gospel can bring lasting change.
God provides the church as the framework around which discipleship grows. It’s like the trellis a plant grows up, it provides helpful structure, but just going to church isn’t discipleship. Nor is going to home group, or doing a course on discipleship, or a weekend thinking about it. They may be helpful, provide some helpful shape and structures, they provide programmes which can potentially facilitate discipleship. But discipleship is about people not programmes.
Discipleship is about teaching and applying the truth of the gospel in the context of a commitment to share real life.
It must never replace church. But sits alongside, or rather inside, church. There’s an African proverb 'It takes a village to raise a child'. In the same way it takes a church to makes disciples. We see it in the early church. In Acts 2v42-47we read of the Apostles are discipling a rapidly growing, increasingly transformed community. But notice the context in which it happens. It’s not an hour a week on Sunday. They are devoted to the teaching, one another, remembering Jesus and prayer. They share everything, and meet daily and are in and out of each others homes. They are enjoying the reality of a community created, formed and fed by the gospel day by day. The early church is a gospel greenhouse full of rapidly growing disciples being discipled by rapidly growing disciples in the midst of real life.
This is the disciples taking Jesus great commission to go and make disciples seriously. This is them putting it into practice. How do we set up church so that we maximise opportunities for discipleship? How can we both be discipled and disciple others?
Be there – How committed are you to your church family? How often do you miss them? Are they just an hour event on Sunday or interwoven into the fabric of your life? Do you make the most of every opportunity? How engaged are you when you’re there? Are you fully there or just physically there? I know some of you are introverts and church seems like something to psyche yourself up for and then have therapy to get over. But think people not programmes. Are you really there?
Let me give you a piece of advice. My observation is that phones are killing community. Not just outside the church but inside it. I watch people hide from conversation by using their phone like Captain America uses his shield be that on Sunday morning before or after the service or in people’s homes over meals. Being on your phone screams ‘Don’t get too close, I don’t want contact’. So here's a radical suggestion, take a deep breath, don’t take your phone to church, or to coin slogan ‘make the glove compartment the phone compartment’. Or here’s a radical discovery I’m trying to help our church to make. There is somewhere on your device a button that if you hold it for long enough will actually turn your phone off, and back on again later when you need it! And after a few minutes of hyperventilation you will, eventually, discover you can breath fine without it on if you persevere.
Parents, there is a danger of using our children to do the same thing. Don’t.
Take Risks – Apathy is cool. That’s not just true of teenagers is it? How often have you settled for talking about the football or work rather than talking to someone about how they are doing spiritually or sharing a problem with them and asking for prayer or sharing an encouragement? Why do we do that? Because we’re afraid of being thought too keen, too spiritual. Or we’re afraid to be vulnerable, maybe you’ve been hurt before, maybe someone has let you down, or gossiped a confidence. Can I gently ask you to risk it again?
Discipleship is deliberate. It’s intentional, it takes risks, it wants to know and be known, to pray and be prayed for, to encourage and be encouraged, to celebrate and mourn with others. It wants to take someone’s hand and run with them to the Father, to be led again to the cross. Maybe some of you need to begin first by putting that into practice in your marriage.
Discipleship and evangelism - But what about evangelism. How do I share the gospel with someone? Here’s the problem. We think about discipleship and evangelism as two totally separate things. But really they are two sides of the same coin. Discipleship is evangelizing Christians, and evangelism is discipling non-Christians. One explains and applies the gospel of Jesus to a life yet to realise his life changing power, the other explains and applies the gospel of Jesus to a life which is Spirit filled so that power produces change.
Evangelism isn’t hit and run. Think about Jesus calling Levi, it’s not a hit and run, Jesus seeks and then eats with him then invites him to follow him for 3 years seeing what he does. Think about Zacchaeus, the woman at the well, the demoniac. Jesus listens to them, learns about them, and in the context of their needs he shows them who he is and calls them to follow him, before teaching them more.
Paul evangelises by sharing his life with people as well as the gospel – lip and hip. Paul disciples by sharing his life with people as well as the gospel. Will we?
Let me end by giving you a few really practical helps:
1. Discipling happens best when the Bible is open – God knows, he speaks powerfully, and it takes the onus off my ability to discern someone’s needs. Why not read the Bible at the start of a meal as a family, or when friends come over? Or asking each other what you’ve been reading this week when you meet up for coffee? Or get to church 10 minutes earlier to do just that. Keep at it, it won’t feel natural the first few times – like any skill it takes time.
2. Sharing isn’t caring - Praying and acting is caring. Don’t be a talking shop get real. Read James and put the gospel into practise. That’s one of the biggest criticisms people from outside the church have of the church, it’s all talk.
3. Learn and apply the one anothers – it’s a God given how to of discipling and is always practical.
4. The church is not Las Vegas - What’s the phrase? What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. What happens in the church shouldn’t stay in the church. It’s not a secret club it is a family entrusted with the gospel. It is something we should talk about. One of the young men in our church got a shock recently. He arrived at church one morning to see one of his colleagues had unexpectedly driven all the way from Hull to come to Grace because he couldn’t stop talking about his church, and she wanted to see if what he said was true. That shouldn’t be unusual.
A friend of ours came to faith in part because the church provided her and her family with meals for two weeks when they adopted their second child. She couldn’t get over how these people who didn’t know her loved her and she was so intrigued she came to church heard the gospel and trusted Jesus. The churches love should spill out and over into the community.
5. Disciple people in the gospel not middle class values with a gospel veneer - You know those tables you buy, that look like wood, but really there’s just a thin covering of wood like material over MDF. Well sometimes our gospel is like that and we mustn’t disciple people in that. It’s seen in the expectation that working class people will naturally become more middle class when they trust Jesus – just stop and think about that for a minute. Are middle class values really gospel values? No. We need to think really hard about a gospel attitude to money. To family. To education and our children. To literacy. To justice. To possessions. To technology. To conscience. To work. We mustn’t be confused about them because if we are we will disciple others in a tepid fusion of the gospel-lite and class values. When only the true gospel can bring lasting change.
Tuesday, 24 April 2018
Apocalypse Now: Re-evangelising the North (Part 2)
There is a desperate mission need on our doorstep outside of many of our university towns and cities. The scenario I painted in the first post may be a little on the short side in terms of time scale, but eventually that seems to be the trajectory in many places. And yet if you combine the population of the North East and Yorkshire there are approximately 8.1 million people. Yet only 3.6 million of them live in university towns or cities. Strategically, missionally, we need to think about and grow vibrant gospel churches outside these towns and cities. I'm not saying there aren't any, thank God there are, but we desperately need more because they aren't the norm and often they are located in a particular quadrant of the town leaving vast neighbourhoods without a gospel witness.
Those churches that exist in those areas need leaders and congregants who are on mission and committed to the mission for the long term. Many of those small churches need an injection of young men and women who have been discipled and who are committed to discipling others. Strategically we need people who will go and forsake the comfortable in order to grow the gospel. But it’s hard. So what lesson have we learnt? How can we encourage people to think about joining and serving in churches outside of university towns and cities? We need to begin by recognising that there are costs to doing so. It costs, but then didn't Jesus say that was the nature of discipleship?
Loneliness has never been good. (Gen 2)What’s the one problem God sees as he looks at the garden? Adam is alone. He needs others, man is created for community. Throughout the Bible we see patterns of community, of more than one. Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Deborah and Barak, Zerubbabel and Joshua. In the New Testament Jesus and the 12, Peter and John, Paul and Timothy, Titus, Luke, Barnabas and Mark and so on.
Many students want to stay at their university church and I can see why. They have peers, people who know you and whom you know, friendships where you provoke one another in godliness. Great. But what about transplanting that small group to a church elsewhere?
My wife and I were students in Leicester. We went to Knighton, were well taught and cared for, then served there, led the youth work there, took early steps in preaching and leadership there. But then felt God call us to go back to my parents church where there was no-one within 10 years either side of us. But that’s why we felt called. It was a wrench to leave good friends and peers, but the gospel need was greater at Chorley than at Knighton. But looking back we’d have been far better to encourage 4 or 5 of our friends to come with us, not as the great white hope of the church, Jesus is the Saviour not us, but as support, as a network.
That’s been our experience too as some graduates have returned or come to faith having returned to Grace. That’s in part why we’re looking for 3 ministry trainees this year. It’s a huge stretch for a small church financially, to fund three. But I think it gives our trainees the best chance of getting the most possible out of the one or two years they are with us. It is hard to be the only twenty something in a church so why not move with friends?
Church can be hard because it's messy. Open doors and open lives matter. Discipleship isn’t just taught it’s caught; observed, heard and watched. I asked our last ministry trainee to evaluate our old ministry trainee program for us. What its strengths and weaknesses were. What do you think he said was best? I thought it’d be my teaching, or the chance to really deal with and discuss some deep theological issues. He said the best thing was seeing the mess of our family. Watching how we got on, fell out and applied grace to resolve issues. Clearly seeing that we were far from perfect and constantly got things wrong but sought forgiveness, tried to make things right and always fought to apply grace even if it took some time.
That’s helpful because one of the most common struggles for students who leave the student bubble is that they don’t really get to do life with people any more. There isn’t that same intensity of relationship, the same time spent together, the same realism to their relationships, the same depth. We need to open our lives up to others, that’s what Paul does, that’s his model of discipleship, he learnt it from Jesus, and it ought to be ours too.
We also need to ensure that discipleship is happening for all those in our churches so that all are investing and growing in the gospel. Leaving the greenhouse of university doesn’t mean the end of growth. It can be hard after the greenhouse of student life as a Christian where they’ve grown rapidly to adjust to the slower pace of church life. So it’s vital that those who’ve been students are invested in not just seen as a resource to suck dry, or a low-maintenance short cut to a healthier budget.
The pace of change in church is so much slower than in CU, partly because life gets in the way. I realised just over a year ago that I was getting quite discouraged about the slow pace of change. So as leaders every time we meet we give one agenda item over to talking about where we see signs of growth and change in the congregation, and it’s been encouraging. But life in church can’t mimic the intensity of the university greenhouse for growth, but it can continue to build on that. Though we also have to be realistic and help students recognise the uniqueness of the university/CU environment.
I’ve always had a few people I meet with 1-2-1, some are regular and planned others are less so and more sporadic. One way I’ve started trying to drip feed people a bit more and a bit more widely is by giving away books to people in church. Sometimes its related to an issue – for example last year I bought ten copies of Enjoy your prayer life and gave them away. Recently it's Ray Ortland's 'The Gospel' and a group of us will be meeting to discuss a couple of chapters and pray together. And that constant learning and growing never stops, I want to develop our leadership team, so from time to time we’ll read a book together and discuss and apply it to Grace. Investing in disciples never stops if we want disciples who make disciples. Churches need to intentionally develop those within it.
Applying the gospel to relationships. There is a sharedness to university life, similar ages, outlooks, and experience that just isn’t there outside of a university church. How does a 23 year fresh out of uni relate to a 77 year old lady? A 4 year old boy? A stressed out young mum? An exhausted hospital surgeon? Or a single mum diagnosed with cancer? Very often we don’t, we avoid that by staying with those who are like us. But in a small church that’s not an option and that is hard. It forces us to work the gospel more deeply into our lives. To work out what are non-negotiable gospel issues, what are debatable issues and what are just matters of conscience and we can flex over and unite round the gospel rather than fall out about. To work out what loving one another, rejoicing and mourning together looks like.
Resource poor opportunity rich. Smaller churches tend to be resource poor. Smaller budgets, few musicians – if any – one of the unseen factors in university migration. Fewer groups running midweek. All those things make it hard for students who have been very used to lots going on. But Grace, for example, is opportunity rich. A 1200 place sixth form college has just opened, the Primary school where we meet has literally thrown open the doors to us and we can’t meet the need. And evangelistically we have loads of families positive towards church and willing to come along. But the need is people to meet, teach, build friendships, make connections.
Smaller churches also provide greater freedom to try things. There are greater opportunities, to lead, to teach, preach, and study.
Why would we wait? If strategically we'd send teams off to plant churches in towns bereft of gospel witness in key areas why not do so now, before we reach that point when churches close and we lose the real estate that can make such a difference to a church. We need to open our eyes and look beyond our university towns and cities, to see the need, share the need, and encourage people to move to serve, and disciples and lead.
Those churches that exist in those areas need leaders and congregants who are on mission and committed to the mission for the long term. Many of those small churches need an injection of young men and women who have been discipled and who are committed to discipling others. Strategically we need people who will go and forsake the comfortable in order to grow the gospel. But it’s hard. So what lesson have we learnt? How can we encourage people to think about joining and serving in churches outside of university towns and cities? We need to begin by recognising that there are costs to doing so. It costs, but then didn't Jesus say that was the nature of discipleship?
Loneliness has never been good. (Gen 2)What’s the one problem God sees as he looks at the garden? Adam is alone. He needs others, man is created for community. Throughout the Bible we see patterns of community, of more than one. Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, Deborah and Barak, Zerubbabel and Joshua. In the New Testament Jesus and the 12, Peter and John, Paul and Timothy, Titus, Luke, Barnabas and Mark and so on.
Many students want to stay at their university church and I can see why. They have peers, people who know you and whom you know, friendships where you provoke one another in godliness. Great. But what about transplanting that small group to a church elsewhere?
My wife and I were students in Leicester. We went to Knighton, were well taught and cared for, then served there, led the youth work there, took early steps in preaching and leadership there. But then felt God call us to go back to my parents church where there was no-one within 10 years either side of us. But that’s why we felt called. It was a wrench to leave good friends and peers, but the gospel need was greater at Chorley than at Knighton. But looking back we’d have been far better to encourage 4 or 5 of our friends to come with us, not as the great white hope of the church, Jesus is the Saviour not us, but as support, as a network.
That’s been our experience too as some graduates have returned or come to faith having returned to Grace. That’s in part why we’re looking for 3 ministry trainees this year. It’s a huge stretch for a small church financially, to fund three. But I think it gives our trainees the best chance of getting the most possible out of the one or two years they are with us. It is hard to be the only twenty something in a church so why not move with friends?
Church can be hard because it's messy. Open doors and open lives matter. Discipleship isn’t just taught it’s caught; observed, heard and watched. I asked our last ministry trainee to evaluate our old ministry trainee program for us. What its strengths and weaknesses were. What do you think he said was best? I thought it’d be my teaching, or the chance to really deal with and discuss some deep theological issues. He said the best thing was seeing the mess of our family. Watching how we got on, fell out and applied grace to resolve issues. Clearly seeing that we were far from perfect and constantly got things wrong but sought forgiveness, tried to make things right and always fought to apply grace even if it took some time.
That’s helpful because one of the most common struggles for students who leave the student bubble is that they don’t really get to do life with people any more. There isn’t that same intensity of relationship, the same time spent together, the same realism to their relationships, the same depth. We need to open our lives up to others, that’s what Paul does, that’s his model of discipleship, he learnt it from Jesus, and it ought to be ours too.
We also need to ensure that discipleship is happening for all those in our churches so that all are investing and growing in the gospel. Leaving the greenhouse of university doesn’t mean the end of growth. It can be hard after the greenhouse of student life as a Christian where they’ve grown rapidly to adjust to the slower pace of church life. So it’s vital that those who’ve been students are invested in not just seen as a resource to suck dry, or a low-maintenance short cut to a healthier budget.
The pace of change in church is so much slower than in CU, partly because life gets in the way. I realised just over a year ago that I was getting quite discouraged about the slow pace of change. So as leaders every time we meet we give one agenda item over to talking about where we see signs of growth and change in the congregation, and it’s been encouraging. But life in church can’t mimic the intensity of the university greenhouse for growth, but it can continue to build on that. Though we also have to be realistic and help students recognise the uniqueness of the university/CU environment.
I’ve always had a few people I meet with 1-2-1, some are regular and planned others are less so and more sporadic. One way I’ve started trying to drip feed people a bit more and a bit more widely is by giving away books to people in church. Sometimes its related to an issue – for example last year I bought ten copies of Enjoy your prayer life and gave them away. Recently it's Ray Ortland's 'The Gospel' and a group of us will be meeting to discuss a couple of chapters and pray together. And that constant learning and growing never stops, I want to develop our leadership team, so from time to time we’ll read a book together and discuss and apply it to Grace. Investing in disciples never stops if we want disciples who make disciples. Churches need to intentionally develop those within it.
Applying the gospel to relationships. There is a sharedness to university life, similar ages, outlooks, and experience that just isn’t there outside of a university church. How does a 23 year fresh out of uni relate to a 77 year old lady? A 4 year old boy? A stressed out young mum? An exhausted hospital surgeon? Or a single mum diagnosed with cancer? Very often we don’t, we avoid that by staying with those who are like us. But in a small church that’s not an option and that is hard. It forces us to work the gospel more deeply into our lives. To work out what are non-negotiable gospel issues, what are debatable issues and what are just matters of conscience and we can flex over and unite round the gospel rather than fall out about. To work out what loving one another, rejoicing and mourning together looks like.
Resource poor opportunity rich. Smaller churches tend to be resource poor. Smaller budgets, few musicians – if any – one of the unseen factors in university migration. Fewer groups running midweek. All those things make it hard for students who have been very used to lots going on. But Grace, for example, is opportunity rich. A 1200 place sixth form college has just opened, the Primary school where we meet has literally thrown open the doors to us and we can’t meet the need. And evangelistically we have loads of families positive towards church and willing to come along. But the need is people to meet, teach, build friendships, make connections.
Smaller churches also provide greater freedom to try things. There are greater opportunities, to lead, to teach, preach, and study.
Why would we wait? If strategically we'd send teams off to plant churches in towns bereft of gospel witness in key areas why not do so now, before we reach that point when churches close and we lose the real estate that can make such a difference to a church. We need to open our eyes and look beyond our university towns and cities, to see the need, share the need, and encourage people to move to serve, and disciples and lead.
Monday, 23 April 2018
Apocalypse now: re-evangelising the North (Part 1)
The year is 2050. The only surviving churches in Yorkshire & the North East are located in university towns and cities. How would you re-evangelise Yorkshire and the North East?
That feels like a far-fetched scenario. But without wishing to be apocalyptical that’s a possibility. A recent survey of FIEC churches found that:
My hunch is that’s slightly better than figures for the Church of England as a whole and broadly replicated among other groups, though some will be bucking this trend.
Add to that: the vast majority of those who are converted are under 25, and the majority of those are children of Christian parents or are converted at university. Many of those young people who are converted in their home churches are part of the 1 million young people who migrate to university every year.
And few of those graduates will return. 25% of graduates end up in London and many others stay in their university town or city. One church leader at a recent working party I was at when asked what the biggest migration factor affecting their church was said without bitterness the biggest impact for us is that “our students all head off to university and few return.” That would be our experience too.
Those factors mean that churches are shrinking and ageing in towns that send their students to university. Even when they get jobs in towns they will often commute from a university town or city where they choose to live. A significant number of recent graduates who work in Doncaster chose to live in Sheffield so they can go to churches with lots of 20’s and 30’s.
Church planting has picked up steam in recent years and it’s been great to see churches planted. But how many have been planted out of cities or university towns? Very few. How many have been planted to reach working class areas? And yet the North is predominantly working class in outlook if not social class.
That scenario we started off with sounds apocalyptic but it might not be a million miles from the truth. Many churches outside cities and student towns in the North are declining. Some have shut, others are only a generation away. Leaving vast swathes of people facing a lost eternity without hope of hearing the gospel.
That feels like a far-fetched scenario. But without wishing to be apocalyptical that’s a possibility. A recent survey of FIEC churches found that:
- few churches experience growth of more than 1% a year.
- 4 FIEC churches a year are closing.
- Of those that are still going 46% have seen no conversions in the past year.
- 45% have had no baptism
- And 53% have fewer than 35 church members.
My hunch is that’s slightly better than figures for the Church of England as a whole and broadly replicated among other groups, though some will be bucking this trend.
Add to that: the vast majority of those who are converted are under 25, and the majority of those are children of Christian parents or are converted at university. Many of those young people who are converted in their home churches are part of the 1 million young people who migrate to university every year.
And few of those graduates will return. 25% of graduates end up in London and many others stay in their university town or city. One church leader at a recent working party I was at when asked what the biggest migration factor affecting their church was said without bitterness the biggest impact for us is that “our students all head off to university and few return.” That would be our experience too.
Those factors mean that churches are shrinking and ageing in towns that send their students to university. Even when they get jobs in towns they will often commute from a university town or city where they choose to live. A significant number of recent graduates who work in Doncaster chose to live in Sheffield so they can go to churches with lots of 20’s and 30’s.
Church planting has picked up steam in recent years and it’s been great to see churches planted. But how many have been planted out of cities or university towns? Very few. How many have been planted to reach working class areas? And yet the North is predominantly working class in outlook if not social class.
That scenario we started off with sounds apocalyptic but it might not be a million miles from the truth. Many churches outside cities and student towns in the North are declining. Some have shut, others are only a generation away. Leaving vast swathes of people facing a lost eternity without hope of hearing the gospel.
So how would we re-evangelise Yorkshire and the North East?
Thursday, 8 March 2018
Are you a hoarding church or a healthy church?
I was privileged to grow up in a small church. There was no music group, no rapid growth, some teens but not a huge peer group. But what there was in the church was a gospel generosity that was healthy and outward looking and consistently gave away people to mission and ministry elsewhere. As I look back on that church, not perfect by a large stretch of the imagination, that healthy generosity is what really stands out for me. It is no surprise that for a small church it has produced a disproportionate number of pastors who lead churches elsewhere across the country.
It is only as we planted a small church and as we labour in it where the growth is slow that I now realise how amazing that gospel generosity really was. The temptation as a church and as a church leader is to hoard people, especially good people, especially if you are situated in an area without a regular influx of newcomers. It is immensely costly to give away your people to other ministries and other churches. It feels painful and costly and can make something that is already fragile feel even more so.
In the books they tell you that such generosity provides an opportunity for someone else to step up, and yes it does, but let's be honest, off the page, that doesn't always (often) happen. But I am convinced that gospel generosity is right. As I read Acts I'm struck again by the generosity of the church in Antioch in who they send out on mission, it's not the developing leaders, it's not the people with potential, it is key leaders. The challenge as I read that is to have that same gospel generosity in the way I think about church and those God has given us to disciple.
The temptation is to hoard. To focus on our needs. But we are called to a bigger focus, a kingdom focus. It is costly to train people up and send them out. It is costly for the pastor and for the church. It is particularly so for a small church but if we get the big vision of need and kingdom and see ourselves as stewards how can we not. It's a good question to ask ourselves as churches and as leaders - are we a hoarder or are we healthy?
It is only as we planted a small church and as we labour in it where the growth is slow that I now realise how amazing that gospel generosity really was. The temptation as a church and as a church leader is to hoard people, especially good people, especially if you are situated in an area without a regular influx of newcomers. It is immensely costly to give away your people to other ministries and other churches. It feels painful and costly and can make something that is already fragile feel even more so.
In the books they tell you that such generosity provides an opportunity for someone else to step up, and yes it does, but let's be honest, off the page, that doesn't always (often) happen. But I am convinced that gospel generosity is right. As I read Acts I'm struck again by the generosity of the church in Antioch in who they send out on mission, it's not the developing leaders, it's not the people with potential, it is key leaders. The challenge as I read that is to have that same gospel generosity in the way I think about church and those God has given us to disciple.
The temptation is to hoard. To focus on our needs. But we are called to a bigger focus, a kingdom focus. It is costly to train people up and send them out. It is costly for the pastor and for the church. It is particularly so for a small church but if we get the big vision of need and kingdom and see ourselves as stewards how can we not. It's a good question to ask ourselves as churches and as leaders - are we a hoarder or are we healthy?
Monday, 13 March 2017
Why Mission and therefore Church Planting matters - Part 2
This is part 2 of 3 posts on why we should be engaged in mission and how that necessitates church planting in all its forms from Acts 1.
The kingdom is both now and not yet. The kingdom has come because Jesus is God’s anointed king, the Messiah. His people enjoy living under his rule as a result of his rescue. But (10-11)he’s going away, and his kingdom will only be fully realised when he returns. The disciples (7)live in the now but not yet time of the kingdom.
It’s a bit like pregnancy. When you’re pregnant you know you’re having a baby, you’re waiting and getting ready. Things have changed and are changing and yet the real change is still to come. Until the moment when the child is born are you a mum or a dad? Well, both yes and no. You are already a parent but you haven’t yet realised your parenthood.
We live in that same time, between Christ’s comings. We live in the kingdom, preparing for it, enjoying the reality of it, but awaiting the full realisation of it.
And Jesus gives his disciples a task between times; to be his witnesses. To tell others about him, as they stake their lives on who Jesus is and what he’s done. Luke 24:46-48 tells us what they witness to “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.” Jesus will bring about the kingdom through them, as they go to the nations and tell others who Jesus is and what he’s done because otherwise they face a lost eternity.
You might be thinking ‘yes but that is the Apostles’ job, it’s given to them.’ As you read through Acts we see that they teach and witness to others who come to faith and automatically start teaching and witnessing to others, who come to faith and automatically start teaching and witnessing to others, and naturally churches gather and are formed. Acts isn’t just about the Apostles, this isn’t just their responsibility. For every Peter and John there’s a Dorcus, Cornelius or Philip. For every Paul there’s an Apollos, Priscilla or Aquila.
Acts 1:8 isn’t just the Apostles’ mission it’s the mission of every believer. Turn to Acts 28:30-31, read it, (yes you right now, unless you've memorised it that includes you, read it) it feels a bit unfinished doesn’t it? Paul is witnessing in Rome, lots of places have heard the good news about Jesus, but it hasn’t yet reached the ends of the earth yet. We are left thinking what happens next? It is deliberate because the mission still stands. When we trust Jesus as Saviour he becomes our Lord and his mission becomes our mission, his glory becomes our concern as we enter the family business, the world needs to hear the truth about Jesus.
Someone, I don't remember who, said the world needs the gospel because for believers this world is all the hell we will ever know, but for unbelievers it is all the heaven they will ever experience. The sheer lostness of the lost must compel us to take the gospel to them.
There’s no-one the gospel is not for. It is for all classes, all races, all genders. And it isn’t just about leaving wherever some is and going to the ends of the earth, though it may mean that for some, it’s about witnessing where we are. Will you be a witness right now right where you are? And in Acts we see the Apostles strategy for doing this is through the church. Not lone ranger evangelists, but believers gathered together on mission to reach and disciple the lost together. It’s about churches looking at the places around us where the gospel doesn’t currently reach and thinking creatively and boldly and outside the box about how we witness there. It’s about looking at where churches are struggling to reach out and witness and revitalising and re-energising them with the gospel so they can witness.
As you think about your city, town or village this morning, where are those unreached places? Is it the council estates that are bounded by neighbourhood relationships? Which we drive past but at the moment aren’t reaching? Is it some of the surrounding towns or villages which are very much self contained units?
Only one power exists on this planet, in this town, this community that can bring lasting change. Only the love of Jesus Christ that conquers sin, wipes out shame, heals wounds, and reconciles enemies can change the world one life at a time. And that message has been given to God’s church, to us.
There’s no-one the gospel is not for. It is for all classes, all races, all genders. And it isn’t just about leaving wherever some is and going to the ends of the earth, though it may mean that for some, it’s about witnessing where we are. Will you be a witness right now right where you are? And in Acts we see the Apostles strategy for doing this is through the church. Not lone ranger evangelists, but believers gathered together on mission to reach and disciple the lost together. It’s about churches looking at the places around us where the gospel doesn’t currently reach and thinking creatively and boldly and outside the box about how we witness there. It’s about looking at where churches are struggling to reach out and witness and revitalising and re-energising them with the gospel so they can witness.
As you think about your city, town or village this morning, where are those unreached places? Is it the council estates that are bounded by neighbourhood relationships? Which we drive past but at the moment aren’t reaching? Is it some of the surrounding towns or villages which are very much self contained units?
Only one power exists on this planet, in this town, this community that can bring lasting change. Only the love of Jesus Christ that conquers sin, wipes out shame, heals wounds, and reconciles enemies can change the world one life at a time. And that message has been given to God’s church, to us.
Tuesday, 17 January 2017
CiYP: Church in Yorkshire Places
Contextualisation is vital. Missionaries spend time learning a language and a culture so that they can share the gospel effectively and plant God honouring churches that disciple people well given their particular context. I wonder sometimes whether we tend to forget that lesson in the UK. Simply assuming because something worked somewhere else it will work here in just the same way. But such an approach is dangerous and flawed because our regions have distinct flavours, histories and influences.
In fact it is one of my concerns as I look at the church in Yorkshire, the county with the lowest church attendance in the country, a church attendance on a par with Japan. We simply haven't spent enough time thinking about how we reach Yorkshire people with the gospel. We have tended to just do what everyone else is doing. Partly that is skewed by church planting in university towns where the majority of students and a significant chunk of the general populace are not from Yorkshire. Sheffield, Leeds, and York are not the norm in Yorkshire, though I wonder if even there churches are reaching the indigenous Yorkshire men and women or just the interlopers?
So what would it look like to contextualise? Yorkshire is not the South of England. Yorkshire people don't think like people from the home counties. So how do we reach them with the gospel? What would it look like to contextualise? To do Church in Yorkshire Places? Here are a few thoughts:
A Passion for Jesus
Middle Class (Southern) Evangelicalism tends to prize rational argument over passion. Yet spend time with Yorkshire people and you realise they are passionate and driven. A raised voice in conversation is not a sign of anger or loss of control or rationality but of concern and love and commitment. Our passion for Jesus must match that of the fan for his club, or the Yorkshire man for his county. Preach and proclaim the gospel with passion.
Working class mentality
If you ask a Yorkshire man what class he is he will look at you like you've gone mad. What class would you want to be, 'Of course I'm working class I'm from Yorkshire.' Being a Yorkshire man or woman defines your class not your occupation and it is historical not changeable. Many have been to uni and have traditionally middle class jobs but still define themselves as being working class, in fact many will resent the implication that they are middle class. They have working class values and virtues and we need to address those and think through how they have been shaped by gospel values, and how sin has warped them not simply value, assume, address and preach to middle class issues.
Local not national
Yorkshire people are passionate about being from Yorkshire, what other county devised it's own medal table for the Olympics. They care passionately about local issues. It is not that national or international issues don't matter but that local comes first. How do we in our engagement, evangelism, preparation, and preaching reflect that?
A suspicion of interlopers
There is an ingrained suspicion of outsiders, especially if you speak with a posh accent (unless you are from Harrogate). We have to work hard to overcome this, how? By accepting, loving and engaging with Yorkshire and it's quirks and eccentricities. And we must commit to long term listening engagement and friendship with our communities if we are an interloper. Listening matters, otherwise we reinforce the idea that we arrogantly presume to come in with all the answers. We don't. We have loads to learn and value and we will be richer for it.
Defined by hardship
Many communities in Yorkshire have had it hard. Do your research? Read local history about the miners strike and the loss of other traditional industries and understand how this has shaped, and is still shaping, communities. Read local history and talk to and listen to local people about the church in that area. People tend to define themselves by struggle and hardship. Which in turn can produce a can't do attitude and or a resentment of others who have 'had it easy'. In some cases we will find church has added to this hardship. We need to wrestle with how the gospel addresses and reshapes this? How do we plant and pastor churches that reshape this with gospel realism and thankfulness?
Mistrust of big project/society/organisations
Many have been let down by big promises made by big organisations or left disenchanted by unfulfilled promises and visions. This leads to a sense of mistrust of the big and of grandiose visions and plans. We need to plant and pastor churches that overcome this by being realistic, only promising what we can do and by being quick to admit mistakes if and when we have let people down. Working hard to win back trust through sheer love and commitment.
This is only scratching the surface of what is a very complex issue but one we need to face and think more deeply about as we pray and plan to evangelise Yorkshire for the glory of God by planting churches across this great county.
In fact it is one of my concerns as I look at the church in Yorkshire, the county with the lowest church attendance in the country, a church attendance on a par with Japan. We simply haven't spent enough time thinking about how we reach Yorkshire people with the gospel. We have tended to just do what everyone else is doing. Partly that is skewed by church planting in university towns where the majority of students and a significant chunk of the general populace are not from Yorkshire. Sheffield, Leeds, and York are not the norm in Yorkshire, though I wonder if even there churches are reaching the indigenous Yorkshire men and women or just the interlopers?
So what would it look like to contextualise? Yorkshire is not the South of England. Yorkshire people don't think like people from the home counties. So how do we reach them with the gospel? What would it look like to contextualise? To do Church in Yorkshire Places? Here are a few thoughts:
A Passion for Jesus
Middle Class (Southern) Evangelicalism tends to prize rational argument over passion. Yet spend time with Yorkshire people and you realise they are passionate and driven. A raised voice in conversation is not a sign of anger or loss of control or rationality but of concern and love and commitment. Our passion for Jesus must match that of the fan for his club, or the Yorkshire man for his county. Preach and proclaim the gospel with passion.
Working class mentality
If you ask a Yorkshire man what class he is he will look at you like you've gone mad. What class would you want to be, 'Of course I'm working class I'm from Yorkshire.' Being a Yorkshire man or woman defines your class not your occupation and it is historical not changeable. Many have been to uni and have traditionally middle class jobs but still define themselves as being working class, in fact many will resent the implication that they are middle class. They have working class values and virtues and we need to address those and think through how they have been shaped by gospel values, and how sin has warped them not simply value, assume, address and preach to middle class issues.
Local not national
Yorkshire people are passionate about being from Yorkshire, what other county devised it's own medal table for the Olympics. They care passionately about local issues. It is not that national or international issues don't matter but that local comes first. How do we in our engagement, evangelism, preparation, and preaching reflect that?
A suspicion of interlopers
There is an ingrained suspicion of outsiders, especially if you speak with a posh accent (unless you are from Harrogate). We have to work hard to overcome this, how? By accepting, loving and engaging with Yorkshire and it's quirks and eccentricities. And we must commit to long term listening engagement and friendship with our communities if we are an interloper. Listening matters, otherwise we reinforce the idea that we arrogantly presume to come in with all the answers. We don't. We have loads to learn and value and we will be richer for it.
Defined by hardship
Many communities in Yorkshire have had it hard. Do your research? Read local history about the miners strike and the loss of other traditional industries and understand how this has shaped, and is still shaping, communities. Read local history and talk to and listen to local people about the church in that area. People tend to define themselves by struggle and hardship. Which in turn can produce a can't do attitude and or a resentment of others who have 'had it easy'. In some cases we will find church has added to this hardship. We need to wrestle with how the gospel addresses and reshapes this? How do we plant and pastor churches that reshape this with gospel realism and thankfulness?
Mistrust of big project/society/organisations
Many have been let down by big promises made by big organisations or left disenchanted by unfulfilled promises and visions. This leads to a sense of mistrust of the big and of grandiose visions and plans. We need to plant and pastor churches that overcome this by being realistic, only promising what we can do and by being quick to admit mistakes if and when we have let people down. Working hard to win back trust through sheer love and commitment.
This is only scratching the surface of what is a very complex issue but one we need to face and think more deeply about as we pray and plan to evangelise Yorkshire for the glory of God by planting churches across this great county.
Monday, 5 December 2016
Reminded of the Gospel need
I've been reminded again of the gospel need of Doncaster. A family connected with our church, who has shown considerable interest in the gospel at various times and have many questions but who are yet to come to faith are about to move. Not by choice but because they have to. Due to the nature of rehousing their home will by some 9 miles away on the other side of Doncaster. They don't drive so driving half an hour to meet with us isn't an option, there are no direct buses, and a round trip of over an hour to pick someone up for church is impossible when we already transport a number of other people. So I've been desperately trying to find a Bible teaching church for them where they will hear the gospel and be loved, but so far I've drawn a blank.
It reminds me again of the gospel need of Doncaster. It drives me to pray that God will raise up people who see the need and come and help us reach Doncaster with the gospel.
It reminds me again of the gospel need of Doncaster. It drives me to pray that God will raise up people who see the need and come and help us reach Doncaster with the gospel.
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