Throughout time has God has been incredibly good to the church. One of his greatest gifts has been in the gift of music and musicians. Singing is powerful, it lifts our eyes, instills truth and provides a vehicle for our expressions of trust, fear, joy, and so on in response to God's word, our lives and our hope. A church without singing would be far poorer.
And yet I wonder if that is where we are heading. Not wishing to seem apocalyptic but musicianship is on the wane. If you're church has lots of gifted musicians my hunch is you are located in the city or in a locale with a university. Be thankful, even though at times there can be tensions with having lots of musicians.
I am very grateful to God for the gifted musicians he has provided for us as a church over the last ten years. Their faithful service has been of great benefit to us. Yet here is my fear looking around about me and into the future about music and musicians in the church. A fear that is especially true if you are not a university town/city church and that is exacerbated even more if you are in working class or deprived area.
Put simply there aren't many musicians and there is little prospect of there being lots of musicians n the future. There are a number of reasons for this, one is that young people who head off to uni rarely return home. But secondly and perhaps a greater cause for concern in the future is the sheer cost of music lessons. Due to budget constraints our local school music service has put the cost of lessons up from £160 a year to over £400! That puts music out of the reach of so many families. It limits music and musicianship to the wealthy, because that is without the add on cost of instruments, music, etc... And that will impact our churches, maybe not yours because you're church is largely middle class and fairly affluent, and so music will be an affordable priority, we ought to be thankful for that if that's us. But for those in working class and deprived areas I wonder if it means many more churches without musicians. There are ways around it, there are a growing range of apps, but we lose the sense of someone willingly serving the body of Christ, someone who has taken hours to craft and hone their skills. It also means the next generation don't grow up to aspire to play and so the cycle perpetuates itself.
So what? Ought we to be encouraging musicians to think about moving and serving in other churches, if we have a glut of them? Could your musicians help another local church out by training their young, or not so young, people? Are there musicians in your church who could provide free lessons to the next generation either in your church or in another to fill this void?
Showing posts with label gospel partnership. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gospel partnership. Show all posts
Monday, 16 October 2017
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
When is a church plant not a church plant?
Grace Church is 8 years old this week. Eight years ago a small group of people left Bessacarr Evangelical Church to start a new work, initially in Hatchell Wood, but for the last two years and a half years in the Hayfield part of Auckley. As is usual at times of anniversaries or birthdays we muse about where we are and where we dreamt we would be. Have our hopes and dreams been realised? If so why? If not, why not? Just as I think about those things one of the big questions that struck me was the question above.
In one sense Grace Church stopped being a plant when we launched in September 2007. Because we were a functioning church, with our own leadership, quickly we established our own ways of doing things more suited to the people we were trying to reach. That process has continued to happen, with our move to Hayfield we have tweaked things again as we seek to make Jesus known to what was and is primarily a disadvantaged community. A church plant in one sense ceases to be a plant the moment it begins functioning as a church, so on day one.
But as evangelicals we seem to have a curiously myopic slant on when a plant becomes a church. So often I hear it spoken of as being when a church becomes "independent". I'd love to know what that means and how those who advocate such an understanding, or even think it, square it with what the Bible says. As I read the letters to the churches in the New Testament I don't see "independent churches", I see interdependent churches. Churches where the wealthy support those in hard circumstances, where the rich give to enable gospel preaching among the poor, where churches blessed with those able to teach send and give away their BEST Bible teachers to other churches because they recognise they are building God's kingdom rather than their own kingdom.
I wonder if our preoccupation with independence means that we've lost some of that - interesting that we seem to value that as it has increasingly been valued in our society. Eight years in one of my convictions is that Grace Church has always felt 'fragile'. I've debated using that word because it seems negative, it feels like a badge of failure. Maybe there is a better word, but as yet I haven't found it. We've experienced times of growth and shrinkage. We've seen people come to faith and others drift away. We've faced, from my perspective far too many, pastoral crises. We've faced a financial crisis and by God's grace come through it. We've seemingly had too few leaders and then by God's grace seen new leaders emerge. We've had an assistant pastor and then with joy been able to send him on to pastor another church, with all the challenges that loss brings for us. But throughout the eight years whilst feeling in many senses established Grace Church has always felt fragile. Or maybe that is just my experience of it as the pastor, knowing what is going on, sometimes dealing with the fall out and maybe feeling the highs and lows more than others. Maybe it is just that I have found myself living on edge more, more aware of my responsibility and culpability, experiencing sleepless nights due to pastoral crisis, financial concerns, building issues, relational struggles, mistakes I have unintentionally made, and therefore more aware of my utter dependence on God.
What that has taught me eight years in is that no church should be an island and definitely no pastor can be. We as a church need others and we are grateful to God for the partnerships he has helped us foster, without them simply we wouldn't be here. As a pastor I am grateful for the partnerships I enjoy with both leaders within the congregation and a band of brothers without. I wonder if it's time to do away with that "independent" label when we think of churches whether they are plants or not, what would it look like if we developed co-dependent churches? What would the advantages be? How much more would we learn of the wonder of grace and our need of it as we partnered with others, sharing their sorrows and joys, being invested in the kingdom there rather than just seeing it and caring about it here?
In one sense Grace Church stopped being a plant when we launched in September 2007. Because we were a functioning church, with our own leadership, quickly we established our own ways of doing things more suited to the people we were trying to reach. That process has continued to happen, with our move to Hayfield we have tweaked things again as we seek to make Jesus known to what was and is primarily a disadvantaged community. A church plant in one sense ceases to be a plant the moment it begins functioning as a church, so on day one.
But as evangelicals we seem to have a curiously myopic slant on when a plant becomes a church. So often I hear it spoken of as being when a church becomes "independent". I'd love to know what that means and how those who advocate such an understanding, or even think it, square it with what the Bible says. As I read the letters to the churches in the New Testament I don't see "independent churches", I see interdependent churches. Churches where the wealthy support those in hard circumstances, where the rich give to enable gospel preaching among the poor, where churches blessed with those able to teach send and give away their BEST Bible teachers to other churches because they recognise they are building God's kingdom rather than their own kingdom.
I wonder if our preoccupation with independence means that we've lost some of that - interesting that we seem to value that as it has increasingly been valued in our society. Eight years in one of my convictions is that Grace Church has always felt 'fragile'. I've debated using that word because it seems negative, it feels like a badge of failure. Maybe there is a better word, but as yet I haven't found it. We've experienced times of growth and shrinkage. We've seen people come to faith and others drift away. We've faced, from my perspective far too many, pastoral crises. We've faced a financial crisis and by God's grace come through it. We've seemingly had too few leaders and then by God's grace seen new leaders emerge. We've had an assistant pastor and then with joy been able to send him on to pastor another church, with all the challenges that loss brings for us. But throughout the eight years whilst feeling in many senses established Grace Church has always felt fragile. Or maybe that is just my experience of it as the pastor, knowing what is going on, sometimes dealing with the fall out and maybe feeling the highs and lows more than others. Maybe it is just that I have found myself living on edge more, more aware of my responsibility and culpability, experiencing sleepless nights due to pastoral crisis, financial concerns, building issues, relational struggles, mistakes I have unintentionally made, and therefore more aware of my utter dependence on God.
What that has taught me eight years in is that no church should be an island and definitely no pastor can be. We as a church need others and we are grateful to God for the partnerships he has helped us foster, without them simply we wouldn't be here. As a pastor I am grateful for the partnerships I enjoy with both leaders within the congregation and a band of brothers without. I wonder if it's time to do away with that "independent" label when we think of churches whether they are plants or not, what would it look like if we developed co-dependent churches? What would the advantages be? How much more would we learn of the wonder of grace and our need of it as we partnered with others, sharing their sorrows and joys, being invested in the kingdom there rather than just seeing it and caring about it here?
Monday, 20 October 2014
Is Christianity a middle class faith?
That's a huge question we need to ask ourselves. As we look at our churches are they mono-culture in terms of class? Which class is it and how does that affect us as a church?
For the majority of churches in the UK the answer is that they are middle class, so questions follow from that. Is the outreach we are doing middle class in its appeal? Do we subtly teach middle classes values as if they were gospel values? Do we care about other classes and if so how is that seen?
As you read the Acts of the Apostles and the the letters written by the Apostles to those churches you can't help but be struck by how multi-class as well as multicultural they are. In Acts 2 and 4 rich landowners sell land to provide for the poor. In the second half of Acts we see Paul facilitating a collection for the churches struggling from those churches who are more wealthy. In Corinth the Lord's supper showcases the gulf in wealth between members, in James he warns the church against favouring the rich over the poor. These are churches which have drawn people from all across the social spectrum with all its potential tensions. But what these churches won't do is simply mirror societies divisions because to do so would be counter the gospel.
So how come in the UK we have largely ended up with mono-culture churches? How has this happened and what will we do about it? There are lots of potential reasons, my hunch is it will be a slightly different story for different churches. But what is not in doubt is that there is a real need to establish congregations in areas of urban need. Not in 10 years time but now, why because it is an unprecedented time of opportunity in these communities. It is these areas of urban need that are most feeling the squeeze of the benefit and service cuts and which will take the longest to recover.
Just thinking about the area in which we live and which Grace Church serves, an area with a range of social backgrounds but with a high percentage of social needs. One of the first casualties was the local children's centre, desperately needed and doing great work among needy families but now closed (or rather run at another site 2 bus journeys away!!!). Then the local youth group closed. Then the travelling library service was stopped. There are no community use buildings, no village hall, and rapidly multiplying needs. As the church in the UK now is the time of opportunity to reach out in these areas and meet needs. To provide services and establish congregations that serve these people and hold out the hope of the gospel to them as we live alongside them.
Not that we always need to start new things. Whilst in some places we may need to in many places there are small local congregations working hard but with limited budgets and personnel in those communities. What a difference it would make to them to have a wealthier church support and partner with them financially and in prayer. What a difference such a partnership in the gospel would make. What an opportunity to share ideas, challenges, prayer points, gifting, finances. Churches can't change where they are located, but they can multiply the areas in which they have an interest and an involvement by partnering with other churches.
The church cannot afford to be mono-class. If it is it is failing in its mission, something is missing in the picture of the transformation of the gospel which it provides. Partnership working is one potential way to begin to overcome that danger, challenge potential prejudices and encourage gospel growth in maturity. As well as to invest in seeing others come to faith and God's kingdom and fame spread.
For the majority of churches in the UK the answer is that they are middle class, so questions follow from that. Is the outreach we are doing middle class in its appeal? Do we subtly teach middle classes values as if they were gospel values? Do we care about other classes and if so how is that seen?
As you read the Acts of the Apostles and the the letters written by the Apostles to those churches you can't help but be struck by how multi-class as well as multicultural they are. In Acts 2 and 4 rich landowners sell land to provide for the poor. In the second half of Acts we see Paul facilitating a collection for the churches struggling from those churches who are more wealthy. In Corinth the Lord's supper showcases the gulf in wealth between members, in James he warns the church against favouring the rich over the poor. These are churches which have drawn people from all across the social spectrum with all its potential tensions. But what these churches won't do is simply mirror societies divisions because to do so would be counter the gospel.
So how come in the UK we have largely ended up with mono-culture churches? How has this happened and what will we do about it? There are lots of potential reasons, my hunch is it will be a slightly different story for different churches. But what is not in doubt is that there is a real need to establish congregations in areas of urban need. Not in 10 years time but now, why because it is an unprecedented time of opportunity in these communities. It is these areas of urban need that are most feeling the squeeze of the benefit and service cuts and which will take the longest to recover.
Just thinking about the area in which we live and which Grace Church serves, an area with a range of social backgrounds but with a high percentage of social needs. One of the first casualties was the local children's centre, desperately needed and doing great work among needy families but now closed (or rather run at another site 2 bus journeys away!!!). Then the local youth group closed. Then the travelling library service was stopped. There are no community use buildings, no village hall, and rapidly multiplying needs. As the church in the UK now is the time of opportunity to reach out in these areas and meet needs. To provide services and establish congregations that serve these people and hold out the hope of the gospel to them as we live alongside them.
Not that we always need to start new things. Whilst in some places we may need to in many places there are small local congregations working hard but with limited budgets and personnel in those communities. What a difference it would make to them to have a wealthier church support and partner with them financially and in prayer. What a difference such a partnership in the gospel would make. What an opportunity to share ideas, challenges, prayer points, gifting, finances. Churches can't change where they are located, but they can multiply the areas in which they have an interest and an involvement by partnering with other churches.
The church cannot afford to be mono-class. If it is it is failing in its mission, something is missing in the picture of the transformation of the gospel which it provides. Partnership working is one potential way to begin to overcome that danger, challenge potential prejudices and encourage gospel growth in maturity. As well as to invest in seeing others come to faith and God's kingdom and fame spread.
Tuesday, 6 August 2013
Positive Partnerships
We live in a 'What's in it for me?' culture. Whenever we come across something new that is the question which we ask. We will join something, or start something, or commit (though we struggle with this bit) to something if we think it is worth it. If it doesn't require too much of us or provides us with something of great benefit in return.
But the Bible turns that thinking on its head, it is full of partnerships - partnerships that bear with one another, that carry one another's burdens, that put others first, that love deeply at cost to ourselves. I want to share about a partnership that I have found increasingly a real encouragement to ministry and to my personal growth in Christ, with the aim of encouraging others to join up.
I live in Doncaster, one of the least reached towns in one of the least reached counties in the UK. It is an area where it is hard to be a Christian, where there are few churches, and also where there is a growing hostility to Christianity and church. The church I lead is a blessing to be part of, but is also hard and often both encouraging and discouraging at the same time. In the midst of all of that I have come to find the support of other ministers in the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership (from here on YGP http://www.ygp.org.uk/) invaluable and incredibly helpful.
Every six weeks or so a group of ministers from a wider range of churches in Doncaster, some in the YGP some not yet in the YGP, meet together to chat, share food, pray for one another, and sharpen up one another's preaching. We run through an outline of an upcoming sermon and then help one another deconstruct and reconstruct our talks, often helping one another think more clearly about the passage or people. Many of us also meet up more informally outside of these meetings, we also text prayer points and encouragements to one another. This partnership is vital.
Furthermore a wider group of church leaders from across South Yorkshire meet together twice a year for a day of training. Most recently we had David Jackman, visiting the wilds of Yorkshire, to take us through teaching Ephesians, we again ate together, and encouraged one another. Previously we had Professor Glynn Harrison teaching us on pastoring the heart. These days are invaluable both for training but also for partnering together more widely.
YEMA is also another opportunity to meet together even more widely, it is the yearly YGP day conference. Last year we had David Meredith and Mike Reeves teaching us on Trinity and the Church. You can find the audio here: http://www.ygp.org.uk/audio.asp It is well worth listening to.
Partnership isn't something we should have to think too hard about the do I or don't I provided we agree on the gospel. If we can partner with someone in the gospel we should, we shouldn't make such decisions primarily on a cost benefit analysis. But I hope I've given you enough to get you thinking about YGP even on that basis.
But the Bible turns that thinking on its head, it is full of partnerships - partnerships that bear with one another, that carry one another's burdens, that put others first, that love deeply at cost to ourselves. I want to share about a partnership that I have found increasingly a real encouragement to ministry and to my personal growth in Christ, with the aim of encouraging others to join up.
I live in Doncaster, one of the least reached towns in one of the least reached counties in the UK. It is an area where it is hard to be a Christian, where there are few churches, and also where there is a growing hostility to Christianity and church. The church I lead is a blessing to be part of, but is also hard and often both encouraging and discouraging at the same time. In the midst of all of that I have come to find the support of other ministers in the Yorkshire Gospel Partnership (from here on YGP http://www.ygp.org.uk/) invaluable and incredibly helpful.
Every six weeks or so a group of ministers from a wider range of churches in Doncaster, some in the YGP some not yet in the YGP, meet together to chat, share food, pray for one another, and sharpen up one another's preaching. We run through an outline of an upcoming sermon and then help one another deconstruct and reconstruct our talks, often helping one another think more clearly about the passage or people. Many of us also meet up more informally outside of these meetings, we also text prayer points and encouragements to one another. This partnership is vital.
Furthermore a wider group of church leaders from across South Yorkshire meet together twice a year for a day of training. Most recently we had David Jackman, visiting the wilds of Yorkshire, to take us through teaching Ephesians, we again ate together, and encouraged one another. Previously we had Professor Glynn Harrison teaching us on pastoring the heart. These days are invaluable both for training but also for partnering together more widely.
YEMA is also another opportunity to meet together even more widely, it is the yearly YGP day conference. Last year we had David Meredith and Mike Reeves teaching us on Trinity and the Church. You can find the audio here: http://www.ygp.org.uk/audio.asp It is well worth listening to.
Partnership isn't something we should have to think too hard about the do I or don't I provided we agree on the gospel. If we can partner with someone in the gospel we should, we shouldn't make such decisions primarily on a cost benefit analysis. But I hope I've given you enough to get you thinking about YGP even on that basis.
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
The struggle to remain Gospel Hearted, Mission Minded and Kingdom Conscious
I don't know about you but I struggle investing in people only to see them leave, part of me - heavily influenced by the sinful world around me says 'only invest in those who won't leave, only pour your time, energy and discipling into those who you will see develop and benefit you and your church'. That's in part why Romans 1 has been such a challenge personally Paul is so kingdom conscious, so gospel hearted and so mission minded. I think I and we in the UK have much to learn from this.
Just think about the non-university town church, who has always invested heavily in its young people, teaching them the bible from an early age and throughout their teenage years, discipling them and training them in how to handle the bible and living out the gospel in front of them. In non-university town churches a high percentage of those young people will go to university, serve in CU's settle in a church and often stay in that church after they graduate, serving along with other young twenties. It takes a kingdom consciousness to keep on training up young people, investing in them to see them leave and then serve in often much bigger churches. We have to keep telling ourselves to be gospel hearted, mission minded and kingdom focused.
One church I was part of has seen 3 of its youth group or young twenties go into the ministry having been discipled in it, they have been very generous in giving away and supporting those they have invested in, especially as they are now without a pastor. Such continual giving away can be energy sapping, the temptation is to focus on those who will be around long term, indeed some ministry manuals would tell you to do just that. But Romans reminds us and refreshes us in truth that to love Jesus is to love people and to be gospel hearted, mission minded and Kingdom conscious.
But what about the university town church? Increasingly parts of the United Kingdom are less churched than overseas mission hot spots. These areas are non-university towns with faithful churches but often faithful churches with few young people in their twenties. In the UK I fear that there is a very real danger that in 20-25 years time Christianity will have shrunk to the university towns with many areas unreached and unreachable with the gospel from those towns and cities. This situation is exacerbated by young people rightly wanting company of like minded people and therefore staying in university town churches with twenties groups etc... But what if those churches encouraged small groups of twenty somethings to move together to a different town, maybe encouraging those who are from a non-university town church close by to find a like minded group of people and support that local church.
It has been thrilling to see just some of that sort of gospel hearted, kingdom conscious thinking beginning to happen, but it is still a rarity. We as churches in the UK and in gospel partnerships need to think big picture as Paul did - encouraging the Romans to partner with him in reaching Spain with the gospel. We need to encourage larger congregations to partner with smaller congregations in reaching their area with the gospel, we need smaller congregations to keep investing in those who will leave, we need groups of believers willing to move to the town or area they work in rather than commute 35 minutes. Dare I say it we don't always need to new churches in an area where there are bible teaching churches already but we need people to involve themselves in those bible teaching churches with gospel hearts who will labour conscious of the kingdom of God.
Father God save me from being 'my kingdom' focused and liberate me through the gospel to serve your kingdom with your heart not my agenda.
Just think about the non-university town church, who has always invested heavily in its young people, teaching them the bible from an early age and throughout their teenage years, discipling them and training them in how to handle the bible and living out the gospel in front of them. In non-university town churches a high percentage of those young people will go to university, serve in CU's settle in a church and often stay in that church after they graduate, serving along with other young twenties. It takes a kingdom consciousness to keep on training up young people, investing in them to see them leave and then serve in often much bigger churches. We have to keep telling ourselves to be gospel hearted, mission minded and kingdom focused.
One church I was part of has seen 3 of its youth group or young twenties go into the ministry having been discipled in it, they have been very generous in giving away and supporting those they have invested in, especially as they are now without a pastor. Such continual giving away can be energy sapping, the temptation is to focus on those who will be around long term, indeed some ministry manuals would tell you to do just that. But Romans reminds us and refreshes us in truth that to love Jesus is to love people and to be gospel hearted, mission minded and Kingdom conscious.
But what about the university town church? Increasingly parts of the United Kingdom are less churched than overseas mission hot spots. These areas are non-university towns with faithful churches but often faithful churches with few young people in their twenties. In the UK I fear that there is a very real danger that in 20-25 years time Christianity will have shrunk to the university towns with many areas unreached and unreachable with the gospel from those towns and cities. This situation is exacerbated by young people rightly wanting company of like minded people and therefore staying in university town churches with twenties groups etc... But what if those churches encouraged small groups of twenty somethings to move together to a different town, maybe encouraging those who are from a non-university town church close by to find a like minded group of people and support that local church.
It has been thrilling to see just some of that sort of gospel hearted, kingdom conscious thinking beginning to happen, but it is still a rarity. We as churches in the UK and in gospel partnerships need to think big picture as Paul did - encouraging the Romans to partner with him in reaching Spain with the gospel. We need to encourage larger congregations to partner with smaller congregations in reaching their area with the gospel, we need smaller congregations to keep investing in those who will leave, we need groups of believers willing to move to the town or area they work in rather than commute 35 minutes. Dare I say it we don't always need to new churches in an area where there are bible teaching churches already but we need people to involve themselves in those bible teaching churches with gospel hearts who will labour conscious of the kingdom of God.
Father God save me from being 'my kingdom' focused and liberate me through the gospel to serve your kingdom with your heart not my agenda.
Monday, 26 April 2010
Building Gospel capable relationships
One of the striking things from 1 Thessalonians as we have studied this letter has been the nature of the relationships which were so integral to the founding of the church. It is these relationships where life was shared and the gospel seen and modelled that enable Paul to write so confidently to the Thessalonians that they has witness how the evangelists lived. It is an incredible challenge to our culture, and way of doing church.
We need to be building relationships to be sharing our lives one with the other, but how?
We need to be building relationships to be sharing our lives one with the other, but how?
- Destroy the castle walls - our home is not our castle and it is not mean to be impregnable, the New Testament pattern is of believers in and out of each others homes.
- Committing to one church - we need to resolve to commit. Commit first and foremost to one church - do not church hop - but find a church which will be your family and go week by week. Become a member and ask its leaders to keep you accountable for coming along.
- Commit personally - build relationships, don't content yourself with a passing knowledge of the crowd but get to know some people deeply.
- Get over pride - Pride stops us really engaging in relationships, we need to get over pride. In the church we are all sinners saved by grace. If we will not let others see our struggles we cannot expect their help. We need to be real.
- Give your time - someone has said that in our society we show who and what we value by the time we give to it. Invest in relationships.
- Go, go, go - Be where people are. Make home group a priority in your week, and involve yourself in that group.
- Share experiences - do things together, go places, have fun. Shared experiences are what grow relationships and enable communication.
- Be intentionally gospel focused - Church is not just to be a place with great friendships - though it should have those it should be a place where those great friendships facilitate speaking God's word to each other, lovingly exhorting and encouraging one another to live lives worthy of God.
How to stop gospel growth
I assume that everyone wants to see gospel growth in their own lives and in their gospel community (church) if our automatic response isn't "Yes!" there are clearly questions that need to be asked. But growth doesn't automatically happen and there are lots of ways to stop growth:
Remove the nutrients necessary for growth to occur
With plants one of the quickest ways to ensure there is no growth is to not water or provide food for the plant. It is also one of the quickest ways to stifle growth in the gospel. Not exposing ourselves to the gospel being taught, not reading it, or reading it unthinkingly without applying it, without allowing it to search us and find us out. Or perhaps its by absenting ourselves from relationships in which this can happen.
We may go to church we may listen to the bible taught but we never apply it to ourselves and certainly don't engage in relationships where others would do that to us. The result is no growth, in fact the result is a slow death.
Allow it to be stifled
Plants need weeding so that they are able to grow, without it they will be stifled. So it is with our gospel growth, the parable of the sower warns of cares and anxieties which grow up and choke the gospel in our lives.
Being in church is a start but again doesn't ensure that this is happening we need to be engaging in relationships which allow others to weed and feed us (to continue the plant analogy). Often my friends see more clearly where I am being stifled by sin or by an idol than I do, their insight helps me see where I need to weed and apply the gospel.
There are lots of other ways to stop gospel growth but I've been struck by these two because they are so easy to drift into, they just happen, in fact our society encourages them by its flexibility and fear of commitment to relationships. Sadly I wonder if gospel relationships of the sort we glimpse in 1 Thessalonians 1 are so amazing because they are so rare today, when the reality is they ought to be the model we adopt.
Remove the nutrients necessary for growth to occur
With plants one of the quickest ways to ensure there is no growth is to not water or provide food for the plant. It is also one of the quickest ways to stifle growth in the gospel. Not exposing ourselves to the gospel being taught, not reading it, or reading it unthinkingly without applying it, without allowing it to search us and find us out. Or perhaps its by absenting ourselves from relationships in which this can happen.
We may go to church we may listen to the bible taught but we never apply it to ourselves and certainly don't engage in relationships where others would do that to us. The result is no growth, in fact the result is a slow death.
Allow it to be stifled
Plants need weeding so that they are able to grow, without it they will be stifled. So it is with our gospel growth, the parable of the sower warns of cares and anxieties which grow up and choke the gospel in our lives.
Being in church is a start but again doesn't ensure that this is happening we need to be engaging in relationships which allow others to weed and feed us (to continue the plant analogy). Often my friends see more clearly where I am being stifled by sin or by an idol than I do, their insight helps me see where I need to weed and apply the gospel.
There are lots of other ways to stop gospel growth but I've been struck by these two because they are so easy to drift into, they just happen, in fact our society encourages them by its flexibility and fear of commitment to relationships. Sadly I wonder if gospel relationships of the sort we glimpse in 1 Thessalonians 1 are so amazing because they are so rare today, when the reality is they ought to be the model we adopt.
Tuesday, 15 September 2009
Standing alongside
This week I'm heading off to meet someone who is hoping to plant a church in a city in Yorkshire. To talk with, pray with and partner with someone whose gospel convictions and concern for the lost have led him and his family to move where they feel God has called them to plant a church.
It is a reminder that Gospel Partnership matters. In our day of skepticism about religion but openness to spirituality so often church divisions are an additional barrier to the gospel. The Yorkshire Gospel Partnership (www.ygp.org.uk) is a group of like minded Bible believing churches working in partnership with one another to bring the gospel to one of the most needy counties in the country.
As we read the epistles you can't help but notice partnership in the gospel is a feature of Paul's ministry. In Romans 16 Priscilla and Aquila, Urbanus, and Timothy are described as fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, in 2 Corinthians Paul encourages the church to partner with and support those churches in need financially. Paul's letter to the Colossians is written to a church planted by Epaphras but partnership in the gospel sees Paul writing to them.
We need gospel partnership, we need to work together, to have a kingdom focus rather than a church focus.
It is a reminder that Gospel Partnership matters. In our day of skepticism about religion but openness to spirituality so often church divisions are an additional barrier to the gospel. The Yorkshire Gospel Partnership (www.ygp.org.uk) is a group of like minded Bible believing churches working in partnership with one another to bring the gospel to one of the most needy counties in the country.
As we read the epistles you can't help but notice partnership in the gospel is a feature of Paul's ministry. In Romans 16 Priscilla and Aquila, Urbanus, and Timothy are described as fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, in 2 Corinthians Paul encourages the church to partner with and support those churches in need financially. Paul's letter to the Colossians is written to a church planted by Epaphras but partnership in the gospel sees Paul writing to them.
We need gospel partnership, we need to work together, to have a kingdom focus rather than a church focus.
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