Yorkshire Training Open Day

Do you want to understand more about the Bible it's big themes, and how it all fits and holds together?  Do you want to be better equipped to teach the bible to others or simply be able to engage more in Bible studies?  Do you want to explore whether you have a gifts as a Preacher, Bible Teacher, Bible study leaders?  Or are you a parent or grandparents who would just like to be able to explain the Bible better to your children and grandchildren?

If the answer is yes to any of those then why not come along next Thursday to Xscape and the Yorkshire Training Open Day, its a chance to get a taste of the course which runs every Thursday in term time.  You can't lose, at worst its a free day of Bible teaching at best it may convince you to sign up next year and get involved so you can learn, build relationships, and serve.

Seeing ourselves in Hezekiah

At Yorkshire Training this afternoon I got my group to blitz prepare two Bible studies on Isaiah 36-37 and 38-39.  It was a really enjoyable experience just to sit, discuss, encourage and help people see how to open up the Bible for themselves and then begin to prepare it for others.  To see how the questions we had about the passages opened up avenues of exploration to explore, and how the Bible again and again confronts us with characters whose hearts have the same foibles and failings as ours.

Just one example, Isaiah 39 ends with these words "'The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,' Hezekiah replied.  For he thought, 'There will be peace and security in my lifetime.'"  Now in context he has just been told that the Babylonians will come and carry Judah into exile, including some of his own descendants.  Rightly we find ourselves bursting with indignation - how can that be good?  How can he be OK with that?  What a self-centred attitude, how can he be so 'I'm alright Jack'?

But then as we mined this together it began to expose our hearts, how often do we have the same attitude.  Not about our children and their well being but about other churches, about the gospel in other parts of the country, or the world.  How often do we care so much about our life, our family, our church, that we mirror Hezekiah, and don't care beyond that?

May God help us as we repent of that sinful attitude and increasingly have his heart and his concerns as ours.

Training leaders not building a clone army

Training is brilliant, it is something we need to make the most of for ourselves and invest time in others in doing.  Given the impending shortage of pastors and church leaders training is absolutely vital for the church in the UK.  For some people training others comes naturally, for others we have to plan it in advance and think it through very carefully.  But there are a number of real dangers in training others, but I want to just focus on one.

Have you ever found yourself saying well "...if it was me I would have phrased it like this..." or "...that's OK but I would do..."  As we train people it is important to remember that we are training people not birthing a clone, now it is inevitable that those we train pick up elements or some of the habits of the people who train them, that is just natural.  But actually the job of training is to enable and facilitate someone becoming a leader, preacher or teacher themselves, not to remake them into a clone of ourselves.

I don't think most of us do this intentionally but I think we drift into it.  So how do we avoid it?  It helps to ask open questions - how else might you have phrased that?  what were you aiming at with that question and did it achieve that aim?  Rather than I would have done it like...  We also need to teach people the mechanics and techniques of preparation and preaching and teaching the bible but not so rigidly that there is no room for them to work out their own way of doing things using those helpful building blocks.

Encouraging people to try new things, to try things their own way is also important, as is giving people the licence to fail - not in a then you can pick up the pieces but we will work through it - and to try new things and succeed.  We also need to give people responsibility, an area of ministry with which they are comfortable but also one in which they are not.

Strong in Grace - how grace in Christ frees us for courageous leadership

On Saturday I had the privilege of sharing some thoughts with CU leaders from Yorkshire from Isaiah 6 on how grace in Christ frees us for courageous leadership, here are my notes:

How you would answer this question; what would it look like to lead CU successfully?

There are a number of perils associated with leadership; pressure, people looking at and up to you, the fear of being the exec that screws up, wanting numerical growth, to run a successful mission, to get on with the SU, to be respected, to lead well, and be approved of by church leaders to name just a few. They aren’t unique to student leadership.

But the real danger is that they can lead you to be one person up front, or in exec meetings or with CU members and another in private. That’s what the bible calls hypocrisy, wearing masks, taking on the role of an actor. And that is a tragedy and a recipe for spiritual stagnation at best and shipwreck at worst. So how do we avoid that?

Here’s another question to think about; which matters most in leadership competency, character or capacity?

The bible stresses character above competence, but that character flows out of capacity, not a capacity for workload, but a capacity to grasp, live and lead out of God’s grace. Because it is our capacity and hunger to understand and know God through the Son by the Spirit that sustains us, keeps us, enables us to love, forgive, risk and not be crushed if and when we fail or are hurt.

In Isaiah 6 we see Isaiah’s commissioning and he’s told that his mission won’t be welcome, that it’ll be risky and be a failure in terms of results. No crowds repenting, no buzz about his ministry, no acclaim, no followers on Twitter and yet God calls him to this risky unpopular ministry. The question is what will sustain Isaiah in that ministry? What enables him to keep going? What stops him being crushed or giving up? Because what sustains Isaiah will sustain us.

Isaiah 6 calls us not to look externally but to look at God who we serve. To see God in all his holiness, sovereignty and grace because that will enable us to keep going, to risk, to lead, to love even when things are hard.

1. Seeing God and Receiving Grace
Isaiah’s vision of God comes in a time of pressure; King Uzziah has just died. He’d ruled well; was a brilliant military leader and social innovator and Judah had flourished under his rule. As he died Judah was uncertain about the future especially as Assyria was growing as a threat. But as the human king dies and the future looks so uncertain Isaiah sees a glorious vision of the real King whose reign never ends.

John 12 tells us that Isaiah’s actually sees God the Son, a pre-incarnate Jesus in his glory. He sees him ruling and reigning on his throne, above all, this is where the real power lies. And just the train of his robe fills the temple, the place which symbolises God’s presence with his people. Just the trailing edge of his glory fills the temple, so great is his majesty glory and splendour.

The glory of God is underlined by the description of the Seraphs who hover above the throne. They are awe inspiring in their own right, their voices shake the temple, but they are just God’s servants. They cover their faces from looking at God’s glory, they cover their feet and call to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”

These amazing creatures praise God because he is holy. We misunderstand that word, we think it is cold, dry, and distant, about restrictions and can’t do’s. But it’s not, the word holy means totally set apart, not in terms of being aloof or not wanting relationship – that can’t be right because God is Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit, he is a loving relating community and creates us so we can share in his love. Holy means God is totally different from his creatures. Jonathan Edwards wrote “Holiness is more than a mere attribute of God, it is the sum of all his attributes, the outshining of all that God is.”

And how does Isaiah’s react to seeing God in his holiness and glory? “Woe to me!” Ch5 is full of woes on society and its failings but now in God’s presence Isaiah is personally unmasked. In God’s presence there is no argument, no comparative righteousness just an awful awareness of sin in contrast to God’s holiness. “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king, the LORD Almighty.”

He highlights his lips because they reveal his heart; we never speak what is not already in our hearts. Do you ever catch yourself saying something and then trying to take it back, saying I didn’t mean that? That is a lie we did mean it, it was in our hearts, what we mean is I didn’t mean for you to hear what is in my heart, what I really think!

But secondly compared to the seraphs knowledge and worship of God his own praise from sinful lips is unfit.

Seeing God, understanding more of who he is always unmask our sin, our fears, our hearts. We pick up our bible and read of God’s character; his love and concern for the poor and find ourselves convicted of our half or hard heartedness. We read of God’s compassion for the lost, a compassion so great that God takes the ultimate risk in Jesus becoming man, living, and dying and it convicts us of our half hearted concern for family and friends or our fear of risk and love of comfort and familiarity. Knowing God convicts us until we stand with Isaiah and cry “Woe is me!”

That’s a right reaction, we should be amazed at who God is and convicted of our sin. Turn to Luke 5:1-11 we see a similar reaction when Peter realises who Jesus is, he drops to his knees and cries “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man.” Isaiah and Peter are both forced to confront their sin in the face of God’s holiness, you and I as we spend time with God and get to know him better will be forced to confront our sin, to see how its roots are more deeply enmeshed in our hearts than we ever dreamed. Sin separates us from God, and we are helpless to do anything about it. Isaiah doesn’t cry out for salvation, he simply realises and confesses his sin.

But (6-7)God acts by grace, a coal is taken from the altar where the peace and sin offerings were made which atoned for sin, and it atones for Isaiah’s sin. Grace is God’s initiative, God’s love freely given to undeserving sinful people. Isaiah experiences grace just as we do, the altar points to Jesus, the sacrifices which that coal has consumed point to Jesus sacrifice once for all. Grace is all a Holy God’s initiative and is extended to undeserving sinners.

Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking God’s holiness is the flip side of the God’s love. In Batman there is a character called Harvey Dent, also known as two face. He has a normal half to his face and a horribly disfigured other half. He has a coin similarly marked and when making decisions he flips it to see which side of his character will act.

Tragically we can think like that about God; love is one side of God’s character, holiness the other. People even say that is reflected in the Bible, the OT shows the holy wrathful side of God, the New the loving, gracious side of God. That’s utterly wrong and blasphemous! God’s holiness is all about his love, it flows out of his love. You see that here, God’s holiness is his difference from us and our failings and sin, but it doesn’t make him harsh and judgemental. Because God’s love is also holy just as his holiness is love. It’s not just his perfection that is other than ours it’s his love, you see we love what we find lovely, he loves because he is love and that means he sets his love on the unlovely, the unholy and makes them holy! His holiness makes him welcoming and loving and that’s seen in his provision of grace to undeserving Isaiah, it is seen supremely in Jesus who is terrifyingly holy but who lovingly welcomes, bringing sinners back to God by grace, making atonement for us at the cross, making the unholy holy and the unlovable beloved children.

Seeing the holiness of God will show us more of the depth of his love for us. We mustn’t shy away from reading or exploring God’s holiness because in knowing God we will be more amazed at his grace. It is seeing God’s grace that fuels loving service; that saves us from being crushed by failure or paralysed by fear because it thrills our hearts with his grace.

2. Grace sustains and liberates us to serve(8-13)
I wonder how you picture(8)? I’ve always pictured Isaiah stood bravely and heroically declaring in a loud voice that he will boldly go on this impossible mission, not unlike Captain Kirk boldly going on the Starship Enterprise.

But I’ve realised that’s wrong. Isaiah humbly offers himself to God if God could possibly use him. It can’t be any other way, can it? He’s just seen God in all his glory, he’s heard God speak, he’s in the presence of the awe inspiring Seraphs. He can’t in that company be thinking ‘Yep, I’m the only man for this job, God is lucky to have me’. He has been humbled and made aware of the sin of his lips, but God has shown him grace so Isaiah humbly offers himself if God can use him.

What is it we need in leaders? An awareness of the greatness of God, a sense of wonder at the grace they have received, and a humble desire for God to use them for his glory.

And what a task Isaiah is given(9-13). He’s to preach to people who won’t listen, his preaching will harden their hearts. As he warns people that they have broken the covenant and calls them to covenant faithfulness they won’t listen. It’s not the way he preaches which makes it hard, in fact some people rejected his words because they were too simple. So why will his preaching harden?

Because preaching the truth confronts people with their sin and they react one of two ways, they either respond like Isaiah or they reject it, that rejection acting as part of their judgement as they turn their back on God’s word. Turn to John 8:45 we see the same thing in Jesus ministry. Jesus, speaking to the Pharisees who reject him because they are Abraham’s children, says “Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe in me!” That is an astonishing statement, turn on to ch12and we see these words from Isaiah used to explain why so many reject Jesus. We must expect the same and that will save us from being crushed when people reject the gospel, it’s not a personal rejection.

God’s truth provokes reaction. However there is a danger in over realising that truth, it can make us callous and hard hearted – serving, leading, sharing the gospel as a duty and not caring for people. Isaiah asks a brilliant question which shows that he has God’s heart (11)“How long, Lord?” The answer is until the exile brings destruction, a destruction so harsh that even when a tenth is left it will be laid waste again. God will judge his people who reject him, his word, his grace, but God still loves and therefore Isaiah still loves.

Leadership burn out is a reality and one of the key factors is lack of response so how on earth does Isaiah keep going in a hard mission field? I think two things sustain him and will sustain us. Because being a Christian at Uni is tough, leading a CU is hard, atheism is on the attack, nominalism is a reality, and so many people have no time for the gospel.

Firstly Isaiah knew God. He knew God in all his glory, splendour and rule and the joy of having his sins forgiven – he remembered and lived out of his identity – who he had been made in Christ. Whatever he faced, whatever rejection it was not outside of God’s control, and it never mortgaged his experience of grace and challenged his identity. He was not defined by his ministry and its success or how people viewed him he was defined by grace as a child of God.

Secondly he preached aware of judgement and hope. (13b)”But...” If (v9-13a)are judgement here comes the hope “as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.” Judgement was not final, that phrase looks back to Abraham and the promises made to his seed, promises God would keep, and to God’s promise in Gen 3:15 about an offspring who would conquer sin. But it also looked forward to the “shoot from the stump of Jesse”(Isaiah 11:1) the Messiah and the kingdom he would bring. God will judge sin but he brings salvation. There will be a day when God will be with his people he has made holy through his Messiah.

Both hope and knowing God will sustain us. As we lead it is knowing God in his holiness and love that will keep us going – we will dry up and shrivel and burn out if we don’t keep refreshing ourselves in who God is and what he has done for us, if we don’t keep mining the depths of grace as we are confronted with the depths of our sin in the face of the holiness of God. And we must remember that God is sovereign even over people’s rejection of the gospel or we will exhaust ourselves trying to do what is God’s work in our own strength.

Training Track

This term we are launching something new called Training Track.  Basically on the first Sunday evening every month from October onwards we will meet together and look at an issue we feel we need training on.  Sometimes that training will be done internally and at other times we may get someone else in to help us.

This term we are looking at:
- Teaching Children the Bible (Both in church and at home)
- Making Disciples
- Making the most of Christmas

All ideas for the Spring term gratefully received.

Giving Feedback

I'm not naturally reflective by nature, so when it comes to giving people feedback on preaching I tend to like structure to help me do so.  The aim in giving feedback is not to constrain the person into giving the talk I would have given from that passage, in the way I would have done it, with my headings, illustrations, and irritating quirks and idosyncrisies.  But it is to help them as a preacher iron out wrinkles in their handling of scripture or in the way they preach (e.g. excessive use of 'OK' etc...).

With that in mind I find it helpful when asked by someone to give them feedback to use something like that below, not as I'm listening but some time afterwards as I view my notes and listen again to the MP3.

Preachers Feedback Form

Preacher: _____________________  Passage:_­­­­_____________________

Content of Bible Talk

1. What was the big idea of the Bible Talk? How well was it communicated?

2. Was the talk easy to follow? Any comments about text referencing, transitions between points, gaps in logic?

3. Any comments on the preacher’s handling of Scripture? (text, context, Biblical theology)

4. Were any illustrations particularly memorable? Were they appropriate?  Too memorable?

5. Was the text applied pastorally and directly to the congregation?

6. To what extent were both Christians and non-Christians addressed by the Bible Talk?

7. How well did the Bible Talk begin and end?

Presentation of Bible Talk (idosyncrisies, use of hands, use of slides, repeated phrases etc...)

Final Thoughts

1. What did I appreciate most about this Bible Talk?

2. What one thing should the preacher strive to improve next time round?

Evangelism training

A Passion for Life has made some audio evangelism training resources available via the website, just click on this link: http://www.apassionforlife.org.uk/resources_audio_evangtalks.php and then you can download evangelistic talks from the likes of John Chapman, John Stott, Rico Tice and Dr Will Lane Craig.

Finding Leaders

There are 4 stages before someone becomes a leader:
a. Identify – They should have a compassion for people and want others to know God’s grace as well as conforming to Biblical criteria where given. From this basic starting point you then train them in discipleship.
b. Mentor – You share the lead with them in ministry, looking at whether they are, gifted, capable and faithful? Whilst doing this you look for ways, both informal and formal to provide feedback and continued discipleship.
c. Apprenticeship – The person now exhibits gospel confidence, love for others, godliness and has a desire to lead alongside you. Further opportunities need to be provided with continued feedback, discipleship and pointing towards training opportunities. Training in potential situations faced.
d. Leadership – The individual now has the respect and confidence of the group, be it a home group, young peoples group or a church, they are gifted, developing and growing in faith and godliness. As they take on leadership, launch a new ministry, plant a church they need continued help, involvement and training by the leader.

Growing Leaders

Leadership is always an issue in churches be it looking for people to lead the youth work, Sunday school teachers, deacons, elders or whatever. We have been very blessed by God as we have started up to have people asking to be involved and determined to serve at SDCC.

However given the need for leaders we have this last year run the FIEC's Learn 2 Lead course on Sunday evenings, which we will complete as a church next year. It has been good training for leaders in Biblical understanding and leadership. We ended thinking about growing more leaders.

What struck me as I prepared was that apprenticeship is not glimpsed in the New Testament it runs throughout it.

What does Jesus do when starting his mission, gather around him a group of followers who watch, listen and learn from his ministry, they then pick up his baton. Paul similarly trains others - Timothy, Mark, Onesimus, Archippus, Philemon and so on... Yet we singularly fail to do this.

Leaders lead until they stop leading at which point we tend to look around for someones to step into their shoes, it is no way to build sustainable ministry, it is also poor shepherding. The question is who am I training?

Leaders as a barrier

Leadership in the church is both an immense privilege and a great responsibility, as the pastoral letters and James makes very clear. So can leaders be a barrier to growth?

I think the answer is yes, and they can do so in a number of ways, but one of teh most fundamental is this. Tim 2:2 calls on leaders to be training up other leaders; "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." In other words Timothy train up new leaders, make yourself dispensible.

I'm not sure that we readily buy into that model of leadership. How many people are you working alongside to train up to replace you in what you are doing? As a youth leader are you training up someone to entrust the gospel and youth ministry to? As a pastor am I training up others to share the responsibility of teaching God's word to others? As home group leaders are we training up other leaders to take some of the group to plant a new group?

There are all sorts of excuses not to do it; I'm too busy to train someone up, there is nobody capable (isn't that the nature of training provided they have the character) and so on...

You can evaluate someones leadership on what they leave behind them. If it is a yawning chasm then they haven't done a very good job, if the transition is seemless then they have been a good leader.

Whilst on the subject it may be worth saying that I'm not sure our transient society helps with church growth. It takes years to build meaningful relationships which are capable of gospel purposes both in the church and outside the church. Yet so often we aren't around years. Would churches grow more if their pastor and other leaders were to serve there twenty years, or a whole ministry rather than 3-7 years? What if its members were to take the same approach - this is where God has called me and I am here until he calls me to another situation?

As leaders am I barrier to long term growth? Am I training up others to lead?