Often the best advertising comes from the most unexpected sources. For about 3 years now we've been going in to do assemblies and lessons at a local school. Staff and students always seem to enjoy the assemblies and we are always pleased to be able to teach them a bit more about the gospel and what it means to follow Jesus.
We've also deliberately invested a lot in the school in terms of building relationships and meeting needs.
Sometimes in schools work you teach the gospel through an assembly only to have a neutered a bit by a well meaning staff member who stands up and says 'That was a really important lessons boys and girls so lets try to make sure we are nice to one another today.' When you've actually taught we aren't nice because of our sin and can't just make ourselves nice we need Jesus.
In 7 years of schools ministry in various schools this morning was a first. At the end of the assembly the member of staff stood up and encouraged the children to come to our church over the summer if they wanted to telling them where we were and when we met. What an answer to prayer.
Showing posts with label relationship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label relationship. Show all posts
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
Thursday, 5 June 2008
Am I a Questionner
Are you good at conversation? I guess many of us feel like we struggle to build new relationships, we know we should go introduce ourselves to others but how do we actually do it?
The first thing is to genuinely care about people, I need to pray and ask God through his Spirit and for the glory of his Son to enable me to love and see people as he sees them not as I see them. I also need to pray that he will remind me that rejection is not failure, refusing to try to build relationships is.
Everyday we are surrounded by people we could build relationships with. The person who is always on the same bus as us, the lady who always serves us in the paper shop, why not ask them how their day was? begin building a bridge. The neighbour who walks the same way we do to pick up his or her kids from school, why not head out the same time and ask how the weekend was? Or how school is going? Just show that you are interested and genuinely listen to their responses.
It is interesting in reading the gospels you notice that Jesus uses a lot of questions with people to engage them in dialogue, in fact at times you wonder if they wished he would just give them a straight answer, after all he already knew it. But Jesus questions, I think, to build relationships.
The first thing is to genuinely care about people, I need to pray and ask God through his Spirit and for the glory of his Son to enable me to love and see people as he sees them not as I see them. I also need to pray that he will remind me that rejection is not failure, refusing to try to build relationships is.
Everyday we are surrounded by people we could build relationships with. The person who is always on the same bus as us, the lady who always serves us in the paper shop, why not ask them how their day was? begin building a bridge. The neighbour who walks the same way we do to pick up his or her kids from school, why not head out the same time and ask how the weekend was? Or how school is going? Just show that you are interested and genuinely listen to their responses.
It is interesting in reading the gospels you notice that Jesus uses a lot of questions with people to engage them in dialogue, in fact at times you wonder if they wished he would just give them a straight answer, after all he already knew it. But Jesus questions, I think, to build relationships.
Monday, 11 June 2007
Why religion is never enough
Do you think of yourself as religious? My hunch is that actually we could all do religion pretty well, it would look different from person to person but we could all do religion. We like rules and laws from a young age and religion can provide us with those things.
What do you expect Jesus to say about religion? Luke 11:37-54 gives us a bit of a jolt! Jesus says religion is not enough. He is speaking to the Pharisees and religious experts of his day, they did religion brilliantly - they had ways of washing and strict rules about giving - but Jesus comments to them are quite devastating. He calls them 'fools' (v40), now that's not particularly polite in any circumstances but especially when sat around someones dinner table. But Jesus doesn't do it because he wants to be cruel he does it because he wants them to repent.
You see a fool in the Old Testament was someone who was blind towards God and therefore couldn't respond to God properly. That was the religious leaders problem, and Jesus does the most loving thing someone can, he risks opposition and offence by warning them of their mistake and the danger it placed them in.
You don't need religion he says you need a change of heart. Your religion isn't enough to make you right with God. He then goes on to show that he has come to do that, the prophets all point to him and if they want to honour them they need to recognise who he is and what he has come to do. To win a people for God who can come into a holy God's presence not because of religion but because they trust in Jesus who will make them right with God.
The tragedy is 2000 years later, I can still find myself slipping back into religion mode rather than trsuting in God's means of being right with him his Son dying in my place.
What do you expect Jesus to say about religion? Luke 11:37-54 gives us a bit of a jolt! Jesus says religion is not enough. He is speaking to the Pharisees and religious experts of his day, they did religion brilliantly - they had ways of washing and strict rules about giving - but Jesus comments to them are quite devastating. He calls them 'fools' (v40), now that's not particularly polite in any circumstances but especially when sat around someones dinner table. But Jesus doesn't do it because he wants to be cruel he does it because he wants them to repent.
You see a fool in the Old Testament was someone who was blind towards God and therefore couldn't respond to God properly. That was the religious leaders problem, and Jesus does the most loving thing someone can, he risks opposition and offence by warning them of their mistake and the danger it placed them in.
You don't need religion he says you need a change of heart. Your religion isn't enough to make you right with God. He then goes on to show that he has come to do that, the prophets all point to him and if they want to honour them they need to recognise who he is and what he has come to do. To win a people for God who can come into a holy God's presence not because of religion but because they trust in Jesus who will make them right with God.
The tragedy is 2000 years later, I can still find myself slipping back into religion mode rather than trsuting in God's means of being right with him his Son dying in my place.
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
In but not of
I've been thinking about John 17 for the weekend and a seminar I'm doing on godliness as opposed to half heartedness. What is really striking is that Jesus prays that his Father would protect his disciples who the world hates, because he has given them God's word, and then sends them out into the very world which he says hates them(v18).
It's not how we do protection is it. We do protection by bubble wrap, bouncer or padlock. If you fear for your children and their contact with drugs and alcohol you keep them safe at home and try to limit their exposure to those pressures and dangers. We spend most of our lives protecting ourselves and those we love from dangers, from the effects of hate. But Jesus says he is sending the disciples off into the world which hates them BUT they go with the Father's protection(11).
There is no safer place to be than protected by God no matter the situation they face, its a lesson I need to remember and keep being reminded of.
But it is also striking that he prays that they would be "in" the world but "not of" it. That they would not absorb the worlds values but live in the world sanctified by God's word of truth (17). It is a prayer echoed in the next section as he prays for all believers.
So what does it mean to be "in" the world but "not of" it? It is a difficult balance to strike and sometimes we go too far one way or the other, either being of the world or not being in the world.
So what does it look like to be "in" the world but "not of" it sanctified by the truth? Where will it see us living our lives? It is certainly a call to be relationally involved in the world around us. It is a call to be engaging with the culture around us not sat in meetings or too busy for people.
Do you ever find yourself having to say no to someone because its this or that church meeting on that particular night? Is that being "in" the world? There is a balance to be struck and it is a hard one to maintain, but maybe being "in" but "not of" means spending as much time in the pub as the prayer meeting?
It's not how we do protection is it. We do protection by bubble wrap, bouncer or padlock. If you fear for your children and their contact with drugs and alcohol you keep them safe at home and try to limit their exposure to those pressures and dangers. We spend most of our lives protecting ourselves and those we love from dangers, from the effects of hate. But Jesus says he is sending the disciples off into the world which hates them BUT they go with the Father's protection(11).
There is no safer place to be than protected by God no matter the situation they face, its a lesson I need to remember and keep being reminded of.
But it is also striking that he prays that they would be "in" the world but "not of" it. That they would not absorb the worlds values but live in the world sanctified by God's word of truth (17). It is a prayer echoed in the next section as he prays for all believers.
So what does it mean to be "in" the world but "not of" it? It is a difficult balance to strike and sometimes we go too far one way or the other, either being of the world or not being in the world.
So what does it look like to be "in" the world but "not of" it sanctified by the truth? Where will it see us living our lives? It is certainly a call to be relationally involved in the world around us. It is a call to be engaging with the culture around us not sat in meetings or too busy for people.
Do you ever find yourself having to say no to someone because its this or that church meeting on that particular night? Is that being "in" the world? There is a balance to be struck and it is a hard one to maintain, but maybe being "in" but "not of" means spending as much time in the pub as the prayer meeting?
Monday, 12 March 2007
The scourge of the modern world - loneliness
I wonder what you think the world's biggest problem is? Drug addiction, Aids, poverty, global warming, climate change, poor parenting. The list could go on.
I wonder what the problem is in your street or your neighbourhood, or how about with your neighbours? The world's biggest problem is loneliness, especially in Britain. We live in the world of the 6 foot fencing or hedge. An Englishman's home is his castle complete with drawbridge and we only leave it to go to work or the gym.
This is OK, though undoubtedly unhealthy, for those with family but what about those living alone? What about those whose families live miles away - the phone or email is hardly a substitute for real human contact.
How should the gospel fit us to meet that need? As those who are loved by God, so much so that he left heaven to become man to bring us into relationship with him, how should that show itself.
Loneliness is not just a fact of life for the elderly. Here's the first time mum who has a young baby, she has recently given up work and her social circle are all still at the work place. Her husband is out all day and she just has the baby and increasingly feels she has nothing and no-one to talk to.
The gospel challenges us to take the love we have been shown and show it to others, go one invite a neighbour round for coffee, start a conversation whilst mowing the lawn or trimming that hedge, buy a spare ticket to where ever you go next and invite someone else along with you. You never know where it may lead!
I wonder what the problem is in your street or your neighbourhood, or how about with your neighbours? The world's biggest problem is loneliness, especially in Britain. We live in the world of the 6 foot fencing or hedge. An Englishman's home is his castle complete with drawbridge and we only leave it to go to work or the gym.
This is OK, though undoubtedly unhealthy, for those with family but what about those living alone? What about those whose families live miles away - the phone or email is hardly a substitute for real human contact.
How should the gospel fit us to meet that need? As those who are loved by God, so much so that he left heaven to become man to bring us into relationship with him, how should that show itself.
Loneliness is not just a fact of life for the elderly. Here's the first time mum who has a young baby, she has recently given up work and her social circle are all still at the work place. Her husband is out all day and she just has the baby and increasingly feels she has nothing and no-one to talk to.
The gospel challenges us to take the love we have been shown and show it to others, go one invite a neighbour round for coffee, start a conversation whilst mowing the lawn or trimming that hedge, buy a spare ticket to where ever you go next and invite someone else along with you. You never know where it may lead!
Tuesday, 20 February 2007
Relationships for the rebellious
Mother Theresa said that loneliness was the world's greatest disease, coming from a lady who spent her time caring for the underprivileged, sick and deprived in our world that is some statement. There greatest need was not money or the removal of poverty oe better medical care but relationship.
We were made for relationship, for friendship, for companionship to love and to be loved, we instinctively feel those needs. However, we also take them and twist them so that being loved can become the be all and end all. So the pressure is on all of us to find the group we fit in to be it the goths, the sporty jocks, or the emo set, or whatever. Find somewhere you belong, where people will accept you, where they will love you at all costs.
Or it is seen in the obsession with beauty as the staggering figures today on those who'd have cosmetic surgery to improve their looks or body image shows. The way to be loved is to be beautiful.
The Bible provides the antidote to just such misconceptions about relationship. We were made for relationship with one another, that's why in Genesis the only thing wrong in the garden is Adam's loneliness and so God makes Eve to be with him. But the other relationship in the garden we see go the other way - we see our relationship with God broken by actions that show God exactly what we think of him.
The story of the Bible is the story of God's plan to enable that relationship to be restored but not to impose it upon us. He sends his Son to tell us of the problem and then take our punishment so we are credited with his perfect record and justice is still done.
The result is a restored relationship with God, that brings with it restored relationships with those around us. It changes our view of beauty, it repairs our shortsighted view of love and relationship.
We were made for relationship, for friendship, for companionship to love and to be loved, we instinctively feel those needs. However, we also take them and twist them so that being loved can become the be all and end all. So the pressure is on all of us to find the group we fit in to be it the goths, the sporty jocks, or the emo set, or whatever. Find somewhere you belong, where people will accept you, where they will love you at all costs.
Or it is seen in the obsession with beauty as the staggering figures today on those who'd have cosmetic surgery to improve their looks or body image shows. The way to be loved is to be beautiful.
The Bible provides the antidote to just such misconceptions about relationship. We were made for relationship with one another, that's why in Genesis the only thing wrong in the garden is Adam's loneliness and so God makes Eve to be with him. But the other relationship in the garden we see go the other way - we see our relationship with God broken by actions that show God exactly what we think of him.
The story of the Bible is the story of God's plan to enable that relationship to be restored but not to impose it upon us. He sends his Son to tell us of the problem and then take our punishment so we are credited with his perfect record and justice is still done.
The result is a restored relationship with God, that brings with it restored relationships with those around us. It changes our view of beauty, it repairs our shortsighted view of love and relationship.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)