Rupert’s Blog

This weekend, I was invited to Ivy Cottage Church in South Manchester to preach on Sunday morning. It was great to be with some old friends (Lynn Swart is now based there and I have know Frank and Debra Green for probably nearly 10 years now), and to be in a thriving and growing church.

They were starting a new series on “renewal” and I had been asked to introduce the series. I have become increasingly bothered by our often very self centred focus on faith: God meets my needs, makes me feel good, heals me etc. Faith in God seems to revolve around “me” rather than the other way round. Funnily enough, the last time I spoke in Ivy a couple of years ago, I spoke on that very thought, and the process in which we learn that God is the centre and not us.

Anyway, back to renewal: often renewal has been very individual, personal, and self-focussed. I think the work of the spirit is essential and much needed in restoring us to the people that God made us to be, but it can never be an end in itself.

So I spoke from Ezek 47, where the river flows from the temple. Often we have focussed on how deep the river was, rather than where the river flows … to the Dead Sea to bring life. The Dead Sea is about 30-35% salt (whereas the Mediterranean is only about 3.5%) and nothing lives there, no fish, no plants, nothing…

But the river flows to the dead places to bring life. Renewal of individuals and the church must flow out to the dead places of our communities to bring life and restoration. Interestingly, in the passage (vs 11) there are marshes and swamps where the salty water doesn’t turn fresh. Where the water doesn’t flow, but stagnates, then the river dries up and doesn’t bring the life it was intended to.

People sometime ask why the Spirit (in their opinion) isn’t moving as much as He used to. I think God is changing church around, so that the river flows to the deadest places of our society, so that when the river rises it doesn’t stagnate, but flows to bring about transformation of culture, communities and people that currently are dead.

I talked once more about the thought that God is going to renew the heavens and earth (not destroy and mentioned the paper by Michael Goheen) … you can read a longer post and comments here.

If you were there at Ivy, have you any comments on what I said? And if not, what is your experience of renewal? Did it flow from you to others to bring life?

Tags: Ivy Cottage, Manchester, Michael Goheen, Ezekiel, River, Life, Missional Church

For the last few years, we have been embarking on a voyage of discovery of the kind of church God is calling us to be in the next phase of our life.

There has been much discussion and prayer in the community to discern the heart and mind of God. On Saturday we held a day together for the church, to talk further about how we believe God to be leading us, to talk together, and pray and break bread at the end of the day.

As a leadership team, we were sharing about the direction we sense God is leading us. This isn’t a narrow “vision” … but a broad direction that allows individuals to bring their passions and contributions to further our movement. As we have speaking on over the last few sundays (as well as over the last few years) we are wanting to become an missional community, while also not neglecting the “equipping of the saints”.

It seems to me that God is changing the face of Church in the UK (and perhaps wider?). There is a move of the Spirit to bring reformation. What we have been isn’t wrong, but it is changing. And that is what we, along with others, are grappling with: “What does church look like in the 21st century?”.

From my perspective it seemed a good day together. It is always pretty difficult to judge, but there seemed a great sense of community; a coming together in worship and prayer; an excitement about the possibilities for the future (even if we are not sure what it is going to look like). I felt that we communicated well (I was sharing an adapted version of Guidance in Community - Part 4), there was some good discussion and feedback in a plenary session. All is all, it felt as though it was a significant day in our story.

I suspect we need to keep talking about what it could look like, what is is we are trying to do and why. This is only the beginning …

If you were there, I would love to hear your experiences and impressions? What did you come away with? What did you sense God saying to you?

And if you are in a different church, I would love to hear what journey you are on, in becoming the kind of church God is calling you to?

Tags: Emerging Church, Missional Church, Edinburgh, Community Church Edinburgh, Vision, Church, Community, 21st Century Church

See previous posts:
Guidance in Community - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Models of Guidance.

As I have been reflecting on guidance, both individual and in community (which I would argue is not nearly as different as we often make it to be), there are three pictures in the first few chapters of the Bible that can help us think about different ways in which God leads or guides people.

Noah (Gen 6):
God directed Noah specifically, with very precise instructions on how to build the ark. It was to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high, with 3 decks, a door in the side … and the ark was to be make of cypress wood, with pitch on the sides and top. No detail left out. Clear, concrete direction. The world was very corrupt, a flood was coming, crisis looming, and so God was very specific with Noah in how he could escape the coming devastation.

Abraham (Gen 12):
Abraham was to set out on a journey, that would take him from Haran to Canaan (his father has already travelled from Ur). He was to leave his country, his people and his father to go on this journey. Abraham got to Canaan, and they carried on travelling, knowing the God was promising the land. But a famine came, so they moved to Egypt.

In this story, we see a direction that God was calling Abraham to travel in, a promise that the land would be theirs, but no real specifics about how that would happen, when, or where exactly Abraham would go. When circumstances change (no food, always a good motivating factor!), Abraham responds and travels to Egypt where there was presumably food, but was actually away from the land that God was giving him.

Adam and Eve (Gen 2):
In the story in Genesis 1 & 2, we don’t read of some specific instructions of how to do something, or a clear direction for them to travel, but more general tasks that they were to do: care and tend the land; be fruitful and multiply. There were boundaries, the 4 rivers marked a very large area of the “garden”, but within that area they were free to roam where they like. All they had to do was to fulfill the mandate God had given them, stay within the boundaries … oh and not eat the fruit of a certain tree.

So here is the crunch:

I think in church, we often have a model of guidance that is based on the picture of Noah. We wait for a specific “word” from God, what it is God is wanting to build, expecting a very clear answer of what it will look like. If you are given the type of wood, the dimensions, the layout etc, we have a very clear idea of what it is we are building. God is an architect, and we do His bidding. When people talk about vision, I often think that this is what they are talking about. They want to know what it looks like. They want to see the artist mock up, or the computerised graphic, so they can see what it looks like when we are all done. Clearly God can and does guide like this, but is it really the norm? Or is more when in crisis or immaturity?

Some of us are moving towards a journey model of guidance, and I was suggesting this in post 3, reinforced by some brilliant comments in that post. There is a direction in which we are travelling; God is calling us towards something, a promise, a hope. But we don’t really now what that will look like, and there are often things on the way that cause us to change direction for a while, or respond differently. God is an explorer and we are travelling with Him.

But is the picture in Genesis 1 & 2 an aspiration for redeemed humanity? Before sin entered the world (and aren’t we being restored to the garden, and a bit more as well?), Adam and Eve walked with God. They knew what their task was, but they had real freedom to choose where, when and how they would accomplish that. There were boundaries, things that God has laid down, outside which they weren’t to go, and a tree they weren’t allowed to eat from. But within the garden, they could go and do pretty much what they liked. God would be with them. God is a Father, bringing us to maturity and setting us free.

Rather seeing the Noah type of guidance as the goal, perhaps we should aspire for the Garden of Eden model? Or is this unrealistic in this life? Is this just an excuse for doing what we want and asking God’s blessing on us? Or are there different types of guidance needed in different situations, or perhaps at different stages of maturity in Christ? As less mature Christians does God give more specific guidance, and more mature we are free to choose? Or is that just a cop out for being less dependent on God as we get older?

What do you think?

Individual Guidance and Corporate Guidance

Last week, I have posted Part 1 & 2 on some lessons I have been learning about how we discern God’s leading in community. So today is part 3:

I sense God is leading; I move forward with a sense of trepidation, hope and faith. Have I got it right? Small mid course adjustment here, closed door there. God seems to guide me as I am moving. I would rather that He gives the whole map before I set out on a journey, but that just isn’t my experience of how He guides. The destination is unclear, but there does seem to be some direction that He is taking me, even if it does sometimes resemble a rather inebriated person walking home from the pub: there is a general direction of travel, it just isn’t always in a straight line!

And isn’t that most people’s experience of God’s guidance? There are some people who seem to have a “clear word from the Lord”. That’s great. But I also sometimes wonder if we don’t seem a lot more certain at the end of a particular faith journey, than while we are in the midst of it.

That would certainly be true of how I came to marry my wife, Pippa. Now I look back and it just seems so obvious that God was bringing us together. There was a clear sense of Him making it happen, speaking to us, signs and clues. But at the time I do remember it was a lot more uncertain! It was with some fear and trepidation that I asked her to marry me. Would she say yes? It is the right thing? The right time? I wanted to be together, but was this the Lord’s plan? It was faith operating in the midst of uncertainty and a little anxiety!

Abraham is also a good example here. In the New Testament, he is lauded as a man of faith, who obeyed God’s word. When we actually read the story, he tried to make it happen in his own strength, work it out his own way, he lied and hardly portrays a man of certainty and faith.

But isn’t that the point? When we are in the midst of our journey, faith is walking forward in the midst of our doubts, our uncertainties, our fears? We stumble and fall. We wander off. We try different paths. We try to work it out ourselves. But somehow in the midst of it, we are walking with God, and He gently keeps us going in the right direction. When we get to the destination of that part of our journey we can say that God was leading us & speaking to us. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see God’s hand at work more clearly. But lets not confuse that with certainty at the time.

And lets not confuse uncertainty with unbelief. Using this image of journey and walking forward, faith is walking forward however certain or uncertain we are. God is drawing us forward, and we trust Him, even though we don’t know what the journey will bring to us. Unbelief is when we refuse to move forward. We go back or stand still. That’s unbelief and that’s wrong.

That’s my experience of God’s guidance. And I think it is most people’s experience of God’s guidance. So here’s my point:

Why should it be any different when it comes to God guiding a community? Is it that church should be one place of certainty, in the midst of a world of uncertainty? Do we want people to be sure, before we risk? Or can we risk together, to move forward sensing God is compelling us not to stand still? To be confident in Him, that He will lead us on the journey even though we aren’t certain where we end up together?

So what are your experiences of God guiding you? And what are your expectations of how that works in community? If they are different, why is that?

The Mind of Christ

Yesterday I posted Part 1 … how I think we often have a Old Testament model for guidance and leadership. Now for Part 2:

In 1 Cor 2:16, Paul says that “

I love the way that is translated in the Living Bible:

But, strange as it seems, we Christians actually do have within us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ.

And this translation forces us to recognise something: it is plural. We Christians. I don’t have some of the thoughts of Christ, but together we do! So when is comes to guidance in a Christian community, the leaders don’t have the mind of Christ, nor the prophets, nor the intercessors, nor the sceptics, nor the finance team or any other group! But together we do, and we need to listen to everyone to discern the leading of the Spirit.

What then is the leaders role? Here are some thoughts:

1. Leaders creates a safe context for people to express what they are seeing and hearing, in conversation and prayer.

2. Leaders help people to recognise they don’t see it all, but they see part that makes up the whole.

3. Leaders help create healthy dialogue between people that see things differently so we can learn from each other, and see more of the whole.
4. Leaders draw together the different strands that emerge from the conversation, prayer and prophetic.

5. Leaders communicate to the community what is emerging from the talking and prayer.

This is not a model of leadership that we find often in churches, but one that I think is more consistent with the New Testament. It takes guts & courage, a whole different set of skills, and a HUGE faith in God, that He is leading us all together, not just a few individuals or one person (the Pastor!).

It engages people, and begins to create ownership and maturity. It breeds humility and generosity in a community, and we begin to see the church working as a body, with everyone having their contribution. It allows for thinking and understanding to develop and grow. So as we move forward, I believe, we have more of the thoughts of Christ towards us.

What do you think? Have you experienced this kind of guidance working at all?

Last Sunday, after 2 years of consultation, dialogue, prayer and dreaming, we announced that we were moving forward to the next stage (fundraising) for a building renovation on our church building. Some folk in the church thought we should have done it ages ago - others still remain unconvinced.

We have a building in a great location, in town, good roads and buses, near students, parking OK (at weekends and evenings anyway!), on a main street. We are noticeable and central. But if we owned the plot of land with no building, the current building isn’t what we would build now. It is an old church building, about 160 years old, that was built primarily at a preaching centre (although there was a school built at the back too): big auditorium, gallery, and all rather centred around a large central gathering of the church.

Now we are looking for other rooms, a space that reflect the kind of church we are becoming. A building that helps us engage with the wider community. A building that enables some of the missional projects that we are planning.

This process has got me thinking about how we discern the will of God as a community? There is more to say in some subsequent posts, but here is one thought to start off:

Often in church (it seems to me) that we model guidance from an Old Testament model of God’s leading Israel. There God called specific individuals (eg. Moses) who lead the nation. They were the ones who went to God, got the vision and direction for the nation, told the people what God was saying, and off they all went (all be it, with some grumbling!).

In many churches, it seems this model of guidance predominates. We want the leaders to be connected to God, get the vision and direction and tell the church what to do. Now while there is a little truth in this, there are a couple (at least) significant differences between this Old Testament model of guidance (and leadership) and how it should operate in church.

1. After Exod 19, God doesn’t speak to the nation of Israel any more. He calls specific individuals (leaders and prophets) and speaks to them on behalf of the nation. They become the mouthpiece for God, and the people had no direct access to God themselves. This has obviously changed in the New Testament, where all can hear the voice of God.

2. The nature of leadership in church is significantly different to the leadership of a nation. One of main passages that speak of leadership in the NT is Eph 4, where the role of leaders is not to do the stuff, but to train / equip others to do the stuff. No longer is ministry the domain of a few individuals, but for all (or at least should be). So a leaders role is to help discern the gifts in individuals and help them into functioning in those gifts. I think this concept has been talked about, but very rarely put into practice.

So now, we have a church community where every individual can hear God for themselves, and have a contribution. That I think changed the way we discern the will of God in the church, from the way the nation of Israel found guidance in the OT.

I think this OT model of guidance in community is much easier … easier for leaders who don’t have to engage the community together in discerning the will of God, and easier for the “congregation” as they can leave it up to the leaders. Trouble I don’t think the results are that good (it doesn’t engage and empower people for starters), and I don’t think it is a NT practice.

What do you think?

Next Posts: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Next Sunday, I am speaking at church on Loneliness, and in light of a previous post, Preaching as Community?, I am hoping for some help! Here are a few thoughts, I hope will generate a bit of discussion or some comments (so go on, stop lurking and add your thoughts!):

Loneliness is one of the greatest human problems, especially so in our modern society with the fragmenting of community & family and the migration of people from the country to the city. It is not to be confused with being alone, but is more a feeling of being cut off or separate from others. The old cliché that you can feel most alone in a crowd definitely has some truth in it.

I think it is something that most people grapple with at some point in our lives, and for some it is something they live with pretty much constantly. There are probably lots of reasons why people feel lonely, but I want to suggest here that there is something inevitable about feeling lonely.

There is a longing deep inside us to be fully known and to know others fully; for other human beings to look at us, as we really are, and to accept us, to love us, to move towards us. We are longing for a deep connection with others, and anything less, leaves us feeling very alone in this world.

But as we learn from the Genesis story of Adam and Eve, our selfishness has led us to live in ways that are self-protecting; we metaphorically put fig leaves over our sin and our shame, which leads to separation from others. While we move towards God and find his love and grace for our brokenness and shame, and therefore move towards others in vulnerability and honesty, we will never be free of our selfishness. At least not this side of death, and a full realisation of the Kingdom.

So loneliness becomes our constant companion, reminding us that we are meant for so much more. It tells us that we are works in progress, being restored and healed. We experience longing for real and authentic relating to others, that we occasionally get glimpses of and which only awakens a hope for more.

What do you think? Is loneliness inevitable? Is it our friend? Or is it something that Jesus does come to set us free from? Is it our enemy? Does it really show up our lack of authentic community? What have you experienced or learnt about loneliness?

To finish, a quote from Mother Teresa:

When Christ said: “I was hungry and you fed me,” he didn’t mean only the hunger for bread and for food; he also meant the hunger to be loved. Jesus himself experienced this loneliness. He came amongst his own and his own received him not, and it hurt him then and it has kept on hurting him. The same hunger, the same loneliness, the same having no one to be accepted by and to be loved and wanted by. Every human being in that case resembles Christ in his loneliness; and that is the hardest part, that’s real hunger.

Tags: Mother Theresa, Preaching, Loneliness

There has been a fascinating conversation that has been happening in the comments section on a previous post, Dancing in the Aisles. After a number of comments going back and forth about how the church should critique society for its attitude to sex, Paul Ede left the following comment:

“This really could make a fascinating sermon. Is this a post-modern way to write a sermon? Have an actual talk shaped by discussion on-line. Certainly there is a host of good things that Rupert could use here for a very engaging talk on the subject. Seriously, this is good stuff. Maybe monologue preaching can be “saved” by being created in dialogue like this…an alternative to introducing a dialogue format in a church where this might be less practicable because of the size of the congregation. Also, encodes idea of us all having the voice of the Lord. Preaching becomes a sort of oracle of what the community thinks the Lord is saying, mediated through the appointed leadership - bottom up rather than top-down sermons. Finally, its a lot less work for the preacher.”

Well said Paul. Not sure I agree about it being a lot less work (just look at the debate in the comments!), but I agree with the rest. It was one of my hopes from blogging … to engage in conversation, dialogue, to get other perspectives. And in the process, learn together.

I have a bit of a love / hate relationship with preaching. I love teaching. I love it when others get that “aha” moment, see something new, or find that the truth really does set them free. But so often I am frustrated about the context in which that happens. The real goal of preaching isn’t that we go away knowing more, but go away changed, Christ is a bit more formed inside us, we are shaped a little bit more like God. Knowledge isn’t bad, it is just the start of the learning process which brings about change.

Some people clearly have a gift for preaching or teaching. It is not only that they have good things to say, but they also have an ability to say them in a way that really communicates. So there is definitely a place for that in a church. But so often the work starts and finishes with them. I read, get ideas, study, try to get a sense of what it is God is wanting to do or say, and then take my finished piece to deliver on a Sunday morning. And that, generally, is where it stops. Often there isn’t much ongoing dialogue or feedback. I’ve done my bit, and now its for others to individually respond to God (or perhaps we might have a discussion in a small group in the middle of the week!).

Well I just don’t think that is good enough. Its not good for me and its not good for others. Its what Doug Pagitt calls it “speeching”, and it is pale reflection of Biblical Preaching. Learning is best done together. It isn’t an event, it is process. Its ongoing. And it happens in life. It happens in relationship with people.

So I guess my question is: how can we really help people learn and be changed?

Tags: Preaching, Doug Pagitt

I came across a couple of very good posts the other day on community, on bob.blog.

Good stuff.

Community lessons from the megachurch…

The other side of the community thing…

Key quote:

You either throw your life in with others in community, or you don’t. Anonymity or engagement… No one can do these things for you. All the rest of us can do is create an environment conducive to building community. It’s up to you to actually make community happen in your own life. It’s up to you to engage.