tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55909405466902766212024-03-05T07:07:04.476-08:00Third Stream ChurchHistorical and Contemporary Perspectives on non-Denominational Church MovementsAl Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.comBlogger97125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-40032065821982466342021-08-30T05:04:00.003-07:002021-08-30T09:55:24.267-07:00David’s Tent: Personal Impressions<p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">At short notice, I booked a day pass to visit <a href="https://www.davidstent.net/" target="_blank">David’s Tent</a> on Friday - my first time at the event. David’s Tent is (wait for it) a non-stop 72-hour Christian worship event, taking place on the <a href="https://www.wistonestate.com/" target="_blank">Wiston Estate</a> in Sussex over the August Bank Holiday weekend. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The majority of delegates camp on site. I attended as a day visitor. When not inside the worship tent, those attending can relax in the beautiful location at the foot of the South Downs, visit the resource tent, chat with friends, attend one of a light programme of workshops and talks, sit around the fire pit or sample the varied street food options from the onsite vendors. There is also a children’s programme and a youth programme running all weekend. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">So, as a newbie, what were my first impressions of David’s Tent?</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Church is a Wonderful Thing</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Being among thousands of Christians from across the UK was a powerful reminder of the glorious multi-coloured nature of the church of God. There is really nothing on earth like the church in all its diversity. Worshipping together with brothers and sisters of different races and cultures, I was reminded that, in many of our communities, the local church is the most racially integrated society in town. We are perhaps not always aware of this aspect of who we are - and it should be a cause for celebration. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Emerging from Lockdown is a Process</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The last time I had been in a large crowd was at the Memorial Stadium in January 2020 (Bristol Rovers drew 2 -2 against Coventry City in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, since you ask). I had not attended an in-person church meeting of more than six people since March of the same year, and as we all know, a lot has happened since then.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I needed to initially spend some time simply looking around and getting used to the novelty of the event. I’m not a great Christian conference attender, so there was a lot of adjustment I needed to do just to get used to the crowds, the sound and the sight of over a thousand people actively engaging in sung praise and worship. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Biblical Prophecy is Very Powerful </span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">2800 years ago, while predicting the coming of the Messiah, the Hebrew prophet Isaiah <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+61%3A11&version=NIV" target="_blank">announced</a> that as Christ’s rule extended in the earth,</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">“the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and praise spring up before all nations.” </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I am not sure whether Isaiah had any knowledge of the British Isles. If he did, it would have been of windswept desolate islands far to the north where the inhabitants worshipped the sun (rarely seen!) and where human sacrifice was a feature of their pagan</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> religion. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Fast forward a few millennia and, here in England’s green and pleasant land, thousands of inhabitants of these isles had gathered for a non-stop 72-hour festival of worship to the God of Israel whom Isaiah served. There are many ways of understanding this phenomenon. One way is to see it as a fulfilment of ancient biblical prophecy concerning the Kingdom of Christ. Understood in this way, David’s Tent is a tangible illustration of the tremendous formative power of the prophetic word of God. Isaiah’s words not merely predicted Christian worship throughout the Gentile nations; the spoken word of God was itself the ultimate creative force that caused these realities to come into being. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Spirit of Devotion</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The idea of thousands of people paying money to attend a four-day event whose focus is non-stop praise and worship to God is both ludicrous when viewed from a secular perspective, and also glorious when seen through the eyes of Christian faith. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The spirit of devotion that must underpin such an enterprise was wonderful to sense. I was reminded of the extreme love of the woman in the gospels who poured out very expensive perfume onto the feet and head of Jesus as an act of pure devotion. Her worship was criticised by some at the time as being wasteful, the money spent on the perfume being capable of helping poor people with practical material needs. Yet Jesus <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A6-13&version=NIV" target="_blank">affirmed her act of worship</a> as “a beautiful thing”.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I was struck by this same spirit of devotion to Christ represented at David's Tent. This was manifest not only in the big tent itself but in the volunteer team members who so warmly greeted my wife and I when we arrived and made us feel welcome as first-time attendees. My sense was that a free ticket to the event was not the ultimate motivation of these beautiful young people who choose to stand for hours in a field miles from the main activities doing nothing other than welcoming car drivers and showing them where to park. It felt as if they saw their practical service as a form of worship to God, every bit as valid as the sung worship taking place within the huge tent.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I found this very heartening.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Well-run Event</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The event itself seemed well-thought-through. Various groups of musicians and singers took turns to lead the worship in the big tent, which I estimated could probably hold up to 3,000 people. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There was some limited seating at the back of the tent but the rest of the space was open. People stood, sat, kneeled or lay prostrate as they engaged with the worship. People entered and left the tent continuously during the worship sessions over the four days. I was surprised to learn that the worship went on all night with a quieter acoustic set. The worship musicians faced inwards on the square stage, effectively facing away from the congregation, emphasising that this was not a performance event but a shared act of worship. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">There was plenty of physical space at the event. A good supply of street food vendors meant little obvious queuing. The portable toilets were pristine - not a sentence I have had the occasion to write before. Mind you, it was day one. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Need for Training in Biblical Theology for Contemporary Christian Worship Leaders and Songwriters </span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I found the content of the worship songs to be of varying quality. <a href="https://kingdomchoir.com/" target="_blank">Kingdom Choir</a> were magnificent. Apart from that, I was disappointed at times with lyrics that spoke very little about the attributes of God himself. With so much rich truth revealed in the Bible about the person and nature of God, it seems such a shame to omit this rich vocabulary in favour of more prosaic lyrics that speak of ourselves and our individual felt needs and responses.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">More seriously, many of the songs evidenced a low level of engagement with the meat of biblical truth. Lyrics were often abstracted from their biblical and theological contexts in ways that I found superficial and unhelpful. Specifically, songs describing “love”, “power”, “faithfulness” and “grace” frequently included little explicit reference to the person and work of Christ, the Incarnation or the nature of the new covenant. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">In my five hours on site, I heard only one song that referenced the Trinity (at least all three-in-one got a mention) and one song that centred on the death of Christ. This particular song steered clear of the biblical teaching of the death of Christ as a substitute for sin, and its lyrics seemed to rest upon a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_influence_theory_of_atonement" target="_blank">moral influence theory of the atonement.</a> More Abelard than Anselm, for those who are into this sort of thing. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I heard the Bible read only once during the sessions I attended - a reading that consisted of one verse from Psalm 21. At various points, I felt that we were drawing near to God into a shared experience of his manifest presence, as if heaven were touching earth. I suspect that had someone read <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%205&version=NIV" target="_blank">Revelation 5</a> at such a point, the congregation may indeed have been helped to “draw near” without any further exhortation. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All of this matters of course, not least because of the <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+3%3A16&version=NIV" target="_blank">didactic function of song in the church</a>. If we are taught what to believe and how to apply it partly through what we sing, and if worship songs can and do have a formative role in our beliefs, values and actions, then it is imperative that such songs are deeply embedded in biblical teaching, language and themes.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Being encouraged to believe that “I will never be lonely” and that “my cloudy days are past” (as two of the song lyrics claimed) seems to me not to serve young believers very well. Such a belief does little to prepare them for lives that will be characterised by various degrees of <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%2014%3A22&version=NIV" target="_blank">suffering</a> as an integral part of their Christian discipleship. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><a href="https://www.loufellingham.com/" target="_blank">Lou Fellingham</a> and <a href="https://www.stuarttownend.co.uk/" target="_blank">Stuart Townend</a> are two examples of outstanding contemporary British songwriters whose worship songs are sung around the world. I appreciate that they may not be available for every Christian event but I was struck by the need for their gifts to be multiplied and passed on. At the very least, I would hope that the current emerging generation of worship leaders and songwriters might spend the next year studying and internalising <a href="https://banneroftruth.org/uk/store/sermons-and-expositions/ephesians-3/" target="_blank">Martyn Lloyd Jones' Eight Commentaries on the Book of Ephesians</a> as a first step in their commitment to creating songs that are more biblical in their language and theology and thus more helpful and more edifying for the church. </span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Where are the Fathers?</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Those I saw at the event were mostly young - I would estimate in their twenties - though this of course may simply be another version from an oldie of, “Don’t the police look young these days.” I would estimate that females outnumbered males inside the tent by about 60 % to 40 %.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">On the Friday night, of the seven worship leaders taking part, five were women. The Friday night session was hosted by an American woman and I heard an interview with a woman (while the equipment was being rearranged on stage in between sets). David’s Tent is certainly not a place where women’s voices are marginalised.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">All of which left me with an unanswered question: <i>where are the fathers?</i> I may of course have simply missed them (while out getting a Thai green curry, for instance), but the low numbers of visible senior male role models, combined with the lower numbers of men present overall at the event, left me somewhat concerned. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Christian feminist response, of course, may argue that men have had quite enough of the leading roles for too long and that, any short-term imbalance in the opposite direction is merely a necessary corrective. Perhaps. Or perhaps we need to do some more deep thinking about what it means and looks like for men and women in Christ to truly complement each other in the church’s work, worship and service in ways that enable all believers - male and female - to grow together into “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians%204%3A12%2D14&version=NIV" target="_blank">the full measure of the stature of Christ</a>.”</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Something More Important Than Covid</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I was somewhat conflicted at the decision of the organisers of David's Tent to require certification of either full vaccination or a recent negative covid test in order to be admitted to the site. Temperatures were also taken on entrance to the tent itself. Though I perfectly understand the health and safety arguments in favour of this approach, I am generally very nervous about the drift toward covid certification for any purpose beyond international travel and a limited range of medical roles. Certainly, at a local church level, it does seem to me deeply problematic that we would ever exclude a fellow believer from in-person fellowship on the basis of their (private) medical record.</span></p><p></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">That said, with many of those attending being under 18, and thus exempt from the certification requirement, and with full vaccination not offering 100% protection against catching or transmitting Covid-19, I was aware that we were not in a totally covid-secure environment (even if such a thing exists outside a lab.) With singing being associated with a high risk of transmission, and with a couple of thousand unmasked people being together in the tent (albeit with some open panels and a mild breeze flowing through), it was impossible not to recognise that the very act of worship together in this way carried risks. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Christians should never be casual or indifferent to death or suffering - in themselves or others. Having said that, I have been reminded during the pandemic of the description of the suffering and overcoming church <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2012&version=NIV" target="_blank">described</a> in the book of Revelation in conflict with the devil: </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">They triumphed over him</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> by the blood of the Lamb</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> and by the word of their testimony;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">they did not love their lives so much</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> as to shrink from death.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Avoiding death at all costs (at least among citizens in rich nations) has been the driving force behind the world's pandemic response. While Christians must not endorse or contribute toward a culture of death, we also affirm counter intuitively that there is something worse than death: namely, death without God. By not loving their lives so much as to shrink from death, the early Christian believers could endure a range of terrible events, including plague, warfare and state-sponsored persecution from a perspective of faith and faithfulness to Christ. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Although I have no desire whatsoever to catch this dreadful disease, and although I will continue to take reasonable precautions to avoid it, when worshipping together with fellow believers on Friday, I was reminded that there are certainly worse things than catching it - and even worse things than dying from it. For the Christian who has received eternal life as a gift through faith in Jesus, we do not face death and dying in the same way as the secular person does. Death is an enemy - but in Christ it is a defeated one and believers look forward in certain hope to the resurrection of the dead, the renewal of the cosmos and the restoration of all things in Christ. <br /><br />The late <a href="https://vineyardusa.org/about/john-wimber/" target="_blank">John Wimber</a> was asked why, while carrying life-threatening illness in his own body, he continued to place himself under strain by travelling the world teaching, healing the sick and equipping believers to do the same. I recall him saying once in his characteristically pithy way that he would, "rather die doing <i>this </i>than stay at home waiting for <i>that</i>." As I stood among the crowds at David's Tent worshipping our great God, I confess the thought did cross my mind: if I had to go, I wouldn't mind going like this.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A Question</span></h3><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;">When attending any event for the first time, a question will often be. “Would I go there again?” In the case of David’s Tent, my answer is, “Given time, opportunity and circumstances, probably yes.” It does not attempt to be an event that is going to directly equip believers in gospel outreach, mission, kingdom work and service or in being salt and light in a secular society. But for what it is - an extended opportunity to lay aside other things and draw near to God in devotion and adoration - it is a welcome opportunity for personal and corporate renewal. Despite the shortcomings of the event, the opportunity for such a focused retreat and opportunity for renewed devotion to Christ is to be welcomed, especially after a year like the one we've all had. </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-18084263709963519292021-05-29T01:09:00.001-07:002021-05-29T01:09:58.819-07:00Public Wisdom as a Gospel Pathway<p><span style="font-family: arial;">How can Christians effectively tell the good news of Christ among a post-Christian culture as it emerges shell-shocked from a global pandemic?<br /><br />In the Book of Proverbs, we are introduced to the striking female personification of Wisdom, who may help us answer this important question. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">Wisdom, we learn, is a very public-facing figure:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Does not wisdom call out?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> Does not understanding raise her voice?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> At the highest point along the way,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> where the paths meet, she takes her stand;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> beside the gate leading into the city,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> at the entrance, she cries aloud</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDT6FBUoxx7nzc7AEGJiceFgBiIM-j3ctoCbdnFhMak20Nw5osv77RhHcKNeeXr4wReR79paHifTwJT83PD-KY6tLT4HLchceoW0ujD1B6gSIXQlthalQwRVsyGvXGqJS87qKr8cYI8bJD/s3393/Veronese_Allegory_of_Wisdom_and_Strength.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3393" data-original-width="1730" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDT6FBUoxx7nzc7AEGJiceFgBiIM-j3ctoCbdnFhMak20Nw5osv77RhHcKNeeXr4wReR79paHifTwJT83PD-KY6tLT4HLchceoW0ujD1B6gSIXQlthalQwRVsyGvXGqJS87qKr8cYI8bJD/w326-h640/Veronese_Allegory_of_Wisdom_and_Strength.jpg" width="326" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">From <span><span style="text-align: left;">Allegory of Wisdom and Strength by </span></span><span style="text-align: left;">Paolo Veronese, c. 1565</span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wisdom in the Bible is not merely an inward-focused attribute, for contemplative mystics who have withdrawn from public life. On the contrary, she is making her voice heard for all people, believers and otherwise:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">“To you, O people, I call out;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I raise my voice to all mankind.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> You who are simple, gain prudence;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> you who are foolish, set your hearts on it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> Listen, for I have trustworthy things to say"</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Every day, millions of people conduct a Google search starting with the phrase, "how to...." Whether the request is about mental health, self care, practical skills, or more philosophical issues, the search at its most fundamental level is a request for Wisdom.</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> As our battered societies start to emerge from the ravages of Covid-19, our neighbours, colleagues, business owners and elected officials are asking one basic question that is taking many different forms: how do we move forward? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Biblical Wisdom is practical. In fact, it could be described as applied knowledge. Christian believers who have allowed their lives to be shaped by such Wisdom have much to contribute in a society that is asking practical questions. Without being arrogant or boastful, the truth is that our Christian faith has been teaching us Wisdom for living - for handling money, for relating to other people, for looking after a family, for promoting human flourishing, for working effectively. This is not to claim that Christians are sinless and perfect; but, as we have followed Christ for years, we have found that we have learned some important life lessons. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wisdom even has things to say to politicians and those in government:<br /><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">"Counsel and sound judgment are mine;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I have insight, I have power.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> By me kings reign</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> and rulers issue decrees that are just;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> by me princes govern,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> and nobles—all who rule on earth"</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />Sharing such practical Wisdom, when asked, can be very helpful for others, including people of no Christian faith. If done with humility and gentleness, we may be of some service to our neighbours and colleagues. There is a sphere of public Wisdom which is applicable to all peoples in all places at all times; it is not exclusively for Christian believers. <br /><br />If we are asked about how we learned these life lessons, it is not a huge step to say simply that whatever we have learned that has helped us navigate the challenges of life, we have found it in Christ. Wisdom actually invites us to make such a connection:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;">“The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> before his deeds of old;</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I was formed long ages ago,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> at the very beginning, when the world came to be.....</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> I was there when he set the heavens in place,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep...<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> Then I was constantly at his side.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">I was filled with delight day after day,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> rejoicing always in his presence,</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> rejoicing in his whole world</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> and delighting in mankind."</span></p></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The personification of Wisdom was present at the creation of the heavens and earth, participating alongside the Creator with joy. <br /><br />Our neighbours are largely resistant to abstract concepts. Sharing the Good News should not be primarily about announcing disconnected theological propositions. Often we fail to communicate from the outset because we announce ideas rather than introducing a Person. <br /><br />The early followers of Jesus, all from a Jewish background, and all very familiar with the verses we have been looking at from the Book of Proverbs, had a particular understanding about the Personification of Wisdom. The apostle Paul refers to<br /><br /></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;">Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>On another occasion, Paul writes to a group of Christians in the Greek city of Corinth, reminding them that,</span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;">[Y]ou are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.</span></blockquote><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Wisdom is found in the Person of Christ; in living by Wisdom, we are living in the Way of Christ. When we share Wisdom with others, we are sharing in part the Person of Christ. By implication we are inviting people to walk in His Way. Wisdom in this sense is Good News. <br /><br />The New Testament seems to have this in mind when it describes the ultimate reason for the church's existence:<br /><br /></span></p><blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;">His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: arial;"><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div>A battered society does not need celebrity psycho-babble. It needs sound judgement, practical actions that promote the common good. Followers of the Way of Christ can demonstrate and make known this Way of Wisdom. Many want to find it. <br /> <br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-634896925468013432020-06-18T23:50:00.001-07:002020-06-19T23:37:23.121-07:00Coronavirus and the Churches: Time to Pivot Again<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the end of March, hundreds of British churches switched overnight to running online Sunday services in response to the national lockdown imposed by the Government. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on churches was sudden and dramatic.</div>
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At the end of June, as the lockdown begins to gradually be lifted, has the time come for British churches to pivot again? Not this time back to congregational Sunday services - which remain banned under the terms of the emergency powers granted in the Coronavirus Act 2020 - but to much smaller expressions of church, meeting outdoors. With groups of six in England (or eight in Scotland) now being able to gather outdoors at a social distance, is it now time for churches to put their energies not into Zoom meetings but into multiple face-to-face gatherings in much smaller numbers?</div>
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Photo by <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-green-and-white-stripe-shirt-covering-her-face-with-white-mask-3991311/" target="_blank">Nandhu Kumar</a> from Pexels</div>
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The case for a rapid pivot to smaller expressions of church could be made on several grounds:</div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">The people of God desperately need face-to-face fellowship. From the point of view of pastoral care alone, most Christians and church leaders would agree that it is desirable that we see each other in real life in order to enjoy fellowship. Where this has not been possible, we are grateful for tools of technology that can at least provide some measure of human contact. The ideal, however, remains a gathered church in person - the body of Christ in the flesh (so to speak). Where two or three gather in his name, Christ is present in the midst.</li>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">The opportunity is safe and easy to implement. Just as creative minds were quickly able to apply practical solutions to running online Sunday services, we can now quickly move to weekly small gatherings of church members outdoors. These can take place in parks, gardens, on beaches and in the urban environment - anywhere outdoors where people will not be competing with traffic. We can limit the numbers and maintain social distance so that the gatherings are safe and comply with the law. A typical church of 100 members could expect to launch between 10 and 15 such groups next week. </li>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">Traditional church services may not be possible till 2021. Research is showing that indoor groups of people are high-risk for covid transmission. Activities such as singing and physical contact increase this risk further. Pubs and nightclubs are high-risk environments; church services are not far behind in terms of their capacity to spread the virus between members. The outbreak in Korea was initially centred around a church. In Germany, churches have been able to partly reopen but congregational singing is banned (!) Against this backdrop, are church leaders genuinely committed to running Zoom services for another 12 months or more? And if a vaccine is never found, what then? Do we have a plan for socially-distanced indoor church services that provide the level of fellowship that Christians need or want?</li>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">Small groups at their best can be effective in disciple-making. In his compelling book <i>John Wesley's Class Meeting: A Model for Making Disciples, </i>Michael Henderson demonstrates the genius of the early Methodist movement in its ability to transform the lives of urban working class members who had been largely neglected by the established church. At the heart of this process was not only public preaching but a highly-developed ecosystem of close discipleship centred on the class meeting. It is fashionable in some middle-class churches to downplay the small group. The reality, however, is that there has never been a gospel-centred movement in modern British history that has made disciples of the urban poor as effectively as early Methodism. It is interesting that Wesley's class meetings, gathering weekly for fellowship, personal accountability and mutual instruction, were limited to six members each - the same number currently permitted to gather outdoors in England under current lockdown measures. </li>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">Small groups would benefit from input from equipping leadership. Just as the Jerusalem apostles taught 'publicly and from house to house', the small expressions of church that could start outdoors tomorrow should be accessible and accountable to those with gifts to teach, equip and serve the members. If there were no longer a need for church leaders to be planning, running and evaluating online services, could their time and energy not be better spent visiting a small group most days to support and give input? Again, in a church of 100 members, a full-time leadership team of two could realistically visit the 10 to 15 small groups almost every week if they wanted. The modern Wesleyian circuit rider already exists and is probably sitting in an office planning the online Sunday service. A pivot to a radical small group model would be possible, if there were a will to do it. </li>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">Small groups can sustain mission. I would not suggest that these groups of six to eight should try and replicate church services; nor should they be focused on the seeker. But, by nurturing the believers and providing fellowship and accountability, they can help to sustain Christians in their ongoing life as witnesses for Christ in their homes, families, streets and places of work. These opportunities are multiplying during the current pandemic. There is no reason of course why those with the gifts to do so could not also start small groups for seekers that meet outdoors at a social distance. </li>
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<li style="text-align: justify;">The summer months provide a window of opportunity. Although June is looking a bit sketchy weather-wise in Britain, at least we are not yet facing the pandemic in January. By starting an outdoor small group ecosystem now - this week - churches can refine and learn best practice while it is still dry-ish. We can then also plan creatively for the autumn and beyond. Two principles that may help this process are time flexibility and creativity. As the weather turns, groups should plan to meet between rain showers or on dry-ish days, rather than being restricted to a rigid weekly time slot. This of course is easy to do with only six people. We can also learn from pubs which have responded to the ban on indoor smoking by implementing new ways of defining 'outdoors' through the legal and judicious use of gazebos and awnings. </li>
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I'm ready to pivot. How about you? </div>
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Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-58652043426613852792018-11-29T01:06:00.000-08:002020-06-19T14:57:31.397-07:00The Priority of Teaching in the Household Style Church<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ask many Christians, especially church leaders, about "house church" and sooner or later you will hear concerns raised that such churches are prone to being weak on bible teaching. Some criticisms will go even further and portray such simple expressions of church as potential hotbeds of heresy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The reality is however that household-style churches, if they are understood and operating according to principles set out in the New Testament, actually have the potential to be centres of strong bible teaching and learning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In any midsize or large local church there will often be a number of gifted bible teachers and preachers. Some of these will be elders or leaders in the church - indeed, one of the apostolic requirements of an elder is that they must be "<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Timothy+3:2&version=NIV" target="_blank">able to teach</a>". In practice, however, many of those with this ability will not exercise it very often - at least not outside of individual pastoral situations. A typical church will have a weekly Sunday morning service, with bible teaching and maybe an evening service as well. There may be a midweek bible study group - though in many churches these have been replaced by home groups lead by church members - and there may be occasional courses, conferences or one-off events at which the bible is taught. Some churches, following a pattern established in north American churches, may also have a Sunday School - meaning an adult biblical education programme supplementary to the main weekend service.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In such a church setting, the total public/group teaching work of the church may amount to no more than a few hours each week. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This reality raises a number of issues. One of them is a practical question: if a pastor or church leader is only preaching once a week (at the most), what are they meant to be doing the rest of the time? The answer varies from church to church, but in my own experience of being in full-time church leadership for twenty years, non-preaching time often consists of some or all of the following: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">attending planning meetings; </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">strategic thinking; travelling; </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">interfacing with the wider community; </span></li>
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The question is, are the church's teachers and pastors meant to be doing these tasks? Or are these activities the result of a church system that unwittingly minimises bible teaching and elevates organisational management? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When the early apostles were arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin, they were accused of having <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+5:28&version=NIV" target="_blank">filled Jerusalem with their teaching</a>. How had they managed to leave themselves open to such a charge? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Book of Acts tells us that the pattern of the Jerusalem church was to meet in the temple courts (the large setting) and in homes for more intimate fellowship, meals and breaking of bread. What is often missed, however, is that the early apostles taught in both settings - the large and the small. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. (Acts 5:42)</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Let's try a maths exercise. Luke (assuming he wrote Acts) records that the number of men in Jerusalem who believed in Jesus at this time was <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+4%3A4&version=NIV" target="_blank">around five thousand</a>. The text makes it fairly clear that this figure did not include women and children. Let's speculate that this number of men represents a total church population of at least 15,000 people. Let's then speculate that an average Jerusalem home could accommodate about thirty people at one time. If the total number of believers (including children) were equally divided between such homes when they met, we would discover about 500 "house churches" in Jerusalem in the middle of the first century. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">None of this is provable through historical means of course. It is a thought exercise resting on a number of suppositions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The twelve Jerusalem apostles are portrayed in Acts as spending their days teaching about Jesus in the temple courts and from house to house. In a typical week, therefore, if each apostle visited a house church every day, they might have taught publicly about Jesus at least seven times a week - in addition to any preaching they may have done in the larger temple court setting. This amounts to a total of at least 84 teaching sessions a week in Jerusalem by eye-witnesses of Christ and his resurrection - over 4,000 interactive sermons a year. If we compare this figure with a possible number of home churches of 500, we could envisage a scenario in which each house fellowship received a teaching apostle approximately every three to four weeks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This level of apostolic teaching (if it bears any relation to what actually took place) may help shed some light on the claim that the apostles had filled Jerusalem with their teaching. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I wonder how many contemporary home groups or house churches are fortunate enough to receive that level of apostolic input in a typical year. I suspect very few. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The thought exercise outlined above does not prove anything historically. It merely illustrates the fact that, if those with the gifting and calling to teach the word of God were released to do so as the primary activity of their working week, there is no inherent reason why such teachers, apostles, pastors or prophets could not be actively and fruitfully deployed in small household style churches if they moved around between them on a regular basis. Such a model actually allows for <i>more</i> bible teaching from those able to teach rather than less. By contrast, the current system of larger Sunday services, with all their inefficiencies of size, resource and administration, leads inevitably to less bible teaching, as those primarily gifted and called to do it find themselves spending time on maintaining an organisation rather than equipping believers in their homes and places of work. </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Church history actually gives us a working model of such a system of widespread decentralised itinerant bible teaching. Early Methodism, under the leadership of John Wesley, had a very well-worked-out system of such teaching with ministers assigned to several local "societies", "classes" (groups of about 6) and "bands" within a geographical area or territory. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Many of these itinerant preachers and bible teachers were commissioned by Wesley not by the official Church of England to which they nominally adhered in the movement's early years. The effective use of such itinerant ministers went hand-in-hand with the growth of the Methodist movement - from around 15,000 people in the 1780s to 130,000 a decade later and around one million within 50 years of its founding. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">“Moving to and fro, the itinerant was a bond of union between the societies in the circuit, and his </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">appointment in several circuits with the passing years knit them together in the connexion of which </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">he was the representative. The system helped also to secure uniformity in teaching and </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">administration......</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">His doctrine and discipline and those of his predecessor and successor had been </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">derived from Wesley and the Conference. To these he and they were all amenable. Different times </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">and conditions may necessitate modifications; but for securing the unity. homogeneity, and happy </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">co-operation of a new, scattered, varied, and rapidly-growing community, perhaps nothing better </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">than the itinerancy within the circuits and from circuit to circuit could have been devised. Wesley's </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">preachers had the mobility of Wyclif's itinerating poor priests and laymen, or recalled the Friars of </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the Middle Ages without their hampering vows.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Decentralised models of church (call them "house church" if you want) both require and facilitate the emergence of bible teachers who focus on that activity as a priority, without the encumbrances of a settled organisational model of church congregations</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> and Sunday services. </span><br />
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Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-56214163307536200122017-04-21T13:42:00.001-07:002017-04-21T13:42:52.210-07:00Beyond Information Sharing: Preaching that Reveals Secrets<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The prophet Jeremiah faced a challenge unlikely to be encountered by most modern preachers in the western world: his family were plotting to kill him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>...the men of Anathoth...are seeking your life and saying 'Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD or you will die by our hands'.</i> (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+11%3A21&version=NIV" target="_blank">Jeremiah 11:21</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">According to Jeremiah's own account of the incident, he was unaware of the conspiracy before it became an immediate threat. His insight into the plot came about, he claims, as a result of God revealing it to him:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Because the LORD revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing.</i> (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+11%3A18&version=NIV" target="_blank">Jeremiah 11:18</a>) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The exact reasons for his family's extreme hostility are not fully given in the passage (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+11%3A18-12%3A6&version=NIV" target="_blank">Jeremiah 11:18-12:6</a>) but it centred around their strong dislike of the prophet's message.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Great bible scholars whose opinions I respect and whose qualifications greatly exceed my own suggest that Jeremiah may have come to an understanding of the murder plot through a message being passed on to him by someone who was aware of it. The late John A Thompson, for instance, cites the influential archaeologist and biblical scholar Dr John Bright when he writes:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(JA Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, p. 350, NICOT series)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">While it is quite possible that this was the case, there is an alternative view at least worth considering: that the news of the plot on Jeremiah's life came to the prophet through immediate divine revelation, without any human intermediary.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The following factors seem to suggest that this was in fact the case:</span></div>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the repeated insistence in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+11%3A18&version=NIV" target="_blank">11:18</a> of the agency of Yahweh in disclosing the deeds (“revealed”, “he showed me”)</span></li>
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<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">the use of the word “reveal”; its only other use in the book indicates an immediate disclosure, without human means (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+38%3A21&version=NIV" target="_blank">38:21</a>) </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The frequency in the book of auditory and/or visual messages as a means of divine communication with the prophet, messages which included the prediction of invasion, defeat and exile at the hands of the "enemy from the north", also suggest that the revealing of a secret conspiracy was not outside the scope of the spiritual possibilities experienced by Jeremiah as he sought to follow and discharge his call to be a "prophet to the nations" (1:5).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Taking a wider biblical view, we can see the revealing of secrets as an aspect of many of the great teachers, prophets, reformers and apostles of both the Old and New Covenants. These include Daniel's ability to describe both the content and the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar's unspoken dream (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=daniel+2&version=NIV" target="_blank">Daniel 2</a>), the insight Jesus had of the Samaritan woman's five previous husbands and her current domestic arrangements (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+4&version=NIV" target="_blank">John 4</a>), Peter's discernment of the motives and action of Ananias and Sapphira in their financial dishonesty (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+5:1-3&version=NIV" target="_blank">Acts 5</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A striking example from church history is from the preaching of Charles Spurgeon. The person on the receiving end of the revealed secrets explains:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Mr. Spurgeon looked at me as if he knew me, and in his sermon he pointed to me, and told the congregation that I was a shoemaker, and that I kept my shop open on Sundays; and I did, sir. I should not have minded that; but he also said that I took ninepence the Sunday before, and that there was fourpence profit out of it. I did take ninepence that day, and fourpence was just the profit; but how he should know that, I could not tell. Then it struck me that it was God who had spoken to my soul through him, so I shut up my shop the next Sunday. At first, I was afraid to go again to hear him, lest he should tell the people more about me; but afterwards I went, and the Lord met with me, and saved my soul. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Commenting himself, Spurgeon says:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>I could tell as many as a dozen similar cases in which I pointed at somebody in the hall without having the slightest knowledge of the person, or any idea that what I said was right, except that I believed I was moved by the Spirit to say it; and so striking has been my description, that the persons have gone away, and said to their friends, ‘Come, see a man that told me all things that ever I did; beyond a doubt, he must have been sent of God to my soul, or else he could not have described me so exactly.’ And not only so, but I have known many instances in which the thoughts of men have been revealed from the pulpit. </i>(ibid)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The link between revealing secrets and the power of the word of God is stated explicitly by the writer to the Hebrews:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews+4%3A12-13&version=NIV" target="_blank">Hebrews 4:12-13</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jeremiah, like some evangelists and pastors today in parts of the Muslim-majority world, experienced such extreme hostility to his message that his life was at risk. It was through an act of divine disclosure that he come to know of this danger and was able to take preventative measures (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah+12%3A6&version=NIV" target="_blank">Jer 12:6</a>).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In the age of encryption and Wikileaks, secrets are everywhere and feature powerfully in the activities of governments, corporations and nations. Individuals also carry secrets, for good or evil. As Christian believers read, hear and (especially) speak the word of God, may we do so not as mere conveyors of general information but as those who speak with that revelatory edge to our communication, confident that "there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries." As Daniel expressed</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> this discovery:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>He reveals deep and hidden things;</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i> he knows what lies in darkness,</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i> and light dwells with him.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;">(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel+2%3A22&version=NIV" target="_blank">Daniel 2:22</a>)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As the church learns to speak with such insight, may the hearers respond not with adulation of the human messenger but as Nebuchadnezzar did when he fell prostrate, with reverence for the God who reveals:</span></div>
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Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-3799328625148235422014-09-20T00:18:00.000-07:002020-06-19T23:13:16.986-07:00House Building - Archaeological Insights and Spiritual Principles <div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 15px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This insight got us thinking about how the idea of "the Lord building the house" does not have to mean that one thing completely depends on another for its stability. The building process is more "organic" than "engineered", if that makes sense. This approach contrasts with a view of the Christian life that is unduly shaped by linear processes determined by stated goals and targets. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The idea that we have a vision/target/goal, and that we are to work backwards from that point to construct our Christian lives is one that is widely held and practiced. If, however, we define our goals more broadly - I would argue more biblically - then we can allow for developments which are apparently more random, which do not appear to fit into an engineered model of a narrowly-defined goal-focused life. Biblical goals, for instance, include such elements as, “we make it our aim to please him”, “the goal of this instruction is love” and the command to “walk in the Spirit” and to be “transformed through the renewing of our minds.” </span></div>
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<br />Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-86728239219146299802013-07-20T02:41:00.000-07:002013-07-20T02:41:46.298-07:00<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1702.Saint_Augustine" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Saint Augustine (Lives Biographies)" border="0" src="http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1309209649m/1702.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1702.Saint_Augustine">Saint Augustine</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/228.Garry_Wills">Garry Wills</a><br /><br />My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/672333960">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br /><br />Finished this interesting biography on holiday recently and enjoyed it very much.<br /><br />It was my first dip into the life of Augustine, though had read some of his Confessions earlier. <br /><br />Roman Catholic prize-winning writer Garry Wills takes a sympathetic, historical and non-hagiographic approach to his subject, one of the most influential figures in the western Christian tradition.<br /><br />Was interested to learn many details of Augustine's life that were new to me: getting a young woman pregnant at the age of fifteen, co-habiting with her till he was in his thirties, joining a Trinity-denying sect at 19, etc. <br /><br />Appreciated the writer's ability to paint both the historical and theological context to Augustine's life. Had not focused till now, for instance, on the fact that Augustine was contemporary with Jerome, Ambrose and Pelagius, nor on the fact that he virtually never left Hippo and the surrounding region after his installation as bishop in 395 AD. Also learned more about the Donatists (with whom I have had a vague interest for years) than in anything I had previously read. Augustine's debates and disputes with them are a running theme through the book.<br /><br />Augustine's power as a writer, scholar and preacher are well-illustrated throughout, and the 145-page book is full of quotable sections both from the subject himself as well as his friends and enemies: <br /><br />"Augustine thinks in questions" (Karl Jaspers)<br /><br />"Augustine felt two duties incumbent on him - to expound the whole circle of knowledge in Christian terms, and to refute other schools within Christianity or outside it." (Wills) <br /><br />Wills' summaries of Augustine's writings are useful as a launch pad into (hopefully) reading them fully in due course. His concise style makes Augustine's profound reflections accessible to the non-specialist , but without being so brief that they appear superficial. Augustine's reflections on the nature of time (there is no such thing as the present) and his formation of the Doctrine of the Trinity in terms of the human soul are both high points in his original writing and in the author's intelligent summary.<br /><br />Wills takes a rather more sympathetic view of Augustine's approach to the use of coercion in religion than I am comfortable with, though he does so against the backdrop of a contemporary scene that was far harsher than the portrayal of Augustine we are presented with: he opposed the death penalty, torture, and frequently called for clemency in the administration of justice. <br /><br />A fine introduction to a giant in church history, well-written, and definitely recommended. <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/582324-al">View all my reviews</a><br />Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-76734379642255865062013-01-12T17:33:00.002-08:002020-06-19T23:15:32.583-07:00Not so Small Groups are the Answer! <div style="text-align: justify;">
I am deeply persuaded by MIke Breen's analysis of the cultural and anthropological case for expressions of local church that look and feel like traditional extended families.</div>
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Note, it is extended families, not nuclear ones (though the latter are also important).</div>
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Groups that are 20-30 in size have a particular role in discipleship, and in Breen's experience, are also much easier to engage naturally in mission.</div>
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What do you think?</div>
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Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-68383563201326768772012-12-09T14:39:00.001-08:002012-12-09T15:42:57.579-08:00Salt, Light and Housing: Good News for Generation Rent?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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The <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/09/generation-rent-locked-out-home-ownership?CMP=twt_gu" target="_blank">current housing crisis in Britain</a> may provide an opportunity for churches to provide a service to their communities that is prophetic, as well as mutually beneficial. </div>
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The number of British households renting in the private sector has more than doubled since the mid-90s, from 8% to 17%. No longer the preserve of students or young singles, increasing numbers of families in their thirties, fourties and fifties are being shut out of home ownership. The reasons for the growth of the so-called "Generation Rent" are several: </div>
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<li>high house prices</li>
<li>insufficient housing stock to keep up with demand</li>
<li>lack of affordable mortgages caused by lenders limiting their loan-to-value ratios</li>
<li>the selling off of council-owned properties since the 1980s </li>
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Meanwhile, there are over 40,000 church buildings in the UK. While many are used a great deal, others have surplus space: hours of under-use during the week, as well as physical space that is never used at all. The latter category, especially in older buildings, often includes high ceilings and roof spaces, which are expensive to heat and maintain.</div>
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What would happen if even a fraction of the churches decided to creatively explore using this surplus space for affordable housing?</div>
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I'm not necessarily proposing night shelters in the nave - though some have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Patrick%27s_Church,_Hove" target="_blank">already gone this route</a>. Rather, I am thinking about permanent long-term homes, integrated into the fabric of existing church buildings. The goal would be to provide both affordable accommodation and space for the congregation to continue to meet in. </div>
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Whereas the conversion of church buildings into housing is nothing new in the UK, such projects have generally involved a complete change of use of the building and have been carried out by the private sector.</div>
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An alternative could be to refit part of the building while the rest continues to be used as a place of worship. <a href="http://www.woodlandschurch.net/" target="_blank">Woodlands Church</a> in central Bristol has pioneered this approach, with a number of student flats built into the roof of its Victorian building. Sound insulation, and an additional floor between the roof and the main hall where worship services take place - means that noise overflow is not a major problem. </div>
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Financially, there are several models for how such schemes could fit well with a local church's moral ethos and with its commitment to reach out to the wider community. The instability of the current rental sector is one of the big pressures, felt especially by families with children. Long-term rental agreements, with guaranteed rents, could go some way towards offering an alternative. Rent-to-buy options, or direct sales are another, though the latter would not address the fact that many working people cannot raise the deposit needed to secure a mortgage in the current climate. </div>
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Self-build options could help reduce costs and raise the quality of the build; partnerships with housing associations and others with expertise in the housing sector could provide additional alternatives.</div>
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The income from such arrangements could, after paying for the costs of the initial building work plus ongoing maintenance, support specific ministries within the local church. Heating and other costs are also likely to be offset by such a scheme, depending on the exact specifications of the plan, and the extent to which renewable technologies are incorporated into the re-fit.</div>
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The photo is of <a href="http://www.tooleyfoster.com/mixed-use2.asp?pagename=mixed" target="_blank">Springfield Methodist Church</a> in Wandsworth, part-converted into 28 affordable housing units, while at the same time raising the money for a new meeting place on site for the church congregation. Does anyone have any experience or other examples of this kind on initiative taking place at the moment? </div>
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Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-36925704975107600382012-11-24T02:21:00.000-08:002012-11-27T01:39:31.876-08:00Free Church Self Righteousness over Women Bishops Vote?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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Reading some of the comments and articles by those in the so-called free churches, new church networks and non-denominational churches, I must confess to feeling somewhat uneasy at the tone some have taken on last week's vote in the Church of England Synod over women bishops.</div>
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Phil Moore, leader at Queen's Road Church Wimbledon, is fairly typical of this strand of comment when he <a href="http://blog.philmoorebooks.com/post/36345085727/the-wrong-question" target="_blank">writes</a> that </div>
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"the debate is revolving around entirely the wrong question.
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The big question is not whether there should be women bishops. It is whether there should be bishops at all."</div>
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Good in parts, his article is something of a curate's egg (another ecclesiastical office which I'm fairly sure Phil would take exception to).</div>
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On the one hand, and against the idea that the monarch is the "head on earth" of the Church of England, how can anyone who takes the New Testament seriously fail to agree with his statement that </div>
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"the New Testament is very clear that <i>Jesus</i> is the Head of the Church and that anybody else who tries to usurp his title had better watch out"?</blockquote>
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On the other hand, Phil insists that, </div>
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"The New Testament tells us that [Christ] has chosen for his Church to be
led by teams of elders (not by bishops, regardless of whether they are
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Can anyone fail to miss the irony of inserting a word which is not found in the New Testament ("team") at the expense of one which is ("episkopos", translated as overseer or bishop)? </div>
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I appreciate that many of my free-church brethren will respond that the term episkopos denotes something very different in the pastoral epistles from its later and more developed meaning of a senior leader of clergy and churches in a defined geographical area. I would agree with them. Ignatius may have been motivated by noble ideals, but his episcopalian solution was probably misguided, in my opinion. </div>
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This, however, is an issue of definitions rather than terminology in an absolute sense. It is quite legitimate to argue (from 1 Timothy for instance) that the churches should indeed be lead by bishops, as long as we define the role in terms of "eldering" and overseeing and strip it of its clergy-laity connotations. </div>
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The tone of some of the comments from my part of the church is also hard to hear when my type of church is quite happy to use terms never found in Scripture to describe some of its leaders: "lead elder" and "senior pastor" are two that come immediately to mind. Our hesitation to use the biblical word "deacon" might also be worth pondering.</div>
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An additional concern I have is with the implication that the Synod debate is "not an issue for us" since we are not Anglicans. Krish Kandiah of the Evangelical Alliance correctly (in my view) <a href="http://krishk.com/2012/11/grace-truth-and-synod/" target="_blank">addresses</a> the fact that this concerns the whole church, since the name of Christ is publicly invoked in the discussion and its outcomes. Matthew Hosier, although no fan of the episcopalian system, <a href="http://whatyouthinkmatters.org/blog/article/a-nonconformists-view" target="_blank">gives</a> a somewhat broader, missional view of the matter from a non-conformist perspective. </div>
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I am sure that I am not alone as a member of one of the newer strands of the church in affirming the unity, catholicity and universality of the church. It's just that this message has not been sounded very clearly by some in my neck of the woods in the last week or so. </div>
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Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-81376660472226719852012-10-09T02:07:00.001-07:002012-10-09T02:09:27.437-07:00Eating for the Kingdom: The Other Journal<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://theotherjournal.com/2012/10/08/eating-for-the-kingdom-a-response-to-stephen-webbs-against-the-gourmands-and-william-t-cavanaughs-out-to-lunch/">Eating for the Kingdom: A Response to Stephen Webb’s “Against the Gourmands” and William T. Cavanaugh’s “Out to Lunch” : The Other Journal</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Interesting, if lengthy, article at The Other Journal moving forward the discussion on food, ethics and the Kingdom of God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Includes the best one-paragraph summary of a Biblical view of "our relationship with nonhuman animals" that I've come across. Here it is: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Humans are created alongside other animals who are also given spirit<sup></sup> by their Creator (Gen. 1:30). Permission for humans to eat animal flesh is not received until after the flood (9:2-3), coming in the context of God’s recognition of human sinfulness and alongside the proscription of murder (9:6). The attendant rituals of sacrifice (9:4) make visible the death of the individual animal (9:5), reinforcing the intimate commonality between humans and other animals, something modern factory farming deliberately attempts to obscure. Even more notable with reference to Genesis 9 is the covenant in which God promises to be with Noah “and with every living creature that is with you” (9:10); activity which finds a parallel in Hosea, wherein God makes a covenant “with the wild animals” on Israel’s behalf (Hosea 2:18). Job’s protestations about the injustices of life are met with a divine response that puts Job in his place as one animal (albeit one made in God’s image) among many, from the horse to Leviathan (Job 38–41). In Jonah, God exhibits concern for the animals of Nineveh (Jon. 4:11), who themselves are clothed in sackcloth, participating in the confession and lamentation of that city (3:7–8). Eschatologically, Isaiah (11:6–9 and 65:25) and Revelation (5:13) describe humans and animals living peaceably in relationship in visions of the kingdom to come. Paul, often criticized by vegetarians for his proclamations on diet, affirmed that the whole creation is “groaning in labor pains” awaiting “the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:22–23) and that through the blood of Christ, God has reconciled “all things” to himself (Col. 1:20).</span></blockquote>
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If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-74769059712996317152012-10-06T05:14:00.001-07:002012-10-06T05:14:56.954-07:00Cole-Slaw: Old vs New Leadership: A Study in Contrast<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://cole-slaw.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/old-vs-new-leadership-study-in-contrast.html">Cole-Slaw: Old vs New Leadership: A Study in Contrast</a>: </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A few things are obvious. You cannot lead the way you have always done so in the past and expect different results. What brought success in the old form of influence will actually bring failure in the new. Drawing a crowd and dispersing a people movement are exactly the opposite sort of task.</span></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The above article from which the quote is taken is a fine summary of the distinctive features of a new emerging church leadership paradigm, which personally, I feel very excited about. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">How about you? </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></div><br />
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If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-39193639892910833662012-06-06T05:05:00.002-07:002012-06-06T05:05:42.402-07:00Gospel and the Poor - Resources<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
A friend asked recently for a recommendation on books addressing the issue of the gospel and the poor.</div>
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Here's a provisional list, though I can't recommend them all because I haven't yet read them all.</div>
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<li>Tim Keller, Generous Justice</li>
<li>James Davison Hunter, To Change the World: the irony, tragedy and possibility of Christianity in the late modern world</li>
<li>Bryant L Myers, Walking with the Poor: principles and practices of transformational development theology</li>
<li>Tim Chester, Good News to the Poor: the gospel through social involvement</li>
<li>John Howard Yoder, The Politics of Jesus</li>
<li>Ron Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger</li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Any others that should be on such a list? </span></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-67571462433564746872012-05-31T02:25:00.001-07:002014-09-22T11:09:06.375-07:00The “Secret Sauce” our churches are missing | Mike Breen<a href="http://weare3dm.com/mikebreen/we-are-3dm/the-secret-sauce-our-churches-are-missing/">The “Secret Sauce” our churches are missing | Mike Breen</a>:<br />
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That word oikos, which refers to “household” or “family,” is the description for the church in the New Testament. And if we were to dig into the annals of church history, we’d find that almost every time we see a missional movement of God, we also see a missional vehicle being used about the size of an extended family. Coincidence? I’m not so sure.</div>
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If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://trymtales.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-trym-tales-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-78258113388587665302012-05-13T11:22:00.001-07:002012-05-13T11:22:18.613-07:00Train up a Child<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nepalese-woman-with-baby.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="A Nepalese woman and her infant child." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Nepalese-woman-with-baby.JPG/300px-Nepalese-woman-with-baby.JPG" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
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<span class="text Prov-22-6" id="en-ESV-17022">"Train up a child in the way he should go;</span><br />
<span class="indent-1"><span class="indent-1-breaks"> </span><span class="text Prov-22-6">even when he is old he will not depart from it."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span class="indent-1"><span class="text Prov-22-6">The above verse, from Proverbs 22:6, has formed the basis over the years of much teaching on the issue of Christian parenting.</span></span></div>
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<span class="indent-1"><span class="text Prov-22-6">Often, the verse is interpreted as follows: "teach a child the word of God, model it by personal example, nurture it with prayer, and, when that child reaches adulthood, they will live a godly Christian life." </span></span></div>
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<span class="indent-1"><span class="text Prov-22-6">While most Christians would agree that these are excellent actions for a Christian parent to do, there are several problems with assuming that the above verse is correctly interpreted in that way. </span></span></div>
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<span class="indent-1"><span class="text Prov-22-6">One problem is that the saints in the Bible did not always have that experience. The summary of Solomon's life in 1 Kings 11:4, for instance, could not be clearer:</span></span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">"When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> his God, as was the heart of David his father."</span></blockquote>
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">Lot's daughters (incest), Noah's sons (drunkenness) and Job's children (wild parties) are just three of the other examples of ungodly children raised by godly parents. Are we pushing the example too far when we also note that God himself had two sons (Adam and Israel) who had an excellent upbringing, but a rebellious adulthood? Examples also abound from church history.</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">The above interpretation can produce significant pastoral problems for Christian parents who have sought to raise their children according to Biblical principles and have backed these precepts up with their prayerful lifestyle, only to find their children as adults pursuing very sinful lifestyles. </span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">An alternative interpretation of the proverb hinges on the meaning of the word "should." The word can be used in two ways. Consider these two sentences:</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">"You broke it, so you should pay for it."</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">"An apple tree should produce apples."</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">In the first sentence, the word "should" is a moral imperative. It speaks of an external obligation or a duty.</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">In the second sentence, the word "should" conveys the idea of that which is natural, expected and fitting. There is no moral connotation. </span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">The word in the second sense can be used of people as well as trees:</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">"Usain Bolt should win gold at the Olympics, because he's in top form this season."</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113"> If the proverb uses "should" in the second sense of the word, it allows the verse to be understood in a different way from that outlined at the start of this post. Instead, its meaning could be: "train a child in the way that is natural for him or her to go in."</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">If this interpretation is correct, it raises the question, "What is the natural way for a child to go in?" My answer would be "It depends on the child."</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">As an apple tree naturally produces apples, and Usain Bolt naturally wins races, so a child naturally wants to "go" in a certain direction. </span><br />
<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113"> </span><br />
The English word "educate" comes from two Latin roots: e- (out of, from) and duco (I lead). To educate is to "lead out from" within a child. It is not the same as putting information into a child; more like, bringing out that which is already inside them. I understand every child to have God-given inherent potential, which exists in two forms. The first is that which is within most children generally. The second is that which is specific or particular to that individual child. <span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">Some children have a natural inclination towards sport; others to building things, some to making things, writing, music or public speaking.</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">A child who is educated according to their natural inclinations will not depart from them, even as an adult, since they will be doing what is natural for them to do.</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">Interpreted in this way, the proverb is not a verse about moral or spiritual formation as such, but about education and skills development.</span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113">What do you think? </span><br />
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<span class="text 1Kgs-11-4" id="en-ESV-9113"> </span><br />
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<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=3bfce512-b03e-47e0-8c44-394454a633ea" style="border: none; float: right;" /></a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-64337234225250037912012-04-28T11:29:00.001-07:002012-04-28T11:29:38.930-07:00Ed Stetzer on Viral Churches and Maverick Entrepreneurs<a href="http://www.edstetzer.com/2012/03/let-churches-lead-viral-church.html">Ed Stetzer - Viral Churches: Factors Leading to Church Multiplication Movements, "Let Churches Lead and Welcome the Planter," part 4 of 9</a>:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq"><div style="text-align: justify;">In some cases, the problem is that the most successful church planters are often the most controversial. This shouldn't be too surprising. By their very nature, church planters are entrepreneurial, non-conventional mavericks. It's what allows them to do so well on their church planting assessments. Post-assessment, however, we suddenly become shocked and astounded when we discover that they are difficult to supervise and don't follow directions well.</div></blockquote><br />
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I'm loving this series from Ed Stetzer on viral church planting. Check out the link above. <br />
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If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://trymtales.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-trym-tales-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-3189846589984815192012-04-27T15:40:00.000-07:002012-04-27T15:40:13.199-07:00Jesus the Politician?<div style="text-align: justify;">
Interesting quote from Mark Allan Powell from his book The Jesus Debate: Modern Historians Investigate the Life of Christ:</div>
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"With regard to Jesus' stance towards politics, scholars seem to be moving closer to consensus...For a time, the issue seemed to be whether Jesus should be regraded as a religious figure (the traditional concept) or as the leader of as political movement. Today, the dichotomy seems unnecessary, an anachronism imposed, perhaps, by Western scholars reared in societies that pride themselves on (supposedly) being able to separate church and state. Even today, especially in the Mideast, the line between politics and religion is indistinct. This was certainly true in Jesus' situation as well." </div>
</blockquote>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-1875665131656899162012-01-31T02:44:00.000-08:002020-06-21T03:04:26.881-07:00When a House Church Becomes Too Large<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">
I've recently enjoyed interacting with Eric Carpenter at his blog A Pilgrim's Progress on the subject of <a href="http://eric-carpenter.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-big-is-too-big.html" target="_blank">How Big is Too Big?</a> when asked of a church that meets in the home and places a high value on all-member participation in the meetings. Eric was a full-time salaried pastor who left this employment in pursuit of a "simpler form of church life."</div>
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In the comments section, I suggested a number of possible next steps that such a church could take when it starts to "feel too large." My option four was to "split the group into two or more smaller groups and try to replicate what you have experienced so far." Option five was to "intentionally start to dream, pray and prepare, for a long-term process of multiple future church planting."</div>
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/07452247058550736803" target="_blank">Alan Knox</a> then asked the following question: "I'd love to hear some examples of the outcome of #5 and how it differs from #4."</div>
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Rather than presume on Eric's bandwith, I thought might make a few notes here in response to that good question.</div>
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Many groups respond to numerical growth by splitting, dividing or multiplying (option 4). Biological cell concepts are often employed to explain or in some cases justify this course of action.<br />
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In my experience, such an action can be a mixed blessing, with long-term relationships sometimes severed or at least placed under strain as a group that may have taken months or years to bond together finds itself torn in two.<br />
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Option 5 takes a more intentional, long-term view, rather than just responding to the immediate lack of space in a home. As such, it allows the possibility that some of the more difficult aspects of "splitting" a group can be avoided, or at least mitigated.</div>
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In essence, I would distinguish option 5 from option 4 by comparing the ways that a cell divides from the way that a family grows and reproduces. In the latter scenario (option 5), we are not looking to divide a group but to start a new household - specifically a household of faith.</div>
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In my own limited experience, pursuing this latter option involves looking for and recognising those individuals who have the capacity, character and inclination to become spiritual parents. They should be supported, empowered, trained and encouraged to intentionally begin the process of opening their homes with the aim of forming a new community. This should happen while the existing church is still quite young and while it is itself forming and developing. The intention to plant out is therefore sown into fabric of the church from early on in its life. As I have said, however, this process becomes part of the ethos of the church, but is not done in such a way that "splits" the existing church in two.<br />
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Again, in my limited experience, I have seen this process undertaken resulting in the formation of six new churches that I have had a part in helping to plant in the west of England, during the period 1997 to 2004. At least one of these, becasue of the gift mix of the couple hosting it, started as an Apha course and was composed overwhelmingly of new converts. All of them began as home-based churches. Because of where I was with my ecclesiology at that time, most of these churches went on to become somewhat larger mono-congregations rather than remain small and reproduce smaller household-style churches. Having said that, because of their theological values, these churches do tend to have a higher level of member participation in the meetings than might be experienced in a more traditional "church service" model.</div>
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Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-53582738507594993002012-01-10T16:10:00.000-08:002012-01-13T15:45:49.844-08:00Driscoll, Marriage and Sex<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mark Driscoll's new book, <i>Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship and Life Together, </i>co-authored with his wife Grace, is rapidly contributing to reviews, comments and articles across the blogosphere. I haven't read the book (funny how many articles begin by saying that) but here are a selection of articles inspired by the book and the themes it addresses.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Methodist Morgan Guyton on <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.amazon.com/Red-Letter-Christians-Anthony-Campolo/dp/0830746188%3FSubscriptionId%3D0G81C5DAZ03ZR9WH9X82%26tag%3Dzemanta-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0830746188" rel="amazon" title="Red Letter Christians">Red Letter Christians</a> confesses that <a href="http://www.redletterchristians.org/why-gender-hierarchy-makes-no-biblical-sense-to-me/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RedLetterChristians+%28Red+Letter+Christians%29" target="_blank">he can make no sense</a> of what he calls the "gender heirarchy" outlined in the Driscoll's book.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a class="zem_slink" href="http://rachelheldevans.com/" rel="homepage" title="Rachel Held Evans">Rachel Held Evans</a> <a href="http://rachelheldevans.com/mark-driscoll-real-marriage" target="_blank">summarises</a> the book as the good, the bad and the ugly and in the process raises concerns about the assumption that evangelical pastors should be regared as competent to advise on such intimate issues as sex. :</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">Evangelicals expect too much of their pastors. In addition to demanding they serve as nearly flawless leaders and teachers, many of us demand that our pastors serve as professional counselors and advisors, experts on everything from politics to science to sex to health to money to marriage to relationships. </span></blockquote></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Evans' appeal to look at the Biblical context as well as the Biblical content of the key marriage passages is also interesting.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Since David Moore of <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.fuller.edu/" rel="homepage" title="Fuller Theological Seminary">Fuller Theological Seminary</a> <a href="http://theburnerblog.com/arts/books/mark-driscoll-thinks-wives-are-only-good-for-sex/" target="_blank">states</a> early on in his article that, "This book is an astoundingly unbelievable work of disrespect for women", there is no surprise that his review is largly critical.</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Here in the UK, Christianity Magazine has released <a href="http://www.christiantoday.com/article/mark.driscoll.takes.aim.at.the.cowards.in.the.british.church/29159.htm" target="_blank">part of an interview</a> with Mark Driscoll. The latter has subsequently described the hour-long interview as "adverserial." Driscoll has published a response to the article <a href="http://pastormark.tv/2012/01/12/a-blog-for-the-brits" target="_blank">here</a>. </span><br />
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</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Researcher Ed Stetzer meanwhile notes that the topic of sex is being discussed by the world every day and asks the question of Christian leaders, <a href="http://www.edstetzer.com/2012/01/how-should-we-talk-about-sex.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Edstetzercom+%28EdStetzer.com%29" target="_blank">How Should we Talk About Sex?</a> His five points are that Christians need to:<b> </b></span></div><ul style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>move beyond discomfort on the subject</b>. <b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>answer the critical questions people are asking</b>. </span></li>
<li> <span style="font-size: small;"><b>hype does not help</b><b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>teaching on sex, or at least the same levels of teaching on sex, is not for everyone</b>.<b> </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><b>talk more, not less, about sex</b></span> </li>
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</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lecturer and theologian John Armstrong expresses dispair at what he sees as the growing sensationalism of mega-churches on the subject of sex as <a href="http://johnharmstrong.typepad.com/john_h_armstrong_/2012/01/the-three-ring-circus-some-call-evangelical-church.html" target="_blank">he notes</a> that:</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">Ed and Lisa Young, founders of Texas-based Fellowship Church, will spend 24 hours in bed on the church roof next week and stream themselves live on the Internet to encourage married couples to see firsthand the power of a healthy sex life as prescribed in their new book, <i>Sexperiment</i>.</span></blockquote></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">As Armstrong says,</span></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span style="font-size: small;">And some people actually wonder why young evangelical adults, who deeply love Jesus Christ, are now leaving evangelical churches in increasing numbers to go to more ancient churches. </span></blockquote></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: georgia,palatino; font-size: small;"><br />
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<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=a1d6316b-7c01-4975-a0b3-f798a4b038f1" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-57721806864671904522012-01-07T02:16:00.000-08:002014-09-22T11:16:29.765-07:00Ed Stetzer - Lottie Moon and House Churches<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; float: none; text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lottie_moon_color.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Lottie Moon" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Lottie_moon_color.jpg" height="306" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="300" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Lottie_moon_color.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.edstetzer.com/2010/12/lottie-moon-and-house-churches.html">Ed Stetzer - Lottie Moon and House Churches</a>:</div>
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When the gospel is allowed to grow naturally in China, without forcing processes of development, the "church in the house" is usually its first form of organization. God grant us faith and courage to keep "hands off" and allow this new garden of the Lord's planting to ripen in the rays of the Divine Love, free from human interference!</blockquote>
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- Lottie Moon, Pingtu, September 10, 1890</div>
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Was Lottie Moon right for China at that time?</div>
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Is she right now for Europe? America?</div>
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I've been increasingly struck in recent years at the way Paul preached the gospel and "allowed" it to take root in its natural, culturally appropriate context. In the case of the first century Greco-Roman world, this natural context was the extended household.</div>
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Is the same true in twenty-first century Britain?</div>
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Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-6872403863423726602011-11-23T15:58:00.000-08:002011-11-23T15:59:45.098-08:00The Emerging Church<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.pomofaith.com/the-emerging-church/">The Emerging Church</a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">A helpful and interesting introduction to the issues and personalities sometimes grouped together under the label of the "emerging church."</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-23943175919168646922011-09-12T14:02:00.000-07:002011-09-12T14:03:59.869-07:00welldigger: Revival Alliance Meetings in Westminster September 2011<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><a href="http://daibach-welldigger.blogspot.com/2011/09/revival-alliance-meetings-in.html">welldigger: Revival Alliance Meetings in Westminster September 2011</a></div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">Fascinating and encouraging report from David Pike (Cardiff) about the recent Revival Alliance meeings held in central London.</div><br />
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If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-62797349510287943872011-09-09T14:51:00.000-07:002011-09-09T14:51:01.158-07:00Why we might not be as Reformed as we think we are | Papers | Theology Matters | Newfrontiers UK<a href="http://whatyouthinkmatters.org/papers/article/not-as-reformed-as-we-think#When:08:00:12Z">Why we might not be as Reformed as we think we are | Papers | Theology Matters | Newfrontiers UK</a><br /><br />Fine post from Matt Hosier on the Theology Matters blog.<br /><br />Big themes to think about for evangelical charismatics everywhere!<br /><br /><br /><br />If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://trymtales.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-trym-tales-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-21193446207551929722011-08-24T16:34:00.000-07:002011-08-24T16:35:20.031-07:00Senator Mark Hatfield: RIP<span class="zemanta-img separator" style="clear: right;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Hatfield_NIH_2004.jpg" style="clear: right; display: block; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Former Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon at dedi..." height="133" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Mark_Hatfield_NIH_2004.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="165" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; width: 165px;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Hatfield_NIH_2004.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span><a href="http://johnharmstrong.typepad.com/john_h_armstrong_/2011/08/senator-mark-hatfield-rip.html">John H Armstrong : Senator Mark Hatfield: RIP</a> <br />
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Virtually unknown in the UK, Senator Mark Hatfield, who died this month, was a leading American Christian politician, from an age before the enmeshing of those two terms became so toxic. <br />
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John H Armstrong writes about his life and legacy: <br />
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<i>For nearly four decades, [he was] perhaps American evangelicals' most prominent and admired politician . . . a man associated with liberal politics, one of the country's leading voices against the Vietnam War and military spending, and a critic of the nascent religious right.</i> <br />
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If you enjoyed this post, get <a href="http://alshaw.blogspot.com/2008/01/get-philosophers-tree-delivered.html">free updates by email or RSS.</a><br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=d9e0bf81-e730-42c1-81e8-c5c5bc1a836c" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5590940546690276621.post-44697743323990638232011-08-09T14:42:00.000-07:002011-08-09T14:42:13.020-07:00Riots and the Early Church<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="zemanta-img separator zemanta-action-dragged" style="clear: both; float: none; text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tbilisi_riot_2007.jpg" style="display: block; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Protesters clash with riot police on November ..." height="266" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/Tbilisi_riot_2007.jpg/300px-Tbilisi_riot_2007.jpg" style="border: medium none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="400" /></a><span class="zemanta-img-attribution" style="clear: both; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">Image via <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tbilisi_riot_2007.jpg">Wikipedia</a></span></span></div><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">The simple idea that "things were better" in the past is one that may appeal to many. Historians, however, tend not to believe it.</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> </div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"> This on the place of riots in first-century Greco-Roman cities from French historian Jerome Carcopino:</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">"Night fell over the city like the shadow of a great danger, diffused, sinister and menacing. Everyone fled to his home, shut himself in and barricaded the entrance....Juvenal sighs that to go out to supper without having made your will was to expose yourself to reproach of carelessness....Criminals abounded in the city."</div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">And this from Professor Rodney Stark from the University of Washngton:</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">"The social integration of Greco-Roman cities was severely disrupted .... exposing residents to a variety of harmful consequences, including high rates of devience and disorder. Indeed, this is a major reason why Greco-Roman cities were so prone to riots."</div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">On Antioch in particular, location of Christianity's first genuinely multi-racial church, Professor Stark notes:</div><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;">"the six major periods of rioting that racked the city [during the Roman era]. By a major riot, I mean one resulting in substantial damage and death, as distinct from the city's frequent riots in which only a few were killed."</div></blockquote><div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><br />
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<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;"><a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_e.png?x-id=4c839bfd-7f58-4de1-82e8-49cb46268564" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>Al Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07179473485486839470noreply@blogger.com0