You are NOT alone

I have not been able to get “Thought 4 The Day” (Radio 4 this morning) out of my head . . . so this is a quick blog to deal with that – then I can get on with a shed load of work!

Here is the thing.  Today is Ascension Day.  The day in the Church year when we remember that Jesus returned to the Father.  What also seems to have now been increasingly emphasised is that the disciples were left ALONE . . . and, as with some of the theological gymnastics employed on Thought 4 The Day . . . therefore, so are we.  We need to make our peace (according to the contributor today) that we are ALONE.

Thing is – we are not ALONE (I want to say – or rather sing – YOU are not alone . . . but I think I will start “getting my Buble” on, so I won’t).

We are not alone.  Luke gives us two accounts of the Ascension In Luke 24 and Acts Chapter 1 – in both Jesus is promising the Holy Spirit, in Luke he talks about the disciples being clothed with power from on high and in Acts,  Luke adds that they will be witnesses to the ends of the earth and that they will be baptised in the Spirit.

In the Church calendar, I GET that there is a gap, chronologically, between the ascension and the coming of the Holy Spirit.  However, that is NOT our present reality!  We live in the age after which the Holy Spirit has come, the word continues to go forth, witnesses continue to travel to the ends of the earth bearing God’s story and His very life withing them . . . WE ARE NOT ALONE.

We remember that Christ has come at Christmas, we remember that Christ has died and risen at Easter, we remember that ascension happened and the Spirit was poured out at Pentecost . . . but, historically, this stuff HAS already happened.  We state these things as a PRESENT reality such as today (ascension = we are along because Jesus has gone) I think we are missing the point!  Jesus is still to return, but Jesus is also reported as saying in John’s gospel (John 14 lays the ground work), in John 16, “it is for your good that I go . . . because then the counsellor can come” – Jesus, in his physical body, despite the ressurection . . . cannot BE everywhere, with all of His people . . . but God, the Holy Spirit can . . . and, more importantly IS.

I have said that I get it . . . but there are lots of people who are listening to Thought 4 the Day who would have heard someone from the Church saying to them this morning . . . you are alone (not as a moment to reflect about it between now and Pentecost, because that wasn’t mentioned . . . just simply, make peace with it.  you are by yourself)  Well, whether you read this or not . . . I am going to say it again YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

What is extraordinary, and shows the challenge the church has in marrying the “church calendar” with the reality of the Christian life . . . is that – according to the lectionary, the day after Pentecost, we move into . . . not “Power from on High Time”; not “You are never alone again time.”, not “I will never leave you nor forsake you time.” and not “Inredible time” . . . no, we enter “ordinary time”.

Right now, you are not alone (whether we are talking between ascension and pentecost or any other time) . . . and do not believe for a moment that there is a time of “ordinariness” in the Christian life.  The “same power that raised Christ from the dead is in you” (Romans 8), when will any day ever by ordinary again . . . or – for that matter, be spent alone?

 

 

 

Future of CofE National Children’s and Youth Posts

Followers of this blog (and those who zipped over to read a couple of articles in January / February, thanks – primarily – to the prompting of Church Mouse!) will be aware of the threat to the Church of England’s two national posts – we currently have a national children’s work adviser – Mary Hawes; and a national youth officer – Peter Ball.

At General Synod in February, following a shed load of questions and the petition etc etc.  A couple of things happened:

1.  The process was slowed down, with the Bishop of Oxford planning to convene a “reflection group” to assess the state of play in light of the disquiet, questions and challenges to the proposal from Jan Ainsworth (National Education Officer) to reduce the full time team – and to have a “Going for Growth” adviser instead of the two, distinct, national posts.

2.  Change of Name.  I think, it was agreed that “Children” and “Youth” would somehow be retained in the title of the new post.

Well, all that was a couple of months ago.  Where are we now?  

This week, both networks of CWA (Children’s Work Advisers) and DYO (Diocesan Youth Officers) were sent the following two documents:

A letter from Jan Ainsworth (Chief Education Officer)

An Appendix - attached to the letter with comments about some of the objections that had been raised.

DO, please read the letter and the appendix . . . what follows are my thoughts / comments:

1.  The first thing you will notice is that the Education Division is pressing ahead AS PLANNED with reducing our national officers from 2 to 1.  This is very disappointing, but an illustration of nature of employment law once a particular course of action has been embarked upon.  YES, the Church must apply (and also be held accountable by) employment law . . . HOWEVER, the Church – when it employs people (this is not quite the same as having “post holders” under “common tenure” . . . which is the new lot for Vicars etc) is not simply acting as “employer” with an “employee”, whether that is a national institution or a local PCC.  The Bible describes the Church as a body, if one bit of the body hurts or is damaged, then it impacts the rest of the body.  The pain is not isolated to the finger, toe, limb . . . . in the case of the Board of Education I think they were taken by suprise at our interest – in what they believed to be an “internal reorganisation” of their Department.  BUT, that is just it . . . a breathtaking degree of misunderstanding the significance, the value etc – not just of these two roles – but the individuals that hold these posts.  To the national network of Children’s and Youth Work Advisers they are not removed mandarins at our equivalent of Whitehall – but, individuals who we have been partnering with in seeking to champion (sometimes against all odds it seems) the vital importance of work with children and young people.

2.  The amendments mentioned in the letter, in response to comments received, and - I assume – the reflection group discussion  (see the above link) do not amount to much . . .

• yes, the name has been changed (Children and Youth) appearing in brackets in the title of the new post. 
• business speak then follows as another amendment “to manage consultants and projects to deliver agreed outcomes.”
• and – an explicit commitment to “reflect the area not represented in depth in the national post as a first call on the funds released, both in focus and time.” (Well, we had this already . .. it was called TWO national officers, with distinct specialisms).

Turning to the Appendix, we find the objections have been put into two categories and then comments made about those:

: Lack of Consultation.  In point 1 the point is made (as it has been throughout the process) that NCIs have been followed . . . this is the challenging part of on the one hand being the “Body of Christ” and, on the other, being an employer.  Still, part of MY attempt to engage in the process (although not invivted to!), has continued to leave me with unanswered questions – these are as follows:

• Who else in the Board of Education has had a work plan specifically tied to the “Going for Growth” document?  It was presented to Synod, when “Going for Growth” began, as a whole department endeavour encompassing everything . . . including Schools.
• If the above IS true, why aren’t other areas of the department under similar scrutiny? 

: Reduction of resource to children and youth work

• Proportionally, for the MISSION of the Church – and, I continue to hear from the Chief Education Officer that our Schools are “at the forefront” of the mission of the Church – only 9% of children and young people are IN our schools (1 million out of 11 million) . . . and, NOWHERE near that number attend our Churches . . . so we have at LEAST 91% of the children and young people in this nation to REACH with the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Nationally, we need more resources (and more money) to enable this.  Regionally, we need more resources (and more money) to enable this.  Locally, at Parish level, we need more resources (and more money) to enable this.  Why isn’t the Chief Education Officer and her team a SMALL part of a national “Children’s, Youth and Families” Team?  YES we have a satutory duty at Diocesan Level (at National Level?) to have DDEs – but equally important is the Gospel imperative to reach the next generation . . .
• In relation to specialism – reference is not made in the appendix to theology or what the church is for, or the differences in faith development, engagement with family etc that discussing spiritual life requires . . . never MIND a word BARELY mentioend by this National Department – evangelism.  No, what is referred to here is what the Government do, how the Government distinguish work – we are, apparently, a Church that look to what the Government does to inform our MINISTRY with children and young people – the name of the department for “Children, Young People and Families” was changed back to the “Department for Education” – this might form some kind of synergy for the Chief Education Officer . . . but – whilst being involved in the education of the next generation is a great thing that we are part of . . it is not our primary activity in relation to the next generation. 
• Consultants are mentioned . . . I could say a lot about this.  The first question though might be “Who?” would be invited to “consult”?  Academics?  Institutes that specialise in consultants?  Young People do not need (and the church does not need / require) MORE consultants.  Effective ministry with children and young people is not something that can be “consulted on”, and a “short term” programme will not fix the situation we are in.  Bishop Gavin Read, who I mentioned in a previous post, was the Chair and main Editor of the group (and I guess consultants may well have been part of that process), wrote “Children’s Evangelism in Crisis”, this was on the cusp of the decade in which 250,000 children and young people walked away from the Church . . . consultants might “re-arrange” some of the furniture – we might even have more “events” like the “Re-Generation Summit”, March 2012.  It was a nice event, the young people who came were encouraged and inspired . . . BUT, what did it achieve for the wider church?  A bunch of predominantly white, middle class, degree studying young people came together with Bishops.  Great conversations were had with young people we ALREADY have.  Consultants might have been useful for the “event” based activity of re-juvinating the churches engagement with Baptism and the Wedding Project – but, children and young people are not a project.  We cannot tick them off in the same way as “more baptisms” or “more church weddings”, we need to walk the Emmaus Road with them . . it takes time that the Church is fast running out of, because of the wrong headed desire for change NOW (by tinkering), rather than root and branch reform of HOW and WHY we work with children and young people.

Finally, although not mentioned in the letter above (or the appendix) the biggest issue I had with the proposal (not the process) were the suggestions for what “phase 2″ activity might look like – and here, I quote from a document that was sent to DDEs on 16th January (if the type of work to be carried out now differs from the stuff mentioned below – I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW):

“There are a number of ways in which this funding may be used, including :

- support for data collecting in Diocese to enable is to speak with clarity about what impact the Church is having (I thought we had a national statistical division?  I also KNOW what many of our churches are – and are not – doing for and with children and young people – NOT, from looking at returns or analysing data – but by knowing people who are working with children and young people, meeting with them and encouraging, supporting and training them – data does not adequately illustrate “impact”.)

- additi0nal support for the Church of England Youth Council to bring it more firmly into central decision making (I don’t think this needs a consultant – it just needs a conversati0n, which – even if it happens via phone – won’t cost a member of staff their JOB.  Talk to the ABC and ask, “Can the Chair of the CEYC be a member of AB Council?  Thanks.  Done.)

- bringing professional expertise to bear on building regional conferences for children and young people to explore their responses to faith and the Church, and build pilot programmes from their responses (This is part of my JOB.  I am a professional, I run a camp for young people and their youth leaders, I help parishes – along with my team – explore what they need to do that engages with children and young people in their communities.  It is NOT a programme that is going to make the difference – Jan Ainsworth, please read, “Contemplative Youth Ministry”, “Youth Work After Christendom”, “Sticky Faith” and “Almost Christian” . . for staters, as recommended by me).

Seriously, if this awful plan is going ahead.  So be it.  Can you please have a fresh look at the actual activity of “Phase 2″, the above examples of activity are not worth getting in consultants – they are certainly not worth a full time national post.

Authentic Light

I have just twittered over on Frank Viola’s website (an absolutely cracking place to visit for some great thoughts, reflections and quality books etc) . . . he posted one word “Twitter” and wanted a response . . . . I replied, “All that twitters is not gold” (Ha!) . . . .

Well, that got me thinking . . . how do we sift the good stuff from the dross, the intelligent, quality comment from the inane cliche . . . or christian soundbite?

A few years ago I read a great book, called “Authenticity” by David Boyle (check it out here)

It is a great, great book . . . and I am thinking about it again now in relation to Youthwork The Conference, and our theme for this year “Lumen” . . . bringing the light . . .

 

All that glitters in our Christian fermament might not be actual light – we live in a world of artificial light, bulbs, tubes, flickering screens . . . we can almost be blinded by ACTUAL light, never mind its warmth and life bringing properties . . .

 

Well, this great book from David Boyle taps into the desire that we all seem to have for something REAL – even Atheists, like Alain DeBotton seem to be hankering after something that might help people have an “authentic” EXPERIENCE of Atheisim (with “Religion for Atheists“) and, as atheism isnot life enhancing or enriching . . . he has decided to plunder religion to try and bring more meaning to what it is to be an atheist!

 

We all want something REAL at the end of the day . . . we may even look in the wrong places, and even in the Church . . . we might chase after what someone else has said or written about the AUTHOR of life, rather than seek Him for ourselves. 

 

As Christians we all have “a friend in Jesus”, but when it comes to sharing our faith or being a natural evangelist we get a bit odd.  In any other context it would be strange – if we had a good friend, people knew that this person was our friend – but, if they ever asked for an introduction . . . rather than do it ourselves, we suggested they speak to one of our other friends who also knows the person . . . weird!  Yet, we do that quite often with Jesus.

 

How can we be REAL about Jesus, REAL about the Church . . . how do we live, breathe, have . . . an authentic community life that others are attracted to . . . the “natural” light of Christ and our love for each other draws others in?

 

Well, from “Authenticity”, here are ten things that David says . . . (I don’t know if this guy has a faith, the book was written about authenticity – not about the Church - but, lets ask ourselves, “If my church practiced these things – would it be attractive to others”?

 

#1.  Real means ethical – we have some great social justice campaigns in the Church, we need to strive for ethical living – but also ethical governance of all things “church” . . .

 

#2.  Real means natural – got that forced smile on for church?

 

#3.  Real means honest – we need to wake up!  Honestly, we are in trouble (church growth etc, generations missing) we also need to acknowledge when we make mistakes . . .

 

#4.  Real means simple – do we make it hard for people to join?  How many hoops do people have to jump through before they “belong” in your church . . . ?

 

#5.  Real means unspun – ha, ha!  Do we spin our numbers, our influence, our engagement . . . ?

 

#6.  Real means sustainable – how many “pet projects” can the church get involved in over the course of one year, there is a new fad, new expectation, new national initaitve from somewhere in the Church every other week it seems . . . we can’t do ALL these things, what will we DO that we can sustain – we WILL sustain what we really value, maybe that is why so much in the church comes and goes . . .

 

#7.  Real means beautiful – what is this about?  Well, so much of design is about function – purpose.  Have you noticed how “new build” churches could be any kind of community building?  You look in an ancient church, high up – where nobody can see there are intricate designs, amazing pieces of work . . . these artists, architects and designers were not doing it to show off to the congregation . . . they were making and creating (sometimes for YEARS before they finished) to the glory of God.  What, about our places of worship inspires awe and wonder . . .

 

#8.  Real means rooted – This is a hard one, we live in a transient culture – with people who move around A LOT – but we need rooted leadership, rooted volunteers, rooted groups and activities . . . we need to change the culture of volunteering for a couple of years with youth work and then doing something else – lets be rooted in each others lives, and together rooted in Christ (Ephesians 3 says, “rooted / established in love” . . . this is in Christ, but we are also a body living in community . . . – I believe that greater commitment to the place we are IN will bear fruit in our own lives and the lives of those we seek to reach with the light of the Gopsel.

 

#9.  Real means three-dimensional – Real experience has depth, a book a few years ago was called “The McDonaldization of the Church” (check it here) – in this book John Drane is concerned that we have created a homorgenous kind of experience . . . worship, liturgy, preaching etc . . . where is the light and shade?  where are the dimensions where we can plumb the depths . . . ?  Where can we honestly wrestle with stuff that makes NO sense? 

 

#10. Real means human - I am writing a blog, I will tweet about it – it will then appear on my Facebook page and on my Linkedin network . . . others might comment (or not) , all this can be done with no human contact.  I believe social media is a great tool for communicating with each other, sharing ideas etc – but NOTHING can make up for actual human contact.  If we can reach millions with our profound thoughts online about the importance of relationships – but struggle to make eye contact or string a sentace together with someone in front of us – we have LOST what it means to be real. 

 

Finally, at the end of this great, great book, David Boyle recommends things that organisations can do in this “age of authenticity” . . . this is also great stuff – think about your own context.  Would trying to do these things, or thinking about them – make your light shine more brightly and more naturally?

 

#1.  Make it personal.  Who are we aiming at?  The more local, the more specific, the more we are likely to connect with people . . . you might NEED to run a bunch of small groups for young people that 4-6 attend rather than do a “one youth group” for all model.  The days are gone when we had 100 on the register and 95 turned up every week.

 

#2.  Maximise human contact.  Quantity is just as important as quality.  I have two amazing daughters, it matters when I get home if we play together . . . but, just as important to them in terms of their sense of peace about their world is my “being there”.  In the house, around, bumping into eac other . . . contact is contact – it counts – whether we are “doing something” together or not.  It also means they see me just being “me”, not just trying to be “super dad” . . . our young people in our churches, youth groups need to just be around us and we need to be around them.

 

#3.  Split up the organisation.  This is a challenge for the church – I don’t just mean lets all worship together – I mean with the para church organisations, some of the national initatives that the BIG players insist we are all “in on” . . . meanwhile, in the world that has moved on . . . localism is THE agenda, more local, more geographical, more specific.  Unity is not found in us all being the same, or all agreeing – unity is found in BEING in Christ.  It is not a state we bring about.  Yet there is a persistant call to “join” to be seen to be “united” in specific acts.  Some of this is good . . . but, why is it that we have not seen (in predominantly white churches) churches with 10,000 plus in this country?  Well, in many other nations a whole church may never get together . . . there a re loads of pastors and leaders released to effectively lead “mini churches”, we are not geared up for that – but, also, we have not dealt with some of our issues to do with controlling power . . . lets “split” and see more happen, lets plant and see more grow . . .

 

Boyle mentions a load more things . . . get the book!

 

Final, final thought . . . God lived an authentic life on earth, He came and actually lived, He sought out – understood and encouraged human contact among his followers – He didnotencourage them to disappear up their own backsides arguing over theological differences . . . in his calling of the 12, he tried to bring someauthenticityback to the people of Israel – this so called “light to the nations”, who had lost their way . . . God then died a real, actual, horrible death – God suffered, really suffered.  God died.  God was then ressurected.  Actually, came back to life.  In the risen body the marks of death remained as an authentic reminder of what had gone before.

 

We need to live deep, real, authentic lives – we need to live those lives together, we need to recognise that SO MANY people in our society – especially so many of our young people are after something – ANYTHING – real, authentic and life giving.

 

Lets bring the LIGHT.

#lumen 2 Generosity and the Green, Green Grass . . .

This is the second of my #lumen blogs in advance of Youth Work – The Conference, this time I am thinking about the light of generosity . . . .

The Green, Green grass of home . . . this is the title of a country and western song from the 60s, reprised only a few years ago by the likes of Tom Jones and Katherine Jenkins . . . in the song, a man returns home after being away for a long time . . . welcomed with open arms by friends and family, a place of peace and tranquillity. But, being a country and western song – it isn’t quite that simple – the man awakes abruptly to discover it was all a dream – he is in a prison cell and it is execution day . . . he will only be near the green, green grass of home when he is buried 6 feet under it.
What DOES this have to do with the Church? Well, there is something incredibly parochial about the grass of home – it implies “My” home, “My” grass. I had not started thinking about grass and the church at all . . . until I saw a tweet from a fairly famous church leader in the UK – the tweet was this quote:

“The Grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence; the grass is greener where you water it”

This is a well known saying, cliché even – but, rather than relationships per se, I want to apply it to the church – because I think we have some serious problems with how we understand the Kingdom, unity and generosity!

1. Church Envy. “The grass is greener over there” because we cannot help but compare our church to the one up the road, the one in the neighbouring town, the one on the other side of the planet – global communication has not helped us in this – it has only made it worse. James Dobson once said (I don’t quote him often, but this is SO true), “Comparison is the root of all inferiority.” He is bang on with that one. We need to ask ourselves, what on earth we are doing comparing ourselves to another part of the body of Christ in the first place?

2. Church Fences. “The other side of the fence” we LOVE our fences, whether they are theology, practice, gender, geography, our “special” network of people who agree with us . . . maybe it stems from our English thing – our home is our “castle” – we shut the door and shut the world out, our little haven . . . I blame the old chorus . . . “Jesus bids us shine . . . you in your small corner and I in mine.” We like our small corners (is a small corner the best place to shine? I thought we were supposed to be a city on a hill where everyone can see . . . )

3. Church Resources. “Where you water it” this is a sneaky one . . . when we go “out” from our own churches do we take a watering can? Do we seek to water the ground wherever we are? I see this a lot – incredibly resourced churches – can I say almost obscenely resourced? They can sometimes be next to a church that is struggling, would love to work together with churches in the same town, community . . . but the “big” church has all the resources and – whilst it generously gives to those in need on the other side of the world – there is a struggle to work together in the town. This is two edged some big churches are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. On the one hand, if big churches focus their efforts on their own stuff (including things they support far, far, away) they get criticised for being “elitist” “aloof” and too “into themselves” – if they want to get involved in local ministry with other churches they can also get criticised for wanting to “own it” and thinking they are the “answer”. It can be a “no win” situation, because of everybody’s attitude – not just the big church. We also need to remember that the Church that Jesus sees is not the one that we have “partitioned” into little plots of land to be independently of each other tilled, sown and reaped. Yet, that is often what we do . . . whilst our neighbour has no water, so their grass is brown . . . or they have no grass, just baked dirt.

Lumen – Generosity! One of the aspects we will explore at the Conference in November is how we can be a generous church . . . this for me is the killer questions – if we cannot be good news for each other within the body of Christ – HOW do we hope to be a “light to the nations” . . . this little phrase, did not get nullified with the New Covenant – it does not just relate to the people of Israel – it SO relates to us! To the Church! To the Body of Christ, in preparation . . . I don’t know if there is going to be a glorious hen party in heaven before the day we finally get wed to Christ – but what I am pretty sure of is that there won’t be a whole bunch of different parties . . .

What should be the implications for our Youth work? Well, this is where I think that youth work often is (and can be GOOD NEWS) . . . our young people often are not fussed about the little strips of grass that we call “our church”, they are not massively bothered (unless we have indoctrinated them) with whether they grow up Anglican, Catholic, Evangelical . . . young people I meet who are passionate about Christ simply want to follow HIM!

Good things then:

• Youth Work done together in community, across churches, often tackles the “envy” stuff. IF area and community work is entered into with the right heart and spirit, and young people KNOW they are loved by their “home” churches . . . I have not seen many instances of where they leave to go to the glitzy big church up the road . . . unless of course that is where the youth leader would rather be!

• Youth Work done in schools across an area deals with so much of the disunity – it makes no sense to “big up” Christian Unions and Christian Lunch Time clubs . . . if as soon as young people are not in school we get funny about them meeting together – our young people are growing up, cheek by jowl, in schools with young people from other churches. DEAL WITH IT!

• Youth Work is a multi-disciplinary thing. We all have gifts and talents, but no ONE church has a monopoly on what young people need and what young people will value as they grow in faith – it is critical (for their sake) that we do stuff together, share resources and encourage every church in our local community equally. When (and if) young people choose to go to University at the other end of the country . . . will they find the “green, green grass of home?” NOTHING looks quite like your local church . . . you know what I am talking about! If our young people know nothing else, they won’t find a mirror image of what they have grown comfortable with in the same village never mind in Yorkshire!

Psycho Church . . . final thought

Envy, Fences, Resources, these attitudes undermine our spiritual and mental health. They lead us to turn away from the main task of life which is to follow Christ now, where we are, in what we are doing, by the grace of God, until He moves us on (either to somewhere else in this world – or the next). By denying the goodness of God in our very own lives, churches, youth work, we believe a lie – that we have nothing good to work with nor the capacity to work with it. We lose focus, confidence, and hope. A hope not in ourselves or our abilities or our church – but in Christ who is the Head . . . we forget – when we look at our own church navel that there is ONE church, ONE faith, ONE hope . . .

Psychoanalysts spend a lot of time trying to help their patients re-orient themselves to dealing with the life that they have. At first, this can feel very deflating. BUT, just like they must bust the myth that we can have someone else’s life, someone else’s castle, and someone else’s lawn – we need to bust the myth that we can have someone else’s church.

There is no “my church” “their church” . . . there is “The Church”. If we could grasp this . . . WOW what a light that would bring to every nook and cranny of our country!

Lumen Blog #1 Echoes in Eternity

The theme for this year’s Youth Work The Conference is “Lumen” . . . basically, LIGHT!  Once a month (maybe sometimes more) I am going to reflect on the theme and lob up a blog . . . read along if you like – but – more importantly, join us in November for the Conference!

As I get older, I am challenged more and more to ask myself this question, “how can I live a significant life that makes a difference to others and pleases God?”  When we are young, I think it is natural to want to be good at stuff, to prove ourselves . . . to BE the difference OURSELVES – but the reality is, the more people we can point to Jesus – the greater our impact will be, as we grow we should move away from a childish incentive of “look at me, look what I did!” to, “look, look at Jesus.” You might think I am being daft at 43 to be thinking about my legacy . . . but, hey – how will I be remembered?  Will it have made a difference that I was EVER here . . . well, WILL IT?

In his “Confessions” St Augustine describes how he heard the voice of a child singing “Take up and read, take up and read” – Augustine, who at the time was in great turmoil, took this as a message from God to read the scriptures – Augustine became one of the most significant theologians in Church history, but we know nothing else about the child. Yet, what an impact they had – and they probably never knew it!  When Christ gets the glory, and NOT US, the Angels rejoice!

Do you know who may have had the greatest impact on evangelism in the western world in the 20th Century?  Well, his name was Mordecai Ham (WHO?) . . . well, it was at a revival meeting where Ham spoke that a young man called Billy Graham gave his life to the Lord.  When we do what we do, and in doing it – we point others to Christ, we have no idea sometimes what the outcome will be – but when Christ gets the glory and NOT US, the Angels rejoice!

There was a guy called Rees Howells, he led revivial meetings in Wales . . . (get his biography and READ it, “Intercessor”), anyway . . . he was leading these meetings and God was doing amazing things . . . he had a colleague who did these meetings with him, but the guy who got the Kudos, the guy who got noticed, the guy they came up to, the “Christian celebrity” of these amazing times with God was Howells.  God then spoke to Howells and told him not to come to the meetings anymore, but that God planned to raise up his friend – God told Rees more amazing things would happen, if he stopped coming to the meetings, stayed in his room and prayed for the meetings . . . nobody was to know.  I don’t know whether in his mind the verse “He must increase, I must decrease” (John 3:30) was bouncing around . . . but, I would have argued with God if it was me. 

“You know God, I am happy – obviously – for YOU to increase, I mean, that is the whole point of the verse isn’t it.  I can’t see that it means my FRIEND . . . I’m carrying that guy – he would be NOTHING without me . . . er, oops, OK Lord, I get it.” 

Well, Rees Howells got it and did what the Lord said . . . the meetings went crazy!  Nobody knew what the score was with Howells, but the limelight was gone – it wasn’t being shone on Him anymore . . . when Christ gets the glory and NOT US – the angels rejoice! 

Maximus (played by Russell Crowe) speaks these lines in the epic film “Gladiator”, “What we do in life – echoes in eternity.” This simple but profound statement draws me to Philippians chapter 2 verses 12 – 16. Paul speaks of us “shining like stars in the universe” – what a powerful picture! Our nearest star, other than our own sun is some 40 trillion kilometres away. Many of the stars we “see” in the night sky are long dead, it is only now that we are seeing their light – in the same way, we may never see the impact of our own lives, but we can be assured that what we do in this life will “echo in eternity”.

This lighting the way for others, and being a light for Christ is NOT, fundamentally about ministry or the work that we do for the Lord . . . it is about the WHOLE life we choose to live.  Words can have sparkle if we are a great communicator . . but they grow dim and lose their shine if our lives do not match what we say.  Also, being a light for the short time we are here on earth is not about streaking across the sky in a blaze of our own glory . . . it is not BIG things we do that – when we point to them make others feel small – that make the difference.  It IS the small things we do (every day, the small decisions – moment by moment that are the fruit of the Spirit . . . a bit more love expressed, joy overflowing, peace in our words with others, patience with a difficult situation, kindness in the face of dislike, the goodness we repay others with when they have not been good to us, faithfulness in the small mundane, ordinary things of life, gentleness in the face of agression and self control in our weaknesses) . . . we might be the littlest light – but light is LIGHT!  

We might feel we are not in a position to cross continents to make a difference to the lives of others – but we can cross our own street! You and I, choosing to live differently right where we are could be all the difference to a neighbour or a friend. Living for Jesus Christ, is living counter-culturally, rather than living to be “centre stage”, and seek the glory for ourselves – we live, work, rest and play – mostly, behind the scenes, and with the hope that the glory will go to Jesus. Many of us never have an audience of thousands. What will make the biggest difference, to our lives, and the lives of others – is to live out our lives for the audience of one.

Think about that one small thing you could do, right now – you just never know what impact it might make, not just now – but for eternity.

Circle of Engagement

OK, just finished a series of three sessions with some churches in Mid Sussex (five churches represented, from Scaynes Hill, Wivelsfield, Cuckfield, Balcombe and Barcombe).  Going backwards, I am going to post some information about what we covered, and some details about where you might find resources / useful stuff for work with children and young people.

Our third session, just done this last Tuesday, looked at what I have termed “The Cicle of Engagement” (see picture) - now it is not easy to paint a picture, briefly, of all the work that can and should be going on with and for young people. 

However, having some kind of shape does enable churches to see just how much is possible – or actually, in some cases realise how much they might already be doing without realising it. 

The circle, whilst having numbers from 1 – 6 is not intended to be linear – in fact, increasingly, I would say that young people might “engage” anywhere.  Joining in with great passion and committment for example with acts of service when they do not yet know Jesus . . . whilst some young people who have grown up knowing God from an early age can be apathetic about putting their faith to work for others. 

The numbers differentiate aspects of work, they do not denote “growth” or development.  What is challenging for the Church in general, is how little is done “together” (6) . . . this is work that I think every church can do – whether they have young people or not, or whether they have anyone to work with young people or not – they can pray for other churches nearby, they can communicate with each other about activities and – as we saw a few years ago with Hope 08, “do” stuff together for entire towns, villages, communities etc. 

A prime example of this would be a Holiday Club.  I see very little reason why churches would not do holiday clubs together, why plough in a shed load of people and resources on your own – for one week a year – when the challenges, the planning, the music, puppets, upfront teaching, team, catering, publicity can be done together?  I am yet to hear of a church that has run a holiday club and then weeks later . . . has grown their children’s work significantly as a result.  The lack of working together is not because people are worried that others will “poach” the “fruit” . . . it just isn’t thought about. 

In the discussion at the training sessison we discovered just how diverse the work being done in these five churches is – there is so much going on, so much variety and so much good stuff.  It is great to get together with key people in the local church who are making stuff happen for young people in their churches and communities.

The other challenge for me as I look at the “Circle of Engagement” is what I have termed the “bridge” . . . this can be misunderstood – I do not necessarily mean a “bridge into Church”, in fact . . . I like to think that (regardless of where children and young people end up), that Vincent Donovan’s thought is paramount when we build bridges and consider what they might be bridges to . . . he said,

“In working with young people do not try to call back to where they were and do not call them to where you are as beautiful  a place as that may seem to you. You must have the courage to go with them to a place that neither you nor they have ever been before“, Vincent Donovan, Christianity Rediscovered

This was written, over 30 years ago . . . !  How relevant it remains for the Church today.  We could look at the “bridge” we are trying to build . . . whether it is a bridge to “our church”, “our way of doing things”, “our institution”, even – in the current climate, the way the church tries to get young people involved nationally in synodical structures and get them excited about being on committees . . . we NEED young people in these places to challenge, encourage and lead us – but this is not the bridge to LIFE!  Life is found in Christ, and when we look round our churches and institutions . . . we might find that Christ has “popped out” and is involved in something elsewhere whilst we discuss the colour of the radiators . . .

The Bridge then might lead to something completely fresh and new, not just for the young people – but for those who might travel that journey with them.  There are not many books about this kind of journey, but “Gospel Exploded”, by Bob Mayo is one of them . .. honest, funny in places – sad too.  It reflects the challenge and the joy od seeing God do something NEW.

As we work with young people who know nothing of Church and less about Jesus, are we ready for this kind of journey . . . ?  Anyay, the bridge is just one part of the whole thing . . . we also have children growing up in the church who might take a different path, we might suddenly have a young person present themselves at church looking for something . . . we cannot predict this stuff!  We just need to be ready, have SOME idea (vague though it might feel at times) of how it all hangs together . . . and trust that God is working his purposes out . . . with us, through us, in spite of us.

What is your circle of engagement like in your church?  Where are the gaps?  Where are the opportunities to work together with others?  What are the God opportunties that could transform your engagement?

 

What comes next?

Well, as you will have seen – on Monday the Bishop of Oxford (who is the Chair of the Board of Education) had to answer 13 questions raised by those concerned across the Church – my previous post to this one details the response to the questions.

I remain deeply concerned and was not reassured by the answers. However, a couple of plus points:

1. The title ‘Going for Growth Advisor’ looks like it will be dispensed with after a strong call that we do not lose ‘children’ and ‘youth’ from the title of national posts.

2. The establishment of a ‘reflection group’, whilst not a stop – is a pause.

3. Decision in March gives breathing space for us to continue to ask questions and engage as much as we can (by we, I mean myself and other diocesan youth officers and children’s work advisers who are concerned).

What next then.

Well, thank you again if you signed the petition – it did its job in raising the profile of what is happening, got mentioned in the questions at General Synod, and communicated that the concern extends far beyond a few disgruntled DYOs!

A number of DYOs and CWAs are going to try and meet with the Chief Education Officer and possibly the Reflection Group mentioned by the Bishop in his answers at Synod.

The place to take this forward, is through face to face communication (as it is communication that has been lacking).

I will link to this page in a message to all who signed the petition, and keep anyone interested up to speed as we seek to engage and have conversations with those who are making these decisions.

The blog has had more activity in the last week than I think it has in rest of the time it has been ‘up’ put together. I have got the bit between my teeth with some of the challenges we face as the church and will aim to blog more often on those things – I don’t, however, want to generate heat with no light (dimly ranting in a corner), so please keep me on track with what I write and how I write it.