When Jesus said 'The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, ask the Lord to send out workers' he wasn't kidding! There is opportunity in just about every direction, and in an area like the one I live in alot more housing is being physically built adding to the local possibilities.
I am convinced that our biggest need is workers. People who can live 'given lives' in the communities where they reside. With a rhythm and diet that weaves mission into their weekly routines, they will at the very least quietly bless the areas, but over time likely do much more.
It seems to me that we don't necessarily need buildings, nor do we need great top-down organisational structures (if we do things well), but we do need people overflowing with Christ centred hope, who have orientated their lives to be available for the task. People who know their calling, and confident of being sent.
Wednesday, 3 June 2015
Friday, 22 May 2015
Essential Ingredient: The Prophetic Voice for Today
Today, for anyone who is at least mildly bold, there is more opportunity than ever. Just take mission as one area: there are opportunities for mission short term, long term, locally, nationally, and abroad. Now in all departements life comes to us, bringing possibility and yet more opportunity. Couple that with an ever deeper sea of need, it is easy to see why we seem to feel exhausted much of the time!
We need discernment more than ever before. As well as having our eyes opened to possibilities, we need to learn to discern amongst those possibilities.
Fortunately God has promised to not leave us in the dark and speaks today. The Spirit poured out brings prophetic revelation (Joel 2/Acts 2). Amos 3:7 reassures that the Lord's plans will be revealed.
An oft-quoted verse is also Proverbs 29:18. Given in old translations as 'where there is no vision the people perish', but better translated in recent decades as 'Where there is no word from God, people are uncontrolled', or as The Message puts in 'If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves'!
The point is that we need prophetic revelation, God's word for us today. We need it at the level of the whole of society, to guide people's behaviour and stem the worst excesses. We need it together in the church for our direction and purpose. And we also need it as individuals, for leading in our own God-given calling.
Discernment, God's leading, God's voice. The New Testament makes a big deal out of prophetic gifting, even prioritising it over other gifts (1 Cor 14:1). When we think of the myriad choices we can make day on day, that this is an essential ingredient should not surprise us.
We need discernment more than ever before. As well as having our eyes opened to possibilities, we need to learn to discern amongst those possibilities.
Fortunately God has promised to not leave us in the dark and speaks today. The Spirit poured out brings prophetic revelation (Joel 2/Acts 2). Amos 3:7 reassures that the Lord's plans will be revealed.
An oft-quoted verse is also Proverbs 29:18. Given in old translations as 'where there is no vision the people perish', but better translated in recent decades as 'Where there is no word from God, people are uncontrolled', or as The Message puts in 'If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves'!
The point is that we need prophetic revelation, God's word for us today. We need it at the level of the whole of society, to guide people's behaviour and stem the worst excesses. We need it together in the church for our direction and purpose. And we also need it as individuals, for leading in our own God-given calling.
Discernment, God's leading, God's voice. The New Testament makes a big deal out of prophetic gifting, even prioritising it over other gifts (1 Cor 14:1). When we think of the myriad choices we can make day on day, that this is an essential ingredient should not surprise us.
Saturday, 11 April 2015
Connect the Grass-Roots to the Big Picture
We need grass-roots activism. It gets things done, it helps people in practical ways and in so doing makes a worthwhile point. Yes grass-roots activism is good.
We also need an enduring sense of the big picture, the overall direction, where it is all headed. This provides the underlying energy, the thrust, the drive that the grass-roots activism surely needs as its fuel.
The trick is to connect the two: grow the grass towards the light! Without that big picture vision the activism may win some victories, but down the line will be stunted and will not grow further.
I recently read how Martin Luther King did this connecting so well. Rolling up his sleeves he joined and led grass-roots actions that made very real difference on the ground. But he did it with a keen sense of Kingdom vision that he preached seamlessly with his rallying calls for action.
We are activists, with un-tiring energy, because of who we are in Christ - a Kingdom people attracted to Jesus and His Kingdom. So eager are we for this Kingdom that we will join Him in seeing it happen in our lives and neighbourhoods right now.
Soon Jesus will return in all His Kingdom glory, yes very soon. With it His ultimate perfection will land, making good every promise and finishing the transformation of every thing that delights to wait for it. Our grass-roots activism right now lights the very landing lights for this wonderful occasion.
We also need an enduring sense of the big picture, the overall direction, where it is all headed. This provides the underlying energy, the thrust, the drive that the grass-roots activism surely needs as its fuel.
The trick is to connect the two: grow the grass towards the light! Without that big picture vision the activism may win some victories, but down the line will be stunted and will not grow further.
I recently read how Martin Luther King did this connecting so well. Rolling up his sleeves he joined and led grass-roots actions that made very real difference on the ground. But he did it with a keen sense of Kingdom vision that he preached seamlessly with his rallying calls for action.
We are activists, with un-tiring energy, because of who we are in Christ - a Kingdom people attracted to Jesus and His Kingdom. So eager are we for this Kingdom that we will join Him in seeing it happen in our lives and neighbourhoods right now.
Soon Jesus will return in all His Kingdom glory, yes very soon. With it His ultimate perfection will land, making good every promise and finishing the transformation of every thing that delights to wait for it. Our grass-roots activism right now lights the very landing lights for this wonderful occasion.
Tuesday, 7 April 2015
Overcome Evil with Good
We live in a risk averse culture. So much so, that even Christians in their faith tend towards risk averse decisions, which potentially could curtail what would otherwise be good outreach.
The risk calculation is a complex one with many inputs and variables. A good question to ask is 'are we doing something that is basically good, simply blessing people'? If the answer is 'yes', with no strings attached, that ought to be good enough to trump a number of other factors.
The problem is that there is alot of bad out there. People and the general cultural perception may have been stung in the past by bad people doing bad things. This leads to restriction going forward: it can both make people averse to receiving that which is good, and also make us averse to trying to offer that which is good. The restrictions (explicit or implicit) factor into the soup of our risk calculation ... but sadly it means we might calculate and come to the wrong conclusion on a proposed activity.
The reaction to evil is to not be overcome by it, nor to simply bound it by living with restriction upon restriction. The answer is to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:2). Dispensing that good will mean taking a risk ... a risk in the face of both past evil and present evil. But if you are basically dispensing good, it will be a risk ultimately worth taking.
The risk calculation is a complex one with many inputs and variables. A good question to ask is 'are we doing something that is basically good, simply blessing people'? If the answer is 'yes', with no strings attached, that ought to be good enough to trump a number of other factors.
The problem is that there is alot of bad out there. People and the general cultural perception may have been stung in the past by bad people doing bad things. This leads to restriction going forward: it can both make people averse to receiving that which is good, and also make us averse to trying to offer that which is good. The restrictions (explicit or implicit) factor into the soup of our risk calculation ... but sadly it means we might calculate and come to the wrong conclusion on a proposed activity.
The reaction to evil is to not be overcome by it, nor to simply bound it by living with restriction upon restriction. The answer is to overcome evil with good (Romans 12:2). Dispensing that good will mean taking a risk ... a risk in the face of both past evil and present evil. But if you are basically dispensing good, it will be a risk ultimately worth taking.
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