I love so much of the convenience of twenty-first century living. I have just traveled from one side of the world to the other in under a day, entertained by a choice of up to a thousand movies and still able to keep in contact with family and friends by facebook, text and mobile as I went. But I have a nagging doubt.
The possibilities for the gospel today are incredible. This year will take me across five continents working on youth ministry strategies, and most continents a few times over. Then when at home, most days I'm making lunch time SKYPE calls sharing ideas and making plans with guys either just getting up or going to bed. And of course every week I'm uploading stuff like this and getting emails from folk in the most unlikely corners of the world. And that's just my little world. The more I hear about the more that's going on, the more excited I get. Surely this is the generation when we can realistically take the gospel to every living soul, and see Christ return. But....
I do have a nagging doubt. It's not the carbon emissions deal. Believe it or not the lifestyle Melissa and I live, means our footprint is lower than the average. My concern is less what we're doing to our world, and more what our world is doing to us. When I see national Christian leaders on their laptops and blackberries emailing through worship sessions, I wonder whether technology is our servant or our master. When I see young leaders twittering every feeling before they've had the chance to process it, I wonder whether their decisions are based less on reflection and more on impression. When I see young people avoiding the sounds of silence behind their Ipods, I wonder whether there is any space left for God's still small voice. Can He get a word in edgeways?
Tomorrow I go off line for a week or so as I drive into the Aussie outback. I can't wait. I'm excited about going back to a simpler way of life, where I can know my Father in the stillness. Would I want to live here? Probably not. Can I find a way to live intimately and deeply with my Father in our crazy instant and superficial world? I sincerely hope so.
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
Using the four letter word
Never have I been so passionate about reaching young Europeans for Christ. Never have I believed more in the power of God to do it. And yet never have I felt quite so pessimistic about achieving it.
I shouldn’t. I’m just back from a wonderful time with some wonderful guys in Upper Austria. I love Austria. I love the heart of the Christian teens and young adults, and was really inspired by some of things going down there. And of course there are glimmers of hope across Europe. On the whole though, they are just cameo shots. Largely it would appear that the church cares little about the lost-ness of this generation. Rather most seems to live in fear of upsetting the secularists and perhaps the Islamists. And quite honestly even if everyone was on their side, many wouldn’t want to compromise their comfortable lifestyles to take on a task of the magnitude of pillaging hell.
There I said it. I used the four letter word which is universally declared an obscenity within and without the church in Europe. Yep, I still believe in hell. I know most Bible believing Christians don’t these days. Or if they do, they don’t admit or live as though they do. But I do. Mainly because I believe in heaven. Not the sort of heaven evangelicals talk about these days: good decent tolerant middle class living boosted by podcasts, TV sermons and books on self-improvement with a little help from a friendly deity. No! Rather the uncompromisingly awesome version, which reflects the old fashioned absolutes of a perfect God. That is not a god who is quite nice and modern in His toleration of different ideologies, however flawed, bearing in mind that we’re all victims of some greater evil and therefore need to be given the benefit of the doubt. Rather a God who accepts nothing less than perfection in His heaven, and that includes us; but will go to any length, even the cross, so that we can know perfection, heaven and ultimately Himself.
Yes I believe in a gloriously loving God, who desires nothing less than absolute glory for us. Therefore however uncomfortable it may be to believe it, admit it and particularly live according to it: I also believe in hell. I believe that telling kids they’re special and then not telling the gospel is like serving hot drinks to the passengers as the boat goes down. Yes, you can get government funding for that. Bluntly even Satan would fund that. And yes, if you stop reading your Bible, you can even feel good about it. But ultimately it’s useless. Only the small bits of the church which get this sobering truth will be at all effective and even relevant today.
I shouldn’t. I’m just back from a wonderful time with some wonderful guys in Upper Austria. I love Austria. I love the heart of the Christian teens and young adults, and was really inspired by some of things going down there. And of course there are glimmers of hope across Europe. On the whole though, they are just cameo shots. Largely it would appear that the church cares little about the lost-ness of this generation. Rather most seems to live in fear of upsetting the secularists and perhaps the Islamists. And quite honestly even if everyone was on their side, many wouldn’t want to compromise their comfortable lifestyles to take on a task of the magnitude of pillaging hell.
There I said it. I used the four letter word which is universally declared an obscenity within and without the church in Europe. Yep, I still believe in hell. I know most Bible believing Christians don’t these days. Or if they do, they don’t admit or live as though they do. But I do. Mainly because I believe in heaven. Not the sort of heaven evangelicals talk about these days: good decent tolerant middle class living boosted by podcasts, TV sermons and books on self-improvement with a little help from a friendly deity. No! Rather the uncompromisingly awesome version, which reflects the old fashioned absolutes of a perfect God. That is not a god who is quite nice and modern in His toleration of different ideologies, however flawed, bearing in mind that we’re all victims of some greater evil and therefore need to be given the benefit of the doubt. Rather a God who accepts nothing less than perfection in His heaven, and that includes us; but will go to any length, even the cross, so that we can know perfection, heaven and ultimately Himself.
Yes I believe in a gloriously loving God, who desires nothing less than absolute glory for us. Therefore however uncomfortable it may be to believe it, admit it and particularly live according to it: I also believe in hell. I believe that telling kids they’re special and then not telling the gospel is like serving hot drinks to the passengers as the boat goes down. Yes, you can get government funding for that. Bluntly even Satan would fund that. And yes, if you stop reading your Bible, you can even feel good about it. But ultimately it’s useless. Only the small bits of the church which get this sobering truth will be at all effective and even relevant today.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Telling the truth
A few weeks back a group of seasoned European youth leaders met in Barcelona. It is always hard leading such a group together because egos can limit how deep you actually get. So we took a radical approach, and decided the first session would be sharing our biggest failures! It was utterly liberating. As Jesus said: The truth shall set you free.
Why are we so scared of truth? We spend so much of our time avoiding it, that we finally reach a point where we wouldn’t recognise truth if it bit us on the butt. “What is truth?” said the tired politician, not realising his cynical aside would reverberate through 2000 years of history. It has been the question for every age but ours has a particularly peculiar take on it.
What is truth? The tolerant European says it is what each person wants it to be. The patriotic American can be more dogmatic provided it doesn’t impact homeland security or their forces overseas. The African is the most dogmatic though not necessarily the best informed. Truth in Australia is often exaggerated but normally with a twinkle in the eye. And anyone who says he knows what an Asian really thinks about anything, let alone truth, is lying. But those are the common stereotypes, not truth?
Then again in the Christian world, its as bad. “Its all good, praise God!” is the cry, when obviously it isn’t. Jesus positively encourages us to mourn… just like He did! And Biblical characters are brutely honest. If we can’t be honest, who can be? Truth can set us free. In fact if only Pilate could have seen it: the truth was standing right there before his eyes. When Jim Carey in Liar Liar was forced to tell the truth at all times, his life was turned upside down. Ours would be too. They would be shaken and probably fall apart. But then from a place of brokenness, our Father could rebuild us as we were meant to be, or as He puts it: righteous and true.
The honesty session I was a part of in Barcelona truly did set us free. It allowed us to be real with one another, touch real issues and know a real touch from God. I’m now in Wales meeting one of those guys from Holland, dreaming dreams from a place of trust, we’d never have reached so quickly if we hadn’t dropped our guard.
The truth is the question we need to ask is not: What is truth? Truth is out there. The true question is: Do we want to know it? “Truth”, said Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men: “You can’t handle the truth.” But what if we could? How would a reality of faith change our lives for starters?
Why are we so scared of truth? We spend so much of our time avoiding it, that we finally reach a point where we wouldn’t recognise truth if it bit us on the butt. “What is truth?” said the tired politician, not realising his cynical aside would reverberate through 2000 years of history. It has been the question for every age but ours has a particularly peculiar take on it.
What is truth? The tolerant European says it is what each person wants it to be. The patriotic American can be more dogmatic provided it doesn’t impact homeland security or their forces overseas. The African is the most dogmatic though not necessarily the best informed. Truth in Australia is often exaggerated but normally with a twinkle in the eye. And anyone who says he knows what an Asian really thinks about anything, let alone truth, is lying. But those are the common stereotypes, not truth?
Then again in the Christian world, its as bad. “Its all good, praise God!” is the cry, when obviously it isn’t. Jesus positively encourages us to mourn… just like He did! And Biblical characters are brutely honest. If we can’t be honest, who can be? Truth can set us free. In fact if only Pilate could have seen it: the truth was standing right there before his eyes. When Jim Carey in Liar Liar was forced to tell the truth at all times, his life was turned upside down. Ours would be too. They would be shaken and probably fall apart. But then from a place of brokenness, our Father could rebuild us as we were meant to be, or as He puts it: righteous and true.
The honesty session I was a part of in Barcelona truly did set us free. It allowed us to be real with one another, touch real issues and know a real touch from God. I’m now in Wales meeting one of those guys from Holland, dreaming dreams from a place of trust, we’d never have reached so quickly if we hadn’t dropped our guard.
The truth is the question we need to ask is not: What is truth? Truth is out there. The true question is: Do we want to know it? “Truth”, said Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men: “You can’t handle the truth.” But what if we could? How would a reality of faith change our lives for starters?
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Immigration: A Christian's Response
It normally doesn’t take long after an American Christian finds out we’re European that his or her voice is lowered to a very un-American level and we’re asked: Is it true that Europe is becoming an Islamic Republic? My response tends to be that I’m more worried by secular humanism than Islam. But that just confuses most of my American friends. The post Christian world is not one they easily get. They think they do, but they don’t. To be elected US President you still need to share your conversion story. To be elected in Europe, it is safer to keep God right out of the picture.
But then I’m not sure us Europeans get the true challenges and opportunities of Europe either. For instance what’s the deal with the Muslim migration into Europe? Is it such a bad thing, as most Christians, American or European seem to suggest?
I’m a Londoner, but my city isn’t the one I grew up in. It used to be capital of the UK, now it’s a capital of the world. On our way to Mission-net we stopped in Brussels, which started off as the capital of Belgium, then became the capital of Europe and now perhaps is also capital of Islamic Europe. You can see why Americans tourists heading back home to the range, get alarmed. But are they right? I want to give eight reasons why I think the Muslim migration could be a good thing, and then would love your feedback on it,
1. It makes us Christians ask some fundamental questions. Such as: What do we really stand for? The fact we don’t see secular humanism as such a threat suggests it isn’t so much the gospel the European church is committed to but our European lifestyle, which Islam often rightly challenges.
2. It offers us Christians real opportunities. For years we’ve sent missionaries to the world, now the world has come to us.
3. It makes Muslims ask some fundamental questions too. We assume Islam will defeat secularism. But it could work the other way around. It did so with much of the church, and we’re supposed to have the Spirit of God!
4. It actually gives us an ally in the battle against creeping secularism! I know it may not look like it but we quite possibly have more in common with Muslims than your average humanist bureaucrat!
5. It makes the secular authorities take faith groups seriously, and that includes us.
6. It is a Biblical command to take care of the foreigner and alien in our land.
7. Ironically the gospel is bearing more fruit under the harsh conditions of the Islamic world than the supposedly easier conditions of secular Europe. Perhaps the only way to re-evangelise Europe and America is for us to be shaken out of our complacency.
8. What if God is actually behind this migration for His purposes? We need to be very careful before we oppose something which could be of Him. Instead of being His body to carry out His will and heart, we could find ourselves opposed to Him.
Of course immigration challenges us. I don’t like a lot of the changes I’m seeing in my city. I don’t like some of my values being discarded. But I do think we need to take a positive view. The Christian migrants have brought life and faith to cities like London and Brussels. The Muslim migrants have brought tremendous opportunities for mission right to our doorsteps. And that is exciting if you’re committed to mission.
But then I’m not sure us Europeans get the true challenges and opportunities of Europe either. For instance what’s the deal with the Muslim migration into Europe? Is it such a bad thing, as most Christians, American or European seem to suggest?
I’m a Londoner, but my city isn’t the one I grew up in. It used to be capital of the UK, now it’s a capital of the world. On our way to Mission-net we stopped in Brussels, which started off as the capital of Belgium, then became the capital of Europe and now perhaps is also capital of Islamic Europe. You can see why Americans tourists heading back home to the range, get alarmed. But are they right? I want to give eight reasons why I think the Muslim migration could be a good thing, and then would love your feedback on it,
1. It makes us Christians ask some fundamental questions. Such as: What do we really stand for? The fact we don’t see secular humanism as such a threat suggests it isn’t so much the gospel the European church is committed to but our European lifestyle, which Islam often rightly challenges.
2. It offers us Christians real opportunities. For years we’ve sent missionaries to the world, now the world has come to us.
3. It makes Muslims ask some fundamental questions too. We assume Islam will defeat secularism. But it could work the other way around. It did so with much of the church, and we’re supposed to have the Spirit of God!
4. It actually gives us an ally in the battle against creeping secularism! I know it may not look like it but we quite possibly have more in common with Muslims than your average humanist bureaucrat!
5. It makes the secular authorities take faith groups seriously, and that includes us.
6. It is a Biblical command to take care of the foreigner and alien in our land.
7. Ironically the gospel is bearing more fruit under the harsh conditions of the Islamic world than the supposedly easier conditions of secular Europe. Perhaps the only way to re-evangelise Europe and America is for us to be shaken out of our complacency.
8. What if God is actually behind this migration for His purposes? We need to be very careful before we oppose something which could be of Him. Instead of being His body to carry out His will and heart, we could find ourselves opposed to Him.
Of course immigration challenges us. I don’t like a lot of the changes I’m seeing in my city. I don’t like some of my values being discarded. But I do think we need to take a positive view. The Christian migrants have brought life and faith to cities like London and Brussels. The Muslim migrants have brought tremendous opportunities for mission right to our doorsteps. And that is exciting if you’re committed to mission.
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Is short term mission a good thing?
It has been interesting reading the responses to my recent blogs. Is short term mission a good thing? I think it is, when well done. A very good thing for everyone. But here are a few thoughts on some short term mission feedback:
The poor are always so happy and smiling. Well they may be, but our short visit is often little more than a snapshot, and we can all smile for a second for the camera. Behind the smiles is often real pain. It’s just that being good hosts, they want to put on a brave front.
Short term mission trips are a waste of money and more about the visitor than those we’re supposed to be helping. Again maybe. Sure some trips are little more than Christian vacations thinly disguised as mission to allow us to get others to fund them! Yet short term mission can achieve a lot if rightly focused and directed. My friends in Africa are dependent upon short term mission to do ministry and employ their teams. Otherwise they’d be dependent upon our hand outs! Teams who work with them are a huge help. They probably still get more than they give, but many, when they go home their lives are so changed, they become life long advocates of the needs of the majority world. We all serve one another. It’s the Lord’s way.
Everyone is so friendly. Guess what: maybe! They are! The problem is some for good reasons, others for less so. Beware girls being flattered by local guys more interested in cash or a passport than love. Particularly beware girls who aren’t used to being flattered, being flattered. All they hear is love, with the potential of exotic babies! The boys often have other outcomes in mind. At the end of the day, boys are boys the world over and girls girls. And Christian guys and girls aren't that different really. Nor necessarily are pastors! They are just more fluent in spiritual language to disguise their intentions.
We can make a difference. Undoubtedly yes, but…. Support needs to be channelled aright. Just as some short term mission doesn’t achieve as much as it should the same goes for much giving. For instance the world and his dog has realised the way to get cash is through child sponsorship and these schemes are popping up everywhere right now. Many of course are brilliant but not all are well regulated or managed, and my guess is some are less honourable. Probably at some point one of the less reputable will be exposed and then the reputable will suffer. Beware pumping cash into individual projects and people, without being prayerful and ensuring accountability. Be particularly careful about funding trips to the west. Our experience is that some benefit hugely. Most though end up staying and struggling to survive, instead of returning to thrive in ministry.
I really feel at home there! Well, just possibly maybe! I’ve visited Africa more times than I can count, and guess what: I’m still just a visitor. In fact the more I go, the more I realise my cultural limitations. I’m not an expert, which is why all my answers even to questions about short term mission are so qualified.
Please give short term mission a go. On the EEA21.eu site and icy.org.uk you'll find some videos and possible ways you can get involved. A good short term trip is life changing for everyone. Just make sure its good!
The poor are always so happy and smiling. Well they may be, but our short visit is often little more than a snapshot, and we can all smile for a second for the camera. Behind the smiles is often real pain. It’s just that being good hosts, they want to put on a brave front.
Short term mission trips are a waste of money and more about the visitor than those we’re supposed to be helping. Again maybe. Sure some trips are little more than Christian vacations thinly disguised as mission to allow us to get others to fund them! Yet short term mission can achieve a lot if rightly focused and directed. My friends in Africa are dependent upon short term mission to do ministry and employ their teams. Otherwise they’d be dependent upon our hand outs! Teams who work with them are a huge help. They probably still get more than they give, but many, when they go home their lives are so changed, they become life long advocates of the needs of the majority world. We all serve one another. It’s the Lord’s way.
Everyone is so friendly. Guess what: maybe! They are! The problem is some for good reasons, others for less so. Beware girls being flattered by local guys more interested in cash or a passport than love. Particularly beware girls who aren’t used to being flattered, being flattered. All they hear is love, with the potential of exotic babies! The boys often have other outcomes in mind. At the end of the day, boys are boys the world over and girls girls. And Christian guys and girls aren't that different really. Nor necessarily are pastors! They are just more fluent in spiritual language to disguise their intentions.
We can make a difference. Undoubtedly yes, but…. Support needs to be channelled aright. Just as some short term mission doesn’t achieve as much as it should the same goes for much giving. For instance the world and his dog has realised the way to get cash is through child sponsorship and these schemes are popping up everywhere right now. Many of course are brilliant but not all are well regulated or managed, and my guess is some are less honourable. Probably at some point one of the less reputable will be exposed and then the reputable will suffer. Beware pumping cash into individual projects and people, without being prayerful and ensuring accountability. Be particularly careful about funding trips to the west. Our experience is that some benefit hugely. Most though end up staying and struggling to survive, instead of returning to thrive in ministry.
I really feel at home there! Well, just possibly maybe! I’ve visited Africa more times than I can count, and guess what: I’m still just a visitor. In fact the more I go, the more I realise my cultural limitations. I’m not an expert, which is why all my answers even to questions about short term mission are so qualified.
Please give short term mission a go. On the EEA21.eu site and icy.org.uk you'll find some videos and possible ways you can get involved. A good short term trip is life changing for everyone. Just make sure its good!
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Living the dream
A Kenyan lady asked me a few days ago: “Do you think you are living your dreams?” I was quite taken aback. Really I hadn’t thought about it. She went on: “Travelling the world, serving God.” Her question bothered me for much of the rest of the day until I found the answer in the Kibera slum.
I’ve been here many times. Our chief African partner focuses the major part of their work here. It always impacts me but perhaps never as much as this visit. I was teaching self esteem to a group of 15 year olds in a run down shed in the centre of the slum. I love the subject. It’s always good to speak to a question you know the answer to! I explained what it meant to be a child of God, and together we unwrapped the significance of this. The most important title in Kenya might appear to be President or Prime Minister, but when a President dies his title dies too. When a child of God dies, it really is only just kicking off.
I had a young boy standing at the front of the class with me as I explained this, and suddenly had one of those God moments. You know when He gives you words, which are so profound you wish you’d thought of them. I put my arm around Phillip and said: “One day we will be standing shoulder to shoulder like this, before the Father in heaven, but not as a white English man and a black Kenyan boy, but just as children of God.” At that moment everyone in the class got it, and suddenly all the disparities of this world vanished before the throne of God.
I came away with my answer: Am I living my dreams? Yes. But not because I travel the world. Only because I have the opportunity to tell young people of their adoption into the family of God. African, European, American, it makes no odds. This is the most holy, privileged role I can imagine.
I’ve been here many times. Our chief African partner focuses the major part of their work here. It always impacts me but perhaps never as much as this visit. I was teaching self esteem to a group of 15 year olds in a run down shed in the centre of the slum. I love the subject. It’s always good to speak to a question you know the answer to! I explained what it meant to be a child of God, and together we unwrapped the significance of this. The most important title in Kenya might appear to be President or Prime Minister, but when a President dies his title dies too. When a child of God dies, it really is only just kicking off.
I had a young boy standing at the front of the class with me as I explained this, and suddenly had one of those God moments. You know when He gives you words, which are so profound you wish you’d thought of them. I put my arm around Phillip and said: “One day we will be standing shoulder to shoulder like this, before the Father in heaven, but not as a white English man and a black Kenyan boy, but just as children of God.” At that moment everyone in the class got it, and suddenly all the disparities of this world vanished before the throne of God.
I came away with my answer: Am I living my dreams? Yes. But not because I travel the world. Only because I have the opportunity to tell young people of their adoption into the family of God. African, European, American, it makes no odds. This is the most holy, privileged role I can imagine.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
A Chrisitan rite of passage for the twenty first century
Sorry to miss a week or so’s blogging. My excuse is a good one. Where I’ve been there was no running water or electricity, let alone internet. I’ve been living where most of the world lives: in the bush. And- for a few days at least- loving it. When all is good, it is good. You rise with the sun and go to bed with the moon. You eat what you grow and draw water from the well. You live in community with no distractions and few inequalities. It’s the sort of existence, most of the west works all its life for, in the hope that we may have just a few days right at the end like that: albeit when we’re too old and frail to really enjoy it!
Of course my idyllic picture doesn’t tell the whole story. When harvests fail, or sickness comes. When abuse strikes or potential goes unnoticed, then paradise is quickly lost. There is need here. Needs which we can serve, even as we learn from the simplicity of life we’ve lost.
And the truth is if we are serious about reaching this generation for Christ, then most youth still live like this, and we must serve them. There is a spiritual hunger out here. I’ve walked from school to school and occasionally hitched a lift on the back of a push bike. Wherever we went the whole school was quickly assembled to hear our message and we prayed for scores of kids. But all the time my mind was going to another place: to a time when we could have youth ministers based here and serving these kids with true on-going discipleship.
My gut feeling is that those who go will gain much more than they will give. Their lives will never be the same again. In fact I wonder if it should be something of a rite of passage for Christian young adults to spend time in the bush, a bit like Aboriginals go walk about. To be still and know that He is God. To have time to appreciate what really counts and gain a lifelong perspective, which will sow seeds of scepticism when materialism makes its dramatic claims.
Our world is changing so rapidly. As yet the village life isn’t, apart from the ubiquitous cell phone masts and soccer shirts. However who knows where we’re headed and what impact this will have on the rural majority. So taste now, and you’ll see what I mean.
Of course my idyllic picture doesn’t tell the whole story. When harvests fail, or sickness comes. When abuse strikes or potential goes unnoticed, then paradise is quickly lost. There is need here. Needs which we can serve, even as we learn from the simplicity of life we’ve lost.
And the truth is if we are serious about reaching this generation for Christ, then most youth still live like this, and we must serve them. There is a spiritual hunger out here. I’ve walked from school to school and occasionally hitched a lift on the back of a push bike. Wherever we went the whole school was quickly assembled to hear our message and we prayed for scores of kids. But all the time my mind was going to another place: to a time when we could have youth ministers based here and serving these kids with true on-going discipleship.
My gut feeling is that those who go will gain much more than they will give. Their lives will never be the same again. In fact I wonder if it should be something of a rite of passage for Christian young adults to spend time in the bush, a bit like Aboriginals go walk about. To be still and know that He is God. To have time to appreciate what really counts and gain a lifelong perspective, which will sow seeds of scepticism when materialism makes its dramatic claims.
Our world is changing so rapidly. As yet the village life isn’t, apart from the ubiquitous cell phone masts and soccer shirts. However who knows where we’re headed and what impact this will have on the rural majority. So taste now, and you’ll see what I mean.
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