The endgame of Grace

In the season of Advent, it is good to reflect on the sheer beneficence of God's grace: His favour, freely and willingly bestowed, in love and mercy. Salvation and redemption brought to us in unmerited goodness gifted by God. The Kingdom of God and the wonder expressed and expounded into humanity in the coming of Jesus Christ.

This does not diminish the need for repentance, though. The gift of God's blessing upon us is not the end of the process. God blesses in order to ignite us in His love and mercy. To awaken us to His love and power. To immerse us in the reality of holiness.

But such refreshing and unmerited blessing is not, in itself, the endgame. The endgame is our restoration to effective living as the sons and daughters of God. Transformation and maturity into Christlike conformity.  This is what we hope and wait for.

For restoration to be ushered in, in the face of grace, there need be repentance. Just as Christmas must be followed by Easter, before Pentecost. Repentance leads to Restoration.

Enjoy grace at Christmas. But don't give up on repentance. If you really want to know and see God's full restoration. For that is the endgame of grace.

Another type of taster!

my old pals (and some not so old!) in the Edinburgh baptist fraternal.

Good to visit again for Christmas lunch together

A taste

A beautiful flight from Glasgow to Orkney,  looking down over the snow clad mountains and glens of Scotland. Visiting this weekend Stromness and Westray baptist churches.

I am enthralled with Orkney. This is my second visit within weeks, having earlier spent a wonderful weekend with the church in Kirkwall.  I am deeply attracted to these islands where community is both tangible and meaningful. Where people know on another. And where, living on an island, they can't escape from one another!

On Saturday afternoon and on Sunday morning, I was in Stromness, on the south west of the mainland of Orkney. A community of 2,000 people where the leader of our Union church, James, is also the community councillor. A growing community church that has been there for 10 years. Where the church people are part of the community and where there is an integral, missional presence in the life of the community. People see how you live. People see what you do. This is witness.

In the evening, I took the Ferry to Westray and visited Gavin Hunter and our church there. A community of 600 peole. Again, the same issue of life and witness. a committed community of born-again believers who are thoroughly involved and integrated into the wider community.

This is a different life from life in the Central Belt. And witness takes different form. To see interviews with both James and Gavin, visit my Facebook account or YOUTUBE and my uploads under 'drjimpurves'.

New book

Looking for a good read? My new book, 'How Theology Became Nonsense', is published today on Kindle by Amazon. All you need is a Kindle, or download a free kindle reader. Ideal present for Christmas? Enjoy!

Do you prefer big or small?

Here is a great way of seeing that, whether we prefer large or small churches, there is a way of building church that works with small, basic units. Here is a great presentation I saw by Andrew Clarke at a conference a week ago.

Click on the link below. You may need to load afree, 'prezi' reader; but it's worth it. http://prezi.com/dehsvoul2tm8/what-did-the-early-church-do-and-where/?auth_key=75efeac5f576773e8e7a7a3fa494e292de6ea22b

Orkney

It's been great to spend the last two days visiting here, in Orkney. These island are north of the Scottish mainland, visited either by flight or a 6 hour ferry journey. I've been the guest of Don and Maggie Currie and church in Kirkwall. A great time.

On an island of 8,000 people, church has to be done a different way than on the mainland, where there are millions of people. Witness and mission leads to an emphasis on an integrity, depth of spirituality and a level of intentional relationality that is demanding.

All of us have to ask the question, 'what are we trying to do?' before asking the question, 'how to do it?'.

Convictional or Inspirational - or both?

There is a difference between Convictional and Inspirational gatherings or communities. Convictional Community - in its essential simplicity, if it is to be Christian, needs to be small. This does not mean that there cannot be larger gatherings. Nor does it mean there cannot be gathered groupings of smaller units. But for Christian faith to find participational development in the lives of people, creatively rooted in Christ, it requires gatherings of people that are small enough for meaningful relationships and reciprocal accountability to be expressed, developed and realised through experimental Christian living. Only then can the essential, virtue indicators of Christian community - such as love, forgiveness and compassion - be  shaped and driven by the presence of Christ in the midst; and lead to practical and developed expression through intentional, relational living. 

Inspirational gatherings are  important. They confront and challenge, calling for decision and dedication. They can refresh and even reorientate. But they are gatherings where good preaching is performance and distinguishable from real teaching that always requires tutoring and evaluative feedback. Jesus embraced the inspirational. But his relationship with disciples in shaping the DNA of church was built through developing convictional community.

There was a time when formal, church gatherings could operate as essentially inspirational gatherings, with their praise songs, prayers and preaching. These resourced the intentional relationality of local communities that really were seeking to live out their lives in a Christian way. Accountable communities, where people knew one another well.

But real life is more complex today. People live in fluid, flexible communities. It is good to have inspirational gatherings that  inspire. That challenge. Even entertain.  Yet the heart of church? The DNA needs to be worked out in accountable relationships. This is what discipleship is really about. And without such discipleship, we reduce Christian gatherings to a charade and a parody of what church is meant to be.

To be real, it must be relational.

Scottish Baptist Assembly 2012

A joy to be at a wonderful Baptist Assembly in Dundee: highly inspirational for the work of the Kingdom. So valuable to be there and part of a network of Christians committed to our common values.

So inspirational to have Chris Duffett, evangelist and president of the baptist union of Great Britain, with us. As Stephen Holmes remarked to me, Chris really has reinvented Street evangelism! But more than that - Chris embodies the vital essence that there is no Christian truth without love for people. Love is the imperative that, if missing, causes all else to be defiled. Sterile truth is no truth at all.

If you haven't seen his book, 'Big Hearted', you can get it on kindle. A really easy but really important read.

ειρηνην διωκετε μετα παντων και τον αγιασμον ου χωρις ουδεις οψεται τον κυριον Hebrews 12.14

'Pursue after peace with all; and being holy - without which no-one will see the Lord'

I hadn't noticed this, before. I'm reading Bryan Stone's seminal work, 'Evangelism after Christendom', where he points out the importance of having our eye on the goal. And of course, the goal is is the Peace, the שלומ, that comes in with the Kingdom of God. Of which we, as disciples of Jesus, are the harbingers and instruments of its revelation and invasion of this present time and Age.

Evangelism is a holy thing. It is the bearing of a presence, not merely a message. It begins with holiness and a fresh vision of Jesus. Start there. Born in His presence, become a bearer of Peace. Then you will have something worth sharing in words too.

Sounding Board

This weekend, it was good to be with the leadership of the Garioch Church, again to meet with them as part of their 'sounding board'. A great idea - to have a group of outsiders to the fellowship come to be used as a 'sounding board' over against what has been happening, what is being undertaken and what is being planned. To allow voices to come from the outside, whereby God might speak into the context of a local church.

This is a brave move to take, for any leadership group. And a good one too. It ensures that there is opportunity for God to use a voice that speaks with love and challenge. To be commended for any local church to implement.

Inspirational book

I have, in this final week of holiday, just concluded reading one of the best pieces of critical, theological research that I have read for a long time; and moreover, written by a man 22 years my junior. But there is a maturity and commanding width of perspective in this work that excites and engages me in a way that few do. The work I refer to is that of a  Weslyan Pentecostal scholar, Matthew K Thompson, whose revised doctoral dissertation has been published in the Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement Series under the title, 'Kingdom Come: Revisioning Pentecostal Eschatology' (Deo Publishing, 2010).

Few contemporary Christian writers meaningfully grasp and present the hope that is held out to us in the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Thompson masterfully demonstrates how that terribly misleading and ill conceived invention of J N Darby in 1830 - the 'pre-tribulation rapture of Christians' - tragically popularised in the Schofield Bible and the 'left behind' series of Christian fiction, has distorted both the Bible understanding of Salvation through Christ as well as our understanding of what it means to live by faith in Jesus Christ. But more importantly, Thomson outlines a simple and credible, whilst thoroughly Biblical, perspective which is insightful and helpful for those engages in teaching, preaching and reflecting on the nature of the end- times and the significance of biblical prophecy for today.

Don't be put off by the rather stuffy sounding title of the book. The content is food for your mind and balm for your soul. Buy it and read it carefully. The Bibliography and footnoted references are also excellent and a good resource for students of what the Bible can teach Christians about a future to hope and live for.

Get it through a library, if you can. Very expensive to buy.

Seeing Sinners

It is a great privilege getting to know pastors and congregations more here, in Bulgaria. The parallels with church life in Scotland are, not surprisingly, direct: for are not people everywhere those made by God to bear His image and reflect His likeness?

Men and women everywhere and anywhere are sinners who can be saved only by God's grace. And Christians are no exception: they are simply those sinners who have recognised that fact and who have also been told the Good News of Jesus Christ and gladly received it. How important that we don't lose sight of this. Pastors, elders, deacons, members: each one rotten to the core and capable of every sin imaginable, but that they find active support and aid from their Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

If only we could keep this fact in focus. Christians so easily forget that not one of us has or will, in this life, completed the journey and process of transformational sanctification that carries us into complete maturity and Christlikeness. When we do lose sight of this, our perspective on ourselves and our expectation of others becomes warped. Christian living requires that forgiveness be unconditionally proffered by each one of us to others again and again and again. The pain that comes from struggling egos, disappointment, accusation, betrayal - this is all part of embracing and accepting others in love.

a wee look: keeking

In the past few days here in Bulgaria, I have had opportunity to be at rest and to reflect, read and pray. This morning I was able to read through the wonderful section of Isaiah 40 - 66, which is key in both our grasping the early Christian understanding of Jesus and Jesus' own self-identity and, indeed, the message of the 'good news' that he proclaimed.

I think a reading of and reflecting on this 'mini-gospel' in Isaiah should be mandatory for the Bible student; for the person who seeks to grasp what God chooses to reveal to us in His Word and how we are to understand it. Both the prophecies of the Old Testament and the visionary teaching of Jesus and, indeed, the message of the Book of Revelation, are largely defined by what is here presented.

The first thing we are faced with  is what it is that God wants us to understand: that the height of knowledge for us in knowing more of Jesus. And after that? Still more of Jesus. This is why there is no 'keeking' over Jesus' shoulder to see what is really going to happen next in world history. For the answer is: yes, the final word from God for us to grasp is His Word is life in and with Jesus. Every prophecy, every pointer, wherever we look between Genesis and Revelation, takes us to gaze forward from the Old Testament times or backwards from the New Testament or in these present times towards the focus of our Saviour's Cross and Resurrection. The victory and resolution that is found in him and Him alone.

When God touches the lives of men and women, it is like a stone skimming across the water, jumping across the waves before it reaches its terminus. We sense the touch of God taking us forward. And then that taste, that foretaste, always takes us to gaze afresh of the mystery revealed to us through our being drawn to participate more in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Here isthe true understanding of biblical prophecy. When we grasp where it always leads us - and not to spurious timetables and convoluted theories of end-time scenarios - then we truly grasp the deeper meaning and power of its mystery made effective and outworked in our lives now.

Truth ain't always simple

Speaking to Ian Randall this morning, he managed to find me a wonderful quotation from C H Spurgeon (Sermons Vol 18, 1872) . In expounding the passage 2 Timothy 1.6, Spurgeon opines, 

'when we can find anyone who can confer some spiritual gift upon us, we will be glad to have their hands laid on our heads; but we don't care for empty hands ..... empty hands it seems to me are fitly laid on empty heads; but we don't care for empty hands'. So much for Spurgeon's thoughts on ordination!

Now, this is not a polemic against ordination. Although it is one reason why we don't promote ordination for all. Nor would I would follow Spurgeon here, but that is not the point. The truth out there is complex. Spurgeon was Reformed in many ways; but was complicated. This is what reality is like. This is why truth is met with us incarnate, in Jesus Christ

This is one of the important reasons for continued professional development for those who would lead others in the paths of Jesus. Not that they they become arrogant, but remain humble when faced with the reality of apparent paradox and deep, interpretative problems. Our Baptist Union must hold onto this reality: truth ain't always simple.

תּוֹרַת יְהוָה תְּמִימָה מְשִׁיבַת נָפֶשׁ

 תּוֹרַת יְהוָה תְּמִימָה מְשִׁיבַת נָפֶשׁ    

 Psalm 19.8 - The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul

One of the most damaging legacies of Darby's idosyncratic interpretation of Biblical prophecy, his consequent misreading of Paul's writing on 'Law' and his bifurgated distinction of dispensations of 'Law' and 'Grace', is the contradiction found among some in both stressing the authority of the Bible yet, perversely, dismissing the ethical teachings and imperatives of the Lord Jesus as irrelevant to the present dispensation - the 'dispensation of grace'.

This is so contrary to an integral reading of the Old Testament and the New Testament as complementary in presenting the full Word of God. 'Torah' is not simply rules and regulations now redundant in the face of God's mercy. It is 'instruction' in the full sense. Jesus gives full expression and realisation to all Torah, being the very embodiment of all that it is and represents for humanity. We need to hold on to all the precepts of God's Word. Grace unseasoned by Godly imperatives and instructions is not God's grace at all.

Discerning the Seasons

It is good to be back in Prague, mixing with colleagues and friends from across the world. It is good too that I can find access to the magnificent Christian library of IBTS, taking time to read and reflect.

I was struck by the devotions this morning in chapel, centring on Luke 5.33-35. There are times of 'feasting and drinking' in the Christian life, when the sheer joy of the Lord's presence and fellowship are overwhelmingly rich and abundant. But these do not last forever - nor should we seek to make them do so. If we do, we will create somethings false, which may well detract us and divert us from the path of faith.

There are also seasons of scarcity and difficulty when we must fast and seek the favour of the Lord again. 

The wisdom lies in discerning which season we are in. 

Mission Statements

I struggle a little over 'mission statements' for congregations. When people feel the need to mimic the commercial or business realm in the life of church. Honestly, I sometimes wonder why people can't just hold to the vision that Jesus calls us to! Here is a nice statement that comes from our church in Cumbernauld. Seems to hit the point.

Tuning in?

At CLAN, I had a very helpful chat with one of my long-standing friends who is a Church of Scotland minister, both a godly man and a very able theologian. He commented to me that all of us, as human beings, are like radio receivers in the spiritual realm. It’s all a matter of what we choose to tune into. What we focus upon. What our goal is.

I find this really helpful, not least because of its simplicity. A Christian is called to focus on Jesus. Tune into the Holy Spirit. Have as their goal the complete and full expression Kingdom of God among us. Hoping for the New Heavens and New Earth.

Nice and clear, eh?

CLAN Gathering @ St Andrews

CLAN in St Andrews has become the main Christian festival in Scotland, with some 1,500 people coming together for a week of activity. Our Baptist Union had a stall there this week, and many people gathered to speak to us and renew contacts as well as make enquiries regarding Mission and Ministry. A great networking event which - after all - is a large part of what we are all about. Its also exciting to see this major event focusing in in discipleship and mission, which is also what we are all about. Glory to God!

Pondering People

A great time of Prayer Retreat today for the Team at the Bield, in Perthshire. Three reflections to share:

1. For the pastor, there is a paradox in dealing with people. On the one hand people carry problems and pathologies. Their problems haunt and pathologies taunt.

But it is important to see people in the light of the cross and resurrection. That renewed in Christ and by the Holy Spirit, people renewed can flourish and all into the image of God in increasing beauty and splendour.

It is so easy for professionals,  used to working with and helping people, to become cynical and tired in the way we see them.  They can become problems to be managed and pathologies to be dealt with. But ultimately the best we can do is to bring people to the Cross of Christ, at a point that leads them through to Resurrection life.

We need to help people, in their barrenness, recognise the power of the Cross; to lead them into a remoulding and reforming to become those who flourish to the glory of God.

2. Transformation means the inevitable becoming of what we presently are not. This is the reality of metamorphosis: the caterpillar is transformed into the butterfly.

all that we see around us in the present age has a good purpose; but that purpose is regrowth, metamorphosis and flourishing and development into that which we do not yet see. As the place of God's rule grows within us, so too our ability to see temporality, transience and contingency in everything that is in the present.

3. Fulfilment lies in grasping the paradox of self-denial.

The greatest help we can be to one another is to encourage the search towards deeper obedience to God's rule; and to confirm the truth of the Scripture in what God is saying.

Yet disobedience is not the primary problem.  The greatest danger to ourselves is self-hate and the pathology of guilt. This we must die to, in order to find life abundant.

Whenever we lose this sense of paradox, there we lose something of the truth that is the way of Christ.

A good reason

Ovr the next few weeks I will be preaching on the value of being a baptist Christian. So here are some intitial thoughts.


I rejoice in the simplicity of baptism. The symbol of Christian baptism of the believer by full immersion in water, where the man or woman has come to recognise Jesus as the coming of God among us, cannot be overstated.


In some evangelism, there can be a great emphasis on the forgiving power of Jesus' death on the Cross. And this is absolutely right. With some others, the stress is on the Father's love for us. Essential. And for some , there is a stress on how Jesus can and does pour out the Holy Spirit into our lives. Amen!



But none of these, taken by themselves, is a sufficient explication of the Gospel of Jesus, which is the good news of the Kingdom of God come to earth. Each of forgiveness, love and empowerment is a 'primary colour' of the Gospel; but any one isolated from the others is less than the full Gospel. Something else is needed to bring it together. And that is believer's baptism.


The act of Christian Baptism of the new disciple by full immersion in water signifies and conveys, more than any other symbol can, what it means to be fully integrated into the life of Christ. We are called not just to believe about Jesus. We are called into Jesus: into His life through His death and resurrection.


This has certain implications for us. We believe in the responsibility and freedom of every person to make their own response to the invitation to belong to Jesus - the freedom to embrace Him or - tragically - to reject Him. 



But if a person embraces Jesus, we recognise that they are part now of something bigger than themselves, and that discerning the will and way of God together in Christ is very important for us. We believe in discerning and confirming the will of God together, not just individually, trsting all in the light of Scriptural truths and insights.


A resolution to be different by being Christ's ambassadors. Not defined by institution, or ceremony, or traditions, or buildings, or creeds. But walking together with Jesus in our hearts, the Bible in our heads, and our hands held together, embracing a full Gospel. It is good to be a baptist, facing the future with confidence and focussing on our hope through union with Christ.

Empowered

Commissioned

Loved

Forgiven

Identity

Tales from churches 1

This is the first of many quick interviews with pastors, as I travel around Scotland. This one is with Steve, the pastor of Wigtown Baptist Church

Full faith

As I travel around Scotland, I am aware of something. There is, Biblically, a real fullness to faith that has four aspects:

•   Repentance 
•  Knowledge of God's Forgiveness
•  Experience of God's love 
•  Empowerment in the Holy Spirit 

  But often, most noticeably in the hymnody  used, mention of the first is missing. It is good to know and to emphasise both forgivess and love, although there can sometimes be much said about one and not the other. And how can there be any sustained sense of victory without empowerment in the Holy Spirit? It would be good to see a healthy grasp of these four aspects of faith throughout the churches in Scotland. For where any one of these is missing there is something less than full Gospel.

Full Atonement

Propitiation and expiation: the difference. I remember once watching a young Christian cry in anguish on not being able to understand a sermon explaining the difference. That was 35 years ago. Well, I've preached some difficult sermons myself, I suppose. But these days, I'm concerned that people I listen to can occasionally betray a true, but narrow and limited grasp, of Scriptural understandings of the Atonement, and the way Christ Jesus has brought us back to God. Suppose it comes from reading more about what the Bible says than actually reading the Bible. That brings me back Not to propitiation and expiation. But to how Jesus paid the price and took the penalty; AND healed and made whole our humanity that we might be changed in Him; AND sets a path and a pattern for us to follow in a life of ministry that joins us to His Cross and resurrection. And all of this is woven into the Biblical picture of Atonement. Got it? If not, ask the preacher to explain.

Carte Blanche

A clean sheet. A good exercise now that summer's coming. For our lives as people and in community with others – especially in where we're going in life and where we are going as church. I was speaking to a younger colleague, not long into pastorate. Really committed and full of energy. And as I listened to him describe his life, it struck me how much of this highly gifted person's time and talents were channelled into keeping the show on the road. Now, that's no bad thing. As long as the show is going somewhere. It's true for all of us involved in the life of church service. It is absolutely right that we invest ourselves, as Christians, in serving the life and ministries of the church. But at the same time, we have a responsibility, both individually and as congregation, to stop and ask, 'where is this going and what is it doing?'. We all tend to go 'off track' every now and again. Lose the plot. That's when we need to sit down with a Bible, talk and pray together, asking how the Holy Spirit would lead us deeper into the name and path of Jesus Christ. To look again at the life and calling we have as disciples of Jesus, and ask ourselves, 'Are we going in the right direction?'. Don't assume that the answer will be 'yes'. Rather, look for the correctors that are true to the path of missionary discipleship that we are called upon, in the witness of lives possessed of holy integrity, serious service of others and joyful readiness to explain this 'God rule' that has come into our lives.

Sounding through

I've been thinking a bit about three dimensions. Three seems to be so much part of the DNA life. There are 'persons'  - per - sonare - 'sounding through' as dimensions of the One God in His dynamic reality and revelation.  Light itself, which is an instrument in carrying life to us, has three primary colours. And it leads me to reflect on how there're three primary dimensions to our life with God. Through the cross of Christ we're faced with the reality and an experience of the forgiveness that Jesus brings to us. Through the Holy Spirit touching our lives we meet with the embrace of Father's love. But there's something more than forgiveness and embrace, whilst these are central and essential. There is the command of Father and empowerment for discipleship living. Forgiveness leading to freedom. Embrace releasing into love. Command and empowering for mission. Can we try to get the balance right?

Discipling Discovery

In conversation with a colleague the other day, he put it to me that there was a clear difference in two forms of educating and developing people. On the one hand, there is education through discipleship, where we believe that faith is caught and not simply taught; where development comes by copying and discovering how to live on the basis of another's life. But this system at its worst can lead to sectarianism and bigotry. It is limited by the inspirational abilities of the person who is leading.

On the other hand, development through education built on discovery and freethinking has attractions. It allows a man or woman to develop and explore new areas and new thoughts. But education through discovery can, if left to itself, lead to 'I'm unfettered' and 'I'm not answerable' in living and attitude.

What interests me is that Jesus seem to believe both in discipleship and discovery. Combined with real accountability. I'm content with that.

Basic baptism

There's a little thing that's bothering me. The practice of baptism in Baptist churches. We've really got to work at keeping it in focus at the centre of our life. We need to remember why our forefathers insisted on the practice of the baptism of believers. 
Focally, the baptism of believers represents three themes: 
1.  Focus on embracing the substitutionary  and atoning death of Christ for us
2.  A conscious act of repentance and renunciation at the very outset of our Christian discipleship
3.  Christian faith involving our participation and entry into the very life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ himself.


To me the biggest in-house threat to the gospel is 'decisionism' as an alternative to 'discipleship'. Lets not forget what Baptists stand for: the pursuit of holy living that is biblically focused Christian discipleship as participation in the life of Christ.

Experiencing Truth

Today, attending churches in central Scotland and north Glasgow, it impacted me that people do need to be told that they can experience truth. That is, when they invite in sincerity Jesus to be their Saviour and open themselves thereby to the Holy Spirit. This is where Gospel Hall preaching and Pentecostal worship meet together -  and in truth they are in this one and the same. It's easy to lose sight of this and become simply religious. Don't. Remember that God wants you to be changed through a real experience of Him. God wants you to experience the truth, to experience the truth of Jesus in your life. When that is real, in repentance and faith, it changes us.

Please don't package

To understand Jesus and the purpose of our life requires a big picture. It strikes me that some Christians get the big picture wrong. Although many would deny it, I find that many often start with theory and abstract ideas. Wrong place.

The key issues are nothing to do with whether you are conservative or liberal. Calvinist or Arminian. The real question is whether you believe in a product or in participation. Packaging the Gospel?

When I listen to some of my brothers and sisters it strikes me that they think of the Gospel in terms of product. It's something to offer. Something to encourage others to take. Something that people need to

be persuaded that they need or want. Sell it to them and once they are hooked, reel them in.

I just can't begin to think of the Gospel that I know and read of in Scripture in this way. The gospel I believe in begins with being, leads to doing and ends up in telling and rejoicing - real evangelism.

How do we get there? Perhaps the best place to start for people who are already Christian and in church is to stop asking the question, 'how can we attract people to our church?'. That's a question about selling a product. Better starting with the question, 'How can we meaningfully serve people and show them Christlike love?'

When you and the people you gather with begin to ask this question, then you're on the way to becoming a church that is addressing the big picture. Please don't package the Gospel.

Apostolic Genius

What makes Alan Hirsch so Good is that he is so readable. But he has good insights. His take on the 'Apostolic Genius' and the idea that the basic DNA of missional ministry is latent, there inside us by the Holy Spirit is, I believe, right on. Whilst firmly rejecting the utility in perpetuating a Christendom church model, he offers real alternatives and encouragement to look back into the Bible and meaningful

engagement with our culture.

But, as it hits me again and again in reading folk when they speak of 'mission', I don't yet find him clear enough in distinguishing what he actually believes that 'mission' is. What is more clear to me than ever is that the simple triad of 'marturia-diakonia-euangelia' is the key to a holistic perception of mission, brought into profile by the drivers that arise from our identity in God together with the eschatological foci of the Christian life.

God is a Verb

Well, it is so if you are a Spanish speaker! In his recent theological monograph, Divino Companero Sammy Alfaro, a Pentecostal, Spanish-American theologian, makes some very insightful comments. The monograph, in the Priceton Theological Monograph series, presents an innovative but very tenable attempt in shaping a Hispanic Pentecostal Christology. But back to the main point here. John 1.1. Spanish translates the Greek 'Logos' - rendered in English as 'Word', as 'Verbo', which is a verb. Think of God as verb instead of a noun. His 'Being' is in His 'becoming' towards us. The God who says, 'I am who I am'. Which language you start with affects your perspective. Changes the way you see things, eh?

A nice definition of Mission

At last, I've found it! By the American Society of Missiology. Nice and succinct: 'By "mission" is meant the effort to effect passage over the boundary between faith in Jesus Christ and its absence'.

The illusion of freedom

What troubles me most, especially in debates over human sexuality and civil partnership or marriage, is how otherwise good Christians can forget an essential truth: that from a Biblical perspective people, left by themselves and without the authority of God's Word, will always get it wrong. This morning, I read the opening verses of Hebrews 12, rehearsing the fact that God, as a truly loving Father, both disciplines and punishes us as His children? Punish!!!???  Yes, indeed. For we all sin and get it wrong, at times. And this is the response and working of the true Father, our God, as He deals with us through the prism of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

A new book that came out this year, in honour of Andrew Kirk, called Mission in Context ( Ed's J Corrie and C Ross, published by Ashgate), contains an excellent chapter by David Kettle who, in rehearsing the wonderfully prophetic insights of Lesslie Newbigin, in reshaping concepts of missional thinking for Western culture, follows Newbigin in commenting (pp 195-6),

"Authentic freedom is not a natural property of the human mind; it is not - even in its conception - fully realised by us here and now, but lies with God in his sovereignty. Contrary to liberal assumptions, freedom is given in the first instance from beyond ourselves, by God - the unsurpassable freedom, fundamentally, to give ourselves as a living, loving sacrifice. Loss of freedom, or bondage, correspondingly. while it may indeed press upon us from outside - may also rise from within. We cannot assume, as is the liberal temptation, that commitment to doctrines or traditions is against freedom, or that what rises from within us is against our freedom."

Let us hold onto the authority of God's Word in Scripture, reading it in humility, submitting to it and in Christlike submission to Father's will, applying it to our lives. This is freedom in its reality. This is the mindset of those who will inherit eternity, who long for the New Heavens and the New Earth.

A fuller essay by me on this issue can be viewed on http://audiosermonupdate.blogspot.co.uk/

Fellowship around the UK

Alan, Jacqueline and I have had a very profitable and enjoyable time here in Birmingham during 24 hours of the Fellowship of Baptists in Britain and Ireland. It is exciting to see such a pioneering and responsible group of people gather as servants of the networks of Baptist churches across these islands.

Increasingly, I find that the hallmark of Baptist leadership is not what many people think. There is a huge amount of readiness to be radical and face the exciting challenges of these changing times.  Initiatives are real and genuine in progressing the matters of the kingdom of God.

The strap lines that I'll remember, in addition to many wise words spoken in this time, are:

• 'relationship is a contact sport'
• any initiative should pass the test of being either 'useful or exciting' for our people in churches

It is a genuine privilege to be part of this group and I look forward to our next meeting later in the year.

Hydrating Faith

We have to believe that the concrete realities and aspirations we long for are possible. We have to exercise vision and, therefore, our imagination; to think in terms of what is possible by God, for us and through us, for the sake of His glory. 

And all of us need to be hydrated by the Holy Spirit, poured out by Jesus. It is through hydrated faith that the truth of the Word is enabled within us, is released into dynamic reality in our life.

I am increasingly aware of the importance of these two components being present for effective Christian discipleship and growth:

Firstly, imagination exercised, in faith, to envision the material realities of the Kingdom of God. This will find legitimate expression in:

a.  A pursuit of righteousness and justice, prioritising care for the disadvantaged. Often sacrificial, always involving self-humbling and the 'mortification of the flesh'. 

b.  Health and prosperity and a belief in God’s good intent to us, leading to sincere worship and commitment to pursuing lifestyle that will promote and develop these.

c.  Appropriating a theology of Holy Space and a commitment to being intentionally relational in that space.

d.  A blending together of a belief and commitment to the 3 primary colours of integrated, missional theology: Witness, Service and Evangelism.

Secondly, there will be a seeking for the presence, purpose and power of the Holy Spirit, enabling us to do the things Jesus - the things of the Kingdom of God. Unless there is longing and expectation for the Holy Spirit to come, then there is no service of the Kingdom of God.

Imagination and infusion in Jesus’ name.

Working out the Vision

Life is full of opportunity, and this is a picture of a new cherry tree planted last autumn by Jennifer. I trust its a living symbol of what lies ahead. My first report as Mission & Ministry Advisor is viewable on http://missionandministryadvisor.blogspot.co.uk/

Getting up to date?

Arrived last night at an old friend's house in Crewe. Janice Clarke who, together with her late husband Mel, was one of the key people at Bristo in the first part of our time there. Great to see her settled here in the South and now one of the leadership team in a local Pentecostal church. 

Interestingly, we arrived during a church meeting where a retired pastor was talking on Ephesians 4.11: it was good to sit and listen. And it got me thinking.

So often, when people talk of the 'fivefold ministry' in this one verse, they assume something contemporaneous - that all should be present and active at the same chronological period or time. But it doesn't say that. What about thinking of it diachronically - manifest across the centuries and in different 'layers' of time? The Eastern Orthodox would certainly assume such a reading. For the trouble of the non- conformist traditions is that we often lose a realistic sense of history as well as tradition.  

And there's another problem. I mean - have you ever met someone you could genuinely identify as an apostle? Certainly, I've met people who think of themselves in this way, but that's quite another matter. And the term, like the others in this passage, is so notoriously difficult to define. Aren't all Christians called to see themselves as 'sent out ones', caught up in the cascading  Mission of the God of Holy Love?

I much prefer the approach shared by Paul Ede in an e-mail this morning. Using a vocabulary of 'pioneer - innovator - developer - sustainer'. We have to be cautious in using Biblical language in a way that suggests we know precisely what we are talking about when we patently do not! Let's humbly acknowledge the truths of history and see ourselves and others in an affirming yet humbler role, using language appropriate to our culture and context.

A Word by any other name

Well, this issue is just not going away. But I'm getting somewhere. I've established that:

i. mission is not a New Testament Word
ii. I haven't got a clue what people mean when they talk about 'mission'
iii. I haven't heard anyone speak on 'mission' who sounds like they know what they are talking about!

Mmmm. Thank God for the Bible. For although the New Testament leads me to conclude that both mission and ministry are essentially aspects of 'service' (diakonia), it doesn't allow me to claim a word for 'mission'. Which confirms for me if we are to speak of mission we have to put it together from other words and actions found in the Bible. So let's try another line of Biblical thought, built around Jungel's affirmation that 'God's Being is in Becoming'. I like that concept. This is a entry to 'mission' that I can grasp. Let me explain.

A key text is Mark 3.14. There, we meet with the concept of 'apostles', often understood as 'sent out ones'. This is defined by the key verb in the verse, which comes at the end, which is translated in the NIV and NKJ as ' he might send'. So that part of the verse reads, 'so he might send then to proclaim / act as heralds'. Or, to represent the Greek verb, 'so that he might apostle-ise them to act as heralds', heralds of the Kingdom of God.

You see, mission is really based on what the Bible talks of what God does in calling us to be His people. Biblically, mission is not a concept but a sending that God does to people. God's mission comes through His becomingness towards others. And we are called to participate in it.

So here's the bottom line question: 'what are you becoming'? Then you'll discover what sort of mission you are on.

Meaningful Ministry

I have been reading a terrific new book - really profound and really easy. It's Mike Breen's latest (you can get it right now through Amazon KINDLE), called 'Building a Discipling Culture'. Why have I been reading it? Because I am here in Pitlochrie, in Perthshire, at the Atholl Baptist Centre. We're doing the Next Stage in Ministry Conferrence and it's really good. What the book speaks about is the culture of what we're engaging in and inspiring one another towards.

Tom Wright has just published a new book on Kingdom, as the dominant theme.

I'm really excited at what is going on in the midst of us all. I sense a powerful movement and change arising. And it's great to be part of it.

Missional Holiness

On the back of reading and using Derek Tidball's devotional reflection on Scriptures in The Message Of Holiness, I am enthralled with P T Forsyth's work, The Holy Father. A Scottish theologian and pastor, 100 years ago Forsyth had insight to see that the Gospel cannot be presented in ways that reduce our message to sound like a commodity (getting rid of your sin so that you can reach your potential) or simply a comfort (divine dad loves you heaps so enjoy it).

I am persuaded that Forsyth's message has to be heard afresh: the message of Holy Love. Yes, you are forgiven and your sins are atoned for ..... but it is so that you can now be enabled by God's power to walk in the paths of holiness. Yes, Father God loves you with an unrivalled intensity of love, but it is Holy love that cannot nor will not embrace the stain of sin. A grasp of this holiness brings us fresh relationship to God; a seeking of the authentic presence and power of the Holy Spirit; a desire and focus upon living an alternative life and lifestyle:

"The soul of divine fatherhood is forgiveness by holiness. It is evangelical. It is a matter of grace meeting sin by sacrifice to holiness, more even than of love meeting need by service to man. To correct and revive that truth, to restore it to its place in the proportion of faith, would be to restore passion to our preaching, solemnity to our tenderness, real power to our energy, and moral virility to our piety" (The Holy Father, http://www.newcreation.org.au/books/pdf/181_GodHolyFather.pdf , p 5).

But there's something more, too. Holiness and the costliness of grace is not simply a pious insight or a personal pilgrimage. There are implications for our understanding of mission. For mission, when truly embraced in holiness, is both about a message and a means of conveying that message. Without holiness sought and working in the messenger, the message is quite likely to be corrupted. The immensity of the cost of grace and the intent of such a self-giving God will more easily be lost sight of. Unless the messenger themselves trembles at the awesome realisation of God's Holy Love outworked at the Cross, there is something lost and potency of transforming grace compromised.

Let's seek afresh the Holy God, the fullness of atoning mercy met with in the mystery revealed in and through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Decisionism & Thin Community

Psychological and sociological insights can be helpful in understanding the practices and convictions of Christians. It’s not just about theology. Take ‘decisionism’, for example. By ‘decisionism’ I mean the practice of taking a person’s decision to believe – regardless of any call to repent or necessary fruitfulness of faith – as sufficient grounds for accepting and believing that a person has owned Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.

‘Decisionism’ is enduringly popular among so many Christians in today’s society because most of us live in such ‘thin’ community. Community that hardly exists at all. Where lives are not transparent and where social interaction is superficial and artificial. This is why so many like ‘decisionism’: it negates or at least supersedes the needful evidence of repentance of sin and fruitfulness. Decision time becomes party time for Christians.

Can’t see it in the Bible. Nor does it count for much when people look for sustainability and depth. Big time devotional writers such as Dallas Willard in the United States trace this and are calling for more depth to faith. Why? Because in the end of the day, ‘decisionism’ counts for nothing.

Part of what we stand for as Baptists is the pursuit of ‘thick community’ – community that has social and interpersonal depth to it. This is the community that fosters are develops Biblical faith. Faith that is about Christlikeness. Transformation.

Words and the longings of our hearts

I'm thinking a lot about words we use. It's interesting. The words that people use. Especially when talking about Christian things. I've just listened to a recording of Paul's Letter to the Ephesians - these books were written to be listened to, not just read. But words give hints as to how people see things.

There's huge pressure, in today's pluralistic culture, to embrace words such as 'inclusive'. Just like it's fashionable to speak of reaching out to the 'marginalised'. I'm really interested that there is not, as far as I can see, a direct Biblical equivalent to either of these word in current usage: the nearest to being 'inclusive' that I can think of is the call to 'do justice and show mercy'; and the nearest to 'marginalised' are the Biblical 'poor', who are the victims of injustice, dispossessed from the good purposes of God for their lives.

Christian mission should not begin with a focus on seeking to be 'inclusive', or reaching to the 'marginalised'. It should begin with a stress on pursuing true righteousness and justice within the household of God and allowing the Spirit's power to carry us out in acts of loving service and a sharing of the Good News of what Jesus is bringing to the whole of Creation. And the world's talk of care for the 'marginalised' should be replaced by real concern and focus in our mission to those who are victims of greed, exploitation and injustice. A missional focus in pursuing righteousness through serving and bringing good news to the poor should never be lost. We must avoid, at one extreme, a bare message of evangelistic triumphalism. We must also avoid jumping on to a bandwagon of fashionability. Words express our values. And values betray the longings of our hearts.

full spectrum

It was great to visit three different congregations yesterday. What struck me was the contrast in style. The morning was a gathering of largely mature people but with a cross section of ages and quite a traditional format. The afternoon was a huge number of families and really young children! The evening was a student gathering with some others along. Each quite different. Each complimentary of the others.

the essence of wider church has to be networking - dealing with one another in different circumstances all to the glory of God. Learning the skills that are transferable, simply admiring and rejoicing in those that are not. Jealousy is not a good thing. Praising God for what He has given us and looking for the potential in what we might be and do for the Kingdom of God - this is what matters.

The best day of your life

If your faith flows out of what your hope is focussed upon, what is it that you look to and anticipate? Sad thing if its just a matter of religious consumerism: of what you can get out of life for you and those you care about. Biblical faith is a different matter. It points us toward what God has Promised and intends to bring about. And in the light of the brilliance and beauty of God's self revealing in and through Jesus Christ, it brings us to focus on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And that means starting with our understanding that, where are lives are called to belong to Jesus Christ, it is to be witnesses - martyrs. Those who accept death in the present world as inevitable, as we seek to live our patterns of purposeful living for Jesus Christ. Lives reflecting His values and priorities - or at least ever seeking to realign ourselves again and again in order that we might do so.

The early Moravians in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, saw it that way. They realised that to die because they had sought to live for Christ meant passing into the physical presence of the Resurrected and Ascended Jesus. To greet Him and to be embraced by Him. Death is a terrible thing and must not be sought by us. But when it comes, we need to realise that the power of Jesus's vicarious death and resurrection is for us all. He makes the worst day into the best day of our lives.

The Kingdom in space and place

Once more, deeply impressed in listening to Mike Pears at the IBTS Community's communion service, as he expounded Luke 19 and expanded insights on how Jesus draws in those who are excluded in terms of this world's values and priorities, to be included by Him within His space and place. Where He eats and drinks with them; and how, conversely, those who we assume to have power and prestige in this world, in terms of inclusion and acceptance,  can be seen to withdraw from the vocation of Jesus Christ whilst this world's 'rejects' are welcomed and restored to the indestructible physical presence of God's Kingdom that comes through Jesus Christ..

What is seminal in Mike's emphasis is that he relates issues of inclusion, reaching to the marginalised and the expression of compassion etc. to the practicalities of the space that we occupy and the place we meet in. This is so Biblical and so baptist. No abstract values left as ideal or doctrines held as private persuasions. No place for private preoccupations with personal fancies that flee from reality. What matters in the physicality of our gathering, the way we welcome people and treat with them in the physical space we occupy and the places we pass through.

So obvious yet so refreshingly different. And how such an approach challenges us to reappropriate the reality of physical presence, and what we do where we are, as central to the essence of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God come among us and found among us in flesh and blood.

Prescription or Description ?

Speaking with a leader from the south eastern part of the European Baptist Federation, I realised that the assumption with most ‘1^st world’ Christian leaders is that the models or motifs that we discern to be present in what we observe are somehow patterns or paradigms that could and even should be transferable to other situations and circumstances.

It was pointed out to me that, in this person’s environment, the cultural tradition was to describe what could be observe without going on to shape it as prescriptive. Let alone transferable, to others. I was challenged by this. It strikes me that people like me (and probably you!) tend to look for patterns that will yield transferable principles or patterns to be emulated. Not so for this colleague. Their approach was more humble. It sought to describe and to understand. To respect the narrative that can be related, but not necessarily to distil. Rather, to accept and even accommodate other models and approaches that, on the face of it, may seem incongruous. But are yeilded out of engagement with the story of Christ met with in Scripture.

Lots of conflict arises from the desire to make our observations or experiences prescriptive for others. Power games. It doesn’t have to be that way. There is power in the story of Jesus and there it should stay. Just tell it as it is. Describe what you have touched and seen. And let’s see what happens when glory and grace come through.

Real Holiness @ IBTS in Prague

Gordon Snider made an important point this morning at breakfast. As a missionary teacher and a Holiness Methodist, he pointed out that he did not readily recognise the charicature of ‘Arminian’ that many self-identified 'Calvinists' so readily own. ‘A wilful transgression of a known law of God’ is Gordon’s understanding of sin. Entire sanctification is coming to know the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to overcome the choice to sin.

This is a subtle and important point. We can and do all sin, in terms of doing at times what is contrary to the will of God. But this is different from deliberately transgressing the will of God. The truth is, that if we truly seek to do the revealed will of God, then God will strengthen us in the path of holiness.

My personal, pastoral observation is that people often play at repentance. Regretting patterns of sin is not the same as repenting. Repentance is a deliberate and costly, even painful, turning away from what is contrary to the will of God. In this sense, the whole of the life of Jesus was an intentional struggle against the temptation to sin – yet a successful struggle, in that our Lord always did what was pleasing to God.

The Spirit will enable us to be holy – that is, strengthen us for the deliberate and costly choice to do what is pleasing to God. He does not coerce us, or persuade us to do what we do not want us to do. But He will strengthen us when we turn back to God in order to to walk a costly, difficult and painful path. Thank you, Gordon.

Keeping Alive

It may seem obvious to you, and if it does, please forgive me; but the reality is that being a Christian for a long time does not mean that daily devotion is easy. It is not so for me. Indeed, it is a struggle each day to find time to set aside to the Lord, especially when there is a busy agenda and many things to do.

I should add that this is not a confession of failure. Yes, I do fail at times; but I really can't afford to. Spiritual success is integral to finding progress and being effective in my life, and it's never God that lets me or you down. It's that we fail.

So how do we combat failure? Simply, we have to ensure that each day is begun and underlined in spiritual discipline, spending time reading the Bible or listening to it. And simply honouring God and giving Him the place of preeminence in our life. It's not rocket science. But it is true.

Today, I'm at a conference of Regional Ministers of the Baptist Union of Great Britain. The place is Holthorpe Hall. May each of us bow to the Son that His presence should shape and form our witness this day and tomorrow too.

Natural Association

There is a natural association between being called to discipleship and being commissioned to witness. And there is a progression between the two. The call of Jesus characterises the first; the empowering of the Holy Spirit characterises the second.

And this also sets our relationship to the Holy. We are CALLED by the Holy One, CONSECRATED through His drawing us into His life and His ministry, recipients of God's promises and participating in His purposes; and we are COMMISSIONED as His witnesses, empowered and enabled to proclaim His name and to engage in acts of loving service.

This is the direction that we are to go upon; and holiness is to be the hallmark of this endeavour.

cascading

Yesterday was a valedictory service offered by Bristo, as Jennifer and I attended our last service having now moved to Glasgow. It was deeply moving to receive the love and care gifted by folks in word, embrace and token. It has been a good season at Bristo, and as we know it is God’s calling to have now moved on to a new stage of ministry, we also know that this is an exciting new stage for the congregation as the future is faced and engaged in.

In the evening, back in Glasgow we were blessed and encouraged in visiting the Pollok congregation and receiving such a warm welcome not only by the pastor but also by so many members of the congregation: I don’t know if this is typically Glaswegian, but it was wonderfully and warmly Christian.

You know, I love the church. The place where God’s glory and honour dwells. And I am looking with anticipation to see our cascading God of holy love and purposeful power burst out and flood our land afresh with envisioned and freshly enabled men and women and children who love Him in Jesus’ name.