Gathering or dispersing?

"Churches under the prevailing assumptions and influence of Christendom are highly structured for gathering but not for dispersing. To the extent that they are not rooted in local communities, neighborhoods, and networks of relationships, they thereby become disconnected and remote. Churches function as places to which people have to be invited, rather than as faith communities that intersect with the wider community on many issues and provide multiple entry points". Gibbs, Churchmorph, p. 96.

After a meeting yesterday, I was really challenged in a way that is summed up in this quotation. We prefer, in practice, preservation to mission: the default situation of Christians, as with all people, is a sinful one. After all, being Christian does not stop us being sinners. The Christian path demands a constant and repeated reorientation of our lives, centering afresh on Jesus Christ.

The whole of our church life needs to be reshaped by majoring on mission.

I'm conscious that whether pastors or church members, we err towards a form of church that is about 'gathering' rather than dispersing. And this, for us all, has to change.

Facing the future

As I look into the coming seven weeks, my final ones as pastor of the Bristo congregation before taking up post as Mission & Ministry Advisor to our Baptist Union of Scotland, I find myself reflecting much on a week spent with three days at our annual Baptist Assembly followed by four days at IBTS in Prague. The theme of the Assembly was Outrageous Generosity and that of the conference in Prague, Incarnational Discipleship. The former emphasised what is given in Christ and proffered in and through those who receive Him; the latter looked at the emphasis and implications in the Gospels of being a follower of Jesus. And the two are meant to go together. Meant.

But we struggle, as Christians, in doing that very thing. In a culture saturated with consumerism, we expect and demand the Gospel to be the news of the best bargain ever: God’s love and acceptance, completely free! God as an ever welcoming, bigger, better Santa Claus. Yet, as we see Europe and the world face the consequences of economic greed and moral self indulgence, we so easily allow ourselves the lie that the Holy God’s generosity can be shaped by our own preferences and peccadillos. And the Christ of the Gospels, who calls men and women into holiness and holistic discipleship, can become strangely unattractive and distant to us.

The speakers at our Assembly were excellent. The conference, featuring the teaching of that wonderfully gracious, enquiring and experimental ethicist, Professor Glen Stassen together with the outstanding work of some of our Research students, was so stimulating. What I am left with is a sense of the excitement and the huge challenge of what lies before us all.

For God, whatever man might say or aspire to, will have His way. The call of the Gospel is not only an invitation but also an imperative; a command, that both directs and decides humanity’s final destiny. The future is filled with the presence, purpose and power of God: the only question is how many of those who now live will be alive into that future. And the responsibility of sharing and showing the significance of this lies with those of us who have glimpsed and gather to the full revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

So this Sunday I will preach on Matthew 5. Or Romans 14.17. Or both. We’ll see. Either way, I can only be confronted in my soul with the stark tension of finding comfort with a God who leads us to feel profoundly uncomfortable in this world. Or a comfort in this world which disengages us from the real Jesus. Because belonging to Jesus exposes us to the reality of the demons that demand loyalty for us to be happy here; and there is no rapport between Jesus and the demons.

When you and I carry the real presence of God into the spaces and places of this world and its present ruler, cosmic conflict is unleashed. Powers and prejudices become exposed. And a choice between walking in the path of the Saviour, or finding the false peace of Satan with all its economic, sexual and social delusions, stands open before us.

The choice for all of us, while we still have life and breathe in this body, is still there. Pray that each may make the choice that leads into life in all its fullness.

How can Baptists agree together?

The real issue in coming to an understanding of what is an acceptable Christian practice, is not simply the process of Biblical or theological hermeneutics; but communitarian, hermeneutical method. In other words, asking the question, ‘how can we as Christians facing life together develop understanding of Jesus’ way together’?

Well, we need to use the Bible. But we also need to apply what we see and find in the Bible.

The importance of advocating ‘bottom up’ discussion of Biblical mores and application is vital. Whether the larger Christian community, in terms of an Association or an Assembly, should do anything other than encourage discussion, is a moot question. It is unlikely that we can establish a single opinon on any contemporary social or ethical practice that is apparently acceptable in the wider, secular community, outwith the context of a local, ‘thick’ Christian community: a group of Christians covenanted together to live out values and practices that they agree upon. The important thing is to get communities to affirm what is most important to them in the way they live their lives.

Incarnational Discipleship

An interesting few days. After some 'outrageous grace' at our Scottish Baptist Assembly, here I am with friends and colleagues at IBTS. This is such a great place to gather internationally, with baptistic scholars from throughout Europe and beyond.

And not just scholars, but scholars who are intent on contextual mission and integrity of witness. One of the senior adjunct faculty, Professor Glen Stassen, is presenting lectures on 'Incarnational discipleship'. What does it mean? For me the quest is epitomised in the life and ministry of one friend and a research student here, Mike Pears (in photo). Mike and his wife intentionally moved their home from pastoring an established baptistelse  church, feeling called to pattern something in obedience. So now he is in one of the most deprived areas of Bristol, living in a large, deprived 'white sink' estate.

Mike, for me, is a true prophet. His convictions and his practices are integrated in a very convincing way. He really believes in Christian witness not from the place of power, but from the place of weakness. The Philippian hymn lies at the heart of his life. And his missional theology, as he continues critital appraisal of his own life and ministry.

Mike always causes me to feel challenged in my attitudes and goals; in the way I live and how I long to live. Thank you, Mike.

Leadership that might just about be 'OK'

I confess, if you didn't know already: I have a particular dislike for the word, 'leadership'. It evokes too many painful memories of self promotion, egotism and insecurity. And I'm not just talking about myself!

However, there may be hope for me yet. I've just been reading more of Eddie Gibbs' Churchmorph and am really liking this (pp 53-54):

“Under the constraints of modernity, leadership tended to be an eletist concept, exercised through hierarchy and control. For churches to be effectively missional in a postmodern information age, leadership has to be devolved and expressed by different individuals according to the situational demands. Leadership consists of connecting people to one another. Missional churches encourage creative freedom and initiative taking, while at the same time providing the possibility of failing with dignity. But freedom also requires accountability as a safeguard and to ensure a learning environment in which leaders mature through wise mentoring.

“A learning system is one in which everyone is made aware of what is going on around them. It recognizes that no individual can know all that needs to be known, given the complexities of the world in which we live. It is a system that draws on the collective wisdom of the entire body. It constantly asks, "What do we need to know?" and "Who is most likely to know?" The role of the overall leader is to serve as a catalyst in this process by identifying issues, making connections, and articulating and reiterating the vision so that the church has a sense of common mission that is linked to a multiplicity of callings, giftings, and tasks.”

OK. If we can agree about this, then I can agree that there might be a valid place for talking about leadership and not just about servanthood. Can we agree?

Real mission

Churches often play at mission. Eddie Gibbs, in his book Churchmorph, observes that new attempts in mission and outreach,

"will only gain significance as they reach out to the de-churched and never-churched segments of the population, rather than providing the latest attraction for bored, frustrated, or angry current churchgoers. They also need to be strongly in evidence in urban contexts, recognizing that our culture is driven by urban values and images, with suburbia increasingly becoming culturally marginalized".

Groups of Christians must find fresh identity. We have to shed the garments of ecclesial baggage and traditions that smell more of worldly culture than of Christ. We need to reinvent ourselves in Jesus' name. It's not enough to be nice people in community. As Gibbs also observes,

"The most vigorous forms of community are those that come together in the context of a shared ordeal or those that define themselves as a group with a mission that lies beyond themselves—thus initiating a risky journey". 

We really need to see 'the mission of God' as standing at the heart of our reason for being. Otherwise we are not simply irrelevant for our neighbour. Worse, we become irrelevant for God.

Transition

Today, Judy White preached an inspirational message and I shared the following with my congregation:

"Dear Family,

Within the last year, we have seen significant changes in the leadership structure of the Baptist Union of Scotland. Both the national Mission & Ministry Advisors were called back into pastoral ministry, and the Union’s Council agreed that a new post be created, with responsibility for oversight and advising in the development of a unified understanding of Mission and Ministry within our Baptist Union of Churches.

As some of you know, I have been involved in the work of our Board of Ministry since 1997, and was invited onto the Search Group to find the right person for the new position. The Mission & Ministry Advisor together with the General Director will hold full time, stipendiary office as part of the core leadership of our Union of churches. After the 1^st meeting of the Search Group, I realised that this was a ministry to which I felt strongly drawn. However, I was persuaded that if God was saying this to me, He would also say it to others. I resolved not to apply for this position nor discuss my thoughts with colleagues. My prayer, however, was that if God was in this, another member of the Search group would approach me with this conviction on their heart too.

The Search Group had decided to consider recommendations as well applications. A colleague on the Search Group did unexpectedly come to speak to me, and a commendation was subsequently made by them and their colleague in pastoral ministry. I immediately resigned from the Search Group and took no further part in discussion or proceedings from that moment onwards. The Search group met after the deadline for applications and considered a number of applications together with this commendation. Consequently, the Search Group then invited me to interview: references from the wider church were also obtained and considered. As a consequence the group unanimously recommended my appointment by the Council to the post of Mission and Ministry Advisor. The members of Council then had 2 weeks to prayerfully consider this recommendation, and 2 days ago the result of a secret ballot was an overwhelming confirmation by our Scottish Baptist Union’s Council that I be appointed to the post of Mission and Ministry Advisor.

The long and thorough process of communal discernment, together with the fact that all initiatives in this matter have come from others, persuades me that this is God’s will. Accordingly, at the beginning of 2012, I will be stepping down from the office that I have sought to serve in for 17 years, as pastor of Bristo, and will take up a national leadership position as Mission and Ministry Advisor to the Baptist Union of Scotland. I ask for your prayers. And I would also ask you for your support in this new relationship which I will have with you as a congregation in membership of our Union.

It has been a privilege to be your pastor. But I do believe it is time for the church to move forward with a new pastor. Whilst my new role will be to give you advice, the pastoral oversight of this congregation will need to be entrusted to another. To that end, recommendation for the appointment of an interim moderator will be considered at the next deacons’ meeting, and hopefully by this time next month a congregational meeting will be convened for you to consider a nominee for appointment as interim moderator who, experienced in oversight yet detached from emotional involvement in Bristo, will guide you through due process towards the appointment of the next person to hold the office of pastor of this congregation.

I do believe there are challenging and exciting times ahead for Bristo. And this I say to you: be humble before God, seek His will alone, discern together and submit to what He commands. Do this, and you will be blessed much and also be a blessing to many others in Jesus’ name. I love you and would trust you to pursue the baptistic way in these matters. Be faithful.

In His love,

Jim"

Difficult to face the parting. But exciting to face the future too.

Clusters in Christ

Had a great meeting this evening with the deacons of another church in our local Baptist Union of Scotland Cluster, Stenhouse Baptist Church. This congregation has been hugely courageous in looking to move forward and, as one of their deacons said, 'move out of our comfort zone', into a redevelopment project. The challenges are huge, but so is the sense of hope and engagement in faith.

Moreover, they are encouraged by the arrival of new, younger people in the church. Which itself brings challenges. But this group of deacons are intent on moving forward, serving their church and their Lord in the cause of His Kingdom.

Well done, Stenhouse Baptist Church! You are an inspiration and an example to us all. Moving forward from the place of comfort to the place of challenge - the place where we always find the Lord taking us, as He equips us top be witnesses and calls us to participate in the evangelisation of the world - including the one on our doorstep.

Like the stars above

Abram placed His trust in what the LORD had said,

and the LORD attributed this to Abram as righteousness

In recent weeks the preaching, expounding both Romans in the mornings and Hebrews in the evenings, has brought into focus Abraham as the father of the faithful. And especially the passage, Genesis 15.1-6, where Abram is taken out of his tent by God to gaze up at the stars and told to count them; and then told by Go that this would be as the number of his descendents. It reminds me, when once staying on a kibbutz in the Judaean wilderness, of going outside at night and looking at the amazing night sky, free of light pollution. Never had I seen so many stars!

And it reminds me that faith is always a consequence of hope rediscovered. Of gazing in wonder and seeing afresh what God has done, reading again in the Scriptures and recalling afresh His deeds and His ways. I’m thankful for this. That my faith is not something that starts with me. But is based on the objective reality of God’s glory and goodness, all leading us towards and finding fulfilment in Jesus Christ.

Sobering one-liners

Heard two original 'one liners' from colleagues this week - one from Edinburgh and one from Prague:

"The trouble with 'friendship evangelism' is it can be all friendship and no evangelism"

"Some people have 30 years of ministry experience. Others have 1 year's experience repeated 30 times"

Nailing Jelly on the wall

Mattias Neve works for the Swedish Baptist Union, and is researching and writing for a doctorate on ‘Emerging Church’. His work is fascinating. I am persuaded that the issues around Emerging Church are vitally important for all of us who would reach others for the Kingdom of God. ‘Defining Emerging Church is like nailing jelly on the wall’.

What are the issues? Well, how do we reach folk in a society where God and Jesus seem irrelevant? Sometimes we wait for people to have a crisis, so that they seek meaning: the ‘God of the gaps’. Or we seeking to connect with people in ways that we feel might attract them. Mattias speaks of ‘seeking proximity’. Making meaningful contact with people is not an option. It is of the essence of our Christian calling. Touching others in ways that are true to who I am in Christ, and genuinely seeks to serve them where they are.

Make meaningful contact – thanks, Mattias!

the humbling importance of apophaticism

OK - please understand that I'm here at IBTS to do theology. So if you dont 'do' theology, skip this. This blog today is for folk who like doing theology - and I want to share it, because it strikes me as so important a matter. When I am here at IBTS and mix with folk from different cultures, some of whom have a deep, encultured awareness and understanding of Orthodoxy, it really hits me how often all of us can misrepresent the ideas and grasp of reality owned by others. Our hermeneutical paradigms are often so uncritically subjective.

For example, most Westerners confuse the Catholic via negativa, with its spiritual value in a Catholic or even Protestant context, with apophaticism as embraced in an Orthodox context: where it is used to counter any sterility arising out of the kataphatic statements made in the great Creeds, when these are treated in a strict propositional way. Apophaticism should remind us that, all things said, there is mystery in the face of God's greatness. At a popular level, Western Christians can try to represent that formulae and confessional statements can say it 'all', and end up with such sterile representations of truth. Apophaticism should help us guard against that mistake.

And the other thing is about theosis. The suggestion that the Orthodox thereby are contending that we thereby 'become like God' is absurd. Theosis is really all about the process of development and maturing that God calls us into. To return to becoming what we were created and are now redeemed to be.

Well, that is what I've been thinking and talking about over the last 12 hours at IBTS. Home on Sunday!

Autumn in Prague

The leaves are already turning here, but it is scenic - witnessed in this picture of my friend, the missiologist Andrew Kirk, as after supper we walked together through the Sarka Valley outside the seminary here in Prague. Today, another friend and student here, Constantine Prokhorov from Omsk, successfully completed his 'viva voce' for his doctorate. His thesis persuasively demonstrates how powerful the influence of the Orthodox Church is on the convictions and practices that characterise Russian Baptists: an unpopular message as it is for some. Just as some in Scotland might prove resistant to recognising how powerful is the influence of Calvinism, and not just the Bible, in shaping so much that characterises our practices and convictions. But there it is. We can never fully separate ourselves from the context and culture in which we live - and are often affected by it far more than we would readily admit.

But on reflection, I'd sooner be shaped by Calvinism than by the 'X factor', EastEnders or River City! Let's be careful about the default culture we adopt and choose to live with. It will shape us, whether we like it or not.

HOTS on High Street

This morning, first outing on the High Street with Stephen and his team. Really interesting and enjoyable. Prayed with a young man, suffering from arthiritis, on crutches who was with his parents. Interesting - walked away without using crutches: we never asked him to do that! Could see God's peace upon him. Also, didn't notice it at the time, but when we prayed for him there were a whole group of people on the Ghost Tour who were watching and noticed exactly what happened. Gobsmaking, eh?!

Can't help but log that God's favour on outreach to people which is offering token of His love and salvation. God seems to bless this in a special way. But that shouldn't surprise us, eh? Mission is the fire that warms the heart of the church.

Healing on the Streets of Edinburgh

What a great training session we had, last night and today, for 'Healing on the Streets'. It was led by a baptist Elder, a Vineyard Pastor and a Church of Scotland Minister! A really wise and helpful introduction to ministering healing to people in the open street - something that I have never found easy and last did on the street like this 20 years ago! Gosh! ..... Today, the really helpful thing I learnt - I had never thought about it - was how to give out a leaflet properly! But very practical and it really helped. Didn't feel like a 2nd hand car salesman!

Now, you're asking, 'what on earth is he doing praying for people on the streets?' Well, we need to go where the people go. And if it's on Princes Street, that's where it has to be. But we really enjoyed it. The three of us who went on the training found it really uplifting - we all prayed with people who had very real and very genuine need. And we saw blessing too.  Yep - not the normal thing we do; but we have to reach people 'by all means'. Well worth it!

Simple faith

Over many years, I have been quietly obsessed by finding an adequate translation in modern English for a simple word in Greek: pistij. Usually translated as ‘belief’, ‘faith’ and sometimes ‘trust’. Well here it is: 'faithful focus'. It works. If you hold on to a faithful focus on Jesus Christ, you will be saved. Try it.

The Heart of the Matter

I wish I had really grasped this truth years ago, and never let it go ....

'If the mission of Christ through the presence and power of the Spirit determines the nature and ministry of the church, then we should expect that mission itself becomes the source of the renewed vision and life of the church. This is why mission, rather than ministry, expands Gods kingdom and renews the spiritual life of the church'.  

Ray Anderson, An Emergent Theology for Emerging Churches, IVP, 2006, p. 186

Riots and righteousness

I woke this morning with a powerful sense of need to write down and express something of what we are presently seeing in God’s Word on Sunday mornings, and the implications of that for each of us. Our society is beginning to reap the rewards of the sin and decadence that have been among us for a long time. God is allowing the repercussions of abandoning Christ to be seen and felt in our nation, as in others. We are entering a difficult time when it is important to focus on what being a person of faith is really about. Here it is, spelt out in a fresh translation of Romans 3.21-26:

And now, apart from through Law, God’s righteousness has been revealed, which is born witness to by the Law and the Prophets. It is God’s righteousness, through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, for all who would be faithful. For there is no distinction – for all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, being brought into righteousness as a free gift of God’s grace. This free grace comes through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed as a mercy seat in the faithfulness of His blood. God did this for the purpose of displaying His righteousness in overlooking, in the forbearance of God, sins previously committed. And He did this for the purpose of displaying His righteousness right now, showing that He Himself is just and is the justifier of anyone who takes on board the faithfulness of Jesus.

This is what being saved – being a disciple of Jesus Christ – is all about. It is about stepping into the life of Jesus Christ through the door of baptism, being brought into eternal life through the power of His resurrection from the dead. This power comes into us by the Holy Spirit.

And let’s be clear. The Holy Spirit is not just a nice feeling. He is the fire and wind and water of life that comes from God. And because of what He’s done for us all through His sacrificial life and death, Jesus is the key to anyone receiving this Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit? Death. With Him? Life.

So let’s also be clear about what the Holy Spirit does. Jesus spells it out in John 16.8-11. The Holy Spirit brings us into the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. He shows us where there is sin in our lives, that we might repent of it. He shows us the path of righteousness, that we might walk in it. He shows us that the dark powers that would blanket us with fear and would control us in daily life are now judged by God and are impotent in the face of the Holy Spirit’s life giving power.

I invite you to take these teachings very seriously. Press on into renouncing sin – especially sexual sin - and resolve to walk in holiness! Pursue policies as church together that seek to express God’s righteousness through personal goals as an individual and well as a congregation! Show the world around us what it means not to live in fearfulness of a defeated devil! Show the world rather what it means to live a life of purpose and purity rooted in the love of God.

I believe that all of us have the potential of being a light of Christ to many. But we need to be faithful. We need to walk in righteousness.

Riots and justice

Today, in the face of the London riots, I want to recommend a book to you by Nicholas Wolterstorff, Justice: rights and wrongs, Princeton University Press, 2008.

In recent days, the issue leading to the riots was presented as being one of ‘justice’. But what is justice?

Constitutive justice is dependent on the establishing of a society that holds to virtues or convictions that are adopted, embraced and implemented. To do this, people have to have a vision of a social state that they are working towards.

Determinative justice depends on an environment where the judgements can be enforced.

As Christians, we are called to live in and generate, through church, an environment of constitutive justice. The country’s problems are not going to be sorted overnight! But as church, we can model something of what Jesus Christ began and continues to do through His disciples, as we wait for the New Society that will come on His return.

Determinative justice? As Christians, we believe that’s up to God. Our job is to live with a love that generates holy, healthy relationships and responsibilities. Let’s focus on this, on being salt and light. And be realistic as to how quickly / slowly things will change in our nation.

Whose in whose image?

Back from Bulgaria. Great holiday!
Play a game with me. Look at these options. Do you prefer:

a. i. to do a hard task by yourself (to prove a point)
   ii. have a hard task done for you (and you can’t do it!)
b. i. do what you think is best
   ii. do what you’re told by another
c. i. accept a gift with no strings attached
   ii. accept a gift that you are to use for a purpose

Each of these goes with different types of personality. My observation is that the ones most people struggle with are b.ii or c.ii. Which is tough; because the Gospel message in Jesus is that God brings us into eternal life and to be part of His Kingdom through Jesus Christ in sequence of a.ii, c.ii and b.ii.

So, I'm convinced. Not just culture and context, but the way your personality is shaped will itself shape your preferred way of thinking about God. It takes real effort to hear instead what the Bible says. Literal translations of the Bible into English are not always the easiest to understand! On the other hand, paraphrases can give a smoother reading but betray a particular interpretation, losing subtle points. Romans 3.21-26 is a case in point. Practically all the English translations are paraphrases. In this passage, how you translate two Greek words critically influences your reading and understanding. You can have either justice or righteousness. And you can have any of faith in Jesus, faith of Jesus or  faithfulness of Jesus. Here it is as rendered in Young’s Literal Translation (1862), which I like a lot:

And now apart from law hath the righteousness of God been manifested, testified to by the law and the prophets, and the righteousness of God {is} through the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing --for there is no difference, for all did sin, and are come short of the glory of God-- being declared righteous freely by His grace through the redemption that {is} in Christ Jesus, whom God did set forth a mercy seat, through the faith in his blood, for the shewing forth of His righteousness, because of the passing over of the bygone sins in the forbearance of God-- for the shewing forth of His righteousness in the present time, for His being righteous, and declaring him righteous who {is} of the faith of Jesus.

Think about it. God is serious about getting us into the life of Jesus. Into His faith. The justice / righteousness of God made manifest when God’s Kingdom comes, together with the joy and peace the disciple experiences. This is the marvelous reality that Jesus Christ calls us into.