Monthly Archive for April, 2007

Celebration & Encouragement

Published
by
Graeme
on April 29, 2007
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Today we had the sort of meeting that I long to see more of on a Sunday. Patrik tells more about it over at his blog.

As I sat there listening to the testimonies I realised that this is more what our meetings should sometimes be like. I am less and less enamoured of the 1 hour set format type meeting as it is so unlike real-life. Most of what church is really about is done in the lives of those who attend. What we saw this morning was a real celebration of the God’s activity through His people outside the 4 walls of this building, and an encouragement for all of us to not be so wrapped up in our narrow concept of what worship actually is!

Making a Million

Published
by
Graeme
on April 27, 2007
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Discovered this site this morning. It’s early days, but it looks like it has a great deal of potential!

millionsoulsaware.org

The current topic is Refugee Camps.

Baby thoughts

Published
by
Graeme
on April 24, 2007
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Ok, you’ll have to forgive me over the coming days as I’ll be posting from the perspective of a 2nd time father! I’m on paternity leave for the next 2 weeks to spend sometime with Zoe, Sian and of course Abigail!

Yesterday evening, as Zoe and I were watching our beautiful new baby dreaming, a sudden realisation came to me. Our God, who loves us so much, already knows what Abigail is thinking even though nobody else does. He knows her thoughts and her dreams, and already He loves her just as much as He loves anyone else. Even though Zoe & I are still trying to learn what her different cries mean, the Lord knows and is with her!

Psalm 139:13-17Open Link in New Window are ones I’ve thought of often during the time we were waiting for Abigail’s birth, but with this realisation they suddenly mean even more. In my NIV version verse 17 has a footnote which makes the verse read:

How precious [concerning] me are your thoughts, O God
How vast is the sum of them!

What a great God we have, who has vast thoughts about a 3 day old baby!

Abigail Evie Smith

Published
by
Graeme
on April 22, 2007
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AbigailThe familyLast night (21 April 2007) at 11:07pm our second beautiful daughter, Abigail Evie Smith, arrived in the world weighing in at 8lbs (3630g) and measuring 53cm!

Everyone is doing well!

(click on the images to see the full size photos)

Choosing the tough options

Published
by
Graeme
on April 20, 2007
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David Fitch has written a brilliant post about why building a missional community is more difficult than building a mega-church.

Reading through the post it reminded me how much I have always felt at home within a smaller community of believers than I have in the larger corps I’ve been a soldier at. In fact I would suggest that it is far better to start looking at planting new congregations once you reach a certain size, say 150-200 people, than it is to continue to build.

But for me the basis of all church needs to be closer to home. Our obsession within the traditional church, and I include the Army in this, is about how many come to the Sunday service. Almost 12 months ago I wrote about Wolfgang Simson’s 15 Theses. Back then it was the first time I had seen it, but I’ve returned to it several times since then and it’s amazing how thoughts change.

What I have come to realise is that the Sunday gathering we have should not be the sum of our corporate worship. Sundays need to be a time to celebrate with all the worshipping communities of a church. These can be house groups or any other type of small group, but we simply cannot restrict our teaching/discipleship/worship in the way we have fallen into!

Most important of all is that we do not restrict ourselves to simply meeting together, but need to be outward looking. The Salvation Army has for most of its history claimed a dual role as both church and mission. Yet in many places we have allowed the mission side of our work to slip into the background, leaving it either to a small group, trained professionals, or let it disappear altogether. We cannot allow this to happen any more as this goes against the very commission that Jesus gave us. He sent us out, but we expect people to come in!

Equal & Important?

Published
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Graeme
on April 17, 2007
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Ruth Gledhill in her Times blog this morning said:

It is odd how, even in today’s globalised world, it can still seem more shocking when young people die random deaths in the US than when young children are blown to bits by bombs in Iraq.

I’m ashamed to say that yesterday as I watched the news unfold on BBC World my reaction was probably similar to this. This is not to detract in anyway from the sadness of the situation. The loss of any life under any circumstances is tragic, especially when it is such a violent death. However, we have to question media portrayal? They still portray people as being of different value depending on where they come from!

Why can’t we accept that each human life is of value? Everyone is loved by someone and their family and friends feel grief. Let’s see every human life as important, not just those who happen to have been born in the same country/hemisphere/side as us!

Give up giving up (part 2)

Published
by
Graeme
on April 17, 2007
in old uksalvationist posts
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Two weeks ago I wrote about how I saw a disturbing tendency to strike out on our own into new expressions of church, than we are to try to bring about change from within our own communities. A good conversation ensued and since then I’ve read a number of other posts, most particularly one on Alan Hirsch’s site, about similar subjects.

The general consensus is that trying to revive a dead church is simply too big a waste of time. There are too many hurdles to try to clear and too much deadwood within the people holding the congregation back to make it a worthwhile experience. People suggest that the only result is burnout for those trying!

But this fills me with a righteous anger. It makes me look at the lives of those who are blighted by years of spiritual neglect at the hands of others; those who simply haven’t been taught the fullness of the Gospel through no fault of their own. It seems that the consensus is simply to write off these faithful, but unfulfilled, Christian lives as a form of collateral damage in the spiritual war because trying to heal them is simply too difficult.

Am I simply too naive? Is it really right to give up on whole groups of Christians simply because its easier to plant new congregations than it is to revive old ones?