Archive for the 'Community' Category

Reflections

Published
by
Graeme
on November 13, 2008
in Community and My Pilgrimage
. 1 Comment

The last week has been spent on our Social Placement at Faith House. It has been a great week and has left me with a lot to think about over the coming days. The challenge for the future is particularly strong and trying to put it fully into perspective is not going to be that easy.

Having said that it has certainly brought a few things to mind as I wrote my reflections in my journal. One of the main things is how poorly we tend to reflect Jesus’ way of doing things. I suppose I’ve always felt that many churches did not embrace those on the margins of our society, but having been immersed in just a fraction of their lives this last week that sense is really strong at the moment. How many churches do you know that would unhesitatingly embrace a drug-addicted prostitute into their fellowship? What about the dishevelled homeless guy?

Mahatma Gandhi is reputed to have said, “The best test of a civilised society is the way in which in treats its most vulnerable and weakest members.” For some reason I’ve never really thought too hard about those words; I’ve simply accepted them as being valid. This week though I’ve been forced into reconsidering their focus. Maybe it’s me but too often I think we see the society of which he was talking as being the society of our country, headed by the government. But I think the real society that we need to consider is much more basic than that. It’s about us and our place in society. So the phrase could be seen as being, “The way we, as the individuals who make up our society, treat the most vulnerable and weakest members of that society is the best test of our society.”

So how do we treat people? Do we go out of our way to include everyone in our corps, or do we still enjoy our little cliques that prevent the weak and vulnerable from being part of it? I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t gone out of my way that often, but this week has challenged me to think differently.

Being holy for the Church

Published
by
Graeme
on July 24, 2008
in Community, Holiness and Mission
. 0 Comments

In my post about ‘the uprising’ I included the quote:

“unless the Bride of Christ is holy, no one else in the world will meet the Lord. Without our holiness, they won’t see the Lord.”

I’ve found myself coming back to that quote a few times because I found I needed to give the thought more consideration.

The first thought I found myself having was about the make-up of the Bride of Christ. My understanding is that it is actually the Church universal, rather than the individuals that make up the Church.

However, this was followed quickly by the reality that unless the individuals are holy, then surely the Church universal can’t be! At the very least there would be implications for the local expression of the Church should the members of the congregation not be pursuing holiness. This for me is where the crunch comes!

I believe passionately that the only way to reach the lost and to fulfil the Church’s mission in the world is at the local level. And by local I don’t mean at the level of the town, but at the level of the street!

In a paper to the Incarnate conference earlier this year Geoff Ryan said that he believes:

that God cannot – or will not – present himself in a neighbourhood or a community or amongst a people, unless his people, The Church, are themselves physically present and sharing life with the community.”

This is a difficult statement and whilst on one level I agree, I disagree on another level. However, if we accept that at some level this is correct it makes sense of Olivia Munn’s quote from the book. If the Church is not fulfilling its divine appointment and mission within a particular location then how will God be seen in that place? The only way for the Church to fulfil its mission is through the actions of its individual members working both individually and co-operatively. Therefore if the people of God, both as individuals and as a community of believers are not holy then how can the light of God reach the communities they live and serve in?

When thought of like this it makes absolute sense that our individual and corporate holiness is the key to fulfilling the mission!

Faith in solitude

Published
by
Graeme
on May 27, 2008
in Community
. 0 Comments

While we were on holiday I was reading a daily reading book by Jeff Lucas which focussed on the life of King David. It is really interesting with a number of new insights into the man that David was and his life, plus it of course gave me food for thought in my own life.

One of the points that Jeff Lucas raised was that while David was on the run from Saul he called upon God for help and protection, but then he says that:

“he needed more than God to get him through these harrowing days. His emerging friendship with Jonathan…was such a tangible source of strength to him.”

This got me thinking about someone I am in regular contact since coming back to the UK. I speak to him most weeks and he very clearly has a strong faith. However, he has chosen to act out his faith outside of the Christian community. This is not because of a calling to do so but simply because he cannot find a congregation that fits in with his rather rigid view of his faith. On those occasions we touch on this area of his faith it is very clear that he expects everyone else to change their opinion to reflect his thoughts to the extent that he forces his opinion on those who come into contact with him.

This really is a great shame, because he undoubtedly has gifts that would be very valuable to a local congregation and would certainly gain from others. Instead though his thoughts are becoming more and more entrenched.

Just as David needed his very human relationship with Jonathan in order to cope with the problems that he faced in life, so we as Christians need relationships with other believers. We are made for community and its why human relationships are not only the source of such devotion and intimacy, but also why the enemy puts so much effort into trying to destroy them.

Consequently, unless called to a life of solitude by the Holy Spirit we should seek out communities of believers that we can be part of. However, it shouldn’t be on our terms but for the betterment of the community so that the kingdom of heaven is extended.

Church as God’s manifold wisdom

Published
by
Graeme
on April 28, 2008
in Community, Mission and Reading
. 0 Comments

Over the weekend I managed to finish Provocative Church and can honestly say that I have enjoyed it immensely. Not only have I enjoyed it, but it has also given me a real challenge in how to respond, especially in regard to leading my current congregation forward into mission and evangelism.

What’s particularly good is that this book emphasises the need for holy living, both as individuals and as congregations. In this respect Graham Tomlin recognises the need for the church to put the emphasis on discipleship, something that is to me fundamental if we want to see both change socially and within the church. This emphasis on the local congregation becomes even more obvious when the following is taken into account.

God wants to show off his wisdom and craft to the rest of the cosmos. God the divine artist wants to hold an exhibition of such beauty and power and wisdom that anyone who looks on, whether they come from earth or heaven, will be overcome with wonder and awe. It is to be a display of his ‘manifold’ wisdom.

Yesterday, Zoe & I took part in our very first Rogation Sunday procession. This is a traditional part of the church year which is still carried out in many parishes, around the UK at least. We went to support the band who have been processing with the congregation of a tiny Surrey village, called Peper Harow, for the last 40 years. The idea of Rogation processions is that they go round the village and ask for God’s blessing upon it, particularly through the blessing of the land and crops.

What strikes me is that yesterday the procession wasn’t going around the village praying simply that Christians would be blessed, but that the whole community would be regardless of their faith or beliefs. The only agenda was that the earth would blessed and that through this God would be glorified. Surely through this blessing asked for by the church on behalf of its community, the people who were looking on, slightly bemused in many cases, were given the opportunity to see God’s people in Peper Harow reflecting the glory of God. Many in today’s church would probably write off the ritual and ceremony as archaic and irrelevant to our post-modern world, but just for a moment yesterday we were part of God’s manifold wisdom for that small corner of His creation.

My Street

Published
by
Graeme
on February 22, 2008
in Community
. 3 Comments

Last night I watched a programme on Channel 4 called My Street which was a documentary in the Cutting It series. The narrator decided to knock on the door of every house in her street and, for those who were happy to, she interviewed them on camera.

The programme was absolutely fascinating! Firstly, it was a wonderful insight into the lives of various different people, ranging from millionaires through to a young Tourette’s sufferer on benefit, from 66 different children through to a 93 year old man. Secondly, it presents a real challenge to us all.

Here was a woman who had lived in her street for 14 years and had never got to know her neighbours. It was only when she started to knock on doors that she discovered there were some real problems that some people faced; that amongst these 116 houses in her street there were people suffering from deep depression, loneliness, cancer, mental illness, to name just some.

In my street there are around 30 houses and so far I’ve had regular contact with 4 of the people. Of those I haven’t talked to is the Asian man who in the warmer weather sits out on his wall, the new mother a few doors down, and others whose faces I don’t even know! What about yours?

Consumerism and discipleship

Published
by
Graeme
on February 13, 2008
in Community, My Pilgrimage and discipleship
. 0 Comments

As I was catching up with some online reading the following caught my imagination.

We live in a culture that has the name of Christ on its lips but that does not know what it means to live a life of radical discipleship - people are unaware that the virtues of consumerism and the virtues of faith in Christ are quite opposed to one another.
read more here

Although I couldn’t put it quite as eloquently as this, its something I’ve felt for a long time now. I know I’m a victim of this in my own way as I love gadgets, and recently succumbed to the temptation to buy an iPod Touch. I didn’t really need it, but even so I did!

Consumerism and materialism are all pervasive these days. It is almost impossible to read a paper or watch the TV without having the senses assaulted by advert after advert, usually offering things we don’t really need for amounts we can’t really afford. They are fuelling the incredible amount of debt that is being racked up day after day, and which causes so much concern to so many people.

This is having a knock on effect within Christianity as well. Many of the people I meet within the local area are not attending their own local church. They are commuting to the church that best suits their personal needs and freely confess that they’ve moved church numerous times to fit the needs they have at the moment. I’ve been part of that process myself in the past, passing numerous corps to get to the one that I was going to enjoy most, rather than attending the one that was nearest to where I was living.

Without a doubt this is an extremely consumerist and individualistic approach to our church-going. What is wrong with going to the church nearest to our place of living? How are we going to reach out to the communities which our churches are placed in if Christians who live within those communities travel away from them to the more popular or, dare I say it, trendy churches?

Finding meaning at Christmas

Published
by
Graeme
on December 18, 2007
in Community
. 0 Comments

Over the last couple of days the Christmas season has really kicked off here in Godalming. The size and age profile of the corps dictates that December is not the extremely busy season that some of my fellow corps leaders experience, but this changed this last weekend.

We kicked off on Sunday with a trip to a children’s care home for children with profound disabilities. The corps have been going there every Christmas for around 40 years and playing carols and giving out small presents. My task is to lead the singing and to get people to choose which carols they want to sing and then to encourage the children to shout for the Father Christmas who comes with us. To say that the place is noisy is an understatement and I was warned that it could be very difficult to cope with seeing children such as those who live there.

Anyway we spent about 30 minutes there and I would say that it has been my favourite moment of the Christmas so far. Seeing the excitement in some of the children’s responses to favourite carols was a joy to behold!

Were we full on evangelistic in our effort? Honestly, I can’t say we were. However, from the two or three conversations I had with the parent’s of the children I know how much they appreciated our efforts. Did we manage to put across something of the meaning of Christmas? I reckon we did! Did we bring some joy into the lives of those who were there? Without doubt!

For me this was about showing that we are around and that we are interested in everyone. It was an opportunity to say that we care! It was about being salt and light.

Then yesterday we went off to a women’s prison to play for their annual carol concert. Whilst the band’s role was to play for the carol’s, it was great to see the ministry that is going on there! One of the volunteers on the chaplaincy team did an unashamedly in your face talk and pointed out that Christmas was a chance to put the past behind and move on into the New Year with a new focus of following God’s true will for your life!

All in all an excellent couple of days! I haven’t touched on our Carol Service yet, but I’ll do that in another post!