My View

Came back from The Order of Mission Annual Gathering. Meeting TOM people always gives me a kick. People with a passion for Jesus, dedicated to His love and to each other, and with big hearts. Thank you, TOM members, I enjoy being family with you.

Mike Breen had a fantastic (”brilliant” for you brits) teaching series on Philippians. I don’t think my life will be the same after this. Some bits:

• “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21, NIV) – What can you say? Challenging words… And yet inspiring… Can I utter those words and mean them?

• “He [Christ] made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form” (Phil. 2:7, New Living Translation) – Jesus didn’t do all the stuff he did (miracles etc) through his divinity, he did it through his humility. He put himself in exactly the same position as us – in human form. He was dependent on the Father through the Spirit. So to follow Jesus, doing what he did (and even greater things) does not require divinity. It requires humility. Poor me.

• “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14, NIV) – In Phil. 3:3-11 Paul talks about all that he could boast of, but then chooses to “forget what is behind” and “strain toward what is ahead”. Am I stuck in all the stuff tying me back? Is my identity tied to my job? My money? My friends? My family? My education? Paul has left this behind, and can now say in chapter 4: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”

So where am I? Am I willing to humble myself? Am I willing to give it up? Am I willing to count Christ as gain and all else as loss? Phew, got a lot to think about now. But I know I won’t be the same.

Thanks again to all you TOM people. It was great hanging out with you.

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Have been in Sheffield for Visitors’ Week at St Thomas’ Church. As always, it’s been a time full of excitement and experiences. And problems, but more of that later. God is good! Just had to make a short exclamation.

Anyway, here’s a short list of reflections:

• Passion – A friend of mine who was also attending the conference, and was here for the first time, approached me one evening: “These people are just so passionate! It’s unbelievable! They’re passionate about Jesus, about the Kingdom, about the church…” He is right. The people here are passionate. No wonder Mike Breen picked the name The Passionate Church for his book on Lifeshapes.

• Seek Kingdom growth, not church growth – Mick Woodhead, the leader of St Thomas Crookes church was very articulate about this one. And he is right. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” These are words of Jesus in Matt. 6:33. If you seek His Kingdom first, church growth will happen. But don’t go seeking church growth.

• Voltage, Current and Resistance – Mike Breen shared a very helpful analogy concerning God’s power. We worry about why we don’t see God’s power manifested. If we believe the Bible, we have the same power source, the same voltage, as Jesus had. But the result is different. Why? We learn from the world of physics that when the voltage is the same, but the resulting current, power, is different, there must be a difference in the resistance of the electric cable. We have a higher resistance. How can we get rid of that? Study Philippians. I’ll get back to you on this one.

Here are some of my first ponderings. It’s truly been a remarkable week. Wife and baby boy arriving to England today, where we’ll enjoy a few days of holiday. On Friday we’re back in business, attending the Order of Mission Annual Gathering. That’s going to be fun. Will post back with some more thoughts, pictures, and video, as soon as I get my computer fixed.

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Been listening to a series of talks by a guy called Paul Maconochie, a pastor from Sheffield. Paul is a friend of mine, and a person I admire a lot. Simply because he’s not opted for the easy life, but been pressing himself to pursue the Kingdom of God in his own life. Paul is an incredibly humble man, and he’s taught me a lot, although he might not know it.

Just a nugget for all you leaders out there: Every breakthrough in every organization, be it a church, a company or a school, comes through a breakthrough in the leader’s own life. So if you want an “external” breakthrough, deal with your own internal barriers first, and get a breakthrough there. Paul, being a gifted teacher, could probably explain it a lot better…

Anyway, the talks I’ve been listening to are a part of a series on blessing held in St Thomas’ Church, Sheffield. These talks have truly been inspiring to me. Paul talks about living a life of blessing, having everything you need, at all times. Now this isn’t a “prosperity gospel”, teaching that if you follow God (or give 100 $ to Paul), you’ll get a Mercedes. But it means looking at the biblical topics of “look at the birds” etc. Does Jesus really mean that? Roughly 50 % of Jesus’ parables and talks were about money. How come we talk so little about money in our churches?

I thought I had engaged with the issue of God’s provision; after all, he’s given us a house to stay in, taken care of our needs, etc. But listening to this I realised how much I have missed out on by struggling to take care of things myself. I would really encourage you to get those talks. They are worth it. Will keep sharing some nuggets, I suspect, every now and then.

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Have been thinking a lot about stewardship lately. How good of a steward am I? God reminded me about the story on stewards and stewardship in Matt. 25. Will I hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” Or will it be: “You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.”

How do I deal with the gifts and resources I’ve been given? How do I handle money? How do I do with time? With the people I’ve been given? With my family?

Perhaps reflecting can be good at times…?

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