Christian

Demographics

Posted by RLadmin on April 3, 2012

A developer has purchased a couple of fields near where I live.

In the leaflet that they sent out as part of the consultation exercise  they point out that the population of Solihull is set to increase by 20,000 by 2028.

The reason for this increase:

  • More people staying single longer.
  • More couples and families separating.
  • People living longer.

These figures / reasons are going to present a challenge to local services and to our churches.

It is no longer a case of churches providing activities for families, it is time for churches to become family for people who are single, separated or older.

Psalm 68 vs 1  says this: “He (God) sets the solitary in families”

What does this mean for those of us in churches – how do we make this happen?

A few starters for you:

  • Make friends with people of all ages and backgrounds – purposely engage people in conversations, find out about them.
  • Treat people as your brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, neices and nephews.  (See Matthew 12:50)
  • Purposely include others in what you do, e.g. BBQs, meals, walks, hobbies, DIY.

 

 

Assumptions

Posted by RLadmin on February 4, 2012

Filling in the blanks is something people are good at and several game shows have been based on this principle. When we don’t have enough information, we automatically fill in the blanks.

I have had an email from a service provider. They have noticed I am not using a box/service they provided a while back. The good news is that they are offering to provide help get it working again.

The down side is that they have not bothered to ask why the service is not being used.

A reply email fails because they do not monitor the email address. They direct you to a “Contact Us” page, but on that page they have already assumed what you want to contact them about.

I can assume with a fair degree of confidence that all of us who tried contacting organisations find that they have assumed what you want to contact them about.

  • Pick what your enquiry is about from the following list.
  • Press 1 for a long wait listening to music….
  • Press 2 and we will pass your call to a completely unrelated system….

Interestingly when we try and contact God about something, we can get through direct and say what we want or need to say.

This is pretty cool because He already does know what our enquiry is about.

Isaiah 65:24

You are loved

Posted by RLadmin on August 3, 2011

This is something that happened to me about 2 years ago, however I have been reminded of it recently which is why I am sharing it now.

I had a migraine so I went and had a lie down on my bed.

I dozed off for a bit and woke up to find I was not alone.
Arnold our dog was snuggled up to my back.
Meta, one of our cats, was snuggled up to my front.

I thought to myself “what’s going on?”

Instantly the clear answer came to me – “you are loved”.

At the risk of sounding strange and the men in white coats coming for me, I believe this was God speaking* to me.
While being loved is a basic human need, in this context it was about having confidence in my relationship with God.

We all need to personally be sure in our position because out of our relationship with God flows all that we do as Christians and not the other way round.

*how does God speak to us is a big subject – the bible refers to God speaking through “a small still voice” as well as in dreams, visions and even through talking donkeys.

Flourishing

Posted by RLadmin on August 31, 2010

God made you to flourish, but flourishing never happens by looking out for ‘number one’. It is tied to a grander and nobler vision.

The world needs wise and flourishing human beings, and we are called to bring God’s wisdom and glory to the world.

The truth is, those who flourish always bring blessing to others —- and they can do so in the most unexpected and humble circumstances.

From “The Me I’m Meant to be” by John Ortberg

 

Originally posted August 31, 2010

Manifestations

Posted by RLadmin on August 16, 2010

To avoid people walking into glass doors, you will often find that they have a solid line or a row of circles of translucent film applied.

These are called “manifestations” and as a safety feature, there are even regulations that define ther use.

“Glass Manifestation is usually the term used for frosted window films applied onto glass to obscure the vision and/or to prevent people from walking into the glass”.

This is also a term that comes up in the Bible:

“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good…”

This is found in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 verses 7-11.

God has promised every Christian gifts of the Holy Spirit, they are for us to use ass prompted by God.

My simple thought and the link between manifestations on glass and those given to Christians is that both serve to make visible that which is invisible.

Dictionary definition of manifestation:

sign: an indication that something is present, real, or exists

So the challenge to Christians is … get manifesting and show the world that your God is real.

G & T – Goats and Tares that is

Posted by RLadmin on June 21, 2010

If you are in a church, take a look around.

You may be in the company of Goats and Tares.

See Matthew 25 Vs 31-46 where Jesus speaks of separating goats from the sheep.

See Matthew 13 vs 24-30 where Jesus speaks about an enemy planting weeds (or tares kjv) and how they will be separated.

There is a key distinction between these unwanted inhabitants of the church.

- Tares were placed there by an enemy.

- Goats are goats who think that they are sheep*.

There is also a key common factor.

- They will be sorted and divided on the judgement day

What this means is that it is not the job of christians to root out the weeds – this will damage the wheat.

Neither is it our role to decide who is a sheep or who is a goat – you cannot tell by looking.

(See Matthew 7 vs 15 – this passage does go on to say we can often tell by the fruit).

Also in Matthew 7 is this scary warning to the goats – you can do all the christian stuff and still miss out in the end.

What is the reason for this post?

For the tares out there – sorry, but you may be a lost cause and your day is coming.

However as Don Double pointed out in his talk last week, the goats have a chance to change.

Yes – a goat can become a sheep.

*from a talk by Don Double

The Dunning-Kruger Effect

Posted by RLadmin on November 23, 2009

I came across the following quote from WikiPedia in The Register.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is an example of cognitive bias in which “people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it”. The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average, much higher than actuality; by contrast the highly skilled underrate their abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. This leads to a perverse result where less competent people will rate their own ability higher than relatively more competent people. It also explains why actual competence may weaken self-confidence because competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding.

The original article makes it’s point in respect of politicians and I suspect that there can be some truth in this, given that recently an expert adviser was sacked for not providing the advice that was wanted.

A.W.Tozer wrote an article That Incredible Christian in which he describes some of the Paradoxes of being a Christ Follower.

The Christian soon learns that if he would be victorious as a son of heaven among men on earth he must not follow the common pattern of mankind, but rather the contrary. That he may be safe he puts himself in jeopardy; he loses his life to save it and is in danger of losing it if he attempts to preserve it. He goes down to get up. If he refuses to go down he is already down, but when he starts down he is on his way up.

He is strongest when he is weakest and weakest when he is strong. Though poor he has the power to make others rich, but when he becomes rich his ability to enrich others vanishes. He has most after he has given most away and has least when he possesses most.

He may be and often is highest when he feels lowest and most sinless when he is most conscious of sin. He is wisest when he knows that he knows not and knows least when he has acquired the greatest amount of knowledge. He sometimes does most by doing nothing and goes furthest when standing still.

Originally Posted November 23, 2009

The Son of Man

Posted by RLadmin on August 13, 2009

Jesus frequently called himself “The son of man“.

He said this phrase over 80 times in the Gospels – Why?

What did he mean by this?

I have heard it explained as Jesus refering to his humanity. Only last week did I read about the true significance.

The people Jesus was speaking to knew the scriptures, they literally memorised them.

The phrase “The son of Man” appears in a significant and potent prophecy about the messiah which is found in Daniel 7:13&14.

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed”.

What he was declaring to the listeners what that he was the promised messiah and by refering to the phrase found in Daniel, he was also declaring himself to be divine.

Once we understand the context of his claims, the significance becomes striking and explains the reactions of those who heard him speak.

I am currently reading, “Sitting at the feet of Rabbi Jesus” by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg. Published by Zondervan.

The Great Commission

Posted by RLadmin on September 25, 2008

I have read several books over recent months and I have spotted a grander design which links them.

There are differences between men and women. This is a simple fact and has nothing to do with issues of equality. This is the subject of “Why men hate going to church” by David Murrow.
To summarise an excellent book – there is not one big problem, rather there are a lot of small things that put men off.

We therefore need to do two things to get men interested in church.

1. Adjust the “gender thermostat” in our churches.

2. Give men a challenge.

The first thing is about adjusting the language and style of what we do.

For example, no man will ever admit he is “lost”, neither does he want to sing love songs – to another man. Come to many churches and he will be asked to sing romantic worship songs with lines like “I am a lost without you.”!! (From “Breathe”).

My intention here is to pick up on the second key item – men need a challenge.
It is not exclusive – it also applies to women as well.

Another book I read was by Bill Hybells – “Just walk across the room”. This book contains the challenge we men need.

Throughout his book, Bill calls Christians “Christ Followers” – a male friendly term.
Bill encourages us to leave our comfort zone and “crossing” the room and talk to people.

A key principle here is to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit. You guessed it – this was the key subject of another book I read. “Walking with God” by John Eldridge. The key theme of John’s book is that John encourages us to develop a dialog with God, so we are able to hear his promptings. He also discusses issues like spiritual warfare and getting free of the past. A very male friendly book – it is written in 2-3 page sections, with lots of object lessons.

So if we have learnt to hear the promptings of the Holy Spirit, then we have the real challenge of engaging with strangers and sharing the Good News that Jesus wants them to follow Him. We just need the motivation to do this. Bill covers this very well. Very importantly he covers what to do and say once you have “crossed the room”. The challenge is realistic – we are not out to convert them in one conversation, but to help them move a step or two in their personal journey into faith.

I am also reading another book called “Take the Risk” by Ben Carson, a leading brain surgeon – famous for being involved in operations to separate conjoined twins. If you remember the headlines, there were several cases where the patients died as a result. He knows what he is talking about.
We need to consider what is the risk if we keep out faith hidden? Or if we stand up and be counted?

So to wrap this up.

Being a Christ Follower provides a real challenge us men (and women).

Jesus wants us to reach the world – once person at a time.

It means taking a risk, getting out of our circle of comfort and following the prompting of the Holy Spirit to cross the room and speak with people.

This is also called the Great Commission

Links:

http://www.walkingwithgod.net/

http://www.justwalkacrosstheroom.com/

Going For Gold

Posted by RLadmin on June 16, 2008

I made a connection over the weekend between something I saw and something I heard.

The first was the discovery of a Gold coin on a TimeTeam re-run.
The second was an article that was read out in church in the context of working with teenagers in schools.

When you go to a job interview one question that often gets asked is: ‘what are your strengths and your weaknesses?’

Sometimes it’s easier to come up with our weaknesses and these are often what we think we should focus on if we want to become better people.

Focused people don’t hide their weaknesses or excuse them; but instead they focus on their strengths.

Tony Campolo says, ‘What you commit yourself to, will change what you are and make you into a completely different person. The future conditions you, not the past. What you commit yourself to become, determines what you are; more than anything that ever happened to you yesterday. Therefore, I ask you, “What are your commitments? Where are you going? What are you going to be? Show me somebody who hasn’t decided, and I’ll show you somebody who has no identity, no personality, no direction.”‘

Focusing on weaknesses instead of strengths is like having a handful of coins, a few made of gold, the rest of tarnished copper, and setting aside the gold coins to spend your time shining the copper ones in hopes of making them more valuable.
No matter how long you spend, they’ll never be worth what the gold ones are. So, stay focused on your God-given strengths!

Based on article found here.

In the time team program the man who had found this gold coin in a spoil heap taken from an excavated moat was literally shaking with excitement – none of the archaeologists there had ever found one.

Why have I shared this?

We have a culture that appears to focus on our weaknesses and not our strengths.
(It sometimes feels like more effort is put into finding reasons to put people down than to develop them).

In my books to read pile is a book by Marcus Buckingham, bought after hearing him speak last year at a Willow Creek conference.

It is called “Go put your strengths to work – six powerful steps to outstanding performance”

Once I have read his book I may post a series of articles on the subject – while this has an application in the world of work, this could be transformational in our church ministries.

Pages:123»