Crawley Street Pastors

We launched Crawley Street Pastors last night. A short commissioning service was followed by a drinks and some excellent food. Then it was off to the streets of Crawley.

I think we were all amazed at how open people were and how willing they were to talk. We had many opportunities to pray and share our faith.

It has been a long journey to arrive at the this place. Some people have worked incredibly hard to make it all happen. It was the local police inspector who first brought the initiative to the attention of some of the pastors in Crawley. His own faith and heart for the local community have provided much of the fuel that has driven the project.

In recent days our own Sarah Davis has brought an extra sharpness of focus in her role as project co-ordinator. She has done a brilliant job at keeping us motivated and making sure everything is well organised.

For me it has been a great opportunity to be part of something that involves the police, the local authority and other local churches. It is so good to work with people who want to touch the local community and empower others to do that.

Please keep praying for us! If you want to find out more, visit the Crawley Street Pastors website.

Fame by association

For years I have been hoping that one of my friends would write a book or appear on some serious programme on tv.

Eighteen months ago the dawn began to break when my good friend Dave Betts wrote a book on church planting. You can download it for free here.

And things have got even better. I turned on In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg on Radio 4 on my way home from a breakfast meeting and lo and behold one of the studio guests was an old school friend. His name is Ian McBride. He is the Senior Lecturer in Early & Modern Irish History at King's College London.

In the spirit of the Apostle Paul, I feel I need to ask your forgiveness for boasting. However, I am sure you will understand me feeling a little proud of friends who do well.

You can listen to the In Our Time programme on BBC iPlayer.

My wife has just reminded me that she once appeared on the cover of Woman Alive. I'm even more famous by association than I had realised!

"You really were my dad"

Tony Hart, who died recently, will be remembered by a generation for the BBC children's tv classics Vision On and Take Hart. The BBC website reported on his funeral.

His daughter's tribute included the following recollection:

"I remember begging you to collect me from school, so that the other children could see that you really were my dad, and you did."

Those words are profound and touching. Profound that a little girl should live with the consciousness that her father was so special. Touching in that she should want everyone to know that he really was her dad.

Sometimes, I think, that is the heart behind our prayers; we want people to know that He really is our Father. It's not just about having our needs met or a prayer obviously answered with a divine "Yes", it's also about us wanting to "show off" our Father. And He loves to show us and others that He is our Father.

Monday Fun

Not quite a fun video, but an informative one nonetheless. It's one that does make you think...or shake you up!

The Wisdom of Torres

"Imagine 10 years after you stop playing, you go back, you look around, you are not in any picture, you have no medals, no trophies; it is like you played for nothing.

"You may have a fantastic car, a fantastic home, but what does it matter?

"You can have a contract that is better than your friends, but no player looks back and says: 'I won more money'."

I'm sure Torres is on to something in his final sentence.

How serious are we about reaching people?

Graeme Arthur sent me a link to a post on Ben Arment's blog that contrasted the lengths to which companies go to generate leads - i.e. get your name and address! - with the way in which the church pursues new people.

There is something in this short article that resonates with me. Some of you will immediately think, "We can't bring a business outlook into evangelism."

Think of it this way: if business will go to such extraordinary and sometimes expensive lengths to flog us a bit of temporal clobber, why should we be any less intense and intentional in seeking to meet with people to share Christ?

It concerns me sometimes how "spiritual" people have very little concern to engage people socially. I think this is especially true of Pente / Chari world. We want to zap 'em or bash 'em - anything but talk to them, so it sometimes seems.

Why is it that people who claim to be so concerned about lost people wont turn out to a social evening and spend some time getting to know non-Christians?

Perhaps one of the most important skills the Christians of this generation could learn is that of networking. By all means be in faith for the next great move of God and pray around the town if you like. But neither of the above are a substitute for talking to real people.

For some common sense on networking take a look here. Just think of all those people that you could network with as real people who really do need Jesus.

Monday Fun

Another Tim Hawkins number. You probably need to be familiar with charismatic worship songs to see the funny side of this.

Richard Dawkins can't rule out the possibility that Santa Claus exists!

I cannot believe what I have just heard Richard Dawkins say.

He said on a video clip on the Guardian website that you "Can't say there is definitely no God - you can't say there is definitely no Father Christmas". Huh?

The video can be found clicking here . It's a 2 minute video. Go to about 1.11 and you'll pinch yourslef to make sure you're not dreaming.

Please tell me if I have misunderstood.

This is my 100th post. Thank you to Professor Dawkins for making it memorable!

Charter of Freedom

There's a fascinating article on the Ten Commandments in the latest online edition of Prospect Magazine . The author, David Bodanis, clearly takes a very sceptical view of the history surrounding the Old Testament narratives about Israel and the Exodus. Nor is he impressed with the way in which God is revealed in the Old Testament.

However, he argues forcefully that the Ten Commandments are more of a charter for freedom than an agenda of repression, and takes the well-known atheist, Christopher Hitchens, to task for dismissing the Ten Commandments as the rantings of a vain and vengeful God.

Below is a little taster for you:

"[The Ten Commandments] consistent message is not one of repression, but of freedom: freedom from fear of your possessions being taken; freedom from relentless work; freedom from chaos. Refugees today would seek little more. "

On the subject of the "Ten", if you have Sky or cable tv, you might want to watch J. John's "Just 10" series on UCB . You can find out more about J. John at Philo Trust .

The Love of God

I preached yesterday on the width, length, height and depth of God's love. I had wanted to play this video, but a last minute technical hitch forbade an excursion into multi media.

This is an old song, but I think it expresses the wonder of God's love in a way that is quite arresting. (There's a typo in one of the slides, but don't let that ruin the message.)

Monday Fun

This is now Jon Sumner's profile on Facebook. It just had to be a Monday Fun post.

Dallas Willard

These talks by Dallas Willard are worth a listen. The first one is quite "involved". The other two are thought provoking without being mind bending. Would love to hear any thoughts you have on what he says.

Christianaudio.com is worth subscribing to (it's a free subscription) as they have a free download every month, usually a classic Christian title.

Read the Bible in a year

If you want to read the Bible in a year, McCheyne's Bible reading plan will take you through Psalms and the New Testament twice and the Old Testament once.

You can download it here

Happy New Year

A happy new year to all my readers! May God bless you abundantly in 2009.

Some advice from Ian's Messy Desk on new year resolutions.