Wednesday 24 March 2010

A few links

This post is just a bit of a round-up of some things I've been reading / listening to for the past few weeks.

Very impressed with Word & Spirit . Extended interviews with Craig Keener and Peter Davids can be found if you type their respective names into the search engine.

I've been reading The Storm by Vince Cable. I was looking for something to help me understand the present financial crisis. Cable's book does that and much more. It is very informative, but in an accessible way. And it's not heavy with banking jargon and number crunching. I picked it up from The Book People for £4.99. A real bargain.

Cookiesdays is one of my favourite blogs. It points you in so many fruitful directions.

My good friend Paul Sinclair has written a book Now Open Sundays . Great book to give to your not yet Christian friends. Very humorous but with a clear message.

This article was an eye-opener about world population; the problem the world faces is not one of too many people, but one of too much greed. Now there's a thought.

Monday 22 March 2010

Change without decay

Well the bee has been busily buzzing in my bonnet since that Dispatches programme. But it has made my brain tick in a way that I hadn't quite expected.

My point for so far is that Britain is changing in ways that pose a challenge to the church and that neither fight - attacking our perceived or real ideological opponents - or flight - retreating into "safety behaviours" is an adequate way to respond.

Change in any area of life can hit us at an emotional level in a way that we sometimes find hard to articulate. I think that to some extent explains the sometimes fearful and angry reactions of Christians to what is happening in Britain today. But as the apostle James says anger does not produce righteousness (James 1.20) and we all know that the apostles Paul and John saw no place for a spirit of fear within Christians and as something that was driven out by love.

The truth is that the changes we are experiencing in the makeup of our society are not going to go away. Immigration and emigration are part of life. And immigrants and emigres bring / take their cultural values with them. Islamic mullahs in full Middle Eastern garb who have some very politically incorrect ideas are at home in London or Blackburn or many another town or city in the UK. At the same time, expat Brits have made a life for themsleves in France or Spain, sometimes creating a corner of some foreign field that is, at least for the time being, England.

Something that we don't always factor into our discussions of the future of the church in Britain is the fact that population in Europe is in decline. The result is that the indigenous population is greying - the number of elderly people is increasing whilst the number of younger people is declining. This, obviously has far reaching consequences that are both economic and social. In the long run, it can be argued, Europe needs people from other countries and cultures across the world to come and settle in Europe.

We can either recognise and embrace this change and see it as an opportunity from God. Or we can pretend that it is not happening or can be stopped and find ourselves lost in a soup of emotions that are fuelled by values that really are not those of the kingdom of God.

It does have some real implications for the church. We will have to give reasons for our faith. We will have to think more carefully about how we reach out to people whose values and beliefs are sometimes hostile to Christianity (But hasn't that been the case from the earliest days of the church?)

And it might also mean more churches like KICC and Jesus House. And perhaps we will have to learn some evangelistic strategies from the church in places like China or Iran. Perhaps Christians should have more children! One way to increase the faith.

What an exciting time to be alive!

For more on Europe's declining population:

A BBC report. A couple of articles from the Washington Post after The New York Times. And some research from the UN .

Monday 15 March 2010

Safety Behaviours

I read an article today on whether Aspirin really is the kind of talismanic pill it is sometimes thought to be. A psychologist commented that when people are frightened they sometimes resort to "safety behaviours". In other words they do things that might not reduce the real threat in any way, but their actions will make them feel safer.

Sometimes the church resorts to "safety behaviours". This post is really another follow up to Uneasy Vision.

One of our "saftey behaviours", in my opinion, is that of conspiracy theories.

I think our culture loves conspiracy theories. The Da Vinci Code, The Bourne Series, 24. And so do some Christinas. Speculation about the antichrist: I can remember the excitement of reading a book and discovering on page one hundred and something that Anwar Sadat was the antichrist. (He wasn't.). The existence of giant Nephilim like creatures hiding in the earth waiting to be revealed in the end times. Multinational companies whose Satanic control is revealed by their New Age logo. And the many scare stories about what the U.S. federal government is about to do to Christians.

I want to suggest that even if there is a grain of truth in some conspiracy theories, we risk indulging in "safety behaviours" because we are missing the real threats to our faith.

In a sermon yesterday I referred to a book by Oliver James Affluenza. Although I disagreed profoundly with some of James' solutions, his analysis of where western society is at was, I thought, very accurate. What I kept thinking was "Why wasn't this written by a Christian?" The answer? I don't know. But I do sometimes feel as though we get sidetracked into things that produce very little that is in any way helpful.

The psychologist in the article I referred to above, advised that instead of resorting to the safety behaviour of taking a pill people should "choose something healthy that [they] can do on a daily basis such as eating a good breakfast or taking the stairs instead of the lift when [they] get to work..."

Praying, sharing our faith, being kind, showing love and concern, having a servant heart. Not perhaps as exciting as conspiracy theories. Possibly not even as comforting. In the long run, however, it's this sort of Christianity, practised by followers of Jesus up and down the country that has the real potential to change the nation.

See you on the stairs.

Monday 8 March 2010

Switching the focus back to Jesus

In many ways last Monday's post was one that I didn't want to write. However, the issues I raised are issues that concern many Christians throughout the UK.

Unfortunately, I think the way that we have sometimes responded to the growth of secularism and of other religions hasn't been entirely helpful. We have adopted a "Christendom" stance. We have protested, quoted scripture to show everyone why and where they are wrong and presented Britain as a modern day Israel with a special relationship with God.

Now, it has to be said that Britain has known incredible blessing from God throughout its history. However, that in itself does not mean that God has any special obligation to Britain or that the British Church has any special claim on God's blessing.

So what about a way forward? I did promise to share a few thoughts.

For me finding a workable solution begins with asking some good questions.

One good question for me is "How does the church relate to a culture that has values that are unsympathetic and sometimes down right opposed to its values and mission?

There are some biblical examples that might help us. For example, the Jews in exile in Babylon. A study of the book of Daniel shows how a follower of the true God not only survived but thrived in an environment that was pregnant with hostility.

Turning over to the New Testament, the witness of the apostles, especially in the Graeco-Roman world is very helpful.

Acts 19 records how Paul saw an amazing move of God in Ephesus. Not surprisingly the locals got upset when the revival began to affect the local economy. The city clerk (35-41) addresses a rioting mob and in v.37 comments "You have brought these men here though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess."

I think we have in this verse an indication of one way forward: we promote Christ rather than attacking other religions or ideologies that compete with him for the hearts and minds of our communities. In other words, let's switch the focus back to Jesus.

Saturday 6 March 2010

Ancient Wisdom

"After I'm dead I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one." Cato the Elder

Wednesday 3 March 2010

Uneasy vision

In the midst of all the excitement and challenge of pastoring a great church with a great heritage in one of the world's great cities, I occasionally find the time to be uneasy. This occasional unease has been a feature of my ministry right from my first days as an assistant pastor.

The state of Britain and Europe has been the source of my unease. It used to be the slide into secularism which seemed to gnaw away at me. Things might have been going well in the particular church I was serving at the time, but deep down there was and is this disturbing feeling that we're losing ground in our communities and market places.

Uneasiness flared up again just recently.

This article alleging that Islamic radicals had infiltrated the Labour Party and Channel 4's Dispatches were unwelcome reminders of the battle going on for the soul of our nation, a battle that many, especially politicians, are afraid to acknowledge is going on.

Islamisation is happening in parts of the UK. And in part it is because society has turned its back on Christianity. This coverage of an interview with the retiring Archbishop of Prague has too loud a ring of truth for comfort; there is a religious vacuum in Europe and Islam is well placed to fill it.

I didn't want to come back after a lengthy absence from the blogosphere with something that might seem discouraging. But this is part of the reality we face as we witness for Christ in 21st century Britain and Europe.

Nor do I intend to leave it there. I plan to post later in the week or at the beginning of next week some things we can do to rise to one of the challenges of our era. And I hope that your comments will help me to tackle my unease.

You can find out more about the Islamic Forum Europe at their website