Six Things to Bring to Church

I was on holiday last Sunday. But we still went to church. In fact I went twice! To our own church. We were back in Balham and I couldn’t keep away. I missed them. But I dressed in attire that made it clear that though physically I may be in their midst, emotionally I was still very much in the heart of the French countryside. And I left the briefcase at home. But that left me having to make a decision about what to take to church. It’s not something I usually give much thought to because I just stuff it all in the bag and head off. But what should a normal punter rather than an abnormal pastor like me take to church? Surely at least these six things.

1. A pen. I write things down. I listen to the sermon and I take notes. It helps me concentrate and it helps me to remember things for later. If I don’t take a pen I’m relying on my memory. And mine’s pretty unreliable at the best of times.

2. A notebook. I take copious notes. And as much as I appreciate the space in the service sheet, it’s insufficient for my ramblings. And it means I can write down the names of the new people I sat next to so that I can pray for them and seek them out next week.

3. A diary. I want to see people. And I want to be deliberate about it. And so a diary means I can book up to meet. If there are new people who are looking for a welcoming chuch what better way than to express that than by asking them over for a meal with others at our place?

4. A Bible. It just felt wrong to rely on the fact that there’d be a spare Bible in the seat. And I scribble all over mine because it helps me to engage in God’s word. I wouldn’t want to do that in a church Bible!

5. A mobile. I want to chase up my friends who aren’t there. A mobile enables me to get them on the phone and say [in love] ‘why aren’t you here? We miss you and we’ve started. Don’t give up on Christ and don’t give up on us. Get yourself down here now you muppet!’

6. A wallet. To buy someone a beer. I want to go to the pub afterwards because the church meeting is the formal part of church. Church continues at our The Slippery Slope [not its real name] when we find out from one another how we’re doing and what we made of God’s word.

What have I forgotten?

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Holiday Reading

Quite a productive time reading whilst we were away in sun-drenched France. I’ve discovered that the key to holiday reading is twofold. One, choose thin books with large print; it gives a sense of progression that’s so encouraging. And two, ignore the family; it creates space in the schedule!

The key reads were

1. The Times; it’s reading so it counts! And it was about as expensive as a novel. About £3.50 every day. Athers is never to be missed. But especially during an Ashes series.

2. Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome by Kent and Barbara Hughes, which is essentially a book about how to feel good about yourself if you’re running a church that isn’t growing! That’s not entirely fair. It’s a book that redefines success in terms of faithfulness, not fruitfulness. It reminds us that the Lord gives the growth and we’re doing what He requires of us if we’re toiling away in godly, sacrificial service. The chapters on encouragements were especially stimulating. And you can expect some of the CCB staff to be hearing the best bits at our start of term gathering!

2. Mirror, Mirror by my good friend Graham Beynon, which is essentially a book about how to think about yourself. Can you see a pattern beginning to emerge? I’ve heard Graham on this issue before and I’ve skimmed bits and pieces. But this was a chance to grapple with the issue and think about what needs to change. If I’ve understood him correctly he’s saying that our self image needs to be found in the mirror of God’s word and not in the countless other mirrors that we look to for an idea of who we are and how we’re doing.The strength of the book is the clarity with which Graham describes concepts and his determination to apply them practically. I hated the endless quotes from others. But that’s just me!

3. The C.J. Mahaney edited compilation entitled Worldliness was, however, my pick of the reads. It’s short, which is always a bonus. But it was a brilliant little read. It helps us to safely navigate between the twin dangers of separation from the world and accommodation to the world. It deals with clothes, music, leisure, the heart and media. It’s hugely practical and I’m thinking that this needs to be a book of the term.

4. The first novel I read was an undemanding read by Nick Hornby called Slam. I think I got it free with the Times a while ago and never ventured further than the back page. It got some great reviews. But I’m still not sure how you can describe a book about teenage pregnancy as ‘very funny’. Which is how the Daily Telegraph described it. It’s written from the perspective of and with the style and vocabulary of an eighteen year old, which takes some getting used to. Apparently Hornby wrote it for teenagers, which would make sense. It’s a moral tale on how a momentary mistake can unalterably transform the lives of at least three key people; the teenage mother, the teenage father and the baby. The baby in this tale is called Rufus; cool name!

5. Tony Parsons’ Stories We Could Tell is a tale of three young men growing up on the night that Elvis died. But it’s probably more than that. Parsons was a writer at the NME in the late 70s and much that happens in this tale reflects his own experience. It’s a little bitter. At the heart of the novel is Terry’s relationship with Misty, perhaps mirroring Parsons’ own relationship with a young journalist, Julie Birchall. It’s a relationship you long to see develop. But through it’s twsts and turns, Terry ends up feeling like he’s been sold a fake and reluctantly has to settle for a pale imitation of the woman he thought he was getting. Ouch!

6. I’ve nearly finished C.J. Mahaney’s Sex, Romance and the Glory of God and it’s terrific. It’s a must read for all husbands. Most husbands won’t come away feeling good about themselves. But if they read it they might just save their marriages!

7. Our Father is a must read for anyone on the Co-Mission staff because it’s been written by our Senior Pastor, Richard Coekin and because it gives you the bragging rites at the Staff Away Day in a weeks’ time. It’s brilliant, but don’t let Richard know I said that. I’m enjoying flat batting his enquiries about whether I’ve read it or not! In it Richard analyses each of the phrases in the Lord’s Prayer, explains them, applies them and helps us see how we could pray them. The key indicator of how good a book this is and, perhaps more accurately, how obedient a disciple I am will be shown by whether I’m still praying the Lord’s Prayer long after this has gone back on the bookshelf and gathers dust.

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How to Spend the Day with the Lord

On the couple of days a week on which Rosslyn works I’ve been trying to send her a couple of texts during the day. I just want to remind her that though I’m not with her nevertheless I’m still thinking about her. It just seemed a sensible thing to do given that we enjoy being married. We’ve got in the habit of starting the day with one another, catching up at the other end of the day but largely existing as a ‘functionally unmarried’ couple throughout the day. I thought that after 12 years of marriage, that’d be a good thing to change!

It can be like that in the way we relate to God. Many of us start the day with the Lord but how many of us spend the day with Him? In truth, for many of us God’s intervention in our normal day to day business and busyness is occasional and accidental rather than frequent and deliberate. That’s got to be worth changing hasn’t it?

I was inspired to give some thought to this by an article on this by the great Puritan writer, Richard Baxter. The Puritans were the theologians of the Christian life. That’s probably their greatest contribution to the Christian church. Our neglect of what they wrote greatly impoverishes our Christian life. Admittedly they’re sometimes hard to understand but usually it’s well worth the trouble.

What follows is simply a suggestion; something worth considering. It’s a routine that we might follow to ensure that we don’t just start the day with the Lord, but spend it with Him as well.

1. Go to bed and get some sleep

We often think that the key decision is made in the morning when the alarm clock goes off. Will I get up, or won’t I? But it’s not, is it? It’s made the previous night when we decide to go to bed at a sensible time instead of watching TV, updating our Facebook status or reading a novel. The time we go to bed has a massive impact on whether we listen to God’s word in the morning.

2. Wake up and thank the Lord

I never go to bed thinking that I won’t wake up. And when I do wake up I rarely thank God for a good night’s sleep and the opportunity to serve Him for the day. But that’s mistake, isn’t it? Life is a gift from God for which I ought to express my thanks. And each day is a chance to use the life He’s given to me for His kingdom and His glory. If I train myself to give my first waking thoughts to the Lord then, like anything that we practice, it’ll become a habit. And a good one at that!

3. Get dressed and listen to the Lord

It doesn’t have to be in that order. Enjoy your Christian liberty to have a quiet time in your pyjamas if you must. When the kids were younger this was a massive struggle for us. Sleep was such a precious commodity. And so getting up early to read the Bible is a real struggle. But it’s struggle worth having.

4. Have breakfast and pray for the day

We’re hopeless at this for a variety of reasons. But when we manage to have breakfast as a family it’s a good idea to pray for the key things that each person is facing. If it’s just you, there’s no reason why you can’t pray for the day before you tuck into our Sugar Puffs. But we’re resolved to start this new school year with ‘Table Talk’ from the Good Book Company and make this a family tradition.

5. Travel to work and fight temptation

My commute involves two flights of stairs. I suspect that your commute is longer! But I’m also sure that we both face temptation. It’s a constant companion for all of us because we each have a sinful nature. The summer is a time when both genders face particular struggles with what they look at and what they think about. The gents have to battle with visual stimulation provided by the beautiful women of London. The ladies have to struggle with the visual stimulation provided by the sale offers in the high street. If we’re giving in to temptation, we’re unlikely to be thinking about the Lord. So let’s not let ourselves become defiled. When we get it wrong the key thing to do is to repent and not mope around feeling ashamed. The only thing worse than sin is unrepented sin. Don’t turn one sin into two by not confessing it and trusting in Jesus’ work on the cross to instantly remove your guilt. One of the things that we can do to combat temptation at work is use our commute to read (which may be problematic if you have to stand) or listen to a sermon on our MP3.

6. Work hard and pursue God’s glory

Everything we do, we’re to do it for God’s glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). Our jobs are not simply a way of earning our cash; it’s an opportunity to live wholeheartedly for God’s glory. The work we do, the way we work and the motives for our work are opportunities to glorify the Lord. So let’s work with Him in mind whether the work pays, or it doesn’t. My greatest weakness at work is distraction. High speed broadband, the BBC Sport website and e-mail can be my undoing. And so I can end up working long not working hard. Of course we need to build slack into the system to recharge our batteries and improve our concentration. But my work could be done in less time if I was more diligent and focussed in my tasks. Let’s work hard for God’s glory and then enjoy our rest!

7. Eat meals and always give thanks

Every meal, whether it requires a knife and fork or not, is an opportunity to express our gratitude to God. We don’t just have to thank him for the food, nor indeed for every good thing but also for whatever has come to pass since the last time we spoke with the Lord. Just bow your head where you sit and pray.

There’s great freedom in how we choose to do this. But we can actively seek to cultivate our knowledge of God by keeping Him ever before us in our thinking. Wouldn’t it be great to not only start the day with the Lord but to spend the day with the Lord?

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Ramp Camp

Continuing the recent camp theme, I heard an interview on Radio 4 this morning. This is how the BBC website cover the story. As the owner of the skateboarding park says, ‘We’re not using skate as bait’. They’re just Christian surfers. You gotta love it.

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Urban Wine

Check this out. I had to look at the date. But it’s not a wind up. April 1 is still a few months away.

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Summer Camps V

How do you play camp sport? No, not games where we all wear pink and mince around the pitch. I’m talking about sporting competition on Christian summer camps. How do you do it?

Before we get there, it’s worth asking what we’re trying to do. For my money we’re trying to do four things

1. we’re trying to give the kids a great time and so all the banter, team ethic, applause and competitive tension play into that

2. we’re trying to let the kids be involved so that everyone can feel that they contributed and occasionally someone unlikely can end up being the hero

3. we’re trying to build relationships so that camp is more than the peaceful co-existence of two groups of people; leaders and members but instead becomes a shared activity and partnership

4. we’re trying to model godly competition, something that’s harder for naturally competitive leaders to learn, so that they realise that being a Christian affects even the way we play

With those aims in mind here are my observations

1. Competition is alright. It’s not ungodly to be competitive. In a competition you pit one set of people, with their collective skills, against another, with theirs. The reason for doing so is to find out who’s best. It’s called winning. That’s why we play games; to find out who’s best. But it’s not the be all and end all. Something that’s taken me a while to work out. But it is the reason we play. And so we need to encourage the members to try and win the game. That’s the fun of it. We must encourage one another to go all out for the win. But we need to do this in such a way that we play fair and we play for fun.

2. Leaders make the difference. Every game is for the kids but every game needs the leaders. Leaders with sporting ability are like the glue that holds the game together and the oil that makes it run smoothly. The game can revolve around them and it’s alright.  They can include the kids with lesser ability with a pass or a shot that makes it easy for them to be involved. If you take the leaders out of it you end up with the kids with sporting ability dominating.

3. Everyone can be a hero. The great thing about camp sport is that even the average, or even the useless, get to have fun and feel a part of it. In any normal game those with sporting ability will shine and those without will whither. Not so on camp. Most of the games we play are a great leveller. You may be an outstanding cricketer at school. But even a county representative batsmen will struggle to assert himself in a game of crocka. It’s hard to smite a half volley through extra cover when you’re holding a baseball bat, hitting an under inflated plastic and facing a fielding team of about 150. And every now and again the game throws up an unlikely hero. A well manufactured game can end up with the youngest member taking a penalty, sending his or her team into a state of frenzied excitement.

4. You need space. I used to think that the pitch is simpy a piece of canvas on which I work my sporting artistry. It is. But that’s not the point! With camp games, if you go for bigger pitches it allows time for those with less sporting ability to compose themselves for a catch, allows them time to control a ball or gives them an opportunity to look for a pass. Of course, the flip side is that space allows the really able ones to dominate. But that’s where the leaders come in! But you can also change the rules so that everyone is involved. For example, only the youngest dorm can score, there must be at least four passes or so on. The point is that if the whole thing is confined to a small space then it may be a great leveller since those with sporting ability have no space or time to show their talent but it also ends up being a shambolic melee. Usually the able get the picture after a while and enjoy using their talents to bring others into the game. Once they see leaders including everyone they realise that there’s fun to be had in playing that way.

5. Small teams are best. If someone spends 30 minutes playing a game and only gets near the ball half a dozen times, touches it three times and catches it once, they’re not going to be very happy! But if you go for smaller teams and rotate the time on the pitch then everyone is more involved. Most camp games cope well with 3 or 4 teams. If they’re on for the best of three or for 5 minute stints then no one gets bored on the sidelines.

Of course, crocka runs best with a whole different set of rules. But that’s not something that can be shared on the interweb!

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Summer Camps IV

Jam Cary’s written something here on camp comedy; that’s jokes for camp, not comedy with an effeminate edge. Always worth being clear. Make sure you read the comments. Ros is a sweet woman. Of course, Jam’s point about camp comedy only works if you assume that the sketches are for the benefit of the kids! Schoolboy error.

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Summer Camps III

Every year thousands of children and hundreds of young adults go off on residential Christian summer camps. They’re usually about one week long. They often take place in the public schools of this country. The word ‘camp’ is misleading. Only the very hardy continue under canvas!

Christian camps are different from many other worthwhile camps that operate over the summer because of the gospel priorities that underlie their organisation. They exist not only to give teenagers a great summer holiday but to help them engage with the bigger issues of life.

They support the work of the local church. They don’t replace it. Overall camp leaders go to great lengths to work in consultation with the local church youth group leaders. They work with the kids all year round and know them better than we do. The organised teaching programme should be designed to supplement the week in week out work done by volunteer youth workers up and down the country.

Over the last half a century they have had a significant impact on the evangelical churches in our country. Many of our senior church leaders were recruited, converted and trained on camp. The recent leaders of All Souls, St Helens and HTB were all involved with camps as young men.

Why would we go on ‘camp’?

Every year church leaders encourage their congregations to volunteer. Camp leaders send out requests for help. And friends commend the wisdom of ‘signing up’. But why would any right thinking individual give up a week of their holiday period, engage with a smelly dormitory of teenagers and return to work less rested than when they went away. Let me give you three reasons.

1. Camps reach children with the gospel

Though the primary reason for organising camps is to give them a great holiday, the ultimate reason for organising camps is to help them engage with the big issues of life. Kids are not morally innocent. They need to be saved by Christ. Therefore they need to hear the gospel and respond with repentance and faith. On a residential camp teenagers are away from other distracting influences. This a peer pressure free zone. They’re willing and able to engage. We’ll need to steer well clear of manipulation. But the experience of a genuine Christian community is a huge stimulus to careful thought.

2. Camps provide opportunities to serve

Summer camps are like a much more intense experience of church. The priorities are the same since Bible teaching, personal evangelism and encouragement to holiness are at the heart of both. However, the audience at camp is much more focussed in terms of age. Camps, like church, have lots of different opportunities to serve. We can often think that the only useful people on camp are those with sporting or musical abilities. But taht’s not true. The kids at camp come in all different shapes and sizes. They have all sorts of different interests. And so we need a variety of leaders. Camps need people with technical expertise, with sporting ability, with culinary flair, with artistic talent, theatrical tendencies, with financial acumen and with administrative gifts, to name a few. They need ‘up front’ people who can run games but they also need ‘behind the scenes’ people who make it all happen. It’s very unlikely that we’d be unable to make a useful contribution to a summer camp.

3. Camps equip us to be useful in the church

It’s often the case that the most useful people in a local church are those who’ve had some experience of camp. That shouldn’t surprise us. There are things that we learn on camp that are immediately useful in church. We can learn how to understand and teach the Bible and so we can help run a small group. Or we learn how to participate usefully in a small group because we know how valuable it is to have people who contribute. We can learn how to lead a meeting or run a seminar and so we can take on teaching in Sunday school, doing a kid’s slot or speaking at women’s breakfasts. We can learn to explain the gospel and respond to people’s questions and so we can begin to grow in confidence in talking to our friends and colleagues. We can learn how to personally encourage a teenager in their Christian life and so we can begin to be of help to others in our congregation perhaps reading the Bible with them one to one.

Who could get involved in ‘Camp’?

The New Testament requirements for leadership are giftedness and godliness. So if you could contribute something useful to a camp, your lifestyle will not bring the gospel into disrepute and you’re willing to get involved then why not commit to it. Pathfinders are camps for 11-14 year olds and CYFA are camps for 15-18 year olds. They happen at various locations throughout the country and they are spread over a range of dates. Most require attendance at a training weekend and at a reunion. If you’d like to find out more then look here.

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Summer Camps II

We’ve just spent the last week on Woolie 1. It’s a Pathfinder Venture for 11-14 year olds. You may have read about it here?! Ed told me I’d be a leader without portfolio. He didn’t warn me that I’d have to be the camp press officer. But I was delighted to show Ruth Gledhill around what I thought was a fantastic camp.

We took the whole family and they had a ball. The site was fantastic. We had somewhere great to sleep.  JJ, Claudia and the team cooked delicious food. The activities programme kept our kids occupied from dawn til dusk. The heated outdoor swimming pool was nice! And the grounds were stunning. Our kids were included by the camp members in almost everything. Number one son started taking notes in the Bible talks. Number two son learnt to swim with armbands. Daughter discovered High School Musical.

I need to come clean. I love camps. I’ve been doing them for almost 20 years [I started young]! As long as the guys that run them think I can be useful, I plan on staying involved. Strangely, given the lack of sleep and sheer exhaustion of constantly being on the go, I find them so refreshing. Sure, you’re knackered at the end of the week but there’s something spiritually rejuvenating about them. It’ll take wild horses to drag me away from them even as I get older.

I know they’re not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’ but I thought I’d have a stab at trying to articulate why I enjoy them so much.

1. You get to do what you’d love your church to be doing

It’s not fair on churches to compare them to camps. Camps are an unusual environment; there’s none of the usual things to distract us from gospel ministry; there’s no work, someone else cooks your meals and the TV holds no attraction. It’s an artificial environment. It’s a leaner, streamlined version of  church. But there’s something about camp that reminds you what you’re supposed to be doing as a church. And so often in church ministry we can forget. On camp, every leader spends a whole week looking after the kids in their care; giving them a great holiday and helping them think about the big issues of life. Some of them describe themselves as Christians and they were looking for encouragement. The leaders are all too happy to give it. Some of them don’t want to describe themselves as a Christians because they remain unpersauded. We don’t pressurise them into believing. That would be wrong and counter productive. But we do listen to their objections and help them see why Christian faith is credible and rational. One of the best sights on camp is a teenager sat next to a leader on a bench, Bible open in front deep in conversation. They set the spiritual temperature. And it’s consistently higher than it is at church. That’s fantastic. And it’s why so many kids make such progress whilst they’re away at camp. It’s why youth leaders are so keen to bring their kids along. It’s why parents are so keen to send them. And it’s why church leaders are so supportive of camps, even if it means losing 20 of your evening congregation for a week in the summer!

2. You get to work as part of a team with a shared ambition

Camp leaders are not like church members. They’re church members. At least they should be, otherwise they don’t get to come. You can’t lead on a camp if you’re not involved in your church. But that’s the issue, they’re involved in church. And so camp gets the cream. The leaders on camp are some of the very best that the local church has to offer. The leaders room is therefore a very talented group of individuals. This doesn’t mean that we were all the same. We were very different. We had complimentary gifts, temperaments, abilities and characters. Some were atheletic, others artistic, still others had great acting ability, a few were genuinely hilarious and many had teaching gifts. The really irritating ones have all those gifts! But that’s just envy. But like a well functioning church body we were delighted to join together in partnership for the sake of something bigger than ourselves and our own little projects; namely, the gospel. That was hugely enjoyable. We felt like we were all pushing in the same direction. We felt like we were all praying for the same things. That’s just so stimulating. There are times when we get distracted at church. We let the urgent replace the important. But on camp we’re focussed. We don’t neglect the urgent. But in all honesty there are very few things that can’t be put to one side for a week.

3. You get to see that the kingdom is bigger than your local church

And that’s so encouraging when it looks tiny in your own context. Our church isn’t that big. It’s growing. But slowly. But our children’s work is small. Creche is a growth area but that’ll take a few years to filter through! Our youth work is non-existent. We simply don’t have any teenagers. When you work week in week out in that environment you can end up thinking that the Kingdom of God in this country is a pretty small affair. And in some respects, it is. But throughout this country there are other small but faithful churches like ours. God has got people up and down the land who share our view of Jesus. And on summer camps some of them get together for a fabulous week. I’m now at an age where one of the highlights is meeting the parents before and after the venture. Obviously some of the younger, trendier, more useful leaders are a little bit intimidated by the grown ups. Not me. I labour under the misapprehension that I’m one of them! But talking to the parents can be so encouraging. They are so appreciative of all that we do for their kids.

4. You get to see how much fun it’ll be in the new creation

Forgive the eschatological terminoligical innacuracies; but ‘heaven’ is going to be great. How do I know? You get a taste of it on camp. Camp is the people of God living as His community encouraging one another in His service. And it’s magic. Not literally, obviously. It’s simply terrific. There’s nothing like it. Camps tend to attract some wonderful people. And this week was no exception. It was just so encouraging to be a part of it. I long gave up trying to explain to others what’s so fun about camp. Try explaining the wide game, it’s a washout or members-leaders crocka to a friend and the look of incredulity will say it all. You had to be there! But camps are full of laughter, friendships and shared experiences. Some of the most unlikely people end up being a hero. There’s a shared sense of community. Everyone is included, even the most awkward. Praying for things is instinctive and normal. Normal life seems black and white in comparison.

5. You get to live the Christian life as you’d love to all the time

This came to me on the way to church last night. The Christian life is so much easier when you’re on camp. I get to live the Christian life that I’d love to live every day. Jesus is front and centre. You think about him more than you usually do. He seems more precious and valuable on camp. You not only start the day with him but you continue it with him. There are reminders throughout the day that he matters more than anything else. And sin doesn’t hold the attraction that it sometimes does. Sure there’s accountability and you can’t hide behind the anonymity of busy urban life. But you just don’t want to enterain sinful temptations in quite the same way when the whole week is given over to serving the Lord. And so obedience is easier. I’m sure there must be ways to make normal life like camp. And that’d be a good thing. But camp is special and so we’d be unwise to expect the same experience for the other 51 weeks in a year.

If you wanted to know more about camps you could go here.

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