However you dress it up …

I cycled past this hoofing great advertisement yesterday morning. It’s in Balham, on the corner of Bedford Hill and Rossiter Road. Despite the early hour and my weary condition, I couldn’t help noticing it. This is surely what ChurchAds.net were hoping for.

They’re a charitable group made up from a coalition of Christian organisations that includes Premier Christian Media, the Evangelical Alliance, the Church Army and CPO. I’m familiar with some of the names who make up the council of reference. Though we don’t move in the same circles; we may not even be on the same theological page. But I like their work.  They’ve been behind the Christmas promotional campaigns over the past few years. You can see some of their previous work here.

The poster is certainly arresting. It wouldn’t look out of place on the front of the Sunday Times colour supplement. The shepherds are re-cast as cycle couriers. The wise men are entrepreneurial businessmen who bear luxury gifts; a Swarovski crystal perfume bottle, a Faberge egg and a Damien Hirst diamond encrusted skull. Mary looks stunning in a dress by Zara and Joseph cuts a dash in a John Varvatos jacket. The shoes by Church’s is a nice touch!

The poster campaign has provoked some reaction in the blogosphere. The Rev Dr Peter Mullen, writing in his Daily Telegraph blog, really didn’t like it. His main beef seems to be that because the redesigned nativity characters are clad in expensive designer clothing, the church is somehow complicit in the rampant materialism that so often accompanies Christmas. I think he’s missed the point. The intention of the ad is not to say ‘it’s OK to dress Christmas up in designer gear’ but instead ‘given that Christmas is already dressed up in designer gear, let’s not make a further mistake and miss out on the centrality of Christ’. And I don’t say that because I rate my interpretative ability higher than The Rev Dr’s. It’s what the designers of the poster say about their work. The website says

‘It’s the meeting of Christianity and high street consumerism, with Christ in the middle’.

And Francis Goodwin, the Chair and Founder member said this,

‘With recent events, from looting of high-value goods to recession and job losses, and with millions of people heading for shopping centres, there can be no better time to remind people that consumerism and expensive brands are not the point of the festival’.

That’s pretty clear then. We can at least appreciate what the authors were aiming for. And let’s not be unfair. This is a poster for goodness’ sake. What the designers can accomplish is limited by the medium that they’ve chosen. It’s not a sermon where we can qualify everything that we say and round off the edges with nuance and clarification. You’ve only got one hit with a poster. And I think they’ve nailed it.

On her blog, Ruth Gledhill has a fuller analysis and some great quotes from the likes of John Sentamu and others who back the campaign.

As for me, I really like it. It works for me. And it lifts my spirits every time I’ve been passed it since. I’m glad that it’s there. And I’m not alone. Apparently 61% of people liked the campaign poster. And 41% said that it made them think about the true meaning of Christmas. It’s hard not to be pleased with that. I’d be happy if 6 out of 10 punters left my Christmas sermon liking what had been said about Christ and 4 out of 10 prepared to think further.

But I like it for other reasons. I like the fact that the gifts are lavish and luxurious. It befits someone who’s worthy of extravagant displays of adoration and affection. I like that Jesus is unseen; untarnished by the consumerism. I like it that Jesus is centre stage; the focal point of the action. I like it that everyone at the scene is captivated by who he is.

I just hope that in amongst the materialism that accompanies my Christmas, I can keep my eyes as firmly fixed on my Saviour as I will on my presents.

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UCCF: Only Girls Allowed?!

I’m not sure Levy’s going to get invited to speak at Word Alive this year. Or ever! He should be. But I suspect his latest post on Reformation 21 may be the penultimate nail in his coffin. If not the final one! It’s all about UCCF training women to lead women. You can find it here. It’s very short; a little over 200 words. But you can say a lot in a few words! And he has.

I know nothing at all about the current student scene. Students aren’t a massive part of our gospel ministry at Christ Church Balham. Most of the Christian students St George’s Hospital go to St Nicholas’ Church, Tooting, Shofar (a South African Charismatic Church on campus) or their own home church if they live with their parents in London. We have a few. They’re terrific. And we’d happily welcome more. But it’s not what God has us doing at the moment. And so I don’t know a whole load about what’s going on in UCCF. But I agree with Paul, wholeheartedly.

It echoes my own experience. Donkey’s years ago, when I was a freshman student at the University of Warwick, I ventured into the Christian Union. I was a young man, recently converted, sent to university by the Royal Navy and already part of the university rugby team. I was met by a female dominated CU. They were lovely. But they were women, with lots of hair as I remember (it was the early 90s – think Jon Bon Jovi soft perm). I looked around in vain for the blokes and the lads who’d take me under their wing and help me grow. And it’s not like I didn’t need it. Those early months at Uni were a mess. I desperately needed someone to get hold of me and help me put the Christian life together. But there was no one. There was a wonderful UCCF Staff Worker called Jenny Brown. She was great. But she couldn’t disciple me or the other two lads that I’d dragged along with me. It’s what we needed. We were all newly converted or woefully untaught. All three of us had been selected by the Armed Services because we were thought to have leadership potential. That could have been put to good use, one would imagine. But it wasn’t until well into our second year that, in God’s good providence, we stumbled into Saltisford Evangelical church and a godly pastor called Nigel Lee decided to give us some of his precious time. At that point and being recruited for Christian summer camps we started to make progress. From that summer camp, a man named Rupert Mackay travelled up from London to come and read Romans with me. That was some commitment but it was hugely formative in my Christian life. And kept me from making more mistakes than I did. It was that sort of input that we were crying out for. But there was no one to provide it.

It was only when Krish Kandiah (and whatever happened to him?) pitched up and was appointed Student President that things started to change at the Christian Union. He was mature enough in his own Christian faith to be able to disciple his peers. But that was too late for me. I used to look with envy at the personal work ‘done’ with friends at Oxford and Cambridge. They had guys who invested in them, discipled them and trained them for service. It was a missed opportunity at Warwick. There were guys to be trained but there was no one to train them. If Levy’s right (and he tells me he usually is) then a new generation of student work is making the same mistake.

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Driscoll & Coekin: The Sofa Sessions

Dex has got his finger out. [Good job my friend].

So now the eagerly awaited ‘Driscoll & Coekin: The Sofa Sessions’ is online. It sounds like something deserving of a superinjunction. It’s not. Let’s be clear.

Richard, in that characteristically casual way he has with the camera, asks Mark one or two questions about life, faith and ministry. Have fun working out for whose benefit Richard is asking the questions!

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The Wittiest Welshman on the World Wide Web?

I think I’ve said before that the principle reason I go on ministry conferences is to have a laugh and meet up with old mates. Of course there are other more godly reasons to go. And I share some of those, some of the time. But much of what I can access at a conference I can now access online. So why go? There’s no substitute for staying up late, sitting in the bar mocking your mates. It’s our love language.

One of the highlights of those conferences over the years has been the unerring wit of Paul Levy. He’s every bit as funny as he looks. The Proc Trust Ministers Conferences feel  predominately English and Anglican. Paul is Welsh and Presbyterian. That’s a special kind of minority that produces a special kind of persecution complex! But he’s very level headed about it. He’s got a chip on both shoulders.

His apoplectic reaction to Jonathan Fletcher’s seminar on the history of evangelicalism in the UK, which failed to mention Lloyd-Jones, will never leave me. I’m still not sure whether JJMF didn’t do that on purpose!

Levy is usually entertaining. Occasionally he’s right. And he’s always worth listening to.  And someone’s now told me I can access it online. I’m not a big reader of others’ blogs but this one is a must.

Very kindly Paul gave me a ‘big up’ on the Reformation21 Blog. You should have seen the spike in the number of hits that day! I don’t expect them to be back. But it was good for the ego whilst it lasted. I can reassure him that my fawning over Mark Driscoll has come to an end. If it ever started. I’d heard that he was blogging. Subscribe. My current favourites are his blog on Clueless Church, Jonathan Fletcher’s Reform video and the one about America stealing the best of British talent.

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Christianity in the City

Pete Matthew, our assistant minister at CCB, forwarded this article to me.

The article heading says

God’s bankers: How evangelical Christianity is taking a hold of the City of London’s financial institutions. Alex Preston asks how the disciples of evangelical Christianity reconcile their faith with the avarice of high finance

It’s about Christians in financial institutions in the Square Mile and Canary Wharf. But it talks also about St Helen’s, St Peter’s Barge and Christianity Explored as well as HTB and Alpha. Thought I’d post it. Preston doesn’t quite get everything right. But it’s worth a read.

Marcus Nodder, who’s speaking at the London Men’s Convention on Saturday features in the article. The caption for his photo reads, ‘Walking on water: Marcus Nodder is the chaplain of St Peter’s Barge, a church which floats on the Thames near Canary Wharf’. Nice!

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10 Ways To Kill Your Congregational Meeting!

I had a bit of fun with a similarly themed post a while back. You can find it here. It’s about how to ruin your small group. I thought I’d take the concept and run with it. I got Ed Drew to look at it. In familiar fashion he called me a ‘monkey’. And then he said that though he liked it, he thought that in one or two places I sounded bitter. I’m not. Honestly. I’m in really good heart at the moment; we’ve got loads to be thankful for at CCB. But it’s fair to say that these patterns of behaviour are somewhat trying for a church leader.

Anyway, to the matter in hand; how to kill your congregational meeting!

1. Start ‘weekending’: Go away lots at the weekend. Get out of London. You need a break. You’ve earned it. Don’t worry about getting back in time for church. Sure, it’ll mean you’re rarely around for two weeks in a row. You’ll lose consistency and coherence in the preaching programme. But there’ll be unexpected benefits. You won’t make any friendships that you don’t want to. And no one will be able to rely on you to do anything so you won’t need to appear on one of those tiresome rotas. Spiritually it won’t help you to be so infrequent and irregular at church but physically you’re bound to feel refreshed!

2. Pitch up late: Don’t worry about being on time. That’s so legalistic. The Bible doesn’t say punctuality is one of the fruit of the spirit. It’s a Sunday after all; everyone else is lazing around the house reading the Sunday papers or drifting in from watching the afternoon match at the pub. It’s a day or rest; not rush. So aim to arrive sometime during the first song. You won’t have missed anything important; just the general welcome and an opening prayer. The newcomers who pitch up early anxious that they’ll be late can fend for themselves! They didn’t really come to meet anyone anyway. They’ll pick up from our relaxed approach to life that this is a church strong on grace rather than works. And there’s the benefit of being able to scan the congregation and choose very carefully where to sit.

3. Sit on your own: Don’t sit near anyone else. They might engage you in conversation at the end of the meeting. And worse, you might feel obliged to do the same to them. Sit somewhere where you can avoid eye contact with others in the congregation. You’ve come to church to be anonymous. It’s about you and God, not about you and anyone else. You’re not there to make friends and encourage others. You’re there to focus on your relationship with God, aren’t you?

4. Let your mind wander. Don’t bother engaging with the sermon. It’s probably not worth using up valuable mental energy. If the guy doesn’t hold your attention the way that ‘The Wire’ does then you can’t be expected to listen attentively. You could take notes but you wouldn’t want to seem keen. There’s no need to think about what’s being said; you’ve come for private contemplation. The sermon is the chance to let your mind wander and to lose yourself in thought. I wouldn’t worry about encouraging the preacher with active listening that’ll inspire him to keep explaining and applying the Bible. He’s a professional. He’s been at it a while. He’s very aware of his own limitations and so he knows the score!

5. Switch off in the singing: Don’t look like you’re putting anything into it. Just look passive and disengaged. It’s music and if it doesn’t sound anything like your favourite band then there’s no compulsion on you to do anything other than to stand up and mouth the words so that you blend in with the crowd. Don’t worry about setting an example by pouring your heart and soul into the song. It’d be a trifle zealous to express your profound thankfulness to God for the Christian life, wouldn’t it? The enthusiasts can do that. You have another spiritual gift. The gift of lukewarmness! The musicians will be fine. They’re not really expecting anything. They have their expectations under control. To be honest they don’t mind putting in hours of preparation, turning up early to set up and practice, barely being able to concentrate on anything else during the meeting because they’re so anxious about getting things wrong and spoiling it for others and then packing it all away again at the end of the meeting.

6. Avoid spiritual reflection: As soon as the last words have been spoken and the musicians have filled that awkward silence with Christian ‘musak’, get up from where you’re sat and make a beeline for the door. The last thing you want to do is sit where you are, look over your sermon notes and then reflectively pray through what you’ve learnt.

7. Let newcomers fend for themselves: At the end of the formal meeting, don’t bother approaching those who look unfamiliar. They may not be. And how would you know; you’re never there and you wouldn’t want to make an excruciatingly embarrassing mistake. You don’t need to talk to them anyway. They can always look at the bookstall indefinitely! That’s why it’s there, isn’t it?

8. Keep it superficial. In the unfortunate event that you unavoidably found yourself in a conversation, keep it brief and light. Humorous pleasantries work well. All the time look over their shoulder for someone more interesting to talk to. You’ll appear popular, and fun, without ever having to be honest about your own life. In addition, you’ll not find out anything further about them, which is great because it’s always hard to remember tiresome details about other, less interesting people!

9. Make a quick exit. Don’t hang around just in case someone grabs you at the end. If it’s Sunday morning then the roast is in the oven. You’ve got friends coming over. If it’s Sunday evening you need to get back to iron your shirts. You’ve got work the following morning.

10. Shift from the sacred to the secular. As soon as you’ve left church, just get on with real life. I wouldn’t worry about bringing what you learned into your day to day existence. That could make things complicated in the workplace, or in your social life. There’s no need to worry about praying for your church family. Remember church is simply a ninety minute commitment once a week. That is, if you haven’t had a better offer!

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Fleecing Christians

‘We weren’t sure whether it was the Lord’s will, so we laid a fleece’. Mmmm. Good intention, not what that episode is about though.

I was in Judges 6 & 7 last Sunday. And so Gideon’s fleece cropped up. It’s surely one of the most wonderfully butchered pieces of scripture. It’s part of the ongoing narrative in which this judge is presented to us in somewhat unflattering terms. It a passage that’s been long cherished but much misunderstood by Christians. Here’s how the NIV translates it

³⁶ Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised— ³⁷ look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said.” ³⁸ And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew.” ⁴⁰ That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

This is not a positive move. Let’s be clear, Gideon is not looking for guidance. He’s not trying to discern God’s will. He knows what he’s supposed to do.

• The Midianite army have pitched up for their annual pillage.
• He’s been empowered by the Spirit.
• He’s summoned the army to Jezreel.
• Twice he says that he knows that God has promised to rescue Israel through him (36) & (37).
• And when he asks for the second sign he begs God not to be angry with him.

He knows what he’s supposed to be doing; he’s supposed to be leading the way in the battle for the kingdom of God.

And what he asks for isn’t a confirmatory sign, it’s a miraculous sign. He asks for the impossible in order to confirm what he knows he ought to be doing. It’s like asking ‘Lord if you want me to speak to my work colleagues about Christ will you send a Japanese Admiral to my front door at precisely 7.20am with a bunch of red roses addressed to my long deceased Grandmother’. [I think I got the Japanese Admiral bit from Adrian Plass].

We simply cannot justify using this as a model approach for guidance. Gideon’s looking for a way out. The fleece isn’t about discerning God’s will. It’s about trying to escape it. So let’s kick fleece laying into touch once and for all. Let’s do something sensible. Let’s make a prayerful decision in light of God’s revealed word no matter how demanding faithful obedience might be. That’s real godliness.

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We Three Kings …

Every year our preconceived ideas of what happened  are reinforced by the Christmas cards that we send and receive. Most card designers get it all wrong. And I don’t blame them. The original Christmas is so much less appetising than the one that really took place. If you take away the snowman, the robin redbreast and the stable then what you’re left with doesn’t make for a great picture.

I’m not the first person to say that there’s a fair bit of myth in the traditional Christmas. The Archbishop of Canterbury put himself in hot water a few years ago for suggesting something very similar. He argued that much of what passes for the traditional Christmas is simply legend and can’t be established from historical records. I’m not known for defending the Archbishop of Canterbury. But on this one, he’s right.

And so I want to take the opportunity in this post to clear away some of the confusion that’s arisen about Christmas.

Take Matthew 2:1-12, for example. What we’re about to consider is embodied in the carol, We Three Kings of Orient Are. It’s one of those carols for which the dodgy lyrics are so much easier to remember than the real ones. So you’ll have no trouble in remembering

We three kings of orient are, One in a taxi and one in a car, One on a scooter blowing his hooter, Following yonder star.

The second verse may be less well known,

We three kings of Leicester Square, Selling pants a penny a pair, Quite fantastic no elastic, Not very safe to wear.

The internet has made my job so much easier! But even the real lyrics of that carol get it all wrong. Not all wrong, that’s not fair. They get some things right.

We can be pretty sure that they were blokes. If they were women they’d have stopped and asked for directions, got there in time for the birth, helped deliver the baby, cleaned up the stable, cooked a lasagne, arranged a food rota and brought something more useful for the baby than gold, frankincense and myrrh.

But we know that they weren’t kings. They were Magi, a sort of astrology-theology hybrid. Their well intentioned scientific study of the stars and their interpretation of ancient writings provided them work acting as advisers in Royal Courts. It just so happened that their interpretation about ‘the one born king of the Jews’, was spot on.

We don’t know how many there were. It’s a good guess that there were three of them since there were three types of gifts. But when was the last time you went to a party and all the blokes remembered to bring a present? It’s much more likely that there were more than three.

We don’t know what they were called. Tradition has given them the names; Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar, which make great names for goldfish. But there’s no evidence whatsoever that these were their real names.

So what do we know? Let’s put tradition to one side for a moment and look at the Bible.

Matthew, the writer of the gospel named after him, took great care to record historically reliable information about these significant events. He was one of Jesus’ first followers, having left behind his job as a Jewish tax collector. So our author was an accountant working for the civil service. You’ll see where I’m going to go with this. I don’t suppose they’ve undergone significant evolutionary change. The questionable sartorial taste and tedious conversational topics have no doubt remained. But more importantly for our purposes so has the fastidious attention to detail. Which means that when Matthew says in (1), ‘after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod’ we can be sure that this is a deliberate attempt to locate these events in terms of geography and history. Matthew wants us to know that though this is Christmas, it’s not panto. The birth of Jesus took place at a particular place and a particular time.

Matthew is one of two gospel writers, the other being Luke, to spend considerable time on the events around the birth of Jesus Christ. Matthew is the only one to record the visit of these astrologer theologians. They came from the east to search out a new king. Matthew wants us to know that this is not only a king for the Jewish people but that he’s king for everyone. But for most people, Jesus is one of the dispensable parts of Christmas. We could never do without mulled wine, mince pies or a tree. But Jesus is expendable. But the wise men realised that he’s the most enjoyable bit.

We see that in their response to finding Jesus. Matthew tells us that they responded in three ways.

1. They were overjoyed (10)

When the wise men saw the star they were absolutely delighted. This was among the happiest moments of their lives. They were so delighted to have found the child king. And like the bubbles in our seasonal Prosecco, their irrepressible elation rose to the surface.

I suspect that we find the jubilation of the wise men a little discomforting. It’s a million miles away from the cool hearted detachment with which most of us respond to the existence of Jesus.  Enthusiasm makes us nervous, especially religious enthusiasm. And above all there’s nothing that unnerves us quite so much as enthusiastic religious men. But their discovery of Jesus was so exciting that they couldn’t contain themselves. For men to get excited it has to be pretty significant. It takes something as significant and rare as English sporting success to get me on my feet in praise.

Are we prepared to get excited about the existence of Jesus Christ? Some of us may not be there yet, but what if we go back a stage. Are we prepared to believe that there’s something about Jesus that might give us reason to get excited? Millions of people around the world have discovered Jesus Christ for themselves, some of them may be known to you, many of them have done that as adults and they’re chuffed to bits.  Could you be next?

2. They paid homage (11)

On seeing Jesus for the first time the wise men fell to their knees. This is an unusual way for a grown up to respond to a child. I have a friend whose young son whose misbehaviour was doing her head in. On the pavement outside Brixton station she got down on all fours and pleaded with him to stop whingeing. It must’ve have made a great sight!

We might expect an adult to stoop down on their haunches and approach a child on their level in order to be understood. But that’s not what’s going on here. The word’s translated ‘bowed down’ and ‘worshipped him’ imply that they prostrated themselves on the ground before him. That’s not normal. Adults don’t usually lie down flat on the ground in front of small children unless they have very good reason to do so. These wise men thought that they did. They were absolutely convinced that this child possessed authority unlike any other.

They knew that this child was already a king. We’re not exactly sure why they came to this conclusion. It may be that since they came from the east they were inhabitants of the Babylonian Empire. Therefore the deported Jewish immigrants taken from Israel under military exile in the 6^th C BC might have taught them that the Old Testament. After all, as the quote from the prophet Micah in (6) makes clear, the Old Testament anticipates a new world leader to come from Israel. We just don’t know. But what we do know is that this child is the king of kings.

And so, will we treat this child with the respect that he deserves? Many of us respond to Jesus with indifference, we can’t be bothered to do hostility. But our indifference towards Jesus is not a small thing. It’s one thing to be apathetic about any old newborn. But this is not any old newborn. This child was born the eternal divine king. I can’t expect to persuade you of that in a two thousand word blog post. But the existence of global worshipping communities throughout history who have been absolutely convinced of this child’s uniqueness ought at least to open us up to the possibility that there’s someone to be reckoned with within that manger.

The Bible’s consistent testimony is that every single one of us, regardless of our age, class or ideology should copy these wise men and get on our knees in submission and give him the respect he deserves.

3. They gave gifts (12)

Matthew tells us that the wise men opened their treasures and from them brought out gold, frankincense and myrrh. He says nothing about the meaning of these three gifts. Obviously there’s been lots of speculation. Theologians since the days of Origen have suggested that there’s deep symbolism to their choice of gifts. But we need to remember that their men and most blokes don’t give a lot of thought to the significance of their gifts. They just want them to be expensive, then useful and occasionally they’ll give some thought to desirability.

• Gold indicates royalty because this child had been born the King of the Jews.
• Frankincense indicates divinity because this child though a human was also divine.
• Myrrh indicates mortality because this child was born to give himself in sacrificial death.

What’s most surprising amongst those gifts is the myrrh. I’m pretty sure I’ve given some inappropriate gifts in my time. There was the Christmas when I bought my wife a cookbook, a food mixer and some kitchen knives! It’s what she needed! But giving embalming spices to a newborn takes the biscuit. But actually it’s right on the money. This child was always going to die. Every child will die. But this one had a special death to die. The kid in the manger became the man on the cross. And when Jesus died on the cross, he bore the brunt of his Father’s anger, so that we wouldn’t have to. His death protects us. He saves us from destruction. That’s wonderful. It’s as though, in his substitutionary death, Jesus acted like a lightning conductor. It’s there to protect a building. It bears the brunt of a lightning strike so that the building doesn’t have to. It saves the building from destruction.

Given that Jesus is the sort of divine king that dies to save his people from their sins, we can begin to appreciate why these wise men were so lavish in the gifts they showered on this young boy. They gave their best because he gave himself.

I’m sure it’s entirely fictitious but I heard a story this week about a boy at church who found himself in an awkward position when the collection plate came around. Seeing this large metal plate being passed along the pew on its way towards him he scrambled about in his pockets and brought out a conker, a marble, a piece of used chewing gum and a paper clip. As the plate came to him he put it on the ground and stepped on it. It was a graphic way of saying that he belonged to Jesus because Jesus had captured his heart.

Are we prepared to give ourselves? Does the idea that we could give something of what we have in adoration of and devotion to this child seem utterly preposterous?

Conclusion

I wonder whether you’ve ever had to search for something you really wanted to find. I lost my eldest son once and I was like a man possessed. I needn’t have worried. He’d locked himself in the toilets at Tooting Leisure Centre with a girl from down the street. They were six.

If we want something desperately enough, if we value it highly enough we’ll go to any lengths to track it down. There’s nothing we won’t turn upside down in our relentless pursuit. Everything gets put on hold until we’ve got what we want in our possession.

These Gentile astrologer theologians were absolutely determined to track down a child they regarded as the king of kings. I’m not suggesting that we need to go to the same lengths as they did. The good news is that we don’t need to. But let me encourage us not to give up on the search until we’ve found what we’re looking for.

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Nicholls’ Online Stream of Consciousness

I’ve just added a new link to my blogroll. It’s Christ Church Kingston. You’ll find it here.

Andrew Nicholls is the full-time elder there. We trained together as the first batch of ministry apprentices through Dundonald Church and then at Oak Hill Theological College. He was the lead Pastor when Fairfield Church was launched in 2003. Christ Church is his second church plant.

I’ve long appreciated Andrew’s wisdom, been envious of his intellect and mocked him for his encyclopaedic knowledge of trivia. I happen to be distantly related to his wife by marriage, which is nice!

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Not Ashamed

‘Not Ashamed’ is an initiative of Christian Concern for our Nation, now renamed Christian Concern.

It’s a Christian organisation that campaigns to put Christ back at the heart of national life. If you had to caricature where they fit in amongst the better known Christian political organisations, you might say that they take a prophetic stance. CARE work from the inside and take a softly, softly long term mediatorial, perhaps priestly approach. Christian Institute are kingly and administrative. They’re well organised and seek to motivate disgruntled Christians from middle England to take up their pens and write angry letters to the House of Lords as yet more bad legislation comes to Parliament. Christian Concern are a little more in your face. They campaign. Loudly. And I’m thrilled that they do. Chief amongst their staff is Andrea Minichiello Williams. She’s the co-founder and Chief Exec. She’s a force of nature. She’s like a Christian version of Boadicea. From what I know of her, I think she’s terrific. I love her work. And I’m glad we’re both on Christ’s side. Not everyone will like her style. But I do. I think there’s a place for shouting in the Christian life!

‘Not Ashamed’ is a recent campaign launched by Christian Concern. It’s an opportunity for UK Christians to stand together and express their confidence that Jesus Christ is good news not just for individuals or for the church but also for our nation as a whole. Wednesday 1st December 2010 has been designated ‘Not Ashamed’ day. It’s the focal point of the initiative but the campaign runs throughout the Autumn and into Advent.

Why do it?

1. we are indebted to Christ’s influence on our nation

Jesus Christ has shaped our nation and influenced its culture more than any other person. We may have lost confidence that many of the things that we and our unbelieving culture takes for granted come as a direct result of the light shone into the world by the church. Prison reform, medical care, abolition of slavery, abolition of child labour, establishment of orphanages, education, reform of the penal code, economic and political freedom can all trace their roots to the massive impetus provided by the Christian worldview and Christians who were active in trying to see it implemented. Imagine a world without any of those things. Jesus Christ alone can provide a solid foundation and a robust fabric for our society. Yet the truths, values and behaviour consistent with that foundation are under attack.

2. we are increasingly encountering attempts to exclude Christ from public life

There is growing pressure to exclude Jesus Christ from the public domain. Many in our society and many in Government would prefer to consign him to the realm of the ‘private and personal’. Increasingly, Christians are encountering attempts to restrict their freedom to speak and live in accordance with biblical teaching in the workplace and in public life.

3. we have a responsibility to speak about the life found in Christ

The path of least resistance would be to run into our ecclesiasical bunker and hide. We’ve done that individually and corporately. And we need to repent. God has given us a prophetic responsibility to love those amongst whom he’s placed us. We can’t very well do that from the lonely isolation of the church building. We need to regain our confidence that God is sovereign so that we might speak with clarity, compassion and courage aboutthe life to be found in Christ alone. We need to do this for His glory and for the sake of a society that so desperately needs him.

‘Not Ashamed’ is an attempt to do that.

So what could we do?

1. Wear the Symbol

One day the kids will realsie that it’s embarassing for Dad to wear things like baseball caps and bracelets. But they’re not there yet! There is a whole range of themed merchandise that can adorn your clothing. Why not find something that you’re happy to wear.

2. Declare the Hope

The high visibility of the campaign should give rise to many opportunities to explain to friends, neighbours, colleagues, family and others why Jesus Christ is such good news for individuals and for our society. We need to make sure that we have soemthing sensible to say when people ask ‘why are you wearing that ridiculous bracelet around your wrist’!

‘Not Ashamed’ day will also see the delivery of the following ‘Declaration of Christian Hope for our Nation’ to leading figures in public life.

A DECLARATION OF CHRISTIAN HOPE FOR OUR NATION

WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ is good news for our nation. He is the only true hope and solid foundation for our society. WE CALL on government, employers and other leaders in our country to protect the freedom of Christians to participate in public life without compromising biblical teaching and to promote in our society the values that are revealed through Jesus Christ and that have so shaped our nation, for the good of all.

If we agree with that, we can visit the website and add our name to it.

3. Share the Vision

We can spread the word about this campaign and encourage others to get onboard. No doubt, there will be flaws in what’s being done and how it’s being done. But in essence, what have we got to lose by being supportive? We’re Christians, we have no credibility in the world’s eyes anyway! God could well use this campaign, in the way that he used the Pope’s visit, to encourage the media to revisit the place of faith in public life. We want Jesus to be worshipped in the public square, and if not worshipped then welcomed so that we’re free to debate the difference that he makes to our individual and national lives. So get onboard, pray and persuade others to sign up and be part of teh ‘Not Ashamed’ movement.

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