Mission Encouragements – III

Are penguins who engage in homosexual acts sinning?

Why can’t brothers and sisters sleep together?

Why did God create evil?

What about the dinosaurs?

These were just some of the questions posed last night at our ‘Question Time’. Some of them, we were expecting. The gay penguins took us by surprise! (We may not have answered that to the questioner’s satisfaction. But could you?!)

For one night only, we took over the ballroom at the Bedford replete with stage lighting and a disco ball. Those expecting Argentinian Tango were disappointed. But we had quite a crowd, which was heartening. There were probably fewer numbers in total than we were hoping for, which was mildly disappointing. But there were more guests than we got last year, which was terrific.

I hosted the evening with my usual mixture of self-deprecating whimsy, gentle mockery and completely inappropriate interjections. The panellists were Andrew Nicholls, Leonie Mason and Nick Tucker (the last of whom took great delight at my personal discomfort at a badly chosen gag and the subsequent tumbleweed moment).

Andrew read medicine at the University of Cambridge and trained as a Doctor at St Bart’s. He then worked for UCCF, an organisation supporting and training Christian students in London. He started working for a church 15 years ago before training in theology and becoming a church minister in Kingston. We had him dealing with the ethics and science questions.

Leonie was quite simply the cleverest student when we studied together at theological college, which surprised us all given her background in selling handbags! (She had other jobs but they don’t help the gag) Those of us most threatened by her fearsome intellect spent our three years trying to copy her essays. For the past 10 years she’s been working on the St Helen’s Church staff team in the City of London. She helps train future church ministers and has responsibility for taking care of the women of that congregation. We got Leonie to deal with the lifestyle related questions and apologetic objections.

Nick is a University Lecturer, teaching in church history and doctrine at Oak Hill Theological College in north London. He trained as a Church Minister, completed his training on the Wirrall, in Lancashire and is now back south completing his PhD. He also worked for UCCF before becoming an Anglican Ordinand. Nick dealt with the more doctrinal and philosophical issues that arose.

We got them to tweet their essential summary of the good news of Christianity and then talk us through it. They each responded to a question pertinent to their area of experience and expertise as outlined above. And whilst the questions were being collected and collated we got them to give us their testimony of how they became a follower of Jesus Christ. And then we spent an hour ploughing our way through a wide variety of questions. We had some great questions on suffering, other religions, church involvement in politics and economics, historical and archaeological reliability and Jesus’ identity. Inevitably there were questions about science and evolution and their compatibility. And there were a few questions out of left field. We got through all but four. But we promised to finish at 9.3opm and so I was determined to honour that.

One great question was ‘what would qualify as a disproof for God?’ And I pressed the panellists to say what, if anything, would cause them to stop being a Christian. Andrew’s answer ‘Jesus’ body’ led to a useful discussion. We opened it up to the floor on one or two occasions but most people seemed happy to let their questions do the talking.

Andrew, Nick and Leonie did a great job. They were knowledgeable, thoughtful and careful. They worked well as a team; supplementing each other’s answers when appropriate. A couple of people said that it was a shame that they didn’t disagree more. But from the questions that they were asked and given their common conviction about biblical authority it was difficult to see where they would disagree. I guess some of the questions about politics and economics gave room for more manoeuvre than say the identity of Jesus, the existence of hell and the reliability of the resurrection. I’m not sure how I would have handled it if there had been disagreement. But I trusted them enough to respect each other’s position and allow for a difference of opinion where the Bible permits that.

But I was especially thrilled that each of them modelled the way to handle people’s questions. They remembered that dictum that we’re not simply trying to win the argument, we’re trying to win a person. What’s meant by that is that in our interactions with others we’re not simply trying to defeat the other person’s argument, we’re trying to win a hearing and through the persuasive presentation of our case we’re trying to win the person to our point of view. It’s not deceptive or underhand. It’s just recognising the human relational component in the way we respond to those with whom we disagree. To help people engage it helps to take them and their issues seriously and to treat them with respect. They did that.

Last night was a good night for the gospel. We’ll definitely do it again at some stage. It’s  great way to allow people to ask questions and hear intelligent biblically based answers from those who have the requisite nous to respond in a way that’s clear and helpful. The mission week is in full swing!

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Is Christianity Good for the World?

That’s the question of this year’s Balham’s Big Question.

We’ve posed it online here, on various social media sites and in person on the streets of Balham.

But how has it got to this? Honestly, how on earth have we got to a situation where people are genuinely asking the question ‘is Christianity good for the world?’ To us Christians, it’s inconceivable that anyone should be in any doubt about the answer. After all, when Mark began his gospel he started with these words, ‘the beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ – the Son of God’ (Mark 1:1). Mark wasn’t unsure. He was convinced that Jesus Christ is good news. That’s what the word ‘gospel’ means. Jesus Christ has always been and will always be very good news for the world.

But in our neck of the woods, the good news has become the bad news. At least that’s the perception. And we’d like to change that. We’re putting on a week of mission events as one of the things that CCB can do to help the people of the Balham area hear the good news of Jesus Christ. We want to do so with events that they can access, in language that they can understand and in venues with which they’re familiar.

We’ve got a Question Time tonight at which people can pitch their questions and hear some answers from our panelists Andrew Nicholls, Leonie Mason and Nick Tucker. We’ve got a Men’s Curry Night on Friday at which I’ll give a talk entitled ‘Is Jesus just for girls?’ (The answer is no – but I’m planning to have a bit more to say than that). We had a women’s evening last Monday with their ‘Girls’ Night In’. I’ve blogged about that here.  On Sunday we have a guest service in the morning when I’ll speak on ‘Christianity: a faith for people who don’t do religion’. And Sunday night we’ll reveal the results of Balham’s Big Survey and Dan Strange will answer the question ‘Is Christianity good for the world?’

We’re pleased with what we’ve ended up with. We’re hopeful that this will work. But please pray so that our efforts to help our friends, neighbours and colleagues are not in vain? We’d love to help them see that the answer to the question ‘is Christianity good for the world?’ is emphatically yes.

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Balham’s Big Quiz

To promote our forthcoming week of mission events, ‘Balham’s Big Survey’ we hosted a pub quiz at The Regent last Tuesday night. We’re good at these. They’re fun, they’re easy to promote and the vibe is positive. The guys who prepare them have to out in a fair amount of hard work. But the end product is well worthwhile. It ought to be an easy invite because it’s a fun night out and not to heavy on the spiritual content.

I gave a short talk. I enjoy these, though I always feel somewhat gutless because I’ve had an opportunity to speak but haven’t really said anything of any substance. I’m worried I’m turning liberal! I’m just not sure that the environment is massively conducive to a serious engagement with serious matters. It’s a pub. There’s a fair amount of noise. People have come for the quiz not to listen to the opportunistic church minister who’s hogging the microphone. And so my aim in speaking is always limited; I simply try and promote whatever’s next on the church programme for those who wouldn’t describe themselves as Christians. It’s a judgment call. I think it’s the right one. But it doesn’t stop me feeling gutless! I can’t wait to get to the mission events so that I can expunge my guilty silence from my memory! Having said that, I often have substantial conversations with friends because we’ve got the time and it’s as though we’ve been given permission to go there.

My heartfelt thanks to those of you on Facebook who helped me with some witty introductory comments. On Tuesday afternoon, I went to the drawer marked humour and found it was empty. You guys got me out of a hole.

This is what I said …

• What if the hokey cokey is what it’s all about?
• Is there another word for synonym?
• What was the best thing before sliced bread?
• Why are your keys always in the last place that you look?

Surely some of the great unanswered questions of our time.

• There are some questions that we can never answer like, why is there an expiry date on sour cream?
• There are some questions that deserve an answer like, who framed Roger Rabbit?
• There are some questions that we ought to answer like, if the ‘black box’ flight recorder is never damaged during a plane crash, why isn’t the whole airplane made of that stuff?

There is one question to which I’d love to know the answer. I hope you don’t mind if I ask it. I don’t mean to be rude or intrusive. It’s just that the answer fascinates me. It won’t be a question that everyone can answer. But the question is simply, ‘why aren’t you a Christian?’

I don’t know how you respond to that

• You may think, ‘I already am, stop bugging me!’
• You may think, ‘are you kidding me, do I look like an idiot?’
• You may think, ‘I haven’t got a clue; it’s never really crossed my mind’.
• You may think, ‘I didn’t realise I had to be, I thought it was optional!’
• You may think, ‘it was a conclusion I reached after a long and agonised exploration of the facts’.

But my point is; you have your reasons. You’ve got reasons for not being a Christian. Presumably you think that they’re good reasons otherwise you’d change your mind. But whatever they are, as far as you’re concerned, you’ve got good reasons not to be a Christian. I understand that.

At CCB, the church at which I run the staff team, we want an opportunity to hear those reasons, we want an opportunity to think about those reasons and we want an opportunity to respond to those reasons. We understand that people have their reasons not to be a Christian. And so we’ve launched Balham’s Big Survey.

We’re going out on the streets on Saturday, with our clipboards. We’ll try not to get confused for chuggers. But we’re going to approach people and hear what they have to say.

We’ve launched a website so that people can participate in the survey. If you visit www.balhamsbigsurvey.org you could turn your reason into a response.

We’re hosting two events for people who wouldn’t normally go with in a country mile of a church. On Wednesday week we’ve got Question Time in the Chestnut Grove Theatre. On Sunday week we’ve cancelled Sunday church so that we can respond to the single most popular question posed in the survey.

It’d be great if you submitted a question, encouraged others to do so and then brought them with you to either or both of those events. You’d be very welcome.

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Balham’s Big Survey

Our annual mission kicks off this Sunday. It’s called ‘Balham’s Big Survey’. Essentially we’re encouraging anyone who’s willing to respond to the question ‘If you could ask God one question, and you knew you’d get an answer, what would you ask?’

We’ve launched a website so that people can submit questions. We’re attempting to help people engage with the big issues of life. We’re encouraging church punters to use all manner of social media to get a response. My Facebook news feed has included a steady stream of congregational members using their status to promote the events. Happy days!

We’re going to respond to the two most popular responses on Sunday 22nd Many; in the morning, when Pete will tackle the second most popular response, and the evening when I’ll have a stab at the most popular one.

This Saturday we’re going to be out on the streets of Balham, trying not to make a nuisance of ourselves, asking people to submit a response to the big question. We’ve been out a few times before, so we’re hoping that people have got used to us pestering them for 30 seconds of their time! We’ve got a team of nearly 30 people who are giving up their Saturday morning to listen to the people of Balham and gather data. That’s hugely encouraging. I’m a bit of a statistical geek. I love graphs and pie charts and so on. They may already be dated, but I love a good ‘wordle’ as well. I  may try to get some of the creative collective to produce an infographic! But I’m looking forward to the analysis once it’s been done. We’ve got a wonderfully helpful congregational member who works for the National Audit Office so she can churn out the facts in the blink of an eye!

But there are more events in the week. ‘Question Time’ should be good. On Wednesday 18th May we’ve hired Chestnut Grove School Theatre for the evening. We’ve got three panel members, with expertise in different areas, to come and respond to questions posed by the audience. Rev Dr Steve Jeffery, a PhD Physicist, Church Minister and author of ‘Pierced for our Trangressions’ will be joined by Martin Ayers and Debs Stein. Martin is an ex-lawyer and now Anglican Clergyman who’s recently published book ‘Naked God’ responds to common objections raised against the Christian faith. Debs Stein is studying for her PhD in Church History, she’s married to an Anglican Clergyman and became a Christian after pursuing a reckless hedonistic lifestyle during her young adult years. I’m going to host and there’ll be a mixture of written questions submitted by the audience and then opportunity for further supplementary questions from the floor. The unpredictability should make for a great evening.

We’ve also got two gender specific events, though we don’t call them that!

The girls are having an evening devoted to fashion called ‘Frock Chicks’. It’s on Monday 16th May. Hilary Nicholls is the co-founder of the company with the same name. Frock Chicks is a fashion consultancy with a personal shopper service. Hils is married to a good friend of mine, Andrew, who also happens to be on the C0-Mission staff. That gave me sme useful leverage! Before being married to Andrew and raising their two boys, Hils was a UCCF staff worker in London. She’ll give a style presentation and provide some fashion advice and then speak on the subject ‘Dressing up? Who are we really?’

On the Friday night (20th May), the boys are having a curry! Why wouldn’t you? We’re only a stop away from Tooting, one of the best areas in London to enjoy South Asian Cuisine. I’m speaking at this event. So it could go either way. I’m going to try to convince the gathered crowd that Christianity isn’t for religious people, which I hope will come as refreshing news to everyone there!

And the kids haven’t been left out. They’ve got Balham’s Big Bounce this Sunday afternoon (15th May). We’re transforming the school gym at Chestnut Grove School into a giant playground with soft play, a bouncy castle and a massive inflatable assault course. Simon, our children’s worker apprentice, is going to compare the fun we have at parties with the joy we have in knowing Jesus.

If you’re around, come to the events. You’d be most welcome. If you like what we’re doing, pray for us. And if you’ve got a question; submit it here.

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