My Sister outdoes herself...

Ann has excelled herself this year - you see above my brother Phil & I modelling our presents from Ann.

I have never owned stretchy flourescent pants before.

Nolly on Sacrifice

Our latest magazine is on "Sacrifice" - one of the core values of WEC. We asked one of our missionary kids to contribute on the subject: "Living with your parent's sacrifices". I think this one is a stunner - see what you think:

Nolly Molton (12) and her family were evacuated from Côte d'Ivoire in November 2004 - when she was 10.

Trouble came like a fire, glowing here and there – there were rumours and gossip, but it never disturbed our area. Then one day we felt it burning all around us. Anger. Hatred. On all sides were mobs, bombs, guns. My heart started to pump fear, not blood. Fear tingled up my legs into my chest. Fear was the only reality. I remember that sleep wouldn't come. Adrenalin was racing through my body. But God has filtered the details and taken them to Himself. So I can’t tell you all about that night, only that I know what it's like to be very, very scared and for God to cover us with His wings, protecting me and every other person in the house.

People say 'Don't store up your treasure on earth.' Well, I try, but I've felt loss many times. I think if I went back to my street in Côte d'Ivoire, I might see girls wearing my now-tattered clothes and playing with my now-broken toys. I often try to ignore the fact that I left with only a few sets of clothes and some most beloved books.

England was an alien landscape. People confused me with their strange foreign ways but my teacher had grown up in Ghana and there were two other girls in my class with African backgrounds. We had a whale of a time!

At first I was ecstatic about coming back to Africa but the thought of leaving all my friends once again caused my lights to dim slightly. Now that I have arrived in Senegal I'm happy to be home – although I'll always be partial to the jungles of Côte d'Ivoire!

Oven Ready Church?

I'm really excited to see developments at church. There is a plan afoot for Wakefield Baptist Church - it is a fair trade shop (only slightly exciting) together with a new church plant (extremely exciting).

Here is part of the plan:

Linking in with other strategic partnerships which are in-line with God’s Global Village

Gatherings which feature post-modernal explorations of Christian faith and faith issues

Establish an accessible Christian Community

Actively serving Wakefield on Christ’s behalf. Eg. Street Angels (Brilliant initiative!)

The nature of the Christian Community will be defined by God’s desire for grace and justice and worked out through the lifestyle choices that the café and shop promote.

I've been reading stuff...

Some of it relevant. Terry Pratchett's "Going Postal" was a great book but not much of a help.

I scanned one book which looks fantastic: Roland Allen's "Spontaneous Expansion"

I've just finished Vincent Donovan's "Christianity Rediscovered" (oops! should only have read the first bit for Theology group!!) Couldn't put it down - I believe God chose a guy like him (A catholic priest) to shock us complacent evangelicals into re-thinking how church should be. A prophetic book. He was referring back to another prophet: Roland Allen.

Reflecting on Donovan I am left with some worries:

Things that could go wrong:

1. Christians will join the new plant (that is NOT church planting - it is church splitting). I would like to see that banned!
2. It will be shaped by the expectations of the planter/missionary rather than the new community
3. It will do "emerging church" (the fad), rather than "be" church emerging from the culture of the new believers (the spiritual roots of true emergent church)
   

Getting it right?

Probably partly down to:

1. Chosing the right planter/missionary
2. Having an exit strategy

Lovely morning for a ride

The December sun is low on the horizon, and even in a clear blue sky with little or no wind I wouldn't describe it as anything other than "pale". Notice the swan trying to bite the blokes bum (bottom right photo) in an effort to get at the bread (in the clutches of a child a good deal shorter than the swan.

A great day for a bike ride though, including a break for a fairtrade "cappuchino" (what it said on the button...) at the RSPB visitor centre at Fairburn Ings.

Staff Christmas Party

Great party!

Good food and good company, and not too much wine...

check out the menu - and all this for poor missionaries - it's a hard life.

Must away and start my bit of the clearing up.

(I got the record for the silliest flashing hat and the most party poppers set off)

"Fair trade is good - as far as it goes"

Maybe a bit further than I was giving it credit....

Forgive me - but I always think with my mouth open (usually a second behind the noise...). This seems to apply to my keyboard too - maybe I need to ask the someone to build one that allows me to think before my fingers type the word - no - sorry - I have one - for "comfort curve" read - "they've moved the keys a bit and made them different sizes so I keep mistyping stuff".

Anyway reading Kez (Lamas Log) and also talking to my friend David who has just left me with a treasure chest of fair trade divine chocolate (we were photographing it last night before going out to lose another pub quiz).

Mmmm.. (FX: Man eating chocolate coin {fair trade})

Where was I?

Well this article just goes to prove me a grumpy old git. Fair wams the cockles of your heart.. (or was that the chocolate?)

Something to be proud of?

Just heard that the CD I helped put together has got into the charts! (well a chart anyway)

Does Fair Trade suck?

No honestly.....

This came back to mind while catching up with Maggi Dawn's blog, which I always find refreshing.

At best fair trade is putting a sticking plaster on a big gory wound (no more please - I hide behind the sofa when Holby City is on)

It can no doubt be good for some people - particularly the people we buy from - and their supply chain. I happen to really like Divine Chocolate - and it is cool that Divine is 47% owned by the growers in Ghana.

But let's face it - Fair trade goods are a luxury. And luxuries are for rich people. Are we just inoculating rich people with a little bit of feel-good?

As for boycotting a brand because it uses sweatshops - that is downright stupid. We rich folks get to feel complacent because we are not buying this big nasty brand, and said brand sacks a few hundred child workers. Congratulations - we've just made poverty more unbearable for people who lived off our leavings.

So let's not be satisfied with boycotting - it kills the people we say we care about!

Let's not just use a sticking plaster - fair trade is good - as far as it goes (not very far) - and it does demonstrate we care (not much).

Now trade justice - that is a good cause! Lets get Chirac to be a bit bold, lets start dismantling trade barriers like the EC subsidy.

It's still not enough of course - when many developing countries see most of their GDP magically dissapear into Swiss bank accounts.

Fair trade does suck - because it breeds a self satisfaction which is downright shameful.

The Missionary task (Simon says...)

I was reading "new missionary" Simon Cozen's blog here

Simon is uncomfortable with the way in which we perceive the missionary task of the church. I must say I can understand his reticence. Mission agencies can too easily get caught up in the numbers game - whether it is counting "converts" or in the big numbers of statistics in books like the (excellent) book Operation World. Simon points out that we tend to swallow the modernist view of things gradually getting better.

It is relatively easy for post-moderns to critique moderns - and I have to say I think there is a lot to be gained from that, but we cannot allow that same modernist pride to invade our thinking - post moderns miss stuff too!

he says:

"Yes, yes, I know that the Gospel is to be preached to the ends of the earth. But the ends of the earth may well reject it. When that happened to the disciples, they were told to shake the dust off their shoes and go somewhere else. But so long as we continue to measure the spread of the Gospel in terms of reaping rather than sowing we tread a dangerous path - and we tread it over and over again."

Sure - playing the numbers game, or allowing the militaristic (in metaphor ONLY...) "lets convert them all" approach to dominate can be very counter-productive. But preaching (using words only if necessary) is not enough. What we are needing to see is spiritual transformation - lives radically changed by an encounter with Jesus - and that is necessary if we are to get to the goal.

The great commision tells us to preach (and heal etc...) - but the great vision that grips me is the one in Revelation (7 vs 9) where we see people of every tribe, tongue and nation worshipping together. That for me is a goal worth striving for - and I do strive - not mostly by preaching (I am a rubbish evangelist), but also in prayer and in faith.

Sure there are corners of the world (big ones!) where people don't seem to "get" christianity - and there's lots of reasons for that - often centered around the church sadly. I do believe that if people could get to encounter the real Jesus - he would transform their lives.

Most sermons are forgettable

I suppose I shouldn't admit to this, but most weeks I've completely forgotten any sermon I hear on Sunday by about... Monday morning.

I do remember the ones I preach, then I guess someone has to.

So it is unusual that I can remember Sunday evening's sermon, - and it was a blinder - in fact what-his-name (forgotten) was speaking about forgiveness.

Rather than giving forgiveness, feeling the awfulness of the sin, and receiving it recognising the grace of God, we should give recognising the grace of God and receive recognising the awfulness of sin.

Simple, profound, memorable - shame I cant remember the name of the guy preaching...

Surprised by grace

Surprised by grace, originally uploaded by Dick Davies.

The Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides is pretty remote, but then drive out of town for an hour mostly down a single track road, drive through the gate at the end of the road and park at Mealsta Beach (White sand, azure sea) where there was once a village (before the clearances). I wandered off up a rise with a cairn on it, and then I found in the ground this celtic cross. In a place which considers itself both celtic and christian, a celtic cross is almost unheard of.

It's really only now it sinks in how strange it was to find a celtic cross in such a place.

But it does reflect something about how God seems to be. Gracious, unpredictable...

Check these photos on Johnny Baker's blog

(re)Discovering Roland Allen

I was reading tallskinnykiwi again. This post about tea with Roland Allen's grandson led me to downloading "The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church".

To leave new-born Churches to learn by experience is apostolic, to abandon them is not apostolic: to watch over them is apostolic, to be always nursing them is not apostolic: to guide their education is apostolic, to provide it for them is not apostolic.

Roland Allen "The Spontaneous Expansion of the Church"

For a book published in 1927 it has a pretty amazing description of "Church Planting Movements".

Why Blog

Because this young whippersnapper made three good points, and this old man of blogs is such an enthusiast.

Why Missional

I was working this weekend at the Fusion National Weekend and got to hear/meet TallskinnyKiwi
I found his take on being missional very interesting. Recently I was speaking about how Church can engage with postmodernity, building on a chapter from Tom Wright's book "The Challenge of Jesus" - walking to emmaus in a postmodern world. As a missionary (with WEC) myself I was seeing this as an exercise in contextualisation.

Now it appears that I might (or might not...) be missional. I like the thought that those "dead old institutions" might have something to reflect back into church.

Must get on to a spot of Missio Dei (might be a cue for a spot of praying first then)