TheVirtualWord

I had the daunting privilege of preaching on this subject last night. I will post an audio link when it is available, but in the meantime, here is a wonderful and very moving set of interviews with a good friend of mine who has a wonderful testimony of God’s comfort through the pain of losing her husband to cancer.

We are very excited by the prospect of the Passion for Life mission next year and hope you and your church are getting ready for it.

They have produced a number of useful ‘apologetic’ videos on different subjects – all of which are available here.

They include topics such as, suffering/evil, science and Christianity, reliability of the Bible etc. The speakers include folk like Don Carson, Paul Williams, Ro Moody, Andrew Sach and John Dickson.

They could be useful to show in services or in other outreach contexts. Highly recommended!

I am pleased to see that the Commons have backed down and accepted the ‘free speech’ defence in the new laws on homophobic hatred. But I am also sad that in the current climate words continue to be evacuated of meaning and the looming spectre of ‘intolerance’ is being banded around again.

There is a difference between disagreeing with someone’s views and actively hating that person. It is possible to criticise someone’s views or actions without the aim of arousing hatred against them.

Intolerance is all about failing to respect the beliefs of someone who holds a different view from you. It does not mean we must all hold the same views. Nor should ‘respecting’ someone else’s view mean you can’t express a different view or criticise it. Otherwise our very parliamentary process would fall apart since Labour MPs would be guilty of intolerance to their Conservative colleagues and vice versa.

I am all for tolerance. But as I believe I have argued before, for tolerance to have any content more than one point of view must be on the table. I cannot have a tolerant attitude towards you if I hold the same views as you – that is simply agreement. Only if I hold a different view from you can I have a tolerant attitude towards you. Tolerance means I respect you and the fact that you hold a different view, but it also means I have a right to air a different view.

I have no wish to see a rise in the number of ‘hate crimes’ and would certainly not condone violence in the presentation of any view. But nor do I want to see any further examples of heavy-handed policing in situations where Christians are simply expressing their views.

So for the time being, this does indeed seem to be a victory for both Free Speech and Common Sense. But I respect your right to disagree with me…

Having highlighted our need to identify with the people we are ministering to, Fernando secondly emphasises the importance of ministering not in our own strength but in God’s power through His Spirit. As before he roots this in the ministry of Jesus, and also relies on the account of the early church in Acts.

Fernando discusses the much-debated concept of ‘fullness of the Spirit’ and concludes that it “is speaking of a state where the Spirit governs people’s lives so that his work is evident in both their behaviour and ministry.” (p33) He helpfully notes that we often seen an emphasis on the second of these whilst the first (holiness of life) is often neglected.

There are important warnings about avoiding an arid, life-less ministry, dependence on God and holiness of life, and also encouraging examples from the lives of various saints – past and present. Fernando is extremely honest about his only struggles in this area too.

Most helpful is a strong emphasis on our need to spend time with God in prayer, meditation and study, and a seeking after an ‘immediacy’ of the Spirit – which is one of the hallmarks of New Testament faith (cf. 1 Cor 3:16).

If I have a small criticism, it is that although he alludes to differences of opinion about how to read Acts (crucially, is it normative or simply descriptive?) he slightly fudges the issue. In particular on the question of whether ‘filling with the Spirit’ is at the start of the Christian life or subsequent to that, he writes, “this issue does not need to be a huge problem. Whether the baptism is initiatory or subsequent, it is clear that the way the figure of baptism is used implies fullness.” (31)

On the other hand, I am all for avoiding unnecessary divisiveness, and if his slightly ambiguous observations on this mean that his extremely helpful chapter can be read and enjoyed by a broader range of believers, then I am all for it. He certainly keeps the main thing, the main thing. And to that end, I will finish with a help quotation he cites from Robert Coleman:

“The promise [of the fullness of the Spirit] is not a dogma to be argued, but a reality to be experienced. Nor is it a fringe benefit of a few Christian zealots, or the peculiar teaching of some evangelical churches. True, it may be called by different names and variously interpreted according to one’s doctrinal viewpoint, but the reality of the all-encompassing, Christ possessing holiness of the Spirit is basic New Testament Christianity.” (22).

May all our ministry be authentic, Spirit-empowered, and Christ-honouring.

In deference to my reader in Suffolk (you know who you are!), rather than just plugging this book I thought I would add the odd comment/summary as I read through it over the next days (weeks? months?!).

Chapter 1 is all about ‘Identifying with people’ – and in particular the people you minister amongst. The word ‘incarnational’ is used, but not in a way that might cause any eyebrows to be raised.

Very helpful for me were the challenges to put the needs of others first and to press on in the face of frustration.

“Biblical leaders should be so devoted to their people that in order to help them, the leaders abstain from doing some things that they want to do and perform some tasks that they do not like to do. Because of their commitment to a group of people, they will perservere in working with them even though inconvenient and seemingly fruitless.” (p22)

And of course our primary model in all this is the Lord Jesus. It strikes me that these comments apply well to those of us who are husbands and fathers equally well, and not just to the sphere of ministry.

Fernando reminds us that suffering and joy are closely linked in the NT in a way which seems incredibly counter-cultural today. He also reminds us that in the family of the church it is not enough to “signal that [troublesome complainers] are not welcome in the church.” (p26) Rather, “We stick to such people and willingly take on the frustration of talking with them because we believe that we will not ultimately lose through such costly commitment. It will be necessary for our theology to override our feelings on this.” (p26-7)

He ends the chapter on a positive note:

“Commitment does pay, for it begets commitment in others and makes our ministry more effective!” (p27).

Here’s a great site that I have only just discovered: http://biblicalpreaching.net/
Full of really practical and wise advice for those of us with the privilege of communicating God’s Word to a dying world. Have a good look!

Whiter than snow. (that all rhymes – how lovely!)

This is a refreshing little series of meditations on Psalm 51. They will warm your soul and keep grace where it should be – at the forefront of our hearts and minds.

I have heard good things about the Living Leadership project, which hosts an annual conference for those in pastoral ministry, focusing on their own spiritual refreshment – something too easily neglected in the busyness of ministry. And they have very generously made all their conference talks from the last few years available online. A great resource.

Great quote from another youthwork book I’m reading at the mo:

The ancient world knew nothing of the ‘teenager’, and Eli bringing up Samuel in the temple must be virtually the only biblical account of a ‘youth worker’. If that really was the forerunner of our youth groups, it is particularly encouraging. It has one member, who keeps falling asleep. It has one leader, who is antique (although admittedly a valuable one), and half blind. And they meet in church, without any other facilities at all. Your group’s not so bad after all, is it?

From:

I’ve just read:

As someone who has just taken on responsibility for looking after a youth group this has really challenged my ‘received wisdom’ on what YG looks like.

I love the idea of creating an environment in which we can build disciples rather than just entertain but am daunted by the task of doing things differently. Would be great to hear from anyone who has adopted this kind of approach. And I would recommend looking at this book for anyone who has responsibility for Christian youth work.

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