Landscaping the Garden, the Soul, the Church.

In between a funeral on Friday and a wedding on Saturday, I spent some time this weekend in the side garden at the house preparing the soil for planting. There are many similarities in my own personal life in the life of church that I will comment on briefly under the following headings.1. Landscaping the Garden. 2. Landscaping the Soul. 3. Landscaping the Church

1. Landscaping the Garden. 

The garden was overgrown. It lacked no encouragement to grow, but it was growing the wrong things in the wrong places. It also was becoming uncontrollable and unbalanced. First came the hard work of re-landscaping. Bricks were moved to give access to all areas, new pathways were dug to enable Rachel and I to get to all the different parts of the side garden. Re-landscaping took hard work and effort. Secondly, weeds were pulled and soil was turned and moved, ground was leveled, rocks and small stones were removed. It was great to see the hard work paying off. Gardening takes time and effort, it's about taming and balance in order to get the ground fertile to grow the right kinds of vegetables and fruit. Now the hard graft has been done, next comes the job of planting and sowing.

2. Landscaping the Soul. 

There are great lessons to be learned from the practical and brought to bear on the matters of the heart. I've also being doing some clearing out of the soul. Soul Gardening. In the same way, I was getting fat spiritually, I lacked no enthusiasm to grow but I was growing the wrong things in the wrong places, some things needed bringing under God's control and restoring of the balance. Last week I have dug new pathways - I've decided to read the Bible again in a year, I've decided to experiment with "Living Prayer" this is working on the principle that God is with me moment by moment and develops life as a whole prayer. "Rocks and Stones" are having to be removed - I've made the decision to remove some things from my own life, and walk with God. I'm giving up drinking alcohol and cutting down of my food intake- In effect trying to lose some weight and life a more healthy lifestyle. This all takes hard work and effort. Inevitably "Weeds"are going to have to be pulled and the "Soil"of the soul turned over. I'm working on my reactions to things and trying to do things differently. Like the natural garden these things take time and effort, It's about taming the soul and restoring the balance in order to make the soul more fertile, so that it can grow the right kind of fruit. New things will have to be planted, new experiences of God, new opportunities to serve, new area's to explore.

3. Landscaping the Church

It can be exciting when you apply the same thinking and reflecting on the life of a local church. Of course the church of Jesus Christ is eternal and is God's garden to tend, but in leadership there are things that need to considered. The uncontrollable and the unbalanced. New pathways to be dug, rocks and stones to be removed, ground to be leveled, weeds to be pulled, in order for the ground of the local church which is the Hearts and Minds of people to be transformed, in order for the good things to grow. One of the things I've been dwelling on recently is the need to renew discipleship. This requires weeding out and encouraging the right kind of growth in the right area's. Like a garden that is overgrown, the problem is not growth, but the right kind of growth. There is the danger in re-landscaping, that leadership of a local church gets heavy handed and begins to domesticate the life of the local church and destroys the natural growth of a local congregation. Given the danger, the soil of the local church needs to be tended. From my own perspective some of the rocks that need to be removed are theological rocks, which have come from a wrong understanding of scripture and lead to assumptions being made and then decisions made on the basis of the wrong assumptions. A proper understanding of scripture and theology are therefore essential for good growth. Rocks need to be removed or re-positioned, soil needs to be turned over and weeds need to come out. One of the joys of my sabbatical has been that I have seen the real need for "Jesus Discipleship" based on the New Covenant and not on the Old Covenant. I'm going to come back to this theme of "Discipleship in the New Covenant" in another blog post in the coming weeks. 

A good passage to read along side this blog post in John 15: Happy Reading.

Fitting badly into any system - William Booth.

The world and society owes a lot to the pioneers of mission in 19th Century. One pioneer was William Booth.

By the middle of the 19th century, England had become a largely industrial nation. Many more people had moved from the countryside to live in the growing cities and towns. The way the population was spread through the country had changed. On the other hand, the Church of England parishes had not, and could only alter slowly. Most of the new town dwellers grew up outside the care of the Church of England. Methodists, with their simple preaching places and local preachers, did have greater success in reaching them.

Other nonconformist churches also expanded into the new urban areas, but many people in the industrial areas remained untouched by Christianity. Part of the problem was the linking of social classes to particular Christian denominations. Only in some of the chapels would working class people feel at home. William Booth was a man who cared very much about this situation. He spoke of "darkest England", because of its ignorance of the Christian faith. He had worked as a Christian preacher in a number of churches, and was an ordained minister of a Methodist church. But he tended to fit badly into any system: he liked to "do his own thing". He was too concerned about the need for people to hear about Jesus Christ to be content to stay in one place.

In 1865 Booth was in the East End of London, preaching to crowds of people in the streets. Outside The Blind Beggar public house some missioners heard him speaking and were so impressed by his preaching that they invited him to lead a series of meetings they were holding in a large tent. The tent was set up on an old Quaker burial ground on Mile End Waste in Whitechapel. The first of these meetings was held on 2 July 1865. To the poor and destitute of London's East End Booth brought the good news of Jesus Christ and his love for all.

Booth soon realised he had found his destiny, and later in 1865 he and his wife Catherine opened 'The Christian Revival Society' in the East End of London, where they held meetings every evening and on Sundays, to share the repentance that salvation can bring through accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to the poorest and most needy, including alcoholics, criminals and prostitutes. The Christian Revival Society was later renamed The Christian Mission. Slowly The Christian Mission began to grow but the work was difficult and Booth would "stumble home night after night haggard with fatigue, often his clothes were torn and bloody bandages swathed his head where a stone had struck", wrote his wife. Evening meetings were held in an old warehouse where urchins threw stones and fireworks through the window. Outposts were eventually established and in time attracted converts, yet the results were discouraging. 

Booth and his fellow brethren in Christ practiced what they preached and from hearts of love and passion  opened “Food for the Million” shops (soup kitchens), not caring if they were scoffed at or derided for their work.

Booth was a maverick, a rebel, who in his time would not heed the established church, who had a passion for the poor and needy on the streets of the east end of London. Booth did what Jesus did and simply "Moved into the neighbourhood" What an inspiration and a challenge to church planting in today's society.

Renaming the space

I've renamed the blog as "Finding Faith in a Good Friday World" This seemed a more appropriate name for the blog now that my sabbatical has now finished. The intention of the blog in the beginning was to highlight the sabbatical. I've have found it useful as a tool for reflection, so much so that I intend to keep it going and to add interesting stories and articles from the more radical forms of faith and Christian life. One of the things that I have discovered on my travels is that there is so much yet to explore. I'm sounding like a traveler setting out for the "New World". It's not quite as dramatic as that, yet there is still much to explore and reflect upon. I do hope that you will hang in there with me. I'm also surprised that there have been over 6,000 page views since I started the blog in January. Keep tuned in for reflections, articles, challenges, photographs and a whole lot more.

Sunday Morning Message - “Bleeding On One Another”

“Bleeding On One Another” The importance of Fellowship - Acts 2:42-44 The challenge of creating friendships and seeking roots.

Over the last few weeks I have been preaching on the theme of EASTER PEOPLE living in a GOOD FRIDAY world. The title of the theme was preached on Easter Sunday morning. I made a comment during that message - "EASTER PEOPLE move towards brokenness and pain and not away from it"  Last Sunday I preached on that theme in the morning service with the sermon title "Moving towards brokenness and pain" I was encouraging the congregation to live resurrection life out in this broken world, by showing three examples of doing so....1. William Booth and the beginnings of the Salvation Army. (Historical Example)  2. Jesus sending out the 12 disciples.(Theological Example) 3. the World of St Georges Crypt in Leeds (Contemporary Example) This morning I have been developing this theme a little further and giving a clear example of engaging in a Good Friday world from another perspective. Below is my morning message. It is only a humble attempt to aid discussion among us.

Introduction:  Loneliness and Isolation. We live in the crowd for most of the time, our cities are bustling places of industry and commerce, but despite this our cities are becoming places of real isolation and loneliness. According to recent reputable research by one of the main charities. that deal with Loneliness and isolation, between 6 and 13 per cent of the UK population are  described as being often or always lonely. In another of the main charities the findings are: 7 per cent of older people were often lonely and 31 per cent sometimes lonely, 11–17 per cent were socially isolated. A recent survey of university students highlighted the feelings of loneliness and isolation were experienced. This was an issue even among people their own age, who had similar interests and outlooks on life. The strong feelings and issues that some students have had to deal with were, not having someone to share their own feelings with, finding it difficult to make new friends, adjusting to a new lifestyle or culture away from home. Also according to the main asylum seekers networks, there is a increase in isolation and loneliness among asylum seekers which often leads to other social issues as well.  There is also an increased feeling of isolation and loneliness among disabled people according to information on disability action, websites.

1. A Devoted Community: This is a common life of togetherness and connection.

Listen to Luke's simple description in Acts 2:42-44 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. (Acts 2:42-44)

The meaning of the word “fellowship” Association, Community,  Communion,   Joint participation, Sharing, Intimacy, Participation

The meaning of the word “devotion” Attentive, Unremitting, Go the extra mile,  Persevere, Constant Obstinate. This is the essence of a true faith community, the true church.


It seems to me that the early church engage right from the start with the issues of loneliness and isolation in their own GOOD FRIDAY world.

Lets go a bit deeper in our understanding and ask the question, “What does this "Devoted Fellowship" look like in practice?”

           

2. A Bleeding Community:  This is a common life that bleeds on one another.

Church attendance is often substituted for fellowship. To some fellowship is like a jar full of marbles. The marbles are in the same jar but there is little togetherness. The marbles have little effect on each other as they roll around in a jar. They just bump into one another. But real fellowship is more like a jar of grapes that bleed on one another. Fellowship should allow our faith, our struggles, our hopes and dreams, our sufferings to rub off on one another. The first believers had real spiritual needs that led them into fellowship with others. As they came into this fellowship of other believers with the same needs, they naturally bled on one another.

A powerful example of what “Bleeding on one another” should look like can be found in a study of the phrase “one another” in the Bible. 


Scripture commands us to be Devoted to one another (Romans 12:10), Honour one another (Romans 12:10), Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16; 1 Peter 3:8), Accept one another (Romans 15:7),  Serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13), Be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32), Admonish one another (Colossians 3:16), Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 3:13), Spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24), Offer hospitality (1 Peter 4:9), Love one another (1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11; 3:23; 4:7; 4:11-12).

Lets go a bit deeper still in our exploring of "Fellowship". There are consequences of bleeding together, of sharing life, wounds, brokenness with one another.

3. A Holistic Community:  This is a common life that provides belonging and wholeness.

I was seeking out a definition of the word “Holistic” I feel that is what comes when a community is connected in relationships, bleeding together if you like. I rather liked this definition – “Holistic” – Inclusive with out missing anyone out, or overlooking even apparently damaged and unimportant people, gifts, skills, talents and abilities." This creates a real sense of belonging, of putting down roots for rootless people, of family for the orphans and the isolated. It seems to me that this is what happens in the beginnings of the earliest faith community, that devoted fellowship was like this. A true brother and sisterhood of compassion, service and care. This after all is what we read in Acts 2:42-44

Conclusion:

It seems to me that the church, the community of faith has something real and tangible to offer the wider community in answer to the issue of Isolation and loneliness. It seems to me that we need to be practicing this kind of “Fellowship” ourselves, among ourselves as a constant, never ending challenge. Also it seems to me that the mission of the kingdom is further advanced when we continue to extend this to the wider community and neighbourhoods around us.

Thinking about Radical Church Planting

Since I returned from my sabbatical given much thought to "Church Planting". I've been considering what it means to have a radical approach. I've been challenged by what I have seen on my travels. I visited faith communities in Australia, Ukraine and in the UK. I've also been challenged by Alan Hirsch's book "The Forgotten Ways" Because of my travel experiences and my renewed missional thinking I have had a series of questions going through my head in recent weeks. What is Radical church Planting? What constitutes a radical church plant in the UK? What does it mean to have a truly incarnational approach to mission and community? What Geographic area, Culture, Sub Culture, Neighbourhood to plant in? I have other questions that need answering as well. I'm speaking to one of the YBA's regional ministers next week to think about this in more detail. The things that I am clear about is that mission comes first and the formation of a community comes alongside. I'm looking forward to seeing how far we get on this.