Howard's Blog : Ethos
“The distinctive spirit, character or fundamental values of a person, people, or movement”
THURSDAY, JANUARY 7
Getting in shape.
My twelve year old son made a New Year resolution to clean his teeth at night as well as the morning! This is not a place to discuss our parenting skills, such as why has this taken us so long to get him to get to this point or the personal hygiene of boys. But seven days in and he is still reaching for the Aquafresh , he is particular about the brand, Aldi's own will not do! It will take him about 12 weeks to turn this choice into a habit that reduces decay and freshens his breath.
I guess that thousands of Christians who made a New Year decision to read their bibles through in a year are already behind, and most will give up with a "there is always next year" shrug, before the spiritual self feeding habit is developed.
My reflection and experience is how we approach our God given desire to live by his word critically determines the outcome.
If you view reading through the bible in a year as a rule you must keep, expecting the rule to create transformation then you are doomed to fail. Rules don't empower they simply lead to condemnation as they remind you how badly you are performing. Even if you are a highly organised, rigidly scheduled, gold-star-loving early riser, keeping this rule often results only in self - righteous pride.
Perhaps we need a training mentality. Paul encouraged the young Timothy to "train yourself to be Godly." 1 Tim 4:7 Training is deeper than rules; it allows you to do something you couldn't do by just turning up. You may know the rules of the marathon but without training you couldn't run one. Training is about regularly doing what you can now, so that you are able to do what once seemed beyond you.
I have often spoken with people struggling with sin or dark temptations who would say to me "I want to be free but I just can't". Jesus said to his disciples ."watch and prayer so that you will not fall into temptation, for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak" Mark 14:38. Although I believe Jesus was eager to encourage his disciples to pray with him right there in the agony of Gethsemane, I believe he was expressing the truth that the activities (the watching, praying and bible reading) of spiritual training are vital if we to live God first lives. The truth is watch and pray and you will not fall again for that familiar temptation and live free.
So as you set yourself the spiritual training programme of reading your bible every day or reading through in a year or even two, remember this activity is not a barometer of your holiness or a way to earn reward points with God, as "the goal is not for you to get through the Scriptures. The goal is to get the Scriptures through you". When you meet people who make bible reading their habit you notice they have less spiritual decay and their spirits (breath) are fresher.
Howard
(Click the links above for the plans I use)
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 22
Choice and Commitment
Choice and commitment.
House purchase is an interesting exercise in choice and commitment. When I started to look around at houses I find myself energised by the range of choice of the possible houses in your price range. You imagine yourself living in every house, weighing up the pros and cons: it's near the park but its kitchen is too small; its a great location but has no garden. However, sadly I also found myself enticed by the houses I wished we could afford (there are lot in that category in Cheltenham). But the whole process made me freshly aware that "choice" in our society is a little god that wants us to worship at its altar.
So when we had our offer accepted on a house on the Shurdington Road, [the house is just below the excellently named Kidnappers Lane, down which our kids will boldly cycle on their way to Balcarras School] ,I did feel the exciting possibilities that the new house offered. But almost immediately all other possible houses real or imagined that were unavailable to us and the few downsides of the new property (it doesn't have a pool), took centre stage. Choice had been replaced by commitment.
Choice likes to keep us wishing, constantly choosing, constantly consuming, but never committing. When you choose something like a house, a spouse or even a church, that commitment ends choice but because our society is addicted to consumer choice it has a commitment phobia. We struggle to commit, much to the frustration of many a single twenty somethings and the occasional church leader.
So how does choice and commitment play out when you are church planting? What choice culture has created, is a swathe of the un-committed, who constantly feel the downsides of the church or churches they currently attend. They wish the Hillsong Sydney worship experience was a bus ride away and would definitely choose the preacher from the podcast they heard last week rather than this weeks preacher at their local church. I was told by more than one Cheltenham leader that the town has a number of such people who would value the choice afforded by the arrival of Godfirst. My concern is that these people would exercise their choice and check us out when we launch, but they would soon be disillusioned at the reality of a start up church with few programmes on offer, a less than performance quality worship experience and even though I find it hard to believe that my preaching wouldn't quite be Hybels, Driscoll, or Bailey et al !
So whilst choice might bring Godfirst some visitors to our website, our midweek at the D'fly, or even to our Sunday launch in September, ultimately what Godfirst and every church needs are those who will commit. To commit, in faith, to what Godfirst church will become not what it already offers. To commit, in faith, to give the best of their time, talents and treasure to create something out of nothing, rather than just consume the church experience created by the faith and past efforts of others.
Yes faith chooses to commit, even when it costs, even when the returns are not instant or even guaranteed, because it sees the future. My experience from Manchester is that those that committed to the early stages of the church plant always agree with me that there are few adventures more compelling and challenging than starting a church from scratch. Church plant pioneers all reflect that it drew the brightest and boldest faith from all who chose to commit to its call.
Howard
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10
A time to gather.
Gathered or Dispersed?
I recently took a walk up Leckhampton Hill with a few friends. From the lookout point in the distance you can see the Malvern Hills but if you look down into what was the quarry, people gather the stones to write messages such as "don't look down" or "will you marry me?". We thought it would be fun to re-arrange the stones to say www.godfirst.org.uk. The stones only communicate messages as they are gathered and organised so that every stone brings clarity to the message. The only problem with our free advertisement was, would anyone be looking?
The exercise with the stones seems to be an excellent illustration of the problem facing the church. We can gather together, be well organised, and communicate a clear message but is anyone listening? More and more I am reading about church leaders who have grasped the challenge of seeing the gathered church dispersed into the communities where we live and work. We are beginning to understand afresh that Jesus has mandated us to go and make disciples. As Godfirst grows we want to create an ethos with groups shaped around the go mandate. These groups might coalesce around sports, or arts, or families, or social action or reaching out with healing on the streets. We want Godfirst to disperse, sharing life and Jesus with the people of Cheltenham, but I have observed some dispersed models of church that have lost the clarity of vision and gospel purpose.
It is important that we have a dispersed "go" ethos BUT I still believe in the gathered church. We would be wise to heed Solomon's advise in Ecclesiastes 3:5 "there is a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them". I don't believe we should see the "attractional, come to us" model of church as unbiblical as some writers have suggested. Crowds gathered to Jesus, he spoke of longing to gather Jerusalem, he said to the crowds like sheep without a shepherd "come to me".
I love the gathered church, I love the energy and intimacy that we find gathered in worship. I am committed to the preaching of God's word to the gathered church, there is an urgent dynamic that is harder to replicate in smaller discussion groups. Although I have encountered God in settings of all sizes, I find in the togetherness of the gathered church that God's presence seems far more tangible.
So after three months of the Godfirst church plant, it's a time to gather! We aim to create a 3rd space, easier to come to than my house, but not in a church building, so we plan to meet midweek in a bar or restaurant early in spring to allow those who are observing Godfirst from a distance to gather with us.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20
Fellowship of the Mat II - Disabled Access
Disabled Access?
The first I knew of a Church Planting conference in Bath this week was when it started to appear on the Facebook status of some cyber friends. Of course it was rather too late to attend. Reflecting on my none attendance I released that my challenge is not to find more conferences to attend, so I can write more notes and fill more folders (Check out the middle section of this short video clip - yes from a conference I attended this summer - Harvey Carey at Willow Creek GLS ).
I agree with Harvey Carey, how many more folders (binders) do we need to do the work of Jesus? My challenge and the challenge of the wider church is not simply lack of information but lack of implementation. I know I too easily err on the wrong side of the balance caught between meetings and mission, blogs and befriending people, conferences and connecting with people who don't know Jesus.
In Mark 2, Jesus is in town and the conference junkies, the bloggers, binder brigade and assorted Pharisees that just love to be seen in the reserved seats at the front over every religious event have gathered. What does our fellowship of the mat do? They go round and literally pick up their friend; it's inconvenient but that's what true gospel communities do.
When they arrive at the door of the Jesus meeting, it's full and the mat carriers are greeted by a wall of backs. God is in the house but there is no disabled access. How often do people damaged and crippled by sin come looking for Jesus, find a relational wall of backs, the church turned in on its self? Visitors stand alone and no-one speaks to them, often the best they can hope for is to be invited to fill in a card and hand it in at the welcome desk, all this whilst the church talks about community and mission.
Our fellowship of the mat is now acting as mission group, connecting with the least, the lost and the lonely and determined that no ecclesiastical walls will keep their friend from Jesus. The enlarging whole in the roof was terribly irritating for the gathered crowd. But imagine the exposure and vulnerability of the paralysed man, needing Jesus he is suspended by his friends eight foot off the ground for all to see. How many Jesus seekers have we turned away because we have made the only entry point into church as going through the roof?
I believe Jesus' eyes were filled with delight as he saw the faith of the roof breakers. I want Jesus to have that same reaction as we seek to build Godfirst mission groups. Not groups turned in on themselves, talking mission but really having no disabled access, but those who connect with people of Cheltenham and will stop at no lengths to see them brought to Jesus to be saved and restored!
Howard
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12
The Fellowship of the Mat
The Fellowship of the Mat.
When you are starting a church from scratch it feels like you are starting with a blank piece of paper. It only feels that way because the truth is, you and everyone of your launch team are not blank pieces of paper; nor should the new church stray from the biblical mandate to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded. The great commission must provide the focus for all that you do, even if some emerging church expressions appear to think otherwise.
So before taking up my pen and scribbling down the shape of Godfirst Church two things were front and centre: Firstly the question of how to build an authentic disciple-making, mission-shaped community. Secondly the conviction that almost every small group I had experienced was neither an authentic community (too much mask wearing) nor mission shaped (too busy watching TV), and as for disciple making most of us had no idea what it looked like, apart from everybody wanted the pastor to disciple them.
So no small groups, but the paper was still blank.
I knew we needed something smaller that could be a platform for real relationships and one- another disciple making. In Manchester I had encouraged the formation of what we had called "fellowship of the mat" groups, named after John Ortberg's insights from Mark 2 in his brilliant book "Everybody's normal ‘til you get to know them".
Ortberg suggests that the brokenness and vulnerability of the paralysed man, stands as an image of the brokenness, vulnerability and paralysis that sin has created in all of us. We all have a mat but spend much of our time in mat management, pretending that we are more together than we really are. The paralysed man in Mark 2 had real friends who he trusted with his brokenness, and as they carried his mat two feet off the ground without dropping him, he learnt to trust them more. That trust was the context for building a community where each member was able to be open and practise the spiritual discipline of confession (confess your sins to one another).
But the power of the fellowship of the mat was not simply the building of community, but the building of a community that was committed to bringing their friend to Jesus to be healed, forgiven and transformed. That is what it means to be a discipleship community; our togetherness always brings each member to the feet of Jesus, always brings us to the gospel, always keeps us accountable, always means we are formed more closely into the image of Jesus.
So Sunday as the launch team finished their sausage casserole and with kids running around, we committed ourselves to forming groups of three or four friends that would meet once a week for hour or so, whenever best suited the group, and remove our masks, and share life together.
The groups would be low on structure and high on reality, low on control and high on accountability, low on impressing each other with our bible knowledge and high on encouraging each other to live biblically.
How they turn out in some way will determine the Godfirst ethos that other people encounter when we start doing the Sunday meeting stuff that every other church does.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24
The bold ask.
The bold ask!
When you are gathering a church planting team or any other team for that matter, you are encouraged to make the bold ask. I first heard this term from Bill Hybels, who writes about "making the big ask" in his book Axiom - Powerful Leadership Proverbs. "Leadership is a lot about asking. After casting bold visions, leaders ask people to help them become reality". Now I understand the strategic importance of making such bold asks. I hope that during my time in church leadership I have been able to call out the best of the time, talents and treasure of the people and congregations I have served. Bill Hybel's leadership integrity makes it clear when he makes a bold asks that he is prompting his hearer to faith and obedience to God, and their response will not affect his friendship with or assessment of them. I have to confess that I have made and been on the receiving end of the bold asks that have a lot less grace and relationship and more hints of control.
A few days after it was public that we were moving to Cheltenham, I made a dumb ask to a worship leader at a large church. Sean Green, a friend of mine who leads Reading Family Church, witnessed the untidy scene and gave me a quiet rebuke. His comment was so helpful that I decided I would direct my bold asks in a fresh direction.
For twelve weeks since we moved to Cheltenham, I have been daily making bold asks to my father in heaven, for many things, but in particular one new member of the launch team a week. Andrew who has been praying with me for the last five weeks has really enjoyed the journey as week after week we have asked and God has answered.
As we pray we begin with worship and adoration, praise and thanks. I find myself quickly straying into petitioning God with another bold ask. I must admit I feel like I should be able to sustain gratitude and thanks for a little longer. It was encouraging to read Tim Chester express the same tension in his excellent book Total Church. "To ask God for things is a profound act of faith. It is a recognition of his majesty, goodness and power. It is more an act of worship than many of the songs we sing half hearted, for through it we acknowledge his sovereign grace. We may think of petitioning as "unsophisticated"... But these simple prayers truly express trust in divine Majesty and truly confess our need before God. People who pray in this way are those who have grasped the freedom of the Father - child relationship that is ours in Christ."
So whilst I reserve the right to spring a bold ask on some potential member of the Godfirst launch team, particularly if they are a great worship leader, I will remember the best bold ask are those made to my Father in heaven. Psalm 5:3 "In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."
