Godfirst :: Blog http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog.php Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:13:33 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/images/logo.jpg http://www.godfirst.org.uk Godfirst. Click to visit. http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=40 A Community of Grace or Community of Performance? The network of churches to which Godfirst belongs is noted for the coherence of its message of grace. Godfirst Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:55:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=39 If you asked Newfrontiers church planters , or those whose gift is helping to establish the foundation of local churches , what is one of the vital truths that a church plant must grasp if it is to be a Jesus centred, healthy gospel community ? Then right up they would answer "The Gospel of Grace". I know this because in starting new churches you find people at all stages on their spiritual journey, who want to join you but have been led to believe that they will be acceptable to Jesus and the church based on their performance. Godfirst Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:30:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=38   When people read my blog thoughts the top post they mention is one of three that I didn't write... the post was, Top 10 Reasons Not to Join a Church Plant, which received a lot of traffic. Godfirst Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:44:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=37 As a church planter having started with a blank piece of paper with regards your ethos, strategy and structure, it's really encouraging when you find that somebody with a growing international reputation is endorsing what you feel God has called you to do. Godfirst Mon, 31 Oct 2011 09:08:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=36 The more I reflected on sin as "Incurvatus in se" "the Blackhole Life" "the life curved in on oneself" the more it seemed to occur to me that this idea not only effectively describes an individual life of Sin, but it could also be something that happens to churches. Is it sin for a church to be curved in on itself? We live in a consumer society and it's very hard not to approach church with a "what's in for me attitude?" Now I would love thousands of non Christians to connect with churches across Cheltenham and ask that question. Godfirst Thu, 29 Sep 2011 10:58:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=35 "Incurvatus in se" I don't remember hearing the term before but, even as Mike Reeves (UCCF) unpacked it's meaning during a Porterbrook Institute residential, the concept resonated with me. "Incurvatus in se" Latin: "turned/curved inward on oneself" is a theological phrase describing a life "turned inwards" on oneself rather than "outward" for God and others. It is suggested that Augustine coined the phrase, but Martin Luther who expounded on this in his Lectures on Romans and described this state as: "Our nature, by the corruption of the first sin, [being] so deeply curved in on itself that it not only bends the best gifts of God towards itself ... Godfirst Mon, 19 Sep 2011 08:41:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=34 Mission Communities (Part 3 - The Launch) One of the things I love about Church Planting is that you can make decisions quickly. Godfirst Thu, 30 Jun 2011 16:05:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=33   Chatting to a young church planter today I suggested he visit Resurgence.com and read Justin Buzzard's posting "The Top 10 Reasons Why People Should Not Join our church plant". Godfirst Tue, 17 May 2011 13:02:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=32 "What's in a name? That which we call a roseBy any other name would smell as sweet."Shakespeare : Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2) How important is a name in our modern day British culture? Is a name there just to sound nice or does it have to carry a meaning? I know that when most people in our society are trying to decide on a name for their new-born, they will often opt for what sounds nice. Godfirst Mon, 11 Apr 2011 07:55:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=31 How do you to build an authentic disciple-making, mission-shaped community? I would hope that Sunday gatherings at Godfirst will have those values, but how will we build those values into the other 110 waking hours?The traditional solution is to create a midweek meeting, call it a home, small or cell group, appoint a leader and expect him (they were always men back then) to run a mini church meeting and teach the bible without the time or possibly the gifting to make it compelling. Godfirst Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:20:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=30 "Church is much more than Sunday meetings". Undoubtedly whatever your style of church most Christians would agree with that statement. Godfirst Thu, 10 Mar 2011 10:19:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=29 Growing up. We all know it's the nature of living things to grow. To be alive, by God's design, is to expect to change, develop and grow. I have three children who are growing and changing fast. Godfirst Tue, 08 Feb 2011 10:11:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=28 Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "The essential thing in heaven and earth is. . . that there should be a long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, and has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living." Now you have to be careful when you quote from Nietzsche; firstly it's very pretentious and two he also said "God is dead" so almost always best to stay clear of his thoughts on God, humanity, good and evil or anything else for that matter. Godfirst Tue, 25 Jan 2011 17:38:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=27 Joan Osborne wrote a song - What if God was one of us? The awesome mysterious truth is God became one us (Ok not a sinful slob like one of us) God took on our humanity. Godfirst Fri, 24 Dec 2010 10:45:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=26 The church is a place of hope, because we look forward with a certain hope, a confident future faith, to God's coming kingdom that will fill the whole earth, this hope pushes us on believing for more of God's rule to break in. Godfirst Tue, 02 Nov 2010 11:32:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=25 ADDRESSING OBJECTIONS TO CHURCH PLANTING Grady D. Smith May 1, 2007 (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) Link to full referenced paper. Godfirst Fri, 22 Oct 2010 18:05:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=23 NB After decades of preaching I still type it out long hand, but be warned my copy is unproofed, and many of the sections were altered as I preached it. Epic - Newness beyond the Ordinary. Godfirst Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:55:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=22 Soft Launch I have an iphone 3G, so I watched with interest the "this changes everything again" launch of the new iphone 4. After a month of bad publicity about reception problems it seems to me that for Apple getting it wrong has "changed everything again" by taking a little gloss off their brand, by launching the iphone 4 before they had ironed out the glitches. Godfirst Sat, 07 Aug 2010 14:44:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=21   The emperor penguins secret is huddling as an extension of the "be big" method of reducing surface area to survive the extreme cold. Godfirst Thu, 27 May 2010 12:03:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=19  Getting out of the Bubble. I sat in a pub in South Bristol last week whilst staying with my friends Dave and Ali. It was about the third question, the one that follows after "what's your name?", when one of Dave's church friends asked me "what do you do?" Now normally I love that question because saying you start churches from scratch usually opens up a real flow of God talk, but this time my answer prompted the honest response "so you're not a real minister then!" I was tempted to answer "I'm not a vicar, as there is only one vicar (Latin: vicarious - someone who acts in the place of another) the man Christ Jesus" (see 1 Timothy 2:5), but I resisted and said "I'm not a full time minister". Godfirst Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:25:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=17 This article appeared in the Gloucestershire Echo today. It is a slightly modified version of my press release below. I don't like the headline but it is generally positive. Godfirst Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:05:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=16 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. Godfirst Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:48:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=14 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?". Godfirst Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:11:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=13 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. Godfirst Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:15:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=10 It was great to have a meal the other week with Mark Jones who leads City Church Gloucester. We sat in a pub which had been the site of the first ever Sunday School founded by Robert Raikes, and opposite St. Godfirst Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:18:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=9 Influence Part 1.  "The true measure of leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less."Dr. John C. Maxwell. But is it the influence we think it is?  In politics it seems that increasingly our leaders lack the conviction to make the tough choices preferring to chase the influence that comes from pandering to focus groups or the fleeting popularism of the sound bite. Godfirst Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:53:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=8   In a star filled Manchester night last Saturday 55 000 gathered at Old Trafford Cricket Ground for Coldplay. "Look at the stars, look how they shine for you, everything you do, and they were all yellow" as I joined the mass Karaoke (Naomi tells me I have a good voice - just as well as I was singing in her ears). Godfirst Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:45:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=3 When I was involved in training teachers we used to talk about the "hidden curriculum". This is not the on the page content of urban models or coastal erosion that you intend the students to be learning but the off message content that is learned as unintentional by products of the school experience. The hidden curriculum provides students with regular unplanned lessons on topics such as authority and power from teachers or inequalities in social networks from their peers. Godfirst Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:38:00 http://www.godfirst.org.uk/blog_article.php?id=4 Podcasting seemed logical maybe there was somebody out there who was interested in listening to my sermons. Even if there wasn't I was preaching Sunday by Sunday and it saved burning CD's for the Kids workers. Godfirst Mon, 31 Aug 2009 23:58:00