The Unlikely Evangelist

transformed through Prayer

2008-07-29T22:32:23+01:00

We've now had the second of the Vision4Life conversations which concentrates on prayer.

A summery of the thoughts of those who took part in three conversations at Heald Green URC is attached.

Summary of HGURC Prayer Conversations.

If you have held similar conversations at your churches, or wish to reflect on the HGURC conversation, then as ever, please leave your comments using the link below.

I hope your Vision4Life conversations are are also going well, and look forward to sharing your wisdom.
The Unlikely Evangelist

Towards a Theology of Mission

2008-07-30T20:50:14+01:00

A little more depth ...

I have recently undertaken a study as part of my MA in missiology of the international mission conferences of the 1900's, in order to take stock of the various understandings and approaches to mission of the last 100 years.

From my reading and research I have written a brief summary and analysis of the issues which shaped these conferences which still pose pertinant questions for our time.

For the purposes of the assignment my research was also focused on the implications of the various understandings of mission on a typical British sub-urban context of the kind many of our churches find themselves, including Heald Green. (The paper may still be of use/interest if you are not in that context).

The material may not be new to you, nor the conclusions drawn that surprising, but I hope at the very least this paper will serve as a useful short summery of the last 100 years of mission thinking! Like me, you may then find this background a valuable foundation on which we can build an emerging mission paradigm for our time and context(s).

As ever, comments and insights of your own are more than welcome, but particularly on this occasion as I hope to develop the conclusions of this assignment into my MA dissertation topic, so please join the conversation.

happy exploring,
The Unlikely Evangelist

Towards a Theology of Mission

Transformed by the Bible

2008-07-29T22:30:42+01:00

We've begun the first of the Vision4Life conversations which concentrates on the Bible. We hope to have more events over the summer, but here are our comments so far ...

Here is a link to summery of the thoughts of those who took part in three conversations at Heald Green URC.

Summary of HGURC Bible Conversations.

If you have held similar conversations at your churches, or wish to reflect on the HGURC conversation, then as ever, please leave your comments and insights using the link below.

I hope your Vision4Life conversations are are also going well, and look forward to sharing your wisdom.
The Unlikely Evangelist

I'm Back!

2008-07-22T18:01:54+01:00

Hello,

I'm back, sorry for the pause in posting.

After some time off work in recent weeks I'm feeling refreshed and enthusiastic again, ready to fully engage with the Mission and Evangelism agenda of our churches. So here I hope to begin posting again;

- reflections and ideas from Heald Green URC as we travel along the Vision4Life process

- an invitation for others to join in online conversations exploring the mission priorities for the United Reformed Church

- resourses and reflections on contemporary evangelism and church growth from my reading and research as Evangelism and Emerging Church Advocate and my MA in Missiology at LKH in Manchester

in addition,

- Weeklyish Lectionary Reflections, based on discussions from Heald Green URC's Bible Study groups. Which may offer help and inspiration to preachers as well as notes to assist you and your churches as we begin the Bible year of Vision4Life at Advent. (To find out more about the sucessful model of Bible Study developed at Heald Green URC see my post, Bible Study for Every Church)

As ever, comments and e-mails are always welcome, thank's for visiting and it's good to be back!
The Unlikely Evangelist

Evangelism for everyone!

2008-01-29T09:21:12+00:00

The first meeting of the new United Reformed Church Mission Committee met for 24 hours (Mon-Tues) to begin the huge task of setting priorities and finishing off outstanding work from previous committees, as well as formulating mission strategy and long term goals.

At the moment it's Tuesday morning and the first session of the day is about to begin, so I'll be quick. From the point of view of this Blog, the most notable point of yesterdays session was that in different ways all participants, from a wide variety of theological positions, seemed to be saying the most urgent/important issue was to equip and encourage all local churches in the task of evangelism, with a menu of simple, practical ideas so that all churches can find something to try which suits them.

Next session, how do we do it ...

BFN
Mike

Re-forming the United Reformed Church

2007-08-22T09:49:22+01:00

Towards a marketing campaign for the United Reformed Church. Learning from Catch the Vision and God is Still Speaking.

catch the vision

The Catch the Vision 2006 report to General Assembly stated that:

‘We are not persuaded that our particular offering to the future great church and indeed to the future of Christian witness in our three nations will be best served by dilution’. CtheV 2006, 2.9

Let’s not be ashamed about being here. Let’s be ourselves. Let’s be glad to be ourselves. Let’s not apologise for being the United Reformed Church. Let’s celebrate God’s gifts, and think about possibilities and mission and growth. Let’s get confident, secure in the gospel. Our ultimate unity lies there after all, CtheV 2006, 2.12

still speaking

God is Still Speaking is the national advertising campaign of the United Church of Christ (UCC) in the United States. It is from here that my inspiration and motivation for a United Reformed Church campaign comes.

Principles transferable to the URC and our campaign:

• Help thousands of people overcome alienation from God and communities of faith
• Empower URC congregations to be bold witnesses to the power of God - transforming lives, communities, and the world. Catch the Vision!
• Share God's welcome with all whose spiritual journey leads them to or through a URC
• Increase United Reformed Church name recognition in the general public
• Strengthen member pride in "who we are"
• Celebrate the URC’s unique identity and call to be a united & uniting, reformed & reforming
• Progressive mainline churches are virtually absent from public perceptions about church. Many people reject church, not knowing about churches like the URC.

I have been aware for some time that our church is lacking in identity, purpose and spirituality. The next stage of Catch the Vision, Vision4Life is looking to address the two latter points, but I believe we need to work alongside this process to redefine our identity as the United Reformed Church.

The Still Speaking campaign offers much we can learn from, maybe we could even simply copy the UCC campaign. Please visit their website, watch the TV ads and explore other resourses to get a feel for the kind of thing I'm talking about. I'd really apreciate your comments.

So below is an outline of what a URC campaign could look like, concentrating on our name, image identity and core values.

our name: church, reformed, united ‘ed’ or ‘ing’

First and foremost we are about being effective, contextual local churches, seeking to make a difference for Christ’s sake. So our name should say we are a church!

Secondly, although local is the primary point of mission, I do not believe we are a loose collection of independent churches, but a group of churches that recognise the equal importance of our interdependence, that we can achieve more together than apart. Also, we share our Reformed history, and need to learn together how to highlight our Reformed principles for our new age. And in our consumerist, media age we need a robust national identity and brand. Our identity/brand, (in part), is being the Reformed Church.

Thirdly, our identity/brand is still Unit(ed)(ing)! Our ecumenical ideals have not changed, but the landscape has. As a distinct, reformed, progressive mainline church, we are committed to working with others whenever possible, locally, nationally, or internationally.

So we are a Church, Reformed and United. Any ideas for a cracking good name?

advertising campaign

So agreed on our name, and our identity as a theologically broad, but progressive mainline (Reformed) church, with a mission agenda, then how do we brand and promote ourselves?

This will be no easy task, how do we come up with a message and shared identity which is both theologically broad, (without being theologically bland) and yet appealing to the un-churched?

Below are some ideas and comments from a church member who works in graphics and advertising. I began with describing the situation and what I hope an advertising campaign would achieve. In bullet point form, here are his comments and recommendations.

• if the budget is small, billboards are the most cost effective
• if it’s a people organisation, don’t use pictures of people, however careful you are, someone will feel excluded by the type of people you use
• also, a picture of a group of mixed age and background would not be very representative of many URC’s, this could become counter productive
• a simple word or phrase (like ‘God is still speaking’) is the most effective
• most striking colours to get noticed are good old black and white and red, (this also has the benefit of sometimes being cheaper to print)
• include an easily recognisable logo, thinking about brand image and audience
• include a web address where people can get more information

An idea

So what would a national billboard campaign for the United Reformed Church look like?

Well, obviously the branding needs to use out name, the United Reformed Church, but also give some clue as to who we are/what that means, our identity, purpose and principles.

I began playing around with the word Reformed, both in graphics terms and playing with the word itself, swapping ‘ed’ for ‘ing’. I then realised that there are many other similar, positive words which start with ‘Re’ and end with ‘ing’. So I drew up a list.

Reforming - Resurrection - Restoring - Reviving - Reclaiming - Reimagining - Recreating - Reliving - Relaxing - Rejoicing - Reconnecting - Revisioning - Responding - Revolution - Renewing - Revamping - Re-educating - Recalling - Recycle - Retelling - Rebuilding - Remaking - Remodelling - Reconciling - Receiving - Re-evaluating - Relearning - Refreshing - Revitalising - Returning - Retracing - Remembering - Reuniting - Remarrying - Rethinking - Reconditioning - Resurfacing - Reincarnating - Recurring - Researching - Reigniting - Replanting - Refuelling - Rereading - Reacting - Rearranging - Reweaving - Retraining - Receiving - Reworking - Replenishing - Reword - Reappraising - Renew - Regeneration - Reaction - Reconvening - Rekindling - Reborn - Rebirthing - Repicturing - Redressing - Rebalancing - Reopening - Relocating - Recondition - Relating - Relationship - Reawakening - Restoration - Recreation - Rediscovering

Maybe let me know some of your favourites, which you feel are appropriate to describe/promote the URC.

All the words I have selected are positive, all are active, and all are intended to be theologically acceptable by the whole church. So what next?

So how about a campaign which looked like this? We launch nationwide a black and white board with the letters Re in red on the left hand side.

This type of campaign gets people talking about it. ‘Have you seen those posters with Re on them do you know what they are for’?

Once everybody’s talking, we add the rest of the word in white on the black section!

The posters also then have [a revised version of] the United Reformed Church logo in black in the bottom right corner and a web site address in black at the bottom of the white section on the left.

Also, the benefit of the campaign being a series of similar posters, should keep people interested and looking for them, trying to find new words.

Finally, the campaign ends with a third poster, offering a simple welcome.

It’s best if you see the results, simply click on the Re-campaign to open a PowerPoint presentation. For best results, as the slide show stars, right click with your mouse and selece 'Full Screen'. At the end of the presentation press 'Escape' to exit full screen, then click the 'back' button on your browser to return here, and read on!

So, what do you think? I'd really, really apreciate your comments on this. Not just on this particular idea, but in the general primciple of a national church advertising campaign.

Like the UCC campaign, the posters themselves are not the substance and the church certainly will need the same level of preparation and engagement before we launch a campaign.

For now, this is ‘just’ an advertising suggestion, but I believe it has great potential to fulfil the same objectives as Still Speaking for our church, a positive, progressive, fresh, memorable, and inspiring campaign for our existing members as well as attracting other people to faith and The United Reformed Church.

catch the vision prayer

May the spirit of the Lord rest upon us,
may the call of God sustain us,
as we seek to be God’s people,
transformed by the Gospel,
announcing good news to the poor,
proclaiming freedom for those in prisons
of wealth, poverty, disease and disorder,
committed to making a difference
to the world’s kingdoms
for the sake of Christ’s kingdom.

May we deploy our resources as the Spirit guides,
not shirk difficult decisions about the priority of mission,
pledge ourselves anew to work with all our fellow Christians
and use the gifts of all God’s people
so that all may be filled
with the Spirit of healing, justice and peace,

Amen.

I look forward to your comments
The Unlikely Evangelist

Humanity V's Religion

2007-08-21T16:36:16+01:00

Lectionary Reflections
Week: Ordinary 21 Year C
Luke Chapter 13 verses 10 - 17
Isaiah Chapter 58 verses 9b - 14
Hebrews Chap 12 verses 18 - 29
Psalm 103 verses 1 - 8

Here's a very brief explanation of all four of this weeks lectionary readings, based on reflections from our Bible Study group at Heald Green. Simple, but I hope you may find it helpful.

- The Psalm says, God is a God of justice for all ... [so how do you think we should behave?]

so if we want some examples ...

- Luke says, don't treat people badly and use your religious traditions as an excuse!

- Hebrews says, God was previously seen as distant and scary, but through Jesus we now see God as a bit more touchy feely and human! Therefore, follow Jesus and you won't go far wrong.

and so we don't think God being nice is just a New Testament thing,

- Isaiah says, there just isn't a conflict here, showing humanity to others IS following our religious traditions!

Loads of big stuff here and other strong themes as well, most noticeably in Luke about the role and status of women in our religious traditions.

However, in a blog about evangelism and emerging church I simply want to ask, if we are in the business of helping people have a healthy relationship with God and each other, which of our religious practices are we not willing to either reject, reform, refresh or reveal in a new way, in order for our shared faith journey to be more relevant to peoples lives. [5 re-words in one sentence, that's possibly a record even for me!]

As ever, our task is to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind AND love (or even BY loving?) everybody else!

I feel some more re-words coming on, Reimagening, Responding, Reconnecting, Relationships ... maybe I'm onto an idea here ... watch this space! [This means I need to work out how to do a link to a PowerPoint from my Blog!]

Bye for now
The Unlikely Evangelist

A Conflict Within?

2007-08-22T13:46:33+01:00

Lectionary Reflections
Week: Ordinary 20 Year C
Luke Chapter 12 verses 49 - 56
Hebrews Ch 11 v 29, Ch 2 v 2

A few thoughts

- Jesus just wasn't the type of Messiah people were expecting and waiting for, not a warrior king, but 'the prince of peace'.

- Yet although his message was of justice and peace, it was inevitable that this message would bring conflict, especially if Jesus and his followers grew, and began to put his message into practice.

- Not only because those who chose the Jesus way in later years would be leaving their own Jewish tradition, and therefore bringing division to family units, but simply because those with power and status in the world as it is would believe that they have much to loose in a world of justice and peace. Jesus didn't set out to bring conflict, it was just inevitable if he was truly committed to his message and its implementation.

- Therefore, perhaps a lesson for our often 'conflict shy' churches, is that yes, Christians are to love each other and believe in justice and peace, but we need to be 'as wise as serpents' and not just 'as gentle as doves'! [Matt 10 v16] As the Prayers of Intercession say in Worship: from the United Reformed Church;

God, Maker and Lover of all,
we know that your way is not always easy;
that peace is not given lightly,
that sometimes justice comes only through struggle. p 93

Jesus is clear, he is a peace maker, not a peace keeper!

The world we live in is as troubled as it ever was, and we still pray each week for the earth to be as it is in heaven. But with that prayer comes hard work and with that hard work comes struggle. But once we have heard the call of God and the message of Jesus, how can we not be changed and how can we fail to respond?

Which causes me to reflect, in our society when most are indifferent to the church, maybe the conflict of choosing the Jesus way is not so much between families, (though I am aware of difficulties within our churches where often the male partner in a couple doesn't attend, or the 'guilt' many members feel that their children no longer attend as adults) and maybe the division is not only between those who campaign for justice and those who enjoy the status quo, (though work in this area is a major part of what it is to be church) and maybe the division is not even disagreements within the church at this time, (though they are making the headlines and the URC has had its divisions in the not too distant past). Maybe, the first conflict and division is not between us at all, but within us. The choice we each face when we hear the call of God and try to respond to the message of Jesus. Are we prepared to follow, even on the way to the cross, a way of struggle and conflict, to bring about a world of Justice and Peace!

Sermon Notes - A Vision4Life no. 1

2007-08-22T10:13:00+01:00

Lectionary Reflections
Week: Ordinary 19 Year C
Genesis Chapter 15 verses 1 - 6
Hebrews Chap 11 verses 1 - 3, 8 - 16

Introduction

• Eating beef burgers in the rain will help build the Kingdom of God! (Reference to our church BBQ after the service, raising money for Committment for Life)

Point ONE: Hebrews

• The first Christians in the book of Hebrews had a Vision4Life
• They believed, like we may do, that their world was in a bit of a mess
• But they also believed, through faith, that one day, and one day soon, Jesus would return, and the world would be transformed,
• they believed in the Hebrew prophesies of old,
o that deserts would spring to life,
o that the lion would lie with the lamb,
o that poverty and hunger would be things of the past,
o that war and disease and death and dying would be no more
• They believed that one day, and one day soon, Jesus would return and the whole world would be at peace
• And the earth would be as it is in heaven!

The trouble was, they were wrong!

• Jesus didn’t return in their lifetime
• and the idea that he would, led some to indifference, why do we need to bother toiling when Jesus is soon to return and fix everything!

Their faith had lead to apathy and paralysis, not love and action. Things had gone terribly wrong.

Point TWO: Genesis

• Abraham had a Vision4Life, or rather God did, but Abraham had trouble seeing it.
• Years earlier, God had said to Sarah and Abraham, despite your advancing years, you are to have a child,
• Despite this seeming impossibility, your children will be the start of a great nation, who will be my people
• Yet later, here Abraham was again, trying to keep faith, but asking God, where are all these descendants you promised?
• Even older now, God’s plan seemed even more ridiculous
• But God said, look to the stars in the sky and count them … if you can count them all! Your descendants will be just as many!
• Abraham couldn’t see it, maybe didn’t even believe it, but he did have faith!

Point THREE: Faith

So let me try and explain this faith business as I see it! The Bible is a book of stories, of people like Abraham and Sarah, people like 'the Hebrews', … people like you and me, struggling with our faith, trying to trust in God’s promises, however unlikely they seem.

The trouble is, they seem to seem even more unlikely to us today, we’re much more sophisticated than the people of Biblical times, … at least we like to think we are! And we live in a world of science and reason, logic and knowledge, the spectacular and supernatural promises of the Bible, just don’t make sense to us anymore.

Yet, to take these stories literally, is perhaps to miss the point.

"Faith," doesn't mean intellectually agreeing with an idea, it means something more like "trust". Faith is not about what we usually call "belief" so much as it's about relationship.

Having faith is not about trying to convince yourself that you are convinced of something. As I’ve said before, sometimes we treat the Bible like it’s that book we know were supposed to believe, but if we are honest we struggle.

Knowing the bible, is not about belief, it’s about a deeper relationship with God.

Point FOUR: So What!

Today the world may be a bit different, but the struggles are just the same. AND SO ARE GODS PROMISES!

We long to see a world of justice and peace, and pray that the world is just like heaven, and we long to see a church thriving again, but don’t quite believe God’s promise.

And like the Hebrews, maybe we sometimes think it would be great if God were to come down and fix everything!

But maybe they learnt that is not what the promise was, Jesus won’t come again to fix it all, but it will be as if he is returned when WE have fixed it all and the whole world lives as Jesus did.

And it may not be done in our timescale, even in our lifetime, but we too have a story of faith to give us hope, that when Jesus realm is on earth as in heaven, that those that have gone before will share in God’s glory. And the deserts will spring to life, the lion will lie with the lamb, poverty and hunger will be things of the past, war and disease and death and dying will be no more, the whole world will be at peace and the earth will be as it is in heaven.

Conclusion

My journey, God says, it with a people of faith, and you know you've got faith when, you find yourself engaged in activities which the world says are hopeless and a waste of time, and when however your heart pounds as you do it and whatever fears you have, you take the next step forward into the desert.

When you work tirelessly for justice and peace, buying Fairtrade, telling others about it, using our shopping bags.

When we send money to Bangladesh, as much as we can spare, to give to people of another faith, who need our help. Knowing that it will be a drop in the ocean.

And when we gather with friends, with huge smiles on our faces, to eat beef burgers in the rain, to witness to the world to God’s glory, that’s when you’ll know you have faith and belief and a Vison4Life!

Living Prayer

2007-07-26T09:23:16+01:00

Lectionary Reflections
Week: Ordinary 17 Year C
Luke Chapter 12 verses

In my last post, 'Vision4Life - a first reflection' I comment that of the three themes of Vision4Life, Prayer is the area where I am least confident or comfortable. So imagine my delight when I discovered that this weeks lectionary seemed to be all about prayer. However, as usual, spending time searching the scriptures with others, produced some simple, surprising and helpful results.

The Lord's Prayer

An examination from the Gospel reading of what we most commonly call 'The Lord's Prayer' led us into a wider discussion about how we pray in worship. Being a good Reformed worship leader, schooled in the 'Hymn Sandwich' model of Sunday worship, I do follow the prayer structure of ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) in both our Family Friendly and Traditional Worship services each Sunday, which will be common in very many churches. I was a little surprised therefore in this weeks Bible Study groups, that only those who lead worship themselves were familiar with this model, (and even more surprised that only one knew something of the reasons for this order). Most only had a vague idea of the order and that the last prayer in a service is always praying for others, but that was about it.

But non of this is the important bit! The important bit was, how helpful people found it all when the reason for the order was simply explained, using different words.

WOW! Sorry, Thank-you, Please

- When we meet together in worship, in the presence of God, how can our first response not simply be WOW!

- Once we've said WOW, recognising our own faults in God's presence, we are compelled to say Sorry.

- Having said Sorry, and received God's forgiveness and grace, the natural response is to say Thank-you.

- Then having acknowledged God's grace to us, how can we not pray for the same salvation for others?

I'm sure this won't be new to many of those reading this, and I'm sure many will have more accurate and technical explanations for the order of how we pray in public worship, but I just post this to highlight how helpful people found it. It seems to some extent how we pray in worship had become a lifeless formality, this simple explanation has for some, restored it as a living tradition again, one which gives expression and meaning to our way of worship, and one which can be simply shared with others.

Personal Reflection

I still recognise in myself that in preparing worship, the Sermon and hymns, for me, are always of much greater importance. (That is if the time I spend on crafting a sermon or selecting suitable hymns as compared with grabbing 'Roots' or the Worship Book to find a prayer that fits, is any indication). But maybe it's OK, good even, to use the talents of those more skilled than I in writing prayers for public worship, I just need to spend a little more time and care in the choosing!

Ask, Seek, Knock.

The lectionary reading concludes with Jesus talking about Ask, Seek, Knock. Again very familiar words, but something struck me for the first time. As this is a passage about how to pray, ask, seek, knock is saying something quite different, that prayer is active on the part of the one praying, not just God. It's not a case of asking God and sitting back for the answer, searching for the answer is our next prayer act. But neither does it end there, the searching needs to result in knocking on a few doors, trying a few handles and pressing the bell.

For me this has been very helpful in understanding my own prayer life, or as some would see it, lack of one. I've never been one for sitting down and thinking, "right I'm going to pray now". (Though I do occasionally). I've always regarded prayer as space to think, and I create this space for myself in lots of different ways all the time. Sitting and praying has never been enough, if not accompanied by active searching and experimenting with new ideas and potential solutions.

The challenge for our local church is then, is how do we break the practice in many of our churches of Prayer Meetings/Circles being little more than a sharing of pastoral news/gossip/list of ill people?

For me, it's not so much about a 'Prayer Life' but 'A Life of Prayer', constantly living, asking, searching, exploring with God and others, for the answers to life's questions.

This is the Vision4Life for us all to pray, search and strive for.

Mike
The Unlikely Evangelist