Church is People

This afternoon we have a wonderful couple with us. They're both in their 50s, he's fighting an ever growing number of ailments, she's trying to hold down a job while looking after her dude and keeping their heads above water and... they are simply remarkable for our church. In fact I would say they are two of the primary components of our being repeatedly termed "a loving family" - they are much more responsible for that then I am as the lead Elder. This morning I met with a simply wonderful retiree in his 60s. The part he's had to play in grabbing the administrative oversight of our church by the proverbial "horns" is pretty much impossible to overstate. The blessing and encouragement he is to me, my wife and young kids - the fact that he & his wife know my kids birthdays better than me. His resilience, his love of the Lord, his passion for giving, his constant and consistent attendance to the life events of the church encourage all around him of every age. Then there's the guy who's busier than any other human I know and yet gives more time, love, and energy to this church than anyone, who still has time to rush with me late last evening to grab a wardrobe for our new home without even the slightest hesitation. A man who I know for the first 5 weeks we've been at West Herts College has arrived first and left last to make sure it's all done. A man who carries this family and bears the burden of their spiritual care with all he is. Do I go on to mention the lady who has every reason to moan, to milk the system, to demand her needs be met, to scream angrily at God who instead gives almost every waking hour to serving this church administratively and pastorally. Those laden with family concerns who lead explore groups and devote hours to caring for others. And so on... Then of course, conversely there are those you couldn't be certain would come to three consecutive Sundays, who are too busy to give any time outside of the 2 hour session on Sunday that we are 'privileged' to receive from them. Singles and young couples that have just too many things they need to focus on - things of course I wouldn't understand! - to give of themselves to the church and to others... Church is people! Simon

"Living life without the Fear" Week 12

Finally made our way back into the book of Joshua after a break for Advent and early January. We have got to chapter 4 after 12 weeks in the book, strangely although that may seem like slow progress there is much more content in those first 3 chapter we could have lingered over.
I took this week speak to our church quite personally as I saw this moment in the life of the Israelites and their Godly leader Joshua mirroring our situation currently.
Here is a break down of the sermon:

LIVING LIFE WITHOUT THE FEAR
I reminded us again that we live in a 'culture of fear', check this quote out as a reference to exactly that

“The culture of fear is not a spontaneous reaction by the public to a truly dangerous world. The worldwide anthrax panic sparked by a handful of anthrax-related deaths in America shortly after 9/11 was not caused by a genuine and widespread mortal danger facing US and European citizens. Our propensity to panic about everything from child abductions to mobile phones does not come from the fact that modern life contains more risks than ever before - on the level of everyday reality, the opposite is the case. . . . The culture of fear comes from the top down. It comes from society's leaders, and their inability to lead. . . .” – Jennie Bristow

If we allow fear to enter our faith relationship with Christ, if we are drawn into our fear culture and defined by such rather than being transformed into the likeness of Christ - we will not know the Spiritual blessings in Christ

Fear is a grave enemy of faith!

A MIRROR MOMENT
At this time I recognized that there is immense theological significance in this passage but that at this time I wanted to highlight how this moment mirrors our life as a church.
We as a church have set aside this year to seek Greater Health through Greater Impact and one of the core values we have as a church that needs to be embraced, owned, is this
“WE VALUE THE GIVING OF OUR LIVES, OUR TIME, AND OUR MONEY TO GOD’S MISSION”
If we become a serving people, caught up in the mission of X1 to fulfill the mandate of Christ in Matt. 28 then we will know joy, but as in this passage some things need to be in place -

LEADERS LED BY ‘THE’ LEADER
4: 1 – 3 “The Lord said to Joshua...” Here we see that Joshua is not the real, ultimate leader of the Israelites. And that is so true of X1 as a people. We, your elders are not the leaders of this church. We are a leadership that, like Joshua, are led by Jesus Christ who is actually the leader of ChristFirst.

ANONYMOUS, OBEDIENT & UNIFIED SERVANTS OF THE MISSION
4: 4 – 8 “So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them...”
Here the scripture expose a stunning truth about leadership – Any great Christian leader is surrounded by obedient, unified, co-warriors working together to fulfil the mission for the glory of God and the joy of the people. (Ps. 84: 10; I Cor. 12;Eph. 2: 14 – 22)
These 12 men were anonymous – they are never named – but get this they were absorbed into the building of a sign that would testify to the faithfulness, mercy and awesome power of God to future generations.

SELFLESS SERVANTHOOD
4: 10 – 13 “The men of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, armed, in front of the Israelites...”(1: 12 – 13; Deut. 3: 18)
These men who had already claimed their inheritance served the mission and joy of the other Israelites.
This has been true of the initial core group of people who came with us to VUe cinema but...
It is time now for us all to rise up and claim our inheritance: To live a life of joyous, obedient mission, realizing the stunning life there is to be had in giving our all to see a church that actually affects the culture of a whole town.

The call to serve the mission of X1 - GET IN!

Simon

Tozer on Service... This Could Hurt

I try make it a daily practice to read a brief insight on leadership from A. W. Tozer. His views are most certainly not business-minded or pop-psychology induced so that is refreshing. They are also typically convicting and correcting. Most leaders, in fact most all of us, need both. Here is the one from 23rd March

"Before the judgment seat of Christ my service will be judged not by how much I have done but by how much I could have done. In God's sight my giving is measured not by how much I have given but by how much I could have given and how much I had left after I made my gift. The needs of the world and my total ability to minister to those needs decide the worth of my service.

Not by its size is my gift judged, but by how much of me there is in it. NO MAN GIVES AT ALL UNTIL HE HAS GIVEN ALL. No man gives anything acceptable to God until he has first given himself in love and sacrifice.

In the work of the church the amount one man must do to accomplish a given task is determined by how much or how little the rest of the company is willing to do. It is a rare church whose members all put their shoulder to the wheel. The typical church us composed of the few whose shoulders are bruised by their faithful labours and the many who are unwilling to raise a blister in the service of God and their fellowmen."

He could not be more insightful...

SImon