Category: MSM

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Church MSM

why don’t I wear a dress?

churchIt used to be said that church was about the only place you could go on a Sunday morning to see a man in a dress.

The dress in question would be a cassock of course and I don’t mean this to be an insult to anyone of an alternative lifestyle (even if I personally disagree with such a life choice – this doesn’t mean I judge you if you make such a choice, I firmly believe that people are free to make life choices of their own but that does not mean that I have to agree with it – real love is loving someone even when they make life choices that are in disagreement with your own life philosophy – maybe we can explore this another time).  But I sometimes get asked why I don’t wear a cassock.

The first thing to say is that actually I do wear a cassock but not very often. I have nothing against cassocks – I used to wear one every Sunday. But I am aware just how far going to church is away from many people’s every day experience. It can be a real challenge even to get through a church door. So when inside I also think I must do what I can to help people relax and feel at home. I can play my part by looking more ordinary. We do still meet people in suits and so that is my chosen outfit for leading worship (in really hot weather I might forgoe the jacket).

At our MSM course we thought about how strange it is for people to go in to a church. Having returned to church and I testify to just terrifying it is to just get through the door – and I know what to expect on the other side!

Let’s do everything we can to make people feel welcome.

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Church MSM

Gospel and Culture MSM

339176_1500The last session we were exploring the realtionship between gospel and culture. We tried to understand what culture is (not and easy thing to do) and then had to relate what we discovered to the church. It seems that it is quite difficult to reach across cultures (though not impossible) and this can raise all kinds of issues.

Church, it seems, has its own culture and too often we have sought to impose our culture on others when what they really needed (wanted) was the gospel. A story was told of a missionary who decided to tell the story of Jesus to people he had been working with for some time only to get the reply that they already knew the story but if this story was so important to the missionary why was he telling them now, after such a long time.

The challenge for us is to tell the story of Jesus without the cultural things that may get in the way.

I find this a constant problem in my own life because my background is not middle classed (yes, I know we don’t like to talk about classes but then not talking about class is a very middle class thing to do) and yet I find myself in a middle class culture. I don’t mind – there are some parts I enjoy – but sometimes it is a struggle for me. I won’t give more details because it might upset some folk. But the point is that when we insist people adopt our culture we are restricting the way we can present the gospel.

So we need to understand that whoever we are we are part of a culture because only when we recognise our culture can we move outside of it to reach others. We must also face the fact that we will actually be far more effective at telling our stories when we tell them to people who are like we are.

Of course, this has been the benefit of the web. We have an environment where people can find others like themselves more easily, but that is a whole other area.

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Church MSM

You’ve got to have good vision

msm-logoOn Saturday at the MSM training day we explored the importance of having a vision and how to get one.

Vision has become a popular word in business circles and as a result of many poorly managed visions (so vague that they mean nothing or too complex so that no one can achieve them) anyone in business (or public service) has become very cynical. However, it is undeniably true that without a clear idea of what we want to achieve we tend to achieve nothing.

The process of understanding a vision for a church can be complex. It involves listening to God first. What does God want us to do in this place? Then it is important to listen to the community that surrounds the church. What are its needs? Where are the opportunities? Then we need to listen to the church. What gifts do we have? Who is available to support a vision?

We explored a process where we can take an audit of our area and this should help us to discover its needs and opportunities.

In the end I think it is true that God already has a vision for what any church can do in its location; we just have to discover it.

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MSM

Zac’s Place MSM

For those of you who missed the Zac’s Place video at our MSM session, here is a version in very small. You can purchase a bigger copy from Fresh Expressions on their making a difference DVD.

embedded by Embedded Video

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MSM

The heart of mission

msm-logoWe have another MSM session last night, this time all about “The Mission of God”.

We explored what mission means and why we do it. Mission is, of course, a much bigger thing than just evangelism – a simple definition might be: taking God’s love into the whole world. However, it is important not to miss the point that evangelism is a part of mission. Christianity is a force for good in the world and the presence of Christians should help to reform society into what God wants it to be.

The heart of mission itself is God. It is our role to follow God’s lead and respond to what he wants us to do, understanding that mission itself is central to discipleship, that is we are Christians and therefore we do mission (not an optional extra).

Of course, mission is fueled by God’s Spirit but God’s fuel only works when we have a close relationship with God. This led us to think about the part that Holy Communion plays in the life of the church where our connection with God sits in a fundemental place to our mission.

We considered how we are a people who are sent by Jesus out into the world to take God’s message to others. That message was sumerised by John in his gospel in the passage of John chapter 3 verse 16.

God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son, so that all those who believe in him will not perish but have eternal life.

God so loved the world that he sent his son.

God so loved the world that he would do anything to bring us back to him.

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MSM

Alternative church?

Is there such a thing as an alternative church or is it just church? This is an important question to answer because somehow if something is alternative it creates the impression that it is somehow less than the best.

We live in a world (at least in the UK) where alternative is now applied to many things: alternative viewpoint; alternative life style; etc. We crave alternatives, it seems.

Sometimes these alternatives are seen as being a positive move – as soon as the rest of society can catch up – other times as somehow a little odd and to be avoided. However, for many younger people what is classified as alternative is just normal for their world. The idea that somehow living a different kind of life from everyone else (a very Christian idea by the way) is seen today as just a personal choice and nothing strange at all. So calling a different style of church an alternative church can be confusing in a modern context. I guess this is why we are encouraged to use the phrase ‘mixed’ economy (although I have to confess to a personal dislike of this phrase).

churchOf course, we also then need to try and workout if there is a standard ‘right’ way or not. For instace, if there is a standard ‘right way’ to do something then maybe there is a standard right way of doing church. This would mean that alternatives should simply be a way of feeding the proper right way – we will give people this for now with the intention of making them proper church goers when they get our faith.

I personally think that there is such a thing as absolute truth; either God exsits or God doesn’t exist – you can’t have it both ways. I don’t believe, however, that there is an absolute way of being church – at least not in the way it is expressed. Some fundementals are vital to be called a Christian church – there has to be boundaries defined by belief otherwise the local pub is simply a Christian church is another form (this may appeal to many, of course, there is something very attractive about calling any group a Christian church – it makes life a lot easier, just find a group and call it a Christian church and the job is done).

However, I don’t think that the basics of being a church extend to the way we do things. Jesus worshipped in a synagogue and the temple but he never gave us any idea of what he liked about that worship (save perhaps the sermon). Jesus never gave us an order for our worship; he said nothing about buildings or styles of architecture or church councils; etc. I wish he had said just do what the minister says and forget about meetings but he didn’t even say that.

So, who is to say an alternative church is in some way inferior to any way of doing church? Or even that it is alternative.

In my view we need to get away from thinking about alternative ways of church and start talking just about church. What is your point of view?

 

Categories
Church MSM

MSM Course

Started the MSM course yesterday in Taunton. It is a long course but then anything that is designed to change ways of thinking must be done over a long period of time. One of things I particulalry like about it is that it isn’t about church. There is always a tendency to think about how we preserve our church and then we miss the question of what does God want to do with his church? There are amny questions to ponder over on this course.

Questions about the meaning and purpose of church. Questions about what we should do together as a church. Questions about what will the church do in the future? But all of these must be subject to the one overriding question of what does God want.

What does God want from his church?