A bunch of us from Kettering just spent 3 days supporting the church household in Ipswich with their campaign.
To be honest I hate evangelism- the "jump out on people with a leaflet" approach does not work for me and the "sit around looking friendly and inviting so they come to talk to you" just makes me feel like a spare part.
Evangelism is also not that popular generally. It is seen as rather intense and the realm of religious fanatics. In Britain we are too polite and too eager to be tolerant of other views to be brave enough to speak out. That's a bit strange seeing that the first Christians were radical enough to be accused of turning the world upside down.
The other problem with trying to decide wether one should or should not evangelise is:- we are told to do it!
I could try to find a church where "we don't do that kind of thing" or "it's for those who 'have the calling'", but it is still there in the Bible in black and white.
Jesus, before he went back up to heaven, comissioned the disciples to be his witnesses and promised that the Holy Spirit would be with them to help them.
I agree that not everyone does it by taking a painted bus into town to attract attention and bring "church to the street", but everyone should be doing it- somehow.
On Friday afternoon there were some lads shouting at us "Jesus is a **** ****" and so on. Their use of adjectives scares me because I know God is awesome and does not apreciate his name being disrespected. I would not personally risk the wrath of God like that, and sometimes I am concerened that being "high profile" about Jesus provokes people to hurl the abuse they do.
Anyway, in the end these lads came over to talk and we had a good chat with them. We met them again late at night when the lad who had been overshadowed by his more mouthy mate asked us some really searching questions. That is what I do enjoy- testing and stretching and exercising my faith, to reach outside of the limits of what is spoken about in church to find out that it does all still hold true and our eternal and ancient God is big enough to meet the demands of modern thinking and dilemas.
I think Jesus would have enjoyed a good discussion with the disciples, pushing the horizon of their faith to make it stronger.
Anyway, some of the questions and answers will probably come up in blogs soon....
Friday 22 June 2007
Monday 18 June 2007
what does God look like?
Here is one of the promised questions people often ask......
What does God look like?
Simple answer is we don't know.
In Exodus God showed himself as fire and as smoke.
In other books of the Bible He has been in the wind or an earthquake.
In Revelations there are all sorts of fantastic descriptions, but there is also loads of picture language there which I do not even try to understand and would not take literally.
We know Man was created in God's image so that gives some ground for the pictures of God as a human being.
We know Jesus (who is one part of the God-head) did not have a problem coming to Earth as a man. Jesus was born in to a Jewish family in Israel, so he would have had MiddleEastern skintone and Jewish looks. He would not have been blue eyes and blond hair, but I can understand those painters who portrayed him in a way they could relate to. Same as in Africa you will find pictures of a black Jesus.
The Holy Spirit (another part of the God-head) was seen as a dove at Jesus' baptism.
The Holy Spirit was also seen as tongues of fire at Pentecost.
But... God is omnipresent, so if He is everywhere all the time then He probably is not limited to a shape or form we can recognise and put a label on and say "That's God".
Personally I don't have a problem with not knowing what God looks like, some of the attempts to portray him tend to attract more mockery than worship anyway.
God is Almighty, Eternal, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Awesome...... If we can fit Him into a box He is not God anymore.
What does God look like?
Simple answer is we don't know.
In Exodus God showed himself as fire and as smoke.
In other books of the Bible He has been in the wind or an earthquake.
In Revelations there are all sorts of fantastic descriptions, but there is also loads of picture language there which I do not even try to understand and would not take literally.
We know Man was created in God's image so that gives some ground for the pictures of God as a human being.
We know Jesus (who is one part of the God-head) did not have a problem coming to Earth as a man. Jesus was born in to a Jewish family in Israel, so he would have had MiddleEastern skintone and Jewish looks. He would not have been blue eyes and blond hair, but I can understand those painters who portrayed him in a way they could relate to. Same as in Africa you will find pictures of a black Jesus.
The Holy Spirit (another part of the God-head) was seen as a dove at Jesus' baptism.
The Holy Spirit was also seen as tongues of fire at Pentecost.
But... God is omnipresent, so if He is everywhere all the time then He probably is not limited to a shape or form we can recognise and put a label on and say "That's God".
Personally I don't have a problem with not knowing what God looks like, some of the attempts to portray him tend to attract more mockery than worship anyway.
God is Almighty, Eternal, Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Awesome...... If we can fit Him into a box He is not God anymore.
Monday 4 June 2007
mummy and the hairdresser and God
My friend Sarah is married to Robert, their daughter is called Emily (well, not quite, I changed their names, just incase they would prefer to be anonymous) Anyway, I had an email from Sarah who told me this story
Well, it made me think how we make a mess of things, but God sorts it out. And it is better to have a go and maybe make a mess than it is to never try.
On Sunday the ministry was about discouragement, that we will always come across things that discourage us, and will always go through periods of discouragement, but it is how we deal with is that matters. We have a big God He is able to help us work things through and sort things out and He has called us to be part of the Body where we can support and encourage and build each other up. So, wether it is a bad hair-cut or feeling totally betrayed, the answer is not to throw in the towel but to go to someone who can help.
Robert came home from work and said to Emily "Oh Emily, you've had your hair cut, it looks very pretty, who did it for you?"So, what's the point of the story- apart from the fact that kids are great at showing up their parents?
Emily replied "Mummy and the hairdresser"
"Really?" asked Robert
"Yes" said Emily. "Mummy made a mess of it and the hairdresser sorted it out"
Well, it made me think how we make a mess of things, but God sorts it out. And it is better to have a go and maybe make a mess than it is to never try.
On Sunday the ministry was about discouragement, that we will always come across things that discourage us, and will always go through periods of discouragement, but it is how we deal with is that matters. We have a big God He is able to help us work things through and sort things out and He has called us to be part of the Body where we can support and encourage and build each other up. So, wether it is a bad hair-cut or feeling totally betrayed, the answer is not to throw in the towel but to go to someone who can help.
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