Blog has moved April 6, 2007
Posted by rupertward in Blogging.add a comment
My blog can now be found here.
Please do not leave comments on this blog, but visit the new one, for updated content or to leave a comment.
Thanks.
Paying Non-Christians to Come to Church April 2, 2007
Posted by rupertward in Books, Church, Jim Henderson, Off the Map.1 comment so far
I thought I would post a quickie today, following on from a great comment by Alastair on my previous post, The Most Hated Family in America, where he was saying we need to listen to the criticism of people who aren’t Christians, and yet are the very people that church exists for …
Jim Henderson, founder of Off the Map, pays people who aren’t Christians to come to church! And it isn’t some devious attempt at conversion (somewhat surprisingly!). No in fact is a brilliant attempt at doing the very thing that Alastair is suggesting … not mystery shopping, but mystery churching! Paying someone to come to church, to get thier honest feedback on what they thought about the experience.
And now Jim (currently a Christian) and Casper (currently an athiest) have written a book about thier experience of visiting a number of different churches in the US, called Jim and Casper go to Church. You can read the introduction here, and the first chapter where they go to Rick Warren’s Church, Saddleback. It is an illumitating and fasinating read.
HT – Dave Faulkner
The Most Hated Family in America April 1, 2007
Posted by rupertward in fundamentalism, Louis Theroux, society, TV.12 comments
Tonight on BBC 2, Louis Theroux produced a documentary on the Phelps Family, dubbed the most hated family in America (you can see some highlights here). The Phelps family, with patriarch Fred Phelps, essentially make up Westboro Baptist Church (with only one non-family member, Steve, that we saw on the program, who had been a journalist doing a program on the Phelps, and then joined them!). The family and church are fundamentalist, anti-gay, anti-America, pretty much anti-everything.
The family picket funerals of soldiers who dies in Iraq (a sign of God’s judgement), other churches (they hate gay people enough), and even a store that sell Swedish hoovers (don’t ask … oh OK, apparently the Swedish authorities arrested a pastor who preached against homosexuality). It is a hate-filled, rules based, grace-less religion that seems so far removed from all that I know of God, Jesus, and the Christian Faith. There is nothing in common that I have that with this group …
Or have I?
Louis Theroux, in his disarming and yet penetrating way, gets beneath the surface. He makes a couple of penetrating observations of the Phelps family, that rings some bells for me in other segments of the Christian Church, and my own life … albeit in a less extreme form:
1. “In their world, being hated is proof they are doing the right thing … they preach a hatred, that is reflected back on them, confirming them in their beliefs.”
We may not preach a hatred like the Phelps. We may not be so angry or judgemental. But don’t we sometimes think too, that we are oppressed or marginalised? We are the ones being sidelined by the society we live in. By people at work or college. By our neighbours. Doesn’t our society increasingly hate Christians? Or hate what we stand for? And we justify ourselves by saying that it is clearly a sign that we are saying God’s word, that the world can’t accept it.
And yet we don’t often to stop to look at why they might not be liking our message. Just maybe it isn’t the message, but it is the way we saying it … just maybe we have a little anger and judgement in our voices … and that is what the world is objecting to?
Of course there will be things that the church has to say which won’t be popular. But isn’t it easier to point the finger at others, rather than examining ourselves? And doesn’t Jesus have something to say about that?
2. “If you preach that the world is full of condemned sinners, the world will begin to take that shape.”
We may not use the same language, but Louis makes the point well: what you look for, is what you see. If we expect to see evil and lawlessness, then that is what we will notice. The acts of kindness, the love, goodness, humanity of others … we tend not to notice those things, when we expect to see something else.
In fact, I think Louis is saying something more: the way we see the world, will actually shape the world in that way. If we see the world full of condemned sinners, then that is what we actually call up in people. If we see people as image bearers, even if we are broken image bearers, then something of humanity and goodness will emerge.
What do you think? Do you think it is just what we stand for that the our society seems to be rejecting or do you think we bear some responsibility for? And how do you see the world?
Blog Update April 1, 2007
Posted by rupertward in Blogging.5 comments
Last week has been a busy week, and I haven’t posted much, or responded to comments as quickly as I would like. Sorry about that folks.
Amongst other things I have been taking my blogging time in setting up a new blogging platform (WordPress) which I will have up and running in a couple of weeks (you can check it out here, but please don’t leave any comments there yet!). I will transfer over all the posts and comments from this site at some point, so all our conversations won’t be lost. I hope it will be a better site for keeping track of all the different discussions going on. More info on that to follow, and I will let you know when I have fully set up and transferred to the new site.
The next two weeks I am not going to be online much, and at points I will not have internet access. So I might post another one or two posts during this time, but may not reply to comments as quick as I would normally like to. Full service will resume on 16th April!!!!
Thanks for making this an interesting place to learn together.
Guidance in Community – Part 4 March 27, 2007
Posted by rupertward in Church, Community, Guidance, Leadership, Transition.7 comments
See previous posts:
Guidance in Community – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
Models of Guidance.
As I have been reflecting on guidance, both individual and in community (which I would argue is not nearly as different as we often make it to be), there are three pictures in the first few chapters of the Bible that can help us think about different ways in which God leads or guides people.
Noah (Gen 6):
God directed Noah specifically, with very precise instructions on how to build the ark. It was to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, 45 feet high, with 3 decks, a door in the side … and the ark was to be make of cypress wood, with pitch on the sides and top. No detail left out. Clear, concrete direction. The world was very corrupt, a flood was coming, crisis looming, and so God was very specific with Noah in how he could escape the coming devastation.
Abraham (Gen 12):
Abraham was to set out on a journey, that would take him from Haran to Canaan (his father has already travelled from Ur). He was to leave his country, his people and his father to go on this journey. Abraham got to Canaan, and they carried on travelling, knowing the God was promising the land. But a famine came, so they moved to Egypt.
In this story, we see a direction that God was calling Abraham to travel in, a promise that the land would be theirs, but no real specifics about how that would happen, when, or where exactly Abraham would go. When circumstances change (no food, always a good motivating factor!), Abraham responds and travels to Egypt where there was presumably food, but was actually away from the land that God was giving him.
Adam and Eve (Gen 2):
In the story in Genesis 1 & 2, we don’t read of some specific instructions of how to do something, or a clear direction for them to travel, but more general tasks that they were to do: care and tend the land; be fruitful and multiply. There were boundaries, the 4 rivers marked a very large area of the “garden”, but within that area they were free to roam where they like. All they had to do was to fulfill the mandate God had given them, stay within the boundaries … oh and not eat the fruit of a certain tree.
So here is the crunch:
I think in church, we often have a model of guidance that is based on the picture of Noah. We wait for a specific “word” from God, what it is God is wanting to build, expecting a very clear answer of what it will look like. If you are given the type of wood, the dimensions, the layout etc, we have a very clear idea of what it is we are building. God is an architect, and we do His bidding. When people talk about vision, I often think that this is what they are talking about. They want to know what it looks like. They want to see the artist mock up, or the computerised graphic, so they can see what it looks like when we are all done. Clearly God can and does guide like this, but is it really the norm? Or is more when in crisis or immaturity?
Some of us are moving towards a journey model of guidance, and I was suggesting this in post 3, reinforced by some brilliant comments in that post. There is a direction in which we are travelling; God is calling us towards something, a promise, a hope. But we don’t really now what that will look like, and there are often things on the way that cause us to change direction for a while, or respond differently. God is an explorer and we are travelling with Him.
But is the picture in Genesis 1 & 2 an aspiration for redeemed humanity? Before sin entered the world (and aren’t we being restored to the garden, and a bit more as well?), Adam and Eve walked with God. They knew what their task was, but they had real freedom to choose where, when and how they would accomplish that. There were boundaries, things that God has laid down, outside which they weren’t to go, and a tree they weren’t allowed to eat from. But within the garden, they could go and do pretty much what they liked. God would be with them. God is a Father, bringing us to maturity and setting us free.
Rather seeing the Noah type of guidance as the goal, perhaps we should aspire for the Garden of Eden model? Or is this unrealistic in this life? Is this just an excuse for doing what we want and asking God’s blessing on us? Or are there different types of guidance needed in different situations, or perhaps at different stages of maturity in Christ? As less mature Christians does God give more specific guidance, and more mature we are free to choose? Or is that just a cop out for being less dependent on God as we get older?
What do you think?
Slavery – breaking not rattlling the chains – Update March 24, 2007
Posted by rupertward in Politics, Poor, Willberforce.3 comments
Amazing change website have amazingly changed! David McNeish, our guest blogger, had forwarded his article (that I have posted in the last two posts – part 1 and part 2) to them a couple of weeks ago, and yesterday he got an email from them saying they have ammended thier actions points to incorporate some of Dave’s suggestions. Here is what David said in this email to me:
As you might already know, a couple of months ago I got a bit miffed by the website that accompanies the film Amazing Grace – the story of Wilberforce and the abolition of slavery. The ten suggestions for action were, I felt, a bit limp. Thousands of folk will see the film and visit this website. What a missed opportunity! At the time I was preparing a sermon on consumerism and discovering for myself that slavery was, if anything, worse now than in Wilberforce’s day.
So I wrote a little pamphlet. Not something I’ve done before, but I thought – I’m no expert in this, but I know we could be doing so much more. So rather than moan I thought I’d do something about it. And having written it Iain Archibald encouraged me in my tentative suggestion to send it to the production company behind the film.
So I did. Within an hour I had a response saying they were grateful for the feedback. Good public relations I thought, but I wasn’t holding my breath for anything to change.
Today I found out that they have in fact changed the “10 things you can do” as a direct result of my feedback.
Specifically it now includes:
- encouraging sacrificial, sustained financial giving to help end slavery
- getting educated as a consumer, buying responsibly and communicating with corporations that you expect them to clean up their supply chain
- pray with perseverance until slavery is ended
- persevere – stay in this fight for the long haul
You can see the new list here.
I never imagined that one of my many rants at how things could be better would turn into tangible change! Slavery has not been abolished, but I am convinced that the changes help in a small way, to encourage people everywhere to do something more effective over the long term to eradicate this evil. One little person with limited understanding and a desire to be part of the solution…
Slavery – breaking not rattlling the chains – Part 2 March 24, 2007
Posted by rupertward in Politics, Poor, Willberforce.add a comment
Following on from Part 1, which I posted yesterday, here are some suggestions that guest blogger, David McNeish, makes about how we can make for real, sustained change to the ongoing slavery that many find themselves due to poverty:
The following are some suggestions for change that are curiously absent from the website.
Pray – this was the silent powerhouse that fuelled abolition 200 years ago. Can we really say we don’t need it now?
Give sacrificially– not just a few pounds in response to an emotional film, but sustained ongoing giving. It is only the starting point though- charity is not enough. We need justice.
Reduce consumption – we need to stop demanding cheap goods, and start demanding total abolition of slavery in all its guises. See here for more information.
Campaign – there are so many things needing done – here are just three practical examples, with links for further information on each of them:
- Sustain pressure on the UK Govt to implement the Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, which they recently signed. Whilst the signature is a success, it is meaningless with out action to prevent people trafficking. See Anti-Slavery Website.
- Buy fair trade chocolate – the relationship between consumption and slavery is very complex, but with chocolate it is clearer. Only fair trade chocolate guarantees that slaves were not involved in your treats. You can also write to the major chocolate companies asking them to tackle the problem. See here or Not for Sale Website.
- Call on Government to support a currency transaction tax – this would curb damaging international speculation on currencies as well as generate revenue to fund international development to tackle the root causes of poverty and slavery. See here. To find out your MP and contact them see They Work for You website.
Commit to the long haul – Wilberforce was not popular, he was told tackling the problem would cause economic ruin. That argument hasn’t changed! But justice can and will prevail. God did not specify geography or give time limits when he said:
“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners”
Isaiah 61 v1
Please note there is an update on the changes made to the Amazing Change website. See here for more details.
Slavery – breaking not rattlling the chains. March 23, 2007
Posted by rupertward in Politics, Poor, Willberforce.6 comments
Update: The Amazing Grace website has changed! See update for details.
Today the film Amazing Grace is released in the UK (we are thinking of going as my Mum is staying so we have a ready made babysitter!). This Sunday is Amazing Grace Sunday, where churches all around the UK remember the work of William Wilberforce. In light of this, a first for my blog, I have a guest blogger, David McNeish who writes:
Amazing Grace is a new film telling the powerful and compelling story of Wilberforce’s determined campaign to abolish slavery. On the 200th anniversary of abolition there is much to reflect on and learn from in that story.
It is therefore a great shame that the accompanying website and ‘campaign’, Amazing Change, whilst providing compelling case studies, says so little of any substance to help address the issue today.
Its ten points for action lack efficacy. Watching a film, discussing it with friends, starting a blog – these are easy things but are only of any worth if they lead to action that secures lasting change. Otherwise we end up discussing how to tithe herbs and neglect justice.
In terms of securing change the website offers signing a petition, to be presented to unspecified governments at undetermined times. It also suggests writing to your congressman – of limited value to the thousands of people outside the US who will watch the film. Or you can attend a youth rally and shout ‘freedom’. This is far more likely to result in losing your voice than in gaining justice for the millions in slavery.
Of greater concern is the misguided endorsement of partners helping to tackle slavery. This includes links to some English local authorities and the Royal Navy. Whatever work the Royal Navy may be doing in tackling slavery (atoning for past sins?), it is not clear from the weblink. Instead their site seeks to recruit young people in to the Armed Forces – a curious priority for an antislavery campaign.
It may be worth asking WWWT – What Would Wilberforce Think?
A further source of disappointment is the failure to connect our own actions in Western society with both slavery and slavery like conditions.
‘Poverty is the new slavery‘ Jim Wallis
Poverty is the breeding ground of many evils, including slavery. The actions and inactions of Western nations in both causing and failing to alleviate extreme poverty were brought to prominence by the Make Poverty History campaign. Much remains to be done.
And on an individual level, we may not be a Cabinet Minister or a CEO of a multinational company, but our lifestyles compound the problem. Our demand for cheap products, for luxury and comfort necessitates others being enslaved to produce them – whether directly, as in the slavery which props up cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire, or indirectly in the slavery like conditions resulting from, for example, the poverty caused by cash crops, deforestation or polluting factories. Here workers are effectively enslaved by low wages and terrible conditions to produce goods that no one needs, instead of building houses, schools and hospitals.
In the 19th century the people of Largo, a village near St Andrews, resolved to boycott sugar and rum. Why? They said they were “denying themselves the indulgence of delicacies that are prepared by cruel stripes”. They made the link between their actions and the slavery of others.
We need to change our lifestyle, ask others to do the same and ask those in power to use that power for the good of all of God’s children.
Part 2 tomorrow – Some suggestions for action.
[More on Guidance in Community next week]
David McNeish is part of Community Church Edinburgh, and works in the area of social policy. He has from childhood been passionate about justice and poverty, and when he preaches in church, these are topics that are never far from his lips!
Christian Spin March 21, 2007
Posted by rupertward in Politics, society.36 comments
Update: The House of Lord’s this evening supported the Sexual Orientation Regulations, and they will now become law in the UK on 30th April. Read the BBC report here.
Various groups have been issuing their viewpoints in the last few days, for some in the hope of influencing the vote tonight:
Evangelical Alliance: urging people to protest, as does Anglican Mainstream. LCF had been urging thier mailing lists to lobby any members of the House of Lords known to any recipients.
Faithworks: press release in support of the SOR’s and they have produced a very helpful guide to some of the frequently asked questions about the SORs. Really worth reading in my opinion, but then I guess I would!
Malcolm Duncan (Faithworks): good discussion on his blog
Faithworks do have some good advice: read the SORs themselves, before rushing off to a hard and fast opinion.
Original Post on Friday 9th March:
Yesterday the government published the “sexual orientation regulations” that will apply in England, Scotland and Wales from 30th April this year. They are laws that are designed to make discrimination, based on people’s sexual orientation, illegal. So, for example, this law would enshrine the right of people with a homosexual orientation to be able to use “goods, facilities or services” in the same way that others can with a different sexual orientation. For example, access to public places, accommodation such as hotels or guest houses, services of a profession or trade etc. So no longer can a plumber turn down a job because the guy wanting the work done is gay.
There is much brouhaha about all this in the Christian world. So what are we to make of it?
1. In principle, I think this is a good thing. Jesus, it seems to me, is often on the side of the oppressed & marginalised in society. He stands up for women, lepers & non-Jews (all of whom were in different ways were outcasts), and gives them back their dignity and basic human rights. Whether it is people of a different religion, colour, race or sexual orientation, I think we as Christians should be standing against discrimination based on these things. I may not agree with all the beliefs or lifestyles choices of some of these groups, but they still deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. And please, in doing so, I am not endorsing their beliefs or actions … to think that, is to ignore much of the life of Jesus recorded in the gospels! I would expect no less from others, even if they didn’t agree with my Christian Faith.
2. Law is a necessary, but is a very blunt instrument for tackling such problems. Just because there is a law, won’t stop some of the bad attitudes to gay people that exist in the UK, US and I am sure other places. The Law might have an affect on changing behaviour (if people are worried enough about the consequences of breaking that law), but it never changes hearts and attitudes. And that is where the Christian Church ought to be at forefront of this debate, calling not just for change in behaviour towards discriminated people, but calling for a change in attitude (and we happen to know SOMEONE who is rather practiced at bringing deep and profound change in human hearts!). This is our ground…
3. There are some challenges for the Religious Organisations with these regulations, but they are not half as bad as some are making them out to be. I do think it is very sad that a compromise was not found for Catholic adoption agencies to continue adopting children and be exempt from accepting same sex couples (although I don’t think the Catholics helped themselves in the discussion – but that is the another subject all together!)
4. There is a real tension and debate to be had here where the rights of two different groups clash: here it the religious group and gay rights group. There is a danger that one could have more legitimacy in law for their rights, and I wonder if sometimes we Christians are seen as a bit of soft touch. However, listening to some Christian groups, it seems they are arguing their rights over the rights of gay people, and that just isn’t right either! We need to be standing up for their rights, and the rights of Christians to say they disagree.
5. The loudest voices in the Christian world (it seems to me) are from the extremes, and they are marginalising the majority of us, who, in the main, don’t think the a same sex relationship is God’s intention, but don’t want to be associated with the propaganda coming from such groups as the Lawyers Christian Fellowship (LCF) or to go down the route of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement.
6. I admit I am not a lawyer. But I can read. There is a bandwagon that is easy to get on, but sometimes seems based on very little fact. There are serious number of straw man arguments flying around, and it annoys me and it does the Christian Faith no credit. At worst it is lying. At best it is blatant misinformation. I call it Christian Spin, and it should stop. So here goes at burning a few of these straw men …
- The LCF state in a recent press release that the government have published the laws “without making any significant concessions to protect the rights of Christians and others with deeply held religious beliefs.” Yet when I read the laws themselves, I see a whole section on religious organisations, that exempt them from the regulations, including hiring out a building (see 14(3)(d)) … or am I reading these laws wrong?
- It is often said the ministers or religion will be forced to bless same sex partnerships, but again this doesn’t seem to be true from Reg 14(4)(a) where it the law explicitly states that it is not unlawful for a minister to restrict the services they offer.
- In a further press release, the LCF quote a Joint Committee for Human Rights, that has been looking the regulations, where they state that a homosexual pupil should not be subjected to teaching that “that their sexual orientation is sinful or morally wrong“. The LCF then comments:
“The Committee are explicit in their view that no Christian schools should have the right to promote marriage over homosexual relationships or hold to a Christian ethos that sex is only right in a heterosexual monogamous marriage.”
Eh? Sorry? Did I miss something there? I don’t believe that someone’s sexual orientation is “morally wrong or sinful”, and would have no problems in teaching that in church, school or whereever. Otherwise, in my opinion, it would be exactly the same as believing that someone born blind was morally wrong or sinful, and we all know what Jesus had to say about that (see John 9 – and please don’t stretch that analogy too far: I am not saying that someone who has a homosexual orientation is the same as someone born blind). But teaching that a homosexual orientation is not wrong or sinful has NOTHING to do with kind of lifestyle that people live and what is God’s way of living, does it?
In fact the Joint Committee go on to say that this “would not prevent pupils from being taught as part of their religious education the fact that certain religions view homosexuality as sinful”. But, guess what, no mention of that in the LCF press release!
There are more moderate views being expressed. Faithworks (founded by Steve Chalke) come out in favour of the SOR’s, probably in a similar position to mine. The Evangelical Alliance, are somewhere in the middle.
What do you think? What is a Christian response to these regulations? What would Jesus be saying?
Also see two previous posts: Gay Rights (sexual orientation regulations): Part 1 and 2.
[Note: please, this is not a debate here about the rights or wrongs of homosexuality. It is also not an opportunity to have a pop at other individuals. It is OK to disagree with me, or with others who make comments, but should anyone cross these lines, I will remove your comments].
Guidance in Community – Part 3 March 21, 2007
Posted by rupertward in Church, Community, Guidance, Leadership, Transition.10 comments
Individual Guidance & Corporate Guidance
Last week, I have posted Part 1 & 2 on some lessons I have been learning about how we discern God’s leading in community. So today is part 3:
I sense God is leading; I move forward with a sense of trepidation, hope and faith. Have I got it right? Small mid course adjustment here, closed door there. God seems to guide me as I am moving. I would rather that He gives the whole map before I set out on a journey, but that just isn’t my experience of how He guides. The destination is unclear, but there does seem to be some direction that He is taking me, even if it does sometimes resemble a rather inebriated person walking home from the pub: there is a general direction of travel, it just isn’t always in a straight line!
And isn’t that most people’s experience of God’s guidance? There are some people who seem to have a “clear word from the Lord”. That’s great. But I also sometimes wonder if we don’t seem a lot more certain at the end of a particular faith journey, than while we are in the midst of it.
That would certainly be true of how I came to marry my wife, Pippa. Now I look back and it just seems so obvious that God was bringing us together. There was a clear sense of Him making it happen, speaking to us, signs and clues. But at the time I do remember it was a lot more uncertain! It was with some fear and trepidation that I asked her to marry me. Would she say yes? It is the right thing? The right time? I wanted to be together, but was this the Lord’s plan? It was faith operating in the midst of uncertainty and a little anxiety!
Abraham is also a good example here. In the New Testament, he is lauded as a man of faith, who obeyed God’s word. When we actually read the story, he tried to make it happen in his own strength, work it out his own way, he lied and hardly portrays a man of certainty and faith.
But isn’t that the point? When we are in the midst of our journey, faith is walking forward in the midst of our doubts, our uncertainties, our fears? We stumble and fall. We wander off. We try different paths. We try to work it out ourselves. But somehow in the midst of it, we are walking with God, and He gently keeps us going in the right direction. When we get to the destination of that part of our journey we can say that God was leading us & speaking to us. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see God’s hand at work more clearly. But lets not confuse that with certainty at the time.
And lets not confuse uncertainty with unbelief. Using this image of journey and walking forward, faith is walking forward however certain or uncertain we are. God is drawing us forward, and we trust Him, even though we don’t know what the journey will bring to us. Unbelief is when we refuse to move forward. We go back or stand still. That’s unbelief and that’s wrong.
That’s my experience of God’s guidance. And I think it is most people’s experience of God’s guidance. So here’s my point:
Why should it be any different when it comes to God guiding a community? Is it that church should be one place of certainty, in the midst of a world of uncertainty? Do we want people to be sure, before we risk? Or can we risk together, to move forward sensing God is compelling us not to stand still? To be confident in Him, that He will lead us on the journey even though we aren’t certain where we end up together?
So what are your experiences of God guiding you? And what are your expectations of how that works in community? If they are different, why is that?
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