Knowing and Offering Hope

Minor Prophets - Major Messages

2009-01-25T15:41:00.001Z

Of the four minor prophets that we have looked at so far on Sunday mornings - Malachi, Haggai, Micah and Obadiah - which one has had the most impact for you?

Baby Jesus

2008-11-06T17:32:00.005Z

Here's a video clip from Talladega Night's on baby Jesus. It supports the point I made that many people who does not follow Jesus simply cannot get past the baby in a manger to the King on the throne - it's also quite funny!

Get rid of terminology

2008-09-15T17:18:00.002+01:00

I've just read a very helpful book called 'Pillar & Prophets' by Carl Medearis. Until recently Carl worked in the middle east simply as a follower of Jesus. I heard him speak at New Wine a few years ago and was very impressed in what he said. The book he wrote is about how we as followers of Jesus can talk to and interact with our Muslim friends. I found it a very respectful book and helpful in how to talk with Muslims. His second to last chapter was very helpful. He talks about the question, 'Would Jesus require a Muslim to "convert" to Christianity?' You're initial reaction may be - well, yes! But in Scripture we are never commanded or encouraged to use the word Christian. The Acts reference to 'Christian's' may infer that it was used perjoratively. But Jesus was not a Christian - he was a Palestinian Jew, who was a pain in the side of the religious community. Medearis says that 'his personal mission was not to found a new religion called "Christianity", but rather to...seek and save the lost' (83). He also tels us that Paul says there is neither Jew nor Gentile, etc. There are those who follow Jesus and those who don't. Therefore isn't it possible for someone to follow Jesus but culturally still be a Muslim. Jesus is still one of Islam's biggest prophets. In fact in the past Sufi Muslims lived according to the teachings of Jesus. One of the Muslim monk wrote, 'The person who catches the disease of Christ can never be cured'. He wasn't being nasty in this quote simply stating that once you encounter Jesus there is no turning back. So maybe it is possbile? What do you think?

Great song - powerful message!

2008-09-08T15:15:00.002+01:00

How God saves...

2008-08-21T11:17:00.004+01:00

Reading some stuff on the sovereignty of God - enjoying reading some books by a guy called Greg Boyd and also reading some stuff on the atonement. The atonement is to do with the cross and how the crucifixion affects us. There's a big conservative Christian emphasis on the atonement as penal substitution - ie God was so angry he had to punish someone. But although there is stuff on the 'wrath of God' in Scripture, there is more on his grace and love and I think it's wrong to have at the core of salvation an angry and punishing God. What do you think?

God of this city - what a song to sing over Brighton!

2008-08-16T18:06:00.001+01:00

Prayer - love this!!!

2008-08-12T18:37:00.001+01:00

What's your testimony?

2008-08-05T14:15:00.005+01:00

Last Sunday I shared some testimony of the way that God spoke to me and challenged me during New Wine. Testimony is a powerful tool in the life of a Christian. Very often as Christians we can look at what God is not doing rather than what God is doing. As soon as we look at what God is not doing we enter a vacumn and there is no spiritual air to breathe. However if we look at what God has done and is doing we fuel our spiritual life with air and we grow in our faith and our faith increases. A new thing that would be good to try is to text testimonies to my mobile and I'll get them displayed on the screens at church on Sundays - we could call them 'Textimonies'. Go on! Let the church hear what God is doing!

New Wine

2008-08-02T19:22:00.008+01:00

What a great week at New Wine. One of the highlights was when the Maasai warriors joined us on main stage and worshipped with us. They sang 'All who are thirsty' in Kei Maasai as we sang it in english - beautiful!

A pastor called Bill Johnson preached to us on Thursday evening on the expansion of the kingdom. He led us through praying for healing and it seemed that many people were healed. I've got the DVD of the talk if anyone wants to watch it - maybe a lifegroup wants to use it. I also bought the DVD of Brother Andrew to be borrowed.
Here's a view of the worship from my percussion rig.

Here's a picture of the band that I played with this week.

New Wine - Wednesday

2008-07-30T17:21:00.003+01:00

Another great couple of days at New Wine. Last night we had a gospel choir join us in worship - which rocked and then Brother Andrew (God's Smuggler) spoke and he was outstanding. He is 80 years old and spoke so powerfully and passionately! A complete inspiration.

I talked the other day about the Maasai and have included a picture of them.

New Wine - Monday

2008-07-28T19:48:00.003+01:00

Another great day at New Wine. The worship schedules are quite punishing but it' great fun playing with the band. Again, at the Bible Readings this morning, David Parker spoke brilliantly on Jesus wept over sin. Very powerful - I'll get the cd's so that you can listen to them.

I had lunch with Simon Guillebaud today - he wrote the book 'For all it's worth' (available in church) and works in Burundi. As a church we support on e of his fellow-workers - Onesphore Marikanza. Some amazing things happening through Onesphore in the Burundi. I've put Simon's email on the website, so go along and have a look. Take care, Alan

Hello from New Wine

2008-07-27T19:57:00.002+01:00

Dear Church,

it seems so long since we've been with you - we've had two weeks holiday in Spain and now we're working at New Wine. Jan's working in the coffee shop, Jasmine is working with young children and I'm playing percussion in Venue One. One of the worship leaders I'm playing with is someone called Vicky Beeching - very good worship leader - she has a couple of worship albums out so have a listen on itunes.

One of the more unusal things was when we were rehearsing for the Sunday evening session and listening to us were 5 Maasai warriors in full Maasai dress. Very cool. They're over here promoting a mission outfit called 'Walking with the Maasai" (www.walkingwithmaasai.org). A great organisation that would be good as a church to get involved with.

The morning bible readings are being done by David Parker, pastor of the Desert Vineyard in LA. He gave a great talk this morning on Jesus weeping over suffering and that we need to identify with that suffering and getting involved with people.

One more thing I think God wants me to say - 'God loves Brighton!' He really is madly and passionately in love with the people of Brighton. 'Lord give us your love for the people of Brighton',

love

Alan

Sojourners

2008-02-01T16:42:00.000Z

I've been really encouraged with an american organisation called 'Sojourners'. It's run by a man called Jim Wallis and is an organisation that seeks to bring justice into places of injustice. It has various articles that you can read and is a great resource for us as a church as we seek to be a place of hope.

It's website is www.sojo.net - go on have a look!

A simple evangelism strategy for St Luke's

2007-11-02T10:08:00.000Z

In the light of Alpha being postponed in September we've been thinking about how we do evangelism at St Luke's. It's vital that we share the love of Christ with others, and at the appropriate point, encourage them to follow Jesus. But I am conscious that it's really difficult and can be daunting. But it is so worth it to see a life changed!

So we have adopted a simple evangelism strategy at St Luke's. This is how it works.

There are 4 levels of events:

Level 1 events - Purely social event to which you can invite your friends. This will make a connection for people with the church. So, for example, in January we're looking at doing a Céilidh(for those of you who are English that's Scottish Dancing!) to celebrate Burns night. I've just had a phone call from a Tango teacher who may do a Tango evening for all those who want to learn. so we may have an evening before Christmas.
Level 2 events - A social event with a spiritual aspect to it. This could be a men's breakfast with a speaker, or an evening dinner in a restaurant with an after dinner speaker.
Level 3 events - These are courses like Alpha or Christianity Explored.
Level 4 events - These are discipleship events. Lifegroups, etc could be included in this. These are events that encourage those following Jesus to mature in their faith.

The process is a simple appreciation that it takes time for people to get to the point where they will choose to follow Jesus. I think Alpha didn't happen because we weren't doing Level 1 or 2 events, and were expecting people to come from nowhere to the Alpha course.

We, as a church, will organise events for the various levels, but the great thing is that you can do this youselves as lifegroup, or just for your local neighbourhood. It doesn't need to be a church organised event. You can make it happen. Remember that part of our mission statement it to 'Cultivate communities of hope wherever we are'.

We need your input and ideas for events. If you have suggestions then email the church office, with the events and what stage it would fit into, ie level 1, level 2, etc. The rountine will generally be a level 1 event near the beginning of a term and a level 2 near the end of the term. Sometimes we may do more, but this will be the general minimum.

We need your support for these events if they are to work, so I'd encourage you to invite your friends and to come along. For this year, we will count the Hospitality Week (26th November onwards) as the level 1 event and the Carol Service as the level 2 event. As I said before we may be able to have a level 1 Tango event before Christmas.

I hope this is all clear. Do email me if you want any clarification,

Thanks

Alan

How to listen to sermons

2007-10-30T15:26:00.000Z

One of my favourite authors and preachers is a man called John Piper. He's commented on how we should listen to sermons. Click on the following link to listen - it's only a minute long: www.desiringgod.org/blog/892_how_to_listen_to_sermons /

Thanks

Alan

Becoming a thin Christian in a thick world

2007-09-25T21:38:00.000+01:00

by Alan K

Well, I'm not talking about dieting, although that probably needs to happen to me. What I'm talking about is the gap between heaven and earth. Let me try to explain. Theologian Paula Gooder talks about the connection seen in scripture between heaven and earth. If you look in Revelation you will see scrolls broken in heaven for example and that affects earth. We pray in the Lord's prayer: Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven and that affects what happens on earth. This connection between heaven and earth is important as it may help our prayer life if we start to see prayer as trying to improve the connection between heaven and earth. Paula Gooder continues to tell us about Celtic Christianity and it's understanding of thinness. The Celtic Christians recognised that there were places when the gap between heaven and earth was small. Heaven was closer to earth than other places and as a consequences God's presence was greatly felt. Taize and Iona are examples of that. God's presence is felt clearly and deeply. It is good to go to those places and experience that closeness. What we need to learn at these places is how is that thinness achieved and how I can make more thin places - where the gap between heaven and earth is small - in my daily life. In our daily life we experience thick places - places where the gap between heaven and earth is large and as a consequences God's presence is not felt. What we are called to do as thin-place Christians is to get our spiritual sandpaper out and start to sand the thick places of our daily life in order that the gap between heaven and earth may be narrowed and God's presence would be felt in our homes, and workplaces, our family and our friends, in our local community and our wonderful city. How that looks in your life is up to you and God.

'Evangelism' - my view

2007-09-17T13:16:00.001+01:00

By Tim J

Key gospel verses here are John 5: 19, 10:4. Also Colossians 4: 5, 6; 1 Corinthians 2; 1-5

I, personally, don't find the word 'evangelism' helpful. Evangelism in today's climate spells preaching and being talked at, and I don't find it a helpful word to use in expressing something that we're called to. Its sister word 'evangelical(ism)' spells 'fundamentalist religion', today's big 'no-no' to non-churchgoers.

That said, I'm not sure what word to put in its place, though I do find the concept of 'faith sharing' more helpful.

The things I place highest value in are the following -

It all starts with knowing who you are before God. Jesus did this. He spent a lot of time alone with his Father - everything centred around his deeply personal relationship with Him. His personal value was fulfilled in God, which meant he didn't need to be unhealthily dependent on the affirmation of others. I think this is really important, otherwise we naturally try to find fulfillment in relationships with other people and things, even as Christians as we share our faith. I think this is so often where the sense of 'failure' comes from, when other people haven't validated/affirmed our beliefs and values.

Secondly, we need to be people who listen acutely to others. It is really easy to assume that sharing faith centres around us telling other people about ourselves and our life's journey. In my experience this isn't generally helpful (at least first-off). What does help is if you listen to them, give them space to talk about themselves without butting in all the time with your experiences, beliefs and 'correct answers'. Western people are generally - often falsely - polite, and will feign an interest in your value systems, but I think often they're not really interested at all. To quote J John: "don't make the mistake of assuming 'that's interesting' means 'I'm interested'". What matters to them is what they think, full stop. This leads to point three.

Thirdly, we need to ask questions, to facilitate discussions with people that lead them to discover the truth themselves. People learn things much more deeply when they've worked things through on a personal level and discovered the answer for themselves.

I believe lots of people operate in a place of personal 'noise'. I do as well to an extent! They think they know what's important, and talk about a whole bunch of 'stuff' that's within the realm of what they enjoy, are comfortable with, and believe they understand. But many are actually out of touch with who they really are. We as Christians (and I think some people have a particular gifting for this) are called to listen, to get to know a person, and to 'hear' through this personal noise. We are called to draw things to the surface that may never have been uncovered - the 'real' person. Jesus was brilliant at this. BUT we need to be very careful. We as Christians are used to being intimate with one another, and talking about personal things. A lot of people are not used to talking openly about personal stuff. We need God's guidance in building relationships of trust and love, not steam-rollering in with the big questions of life, and being too quick in our revealing of intimate details about ourselves. This can freak some people out, going from strangers to best friends in one quick leap.

Jesus didn't stand up in front of people and give long accounts of himself and his weaknesses. He didn't need to do this, not least because of his security in his Father. Jesus asked questions, told parables and listened to people. The response he left up to them.

To sum up the points I've made -

Know who you are in the Father's estimation, in God, personally and deeply. Make time for this, find your complete security in Him.
Listen to people, don't talk at them.
Ask people questions, but go easy at first. Wait - and it may take weeks or months - until you've built a relationship of mutual trust and understanding before going for the bigger questions.
Lead people to God and then leave them to be with Him. Don't get in the way.
Never assume that people want to know all about you.
Always be listening-out for, and sensitive to, the Holy Spirit's prompting. Learn to discern his authentic voice (this finds its roots through 'knowing' Jesus – see point 1). Ask for his daily prompting, for 'windows of opportunity'. I believe it will ALWAYS be right to listen to people, and SOMETIMES right to assert your case, SOMETIMES to speak an incisive 'word in season', and, dare I say it, SOMETIMES to be categorically confrontational. But this must ALWAYS stem from 'knowing God' and his direction. The responsibility for this lies with us.

Reaching out

2007-09-17T13:15:00.000+01:00

We're entering a new season at St Luke's. We're looking at changing the interior of the church. Much has been talked about over the past few years about doing something. I believe now we just need to get on and do it. I hope that this new blog will inspire and encourage you. I'd love to hear from you and particularly any creative ideas you have for worship. At the beginning of this new year I'd like to issue 3 challenges:
1. Who are you going to invite onto the Alpha course? We have good news to share - who will you share it with. To sign up for the course or to send and einvite top a friend them go to our wesbite www.stlukesonline.co.uk
2. How are you going to serve this year?
3. Will you reflect on how you give financially? We have gift days from 18th-21st October. Do pray about how much you would be willing to give - in addition to your regular giving - to enhance the building and mission of St Luke's.
I'm so glad for St Luke's and I'm grateful to you for being part of the church family.
Much love
Alan