Tag Archives: Ivy Manchester

Apr 06 2013
1 Comment
Christianity, Discipleship, Evangelism, Faith, Jesus, Manchester, Prayer, Religion, Theology

Why the Great Commission has stopped me ‘Evangelising’ and ‘Discipling’ people.

Matt 28:16 So the eleven disciples went to Galilee to the mountain Jesus had designated. When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus here is sending people out to tell people about Him. To be witnesses for him. WITNESSES. Unfortunately, this whole ‘witnessing/evangelism’ idea can become about formulas, or something that makes people feel guilty because they’re not good at. They don’t like the idea of handing out leaflets out in the street or going door to door. If that IS your thing great, but a lot of people rule themselves out because they think witnessing has been turned into processes of mithering people. Or trying to argue.

I saw a status on Facebook that read ‘”I will now become a Christian on the basis of your arguments and dogmatic presentation of key doctrines.’ Said nobody, ever.”

And I know people who’d say they follow Jesus 100% but… they don’t know enough Bible or enough answers to all the clever objections people come out with, and they don’t want people to think they’re arrogant so they think they’d better not get involved either. But that’s not how this started.  From that day on the mountain till now, it’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know.

By the way, that means it’s not being arrogant either, because Christians DO have knowledge that most people don’t have, but it’s a different kind of knowledge. It’s not ‘I know something you don’t know.’ It’s SOMEONE. Because of Easter Sunday, because of Jesus being ALIVE – it’s a person you’ve met. And you have the dignity to share that you know Him.

I tried to sum this up in a tweet this week and just about squeezed it into 140 characters. Because of the resurrection, evangelism isn’t convincing someone of something you know, it’s introducing someone you know wants to meet them. 

Now literally, Jesus says. ‘Therefore, GOING – make disciples…’ We have made it a command, so people feel guilty and might do it. You have to say it in a dramatic deep voice.‘Therefore GO!’

But it’s not a command. It’s the present participle to be technical, like ‘As you go…’ Like it’s the most natural thing in the world. ‘As you go, make disciples.’ That’ll be the natural spin off from people interacting with you. Because Jesus is with you always as you go. But we somehow made this natural thing a list of techniques to get stressed out about or Bible passages to memorise, to make CONVERTS. Jesus didn’t ever say make converts. He says ‘make DISCIPLES.’

What does that mean?  Disciples?

l plates

LEARNER.

That’s all it means. Whenever you see the word disciple in the Bible, you could translate it straight as ‘Learner.’ They had the L plates on.

Jesus sent them out into the world, with L plates on. What a responsibility he put in their hands! Jesus had written no books, built no organisation; there were no physical buildings they owned, no monuments left to commemorate Him. He entirely placed the future of His earthly work in the hands of His disciples. His LEARNERS. He had no other plan. He HAS no other plan!

While I’m shooting sacred cows –  I’m disturbed that the church has made DISCIPLING a new kind of industry in the last 5 years or so. Jesus came to make profound things simple and the church always does the opposite of that.

Everyone’s doing conferences or writing books with plans and formulas to ‘disciple’ people. As if it’s a verb – not a noun.

He disciples him, she disciples her – we all get in these little groups where this person knows more than this person; so I get to disciple you or to be discipled by him or her. And the extreme end of it is where someone gets to feel very important and wise for being ‘a discipler,’ while someone else – the disciplee, gets controlled.

I’ve read many of those books and been to the conferences. Of course there’s good stuff in it too, and it’s a reaction to laissez faire methods which meant people didn’t mature in faith. But something still makes me a bit uneasy. Because I don’t think lots of what they write about there, has little to do with what Jesus was talking about here.

I had a great chat the other day with someone who was asking about whether I should be their ‘covering’ – and we ended up agreeing that’s probably Jesus’ job. All authority has been given to HIM after all. He’s the head. We’re all the body.

The creeping danger is we end up becoming or gathering or making disciples of MEN rather than disciples of Jesus. Because like evangelism and a lot of other things we’ve made ‘discipling’ seem very complicated. It’s not really.

Christianity isn’t complicated! It’s not EASY, but it’s not complicated.

These notes form part of my talk for tomorrow morning at Ivy Manchester (Kingsway). I’ll be more constructive than this – promise. There’s probably just enough here to get some people annoyed enough to download the full talk which will be available on our website next week. http://www.ivymanchester.org/podcasts

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Mar 25 2013
1 Comment
Christianity, Discipleship, Failure, Faith, Jesus, Manchester, Prayer, Rest, stress., wisdom, Worship

‘COULD YOU NOT WATCH ONE HOUR?!’ – (My struggles with learning to pray. part 2)

Occasionally I’d have a bit of an energy burst and do some journalling (ever done that?). Some of the conferences I went to had experts saying if you didn’t journal every day you had to doubt your salvation. I got a journal. The ‘MAN’ type, leather, with a cross on the front, not the girls one with flowers. Some time later I got another one because I’d hardly written in the first one. It had ‘MY PRAYER JOURNAL’ written on the front.

But there’s still not much written in it.

prayer-journal

Actually though, Jesus didn’t journal. It really wasn’t me. I love writing, I hate journaling. I’m not even sure journalling is a word. How many ls should it have if it is? Spellchecker doesn’t like either. I read somewhere that CS Lewis STOPPED journaling when he became a Christian, because he’d done it for years before, and found it made him too self centred.

I was doing really badly from the outset at how I thought you were supposed to be growing spiritually. It never got better. It’s not like when you’re a kid and you get to see how you grow by marking it on the wall near the fridge. As a spiritual child of God, what’s the best marker?

I started to wonder whether the best way to measure people’s devotion to God is how long they pray. Is it about their ‘devotional life,‘? Or their WHOLE life? Maybe it’s not about getting heavenly flying hours or ticking off a list of spiritual activities. Could there be some better gauges? In Jesus’ day the people who’d score highest on spiritual practices were the Pharisees! First there for morning prayer- first to throw stones.

I’ve had so many people try to be travel agents for guilt trips for me over prayer, personal and corporate over the years. Here’s a good one, ‘You can tell how popular the Pastor is by how many come to Church on Sunday, but you can tell how popular JESUS is by how many come to the midweek prayer meeting.’

Well we don’t have a specific midweek prayer meeting. But I think Jesus is really popular around here, anyway. Maybe the measure of whether Ivy’s a praying church is not necessarily how many people can we get to this or that prayer meeting? Prayer meetings are great of course – but if that’s the measure, if you gauge spirituality by ‘spiritual’ activities, the Pharisees will win again.

This week hundreds of us have been galvanised as a church community to pray for little baby Cole – who died at birth and had to be resuscitated and even now struggles for life; and for dear Denise at the other end of her journey here on earth. Facebook and text messages and personal visits etc have carried these people and their situations to God.

And I think I’ve prayed everywhere, while I’ve queued, walked or shopped or drove or parked or prepared for sermons (it counts!). I’ve prayed when I woke up, went to bed and couldn’t sleep. I’ve prayed on the phone, in the church, on the loo, at the gym. How long for? I don’t know. I wasn’t counting it. But I think it all counts.

I don’t think I was storming heaven, interceding like the great men of old, being a watchman, having heaven touch earth – or any of the other ways we can subtly make it an esoteric technique. It was heart to heart not pen to paper (though if that helps you – crack on!).

I just talked with my friend – who happens to be King of the Universe, about everything that mattered to me, everywhere I was. And listened as best I could. One day I hope to learn how to pray properly – but until then I’ll keep on doing that.

(If you haven’t been too offended and would like to hear the rest of the talk I did here, you’ll find it on the website in the next couple of days for free download at http://www.ivymanchester.org/podcasts)

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Mar 11 2013
Books, Christianity, Church, Death, Faith, Family, Jesus, Manchester, Religion, wisdom, Work

Multi-million best selling author GP Taylor visits Ivy MCR ahead of blockbuster Hollywood film release.

 GP Taylor visits Ivy Manchester this Sunday – as his blockbuster Hollywood movie is filmed. 

Graham_standing

I’m so excited that this Sunday Ivy Manchester will host a fantastic guest for interview at 7pm at our Didsbury site on Barlow Moor Rd, one of Britain’s best selling authors.

We recently hosted the author of The Shack, Wm Paul Young. Now it’s time for some home grown talent.

GP Taylor is the author of the best-selling novels Shadowmancer, Wormwood and Tersias. Like myself he has been a police officer and Anglican Vicar, but is also a former rock band roadie and motorcyclist. He worked in the music industry with such bands as The Stranglers, Sex Pistols and Adam and the Ants. He became involved in the occult and lived a life that was, in his own words “into all sorts of weird and wonderful things and wasn’t leading a godly life”. He goes on to say, “I was promiscuous: I was a liar, a cheat and a drunk,”

We will learn on Sunday how he then turned to Christianity. This is a great event to bring friends along to and I expect we’ll pack the event out so get there early!

Having dropped out of school himself, Graham Taylor is now passionate about the education of children, and believes we underestimate their potential. He tours the country giving talks to children. “There is nothing better,” he says. So at 4pm at the Church centre Graham will entertain families and kids with a story telling workshop with our children’s leader Dave Hill.

“Children relate to me,” GP says. “They get excited about books – what can be better than that?”

His books have been translated into forty-eight languages and are being now being turned into Hollywood films to the tune of £50 million, but he had to sell his motorbike to fund the first print run of children’s novel Shadowmancer. The book grew in popularity by word of mouth before Faber and Faber bought the rights to it, and his next ten books, for £3.5million. The rights to the production were sold for a further £2.5million!

He went on to write the Mariah Mundi series which critics hailed as ‘Hotter than Potter’  – a rival to JK Rowling’s franchise. It is now being turned into £25 million Hollywood film starring Michael Sheen, Sam Niall, Iona Gruffud and Keeley Hawes -’Mariah Mundi and the Midas Box’ is set for release later this year.

Graham is married with three children and now devotes most of his time to caring for his daughter Lydia, who has Chrohn’s Disease.

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Feb 19 2013
Bible, Church, Discipleship, Faith, Holy Spirit, Jesus, Prayer, Religion, Rest, Theology, wisdom

REST – Part 2 of my talk last Sunday at Ivy Kingsway

I want to quickly look at what the Bible says about the nature of God and the nature of the soul, to help us get these rhythms of rest.

Then I want to tell you- one word – that’ll help you remember this week, every day – maybe through Lent you can decide today to put rest rhythms in your life – take the Opportunity to Rest. Let God restore your soul- which will be SO attractive to the world they’ll come running to find out how you live so differently in the same world as them. The world God made. Because you’re not a restless soul wandering, but a rested soul, walking in God’s purposes.

We started out looking at the beginning of Genesis with Cain, but even earlier than that; Genesis, chapter 2, God laid down the pattern of this need, possibility and opportunity for us to enter His rest, which threads its way throughout the whole Bible right through to Revelation. In the middle of this beautiful picture of God making everything, all the complexity and creativity of creation, verse 2 at the end it says, “…so on the seventh day [of all this creation] he [God] rested from all his work.” In the Hebrew language, the word for work there is not so much a labourer as someone who’s an artist. So God has done ALL this stunning artwork of the universe, then it says he rests. But you notice here God doesn’t rest like we do. We have to rest – why? Because we’re tired. But the Bible says clearly He’s not like us – it says, ‘Our God does not get weary…’ God was not so worn out from creating the world that he wanted to put his feet up!

He didn’t rest for Him, he rested for US. He rested to show us something.

The first part of this verse tells us why God rested, let’s back up and look at that together. “By the seventh day God had finished the work; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” His work hadn’t worn him out; his work was finished. God’s rest comes because it was (Literally) completely complete. What God did in creation was to provide everything we need. Now, God invites us to REST in that. Throughout the Bible and in the passage from Hebrews that I started with, God invites us into a kind of spiritual rest, HIS rest, to rest In him and LIKE Him – trusting that he has provided what we need.

Our friend Mike Breen says, “On the first full day of existence for Adam and Eve, God rested. All of creation took a break. Our first full day was a day of rest. Then work began.” Too often, we’ve the mistaken idea that we spend hurried, restless days in work, work, work, work, work, work, and then we rest. But Mike says, if we look at the pattern God established for mankind, “we are to work from our rest, not rest from our work.”

In the passage I started off by reading; Hebrews 4, the writer says this about God: “…his work has been finished since the creation of the world.” The rest came out of the finished work. Then it says to us, ‘while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should fail… to reach it…’ It goes on to tell of a whole generation of people who SAID they were God’s people, but NEVER entered into His rest. It happened in the OT. The people God had brought out of Egypt where they were slaves, they wandered restlessly around in the desert and never entered the Promised land. Why? Because they didn’t have FAITH. They didn’t really believe HE could do it. That means it takes FAITH to enter into the REST that God has for us. You have to TRUST God, to REST in God. You have to trust God, if you’ve ever going to rest your soul.

Let’s look at Psalm 91 again, how we find rest in God, it said. ‘He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.’ We had that before – and the verse that follows, verse 2 – it says, “I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust.’” Do you see the connection? Resting and Trusting. Resting comes from Trusting.

If you can’t TRUST, you’ll never REST. 

The strongest evidence that what God created is working the way he wants it to is that there are some people on this earth who are not restless, wandering souls but they have RESTED and TRUSTED completely in him, they enter his rest. They say, ‘No matter what is going on, no matter what I have to face, no matter what the challenge or opportunity, my soul is at rest – not because I can handle it, but because HE is my refuge, my fortress, and I’m going to trust in Him.’ Now my question is – is that you and me? Is that what people would say you’re like?

Because Rest’s a lot bigger than just sitting on the sofa, having a holiday, more even than renewing ourselves. REST is an ATTITUDE of FAITH. At the deepest level, rest is worship, it’s your SOUL telling God – you trust him. It’s YOU telling your soul, ‘TRUST GOD.’ You trust Him to do what is too big for you; because nothing’s too big for him to handle – or too small for him to be bothered about.

You trust that He’ll save you, not that you’ll be good enough or even religious from now on. You say you trust that He will provide for you, so you don’t have to panic buy. You say you trust that He will be your refuge and fortress so you’re safe in Him no matter what. Waking or sleeping. Trusting. Instead of saying, ‘It’s too big and I;m too tired,’ You speak this out – ‘The great big God who made the whole universe – He’s my refuge – He is my God! I am trusting HIM!’ And you live live and act like you would – if you really believed that your God can handle it.

 

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Feb 17 2013
Bible, Christianity, Church, Discipleship, Jesus, Prayer, stress., Theology, Worship

Opportunity To Rest (part 1) – from my talk at Ivy Kingsway this morning

In our Year of opportunity as a Church, I’ve called this talk, ‘Opportunity to rest,’ this is from the NT book of Hebrews, chapter 4. It says.. Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you fail to experience it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not add faith to hearing it. But we who believe do enter that rest.

(For) God rested on the seventh day from all His works… “Today, if you hear his voice,(are we listening) do not harden your hearts.” So… there remains a rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort – to enter that rest… 

(PRAY)

I read this week about a trip to the supermarket that ended with a high speed chase, a frantic call to the police, a border crossing, a ditch, and a man who’s lucky to be alive. Frank Lecerf left his home near the French city of Amiens and was making his weekly trip to the shops in his Renault Laguna. He was going at 60 mph when the car’s speedo jammed. He tried to brake, but instead of slowing, the car sped up – with each tap on the brake leading to more acceleration. It just got faster and faster till eventually, the car reached 125 mph – and then stuck there. For an hour.

Lecerf, called the police from his car – and they sent a convoy of police cars to help clear the traffic ahead of him and open the toll booths. “My life flashed before me,” Lecerf later said. “I just wanted to stop.”

Finally, thankfully, his car finally ran out of fuel and came to rest in a ditch. Look at the map. He’d driven from northern France, along the French coast up through Calais and Dunkirk, and eventually crossed into Belgium!

Wow. What a picture! Life’s going faster and faster – suddenly – it’s out of control. Even when you try to brake, it just speeds up. Anyone relate to that? It’s really possible for us to live so frantically that we’re living so far out in front of our own lives, and never giving the soul what it needs the most: rest.

On a scale of 1 to 10 – you’re a 10 for REST?

Anyone? – we’ve got 500 plus people here – anyone would say – you are a RESTED person, right now?

There was a Doctor called Meyer Friedman. He is famous because he developed the whole idea of the type-A personality. Someone like me. That kind of driven, anxious, easily irritated, fast-paced person. He was actually a cardiologist, and the idea came from the people he saw coming into his practice.

If you know the story in Genesis about Cain and Abel, they were brothers and Cain got jealous of Abel and Cain killed his brother. God described the cursed way he was going to live as a result, in Genesis 4:11-12. God said to Cain: Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for  God said:

…You will be ‘a fugitive and a restless wanderer on the earth.’ That’s a CURSED way to live. A restless soul. So many of people are restless. Scurrying around the planet, always busy, always searching – never finding. Interested in everything, but satisfied by nothing. Getting more and more information bombarding us but living no wiser. Inwardly the rev counter is running way high. Our RPM’s keep going faster. And we may try to find rest for our bodies, might even manage that sometimes – but how do people find rest for your soul? We’re anxious, tense, worried; our minds don’t shut down. Even when we try to lie down at night, our soul is a restless soul.

I read this week about this woman Susan Root who has had what they call a musical hallucination – a kind of tinnitus, she has had ‘how much is that doggie in the window’ in her head for three years! She says, “It’s like having a radio you just can’t turn off. It has not stopped. It’s especially bad at night, I have terrible trouble getting to sleep – it drives me to breaking-point at times.”

Pause for a moment – can I just ask you to be really, really honest. How many of you, I’m not saying you have that tune in your head (woof woof!) but you’re often wound up on the inside. Worrying, you find it difficult to calm down – in your soul? At night – your mind keeps whirring. Or you may be even be with the family or go on holiday, but you can’t shut it down, your mind and soul rarely, finds rest? How many of you would say that’s you? Be really, really honest, the restless soul. Because God doesn’t want us to live this way.

Solomon’s words in Ecclesiastes really paint a good picture of this kind of restless life, Ecclesiastes 2:22-23, he asked this: “What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night, even at night his mind does not rest…”

And even though you’re sitting in the comfiest church seats in the world here at Ivy today, that doesn’t mean you get the kind of rest God designed you for.

We don’t want this to be an hour or so to ‘Do God,’ then move on the the next thing, a fast-food drive thru religious time where we carry our busyness and stop by and get what we need then move on – without any kind of deep, inner transformation. It doesn’t work like that – in case you’ve been wondering why it isn’t working like that for you here.

This time together isn’t meant to be your God part of life. It’s just part of you living like God wants you to live like all the time! God doesn’t want us to live like everyone else! Do you know that? He doesn’t want his people wandering restless on the earth like you’re under a curse. He doesn’t want all your days to be pain and labour and your mind spinning at night.

God’s people can live differently! If we do, it’ll be SO inviting and amazing to everyone else. They will want to know how. God has invited everyone here into a radically different kind of life than everyone else around you is living right now. Here it is. In Psalm 91:1 it says, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. Everyone knows your body needs rest. But I’m talking today about a deeper need than even that – your soul needs to find rest as well. Or you’ll live like everyone else – as a restless soul on the earth.

So…where do we find rest for our souls? Only one place. You can keep on running and toiling, buying and trying a little while longer; some people come to the end of their lives (a lot faster than they ever planned to) before they find out… there’s just one place we find rest for our souls? Maybe that’s your REAL problem today? Looking for rest. But there’s no person, no experience, no holiday, no amount of money; NOTHING and NOBODY except God that can bring any human heart REST. In the essence of who I am.

When Jesus walked the earth, he looked around at the crowds, and said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Okay think about it, this is some of you; in your soul, but it comes out in your body… You started Lent by burning the Pancakes. Now you’re just stressed a lot of the time, you find it hard to show love to those you know you should love the most, because you’re tired but your soul is all revved up, you’re WEARY, tense;

The good news is, if that’s you – you qualify… “Come to me” Jesus says, “Come to me”, come to Jesus, come to the Son of God: WHO? Who can come? – Everyone! “…all- who are weary and burdened…” No matter what you’ve done… this promise is for you if you believe it and claim it…  Everybody, He said: “…I will give you rest.” For What? Not for your bodies, but you’ll find rest for your: “…souls.” Nothing else can do it. Your heart will be restless, till it finds its rest in Him.

John Ortberg speaks of a time when he recognised his life was getting more and more frantic, so he rang Dallas Willard – this wise older person who has written wonderful books, and said, “What do I need to do if I want to be spiritually healthy and alive and vital?”

There was a long pause, then he said, “You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life.” 

Then there was another long pause, then I said, “Okay, what else – because I don’t have a lot of time and I want as much wisdom as I can get out of you in these few moments.” 

Then there was another long pause, and he said, “There is nothing else.” He said, “Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. There is a difference between being busy and being hurried. Jesus was often busy, but he was never hurried. To be hurried is a disease of the soul. To be hurried means that I’m internally so preoccupied with my worries and my own little agenda that I become unable to live in the presence of my Heavenly Father who loves me, and unable to be fully present with, listen, and love and marvel at another person. Hurry will keep you from actually experiencing God’s goodness and care for you from one moment to the next.“

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Feb 09 2013
Bible, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus, leadership, philosophy, politics, Religion, Theology, wisdom, Work, Worship

James White – The Christian Mind (iDisciple conference WCAUK)

James Emery White – The Christian Mind

What is the modern (non Christian) mind?

1. MULTI-TRUTH

Pluralism. God’s like a mountain, all the religions are paths up the same mountain, and the names of God are all the same summit. Go to the multiplex, or home to Netflix, all those choices. This is NEW! Peter Berger – sociologist said Religion used to provide a sacred canopy over all of culture. Now that’s replaced by millions of umbrellas to stand under.

With the increase of options comes lots of choices of truths, all equally valid.

But if everything is true – nothing is true.

‘It’s raining.’ Either it is or isn’t. There’s a match with reality.

These days comparative religion teaches what is held in common with all religions. But you can’t be a Buddhist Christian. Ask the Dalai Lama! Their truth claims are opposite. It’s two different mountains. Same with Islam etc.

So, either you say ; someone’s right

or someone’s wrong

But you can’t say they are ALL right. That’s intellectually dishonest.

  1. TRUTHINESS

Facts don’t matter. How you feel matters. You can create truth for yourself, despite the facts. If I can convince a majority of others that’s true, it is. (Follow link for more)

2. WIKIALITY

We create our own reality, and that becomes fact for us all. There is no truth outside of what the majority want it to be. If we say 2 + 2 = 5 for us, then it does.(Follow link for more/source)

3. MISTAKERS

Nobody is a sinner. nobody sins. Sociology and psychology has pushed sin out. We are just mistakers. Or in fact there’s something good about why we did it. ‘I’m sorry you got offended…’ Nothing is wrong, wicked or evil – so..

4. MORAL RELATIVISM

Anything goes. If it makes you happy, morality is a personal choice and opinion. If you’re not hurting anyone – except judgmental people of course. They are the only wrong ones. Look at Christian Smith’s work on this.

Why contrast this mind with the Christian mind?

Well this is a little disingenious. The fact is – the modern mind has BECOME the Christian mind! We are UNDISCIPLED here!

When Jesus restated the Shema (when quoting it verbatim as a Rabbi was essential) he ADDED in loving God ‘with your MIND…’

Paul was clear how change happens. Romans 12. RENEW the mind. Continually don’t let the world adjust you so much you fit into it without thinking. We are mirroring it, not challenging. This is diabolical.

Christians have to retain a prophetic voice. that has to come from a prophetic MIND.

Prov 23:7 As a man thinks in his heart – so is he.

Harry Blamires, ‘There is no longer a Christian mind.’

We have to start thinking about the big issues of our day in the light of our faith. Not having a compartmentalised mind. Where over here you have your work life, here’s your daily reading, here’s a tweet, here’s a show… and your thinking about one doesn’t link to the other things.

So you can be a Christian, but not let that reflect that in how you think about science. About films you see, social media. Do you integrate these things in terms of a Christian worldview?

Eg., where did we come from?

There are actually very few answers.

By chance (Naturalism)

We don’t exist (Hindu)

We were created

If we believe the latter, then there is meaning, and someone outside of us to whom we are accountable and from whom we derive value. Look at how MLK challenged unjust laws in his letter from a Birmingham Jail. It was based on the value of humanity based on a law above human laws.

John Stott said our battle is ‘a battle of ideas.’

We take captive every THOUGHT to make it obedient to Christ.

OR we think like everyone else.

Thomas Cahill – ‘How the Irish saved civilisation.’ As the Roman empire fell to barbarism, the Irish took up the Labour of copying western literature. This was then taken back to Europe and they saved it! Without this Christian mind, they would also have lost the ability to think. By the way, Islam would have taken over Europe then too.

There are few Christian warriors of the mind these days. Most retreat into personal piety or good works. We follow someone who died at 33. Don’t live a life that doesn’t offend people, if we don’t live as if we don’t care if we’ll die, we will be impotent.

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Feb 08 2013
Bible, Christianity, Discipleship, Faith, Jesus

Building Life Changing Churches – Gordon MacDonald at WCAUK iDisciple

He was invited to speak at West Point. Saw that it was a place to train and qualify top people to go anywhere in the world and immediately get the job done, whatever the job is. How do you train people like that?

 

Do we show any interest in developing leaders? Not just the ‘anyone can come’ one. A West Point for church? The number 1 job for a Pastor = training the bext generation of leaders. It’s more important than preaching.

 

Heschel – We don’t need text-books but text-people.

 

Titus 2:1-8  Your job is to speak out on the things that make for solid doctrine. Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior. Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives.

But mostly, show them all this by doing it yourself, incorruptible in your teaching, your words solid and sane. Then anyone who is dead set against us, when he finds nothing weird or misguided, might eventually come around.

 

Be a text-person!

Why not let training people (discipling/mentoring etc) be 20% of our ministry function?

Jesus was a Rabbi. It’s enlightening to study how they worked and lived.

Many were either itinerant, travelling around – their job = 1) settle disputes 2) teach their interpretation on key passages 3) train new ones.

One trains a few, who train a few = compound influence.

If well known, rich people would pay for their sons to follow a particular Rabbi (eg., Paul says, ‘I studied under Gamaliel.’ - It’s like ‘I went to Oxbridge.’)

If not well known, then the Rabbi would recruit. And there would be a selection process, and a contract that everyone would know.

Formal invitation = If the Rabbi was recruiting, he would say, ‘Will you follow me?’

If someone was coming wanting to be apprenticed to a Rabbi, he would say, ‘May I follow?’ Jesus always said no to that one. He prayed and chose people.

If you agreed to be schooled by a rabbi, you were saying, ‘I will do everything you ask.’ He would make the master’s life comfortable, get the food etc. Study his rabbi completely – and become so like him that nobody could tell the difference. Wore the same clothes. Ate the same. The rabbi was the model for the Word of God incarnated – the Rabbi.The disciple would imitate and emulate him completely. cf Galatians 2;20!

Various rabbis had different ‘brands’: revolution, obedience, etc

Jesus brand = LOVE. ‘Watch how I love and serve – you do the same. If you will love each other, the whole world will know you’re living according to my brand.’

Is that how the church is known? As the people of love?

Rabbis built a community, then tested them by sending them out and asking questions when they returned. For 3 years, they did nothing right, by the way! But he was making them into world changers.

Finally, he says, ‘Now YOU enlarge my teaching by me sending you out.’

Rabbis had a 100 year strategy to bring about change. It takes 7 years at least to bring real change and start to see the real fruit. The Rabbinical style is slow – but sure.

There would come a point when the Rabbi released their students. Jesus said, ‘I no longer call you servants but friends. Greater things will you do. I will be with you (incarnated in that event).’

Why not train a few like this? 20 -25 people a year get invited maybe…

Qualities for selection

Teachability/ desire to grow

Essential social skills

Willing to Participate

Showed leadership potential

Faithful

Not identified by chronic problems

Spiritually hungry/curious. 

Pray for them. Invite them for dinner. Then tell them what you have seen in them.

‘If you will give us Monday nights, 3 hours, for 1 year and not miss a night – at all, then sign up and we will pour everything into you.’ Maybe 14 will sign up to a high challenge like that. The top people WANT to be challenged!

Get them together to be rooted and strengthened in Christ in a Learning Community and then point them to leadership opportunities in the church and the world.

Curriculum includes;

Temperament (Myers Briggs etc)

Analytical reading (scripture, books, articles, decode the author). 

Dialogue (not discuss, no losers, we all get insight TOGETHER). 

Spiritual Disciplines – how to pray, fast etc

Christian Character – what is a man/ woman of God

Spiritual gifts

Manuscript then tell the whole story of your life. (you go first)

Shadowing Leaders

Mentoring

Leadership skills

Projects

Learning through Failure

 

This is how we build life changing churches from within. This is the MUSCLE for the Body.

 

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Dec 03 2012
Bible, Jesus, Christianity, Finances, Ivy Manchester Grow Group Notes

How can say we belong to Him when all our longings are for more belongings?

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This is the Ivy Grow Group Notes for this week. I rounded off the Colossians series last night but only spoke on one verse of it so not really much point in me going over that again…

 

Well what an amazing day yesterday was at Ivy MCR

Here are a few highlights from the things I personally witnessed, and I’m sure Ivy Fallowfield was great as always;

1030am service at Kingsway – I had more than a few people come and tell me, ‘We’re getting full again…’

There were some spare seats – but the received wisdom I’ve found to be true is that when your meeting room is 80% full, you’re full! SO…

Do we need to hire another screen? When? What’s the answer? Please THANK GOD for growth and PRAY for wisdom and provision.

4pm at Ivy Sharston

This service is getting more than 70 people a week already. Emily Bowyer did a great talk on ‘TOUCH’ and then an outbreak of hugging happened! SUCH a great time! . One new first time visitor who brought his whole family, Paul from Wythenshawe, (I know his name because I hugged him.).

Hmmm. Probably the first time I’ve ever written that sentence.

Paul was asking’Is it always that good? This is amazing. And the people he was asking were saying, ‘Yes, it’s always this good.’

And nobody wants to leave after – it may have something to do with the food? Delicious!

7pm at Ivy Didsbury

Well it was AMAZING! Everything you dream of for church. If anyone from your group was there (and we were PACKED) get them to tell you some of the unforgettable, mind-blowing, faith-stirring true stories of people who’s been abused and in prison, or successful and empty (to mention just a few ) of the EIGHTEEN people who ended up being baptised!!

Phenomenal. I said afterwards, if it isn’t revival, it’ll do till revival comes.

We hope to put some of the life stories people told – with permission- on the website soon but in the meantime PRAISE GOD for all He has done, what only He can do – changing lives forever! Please pray and spend some time, before we ask God for anything else – just looking back and sharing what you have to be thankful for in your Grow Group.

DISCUSS

Firstfruits offering

I couldn’t sleep too well last night – I was so excited about how God is moving at Ivy, I kept waking up and thanking him and praying, ‘MORE LORD!’

When I woke up and went to the car I started to think, ‘What can I sell, what can I do, to give more money so we can see even more people’s lives changed like I heard about last night?’ I suppose it’s a little inkling of how people felt in the early church:

Read Acts 4:23-end.

God doesn’t just want to shake rooms we meet in – he wants to shake the people meeting! He wants to shake off our materialism and greed and make us more like Him, and if we are more like Him we’ll be less attached to stuff that will perish and more concerned with those who are perishing without Him!

So our firstfruits offering at the beginning of 2013 is a chance to say , ‘I’m putting first things first.’

God must be first.

First at Christmas

First in the New Year.

First in our finances.

Discuss;

How do we put God first in our finances?

Jesus talked about money in 16 of 38 of his parables. He said it’s a test, a spiritual thermometer for the true state of our hearts. How can say we belong to Him when all our longings are for more belongings?

Martin Lewis of moneysavingexpert.com (a great site I highly recommend) wrote recently in the Telegraph about how many people get in trouble because they are buying ‘pointless presents’ at Christmas. A survey today reports that 21 million unwanted gifts will be received this Christmas!

Personally I have started to put some money away that I’m NOT spending over Christmas,(and I will STILL have a fabulous time) to be able to give a lot more at the start of the year to God’s purposes at Ivy MCR. I’m praying this will be our biggest offering ever and will demonstrate that we actually know what Christmas is really all about, so we’ll spend less to give more – and be happier to do so.

We are praying and putting together our budgets now for next year and there is a lot of pressure from the way the economy of the world looks and works for us to batten down the hatches, conserve, and not risk too much. But like I said yesterday – that’s not what got us here!

Recently in a quiet time the Lord said to me, ‘Don’t go for what Ivy can afford but what i shall reveal…’

PLEASE PRAY that out VISION will see the PROVISION so we can keep on seeing lives changed, families healed, and people come to know and love Jesus Christ.

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Nov 26 2012
Bible, Christianity, Discipleship, Worship, Ivy Manchester Grow Group Notes, Colossians

Ivy MCR GG notes on Colossians 3

Dead and Alive  – Colossians 3

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Read Col 3:1-3

If your version starts with ‘If’ in verse 1, I think the versions that start with ‘Since’ make more sense, following the flow of argument from the previous chapter.

‘SINCE you have been raised with Christ…’

Discuss:  You only get raised with Christ if you died with Him first! Do you know or are you aware of anyone who had a ‘near death’ experience, a close shave with death etc (like Fabrice Muamba for instance) and got a second chance at life? Anyone in the GG had that kind of experience personally?

How would you live after you experienced such an incident? How might your perspective, priorities and plans change?

Read Col 3;1-17

Paul is probably referring to baptism here as a symbolic experience of ‘putting to death’ the old life and passing from death to life. The early church actually gave baptismal candidates a new set of clothes to symbolise the new life they were entering.

Discuss:  This is a very dramatic picture If you were baptised as an infant, do you think that ‘counts’ – or should you be rebaptised as an adult?  Why or why not?

PRAY: For those who are getting baptised at Ivy this coming Sunday. Is there anyone in your GG who has been considering it? Get in touch with Hannah Lamberth in the office for further advice if required.

Paul lists various ‘old clothes’ that need to be put off:

Verse 5 – Sex sins – a wide range of immorality

Verse 8 & 9 – Speech sins – including lying

Verse 11 – Snobbery/ Social sins – writing off certain people or groups

Discuss: Which of these sins do we tend to focus on? Which do we tend to excuse as if they’re less serious?

These are like the grave clothes Lazarus was wearing when he was resurrected by Jesus in John 11. He couldn’t get them off himself – other had to help him. In what ways is your GG community helping you walk in the freedom Christ has won for you since you were ‘co-raised’ with Him?

Verses 12-17. Lists a whole wardrobe of ‘New Clothes’ God has for us to wear.

Write up the list together.

Would those who know you best say they can see that you’re wearing these clothes? What item do you need to try on this week? Pick one and focus on it.

PRAY: For our ‘Firstfruits’ idea for the Christmas/ New Year offering. What do people think of the idea of spending less to be able to back away from excess and give more? I believe some people are going to see surprising windfalls in the next couple of weeks running up to Christmas. What would you do with it? 

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Nov 19 2012
2 Comments
Bible, Christianity, Jesus, Men, Theology

TRUE MATURITY Colossians 2 – Ivy Grow Group Notes

We are doing a series in the evenings where I’m going through Colossians a chapter at a time and I AM LOVING IT! Why not plan to get along to Ivy Didsbury and dig into this fantastic letter further soon? If you really can’t – I bet you’d get a lot out of the podcasts which are free at www.ivymanchester.org

I’ve called the series INSIDE -OUT

Principally that’s because Paul was INSIDE, writing OUT to the church a Colosse. He was in prison. He wrote various letters while he was in prison, some to churches he founded – and this one to a church he didn’t found but it was a kind of church plant started by a man called Ephaphras who Paul led to follow Christ then sent home to start a church in his home city.

One day Ephapras visited him in prison and gave the low down on things in Colosse. The church had started out really well and grown fast. BUT there were problems. Big concerns about one or two voices in the church that were trying to drag people away from simple devotion to Jesus.

We don’t know how many of these teachers there were, it may have just been one powerful, super-spiritual, deeeeply persuasive voice that was saying to be a real Christian, you had to learn ‘the philosophy…’ – a system of inner secrets for the Deeper Life.

Read Col 2:1-5

This talks about ‘persuasive words’ that can deceive us.

Discuss: How do we go deep, without going under? What I mean is, how do you strike a healthy balance as a Christian between wanting to study and grow, without becoming super-spiritual? 

Three big words summed up ‘The Philosophy’ – three isms in the ‘religious self improvement plan.’

These three things are very much still dangers for churches to take on…

Legalism, Asceticism and Mysticism.

Discuss – how do you define these words and how might they become a danger for Christians? 

My definitions of the three- (NB the practices themselves might not necessarily be wrong, it’s the heart intention that matters)

Legalism – do the right things. (Restrict Yourself) – included Circumcision

Asceticism – don’t do some things (Deny Yourself) – included fasting

Mysticism – (Exalt Yourself) – the way the mysticism worked at Colosse was that some wanted a few to add on learning some deep, deep things – so as to become the TRUE disciples. The spiritual masters. This would create an ‘inner circle’ within the church.

DISCUSS: 

If the Leader has time, please read my previous blog post to this – CS Lewis’ address on ‘The Inner Ring.’

How do we guard against cliques forming in church? 

Read Col 2:6-11

Paul here lists some marks of true maturity – and it’s not about some supposed spiritual experience, but about walking IN HIM.

 

Go through now down to verse 13 and notice how many times Paul uses the term IN HIM or IN CHRIST (his favourite way to describe being a Christian) in this chapter.

Underline them if you like to remind you of its importance. It seems it’s possible to be ‘In Christ’ but not maturing!

DISCUSS: What kind of thing would Paul list as evidences of truly maturing? 

Leader’s hint: I included Encouragement, Loving Unity, Keeping in Order, Steadfastness, and being Grounded, Growing and Grateful.

As NT Wright says in his brilliant book ‘Paul for everyone; Prison Letters’

Christianity isn’t simply about a way of being religious. It isn’t about a particular system for being saved here or hereafter, it’s not about a particular way to be holy…Christianity is about Jesus Christ. 

DISCUSS: Why don’t people have the right idea about Christianity? 

Assess: 

Whatever your list of ‘Marks of Maturity’ ended up pulling out, get everyone to rate themselves 1 -10 right now on them. 

Would the people who know you well say you’re becoming more like Jesus in that area now than you were a year ago? 

Pray: 

You are COMPLETE in Him! Pray that each person in your GG walks out in their every day life what this means, that Jesus is ALL of God, and He is ALL in you and he FILLS you completely with His love now. God wants what happened to Jesus to happen to you.

If you died with him (became his follower)

You will live forever with him – starting now – and that will never end. Rejoice!

Christianity isn’t prideful philosophical, theoretical knowledge to teach another about;  ‘you have to know what I know.’

It’s humble grateful relational and invitational – ‘come and meet the One who knows all about me and loves me’ – like the Samaritan woman discovered in John 4.

Commit to Pray for three people who need to come to know the One you know, that before the end of 2012, maybe at one of our Christmas events – they get to know the One we know.

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