Tag: vision

What New People Visiting Your Church Need This Sunday

I got a nice hand written (remember that?) letter from Richard Reisling today thanking me for putting his great stuff on my blog based on my thoughts about the notes I took from his visit. Well it’s my pleasure – and I’m not done yet! Here goes… What new people need: I NEED DIRECTION. They need someone to have thought about where they go, explain what’s happening with their kids etc. I was walking through Terminal 4 of Heathrow Airport recently and thought, ‘None of this just happened!’ It took SOMEBODY to think how all these people with all these needs, routes, cases, schedules… get around the place. We’re talking about things like signs here. (I just made up a Christian joke about not having signs that make people wonder, but you have to be a charismatic to get that one). TREAT ME AS NORMAL. Like when someone comes to your house. You know how to be hospitable already. Remove the following phrase, ‘Are you new?’ There’s no way to say it without offending someone. Ask instead, ‘How long have you […]

God looks at the inside. Visitors don’t!

Continuing the Richard Reising insights… Marketing is biblical. At various times it says, ‘Jesus perceived their thoughts / reasoning in their hearts – and said….’ What was he doing? Managing their thoughts. Reshaping them where neccessary. We have to have a finger on the pulse of what people think about us. We have to be aware – and adjust. (that’s not ‘people pleasing’). A great example occurred at Pentecost. Acts 2 – in the midst of crazy charismania, when people were thinking, ‘What on earth is this?” Peter stood up to manage their perceptions; ‘We’re not drunk as you perceive, this is what the Bible says, let me explain…’ Peter was sensitive enough to know, ‘I have to manage this perception.’ Result? Thousands were won to Christ that day! In fact, God is the ultimate marketer. If you’re a Christian, it’s because He did whatever it took to reach YOU. He knew exactly what to do. Everything the church does ‘markets’ for good or ill.   Someone will quote 1 Sam 15:7 where it says, ‘God looks at our heart.’ Well […]

Beware. This may not build your self esteem.

‘Jars of Clay.’ Whole talks I’ve heard about this passage and blogs I read around it talk about being ‘cracked pots.’ There’s a problem with that. It’s not in the text. It doesn’t say anything about the pots being cracked. I wonder whether we want to add that in because we want to make it about US again. The point is not about your cracks. Don’t make it about that. The point is, the container is NOT the point. It’s what’s inside that matters.

THE CHURCH BUILDING CYCLE. (ALC Network Day)@StephenMatthew_

 Stephen Matthew has become a friend whose wisdom I appreciate greatly, he has been very generous with his time and encouragement, mentoring me individually through numerous conversations over in Bradford and also coming across to meet with some of our leaders at Ivy recently as we prayed and planned into our future. He is a surveyor by background and combines theological acumen, practical skills and a pastoral heart through 25 years of ministry to be a man with a brain worth picking for anyone who wants to build a prevailing church. Here’s my notes on his talk at the ALC Network day this week:  There are only two kinds of churches: The church everybody wants to build (It’s there in Acts 2, and the ideal church, it inspires us). The church God wants you to build. If you try and copy the church ‘out there’ you’ll always fail. God wants to speak to YOU about YOUR people and place. It’s always bespoke. You work the process and start to build from scratch or reinvent what’s been built so far. What […]

TALE OF TWO BROTHERS: Charlotte Gambill: @CharlGambill – ALC Network Day

GREAT TALK from a fantastic Network Day! All our team who attended were blown away. Well worth looking over and praying through in your teams etc. Psalm 133: 1 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! 2 It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, 
running down on Aaron’s beard, 
down on the collar of his robe. 
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon 
were falling on Mount Zion. 
For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. Have we accessed this blessing to its full extent?1 We can INSTIGATE this, bring it in ourselves. If… we can figure out how to be united. And that’s not about standing up and all hold hands. That can be purely external. We need this REAL unity. In our teams, churches, cities. In our marriage and with our kids is where it starts. Where has this gone wrong? Go and look for brothers in the Bible that got along – there weren’t many! Cain and Abel Jacob and his […]

Debra Green – Mountains or Fountains

My notes from this, the first talk in our 40 Days of Ivy DNA Series: RELEVANT. People are surprised when we as a church are normal rather than ‘religious’ Text –  John 4- the samaritan woman at the well. 1) Jesus asked – ‘Will you give me a drink?’ This is a very controversial conversation for him to have at all. He’s showing us the type of Saviour he is. He’s speaking to her in her language, about her every day life and needs. Connects with the familiar. If we want to be relevant we need to offer and speak into what people need. Cf Breathe City Church in Stoke- their ‘When‘ ministry: giving clothes to the poor in the city. Thousands of clothing packages given. When we meet the felt needs of people, we’ll be relevant. We’re not relevant because the worship is great or the preaching is good: people outside of church are not even asking about that anyway! But if we help people and connect in people in prison, in debt, when we are marked by hospitality, […]