10 Things Christians Should Stop Saying | Jefferson Bethke

I have a lot of respect for this guy. He has an awesome name and he also talks a lot of sense. He is most famous for his Why I Hate Religion, But I Love Jesus video. This has received about 27 million views on YouTube. This is one of his more recent videos that lists stupid things Christians say.

Quick Question

• What other stupid things do Christians say?

A Meal with Jesus

I have just finished reading 'A Meal with Jesus' by Tim Chester. If you like cooking for others and you love Jesus, then this is a good book to read.

This meant that I really enjoyed reading it. A few years ago, when I was choosing what I wanted to do next in life, my mum said to me, "I know exactly what you want in the future." Thinking that this was impossible and she'd get it completely wrong I asked to tell me what it is. She said, "you want a house where you'll have people over all the time and you'll share it with other people." As always, mums know best and she got it completely right. She knew how much hospitality meant to me.

Tim Chester discusses how a dinner table can be a way to show God's love, plan for salvation and hope. It shows an interesting picture of Jesus as a man who came eating and drinking. He points to various meals in the Bible: those that Jesus shared with others and the Messianic banquet that we are to expect after we die. By sharing our table with others, we are enacting these meals. Moreover, the way Jesus tells us to remember what he did for us is not through the recitation of liturgy or the singing of a certain song; it's through the sharing of food and drink. This act of communion is a way that followers of Jesus can join with one another to express and remember their love of Jesus and their salvation.

I loved some of the stories and anecdotes. I'm always encouraged and moved by what other Christians have experienced and how they have seen God at work.

The book, however, can get a tiny bit repetitive. Chester works through many different and subtle ways of viewing the table as an expression of God's mission and plan, but the nuances can sometimes get lost and it often feels like you've read that bit before. However, it does bring home how important the simple act of eating with someone else can be.

That's probably why, when Paul lists the attributes of a church leader, it's not a Theology degree or extensive experience in business management he looks for but a person of good character that shows hospitality to others (for the full list, see here). Inviting someone to your table is inviting someone to see a snapshot of God's kingdom.

A Meal with Jesus from Tim Chester on Vimeo.

Resource Wednesday

Resource Wednesday

Are you ready to transform the world?

Resource Wednesday

Yet another Resource Wednesday. I've been looking into worship music a lot recently, especially new workings of old hymns. This is the Sing Team, one of Mars Hill's worship bands. However, I love the mix of community and praise they've got going.

 

Meet the Sing Team from The Resurgence on Vimeo. 

I can't get enough of their music, especially Oh! Great is Our God! Listen to their album here. You can download the chords here.

Quick Question

• What are you listening to at the moment?

First World Problems

I've been challenged recently about how Christians in the West perceive their problems. When I told people I was going away in Easter, conversation often turned to travel arrangements. I soon realised that I was complaining that it would take me around 5 hours to get to Sheffield via coach. This is absurd, seeing as some people have to walk for hours just to find some clean water. A typical jerry can full of water weighs 40 lbs. Imagine carrying that on your back for an hour.

See more on Know Your Meme

Moaning about our first world problems is not Biblical. The book of Philippians gives us an example of what our attitude should be like:

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13)

We definitely need to learn to be content when well fed and living in plenty. If we can't do that then how can we be content if we were to find ourselves hungry or in poverty? It also is crucially important we are content in plenty when there are people that are genuinely struggling. Not only is it unjust that we have plenty while others do not, but to complain in the face of it is selfish and cruel.

I'd just like to add that while someone may have material wealth, they may not have spiritual or emotional wealth, and therefore may be in true need as well. Mother Teresa once said, "The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted." There may be someone next door to you that appears to have everything except the feeling of acceptance. They, too, are in poverty.

As Christians, I feel that, not only should we not moan when we do have everything, we should seek to meet the poverty in the lives of other people. Micah 6:8 says, "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Whether this is the sharing of our material wealth, or being hospitable and loving, it is a way of showing what God is about. God actually tells us to stop with our religious assemblies and the noise of our songs if we can't get this right:

I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!  (Amos 5:21-24)

So, next time you roll up at a religious assembly and sing your songs, perhaps ask yourself, "Am I doing my bit to let justice roll on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream?"

Quick Questions

• What first world problems have you heard? (My favourite one from this website is “I don’t have enough chips for my dip, but if I open another packet of chips, I won’t have enough dip for my chips.”)
• Do you complain too much?
• What seemingly trivial situations really get you riled?
• What websites or resources do you know that could help us in being just, merciful and humble?

Links

• The Water Project: helping people out of poverty through access to clean water
• Kiva: Loans that change the world
• Oxfam Unwrapped: giving gifts that benefit others

Philippians 1

I've recently been leading a Bible Study on Philippians. I have seriously fallen in love with this book. In order to help you do the same I thought I'd post my notes up here. Read Philippians 1 before reading the rest.

Background

• A thank you letter from Paul to the church in Philippi; the sort you write to your nan after Christmas.
• Lots of gratitude going on.
• Theme of unity in Christian community, and rejoicing.

Philippians 1

• v 3-6 Paul gives thanks for the Philippians, due to what Jesus has been doing in them and what is being worked to completion. Who are you thankful to God for?
• Paul’s prayer is fascinating (v 9-11). He prays for an increase in love, which has more knowledge and insight. This leads to discernement; being blameless and pure; having the fruit of righteousness and all for the praise and glory of God.

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones. (1 Thessalonians 3:12-13)

• Paul’s chains advance the gospel, which is awesome.
• v 18 is perhaps surprising: as long as Christ is being preached, the motives are unimportant.
• End of chapter has some challenging truths about facing opposition: that we are to stand firm in unity and in one spirit, and we are to be without fear.
• v 29 suggests that we treat suffering for the gospel as an equal gift as faith in the gospel (see Acts 5:41).

Implications for Mosaic/others

• We need to love one another in order to have discernment and to be blameless
• We need to rejoice due to one another
• We are to face opposition together and without fear

Quick questions

• Do you have a favourite book of the Bible? Why do you love it so much?
• Who are you thankful for?
• Is it possible to treat suffering as a gift? How do you do it?

Francis Chan: Making Disciples vs Memorizing

I really love Francis Chan and recently got his book 'Erasing Hell' on Kindle for FREE. Haven't read it yet, but will do soon, hopefully.

Here's a rather funny but good video about how sometimes Bible Study and memorising scripture can be pointless if it leads to no action.

I suppose it goes back to the James 2:14-26 verse about faith without deeds being dead.

Christmas Speeches

One of the major traditions at Christmas in the UK is the Queen's speech. I have never watched it before, but as it came on TV my dad (somewhat jokingly) said, "Quick, come, it's the Queen's speech." So we sat down and watched her do what she has been doing every Christmas since 1952.

She spoke of the importance of community and family, recognising the significance of the "God given love" in the two marriages of her grandchildren, Zara Phillips and Prince William.

She also noted the fact that Christmas is not easy for everyone. It was at this point that she really bought the meaning of Christmas home. I have to be honest at this point; I was expecting her to take a mainly secular line with her speech and to add some twee, but non-committal, Christian terms that have as much religious punch as Christmas Crackers. However, she really went for it.

She spoke of "finding of hope in adversity" is the meaning of the season, and how Christmas is a celebration of the power of redemption, hope and forgiveness. She also told us how we need the salvation bought through Jesus:

Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves - from our recklessness or our greed.

Needless to say, I really enjoyed her speech. She spoke of who Jesus was, the need that we be saved, the Godly power of forgiveness and told us it was her prayer that we should all find "the love of God through Christ our Lord." Amen to that, sister.

For the full text of the speech, click here.

The Queen's Commonwealth address seems more upbeat than other speeches this Christmas- especially if you go by article headlines. 'Lament' seems to be the mot du jour, as both the Archbishop of Canterbury 'laments "abuse of trust"' and the Pope 'lamented the enduring presence of violence in the world', according to this article.

taken from Guardian.co.uk

Rowan Williams commented on the riots and the economic problems this country faces at Canterbury Cathedral. He had some points to make, as well, about the rich within this country and whether they are sharing in this economic downturn. The Pope called for the end of violence in Syria, in his Urbi et Orbi this year. Like the Queen, he spoke of how Jesus "brought to the world a universal message of reconciliation and peace". In his Christmas Eve speech he also condemned the commercialisation of Christmas, and asked people to look past the glitter.

To read the Pope's Urbi et Orbi, click here.

What did you do this Christmas?

Resource Wednesday

It's another one for the boys! Usually I do websites, and sometimes books, and sometimes eBooks. This week, it's going to be a podcast.

Christian Vision for Men is a movement for believing men and seeks to engage men across this country. Beechy and Willmott, from CVM, have a podcast, the Beechy & Willmott Drivetime Show.

A bit like Mark Driscoll, they call guys to become tougher, more robust Christians. They're happy to talk about the common sins in men's lives and call them up on it.

Quick Questions

1. What podcasts do you listen to? 

Resource Wednesday

 Despite the fact that most my readers are probably female, this one is for the guys! It's from The Resurgence website that was a Resource Wednesday a couple of months back. But, before you accuse me of playing old records, it's an  ebook that is available for download from there.

Porn-Again Christian is exactly what it says it is: "a frank discussion on pornography and masturbation". Mark Driscoll, who isn't known for holding back punches, really tells it as it is. This is really refreshing in a church society that try and avoid the subject and where my generation's only enduring memory of sex education is putting condoms on plastic phalluses.

He covers some of the untouchable areas of the Bible (pardon the pun), including Song of Songs and the famous Ezekiel 23:20 passage. What is also brilliant is the way it encourages and celebrates sex. It is a fantastic thing, as Song of Songs shows: but within the context of marriage. Christian sexual education can cause a sense of guilt and sexual repression that causes more harm than good.

My only problem with the book was chapter 8, which used an interview from serial killer, rapist and necrophile, Ted Bundy. This was an obvious scare tactic; if you watch porn you'll go on to kill woman. There are few problems with this argument. Ted Bundy showed abnormal and sadistic behaviour from a young age (as young as three, and some believed he killed his first victim at 14). The pornography was probably more symptomatic that causal. Also, Bundy was a prolific liar. Most of the content of that interview was probably untrue.

Apart from the prattle of a psychopath, this book is good. And it's free. So go read it!

The Barbarian Way

I've really wanted to read this book for a while. I was sent this excerpt and it captured my imagination. As a result I had really high hopes for this books.

It's a highly charged book and promotes a life of reckless abandon. One reviewer commented that "This book is dangerous. Erwin Raphael McManus is dangerous. And if you read this book you, with your domesticated, tamed faith will be in danger. Worst case scenario: you'll become dangerous, perhaps even dead." And that was from someone who liked the book.

A negative review of the book dislikes the use of the word "barbarian": that the word describes the pagan state that Jesus saved us from. The reviewer takes particular umbrage at one anecdote about a naked tug-of-war game, as it encourages carnality. The reason this anecdote was told was to show how dignity should not be a concern, as it wasn't for King David.

I agree that sometimes McManus' anecdotes sometimes seem to miss the mark, but you will still get the point he was trying to make. The idea that the word barbarian was misused was definitely a case of missing the mark. McManus takes the word barbarian, with all it's negative, carnal and selfish connotations, and then subverts it to mean someone who is madly passionate for following God. McManus' barbarians are strong against oppressors, ruthless against injustice, loving and selfless. It reminded me of how Martin Luther King took the word "extremist" and used it to encourage a passionate engagement with love, justice and the gospel.

I really love it's passionate call to a less domesticated faith. One where comfort and safety is not a priority. It isn't even an option. I want to be a believer that acts when God tells me to, to not consider the consequences and know that God's purpose is my priority.

It speaks a lot about the uniqueness of each believer. This is something that I really believe in; God has given each of us an individual character, mandate and plan. Despite this, however, the book only presents a sort of reckless, adrenaline-junkie, accident-prone barbarian and excludes, perhaps, other types of ebullient and effective Jesus-followers. Ones that show wisdom, intelligence and consideration but also share the gospel, pursue equality and mercy are ignored.

It is definitely a book to get your heart pumping and to push people out from the safety of the walls of the church. It is a call to a drastic, radical way of living and reminds us that the gospel is anything but safe.

AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church

The leaders of the clans get together about once a fortnight to encourage one another, to make sure we're all on the same page and to get advice and training about different problems we might have. The leaders were asked to read AND: The Gathered and Scattered Church by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay.

AND is about how the church needs to strike a better balance between the pastoral, gathered and stable (modalic) elements of the church and the outward looking, missional, scattered (sodalic) elements. Church tradition has focused on the modalic structures and somewhat neglected the sodalic structures.

There are some really nice passages and one section is particularly poignant. Hugh and Matt (with spouses) were meeting regularly together with friends to discuss "life and God", when one member of the group asked "is this my church?" Hugh replied that Church was about deciding to go on mission with God together, and that if they wanted the group to be their Church they'd have to give their life away. The group unanimously decided that they would come die with them and let God send them.

Although it has a good many of these wonderful accounts, it also has a lot of theory elements. This is the area that I found a bit frustrating and tedious, but did pick up some helpful pointers. One of these was related  specifically in how we deal with the younger people of our church:

Our role as stewards over the spiritual life and legacy of our kids is to model a holistic life of apprenticeship under Jesus.

This seems ordinary enough, but actually has quite far reaching implications. Do the teens of the church see that my whole life is dedicated to Jesus, not just the bits when I'm at church? Do I even live a holistic life of apprenticeship under Jesus? How can they watch me, and other members of the Exilio community do this, when, for some, their only contact with us is a Friday evening with just two of the adults?

So this has got me thinking on how we can incorporate the teens into the wider life of Exilio as a whole. It's hard when their parents aren't involved in the different clans, or the activities of the clan doesn't really suit them.

Overall, it's an okay book. Hugh sums it up really in his final thoughts:

Although we don't feel as if we've given you any wildly new thoughts, we trust what we've been seeing and hearing out in the field will encourage you in the unique calling you have to help lead, serve and die in God's church worldwide.

 It didn't fill me with as much excitement as Total Church.

Resource Wednesday

Sometimes, the most difficult things about being a youth worker is not the tears, the misbehaviour, the constant noise and mess. It's the questions. You get questions on the reliability of the Bible, eschatology, and how do we know Jesus was real. It's these moments as a youth worker that your heart really sinks. You feel the youth groups eyes on you, you co-leaders are waiting expectantly. You murmur some half-hashed answer and think why aren't there easily accessible resources for these types of questions.

It would be really helpful if there was a apologetics website that contained short, understandable articles, videos and soundbites. Perhaps it would contain articles about suffering, truth and culture, written by people such as Amy Orr-Ewing and Michael Ramsden? But, surely that is just a dream, a youth workers fantasy?

bethinking.org is UCCF's apologetics website. It's crammed full of articles, film reviews, videos of lectures, recordings of talks. It's good for youth workers, as it equips you with answers for those questions. But also, you can refer the teenagers to it and get them to start finding the answers to their questions.

As it's aimed at Christian students, some of the topics may go over the head of your teens. But probably not the ones who think enough to ask those type of questions. So, you can breathe a sigh of relief as you say, "Well, why don't you find the answer yourself. Go to bethinking.org and come back with what you find." Most likely they'll forget your advice and you'll never have to think about it again.

Quick Questions

1. What's your method of sweeping difficult questions under the rug?
2. If you say you'll get back to someone with the answer, do you?
3. What questions do you have? What do you want to know?

Thank God for Jesus...

On Monday 16th May I started the Bible in 90 days reading plan. This means I should be well over a third into the Bible. Except I'm not. I didn't even make it out of Genesis.Fortunately, I have a God of grace, and God doesn't do Heaven Entrance Exams. No matter how many times my good intentions lead to nothing, I still have Jesus.

So why did it fail so abysmally? I think a few reasons contributed to it:

• Lack of accountability: There was no incentive to do it when I didn't feel like it. I've only been asked about it on the blog once, and managed to evade answering the questions until now.
• A dry, intellectual approach: My goal was really to just get the Bible out of the way so I can say I've done it. It wasn't in pursuit of God or anything like that. Currently I'm reading Wuthering Heights, not because I'm enjoying it, but just so I can tick that one off my list. This approach is fine with novels, but not with the Bible.
• Lack of variety: I've read Genesis a few times now, and I'm aware that there are areas of the Bible I'm less familiar with so it made it quite frustrating.

But don't despair over me and my heathen ways just yet. Not only because that would be seriously judgemental, but also because I've taken a new approach, which has (so far) been more successful. I've started using the WordLive material that quite a few people in my church use. Have a read of this blog to see some of the responses of a friend from my church and her experiences of the material.

I've tried to do it before, individually, but again the lack of accountability was still an issue. So now I'm doing it with someone. I meet regularly with a good friend, Duncan, to keep accountable with one another, and we were both lamenting on how rubbish we were at regularly reading the Bible. I think accountability partnerships become useless if you don't try and do something about the problems you've discussed. So we decided that we would follow the WordLive plan and text each other after we'd read it to give each other our responses.

This seems to have solved the problems listed above:

• Accountability: Well, I've already discussed this one. Knowing that someone is waiting for a text from you is a good incentive. Also, if I forget, the text I receive from Duncan will give me a nudge.
• God seeking approach: WordLive has both a prepare and respond section in its reading, ensuring that it isn't a dry, intellectual approach. I also have to consider how it personally applicable to me because Duncan is waiting to find out.
• Variety: WordLive gives a lot of variety. We've covered passages from Acts, Galatians, Psalms and Numbers in the few weeks we've been doing it. They also have pictures, music, explanations of the cultural and social contexts and a summary of the main points of the passage. This prevents it getting dry and boring.

I may write a few posts on my responses to passages, but will tweeting them more regularly. If you don't already follow me on twitter, then this is a good time to start.

Quick Questions

1. Do you have an accountability partner? How has this helped you?
2. In what ways do you engage with the Bible? Do you listen to it being read, do you follow a plan, do you do more creative things?

Resource Wednesday

The second of the Resource Wednesday series. I'm doing well so far (mainly because I wrote this on the same day as the last one and scheduled it for two weeks time).

This week we'll take a brief look at The Resurgence website. It's a resource bank provided by Mars Hill Church (Seattle) and the Acts 29 network. It has loads of helpful posts about numerous topics, such as mission, being a Godly wife and Dead Guys.

I just love the amount of resources it has and the fact it has new things daily. It's primarily aimed at leaders (the site's motto is "We serve leaders"), but their definition of leaders is quite broad. This can include youth-leaders, leaders within the home or church leaders.

My only criticism is very hard to qualify and happens in only a tiny number of the articles. The site is American, and if you find people like Mark Driscoll grating, you'll probably find some of the articles grate with you too. It's not so much what they are trying to say, but the presentation of it.

It's quite a big site, with a lot of resources but to give you a flavour I'll pick out a small selection:

• 10 Things Submission Is Not
• The Death of the Mushy Middle
• A Disciple Serves Christ and Others

But be warned. Some of the stuff on this site is pretty challenging.

Quick Questions

1. What sites do you use?
2. Did you find the video about the Death of the Mushy Middle encouraging?
3. Have you found any good pages on The Resurgence website?

Resource Wednesday

I tried to a few series in my previous blog. It always ended badly. So, I'm probably going to need a bit of participation from you guys. Therefore, if you know any good online resources please let me know. They could be Bible study tools, sites with good videos or articles about Christianity. Feel free to just point me in a certain direction or write a guest post for me to put up.

I thought I'd start with a bog-standard one: BibleGateway.com. It's always been a really helpful site and you'll often find me on it. I often use it to read commentaries on different passages, to see what the passage is in a different version or just when I can't be bother to reach for my Bible which is probably in my bag next to me. The key to youth-work is efficiency and BibleGateway is a really good way to quickly look up multiple passages, especially when they can be spread across the whole Bible.

BibleGateway, however, was a bit clunky and you sometimes had to go obscure routes to read the commentaries. This is no more, because, as of today, BibleGateway has gone Beta.

New look of BibleGateway.com

Apart from the fact that it just looks cooler, it's also much easier to use. You can set up parallel readings and view the resources for that passage (such as commentaries and dictionaries) along side it. I makes delving and investigating passages a lot simpler and makes it a lot more rewarding. I is an really accessible way to learn about the richness and complexity of the Bible.

But don't let me convince you, let Rachel Barach. Or give it a go yourself.

Quick Questions

1. What do you think of the new look BibleGateway?
2. What internet resources do you use?

The next one will be up in a fortnight.

Mere Christianity

Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis is a classic piece of Christian writing. It is considered as one of the most influential books in shaping the evangelical church (ranked third by Christianity Today, see here). So I thought I would give it a go. I had that thought about three years ago, and so I started it. Then I gave up. So, about a year later I tried again. And gave up again too. But finally, I finished it.

Do not think for a moment that my repeated failed attempts say something about how good the book is. It's more telling about how I am easily distracted and forget to bookmark where I've got to. I've got to admit, the style is quite heavy and hard to plough through. You can only do it in 30 page stints, otherwise your brains may melt. But it's worth it.

C.S. Lewis explains some key Christian doctrine with clarity and really useful analogies. It discards the common myths about Christianity and explains clearly why and what the actual reality is. It covers quite a few topics, from the Trinity to Sexual Morality. It offers helpful illustrations with some of the mind-bending aspects of Gods (like the Trinity, and the eternal nature of Jesus), and he doesn't just explain the problems away. He observes that they are difficult, and that they should be. He also highlights how his illustrations are flawed and uses these flaws to point to the awesome and indescribable nature of God.

If you can get past the heavy and old-fashioned writing style it's well worth the effort.

[Random aside:

I'm currently writing this in the Trago Lounge (Third Place Communities and all that) as my internet is down at home. We were briefly joined by the Easter Bunny. That was exciting.]

Generosity

The generous will themselves be blessed,

for they share their food with the poor.

Proverbs 22:9 

Hung on the cross

Yesterday I wrote a post about Creative Prayer. As last night was a creative prayer session, I thought I'd go into more depth.

We watched the video below about the crucifixion and then read Isaiah 53.Some of the teenagers were really surprised by the fact that this was written hundreds of years before Jesus' death.

We then wrote confessions and put them into envelopes, so no one could read them, and hung them onto the peg cross. It was a really nice way to visually recognise how our sin was dealt with at the cross.

The evening went really well and it was really beneficial to have a space to reflect on the significance of the cross and what it means to us. It's so easy to forget the sacrifice that Jesus went through for us.