It’s great how the Bible can make such a difference to people who have suffered hurt and pain in their lives. The following interview was recorded with Margaret Hill and John Ommani, two Scripture Use Consultants, who work across Africa helping people to recover from the effects of traumatic experiences.
This morning those of us still in the offices at Wycliffe Bible Translators met together to pray. Eddie led us through the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6. For those of you who have forgotten, the prayer goes something like this…
9“This, then, is how you should pray:
” ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
One thing that I’m still pondering is the fact that the words of this prayer imply community. Nowhere are we taught to pray for, ‘my daily bread’, or to, ‘deliver me from the evil one’. Instead it’s our or us; we should be praying this for others as well as for ourselves.
What do you think?
I suggest that many local congregations have not been of great assistance to world mission. Such advances have not taken place because of, or at the instigation of, the local congregation. The support for world mission has come from individual Christians from within the churches, rather than from the churches themselves.
That’s a direct quote from Changing Global Mission Culture in the UK Church which is published by Global Connections in a collection of papers called Churches and Agencies in Partnership. I can’t seem to find a free copy online so I’m going to do some grovelling and see if I can get a copy to send out with my next newsletter because it really is worth reading.
Since joining Wycliffe Bible Translators I’ve discovered that I now spend a lot more time thinking about mission than I ever did when I was part of a church – but that shouldn’t have been the case! If mission is supposed to be a core activity of a Christian community and a key element in every Christian’s life, regardless of the context they are living in, why did I have to join a mission agency before I had the opportunity to think seriously about many of the issues involved.
Why is a mission agency asking more questions about connecting in the local context than the local church that’s already there?
This paper, Changing Global Mission Culture in the UK Church, should probably be essential reading for all church leaders. Even if they disagree with the conclusions they would, at least, have to think through some of the issues that it throws up.
The paper lists the present situation in many churches as
- World mission is a marginalised interest for most and a fervent commitment for a few. Many church members are glad that their church has a world mission programme, but don’t want to have much to do with it themselves. ‘Missionary’ events are poorly supported.
- The world mission mandate is connected to the Great Commission. The unspoken logic is that ‘We do it as a church because Jesus told us to.’
- World mission involvement is limited to what comes from ‘missionary’ people or societies and is disconnected from what comes via the TV screen, from world news or news documentaries.
- World sport, world music, fair trade concerns, environmental calamities, political issues, international business travel and tourist travel are not promoted in church as issues that interest God or impact on our faith.
- Younger church members take little interest in the church’s world mission culture.
- On a weekly basis, world mission is represented by a world map with a few pins stuck in it and a small pile of ‘missionary’ magazines, untouched and rather out of date.
- Even when young people have been on short-term programmes and their involvement has energised and interested other young people, it often has done little to change the culture of the church as a whole in relation to world mission.
From a mission agency point-of-view, the opinion is,
Agencies know that most of the resources of people, prayer and finance that they need come from committed individuals in churches rather than from the church as a whole.
That’s a statement that’s easy to agree with, because, even if we don’t like it we need to acknowledge that it’s true.
The paper, rather than just criticising the current stage of affairs, does gives a few suggestions as to how our thinking and practices should be adjusted
To break the unhelpful church culture, we need to take a step back and stop talking about world mission… Instead, we need to help people relate biblically to the world.
The church needs to recapture its global characteristics. Mission starts at the end of the pew and extends to the ends of the earth.
Close down anything that marginalises world mission and gives it a specialist only label.
In many churches, the only things that relate personal faith to the world have a ‘missionary’ label. That’s the culture that we must change.
I feel awkward with the notion that people in full time Christian work are somehow more special than anyone else. I also feel pretty uncomfortable with the notion that people working overseas require more special attention than those who go to school, or the office or look after the home. I fully appreciate that there are significant challenges for people working in an alien culture, but their work and the importance of their relationships shouldn’t be any more valuable than those who are doing their best to obey God where they are right now.
I believe that the church in the UK has to do some significant thinking when it comes to their values associated with mission, but then so do many mission agencies – the one I work with included. Maybe this paper would be a good starting point.
There’s a mildly interesting piece in the local news [Bucks Free Press] about the Wycombe MP, Steve Baker, being quoted as saying ‘Christians have had enough‘. It’s a statement in response to Tom Blenkinsop, MP for Middlesborough South, voicing concern over Christian groups having a say in schooling.
Mr Blenkinsop is quoted as saying, ‘The changes pave the way for schools to teach creationism’.
Why is creationism trotted out every time there’s any hint of religion playing a part in education. If every child, from tomorrow, was taught that the world came about as a result of creation and not a cosmic event, what would the result be? The origins of the world play a very small part in a child’s education. Any religious education would have very little impact on maths classes or PE. Religious education should, I’d hope, still involve an understanding of different world religions, French and German would still be the same languages, English would still require the reading of classic books and an understanding of grammar.
What should worry us more is that children are being taught that the world came into existence by some kind of cosmic event with no thought given to other theories. Even world class research scientists wouldn’t discount the possibility that there is something more behind the dawning of our universe than just a collision of particles.
See more videos in this series from God: New Evidence
Last night was the first get together of a small group of us from Cornerstone church in Thame. We were discussing the future of our young church and what it’s going to look like as we aim towards… Well, we just don’t know yet quite what we are aiming towards and when we are going to get there, that’s the whole purpose of the group.
One of the questions we thought about last night was, ‘What do you like about Cornerstone?’. I said something about liking the fact that it was a bit messy and disorganised – it meant that people could be themselves, as questions, interrupt, that the children feel welcome and able to be themselves. Actually, I don’t like that, there’s a whole part of my personality that leans towards wanting a building and pews and a sermon slot and for the children to sit quietly… but I’m not sure that fits with my belief of what a church should be. The formal stuff sounds much more like a meeting than a family gathering.
So what should a church be like for you? Taking sermons and Bible readings and prayers and songs for granted… what would you want your church to look and feel like?
If you don’t go to church, this can be answered by you too. If you were going to walk into a church building for a church service, what would you want (not what do you expect, but rather what would you want)? What would you want a church service to feel and look like?
Renault Clio Repair Manual
Tany’s back at the garage with the car. I wish I was a practical kind of guy who knew what was what under the bonnet and could fix things myself, but that’s not me so we have to use garages.
Yesterday the car went in for new front tyres (we had a bit of a slow puncture) and to have the handbrake tightened. The new tyres were a quick fix, but the car was leaking a bit of brake fluid, so Tany had to take the car back in this morning to have that sorted out and some new discs put on.
Only, today, when they start removing bits to fix the breaks the wheel bearings fall out. So that’s another bit that needs replacing.
The cost has gone up accordingly, from £100 to £250 to somewhere over £300. Oh well, better that the car is safe and working well than in pieces at the side of the motorway. Besides, it’s why Tany’s job comes with mileage payments. As she drives around to visit patients she gets more than the fuel costs to help to keep the car on the road.
That said, when do payments for car repairs outweigh the cost of replacing the car? I don’t think we are there yet. Tyres and brakes are to be expected when you’re doing the kind of mileage we are. But when the other bits start packing up, where’s the line?
The episode has given us one funny story. The guy working on the car told Tany about a girl who was bringing in a car with a puncture. The phone conversation had included the classic line… “it’s not too bad, the tyre’s only flat at the bottom!”
Do you remember Live Aid? I seem to have some memories of the day, but I was only 9 years old and can’t really be sure of how much is from seeing the event live on the television or from news reports afterwards. I do remember the famine in Ethiopia. For my generation I suspect that the memories are still so powerful it’s what we immediately think of when Africa is mentioned, starving children.
This week BBC4 have been marking the anniversary of Live Aid with a couple of programmes that show how the concert was put together. It may have been one of the largest concerts ever put on but it was pulled together by Bob Geldof, Harvey Goldsmith and Midge Ure with bluff, smokescreen and an inability to accept the word ‘no’. If you can access the BBC’s iPlayer it’s worth taking a look at the Live Aid programmes broadcast this week – be warned, you usually only get one week to access them.
The concert was claimed to have raised between £40 and £50 million for famine relief. Consider this was back in the 80′s and you’ll start to realise what an amazing feat it was.
This was largely down to two events. One was Bob Geldof charging into the BBC commentary box because he was sure the TV wasn’t making enough appeals. He just sat down, looked at the camera and said, ‘send me your money’. He’s been misquoted a bit as he was reported to have dropped an expletive into the appeal, but looking back at the television footage it’s clear that he didn’t. He swore at the BBC commentator who wouldn’t give the phone number out before reading the appeal address.
Then there was David Bowie – even a huge star back then – he cut his set short to be able to show the following film.
You’ve got to feel sorry for the Who, who were the next band on stage.
The acts that appeared realised pretty early on that performing could make a real difference to their careers. While everyone was pretty good, two bands stand out for special mention. U2, who were a new(ish) band and Queen, who had been huge but had kind of started a downward slide. Both bands managed to command the huge crowd in their own unique ways.
Once a week I try to tidy up my Twitter account and spend a few minutes looking at new followers. I’ve stopped following every organisation and person that follows me, but if there’s something there that sparks my interest I’ll check you out for a few weeks. Anyway, this week I end up on Matt Edmundson’s blog.
Matt’s a Christian guy blogging on entrepreneurship, business, the use of technology (PowerPoint to web 2.0) and his life. We both seem to share similar motivation for moving to Liverpool – I went there in 1996 to ‘study’ and watch Liverpool play football but, unfortunately, couldn’t find a way to stay in the city. We seem to have a few similar interests, including marketing.
From: 'Update: a new definition of marketing' on Matt Edmundson's blog, http://www.mattedmundson.com/2010/06/update-a-new-definition-of-marketing/
That’s really what got my interest, especially his diagram on the movement of an individual from first contact, through being a customer to being an ally of your business/organisation. The final step looking something like this…
Movements come as a result of deepening the connection with Customers and thereby creating Allies. This is where I want to take the companies that I am involved in – not being just a business but a movement, and I guess to do that I have work at getting the customers in to the Ally phase, because here is where the magic starts to happen.
I’ve got a busy day ahead but I plan to spend some time thinking through the full diagram and how it would impact on the operation of Wycliffe Bible Translators in the UK.
If you’re interested in this stuff it’s worth checking out Matt’s blog.
It’s always good to hear about new people joining Wycliffe Bible Translators, and even better when you can read a little bit about them. We work within an interesting community, with so many people from so many countries [see stats here] working together towards a common goal.
Sarah Barnes is in the process of joining Wycliffe in Canada and will go into a role recruiting a mobilising more people to get involved in the translation movement. You can read more about her on her blog – she’s still got a way to go raising her support before she can start properly so you can see how that’s going too.
One page worth taking an extended look at, is the collection of videos she’s put together illustrating all the different aspects covered by the work of Wycliffe Bible Translators.
On Sunday I was preaching at our home church, Cornerstone in Thame. You can listen to the audio and see the sermon notes either by clicking on the Talks and Seminars tab on the menu bar at the top of this page, or by following this link:
Wycliffe Bible Translators Blog