Who is to blame?

This week we have seen more headlines of children vulnerable to abuse. We all want to know who is responsible. We want to know how can someone put these atrocities right. We want to know what is being done about it.

Unfortunately they are the wrong questions that we are asking. So all the time we are asking the wrong questions we will get the wrong answers.

So what are the right questions? The right questions start with not apportioning blame but claiming responsibility. If we start with the understanding that those children are our responsibility then the questions become very different. An old African proverb says "It takes a village to raise a child". We all play our part in raising children. The problems arises when we abdicate our responsibility. We become so involved in our own lives that we forget that God created us to live and thrive in community.

As society as a whole has become more individualistic, it becomes easier to lay the blame at someone else's door. Blame has NEVER solved a problem. Taking OWNERSHIP and RESPONSIBILITY will. Nehemiah said this "I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly towards you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses." (Neh 1:6-7) He aligned himself with the problem and from there started looking for the solution to the destruction of his city. As the church of Jesus Christ (who aligned Himself with the problem of sin and brought the solution from there) we too often move away from society's problems with the excuse that we are "not of this world". 

• Children being abused is not a government problem.
• The country's national debt and recession is not the government's problem.
• The riots that took place last year is not the problem of poverty.
• Human trafficking is not a police problem.
• Children's lack of literacy and numeracy skills is not an education department problem.
• Childhood mortality in Africa is not Africa's problem.
• Children in care is not a social services problem.
• Litter and pollution is not a local authority problem. 

They are all MY responsibility. They are YOUR responsibility. They are OUR responsibility.

We start looking for someone or organisation to blame because it is easier than to look at our own lives and say "I'm sorry, I did not play my part in looking after you". 
Please understand I am not saying that governments, local authorities, corporate business etc does not bear some weight of responsibility. 
They do. 
But so do we.
We can't do everything but we MUST do something.
If we began, each of us, to say that is my problem, how can I fix it, imagine what a difference we could make.
What small decision could you make today that begins to take ownership of a problem you see?
Pray with me a version of Nehemiah's prayer and then ACT.

 "I confess the sins we, including myself and my family, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly towards you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave us.

Here I am Lord send me"

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The Cry

Many of you who are from my home church NCLC will know that I have held little store in owning our own building as a base for our Sunday service venue. I could psychologise this as having moved around a fair bit as a child or just accept that maybe God wanted me to hold having a permanent base loosely in my heart.
That is up until now.
We have been moving around for the last six and half years. Last April we finally purchased our first piece of property- our offices in the centre of Newcastle. They are a very different setting from everything being run from what should have been our dining room.
We still have no home to base our Sunday services from and the many other ministries that I feel God has called us to impact our community with.
We have been looking for such a place.

Last week at our (too!) early prayer meeting we were praying for favour with the building and the local authorities in change of use. As we were praying I felt God impress on my heart the word "CRY". The building would be a place that evoke a cry.

The cry would be a cry from the broken.

A cry from those in anguish.

A cry from the desperate.

A cry that would change as people felt the presence of God in the building.

The cry would become a cry of release.

A cry of forgiveness.

A cry of wholeness.

A cry of gratitude.

How can a building illicit this?
Certainly not from a lick of paint or ambient lighting. A building can only see this response when it and the people who call it home are dedicated to welcoming home those in need and those who need to know the love, grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.

NCLC, as a church will never be defined or confined by a building but a building that becomes a home can be an incredible tool. When we find a building that becomes our home, we will hear a cry that will resound across the North East.
Hope this helps you understand where we are heading as NCLC.
Love to hear your thoughts.



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Hopelessly devoted to you.

Hopelessly devoted to you.

Today I was listening to some classic tunes from the film Top Gun. It brought back some great memories of years gone by. In the weird way my mind works at times, I ended up humming the classic Grease song by Olivia Newton John "Hopelessly devoted to you." It was sad I know but we have all done something as equally cheesy.

Anyway with those the only four words of the song that I know they began to go round in my head. I began to think about the words I was singing. 

What am I devoted to?

Is there a hopelessness about my devotion, an unrequited love.

Or is it a devotion that brings hope?

As we move into a brand new year I need to check-

• The direction of my devotion
• That my devotion level is high.
• That my devotion is filled with hope.

Direction of devotion

What am I devoting my life to? Not just the grand ideas and values that I have but how does that translate to my everyday life. To my time, my finances, my language & my emotional buy-in.

The direction of my devotion must always line up with the Word of God, our plumb-line. What does the Bible tell us that our life should be devoted to?

Firstly it should be given over and devoted to God. There should be no thing and no one that comes before him. When God asked Abraham for his son God didn't want the sacrifice, He wanted to know of Abraham's totally obedience. Who was higher in Abraham's devotion, his son Isaac or his God, Yahweh. God asks us the same question. Who receives your devotion?

There are other people or things that need our devotion. Are we devoted to our spouse? Are we devoted to them above our children. Tough question but a Biblical principle. 

Acts 2 :42 informs us of what the early church community devoted themselves to.

The teaching the apostles had reached from Jesus

The fellowship- not just fellowship, but THE fellowship.

The breaking of bread- keeping what Christ had done  for them at the centre of their thinking.

Prayer- close, intimate, regular communication with God.

Does our life follow similar patterns?

Devotion level

I'm not really sure if you can measure the level of devotion. Are we just devoted or not? Whether we can measure it or not, people around us should be able to look at our lives and be able to see that there is something slightly unbalanced about our lives as devoted people are never balanced people.

Hope filled devotion

Does my devotion cause my life to be filled with hope whatever the circumstances around seem to show? Hebrews 11 shows us a group of people who were devoted to someone that caused their lives to be filled with the actions of faith and the certainty of hope. 

Lately, probably more than ever, I am filled with the hope of what Christ is doing and where He is leading us as a church. Circumstances would not seem to show this. In seven Sundays we will be without a venue, finances are incredibly tight and we are still in the grip of a global recession. 

So my hope cannot come from circumstances. My hope MUST come from someone that is bigger than my or even world circumstances.

The only way that our devotion can be hope-filled is to place it on the rock of ages, the God of eternity, the healer of the sick, the provider, the grace giver, the releaser of the captives, the forgiver of sinners, the lifter of the downtrodden, the home builder for the homeless, the only giver of hope who is totally worthy of our devotion

So my question is how will your world see the object of your devotion today?

Enemies with faces

This week has been a busy week for us. We have been attending lots of meetings and using time to prepare for the move to our new venue in two weeks. So to be called into a meeting at 24 hours notice with the venue management was not something we were expecting or had scheduled into our already busy diaries.

There was a sense of "What's wrong?" that we were carrying before the meeting. As much as I tried to remain positive, my thinking continually went down the worst case scenario. As we entered the meeting I felt I knew WHAT the problem was, WHY it had come up, and WHO it had come from. Unfortunately I was right on all three counts.

Now the outcome was not all doom and gloom, as we are still in the venue for the three months that they had agreed to, but we are not sure what happens after that. The thing for me is that because I know where the objections are coming from I can quite easily put a "face" on the enemy. This is the easy way and unfortunately what many Christians have done down through history. We have become known more for what and in particular WHO we stand against.

That was immediately the direction my thinking took. It was then the words of the Bible came ringing in my ears "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Eph 6:12. Its easy to fight an enemy with a face but much harder to face an enemy that we can't see, protest or blog against.

As I thought about it, I was reminded that we are in a SPIRITUAL battle and we need to fight with SPIRITUAL tactics and SPIRITUAL weapons. Our strength is in God not legal systems.

The Bible is that which we calibrate our life against so what does it say about this situation?

• Enemies without faces are to be fought with the full armour of GOD including the WORD and FAITH, also with PRAYER and with FASTING.

• Those who we think are enemies with faces are to be loved, which means that we don't actually have any enemies with faces.

So over this next week before the management meet to make a decision on our long term future in the venue

1. we will present a good case as to why we should be there, 
2. extend the hand of friendship and offer to meet with those who object to us being there
3. pray and fast against our real enemy.

We need to be clear on who are our enemies are NOT as much as who the enemy IS.

Will you join with us and commit to praying but also maybe fast for a day or two?

"...in My name..."

When we are told to ask for things in the name of Jesus what does that really mean? 

Can I get away with asking for whatever I like and then just tagging it with "in the name of Jesus" and so expecting to get what I want.
I have been thinking about this lately and wondered what it means. When we look at what "in the name of Jesus actually means we get another sense of our relationship with Him and how we can expect Him to hear and answer our prayers.

"In the name of Jesus" (or "in my name") is stated several times in both the Old & New Testament. When this phrase is used it is used in the context of someone coming with the authority of the person they are naming. It also implies that they are under the authority of that same person. This is shown in Jesus' interaction with the centurion in Matt 8:9. He understood that only authority he had was that which was given to him. He was not coming in his own name.

When we do or ask for things in the name of Jesus, we need to ask ourselves have we really submitted ourselves to His authority. Do we trust that when He answers, the answer is from His will not ours. If He chooses not answer in our timing are we still under His authority?

1. Remember that if we are saying things in His name then we should also be under His complete authority.
2. Remember if we are doing things in His name, are we living in such a way that show we are reflecting the authority that He has over us.
3. Remember when we ask for things in His name, let's trust that He will give us whatever answer is best for us.