Hotel or House?

I was listening to a message a couple of weeks by a fantastic Australian pastor Danny Guglielmucci. He threw out an off the cuff question to his staff team which really challenged me. Are we building a place of visitation or habitation for God. This will probably have me thinking for some time, but I thought I might throw a few things down to see where it goes.

There is a distinct difference between setting up a place for someone who is coming to visit and for someone who lives there.

1. Visitors- you want to create an immediate impression so appearances are vital.

Residents- the long term improvement is your focus.

2. Visitors- you are only concerned about visitors while they are with you.

Residents- even when residents are not with you' they are still in your thoughts.

3. Visitors- you are not always that worried if they come back.

Residents- You would be worried if they were not there for any length of time.

4. Visitors- they do not leave a lasting impression your house.

Residents- everything in the house will remind you of them because they have put their touch on the house.

5. Visitors- are not really at home because it is not really their home if they only visit occasionally.

Residents- it is where they live and feel at home.

6. Visitors- you do not have to have any significant relationship to welcome a visitor.

Residents- when you live with someone your relationship grows and develops. You get to know them more.

I don't want our church community to have a visitation from God, I want Him to find a place of habitation. I want Him to feel at home, that He is not visiting a hotel but knows He can do what He likes because He is the head of the house.

Anyway just a few thoughts. I'm sure there are many more.

I would love you to leave your comments and add some more differences.

Jon

Unfriendly fire

One of the things that the internet has had the misfortune to perpetuate is the whole area of what is called Online Discernment Ministries. These are Christians who feel it is their duty to pretty much pull everything to pieces that doesn't fit with their own personal views on scripture.
I have been loathe to write this blog for some time as the last thing I want to do is fall into their way of online sniping.
I was going to call the blog "Friendly fire" but then found out that it is defined as "... inadvertent firing towards one's own friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces..." What I am talking about is neither inadvertent or an attempt to engage enemy forces. This is an outright attack on a fellow follower of Christ. The excuses given are often that people are in error & the Bible calls us to point out heresy.
A favourite misquoted scripture is Acts 17:11
11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.

I see nothing noble about the often vicious diatribe that is written and spoken. There is also no eagerness to see if the message is true, rather a cruel delight in quoting people out of context and trying to find where they can point out the smallest of errors.

Yes I do believe that we need to search the scriptures to check if what is being spoken or written is sound Biblical doctrine. As a pastor I want to teach people to think, not just what to think. I want to create forums where people can ask questions and explore scripture together. Where we can help each other move forward in our relationship with God and understanding of His word. I don't see that happening with the proliferation of the modern day witch hunters.

The sad thing is, like blood-crazed dogs, they often turn on each other. Somewhere in the lust for heresy hunting, the Great Commission has been lost. People have turned from playground bullying to intellectual & spiritual bullying. A recent example I heard was of a street "preacher" bullying a young teenager because of the church he goes to????

This is not bringing people back to the cross, it is not making disciples or being salt & light to a dying world.
No wonder the world laughs at us. They can't hear the gospel because of the sound of unfriendly fire.
A Christian should be someone who reminds others of the personhood of Jesus Christ. Nothing in this reminds me or points people in my world to Jesus.
Ok rant over. What are your thoughts?



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Back to basics 1

Being in Tanzania back in December reminded me yet again what is important to us as a church. 

It is fantastic seeing the beginning of another campus for NCLC. As with a baby, the 1st few years are vital for the continued development and growth of church. The more we get right at the start the less damage control we have to do later on.
Having received the blessing of Judah Caleb Cook into our family 17 months ago the basics of having a baby are fresh in my mind. Babies are thoroughly dependent on their caregiver and expect certain things from them- food, shelter, protection, love and not forgetting clearing up the mess they make. Planting a church or a campus is not too dissimilar.

As leaders we need to feed the church community, provide shelter & protection, give it love and clear up the mess that they make. When you haven't done it for a while you can forget the sleepless nights, the worry of getting it right and the cost of a newborn. Our NCLC Tanzania campus has reminded me of all this. The team of the Cotteys and the Hintons are doing a phenomenal job in getting things started but those of us who are parents all know how much easier life is when you have the support of our community around us. We also know how draining it can be when we feel we have to go through it alone. The UK NCLC campuses need to make sure that this baby and her parents over here not only know intellectually that they are connected and supported by us but also practically.

A couple of months ago Dee and I had the privilege of being in the USA and regularly phoned our kids back home. It was so good to hear their voices. Whilst in Tanzania I have Face Timed or Skyped home. The difference of not just hearing a voice but also SEEING a face has been unbelievable. Technology has made life apart so much better. The old saying "Out of sight, out of mind" is so true. The reverse is also true. With people in our view, whether in person or via technology, they are always fresh in our mind. When we connect let's try to connect with the team there visibly. They are bringing up a newborn and she is growing quickly.

Let's stay in touch with every method possible. 

My next blog will begin to look a bit more closely at how to raise a healthy baby/church community.

Tell me how you will keep the Tanzania team in sight and mind. 

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?

NCLC New Year's day message 2012

New Years Day message from Andrew Flewers on Vimeo.

A life that was lived.

Last week NCLC lost someone who had touched many lives during her short time being part of our community.
She wasn't part of the worship team or one of the speakers, she wasn't one of the recognised leaders of the church. She was "just" Lizzie. But for those people who knew her there was no "just" about Lizzie. She radiated warmth, enthusiasm and life.

One of my friends Craig has been deeply touched by her death. He wrote about the effect that she had on him. I will leave the rest to Craig Nelson.

Liz Jobes was a beautiful, young and vibrant girl. I'd known Liz for approximately 3 months. She came into our church with her amazing brother and sister; Peter and Rachel. Very quickly all three of them had an amazing impact on the life of our church, getting involved in whatever they could and serving on different teams.


I didn't know Liz as a close friend, she was after all 21yrs old and I'm a little older! (Come on Craig, more than a little) But I had the pleasure of small chats in passing and on a few occasions she was part of a group of people I was having lunch or dinner with.


That makes the impact her death has had on me all the more astounding. It's not necessarily the quantity of our interactions with others, but the quality of them. You realise when someone has died just what they gave you and what they have left you.


Lately, after the glow of being given a job with a dream shift pattern has worn off, after the horrors of going through a marriage separation have gone away, after becoming debt free and having surplus cash again, I expected to be ecstatic and excitedly move forwards into the future. Instead, the initial jubilation for all of the above lasted about 1 month and I began to feel kinda flat again. Why should this be? After all, I have so much to be thankful for! Yes, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, physically, going through tough times does have an effect on you. Having got through those actual situations I'm still dealing with the effects they may have had.

That's where Lizzie comes in. You see, Lizzie has taught or rather shown me something. She's shown me how to LIVE. I know that it's not our circumstances that dictate our Joy because even when things are ok I can still be pretty flat. So how can I live?


How can I save my general demeanour from being kinda miserable? By choosing to live the way Lizzie lived! This is how I see it, I cannot remember one single occasion when I saw Lizzie, that she wasn't smiling, not one, ever!


A person who is smiling is a person who is living every moment to it's fullest potential.


I can worry too much, I can think way too much about things, I think about the future, about tomorrow or next week or next month or when I get married again or when I'm a dad or when I retire! The list goes on, I think think think think think and in doing so I rob myself of the beauty of LIFE, I rob myself of the beauty of NOW. I close myself off to real life because the only real life that's happening is that which is happening NOW! I miss out on interactions with people because I'm not present, I may be physically, but inside I'm somewhere else, thinking or probably worrying!


When Lizzie died, her young age made me realise that we don't have that long, she had 21yrs but I feel she probably had way more than many who die in their eighties, why, because she lived in the present, with a great big beaming smile and innocence that meant she was open to everything that was happening around her at that moment. She was enjoying the moment and not selfishly hiding away in her own thoughts, thinking and worrying about herself and her life. She had an innocence that showed she wasn't hiding, she wasn't protecting herself from the world around her, like I often do.


Life can do that, we get hurt and broken by the stuff life can throw at us. We often respond by putting up walls and barriers, protecting ourselves from any future hurt that may occur.


But in doing so we rob the world of our true colours, we rob ourselves of life by not engaging with it. We rob our friends by denying them the way we are individually made in Gods image.






I want to live more like Lizzie,


live in the moment,


live innocently,


not hiding my colours,


letting God shine.


Thanks Lizzie. 

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?