thecrowdedhouse

I have a shelter

2010-08-30T16:56:00.003+01:00

Ryan and Levan built a very cool shelter in Padley Gorge. We sat in it as the rain came and thought about the greatest of Shelters.

I love this

2010-03-23T18:54:00.003Z

The images, the song, the poem but most of all the amazing energy of Arif Lohar with his chimti.

Hit me...chop me

2008-06-18T21:45:00.003+01:00

You may remember a posting way back where I invited you to keep the gospel before me and to hit me with your gospel stick.

I still mean it.

In fact, maybe I need Butch Yelton's method:

Existence of God

2008-06-13T08:39:00.003+01:00

knockin' on heaven's door

2008-06-12T09:41:00.003+01:00

Latest voxpop for Summer in the City

No thanks to Windows Movie Maker

2008-06-05T09:58:00.002+01:00

I don't know why I keep using it. It is pants. More crashes than an evening at the stock car track. But finally, it helped me come up with this for our upcoming Summer in the City.

New church beginning

2008-06-02T21:58:00.005+01:00

My bro Ant Adams in Derby has at last answered the call.
(Did you realise my recurring Farside cartoon was aimed at you all this time, bro !? That's you on the sofa and Emma urging you on).

I am very very excited for them and the Urban Life Team.

Sam, Fi and I from TCH went down to spend a lovely and evening with them recently. I came back really inspired as they make their first tentative steps to plant a household congregation in Normanton, Derby- a very similar area to our beloved Sharrow. (A report notes that "There are 27,200 people who live in Normanton and the area contains over 50% of Derby’s minority ethnic community. Normanton is the one of Derby’s areas for regeneration as agreed by Derby City Partnership. There is a range of social and economic problems...").

Sounds perfect for church planting!

Please pray for these brave soldiers of Christ.

Blessings guys. Lots of big ones!

appreciating communal prayer

2008-06-02T21:32:00.002+01:00

We're praying more in The Edge Network.
One aspect that I appreciated today was that it encourages me to be less individualistic about MY ministry and opens my viewpoint wider to see I am part of a family, a body, a team and we are ministering together. Communal prayer has that effect. I like that.

wow

2008-05-22T18:36:00.000+01:00

You should watch this... exceptionally rare candidness

Trapped

2008-05-22T08:59:00.004+01:00

Many asylum seeker mothers are trapped in a scheme making it very difficult for them to buy essentials for their children. The government supplies them with luncheon vouchers instead of cash. This means they cannot use public transport or buy non food items (eg. nappies and baby items) but they can buy McDonald's and shop at certain supermarkets (which may be several miles from their home).

See the BBC report here.

We are part of a counter-scheme in Sheffield buying vouchers from mothers with young babies. Can you help?
A friend of mine has been running this scheme to help by buying vouchers from mothers with young babies. The scheme has grown over the last few months and we now have a stockpile of Morrisons vouchers and luncheon vouchers (usable at all major supermarkets for food items). Unless we can sell these, we cannot buy any more. Luncheon vouchers can be used for any food shopping at a large range of supermarkets, listed on the books.

If anyone could buy some vouchers from us now and consider buying regularly in the future that would be wonderful!

Please contact me if you can help in this.

Please pray for Apo

2008-05-12T11:10:00.004+01:00

I have just started praying for Abdullah "Apo" Ocalan. Will you join me?

He is the founder of the PKK - Kurdish organisation aiming to form a Kurdish state. He is at present imprisoned on a Turkish island. He is the hero of many Kurds. What a bombshell if he was born again!

Friends round for curry...or are they?

2008-04-15T12:07:00.005+01:00

A great evening last night at our regular Curry Club as we ate and chatted. I asked for my Pakistani friends to explain and tell me what they thought of something a Kurdish friend had told me the night before:

"More friends, more stress".

The idea being that you are expected to do anything for a friend. They own you, almost! They need money you will give it. They make a n agreement with someone without consulting you, ON YOUR BEHALF (even for the marrying off of your daughter!) then you comply. Of course you do. You are their friend.

What ensued was a wonderfully challenging and fascinating hour or so of insights into friendship and how it is seen in Punjabi culture. It really got me thinking. It made me question if I can ever really be a 'fast friend' of a Pakistani (in their eyes) such is the expectation of utter commitment and personal sacrifice. Is this my guarded western-ness? I think a lot of it is. We have diluted and minimised friendship to the extent that we treat it casually. I think I have.

All kinds of beautiful glimpses of Pakistani thinking and cultural practice came out as we laughed and talked. Such as Punjabis exchanging turbans with closest friends. Once they exchange turbans they become friends for life and forge a permanent relationship. They take a solemn pledge to share their joys and sorrows under all circumstances. Exchanging turbans is a glue that can bind two individuals or families together for generations. Reminscient of David and Jonathan, I thought.

But also, there came the questions of when a friend betrays you or simply disappoints you. What happens then? Someone who has been this bosom friend can become your enemy. "That's it!" said one of the men there, gesturing strongly that such a situation meant it was all over. "Khalas!"

I have witnessed this many times as friends idolise friends and then become disenchanted and break off. No forgiveness. I think this is a key thing in that friendship is often a deeply selfish thing (in any culture). The thinking is so often: "It serves me and my needs and must meet my expectations". This is a recipe for disaster.

What did it mean that Jesus was the friend of sinners? Yes he made the ultimate sacrifice for them, but how did it play out in everyday life? His was in an Eastern context after all.

I am trying to think biblically what it means to be a friend. I am finding it hard. Maybe you have some insights into the Word on it or some comments about Western thinking and friendship.

Drop me a line.

Easy to miss...

2008-04-11T16:41:00.001+01:00

h.t. Andy Shudall

We talk a lot about strategy in TCH.
I hope we don't miss what God is doing in and and amongst our detailed looking at stuff and fail to see what God is doing.

Have you booked yet?

2008-03-31T14:21:00.002+01:00

10 days of glorifying Christ the King of our neighbourhoods as we share his good news and serve the community with words and works of light.

Join us?

This was on secular TV?

2008-03-26T15:06:00.002Z

An excerpt from ER

Should Christians support homosexuals suffering discrimination?

2007-12-01T09:55:00.000Z

I found this helpful. I reproduce it here for any of you who have felt uncomfortable (as I at first did) or even shocked, that I should be helping to spearhead the campaign to halt the deportation of Pegah Emambakhsh, an Iranian lesbian.
( Facebook: Stop the Deportation of Pegah Emambakhsh)

Christians should be in the forefront of those who protest when homosexuals are treated unjustly. That is because love and injustice are incompatible. Whenever homosexual people are the object of snide humour on the television screen or harsh penalties in the law-courts, genuinely loving Christian people ought to be the first to stand up in their support. Any minority group which suffers discrimination should have full Christian backing in a struggle for their legal and moral rights.
My second suggestion is also a requirement, if biblical standards are to be kept. Those who accept the Bible’s veto on homosexual behaviour must go out of their way to express genuine love for homosexual people.

David Field,
formerly Vice-Principal of Oak Hill Theological College, London.

The full article appears here

Macedonian Call?

2007-11-28T15:13:00.000Z

“The Kurdistan Region is open for business! We have many needs and thus many opportunities. Nearly everything we use and consume, including much of our food, is now imported from abroad. We need foreign investment in every area of our economy, and my advice is: come here, look at our markets, our people, and our infrastructure, and help us to build our economy…. Fly into our new airports, drive our improving roads, and bring your expertise and knowledge. You will not be disappointed.”

--Prime Minister, Nechirvan Barzani

Sound tempting??

2007-11-28T09:06:00.000Z

This attractive sounding eatery is up in Burngreave. I haven't been in yet. Maybe one day.

Shame and honour

2007-11-10T22:25:00.001Z

I think we all would acknowledge the cultural differences between (broadly speaking) Eastern and Western worldviews. It wasn't until I was asked to speak at a conference last week on Shame and the M@slim mindset that I realised just how vast the differences were. A UNICEF report especially helped me see the issues of publicness/visibility being the factor that enabled some to behave in certain immoral ways as long as it was unknown or unmentioned. Honour is not a quality it is a gift to the Pushtoon people. What matters is what the community think, not what your personal values/conscience say.

I enjoyed thinking into and presenting some thoughts on shame and defilement, shame and community and shame and association, and realised how very little I was aware of this whole 'other world' (and how much Scripture addresses these issues).

So many Western theology books fail to engage with shame. I had to go to good old John Owen to bring some helpful Scriptural thinking:

Through fear man is taught the guilt of sin. Through shame man is taught the filth of sin. By the sacrifices of atonement, God taught his people the guilt of sin. By the ordinances for purification, God taught his people the filth of sin. By these Levitical laws, sacrifices and purifyings, internal and spiritual things were symbolized. They foreshadowed Christ and his work, which brought real and actual spiritual cleansing (Hebrews 9:13, 14). So the whole work of sanctification is pictured by 'a fountain opened for sin and uncleanness' (Zechariah 13:1).

John Owen, 'Holy Spirit'.

Here is the link for UNICEF report which makes for disturbing reading in its latter part, but is so worth reading for its section outlining shame culture (p.12ff) which so very helpfully blows the whole shame culture in NW Pakistan wide open: http://www.crin.org/docs/resources/publications/SexAbuse1.pdf

I am sure some of you out there have thoughts that would help me as I continue to think into the subject, especially as it relates to ministry among M's.

Care to share them?

Siding with the oppressed

2007-10-31T21:25:00.001Z

Isaac and I and a friend from the Kurdish team went to show our solidarity with our Kurdish friends on Saturday. I had helped them plan a silent demo outside the Town Hall protesting the Turkish oppression of Kurds in Turkey and now increasingly in Iraq. And now we stood with them to show they are not alone in their plight.
There is no doubt that the Kurds have been treated abominably throughout history and still today are denied basic rights in the countries that 'occupy' their land.

"Why don't they protest back in their own country?" asked one passer-by rather contemptuously. Some of them have and ended up in prison for it. Simply possessing the Kurdish flag in some instances will land you in real trouble.

The balance of political involvement, entering into the arena of the many painful Kurdish issues and our commitment to building the Kingdom of God with the gospel remains a difficult tension. And probably it is good that it is so. Please pray for us in that constant struggle. We want to be clear in our Kingdom priorities but compassionate and empathetic for a hurting people and involved in the stuff of their world.

You may have thoughts on it. Let us know.

Shabbey

2007-09-26T21:51:00.001+01:00

TCH Kids has been reborn and renamed, reflecting a new cooler image (as the kids get older) and nicely expressing the partnership that is being ratcheted up between TCH Sharrow and TCH Abbey (hence 'Shabbey' !).

Please pray for Isaac, Seth, Josiah and Al (from Abbey) as they plan and execute this gospel ministry.

The Night of Power/The Night of Destiny

2007-09-26T10:07:00.002+01:00

Sounds like a corny movie title, but the Night of Power/Destiny ('Laylatul Qadr') is the key moment in the Isl@mic calendar (23 or 27th day of Ramadhan) coming up any day now, when M@slims often pray all night as it is believed one's prayers will be much more likely to be heard and answered; the one night of the year when heaven is open and blessing is available.

Here's what one Islamic writer says about it:

I am sure everyone of us would like to live a life free of sins and free of mistakes. Everyone would like to meet All@h on the Day of Judgment without sins. Everyone of us would like to feel that he/she is reborn today. All of us wish to rejuvenate ourselves, and to start a new year with a fresh outlook and a fresh life. Everyone of us wants to live a pure life and everyone wants to purify himself/herself without anguish or torment. The Night of Power is one of the best ways in which a person is to achieve all these ideals. For this reason may I suggest that you start looking for it, so you will be able to observe it and enjoy it.

The authoritative Islamic writings say:
"Whoever stands in prayer in Laylatul Qadr while nourishing his faith with self-evaluation, expecting reward from All@h, will have all of his previous sins forgiven". (Hadith)

We are revelling in Hebrews as a church at the moment. I taught last week the thrill of the reality of Hebrews 10:19-20:
’And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the of Jesus. By his blood, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.’
There's no one day when we can be extra close to God, no single moment of power because of my prayer or merit, the way is open now and always because of the shed blood of the Saviour. Joy in these words Christian:
‘So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God … let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.’

The biggest Kurdish Party in Sheffield

2007-09-26T08:52:00.000+01:00

Such fun! What I thought was going to be hyperbole, turned out to be a matter of fact as the Kurdish party that our new TCH Kurdish Team organised really was the biggest thing Kurds had experienced in Sheffield. It went so well in every way. A great opportuntiy to show the Kurdish community here that we want to serve them for Jesus' sake.
The dancing went on for ages, but my legs have recovered now!

Biji Kurdistan!

2007-09-12T23:55:00.001+01:00

We're having a party for our Kurdish friends and the Kurdish community in Sheffield.

Part of our thinking is to showcase Kurdish culture and encourage Kurds to get their music, food, etc., out into the public domain more.

Next plan, a Kurdish film club (!?)

BBC and the campaign

2007-08-13T17:51:00.000+01:00

We (Free Adnan & Hiwa Campaign) get some air time on Tuesday from local BBC radio and television:

Tuesday BBC Radio Sheffield news bulletins.

and

Tuesday BBC1 Look North news 20 past and 5 to the hour (from 6am -9am) then 1.30 pm and 6.30pm news.

Thanks Marco & Natatlie.

Trip down memory lane

2007-08-11T09:27:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I went back. Back to where I grew up before I was 10.

72 Westby Street, Lytham.

It always feels like a bit of a dream when I go back to Lytham (near Blackpool). Nostalgia sure is a strong thing. I indulge myself every so often. Judith came with me and suffered the stories along with Jo and two young friends from TCH.
The power of stories, especially ones from the childhood of a parent can be very cogent. I still remember little memories my mother delights in: tales of local oddballs, Dickensian style schoolmasters and long gone places. They become part of my history somehow.

The windmill on the Green was the perfect backdrop for a story of mine. Aged 6, we as pupils at St John's Primary school were taken some sunny lunchtimes onto the Green to play. The rule was "No one must go around the windmill". I have no idea why! One day I decided to go around the windmill. I wasn't spotted. But back in the class room, snotty snitch Dawn Christopher pipes up: "Miiiiss. Andrew Stovell went round the windmill". I was called out and duly punished. Which was trousers down in front of the whole class and a slap on the leg. I went back to my table, trying to be brave. "It didn't hurt anyway", I whispered through gritted teeth to snotty snitch Dawn. What does she do? She pipes up again in her whining voice, "Miiiiss! he says it didn't hurt". The teacher called me out again and repeated the whole humiliating 'trousers down slap on leg' experience!

(It still didn't hurt, only my pride!)

(BTW, I forgive you Dawn and Mrs Poulter)

Then over to my back ally. The scene of many peashooter battles and water fights between "our end" and the enemy at the other. Strangely, they were Catholic and we were Protestant as it happens. ("St Peter's can't beat us, cos they've got rubbish teachers" went the war cry. We were from St John's Primary, they from the Catholic rivals, St Peter's)
Here we are standing on bins peeking over my old back yard wall. Not a lot has changed. I talked to a few old ladies, but none of them were around 35 years ago when I was a boy on Westby Street.

We then made our way to St John's graveyard. I wanted the kids to hear one last story. And by now, they were hooked. (What is it about memory-stories?)
I told them of Antony Storey. Looking back, he must have been a hydrocephalic child when he joined my infant class. Aged just 5, his oversized head made him instantly the one to laugh at and joke about. I remember not joining in but made him a friend. (Probably due to my mum's emphasis on kindness and looking after the misfits). Just a few weeks into term, Martin stopped coming to school. He had died. When the class visited his grave in St John's churchyard, I remember thinking how glad I was that I hadn't joined in the mocking. That at least he had had one friend.

It was great to catch up with Jan & Jamie who were with us in TCH and are now heading off to Afghanistan. Blessings guys. We had a farewell fish and chip tea with them at Whelans. Probably the greatest chippy on earth. As a kid, Saturdays were the business when we had fish and chips (or their amazing steak and kidney pudding), a bottle of D&B from The Dolphin, as Whelans was then called. I couldn't think of a better end to a day of nostalgia.

Any ideas?

2007-08-11T08:53:00.000+01:00

Have you seen this kind of thing in your neck of the woods?

Do you know why people throw trainers over telegraph wires?

Apparently, it's the boundary marker for drug dealers. I have it on good authority.

There's way too many in Sharrow.

A great day!

2007-08-06T14:14:00.001+01:00

What a great day!

It's clear that "Ian" is trusting in Christ, so this Sunday we baptised him in front of Kurdish and Iranian friends and church folk. Welcome my Kurdish brother to the family of God!

As one entered, we said a sad goodbye to my dear brother Dave Potter who goes down to Lougborough this week with Catriona to live and work there for the next 2 years or so, serving with TCH Loughborough. It's wonderful that we can send them knowing that they have the priority of God's Kingdom in their hearts.
Dave's been on the scene here since we arrived (5 years) and it's been a great privilege to get to know him and serve with him, firstly when he was a student, and lately as a teacher and part of TCH Sharrow team. But always a good friend and brother who was never slow in helping me in my growth as a Christian.
I will miss you my padawan. Keep the faith and lay down your life for the brothers.

Then a superb BBQ in God's Adventure Playground- Padley Gorge, with brothers and sisters and not-yet-brothers/sisters. Superb weather, great food (we even whacked on some steak leftover from Dave's fridge!), paddling, Kurdish wrestling (I nearly had him!) and gospel chats.

A perfect day.

Sheffield Protests

2007-08-03T23:13:00.000+01:00

The latest campaign protest for Adnan & Hiwa- Kurdish journalists sentenced to hang by the Iranian regime- took place today in Sheffield. Thanks to all who supported. Martin and his family were very appreciative.

Graffiti Defeaters

2007-08-01T01:57:00.000+01:00

We had fun and developed new contacts during SitC by doing rubbish clear ups, litter picking and painting out graffiti on my beloved Abbeydale Rd.
We didn't finish during the mission week, so Amer and I went back this week to do some more. And also to paint over graffiti that had appeared since we painted last time! (see pic)

It's great now to be able to honk my horn as I drive by and get a friendly wave from various shop keepers whose shop fronts looks so much better.

It was heartening to see one spot where we removed a load of rubbish and was really horrible to look at, now having become a lovely little garden! (See pic). Thanks to the tenant.

Here's my plan... getting local people outside the church involved in a continuing community project to defeat the graffiti. Having 'Paint out Days', etc. Join us?

Subduing God's world one wall at a time!

Martin's Appeal

2007-07-31T03:34:00.000+01:00

www.adnanhiwa.blogspot.com

2007-07-30T19:29:00.001+01:00

The campaign site is back.

Please refer to it and link to it. Quote it and use it as much as you can.

www.adnanhiwa.blogspot.com

Silenced! I wonder by whom?

2007-07-28T00:41:00.001+01:00

My other site: (I won't mention it here lest it happens again) has been blocked. It seems someone is unhappy and reported it. So while BLOGGER look into it, the site is down. (Two working days, they say).

I can only think that the only kind of person who would want that kind of site closing is someone who is embarrassed by its reports. The kind of person who is paid by a certain regime who feel criticised by its presence.

Hmmm.

Meanwhile, can you all make sure you turn up to our next Peaceful Protest for these K*rdish guys next

Friday August 3rd in front of Sheffield Town Hall
from 16.30 until 18.00.

Rock Hopping with my boys +1 in God's backyard

2007-07-25T16:03:00.001+01:00

Flood Aftermath

2007-07-25T15:21:00.000+01:00

Not for want of trying (Health & Safety stymied us at every turn!) we just couldn't get clearance to help with flood damage clearup at a local refugee hostel during our Summer in the City week.

Eventually this week (20 phone calls later), we had a green light. So a few of us from 4 TCH congregations went to the Station Foyer on the Wicker to clear out their basement.

Fun, Filth and Fellowship!

The team

2007-07-25T15:15:00.001+01:00

The Summer in the City guys who slogged away for TCH Sharrow.
Thanks bros n sisses. You were ace.

What a team!

new blog...please support us

2007-07-22T00:57:00.000+01:00

In support of Adnan and Hiwa, the two Kurdish men sentenced to death in Iran, I have set up a blog to inform people.

Please lend your support as much as you can. Thanks.

www.adnanhiwa.blogspot.com

execution imminent

2007-07-19T08:28:00.000+01:00

I just spent the evening with a dear Kurdish friend, here in the UK fleeing the Iranian authorities for being a Kurdish journalist. He has just heard the horrific news that his brother is to be executed in four weeks for alleged anti-government activity in Iran. His crime, it seems, was working for an environmental NGO "he was in love with the planet, and was working voluntarily in order to prevent any more damages to the environment," says one report.

To make it worse, the Iranian government have said they will release him if my friend gives himself up. Yeah right. But still he feels terribly responsible for the planned execution of his brother. I am putting a shoulder to a CAMPAIGN for his release along with his friend Adnan who has, it seems, had political affiliations. Can you help? Spreading awareness by writing to those in power seems to be the way ahead at the moment. Does anyone reading this have access into national press?

Remember these guys in prayer: Adnan Hassanpur and Abdolvahed (Hiwa) Butimar.

Please read this article and then contact your MP and get the word out.

(don't bother to try ringing the phone numbers at the bottom of the report, they are for Kurdistan)

reflections...

2007-07-18T17:46:00.000+01:00

Summer in the City is over. What a week! So much happened, but here's just one reflection.

Who can forget that BBQ with the flooded out Refugee Hostelers in our garden?! A lovely mix of people: Kurdish, North Korean, Eritrean, Iranian, Syrian, Congolese…amazing food cooked by H and Phil- thanks guys….great chat and laughter… C playing his tembur and R singing…the Kurdish dancing! …North Korean Mi whirling around in the middle of the circle like a crazy dervisher…as the evening grew still and some left and the darkness drew in... the candles and twinkling fairy lights as we drank a glass of Shiraz wine (originally Iranian as they happily pointed out)… conversation as it naturally turned to Jesus the friend of sinners…Iranian R as he expressed his deep interest in Jesus, quietly as he left…" he comes to me in my dreams"…

now I understand...slightly

2007-07-04T09:00:00.000+01:00

I was talking with my wife the other day about how Middle Eastern/Israeli issues and politics are so difficult to understand. Both of us wish we'd listened more in history (though it was never taught in my lessons, I don't think!).
So I found this a very helpful visual aid. Though I'm still hopelessly ignorant.

out and about

2007-06-26T01:50:00.000+01:00

It wasn't long ago since we ate an evening meal outside in our garden. I love that about England. Tea on the lawn.

And then what a great couple of hours we had one evening last week, me and my Iranian & Kurdish friends up on Higger Tor. We ate Iranian sweets and drank Iranian tea and sat and were stunned at the beauty of it all as the sun began to set

And then today! What happened to Sheffield!!?
I went for a kebab on the other side of the city with friends and was diverted on the way home because of the most incredible floods. I have never seen the like before. Utter chaos. We couldn't cross the River Don.
I eventually parked and walked and waded!
Every bin you passed was stuffed with broken umbrellas, all roads across the Don were eventually closed. Cars floated. It had an apocalyptic feel to it. Sadly my friends car which he parked up was half submerged, he discovered later this evening. Third party insurance only. Sorry Jerry.
Even sadder were the deaths of young 13 year old boy near our home and and a 68 year old man near where we ate kebabs.

Certainly one of my crazier days.

The Fence

2007-06-24T00:52:00.001+01:00

Met an interesting guy today in the course of my duties at Dad's Drop-in. He's a poet and recited for me a brilliant little piece he's written. Worth a listen.

Hot town, Summer in the City

2007-06-21T08:43:00.000+01:00

It's coming...

you know who you are...pick up!

2007-06-19T15:10:00.000+01:00

This Larson appeared on my blog ages ago. It appears again today for one person in particular.

It's all about mission...

2007-06-14T08:27:00.000+01:00

Worth checking out...

The Porterbrook Network -a developing initiative aimed at contributing to a wider church planting movement by equipping individuals and churches to rediscover mission as their DNA through training, resourcing and consultancy.

Why not sign up for the Porterbrook Training Sheffield weekly taught course and bring along some from your church who could eventually be the core team for a new church plant?

more info:
info@theporterbrooknetwork.org

That's a lot of sadness

2007-06-10T00:36:00.000+01:00

It is reckoned that 90% of asylum seekers are suffering from depression.

naughty?

2007-06-05T19:43:00.000+01:00

Am I very naughty for finding this very very funny?

funky wall

2007-06-05T08:10:00.000+01:00

We've been meaning to do it for ages.

At last, my girl Anna and a friend actually painted my office exterior wall with the customary rainbow. It looks very funky! Cheers Anna.

reverential thoughts of God’s greatness

2007-06-01T22:49:00.000+01:00

I don't blog it as often as I should, but I so enjoy our 'Owen-out-loud' sessions each week. More ofetn than not we come away challenged and made to think that bit deeper about our God and ourselves than we would normally in our light and fluffy culture.
Last week was excellent as we thought of the use we must make of reverential thoughts of the inconceivable God of awe and wonder that will surely help us overcome sin and temptation.
Owen writes:

We are dull and slow of heart to receive the things that are in the word revealed; God, by our infirmity and weakness, keeping us in continual dependence on him for teachings and revelations of himself out of his word, never in this world bringing any soul to the utmost of what is from the word to be made out and discovered—so that although the way of revelation in the gospel be clear and evident, yet we know little of the things themselves that are revealed. Let us, then, revive the use and intention of this consideration: will not a due apprehension of this inconceivable greatness of God, and that infinite distance wherein we stand from him, fill the soul with a holy and awful fear of him, so as to keep it in a frame unsuited to the thriving or flourishing of any lust whatsoever? Let the soul be continually wonted to reverential thoughts of God’s greatness and omnipresence, and it will be much upon its watch as to any undue deportments. Consider him with whom you have to do—even “our God is a consuming fire” [Heb. 12:29]—and in your greatest abashments at his presence and eye, know that your very nature is too narrow to bear apprehensions suitable to his essential glory.
(p.118)

Don't worry...lol

2007-05-20T22:21:00.000+01:00

Two business executives meet for lunch. Geoff asks “How’s your health?” Brian said, "I feel great! My ulcers are gone. And I don’t have a care in the world!"

Geoff says, "How did that happen?"

Brian said, "Well, you know my doctor told me my ulcers were caused from worrying. So, I hired myself a professional worrier. Whenever something worrisome comes up, I turn it over to him, and he does all my worrying for me!"

Geoff says, "Wow, I’d like to hire someone like that! How much does he charge?"

Brian says "50 thousand quid!"

Geoff asked, "How in the world can you afford £50,000?"

Brian says, "I don’t know. I let him worry about that!"

church in the home

2007-05-15T13:07:00.000+01:00

I can't remember where I found this but it makes a good point:

Getting close - The talk that never happened...

One can think of an imaginary conversation between Jesus and the Church, his bride on earth. The topic of the conversation was: Housechurches throughout the ages. ”You may remember that I said, I will build my Church,” Jesus said. ”And because I promised to be always with you until the end of the Age, I also wanted the church to be part of your every-day life, in the places where you live, in your houses.”
There was a murmur of astonishment amongst the disciples.
”Oh,” said Pachomius the founder of the monastic movement, ”what you intended to say was that you wanted us to be part of monastic orders and cells of monks?”
”Not exactly,” said Jesus.
”Ecclesiolae in Ecclesiae? - little churches within the real big church” asked Luther.
”Close!” said Christ, ”but not quite yet what I mean.
”Collegia pietatis - pious Bible reading groups in homes?” asked Ferdinand Christian Spener.
”Prayer groups, or at least community type fellowships?” asked the Moravians in Herrenhut. ”We could also call them Gemeinschaften!”, they added.
”No, I intend housechurches,” Jesus answered.
”Now we know what you mean. Bible study groups, right?!”
”Well, how about evangelistic Biblestudy groups, or how do you feel about LEGS, Lay Evangelistic Group Studies,” asked a movement in the Philippines in the 1970s.
In the latter part of the 20th centuries many voices shouted for attention, almost all at the same time.
”Is it Youth groups?,” they probed. ”Care groups? Sunday school groups? Small groups? Home groups? House groups? Life groups? Or maybe New Life groups? Follow-up groups? Discovery groups? Discipleship groups? Ministry groups? Oikos groups? Serendipity-groups?
”Well, he does not like the word ‘groups’,” someone suggested helpfully. ”Lets try it with cell!”
”Well, how about House Cells, then; or at least Home Cells? Care cells? Life cells? Or just plain Cells?”
No answer.
”Alpha! what he means is Alpha groups!” exclaimed someone. ”He will like the name, and we like the food and the fact that it is only community for a short time. Just what our short-lived society looking for.”
”Base Ecclesial Communities?” asked a movement in the Roman Catholic Church.
”Is it TLC?”
”What is that?” asked Jesus.
”Well, Tiny Little Churches, of course,” was the answer.
”I do not understand the first two words in that slogan. What is so tiny and little about me?”, asked Jesus.
”Well, then, we have found it! Cell church, complete with Assistant Subdivisional Zonal Pastor, type B-Evangelism harvest events and a long list of proven conversation-icebreaker questions,” exclaimed somebody.
”Well,” said Jesus, ”what I really mean is just housechurches, simple unsophisticated housechurches, the church as they meet in ordinary homes. Why is that so difficult to understand for you?”

Gulp!

2007-05-09T16:29:00.000+01:00

Sometimes it's because there's nothing much to say, sometimes busyness. Recently I have had loads of gospel opportunities with people whose photos and stories I'd love to put here but respect for their privacy means I should be careful. I don't think I'd want to be pasted and named on blogs in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan!

However, here's a discreet pic of one of the best recent moments. Spit roast chicken and khubz with 4 Kurdish guys in the back of a local shop. (spot the loo 2 metres away!). Amazing food and fellowship. Two of the guys are wanting to become Christians, it seems. Times like these open their hearts.

The "gulp" is in reference to last Sunday. I am teaching through Hosea in TCH Sharrow and forgot my notes. Aaarrgh! But... The Holy Spirit is alive and well and helping His children. It was, according to one person, the best teaching time I have led! It was great having everyone contributing so readily and freely. We all were struck again at God's stupendous love for rebels in Hosea 11:

4 I led Israel along
with my ropes of kindness and love.
8 “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel?
How can I let you go?...
My heart is torn within me,
and my compassion overflows.

Worthy cause, excellent vid

2007-04-13T11:19:00.000+01:00

I think I've mentioned this campaign before, but it's worth another mention. Also a great video.

I like the Ephesians-esque imagery of Strangers to Citizens.

Although it is a good cause, pray that the asylum seekers we work among will seek even more vigorously and long more earnestly for citizenship in the Kingdom of God and not idolise a UK resdiency status which they are wont to do.

reshaping the heart

2007-03-23T14:40:00.000Z

We're thinking in our Pastoral Care course of the connections between the heart and behaviour.
Our problem is we choose to trust other interpretations instead of God's Word and we choose to worship other gods instead of God. Pastoral Care is about helping one another to believe the truth, expose the lies and bite down hard on God's Word. At the other level we also need to be appealing to the desires of each other's hearts.
How about brainstorming ways we can do that for one another?
How can we help each other to be worshippers from the heart of the true God?
I'll blog some of my ideas in a day or two, meanwhile I invite you to drop a few in the comments section....

When I'm cleaning windows...

2007-03-04T21:55:00.000Z

Do you know anyone who might be interested in a ministry like this?

Jerry who manages it at the moment is heading off to Oak Hill and would love to be able to hand over to another Christian.

It's a great model of ministry. Jerry has sought to run a self-financing business whilst training and discipling refugees.

A Valley of Hope

2007-02-18T16:02:00.000Z

Isaiah 35

Hope for Restoration

1 Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.
The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses.
2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers
and singing and joy!
The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,
as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.
There the Lord will display his glory,
the splendor of our God.
3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands,
and encourage those who have weak knees.
4 Say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, and do not fear,
for your God is coming to destroy your enemies.
He is coming to save you.”

Strangers into Citizens

2007-02-13T14:44:00.000Z

In the lower reaches of our informal economy, some immigrants are being used in what are little better than conditions of slavery. Yes, it is now unlawful for an employer to give work to an illegal immigrant, but much of the informal economy is unlawful. Illegal immigrants are vulnerable and so can be exploited for a pittance. One day, light will be turned on this near-slavery and disgrace us.

Bill Deedes, Daily Telegraph

(8 September 2006)

Ever since becoming involved with asylum seekers, I have been bemused and infuriated by the unwillingness of government to allow a status that allows visitors here to work without the threat of abuse and exploitation. It looks as if the 'Strangers into Citizens Campaign' is making some waves on that front.

I plan to attend a public meeting about it this month in Sheffield. Join me?

7pm on Monday 26th February

at the Quaker Meeting House, St. James Street, S1

(refreshments from 6.45pm).

Jim Steinke, Chief Executive of the Northern Refugee Centre, will lead the discussion.

Here is a helpful site about the campaign.

Strangers into Citizens has arisen from concerned citizens from faith communities who have befriended irregular migrants and are indignant at the precariousness of their condition, as well as irregular migrants involved in or connected with those communities. All of those who care about this issue ask why it is permissible for a wealthy society which has benefited hugely from the influx of migrants in the past 10-15 years should condemn more than half a million people to insecurity, exploitation and a legal condition in many ways worse than that of prisoners. They question the moral legitimacy of allowing such conditions as part of a strategy of “looking tough” on immigration. They say the dignity of human beings should not be sacrificed for political ends. They say it is wrong to condemn to a precarious state of illegality those who, for very human reasons, have chosen to remain in the UK and make a new life here, and who in many cases have children in schools and make a vital contribution to the nation’s economy and society.

China calling...

2007-02-07T08:28:00.000Z

Our 'man in China' (!) writes:

Finally I'd just like to mention about a problem which is getting bigger and bigger for churches in general out here, which also needs people's prayer. Many people are being proclaimed Christians by others, as they have fulfilled some certain criteria or have said they believe in God, but in fact, they have not been changed by the Lord. Many churches and groups have abandoned the biblical teaching of the sovereignty of God in conversion, and teach that all you need to do is raise your hand, say a prayer of repentance and your saved. I feel this endangers many people, as it teaches them they are safe when they are clearly not. A large part of the ministry here is involved in correcting these wrong teachings, and urging people to "make their call and election sure".

Cosmopolitan!

2007-02-02T14:43:00.000Z

Some of the Nationalities and ethnicities living & working in Sharrow

A – Albanian, Afghani, Amharic, Angolian, Algerian, Argentinian, Australian, Aruba, Antiguan, American

B – Bosnian, Basque, Belgian, Brazilian, Balinese, Botswanan, Bajan, Bermudan

C – Chilean, Chadian, Chinese, Cameroonian, Cuban, Carriacou, Canadian, Congalese, Czech

D – Dutch, Djiboutian, Dominican

E – English, Emirati

F – French, Fulani, Flemish, Finnish, Fillipino

G – German, Greek, Ghanian, Gambian, Grenadian, Guyanian

H – Hungarian, Hutu, Hausa

I – Icelandic, Italian, Ibo, Indian, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Irish, Indonesian

J – Japanese, Javan, Jamaican, Jordanian

K – Kosovan, Korean, Kuwaiti, Kurdish, Kashmiri, Keren, Kenyan

L – Liberian, Lebanese, Libyan

M – Malian, Mandinka, Mongolian, Malaysian, Macedonian, Montserrat, Mandarin, Morrocan, Mauritian, Mozambican, Myanmar

N – Nigerian, Nepalese, New Zealander, Norwegian

O – Oromo, Omani

P – Polish, Pakistani, Portuguese, Palestinian, Peruvian

Q – Qatari

R – Rwandan, Russian

S – Somali, Serbian, Slovenian, Swedish, Sierra-Leonian, Syrian, Surinamese, Saudi, St. Vincentian, Spanish, Scottish

T – Tigrean, Tunisian, Turkish, Tutsi, Taiwanese, Tasmanian, Tobagan

U – Uzbeki, Ugandan

V – Venezualan, British Virgin Islander, Vietnamese

W – Welsh

X – Xhosa

Y – Yemeni, Yuruba, Yugoslavian

Z – Zulu, Zimbabwean, Zambian

Approved!

2007-01-22T11:18:00.000Z

At last we have been given the go ahead to be parents!
On Thursday, Judith & I met with the Adoption Approval Panel, and after an informal and pleasant 15 minutes of chat and questions, they said we could adopt. Judith felt like she was expecting all over again!
It is a very exciting prospect.
We are now making preliminary enquiries about a specific boy who would, it seems, fit well with our family.

Watch this space.

TFWAW (The food we all want!)

2007-01-17T15:55:00.000Z

A great Curry Club last week. It seemed as if no one was coming then two hours in, they all came, in true Pakistani timing. Lots of fun as we began discussing Iqbal- Pakistan's national poet. Iqbal was a philosopher, political activist and poet (amongst other things) and has some interesting things to say. He certainly is close to the heart of many Pakistani men I have talked with and a potent cultural inroad into their hearts. Next Curry Club we'll be looking more indepth at some of his ideas on human nature.

A special post-Christmas treat from two dear Kurdish friends as they treated my family to fabulous Kurdish kebabs last week. These guys are not well off but insisted on taking us all out to Norooz Kurdish Restaurant- probably my favourite eating out venue... anywhere!
I so wanted to pay but am seeing more clearly these days the excellent principle of allowing others to serve you and not being the giver all the time. Such reciprocation is a wonderful thing and nourishes our friendship.

Then this last two weeks I have revived our midweek breakfasts with my dear 'almost brother' "A" from Iraqi Kurdestan. And what a fantastic time we had. No one quite makes fried eggs on toast like him and his coffee...fantastic. But that was just the hors d'oeuvre, even better were the gospel conversations we had. He asks for prayer that his heart be opened that last little bit. He has been convinced of the truth of Christ by the loving relationships he has seen and been very much party to in our church community. He is counting the cost of losing his family but we are confident that the Lord who is pursuing him will win and add him fully to His family.

Sundays in our bible time together for the next 9 weeks, we are considering the meals of Jesus in Luke. Fantastic. Check them out:

1. Luke 5:27-39
2. Luke 7:36-50
3. Luke 9:10-17
4. Luke 10:38-42
5. Luke 11:37-54
6. Luke 14:1-24
7. Luke 19:1-10
8. Luke 22:7-30
9. Luke 24:13-34

It really is all about a feast after all!

As Isaiah puts it:

On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines. (25v6)

Bring in the Kurds and the Mirpuris Lord!

New Year text wish for the oppressed

2007-01-05T09:58:00.000Z

Amid all the Christmas and New Year greetings I received recently, this one stands out. It's an SMS from an asylum seeker friend who has been deeply affected by cruelty and oppression in his home country. It struck me how much our experiences shape our perspective and what we want for others...

Hi merry christmass.I wish a happy and peaceful ch_mass 4u and all humanbeing suffering cruelty&aggression under the hands of dictators and extremists .I wish the new year would be the end of disasters in our planet.

Amen to that.

God with us...

2006-12-24T21:33:00.000Z

We're going through a series in church about the presence of God with his people. Isaac did me a helpful timeline to summarise where we have come from. Thx Isaac.

Great to preach Immanuel today!

2006-12-23T00:25:00.000Z

Happy Christmas to everyone.

(HT : Steve Timmis)

Grace! When will I eventually get it?

2006-12-20T02:08:00.000Z

I read this some time ago and rediscovered it just tonight. I think it happens a lot! Grace! When will I eventually get it?

“Nothing makes people in the church more angry than grace. It’s ironic: we stumble into a party we weren’t invited to and find the uninvited standing at the door making sure no other uninviteds get in. Then a strange phenomenon occurs: as soon as we are included in the party because of Jesus’ irresponsible love, we decide to make grace 'more responsible' by becoming self-appointed Kingdom Monitors, guarding the kingdom of God, keeping the riffraff out (which as I understand it, are who the kingdom of God is supposed to include.)"

Michael Yaconelli in Messy Spirituality

Guilt, shame and fear

2006-12-18T13:38:00.001Z

As I have much contact with M@slim background people, I am constantly trying to separate out what is cultural for me as a Westerner and what is biblical and therefore how best (most faithfully and relevantly) to impart the gospel to Eastern friends.
Theology always takes on a new feel when engaged in mission. The bible becomes clearer as we come up against new situations and new ways of thinking. Mission to new cultures forces us to know the truth and convey that truth in a way that we didn't in the comfort of the pew.

I have some questions that I am grappling with....any insights?
(I am reading Roland Muller, missiologist/churchplanter)

Are we (the West) a 'guilt-based' culture as oppposed to a 'shame-based' one?

If that is so, then where does that emphasis come from? Are we right to think MOSTLY within a guilt/righteousness paradigm because the Scripture would have us do so? Or is it right to say:

Christians must recognise the incredible impact that guilt-based culture has had on their history and understanding and interpretation of the Bible. (R. Muller)

Some say that the early church theologians and the emphases of Reformation theology reflect this cultural influence of Roman legal thought. Has Pax Romana shaped the way we think more than we realise?

The diagram expresses a three-fold understanding of sin. There are it seems, broadly speaking, three classifications. We talk of 'guilt-based', 'shame-based' and 'fear-based' cultures. In most cultures it seems that all three are present, but one or two are more obvious. In my evangelism, I am keen to emphasise guilt as the dominant expression of sin for all cultures. I think we're biblically right to do that. The thrust of Scripture as I see it (though not ignoring the shame and fear elements) is to emphasise guilt and law culminating in the cross where the righteous judgement of the holy God fell on the innocent and willing God-Man in the place of the guilty.

Does a culture that sees things more in terms of shame and honour need to adjust its worldview to come into line with a stronger emphasised guilt basis?

What would a good gospel explanation look like to someone from a shame or fear based culture?

Here's an interesting article.

http://nabataea.net/h&s.html

Fridge Magnets

2006-12-15T08:25:00.000Z

Made me chuckle...

Full of gospelly goodness

2006-12-15T01:08:00.001Z

A good evening...A great evening.

Loads of time with my family. Christmas card and letter writing and chatting and praying.

Then popped to a local Curry Night fundraiser for Kashmiri Earthquake Relief Fund at the invite of a new friend (looks like Fidel Castro in the pic!). He came to our Curry Night at TCH this week, so I reciprocated. Always good to meet new people.

Then teachers' group where guys from two TCH congregations grapple in advance, with the passages we teach each Sunday. Always a treat to spend an hour over coffee with bros who want to understand and teach God's Word.
The pic was somewhat posed!
Matthew ch.1 tonight. Amazing that the coming of Immanuel was shrouded in shame.

Then over to @@@@ Kebab House with Martin & Dave to sing M@slim brothers W & W a song that I just wrote.
Waj sings the Sufi blues and wants me to play guitar for him at Sufi events. What do you think I should do?
The sentiment of his songs is great (if you changed the word "Allah" for "Jesus", they'd be fine!) They brim with a longing to know God, our utter need of Him and to be refreshed by him.

I sang and played for him and his brother my (adapted words but my tune!) new song and explained to them the background of the presence of God among his people by mercy alone that we are teaching each Sunday.

O LORD may I dwell in your sanctuary?
O LORD may I live in your presence?

By, by your matchless mercy.
By, by your matchless mercy.

O LORD may I stand in your glory?
O LORD may I see your majesty?

Then a brill 'bro chat' and pray with my dear bro Dave as I took him home. Excited by his excitement at the faith of Hudson Taylor and the challenge to live that out in his workplace.
Both excited at the prospect of the marriage prep we'll be doing together in the new year. A bit differently. We'll have another already married couple with us in the church too to give it a community dynamic and make it more of a conversation within the church rather than a set of a lessons.

Then home to my lovely wife Judith in time for me to make our customary milky drinks before bed. Hers is hot chocolate (I love to serve her in that way) and then watch the next installment of Dickens' Bleak House on video. Old codgers or what?!
Fantastic.

What better evening could a man ask for?

Mention Jesus...don't mention Jesus

2006-12-14T15:52:00.001Z

I must say, it was a refreshing change to actually have the name of Jesus mentioned at this year's school Christmas celebrations. The headteacher took the bull by the horns and refused to be browbeaten, giving the proceedings a trad but still quite luke warm feel. Brave. (some M@slims did withdraw their kids)

Interestingly, the PC crowd of people pleasers have it seems been overly correcting this year in Sheffield and caused some backlash. You can't please everyone.
See article in our local.

Having said all that, I'm not sure I am so bothered. In fact, the tepidity and downright error that is conveyed in some half-baked attempts to be "Christian", does more harm than good I'd wager.

Any thoughts?

Owen out loud

2006-12-14T09:24:00.000Z

I'd be interested in replicating this practice...who'll join me?

Out loud in the context of brothers who can help you cut up the big chunks of steak is the key it seems.
As one person put it:

Only reading Owen is like using a straw to eat a steak. You may suck all you want but all you get is a good smell that makes your stomach ache.

Contact me if you are up for it...

Anyone?

Get it here.

That's what it's all about

2006-12-12T09:33:00.000Z

Helpful reminder...

Extract from Chris Wright’s book, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative

Pakis Out

2006-12-12T08:42:00.001Z

I'm always very impressed by the way Sheffield, and our little corner of it in particular, enjoys healthy racial harmony. A very mixed community with lots of goodwill and very little in the way of racial tensions (comparatively). It was sad to see therefore on Sunday morning, several road signs in our neighbourhood carrying offensive racist comments. Judith got the meths out and a rag and has erased them. We're not having it spoil our friendships. It gave me a good opportunity to talk about peace (or lack of it) in a Christmas talk to our M@slim friends at Curry Club last night too.

2006-12-09T23:11:00.000Z

After a long absence, my eldest son Isaac is back blogging. You might want to encourage him to keep it up.

http://qumstuff.blogspot.com

Not my usual fare......

2006-12-08T09:55:00.000Z

I have deliberately bought a book that is out of my usual box to stretch and challenge me and firm up my thinking.

Here's chapter one...any comments about what he says?

Pastoral Care Course

2006-12-06T22:08:00.000Z

An invitation... to an excellent course on pastoral care that The Crowded House is running in conjunction with the Open Bible Institute.

The course is a new module of the OBI and will be led by the authors of the module, Steve Timmis and Tim Chester. It will be held on Thursday evenings for twenty weeks from January 2007.

The course is open to anyone involved in pastoral care, from those who provide church-based counselling to those who better want to encourage fellow Christians to walk with God. It offers a Bible-centred approach with a focus on addressing issues of the heart.

Time
7.00-9.00pm, Thursday evening.

Location
215 Sharrow Vale Road, Sheffield, S11 8ZB

Dates
11 January-29 March
(with a break on 15 February for half-term)
26 April-21 June
(with a break on 31 May for half-term)

Cost
£75 per person
£60 concessions
This includes OBI enrolment, a workbook and optional assessment.

Interested?

Contact:
Jen Baxter
40 Psalter Lane, Sheffield, S11 8YN
0114 263 1712
info@thecrowdedhouse.org

Now that's a good question...

2006-12-06T21:50:00.000Z

I'm looking to be making some vox pop videos of good questions that will set people thinking.
Here's my first two...

1] What is the difference between religion and spirituality?

2] What would you say to Christians if they would listen?

Do you have any to suggest?

Blessings from the East!

2006-12-05T21:28:00.000Z

An extract from a beauty of an email from our returnees in Shanghai- "W & L". We feel helpless in many ways to be able to strengthen them (PTL for email and Skype) but are so excited to see God keeping his children and growing them.

Hi Andy
Thank our Lord!

I learned a lot in the past weeks from suffering, and I can even noticed my big progress in my spiritual life, although I still make many mistakes. When I reviewed my past life in Shanghai, i found that i was also blessed with love. He is very kind and patient to teach me with so wise methods. Now, I am desperated to pass this love to others in troubles. I am pleading His Mercy to let me be used in good ways. I still weak, but I am preparing for being used. Once I am ready, I am sure that i will have this honour.
love
W & L
The picture is a calligraphy that "W" painted for me when we first met, before he was saved.
Translated it says: "Keep preaching the gospel Andy".

Interesting Vox Pop

2006-12-04T09:28:00.000Z

click right here

(btw, can anyone lend me a decent digital video camera with quality mic, plz)

2006-11-27T20:51:00.000Z

Cool new site from my son, Josiah :

http://apallingjokes.blogspot.com

Christ the Kingdom

2006-11-17T23:06:00.000Z

It's been good to read through again (this time out loud, with a friend from church) Goldsworthy's superb book, 'Gospel & Kingdom'.
I was only this morning puzzling again with another friend on Skype why I was never exposed to biblical theology until I was at least 30! I feel shortchanged.

Anyway...trying not to be bitter...

Here's Goldsworthy explaining some ways God's people suffer if they don't understand or are not taught biblical theology:

1. Congregations will not understand the unity of the Bible or the progressive nature of revelation. They will fall prey to those proclaiming the disunity of the biblical message; and a fragmented Bible cannot be recognized as the inspired word of God.

2. Congregations will not understand the centrality of Christ for interpreting Scripture and the meaning of life in our world. Recourse to people and events—particularly those of the Old Testament—will be valued mainly for their exemplary lessons, and not for their typological contribution to understanding the person and work of Christ. They will not see that Christ in his gospel is the interpreting principle for scripture and, indeed, for all reality.

3. Grace will be eroded by legalism. Preaching that principally points to the examples of Bible characters leads almost inevitably to legalism since the connection with the gospel of grace will be clouded or even completely lost.

4. The application of Bible texts will often be short-circuited. The Bible is reduced to a lucky-dip of texts all of which are perceived as standing in the same essential relationship to the Christian believer, and the progressive nature of biblical revelation in salvation-history is ignored.

5. The presuppositions of the New Testament in portraying Christ as the fulfiller of the Old Testament will be overlooked so that the fullness of Christ’s person and work is undermined. Teaching from the Old Testament is particularly at risk.

6. The doctrinal formulations of the church will be seen as less important in that their relationship to the progressive revelation of the Bible will not be evident. Biblical theology and doctrine work together for a robust understanding of God and his purposes for his people and the world.

Ministry in progress

2006-11-14T09:33:00.000Z

I was at a conference this weekend in a church building in Birmingham. Signs like this were all over the place. It made me think what will Church life look like if that is the mentality- ministry happens only at certain times in special places and is done by special people (and must not be interrupted by a careless Christian wandering into a "Restricted Area" where ministry is taking place!).
Hmmm.
Then I thought, what would our churches be like if we had a mindset that took down all those signs (AND especially all our metaphorical ones that make us act in this weird restricted way) and all thought of ourselves as gospel ministers in all that we do. Taking on those priorities and responsibilities wherever we are and all the time.
Hmmm.

Dice, cake and laughter for the sake of the gospel

2006-10-31T22:21:00.001Z

@@@@@ Takeaway on Abbeydale Rd is a favourite watering hole for the guys in TCH Sharrow. W & W the 'brother-proprietors' are fantastic. We laugh loads and share some important stuff. It's only got one table, but we crowd in and play Dice over cokes and kebabs. Conversation nearly always turns to God stuff very naturally and very agreeably.

There's always local guys in there who you can have a real crack with. (A week or so ago we ended up talking with a Bollywood film producer/actor. I said I would love to be in one of his films and he actually took my number!)

I was there tonight with my son Isaac hanging out (and playing dice!). Isaac has added a new dimension to the relationships being formed there. He makes the most amazing chocolate cakes (Never Fail Chocolate Cake- ask for the recipe) and sells them to W & W for them to sell on to customers. And very popular they are too. Selling out in a day or two!

Drop by sometime and experience the fun and friendship and sample some NFCC.

Bridges into the community??

2006-10-27T15:47:00.000+01:00

I liked this. Thx Andrew.

It struck a strong chord with me as I too am inclined, sometimes wistfully, to look on at the schemes and programmes of big 'proper churches' (t.i.c.) and feel left behind, maybe even ineffective.

And then, I look at what God is doing in the ordinary and the everyday through the life of our intentionally small, intentionally gospel community and I rejoice!

(t.i.c. = 'tongue in cheek')

Lord of the Manor

2006-10-26T17:27:00.000+01:00

It's great to see the TCH team up on the Manor Estate expanding. Welcome Amy- Adam's wife and no stranger to TCH. I'll be coming round to see you in your new council house soon. Nice one- culturally spot on.

The pic was one I took of the verge outside the team house last week. Symbolic of some of the issues facing these guys as they reach out to neighbours there with God's love and truth. Pray on for leadership needs.

one closes...another opens

2006-10-23T00:46:00.000+01:00

Just 50 yards down the road where we meet for church there's a Sufi mosque. At least there was. It has just closed. Not a very common sight! Normally it's a declining 'church' that has to close.

However, just 100 yards round the corner is another mosque about to open. The biggest in South Yorkshire. It really is quite humungous. But I don't feel threatened. "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it".
He is in complete control.
But it does increase the urgency of the task of getting out the good news and being a light set on a hill.

Lord make us a more impresssive people than this fancy structure as you shape us living stones and build us together to become a dwelling in which you live by your Spirit.

Church...I'm loving it.

2006-10-22T22:57:00.000+01:00

We had a great church today. Continuing in our series on gospel change with my bro Tim. (btw, he's revamped his blog and it's good!)

It was beautiful to think on the cross again. We sang (twice) one of my all time faves- "At the foot of the cross..." and considered some of Amy Carmichael's "IF" poems.

If I myself dominate myself, if my thoughts revolve round myself, if I am so occupied with myself I rarely have "a heart at leisure from itself," then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I cannot in honest happiness take the second place (or the twentieth); if I cannot take the first without making a fuss about my unworthiness, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I want to be known as the doer of something that has proved the right thing, or as the one who suggested that it should be done, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If in the fellowship of service I seek to attach a friend to myself, so that others are caused to feel unwanted; if my friendships do not draw others deeper in, but are ungenerous (to myself, for myself), then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If I slip into the place that can be filled by Christ alone, making myself the first necessity of a soul instead of leading it to fasten upon Him, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

She's a woman I'd love to have met.

Later it was an amazing roast lamb dinner with integrated communion.
I must say, I do like to have communion as part of a real communal meal. We had the bread (big naan bread) and wine on the meal table so when people come and get their meal, those trusting in Christ serve the bread and wine to each other with words of joyful encouragement. I really do not like the solemn, individualistic praying quietly to myself with no engagement with the body type approach (REALLY don't like it!). It so undermines what it is all about. Why do we always get so religious about it?

A good piece on the matter from someone here (I don't know him but it's good).

2006-10-20T10:12:00.000+01:00

It's just a year since I was blogging away in Shanghai. I just discovered this pic of me and "K". An openhearted returnee whom I met up with and had a great time. Check out the TV tower! Real Thunderbirds stuff.

"K" has since linked up with W&L and studies the bible regularly with them. Fantastic. Pray for church planting in Shanghai.

Loo paper and poetry

2006-10-18T23:22:00.000+01:00

John and I were out again today on our 'walk and witness'. We pass this little man a lot- Ahmed the Smiley Shopman at this Afghani store. They'd just had a delivery of loo rolls. I'd never seen so many out on a street before - absolutely loads. We kept passing and asking if they had any toilet rolls for sale! The owner reckons they'll all be gone within two weeks! (Does he know something I don't?? Some prophetic insight into a dreaded outbreak of dysentry?).

Anyway, we got to meet up again with our barber "A" and the same customer he had in 2 weeks ago (his hair grows fast apparently). We've all agreed, we're going to have a Persian/Pakistani poetry evening at Khayam Tea Room- November 13th. I cleared it with Fred the owner tonight -he really likes the idea. We'll feature some Iqbal too- Pakistan's national poet -so will hopefully attract some Pakistani poetry lovers.
Our aim? To discuss life's big issues with thinking MB men in an acceptable and open environment.

In both worlds, everywhere are the marks of love;
man himself is a mystery of love.

-Allama Iqbal

2006-10-17T16:39:00.000+01:00

Just discovered this...This was the genuine strategy suggested by a big seeker sensitive movement in the 90's.

It's like the antithesis of TCH and made me see again the beauty and centrality (not the embarrassing nature of) of the church in mission. The church displays God's genius in mission:

1. Spend quality time with Non-Christians
2. Protect them from the church.
3. Witness to those new friends about Jesus Christ.
4. Protect them from the church.
5. Lead them to Christ.
6. Protect them from the church.
7. When they have matured a bit and are ready even for a culture shock, introduce them to the church for the first time.

2006-10-17T11:50:00.000+01:00

Spirit-filled relationships do not arise from our expectations, demands, or definition of relationships. They arise from obedience to Jesus' commands. It is His demand, expectation, and power that distinguish Christian relationships from other “small groups” or other kinds of human relationships. Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community , says it well:

Christianity means community through Jesus Christ and in Jesus Christ. We belong to one another only through and in Jesus Christ. [This] dismisses once and for all every clamorous desire for something more. One who wants more than what Christ has established does not want Christian brotherhood. He is looking for some extraordinary social experience which he has not found elsewhere; he is bringing muddled and impure desires into Christian brotherhood. Just at this point Christian brotherhood is threatened most often at the very start by the greatest danger of all, the danger of being poisoned at its root, the danger of confusing Christian brotherhood with some wishful idea of religious fellowship, of confounding the natural desire of the devout heart for community with the spiritual reality of Christian brotherhood.

2006-10-12T10:13:00.000+01:00

In evangelism training with new Christian John, we'd just read some of Rebecca Manley Pippert's Out of the Saltshaker (very helpful) about our great asset being our humanity:

"The problem stems from our great difficulty in believing that God is glorified in our utter humanity rather than in our spiritually programmed responses… Not to accept our humanness means we lose our point of authentic contact with the world. We of all people, should be offering the world a picture of what it means to be truly human. Yet it is often Christians who fear their humanity more than anyone else". (p.24).

We batted it around for good while, prayed for opportunities to be human and point to Jesus then went off in the rain (again! It always rains on our evangelism days) up London Rd/Abbeydale Rd.

We ended up having tea -out of the rain- and a great conversation with "A" our Kurdish barber. Best convo yet as I found the key for his heart - Omar Khayam the 11th century Persian poet.

"A" loves his writings. ("They made a sort of revolution in my life", he said) He showed us a new book he has of English translations of Khayam's Rubaiyat (4 line poems) and they just ooze the human condition and the brevity of life and disappointment of human love and the weakness of our wills, etc.

We read them together as he cut hair, involving his customers too! It was exactly the point in Pippert's book . We were three men, sharing our humanity, talking about life's mysteries and the possible answer in Jesus.

John and I thought afterwards, let's put on a Khayam Persian Poetry Reading Night at, yes you guessed it! The Khayam Tea Room on Abbeydale Rd, invite our Iranian and Kurdish friends and read some of Khayam's work in English and Farsi, and chat in small groups with shisha and Persian tea. Fancy coming?

Here's a couple of Khayam's rubaiyat:

"How sweet is mortal Sovranty!"--think some:
Others--"How blest the Paradise to come!"
Ah, take the Cash in hand and waive the Rest;
Oh, the brave Music of a distant Drum!

(Khayam was clearly a materialist)

Indeed, the Idols I have loved so long
Have done my Credit in Men's Eye much wrong:
Have drown'd my Honour in a shallow Cup,
And sold my Reputation for a Song.

(He often wrote about wine!)

2006-10-09T11:54:00.000+01:00

Blogging's a funny how-do-you-do.

Loads has happened since I last wrote an entry. Loads of good stuff too. But I just sometimes think the mundane and ordinary although deeply encouraging to me of late, just doesn't belong here. Same with prayer letters to supporters. We craft our experiences into an exciting accumulation of happenings and events and conversations (with honesty of course) and parade it before our readers hoping it will justify our existence for another few months. Hmm. What a dreadful thought. I think sometimes, the more I appreciate God's view of me, the more I understand His acceptance and revel in his grace that alone justifies, the less I want to talk about me and what I have done. Isn't His opinion all that matters?!

Does that mean no more news?! No. I have a responsibility to report back to those who are holding the ropes. I have the privilege to tell out the goodness of God that we experience. But I hope God's fame and not mine will be promoted. Tell me please if it isn't.

Change of subject...

Excellent brief article here from David MacMillan, a pastor in Belfast.

What do you think? What action will we take?

2006-09-13T08:41:00.000+01:00

Destitute in Sheffield. Recently all his stuff (2 suitcases) was disposed of, including important papers. Asylum is still being refused him. Wife and children missing, probably murdered back in his home country. "J's" story is tragic. I held back tears last Friday at Sharrow Hangout as he showed me his remaining possession- a tattered, oft thumbed photo album of people he'll probably never see again. Smiling faces of those he loved and has now lost. We chased after his things from a housing organisation, hoping they may have held onto them. They're gone.
Providentially that day, an American missionary from France, helped me with an impromptu bible study in French (J's 1st language). It was beautiful as we spoke of the "esperance vivante" (1Peter 1v3) we have as God's children. It lifted J's spirits. Please pray for him that we'd be able to help and support him as a community. He cooks for us all this Friday!

John Owen's nutshell guide to pastoral problems

2006-09-09T22:20:00.000+01:00

Problem No. 1 is persuading those who are under the dominion of sin that they are under the dominion of sin.

Problem No. 2 is persuading those who are no longer under the dominion of sin that they are no longer under the dominion of sin.

2006-09-09T21:53:00.000+01:00

I think I've mentioned before how I love my hood -Abbeydale & London Rds. I think it's partly the crazy and vast variety of eating places (ranging from Iranian to Polish to Vietnamese to Turkish), partly the variety of people you meet there and partly the friendliness and openness of its merchants.
As part of informal evangelism training, I take walks along Abbeydale/London Rd with guys in TCH, and we aim to make and develop friendships and share the gospel. I've just started this with a dear brother, newly converted and busting with gospel enthusiasm.
His attitude yesterday humbled me big time:

"When I got up", he said "I was like a kid on Christmas Day".

Just because we had arranged to go up Abbeydale/London Rd and chat the gospel to people.

I wish I could recapture something of that excitement.

2006-09-05T10:21:00.000+01:00

Several friends were very struck with Piper and his challenges at the EMA this year for us to be risk takers as gospel ministers. He's right. Risk is right. "Fear not; you can only be killed." (Part 2, part 3)

We are so lacking in boldness as God's people. So unwilling to try anything new. Why is that? (Please send your thoughts).

Von Goethe said:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."

I like that.
I especially like it when his people take real risks for Jesus. They do things (many of them small, noticeable on a daily basis) that show obedient passion for God's cause and glory, knowing that losing their life is finding it.
I especially don't like it when we talk of risk and yet our lives are just safe and lacking in any real danger. (nb "radical Christianity"- a well overused phrase).

Risk is right.
So get off that butt...I dare you to mention Jesus to your neighbour. I dare you to trust God with your goods and invite people round more often. I dare you to speak the truth in love to that brother or sister who could well snub you. I dare you to pray up at that prayer meeting where you sit so quietly. I dare you to get serious and start that ball rolling to plant a church, by God's grace.

I like Kelly Clarkson's catchy pop tune, 'Breakaway'

I'll take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway

Isn't it time to start being a risktaker for the Kingdom?

2006-09-01T11:07:00.000+01:00

As we progress with adoption, we've had some correspondence with an old friend (who will be anonymous) who is a social worker in the adoption field. I thought his/her latest email comments were interesting! :

I am biased of course so feel free to ignore me - but the children I work with need Christian families - I get angry when Christians criticise us for placing children with single carers and same sex couples - but where are they???? Living their cosy little lives in nice houses with 2.4 children and a life and Church irrelevant to the sorts of families I work with.

Lord deliver us from being families and churches that are 'irrelevant' to the very ones whom Jesus welcomed- the marginalised and unwelcome.

2006-08-31T18:01:00.000+01:00

I've always been a fan of Sharrow Surestart. They do a great work. Especially Judith as she comes alongside BME families (getting the PC lingo here!...Black and Minority Ethnic) who are struggling to cope with young children and life's hardships.
It's a great privilege therefore, to have been asked to come onboard as one of their Dads' Workers.
Our remit: "To Ignite Fatherhood in Sharrow" (!)
I offered as a volunteer but they're insisting on paying me. Nice. It's only 6 hrs p.w. but will be a great way to input into the lives of men and their families in our locality. I have been passionate for a while about encouraging and supporting local BME fathers. Any ideas?

2006-08-30T23:42:00.000+01:00

Films can often move me deeply. This one did: "Innocent Voices".
In the civil war-torn El Salvador of the 1980s, the government's armed forces are already recruiting twelve year olds, herding them out of their school classes to train them (with US money and personnel) to kill their own people. Chava, aged 11, has just one year of innocence left before he too will be conscripted to fight the government's battle against the rebel guerilla forces or will he join them?

I sobbed. Judith sobbed. It was a convincing and heartrending piece of cinema that made you ache (literally) for the 300,000 child soldiers estimated to be fighting around the world at present. The kind of movie I will be recommending, not for entertainment, but as a sort of duty for those of us who lives of peace and safety, pretty much oblivious to the horrors of man's extreme expressions of his inhumanity to man.
Lord, bring on the new creation.

2006-08-30T12:53:00.000+01:00

It's always great to get news from the Far East! Especially when it concerns our dear brothers and sisters and seekers who were with us here in TCH.
W&L seem to be making fantastic progress both in serving the Lord and in growth in godliness. All the many hours of reading Scripture and studying, discussion and praying and serving with them last year are bearing fruit. We praise God for his work in their lives. TCH Crookesmoor /OTH /S11 /Crookes... you can rejoice in the harvest that is being produced. Below is an email extract from dear Haruna who has recently visited them. Our prayer and intention was always (still is) to see God multiplying his church there in Shanghai, we half-jokingly referred to TCH Shanghai. Hey, why not!? GO W&L !! GO GOD!!
(I blurred the photo of W & X deliberately):

I was very encouraged by Ws Gospel priority in decision-making and serving for family. Even though there're many fellowships like factory church, lawyers' fellowship, VIP business men fellowship etc, W is eager to spend more time with his family! L hasn't started to work yet, but I think she needs more time for her baby.

I met X as he visited W&L's flat, X said "it's the hardest time for them because of their baby and their busy life."

I just phoned Z from Shanghai. He seems O.K, but he doesn't commit to church in Shengzen. I don't know how to support him, but just keep encouraging and praying.

On Sunday we had returnees' fellowship at W&L's flat. A couple working in Shanghai and M are leading Bible study in English. It's not church, but it's more like discipleship Bible study. On the day, R showed up and S (Chinese guys from Sheffield) joined! It's really encouraging!!

On weekends, W invited lots of brothers and sisters (lawyers and doctors) to their flat. I thought it's already like TCH Shanghai meeting with God's family!! I met several Christian laywers who are passionate for planting house church.