Does society need Marriage?

A top British Judge has caused something of a stir in the media by claiming that the breakdown of marriage is one of the key factors in the problems facing modern Britain. You can read what he said by clicking on this link.

Some of the comments that have been left on the article also reveal how our society feels about such values.

The prodigal God

I have just started reading Tim Keller's 'The Prodigal God.' The first couple of chapters have proved though provoking and the rest promises to be equally so.

Keller begins by establishing what Prodigal means, it is not wayward or lost as we tend to think of it, but it means "reckless spendthrift", to spend until you have nothing left. He makes the point that the younger son is prodigal but so is the Father in the way he loves and welcomes back the younger son.

In Chapter 1 Keller points out that Jesus ministry seemed to attract the Prodigals, those like the woman at the well, or the woman caught in adultery, the tax collector and so. Whilst the religious elder brother types are offended and reject his teaching.

Keller then raises an issue I found particularly thought provoking. Contemporary outsiders don't seem to be attracted to church, rather we attract the moralistic people. If our preaching and people don't have the same effect on people that Jesus did, then we must not declaring the same message Jesus did. He goes on to say: "If our churches aren't appealing to younger brothers, they must be more full of elder brothers than we'd like to think."

Christianity, sex and free Speech?

Andrea Minichiello Williams, barrister and founder of the CLC says few Christian leaders or individuals realize that buried within the Corners and Justice Bill, to be debated tomorow (23rd June) is a clause which could prevent Christians openly stating what the Bible says, and Christians have believed for 2,000 years, about issues such as homosexual conduct or even marriage.

She said: “No-one would imagine that a Bill to do with Coroners could contain anything about free speech and with all the media attention on MP expenses, this vital issue is going unreported by the media. If it got through as it stands, it would have devastating consequences for Christian witness and integrity in the UK. Church leaders and individuals Christians answering questions about their faith could well find themselves the subject of a police investigation and arrest just for speaking and living according to the Bible’s teaching on sexuality and marriage.”

Why not sign their online petition by following this link: http://www.ccfon.org/view.php?id=760

You've got lies

I have been directed to this today as an article designed for ladies about the perils and problems inherent in watching chick flicks, its by Beth Spraul from Capitol Hill Baptist Church in the States and it is well worth reading and thinking through. http://www.capitolhillbaptist.org/wp-content/uploads/youve_got_lies.pdf

Church and the future

Last night we got to thinking about the future of the church. At what point does church begin to become uncomfortable? At what point does size impact upon your vision and values? Undeniably developing gospel relationships is only possible in groups of certain sizes, so what is too big and when do you start planning for the next thing?

I was reminded of the S-curve of Church growth, a diagram is below. Churches grow, but as they approach capacity growth levels off, before they eventually stagnate and then begin to decline. Arresting a declining church is much harder than redirecting a growing church. The red dotted line on the graph below indicates a point at about 80% at which growth starts to slow. The church is comfortable and begins to lose its evangelistic edge.

The challenge at about 80% capacity is to launch, change or challenge the church so that it can begin another growth spurt, so that it retains its evangelistic edge and the growth curve looks more like this:

That change, challenge or launch can look very different. It can mean moving to a bigger venue thus increasing capacity and giving space to invite non-believing friends, it could mean increasing the number of services in the same venue, or it may mean starting a new church somewhere else.

The challenge of Acts is to depend on God and be bold not comfortable with the great news of Jesus Christ.

Questions for Father's Day

I've used these here before but with Father's Day on Sunday they are good things to be thinking about. In our churches we need to ask men great questions, not just give them easy answers, we need to address the questions that men are asking in our preaching, here are some suggested questions:

1. What does becoming a Christian mean for my masculinity?
2. What is Biblical manliness?
3. What does biblical holiness look like for men today?
4. What is success?
5. How do I deal with guilt feelings?
6. What is male sexuality? Is purity possible for the modern man?
7. How can we nurture family life?
8. What is Christian leadership? How is it developed?
9. What are the basic disciplines of the Christian man?
10. What ministry skills need to be developed? How? Will the church do it?
11. What is biblical business conduct?
12. What is integrity? How is it developed?
13. What does it mean to be married for God?

Men follow men. Its fascinating working through Luke 9 and 10 as Jesus teaches his disciples how many of these issues come up and are addressed again and again.

The challenge of discipleship

"Materialism is the pursuit of power, independence, comfort and security, and it is the biggest threat to our discipleship, because discipleship is the very opposite of that it is the pursuit of God seen in following Jesus and brings with it rejection, suffering and even death."

Its easy to listen to comments like that above and agree with them intellectually but how do we know if materialism is really our problem? Its helpful to carry out a little diagnostic on ourselves by thinking and praying through the following:

1. What do I value?
2. What am I scared of?
3. What are my dreams for my children?
4. Where do I want to be in 5 years, 10 year?
5. What if I lost it could I not live without?